USA > New Jersey > New Jersey's first citizens and state guide, Vol. II, 1919-1920 > Part 53
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MARK A. SULLIVAN-Jersey City, (15 Exchange Place. )- Lawyer. Born in Jersey City, November 23, 1878; son of Mark and Catherine (Driscoll) Sullivan; married July 11, 1906, to Elizabeth V. Ward, daughter of John and Mary Ward, of Jersey City.
Children : Elizabeth ; Winifred ; Mark ; Mary ; Eileen ; Thomas.
Mark A. Sullivan was for four years one of the members of the New Jersey House of Assembly from Hudson county, subsequently a Judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals of the State and the Presiding Judge of the Hudson County Court of Common Pleas.
Mr. Sullivan's parents on both sides were natives of Ireland who came to this side however, before he was born. He was educated at St. Peter's parochial school and subsequently took the course at St. Peter's College in Jersey City. He read law in the office of Henry Ewald, was admitted as an attorney in 1903 and as counselor in 1910, and began the practice of the law in Jersey City. In 1906 the democrats of Hudson county put his name upon their ticket as one of their candidates for the House of Assembly and he was elected. He served also in the legislatures of 1908, 1909 and 1910, and had a large hand in shaping the legislation of the four sessions.
In 1910 Gov. Fort appointed Assemblyman Sullivan a Judge of the State Court of Errors and Appeals and he was reappointed by Gov. Wilson in 1911. A few months later he resigned to cuter the democratic primaries in Jersey City as a candidate for the Mayoralty. In 1913 Gov. Wilson named Judge Sullivan as Presiding Judge of the Hudson County Courts .. At the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform Laws for 1913-
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14-15-16-17-18 he was by appointment of Governors Wilson, Fielder and Edge, a delegate from this state to the Conference.
THERON Y. SUTPHEN-Newark, (992 Broad Street.) Short Hills .- Physician. Born at Walworth, Wayne county, N. Y., June 6. 1850; son of Reuben Morris and Hannah Virginia (Morris) Sutphen ; married at Johnsonsburg, to Sarah Locke Vail, daughter of Dr. William P. and Sarah Locke Vail, who died in 1907; 2nd, in 1911, to Emma G. Lathrop, who died in 1912.
Children : 1st marriage, Dr. E. Blair, Robert Morris, Margaret Morris.
Theron Y. Sutphen comes of a family that has played its part in the development of New Jersey, and himself enjoys a wide distinction in the medical world as an expert in the treatment of eye and ear diseases. The roots of the ancestral tree are found in the old-Twelfth century-town of Zutphen, a fortified town on the banks of the Yssel, nineteen miles from Arnheim. The family seemed to have been powerful enough there to give its . own name to the town. For a time part of the Hanseatic League, the town played an important part in the beginnings of Holland and Germany. Probably all of the Sutphins, Sutvins and Zutvins in the United States find there origin there.
The first of the line to cross the seas was Dirck Van Zutphen, who came to the New Netherlands about 1651 and finally settled in Flatbush, L. I. In time, he sold his farm there and went to live on land in part of what is now known as Bay Ridge on the New York Bay shore front. Later his name appears in the records as that of one of the patentees of New Ut- recht, L. I., under a grant signed by Governor Dougan.
He had a large family ; and his daughters remained in Long Island, continuing the strain there. But the sons, five of them, crossed the two great rivers and, coming to New Jersey, settled in Freehold. Dirck Sut- phen, born in 1719, son of one of these five brothers, is supposed to have been the "Dick" Sutphen who was Sergeant in Captain Waddell's Com- pany, First Regiment of the first establishment ; and three of his sons are known to have been privates in Captain Walton's Troop of Light Dragoons. The Proprietors' records of that day show that it was upon three farms owned by the family of sons that the famous battle of Monmouth was fought.
