USA > New Jersey > New Jersey's first citizens and state guide, Vol. II, 1919-1920 > Part 49
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His business address is Forrest and Halliday Streets, Jersey City, N. J.
JOHN AUGUSTINE SHEPPARD-Jersey City, (240 Ninth St.) -Clergyman. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917.) Born in
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Carlow, Ireland, on September 28, 1849; son of James and Mary (Curran) Sheppard.
John A. Sheppard is a Monsignor, Vicar General of the (Catholic) Diocese of Newark and Prothonotary and Domestic Prelate of the Papal Court. and has a notable record of up-lift church work behind him.
The Right Rev. Monsignor Sheppard was three years old when his parents brought him to Paterson, and he received his primary education in the public schools of the city and in St. John's Parochial School. While he studied in St. John's Parish the Civil War was raging. It occurred to Father McNulty, Rector of St. John's Church, that he might invoke the militant spirit of the hour for the promotion of the cause of temperance. Calling Major Christopher McKiernan, who had just returned from the war, to his aid as a drill associate, he organized two companies of Temperance Cadets and they were led out on their first parade on Independence Day of 1863 with "Col. Sheppard" and the Major in command. Ever since those days Monsignor Sheppard has been a devoted advocate of the tem- perance cause. At that time he had commercial occupations in view and was afterwards employed as a clerk in a couple of the Paterson stores. But his point of view broadened and he made up his mind eventually to devote himself to the Priesthood.
At seventeen he entered St. Charles College, Ellicott City, Md., and from there he became a student in Seton Hall College. In September, 1872, he was enrolled among the first year theologians in the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception at South Orange and graduated from there on June 10, 1876. Of the class that came out with him four have been authors, two Deans, four Monsignors, one who was "Digmissmus" for the Mitre, and, himself, a Vicar General.
Immediately after his ordination Father Sheppard became assistant to the late Monsignor Doane, rector of St. Patrick's Cathedral in Newark; and while serving as curate there he distinguished himself in church circles by founding and promoting the success of the "Sacred Heart Union," a quar- terly established for the purpose of raising funds for the support of the Catholic Protectory. He made many tours to parishes to enlist the sympa- thy and co-operation of the pastors in behalf of the wayward and home- ward boys for whom the Protectory was established, and the receipts from its sales form a large part of the fund that maintains the establishment.
He was still in that service when John McGranigan, a parishoner who had observed his zeal in church work, bequeathed his house and lot, worth about $6,000 and cash to the amount of $14,000 to him. The money was distributed between St. Michael's Hospital, St. Mary's Academy and other religious institutions. The house was turned over to St. Vincent de Paul Society to erect a home for working boys, the foundation of the News- Boys Lodging House which was finally merged into the Catholic Protec- tory.
Monsignor Sheppard was afterwards assigned to the parish at Dover, but Bishop Wigger within a year put him in charge of St. Nicholas' Church in Passaic. The parish was not a promising field at the time; but soon, in place of the dilapitated frame building in which the services had been held. there arose a magnificent stone church of Gothic architecture, a com-
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modius brick school and a suitable stone rectory. His energies spread to the field around him, and St. Mary's Hospital and the Church of Corpus Christi on Hasbrouck Heights are other monuments to his zeal. St. Nicho- las's Parish, which, when he went there, was tottering under a debt of $15,000, had, when he left, property worth above all incumbrances more than $150,000.
The next charge assigned to Father Sheppard was that which he now holds as rector of St. Michael's Church on Ninth St., Jersey City. There he was faced by a debt of $127,000 on property in a run down condition. He addressed himself to the task of changing conditions with characteristic energy ; and in 1909 County Register James C. Clarke, of Hudson, canceled the church mortgage for $100,000 which had been made in 1906 to the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark. The value of the parish property to-day is close on to a half million. It was in 1902 that Father Sheppard was made Vicar General of the Diocese; and, a year fol- lowing, he was the first priest in the United States to receive the distinc- tion of Monsignor at the hands of Pope Pius X after his accession to the throne of St. Peter. The still further mark of distinction. that of Prothono- tary Apostle, came to him in 1903.
Among the greater achievements of Monsignor Sheppard's latter years was the formation of the Diocesian Union of the Holy Name Societies that were already existing, independently, in the various parishes. It was found in 1905 that there were approximately 12,000 men enrolled in the various societies of the diocese, and these formed the nucleus of the present Dioce- sian Union which has a roster of 95,000 men. In the first rally held in Ham- ilton Park, just in front of St. Michael's Church, Jersey City, 14,000 men participated. When the Holy Name Societies inaugurated their first pil- grimage to Rome in July, 1908, Mgr. Sheppard and the Rev. George S. Ben- nitt made all the arrangements for it and chartered the steamship "Carpa- thia" of the Cunard Line for the journey.
