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 57
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EDWARD M. WALDRON - Newark. (207 Market Street.) - Builder. Born in Ireland, November 1, 1864; son of William J. and Helen R. Waldron ; married at St. Joseph R. C. Church, on De- cember 6th, 1892, to Margaret E., daughter of James and Am Moran, of Newark.
Children : Helen R. ; Mary G. ; William J .; Edward M. ; Margaret A .: James R .; Austin A. : Robert E.
Besides being one of the largest building contractors in New Jersey, Edward M. Waldron has been a conspicuous figure in the political, civic and religious life of Newark.
Mr. Waldron's educational training was begun in a private school to which his parents sent him. and he afterwards attended the National Schools, in Ireland. When he was sixteen years of age, he crossed the seas to seek his fortune in this country and was ready to take up his life work when he came to Newark.
James Moran, into whose family he married, was a well-known builder. In 1888, at the age of twenty-four. Mr. Waldron organized the firm of E. M. Waldron & Co. and engaged with it extensively in the building and contract- ing business. He had continued at the head of the firm for just short of a quarter century when. in 1912. he retired from the position. Immediate- ly afterwards, he organized the Edward M. Waldron. Incorporated. Many of his old employees followed him into his new venture. He rewarded them for their years of service to him by giving them an interest in the company and his connection with it became chiefly of an advisory character.
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Mr. Waldron has been particularly interested in the political affairs of Newark and part of most of the citizens movements set on foot there from time to time. In 1895 he was elected to the Common Council of the city, and he was re-elected in 1897. In 189S the members of the Council made him President of the Board ; at the expiration of his term, he retired from the Chamber. In 1906, he was a candidate before the Democratic City Con- vention for the nomination for Mayor. In 1912, the Democratic State Con- vention at Trenton nominated him for Presidential Elector ; and he was one of those to cast the vote of the state for Gov. Wilson, for President of the United States.
Mr. Waldron is quite as deeply interested in Church affairs as in public, is a member of St. Michael's Church on Belleville Avenue, Newark, and connected with many religious organizations. He is President of the Waldron Bros. Realty Co., a member and Director of the Newark Board of Trade, a Director and President of the Eagle Fire Insurance Co. and of the Washington Trust Co., Trustee of the New World Life Insurance Company of Spokane, Washington, and is connected with many fraternal and political organizations.
V EDWIN ROBERT WALKER-Trenton, (107 West State St.) -Chancellor. Born at Rochester, N. Y., September 13, 1862 ; son of Walter W. and Mary Paxson Walker ; married at Trenton, on June 30, 1891, to a daughter of Jacob Conrad Fritz and Sarah Carlin.
Children : two (de- ceased. )
Edwin Robert Walker's fa- ther was a physician who practised medicine and surge- ry in Rochester, N. Y., but upon his death, the son came to the home of his maternal ancestors in Trenton when he was seven years of age. Two of his mother's fore-bears were officers in the Revolutionary Army, and another, Stacy A. Parson, was State Treasurer of New Jersey from 1845 to 1847.
After a training in the Model School, Edwin Robert Walker accepted a clerkship in the of- fice of the late Henry S. Little, who from 1871 to 1881 was Clerk of the New Jersey Court of Chancery. While busy there he entered himself as a
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law student in the office of the late Col. S. Meredith Dickinson and subse- quently with the late Judge Garret D. W. Vroom, both of Trenton. Ad- mitted to the Bar at the June term of the Supreme Court in 1886, he began the practice of his profession in Trenton. In 1891 he was made Counsel for the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders and a year later be- came Corporation Counsel of Trenton.
While he was engaged at his duties before the higher courts, Chan- cellor Magie was attracted by his efficiency; and when, in 1907, Vice Chancellor Bergen resigned to accept a seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court, Chancellor Magie appointed Mr. Walker in his place. In March, 1912, Chancellor Mahlon Pitney resigned to become an Associate Justice on the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States tendered to him by President Taft ; and Gov. Wilson nominated Vice Chancellor Walker to the Senate for the Chancellorship. He was promptly confirmed and is still holding the position.
Chancellor Walker is a democrat in politics, and has been also identified with the state militia. He was Judge-Advocate of the Second Regiment N. G. N. J. with the rank of Captain in 1906, and in 1907 was advanced to the rank of Major as Judge Advocate of the Second Brigade.
Chancellor Walker is a member of the Revolutionary Memorial Socie- ty, the Sons of the Revolution, the Society of Colonial Wars, the New Jersey Historical Society, the United States and New Jersey and Mercer County Bar Associations, the Netherland Society and of the Trenton and Trenton Country Clubs.