Another Dirk, son of one of the five sons, came to be known as a man of large wealth, as wealth went in those days-a slave owner who lived prodigally, till he lost his money and was obliged to rent a farm in Prince- ton to live on and eventually to emigrate, in a canvas-covered wagon, to the shores of Lake Ontario.
Reuben Morris Sutphen, born 1819, the father of Dr. Theron Y. Sut- phen, was of this line. He rose to be a physician of distinction. He had matriculated at the University of New York in 1845, teaching school mean- while to defray expenses at Walworth, N. Y., and coming subsequently to
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Newark, was in the enjoyment of a large practice there for thirty four years. He died in 1903 at the ripe age of eighty-four years, at the home of his son in Short Hills.
It was while Dr. Reuben Morris Sutphen was residing in Walworth, that Dr. Theron Y. Sutphen was born. He studied in the schools there, un- til, when his parents came to Newark, he attended and graduated at the High School in that city. Later he studied at the University of New York for a year and, in 1871, entered the Medical College connected with Belle- vue hospital, in New York City, receiving his M. D. degree in 1873. Return- ing to Newark. he engaged in general practice. He exhibited particular skill in the treatment of eye and ear diseases ; and his appointment in 1874 as Assistant Surgeon in the Eye and Ear Department of St. Michael's hos- pital in Newark, not only set his attention the more that way, but also gave him new opportunities for their study. He devoted himself entirely to that line of professional work and has won high rank among the special- ists of the country.
Dr. Sutphen is a member of the State and County Medical Societies, the Practitioners Club (Newark), New York Academy of Medicine, Ameri- can Medical Association, Congress of Physicians, Surgeons of America, American Ophthalmological Society, American Olotogical Society and American Association of Opthalmology and Otolaryngology. He is also a member of the Holland Society of New York, a life member of the New Jersey Historical Society, a member of the Essex Club and the Essex County Country Club and has been connected for thirty years with the South Park Presbyterian Church in Newark. While Dr. Sutphen has not been particularly active in political affairs, he is a republican.
FREDERICK CHARLES SUTRO-Basking Ridge .- Manufac- turer. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917). Born at St. Louis, Mo., September 7, 1877 ; son of Ludwig and Lilly ( Fraatz) Sutro, of New York City; married on November 30, 1912, to Elizabeth Tallman Winne, daughter of Odgen F. and Jane D. Winne, of Kingston, N. Y.
Children : Odgen Winne, born November 26, 1913; Louis Le Fevre, born December 3, 1915.
Frederick Charles Sutro graduated in 1895, from Columbia Grammar School, New York, and in 1899 from Harvard College with the degree of A. B. Becoming a resident of New Jersey in 1901, he was elected President of the West New York Civic Society which, between May, 1908, and No- vember. 1909, reformed and re-organized the town, saving it from virtual bankruptcy.
The myserious disappearance of $105,000 of bonds of the school dis- trict of West New York emphasized suspicion among the large tax payers that the town government was being at least recklessly administered ; and the Civic Society was the outcome. An injunction secured by Lawyer Herbert Boggs, restraining the town officials from diverting the assess- ment funds to the current expense account, made it difficult for the town
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officials to raise money at the banks; and the Civic Society had an in- vestigation made by the courts under authority of the Summary Investi- gation law. The taking of the testimony, extended over eight months and costing almost $10,000, resulted in the discovery of defalcations to the amount of about $25,000 ; and the Civic Society went into politics to effect a complete re-organization of the town government and succeeded in giving the town a new and reliable set of rulers. The $105,000 school bonds were traced to a Cleveland broker who was soon afterwards sentenced to a term in the Ohio State penitentiary for another crime. Of the missing bonds, $38,000 were replevined ; but the town had to pay the remaining $67,000 because the bonds were in the hands of innocent holders.