Monsignor Sheppard was also one of the influential members of the Bishops Committee that framed what is known as "The Bishops Law" for the regulation of the liquor traffic in the state with a special view to a better observance of the Sunday law and for the suppression of the vicious back rooms some of the drinking places maintained ; and he also originated the movement that resulted in the passage of the act prohibiting Justices of the Peace from performing marriage ceremonies.
During the year 1918 the Holy Name Society of the Diocese of Newark, under the supervision of the Rt. Rev. Monsignor Sheppard, conducted a drive to raise funds for the Hudson Co. Catholic Protectory at Arlington, N. J. The total amount raised was $80,000, and $72.000 are already credit- ed to cash account.
HARRY BARTINE SHERMAN-Eatontown, (Long Branch B'l'v'd. ) -Banker Born at Long Branch, N. J., December 27, 1865 ; son of Henry B. and Catharine M. ( Woolley ) Sherman ; mar- ried at Long Branch, on October 5, 1887, to Marion Corlies, daugh- ter of Samuel T. and Mary J. (Cook) Corlies.
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Children : Harold K., born July 30, 1889 (deceased Aug. 26, 1901) ; and Dorothy, born January 23, 1893 (deceased Jan. 26, 1893.)
Harry Bartine Sherman is the son of Henry B. and Catharine M. ( Woolley ) Sherman, whose ancestors came to America from England in the early part of the seventeenth century. The Shermans came over in 1634, and the Woolleys a few years later.
In his early days, he attended the public schools of Long Branch, his birthplace, graduating in 1882. He then entered Lafayette College, gradu- ating in 18SS. Upon completing his course in college he took a position with the First National Bank of Long Branch, which he held until 1899, then becoming one of the organizers and first cashier of the Citizens National Bank of Long Branch, which he held until 1909. He then became president of the Long Branch Banking Company, and still holds that position.
From 1892 until 1904 he held the position of City Auditor of Long Branch, this being the only public office he has held.
After examination by Regents, Mr. Sherman received the degree of C. P. A. from University, State of New York ; the certificate is dated Sept. 29, 1910.
He is a member of the following organizations: Past Master, Abucus Lodge. F. & A. M .; Royal Arch Masons, Knights Templars. Corsan Com- mandery, besides being senior warden of St. James Episcopal Church of Long Branch.
His business address is 577 Broadway. Long Branch.
MORRIS ROBESON SHERRERD-Newark .- Civil Engineer .- Born in Scranton, Penn., on December 16, 1865 ; son of Samuel and Frances M. (Hamilton) Sherrerd ; married July 9, 1912, to Eleanor V. Norris, of Williamsport, Penn., daughter of William and Har- riet B. Norris.
Morris R. Sherrerd has been for sixteen years Chief Engineer of the Board of Street and Water Commissioners of Newark, and has conse- quently been a factor in the development of one of the largest and most important industrial cities in the United States. It was under his super- vison that the $6,000,000 contract with the East Jersey Water Company was carried out and the city's great new water plant installed. He is also Consulting Engineer to the New Jersey State Water Supply Commission which has supervision of all of the water supplies of the state, and one of the consulting engineers for the Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission.
Mr. Sherrerds family is of English origin. The founder of the Ameri- can branch on his father's side. John Sherrerd, came to this country from London about the middle of the Eighteenth century and settled in Susscx
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county. He was a farmer, a store keeper and a saw mill owner. John M. Sherrerd, a graduate of Princeton in 1812, was the first Surrogate of War- ren county. His son, Samuel, father of Morris R. Sherrerd, and a practic- ing lawyer first in Scranton, Pa., and afterwards in New Jersey, was the Presiding Judge of the Warren County Courts for some years. His mother's stock is of Quaker lineage. The Robesons with whom she is connected on both sides of her family were wealthy Friends who were among the earlier settlers in both Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Jonathan Robeson, the founder of the New Jersey branch, was a son of Judge Andrew Robeson, Chief Justice of the Province of Pennsylvania, who came to America from Scotland in 1676. His son Jonathan moved to Warren county, then a part of Sussex county, and founded the town of Oxford. He was one of the first Judges of Sussex county, and his son, grandson and great-grandson, each in turn, occupied seats on the Court Bench. A daughter in the family mar- ried Gen. Samuel Fitz Randolph Hamilton, who was for many years Quar- termaster of New Jersey. Gen. Hamilton's son, Benjamin, was a large land owner in Princeton ; the University grounds cover part of the estate. The land was donated to the then college, and old "Nassau Hall" stood on it. General Hamilton and his wife were Morris R. Sherrerd's maternal grand- parents.