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HENRY OLIVER WALKER-Lakewood .- Artist. Born in Bos- ton, Mass., May 14, 1843; son of Thomas Oliver and Sarah Lucy Walker; married on April 19, 18SS, to Laura Margaret, daughter of John P. Marquand, of New York.
Henry O. Walker studied art under Bonnat in Paris and established a studio in New York City. His specialty has been composition in figures. Some of the decorative pictures in the Library of Congress Building on Capitol Hill in Washington are the product of his brush. Others of his works are seen in the decorations in the Appellate Court House in New York City, the State House in Boston, Mass., the Minnesota Capital Building in St. Paul and the Court House in Newark.
Mr. Walker is a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters.
BENJAMIN BRECKINRIDGE WARFIELD-Princeton .- Theo- logical Seminary Professor. Born near Lexington, Ky., November 5, 1851 ; son of William and Mary Cabell ( Breckinridge) Warfield :
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married on August 3, 1876, to Annie Pearce Kinkead, daughter of George Blackburn and Eliza Pearce Kinkead, of Lexington, Ky.
Benjamin B. Warfield is Professor of Didactic and Polemical Theology in Princeton Theological Seminary and has been twice -- in 1911 and 1914- Acting President of the Seminary. The first trace of his line in this country is found in the immigration to Annapolis, Mil., of Richard Warfield, in 1680. Ethelbert Dudley Warfield, who has been President successively of Miami University. of Lafayette College and of Wilson College in Chambers- burg. Pa .. is a brother of Dr. Warfield.
Dr. Warfield's early schooling was acquired in private schools in his native town. He entered the College of New Jersey, now Princeton Uni- versity and was graduated with the degree of A. B. in 1871. receiving the degree of A. M. in 1874. He studied for the ministry at Princeton Theolog- ical Seminary and was graduated there in 1876. In the following year he was a student at the Leipzig University. He was ordained to the Presby- terian ministry in 1879. He had meanwhile become Instructor in New Testa- ment Language and Literature in the Western Theological Seminary at Allegheny (now Pittsburgh, North side) Pa. Upon his ordination he was given the chair of Professor in these studies, and held it until 1887, when he was called to his Princeton Theological Professorship.
Dr. Warfield's pen has been a busy one. He was the co-editor of the "Presbyterian Review" in 1889 and from 1890 to 1903 editor of the "Pres- byterian and Reformed Review." He is frequently called upon to prepare encyclopedia articles, and is an author besides of many books on church topics. These include, "Divine Origin of the Bible" (1SS2), "Inspiration" (1SS2). "Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament" (1886) ."Augustine's Anti-Pelagian Treatises" (1887). "The Idea of Syste- matic Theology" (1SSS), "On the Revision of the Confession of Faith" (1890). "The Gospel of the Incarnation" (1893), "Two Studies in the His- tory of Doctrine" (1893), "The Right of Systematic Theology" (1897), "The Significance of the Westminister Standards" (1898), "Acts and Pas- toral Epistles" (1902), "The Power of God. Unto Salvation" (sermons) (1903), "The Lord of Glory" (1907), "Calvin as a Theologian and Cal- vinism Today" (1909), "Hymns and Religious Verses" (1910). "How Shall we Baptize?" (1911, "The Saviour of the World" (sermons) (1914), "The Plan of Salvation" (1915) and "Faith and Life" (1916).
Dr. Warfield received the degree of D. D. in 1880 and the degree of LL. D. in 1892 from Princeton University, the degree of LL. D. from David- son College in 1892, the degree of Lit. D. from Lafayette College in 1911 and the degree of S. T. D. from the University of Utrecht. Holland. in 1913.
HOWARD CROSBY WARREN-Princeton .- Psychologist. Born at Montclair, on June 12. 1867 ; son of Dorman Theodore and Har- riet (Crosby ) Warren: married on April 5th, 1905. to Catherine Campbell. of Attica, Ind.
Howard C. Warren has been since 1904 the head of the Psychological
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Laboratory, and since 1914 Stuart Professor of Psychology, in Princeton University. He is also President of the "Psychological Review Company", and Senior Editor of its publications.
Professor Warren was graduated from Princeton in 1889 with the de- gree of A. B., receiving the degree of A. M. in 1891, and was a student at the Universities of Leipzig, Berlin and Mumich from 1891 to '93. Mean- while in 1890 he was made instructor of Logic in Princeton College. Upon his return from the German universities he became demonstrator of Psychology at the College and in 1896 was made Assistant Professor and in 1902 Professor of Experimental Psychology. His advancement to the posi- tion of chief of the University's Psychological Laboratory and to the Stuart chair of Psychology followed.