In 1912 Mr. Sutro was appointed by Gov. Wilson to serve on the New Jersey Palisades Inter-State Park Commission for a five year term, and in 1913 Gov. Sulzer of New York named him to serve on the New York Com- mission for the same term of five years. In 1913 the New Jersey Commis- sion selected him as its Treasurer. From 1903 to 1913 he was a member and part of the time Vice Chairman, of the Somerset County Democratic Executive Committee and a member from Somerset of the Democratic State Auxiliary Committee.
In 1915 Mr. Sutro became President of the Sutro Bros. Braid Co., a manufacturing concern with offices in New York City and a plant in West New York.
In 1918 Mr. Sutro was reappointed by Governor Edge and Governor Whitman to a second five year term as Commissioner of the Palisades Interstate Park.
At the outbreak of the war he enlisted as a private in the Bernards Infantry Company, New Jersey Militia Reserve and attained before the close of the war the rank of Second Lieutenant. He also served as Four Minute Man and associate member of the Legal Advisory Board of Somerset County. He was chairman for Basking Ridge of a number of War Library. food pledge, Red Cross and War Work campaigns and is a member of the finance committee of the Somerset Hills Chapter of the Red Cross. He is a member of the Bernards Township Board of Education, President of the Basking Ridge Improvement Society, member of the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church. trustee of the Fourth Universalist Society of New York and a member of the Harvard Clubs of New York and New Jer- sey.
FRANCIS J. SWAYZE-Newark. (765 High Street. )-Lawyer. Born at Newton, Sussex Co., May 15, 1861; son of Jacob L. and Johanna (Hill) Swayze; married at Newton, on October 13, 1SS7, to Louise Barrett, daughter of the Rev. Myron and Emma E. Bar- rett.
Francis J. Swayze, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, was considered by President Taft for the distinction of a seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. Apart from his
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professional work, Justice Swayze has been a factor in the civic and educa- tional life of the state.
Mr. Swayze's father, of farmer stock in Warren and Sussex counties, conducted a retail store in Hope, Stanhope and Newton. He was cashier of the Merchants National Bank of Newton from its organization, subse- quently becoming its President. Francis J. Swayze's early education was acquired at the Newton Collegiate Institute, which he attended from 1871 to '75. In '75, he entered Harvard College, graduating with the A. B. de- gree in 1879. The A. M. degree was conferred upon him a year later, and in 1916, the degree of LL. D .- which had been conferred upon him by Rut- gers College also in 1911.
After three months at the Harvard Law School and two years in an office, he was admitted as an attorney in 1882 an in June, 1885, as a counselor. He practised law at Newton for ten years but moved to New- ark in 1892. In 1900, Gov. Voorhees appointed him a Circuit Court Judge. In 1903 he was appointed by Gov. Murphy, to the Bench of the Supreme Court of the State as an Associate Justice; when his term expired in 1910, Gov. Fort reappointed him for the second term to end in 1917 and reappointed by Gov. Edge in 1917. In the assignment of districts by the Chief Justice and his Associates, the Hudson County Circuit-one of the two most important in New Jersey-finally fell of Justice Swayze and he is still presiding there.
Justice Swayze was Overseer at Harvard College from 1909 to '15, and again appointed in 1917 for a term to end in 1923; and, for several years, he has been President of the New Jersey Historical Society. He was, for a time, a member of the Committee of One Hundred, appointed by Mayor Haussling in connection with the 250th Anniversary, in 1916, of the founding of Newark.
Justice Swayze delivered an historical address at Newton on the 150th anniversary of the formation of Sussex county; an address in 1912 at Newark on the dedication of the Washington monument, and an historical address at Newark on the 250th anniversary of the foundation of that city.
Justice Swayze is a member of the Harvard Club of New Jersey, and has been President of the Harvard Alumni Association and is one of the Trustees of the Washington Association of New Jersey.
KATE DICKINSON SWEETSER-East Orange, (18 Ivanhoe Terrace.)-Author. Born in New York City, daughter of Charles H. and Mary N. Sweetser.