Morris R. Sherrerd was prepared for college in the Blair Presbyterian Academy at Blairstown and afterwards attended the Rensselaer Poly- technic Institute at Troy, N. Y. Having graduated from there with the class of 1886 with the degree of Civil Engineer, he was for two years con- nected with the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Company of Scranton. Then he entered the employ of the Public Improvement Commission of Troy ; his work since that time has had chiefly to do with municipal improvements. He was afterwards Assistant City Engineer of Peoria, Illinois, but declined the office of City Engineer to return to Troy to take up a consulting prac- tice. He was made City Engineer of Troy and held that position until in 1895 he accepted the tender of the position he now holds in Newark.
Newark created the office of Chief Engineer of Street and Water Board for him, under an act which gave him more latitude in the handling of the engineering work which the introduction of the new water system necessi- tated than had been allowed under older acts. After having laid down the plant and set it in operation, he supervised the construction of the great reservoir at Cedar Grove, with its attending tunnel and pipe lines which. at a cost of about $2,000,000, makes the water supply plant of the city the most complete of that kind of any city of its size in the country. Mr. Sherrerd has, besides his municipal work, been associated with many other large undertakings. One of these, in which he acted as a consulting engineer, necessitated his going to Brazil.
Mr. Sherrerd is past President of the American Water Works Associa- tion, the American Society of Municipal Improvement, and the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute General Alumni. He is past Director of the American Society of Civil Engineers, and is a member of the New England Water Works Association, the American Society for the Testing of Materials, and the New Jersey Sanitary Association, of the Engineers Club, New York
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Club and Theta Delta Chi Club of New York City, and the Essex and Union Clubs of Newark.
LOUIS SHERWOOD-Jersey City, (15 Exchange Place.)-In- surance. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917.) Born in Newark, October 3, 1864: son of Thorne P. Sherwood and Sarah Carman Sherwood.
Louis Sherwood was president of the Jersey City Chamber of Com- merce ; and his activities have been with the movements that make for the upbuild of the city and the county. His parents moved to Jersey City when he was two years old : so he is familiar with the history of the city and for over twenty-five years has taken an active part in public affairs. He at- tended Public School No. 13 and the High School and graduated from Has- brouck Institute in 1882. In the fall of that year he entered his father's insurance office, but eight years later formed a partnership in the insurance business with Edwin Van Houten. He subsequently purchased Van Hou- ten's interest and incorporated under the name of Van Houten & Sherwood Company.
Becoming interested in the Property Interests Association, composed of the banks and manufacturers for the improvement of trolley and ferry con- ditions, Mr. Sherwood was made its Vice President. He served as a mem- ber of the Citizens Committee that arranged the week's observance of the 250th Anniversary in 1910, of the founding of the Town of Bergen, (110W Jersey City ), and of the other Committee of Thirty that arranged the local ceremony at the opening of the Mcadoo tunnels in 1909. He was a mem- ber, too, by Gov. Fielder's appointment, of the Ways and Means Committee, which, on behalf of New Jersey, prosecuted, before the Interstate Commerce Commission, the case against the railroads for alleged discrimination in freight rates to Jersey City. He was one of the delegates from the Hud- son County Historical Society to the historical ceremonies in Newark that were part of that city's 250th Anniversary Celebration in 1916.
Mr. Sherwood was President of the Y. M. C. A. of Jersey City in 1899; was a charter member of the Signal Corps, N. G. N. J., serving for nine years, and one of the incorporators of the Down Town Club and its first President ; has been Vice President of the Lincoln Trust Company since 1910, and Secretary of the Hudson County Historical Society since 1909 and for thirty years a member of the Lincoln Association of Jersey City. He is a member of Unique Council. 434, Royal Arcanum, was President of the Schubert Glee Club of Jersey City, is a Director of the Newman Industrial Home of Jersey City and a charter member of Montclair Chapter S. A. R. and a member of the New Jersey Society Sons of the Revolution. He is Treasurer, Elder and senior organist of Lafayette Reformed Church and a member of the Carteret and Cosmos Clubs of Jersey City.