Professor Warren was a compiler of the "Psychological Index" from 1894 to 1907 and 1910. He was Associate Editor of the "American Naturalist" in 1896 and 1897. From 1900 he was Associate Editor, and since 1904 has been co-editor of the "Psychological Review." He has contributed to "Johnson's Cyclopedia" and Baldwin's "Dictionary of Philosophy and Psychology" and is the translator of Tarde's "Social Laws." He is a Fellow of the A. A. A. S., of the Anthropological Association, of the American Psychological Association and was President of the Associations Council in 1913. He is a member of the University Club of New York.
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WALTER SCOTT WASHINGTON-Newark, (520 Parker St.) - Physician. Born in Bordmanville, Ontario, Canada, on February 12th, 1850 ; son of John and Janet (Scott) Washington ; married at Newark, September 3, 1879, to Katherine, daughter of Richard and Louise Concklin, of Newark.
Children : Louise Janet, born April 12th, 1885.
Walter S. Washington was Physician of Rosecommon County in Mich- igan for seven years before he came to Newark thirty years ago, and for eight years after his removal to this state, was County Physician of Essex County. His descent is from the Washington family of Westmoreland, Eng- land. He was educated at the Bordmanville grammar school and Trinity College, Toronto, Canada.
Dr. Washington is a member of the State Medical Society, member and ex-President of the County Medical Society of Essex County, member and ex-President of the Practitioners Club of Newark, a member of the Academy of Medicine of Northern New Jersey and is Consulting Physician of St. James Hospital in Newark. He is also connected with the Forest Hill Golf Club.
DAVID OGDEN WATKINS-Woodbury .- Lawyer. Born at Woodbury, on June 8, 1862; son of William and Honor Watkins;
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married at Woodbury, in 1900, to Lidie M., daughter of Thomas H. Andrews and Anna E. Andrews.
David O. Watkins acted as Governor of New Jersey at a critical par- liamentary period in New Jersey's history. John W. Griggs, elected in 1896, first of a long line of republican Governors of New Jersey, had re- signed to accept President Mckinley's appointment as Attorney General of the United States. Under the constitution the duties of the Governorship for the balance of the term for which Mr. Griggs had been elected. devolved upon Foster M. Voorhees, who was then President of the State Senate. In 1898 Senator Voorhees desired to become a candidate for Governor for the full term beginning in January, 1899. The constitution forbids a Governor to succeed himself and, so that he might not be exercising the functions of a Governor when standing for election, Senator Voorhees, on the eve of the poll, resigned his Senatorship. That left no one to do the Governor's part and, in pursuance of a law of the state, David O. Watkins, who was Speaker of the House of Assembly at the time, assumed the functions. Speaker Watkins took charge of the Governor's office in October, 1898, and held it till Senator Voorhees who had meanwhile been elected to the Governorship by the people was inaugurated in January. 1899.
Educated at the public schools in Woodbury, Mr. Watkins was ad- mitted to the Bar as an attorney in 1893 and as a counselor in 1897 and has since been engaged in the practice of his profession in his home town, serving for sometime as Solicitor of the City and Counsel for the Board of Freeholders.
Mr. Watkins was still a young man when he began to interest himself in politics and from 1886 to 1890 he was Mayor of Woodbury. Two years later he became a member of the City Council and serving for six years was its President from 1895 to 1897. In the fall of 1897 he was elected a mem- ber of the New Jersey House of Assembly and in his second and third years served as Speaker. In 1900 President Mckinley sent Speaker Watkins name to the United States Senate for confirmation as United States District At- torney for New Jersey and he served until 1903, when Gov. Murphy ap- pointed him State Commissioner of Banking and Insurance. His service there continued until 1909.
Mr. Watkins is Vice President of the Farmers & Mechanics National Bank of Woodbury and Vice President and General Counsel of the Wood- bury Trust Company. His club memberships are with the Woodbury Country Club and the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. He is also a member of Florence Lodge, F. & A. M., an Odd Fellow and a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M. and of the Red Men.
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MARY GREGORY WEBB (Mrs. John Burkitt.) -Glen Ridge .- Civic Worker. Born in Hoosic Falls, N. Y., on January 7, 1850 ; daughter of John M. Gregory, LL. D. and Julia Gregory : married to John Burkitt Webb, son of C. R. Webb, of Philadelphia.
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Children : Margaret Ely ; Gregory Burkitt; Dudley Lankester ; Hubert Creaves ; Harold Worthington ; Carolus Roe.
Mrs. Webb became in 1916 Chairman of the Industrial and Social Con- ditions Department of the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Clubs. In 1916 she was made Chairman of the same department in the General Federation of Women's Clubs. She is interested also in the National Child Labor Committee of the American Association on Labor Legislation, is a member of the State Child Labor Committee, and has participated besides in the work of the National Prison Committee and of the National Committee for Mental Hygiene.
Mrs. Webb's father was the first President of the University of Illinois ; and her husband is Professor of Mathematics in the University. Mrs. Webb herself graduated from the University with the class of '74, though she pursued her studies later in that year and in 1875 in Paris and Rome.
Mrs. Webb comes from a long line of colonial ancestors ; the Ely, Worth- ington, Knickerbocker and Gregory families are of the stock. The first colonist of the Gregory name was Henry K. who came from Nottingham, England, about 1633, and lived in Springfield, Mass. and Stratford, Conn. His English relatives claimed descent from a family that has been seated since the Twelfth century in Ashfordby, Leicestershire. Several of Mrs. Webb's fore-bears took part in the Revolutionary War, among them Colonel John Ely, who gave not only his military services but his skill as a medical specialist and his fortune as well, to the cause.
Besides her study years in Paris and Rome, Mrs. Webb spent three years-1878-'S1 in Germany and France. She has done some notable work in the field of fiction and while abroad furnished foreign correspondence to the Chicago and New York city papers.
Besides the connections already referred to, Mrs. Webb is a member of the Woman's Club of Orange, has been director of its Literature Depart- ment, has been a Director of the Civic Club of Glen Ridge and Vice Presi- dent of the Glen Ridge Women's Club and is a member of the Civic Club of New York City, the New England Society, the D. A. R., the Consumers League, the Women's Club and Equal Franchise Society of Glen Ridge and Contemporary Club of Newark.
Mrs. Webb's son Harold W. is a Professor of Physics ; her daughter, Margaret E. is an illustrator ; Carolus R. is an Episcopal clergyman and Gregory B., an architect.
WARREN WEBSTER-Camden, (626 Cooper Street.)-Manu- facturer. Born on June 25th, 1863; son of Jones and Sarah Holmes Webster ; married at Merchantville, to Fannie Siegrist.
Children : Marguerite; Warren Webster, Jr .; and Pauline.
Warren Webster is President of the Warren Webster & Co. firm that manufactures the Webster system of steam heating. He was educated in the Pierce School in Philadelphia, graduating from there in April of 1881. In that school he took a special course in business and immediately after leaving it secured a position with the N. & G. Taylor Company of Philadel-
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phia. He had copied letters there and done clerical work for about six months when he was promoted to the position of assistant clerk to the mana- ger of the sheet iron department, and soon after rose to the full charge of the sheet iron, babbit iron and solder department.
Starting in business for him- self three years later at 12 Potter Lane, with one man and a boy to assist him, he moved from there a little later to 491 North Third Street, Philadelphia. He had acquired a close acquaintance with the science of steam heating; and his business prosperity began when in 1887-'SS he invented improvements in feed water heaters, took out patents and commenced the manufacture of the new appliances. The growth of the business after that was rapid; and in 1893 a large new factory was built at Point and Elm Streets, Camden, where the firm has been located ever since. It is doing business under the name of Warren Webster & Co. Mr. Webster is its President ; and its system of steam heating. of feed water heaters and oil and steam separators is known in many of the countries of the world.
Mr. Webster is President of the Beach Haven Realty Company and a Director of the Long Beach Board of Trade, a life member of the Manu- facturers Club, Philadelphia, and connected with the Island Heights Yacht Club, Merchantville Lodge F. & A. M .. Merchantville Country Club, Seaside Park Yacht Club, Ocean Gate Yacht Club and the Avalon Yacht and Motor Club.
CAROLYN WELLS-Rahway .- Author. Born Rahway, daughter of William E. and Anna ( Woodruff) Wells.
Carolyn Wells traces her ancestry straight back to Thomas Wells, the first Treasurer and the fourth Governor of the state of Connecticut. Her special line in literary work is parodist, and anthologist of parodies, humor- ist and writer of detective stories. Her first notable appearance was as the author of the witty Fluffy Ruffles verses that attracted attention all over the country ; and since she took to writing for a business she has given eighty- six books to the public.