The only public office Mr. Sherwood ever held was that of Harbor Board Commissioner, which went out of existence when Jersey City adopt- ed the Commission form of government. While he was serving on the Com- mission the city. with its aid, took formal possession of the South Cove
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tract which had been the subject of controversy in the courts for twenty- five years or more. The Commission erected a municipal dock, the only modern public dock owned by the city on its valuable water front. The same Commission was the first body to recommend an Industrial Connect- ing Railway, the first section of which will soon be constructed. He has served actively in the Jersey City Chamber of Commerce for over twenty years, has been its Treasurer, Vice President and President. As Chairman of the Insurance Committee of the Board of Trade (former name of the Chamber of Commerce) he aided to secure improvements in the Fire De- partment and Water Supply Service that reduced insurance rates and saved the public in the aggregate about $100,000 a year in insurance premiums.
He was Chairman of the campaign committee in 1916 which established the Jersey City Chapter of the Red Cross in Jersey City with a membership of about 4,000. He was associated with the War Department Commission on Training Camp Activities for several months during 1917 and 1918.
JAMES K. SHIELDS-Maplewood .- Clergyman. Born at Blairs- ville, Pa., June 22, 1867; son of John and Myrtilla (Stewart) Shields ; married at Blairsville, September 17, 1891, to Gertrude M. Graff, who died February 25, 1898: re-married November 15, 1900, to Bessie M. Mack, of Chicago.
Children : Wendell G., born June 20, 1895; James Marshall. born Sept. 18, 1904; Stewart Dudley, born Dec. 17, 1907; William Wallace, born Oct. 23, 1909.
Dr. Shields is the Superintendent and the chief Executive Officer of the Anti-Saloon League of New Jersey, which aims to establish prohibition in the state through the agency of local option elections. While he is recog- nized as a forceful platform speaker, his greatest strength and most notable successes have been as a leader and organizer. He comes of early Puritan stock on his mother's side: on his father's side he is of Scotch-Irish descent. He spent the first twenty years of his life on a farm in Indiana county, Pa., attending the school in that locality meanwhile. After his studies at the Indiana State Normal School, and at Alleghany College, Meadville, Pa., he entered the North Western University to prepare for the ministry.
In 1887 Mr. Shields went to Chicago and resided there for twenty-five years. On leaving the North Western University in 1906, he organized the Joyce Methodist Episcopal Church, north side of Chicago, and left it after five years in a prosperous condition. Following this, he served the Engle- side Avenue Church and the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Free- port, Illinois. At the beginning of the year 1906, he was called to reform work as the Superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of Illinois. It was in the early days of this great work and under his management that the Illinois League became the second most powerful organization of its kind in the Union and it has since remained so. During his administration he procured the passage of the present Local Option Law, which has resulted in driving the saloons from considerably more than one-half of the state.
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has aroused a sentiment for the closing of the saloons even in Chicago and laid the foundation for the state-wide Prohibition which is now being actively urged upon the Legislature of Illinois.
In 1911, the greatest Inter-National Anti-Alcoholic Congress that was ever held met at the Hague, Holland. Queen Wilhelmina requested that the United States Government select twelve representatives to be sent to this Congress. Mr. Shields was one of the twelve named by President Taft for that important mission.
It was in the fall of 1912 that Dr. Shields was called to the State of New Jersey to direct the labors of the Anti-Saloon League here. Under his directions the movement has made great headway in this most difficult field.
GEORGE MARSHALL SHIPMAN-Belvidere .- Lawyer. Born at Belvidere, on April 20, 1850; son of Jehiel Gardner and Mary Louisa (Morris) Shipman ; married at Belvidere, on June 26, 1878, to Annie Louisa, daughter of Richard D. Wilson.
Children : Margaret Wilson ; Jehiel Gardner, 1st Lieut., U. S. A., stationed in France; George Marshall, Jr., graduated from Prince- ton, class of 1916. served in U. S. A. during war, discharged at close of war and admitted to the bar of New Jersey in Nov. 1919.
George M. Shipman was for many years the Presiding Judge of the Warren County Courts. A republican in politics, his first appointment came from Gov. Griggs in 1898, and he served by re-appointment by Gov.'s Mur- phy and Fort until Gov. Wilson displaced him with Joseph M. Roseberry. His father, also a lawyer, had a large railroad practice; and before Judge Shipman ascended the Bench he was Counsel for the Delaware Lackawanna & Western, the New York Susquehanna & Western, the Central of New Jersey, the Lehigh Valley and the Lehigh & Hudson railroad companies.