Among Miss Wells's books are, "At the Sign of the Sphinx," "Jingle Book," "The Story of Betty," "Idle Idyls." "Mother Goose's Menagerie,"
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"Folly in Fairyland," "The Merry-Go-Round," "A Nonsense Anthology," "Children of Our Town," "A Phenomenal Fauna," "Abeniki Caldwell," "Eight Girls and a Dog," "The Pete and Polly Stories," "Trotty's Trip," "Folly in the Forest," "The Gordon Elopment," "A Parody Anthology," "The Staying Guest." "Folly of the Wise." "A Matromonial Bureau." "The Dorrance Do- main," "A Satire Anthology." "The Rubaiyat of a Motor Car," "Dorrance Doings," "A Whimsey Anthology," "Rainy Day Diversions," "Emily Em- mins Papers," "Fluffy Ruf- fles," "The Carolyn Wells Year Book," "The Happy Chaps," "Rubaiyat of Bridge," "The Clue," "Seven Ages of Childhood," "Pleasant Day Di- versions," and the series of the "Patty Books," "Marjorie Books," "Diek and Dolly," and of "The Gold Bag." "A Chain of Evidence." "The Lov- ers' Baedeker," "The Maxwell Mystery," "The Read-Out- Loud Books," "Anybody But Anne," "The White Alley." "Two Little Women" series, "Technique of the Mystery Story," "Jolly Plays for Holidays," "The Curved Blades," "The Bride of a Moment" and "The Mark of Cain."
Miss Wells is a member of the Colony Club of New York and the Lyceum Club of London.
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EDWARD HUBBARD WELLS-Montelair .- Business man. Born in Dorrville, R. I., on April 7, 1859; son of Solomon Perry and Elizabeth Sherman (Greene) Wells; married on August 30th. 1900. to Serra Christy Bennett, of New York City.
Mr. Wells equipped himself for business with a common school educa- tion. Connecting himself with the Babcock & Wilcox Company in 1892, he rose to the Presidency in 1898 and is still filling that position. He is a republican in politics and a member of the Engineers', the Railroad, the Recess, the Automobile of America, the Essex County Country, the Mont- clair Golf and the Baltusrol Clubs.
JOHN WESLEY WESCOTT-Camden .- Lawyer. Born at Wa- terford, February 20, 1849; son of John and Catherine (Bozarth)
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Wescott; married at New Haven, Con., January 1, 1875, to Fran- ces L., daughter of Ethan and Marian F. (Brown) Prior.
Children : Henry D., born 1876; Ethan P., born 1SS1 ; Ralph W., born 1SS3.
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John W. Wescott is Attorney General of the State of New Jersey and enjoys the unique distinction of having twice nominated the successful candidate for President of the United States and of having seen his party nominee elected. In the Democratic National Convention of 1912 and again in that of 1916, he was selected to make the nominating speech that put Woodrow Wilson formally before the country. He contributed in no small degree to President Wilson's success in both campaigns by his efforts on the stump. His effective delineation of the President's character was a factor in causing a democratic victory in New Hampshire in the campaign of 1916. Mr. Wescott was also selected by the National Committee to off- set a speech of Charles E. Hughes, the republican Presi- dential candidate, at Rock- land, Me., with the result that Wilson carried Rockland. Mr. Wescott has long been known as a leader of the Bar in this State and has also practised, although not so extensively, as a member of the Connecticut, Pennsylvania and North Caro- lina Bars.
The beginning of the Wes- cott line in this country can be traced back to two brothers, (Richard and Stukeley West- cote), who came to Massa- chusetts with Roger Williams and went with him into Rhode Island. From there a son came to New Jersey and died at Fairfield in what is now Cumberland county in 1702. The family in England includes that John Westcote who became Lord Lyttleton, the great lawyer, celebrated in the commentaries of Lord Coke. Mr. Wescott's mother's family came from northern France where there are still many Bozarths.
Mr. Wescott acquired his education at the Wesleyan Academy in Wil- braham, Mass., having graduated from there in 186S. He was graduated from the Academic department of Yale University with the class of 1872 and from Yale Law School in 1876. While there he rowed on Yale's first S-oared Varsity Crew, captained by the famous "Bob" Cook, and he took the Townsend prize and the De Forest gold medal, the highest University honors for oratory and English composition. Graduation from the Yale Law School constituted admission to the Connecticut Bar. After establishing
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connections there, Mr. Wescott returned to New Jersey and became an at- torney in 1878 and a counselor three years later.
Mr. Wescott's father had very limited means and desired his son to pursue his craft of glass-cutting. His mother had ambitions beyond the father's, however, and it was by her co-operation that he started on the edu- cational career which, she hoped, was to make him a preacher of the gospel of the Methodist Church. During the Civil War he made an effort to join the Union Army. His rejection, even as a drummer boy, because of his slenderness, pointed out to him the necessity of a strong body, in conse- quence of which he came to be one of the noted all-round athletes of Yale. At the age of 68 he retains the vigor and working power of much younger men and attributes this to his persistance in regular and athletic physical habits.
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