Judge Shipman is of Norman descent. though his family has long figured in the professional and public life of Warren county. His mother was a descendant of Major Peter Morris who was an officer in the Conti- nental army. Judge Shipman was educated under the preceptorship of Rev. Frederick Knighton, D. D., Principal of the Classical Academy at Belvi- dere, and later took a course in Princeton University, graduating from there in 1870 with the A. B. degree. The University subsequently conferred the A. M. degree. His law studies were pursued in his father's office and he was admitted to the Bar as an attorney in 1873 and became a counselor in 1876. The partnership which, upon his admission, he formed with his father, continued until the elder Mr. Shipman's death and the practice of the firm was then taken over by Judge Shipman alone. He continued in it until his appointment to the Bench. Judge Shipman is much interested in church work, a presiding elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Belvi- dere and in 1911 the Presbytery of Newton elected him to the office of Moderator. He is President of the Belvidere National Bank.
Judge Shipman is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, the Easton Pomfret Club and the Princeton Club of New York.
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Judge Shipman's son, Jehiel G., a graduate of Princeton and for a time a student in the law office of Robert H. McCarter, is now of the law firm of Fort & Fort, Newark.
GEORGE S. SILZER-Metuchen, (Graham Place.)-Jurist. Born at New Brunswick, April 14, 1870; son of Theodore and Christina (Zimmerman) Silzer ; married at Metuchen, on April 18, 1898, to Henrietta T. Waite, daughter of Ceplias K. Waite.
Children : Parker Waite, born April 20, 1900.
George S. Silzer was elected to the New Jersey State Senate in 1906, on an anti-bribery platform suggested by the agitation of the day against the purchase of seats in the United States Senate. The amendment to the Federal Constitution which provides for the popular election of United States Senators was largely due to the belief that money had more to do than merit with Senatorial elections. Mr. Silzer had been a leading member of the New Brunswick Board of Aldermen and Chairman of the Democratic County Committee, and he entered the anti-bribery movement with consid- erable force. Made the democratic candidate for the State Senate in 1906, he was elected by a handsome majority and re-elected by a larger one in 1909. The translation of Dr. Woodrow Wilson from Princeton University to the Governorship of New Jersey was the outgrowth of a reform move- ment, of which the anti-bribery agitation was a feature.
Mr. Silzer was in the Senate during the first two years of Gov. Wilson's administration, and aided in the passage of the remedial and corrective legislation which Governor Wilson promoted. The Governor nominated him for Prosecutor of the Pleas of Middlesex county at the expiration of his senate term in 1912. In 1914 he resigned to accept appointment as a Cir- cuit Judge. The appointment was for an unexpired term, and when it ran out in 1915 he was reappointed. His term will expire in 1922.
Judge Silzer was educated in the local schools and at the High School of New Brunswick. He was admitted to the Bar as an attorney in 1892 and made a counselor in 1899. He is a 32nd degree Mason, of the Mystic Shrine, a B. P. O. E., a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association and of the New Brunswick Country and Somerville Country, Metuchen Golf and the Metuchen Clubs.
FREDERICKA McHARG SIMS-Newark, (247 Belleville Ave.) -Singer. Born at Newark, N. J., September 12, 1895; daughter of Winfield Scott and Josephine (Courter) Sims.
Fredericka McHarg Sims is descended from English-American stock. Both father and grandfather, Captain Lindsay D. Sims, were veterans of the Civil War.
In her early life, she attended the public schools of Newark, and later the Barringer and Central High Schools. She graduated in 1914.
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Her career as a singer began shortly after. She studied music with Wilfried Klamroth, of New York, and before completing her course, in May, 1916, received extensive concert engagements. Her singing at vari- ous charitable festivals in her home city brought her many offers to go on the stage, and in April, 1916, she organized her own company and for almost two years she appeared on the Proctor and Keith Circuit in a high class musical act.
When the war broke out, she became interested in charity work to re- lieve and entertain soldiers and sailors, and thereupon gave up professional work for the duration of the war. In Canada she sang to 1,000 wounded men, convalescing at Toronto, and since then she has sung in army en- campments from Canada to South Carolina. She also aided in recruiting work for the army and navy, and during the Liberty Loan campaigns as- sisted the New York, Newark and Philadelphia Liberty Loan committees, by singing at rallies. All in all she sang to more than half a million men during her tours around the camps, and as recognition of her services she was awarded the red triangle by the Y. M. C. A.
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