Kate Dickinson Sweetscr is well known in the literary world by reason of her popular "juveniles," as well as her antecedents, who were also "writer folk." Her great-grandfather was one of the founders of Amherst College, and her father founded the "New York Evening Mail," and was also editor of the "Round Table," the first literary weekly in this country. Emily Dickinson, the poet, was her cousin, and throughout the family runs a decidedly literary and artistic vein. 1. Miss Swectser herself began to
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write when in her early teens. Her first story was published in "The Churchman," and was followed soon after by a two part one in "The Out- look," and others which were very poular with bay and girl readers in "St. Nicholas."
When scarcely over thirteen years of age, she became annoyed with her young friends who refused to read Dickens' novels, of which she was very fond on account of the pen portraits of boys and girls so wonderfully portrayed in them. Finally she declared, "I am going to make a book of my own, and it is going to have in it all the boys Dickens has made famous. You will have to read it because I wrote it, and then perhaps you will read the books from which the boys are taken," She compiled the book, which included Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, etc., and called it "Ten Boys from Dickens." Although it was almost six years before she found a publisher, when at last it was brought out, in its artistic make-up, by R. H. Russell, it was an immediate success, and has led to the publication of that series which has brought its writer much recognition and pleasure. The others of the series are "Ten Girls from Dickens," "Boys and Girls from Thakeray," "Boys and Girls from George Eliot," "Ten Boys from His- tory," "Ten Girls from History," "Book of Indian Braves," "Ten Great Adventurers,"-also "Teddy Baird's Luck," a book of short original stories published by D. Appleton & Co., and "Mickey of the Alley," another volume of short stories which had been published in magazines. In the fall of 1917 Harper Brothers, who publish all of Miss Sweetser's juveniles brought out a new one, which was dedicated to Mrs. Woodrow Wilson, "Ten Amer- ican Girls from History."
Miss Sweetser is a member of the Authors' League of America, and is frequently seen on ladies day at the Authors' Club rooms in Carnegie Hall. She is also a member of the Scribblers Club, and the Monday Music Club of Orange, where she makes her home. It was in Orange, during Amelia Barr's residence in that city, that Miss Sweetser became a pupil of the gifted older writer, and she declares today that most of the valuable "tricks of the trade" she learned in Mrs. Barr's study.
But literary work is not Miss Sweetser's most vital interest. She is especially interested in work with and for girls, as well as many kinds of civic work. When questioned on the subject of her personal likes and dis- likes, she declared laughingly ; "I own up to three fads - human nature, autographed books (of which she has a fine collection) and cats! I like all kinds and conditions of people and always have a common kitchen cat, mostly black, to sit on my desk and edit my masterpieces."
IDA POND SYLVESTER (Mrs. Isaiah Waters)-Passaic, (74 Ascension St.,) .- Artist. Civic Worker. Born in New York City ; daughter of Daniel F. and Cornelia (Burling) Pond; married at Passaic, to Isaiah Waters Sylvester, son of Fordyce and Eliza (Waters) Sylvester of Chesterfield, Mass.
Children : Irene Waters, born October 15, 1890; Lancaster Bur- ling, born March 22, 1895 (died July 1897).
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Mrs. Sylvester was one of the first women in New Jersey to receive an appointment to a Board of Education. She was chosen as the can- didate of the Women's Club of Passaic and the Passaic Equal Suffrage League taking her seat on the Board in 1911 and has served seven years. Her most notable work on the Board has been introducing the Gary school system in Passaic, establishing Penny Lunches and Social Center Work. She is Chairman of Books and Supplies and Child Welfare Com- mittees.
Mrs. Sylvester's education and welfare work has reached throughout the state and her Art training has had its influence. She was State ('hair- man of the Educational Department of the New Jersey Federation of Women's Clubs from 1914-'17, State Chairman of the Art Department from 1917-'20. She is a member of State Board of Federated Women's Clubs, member State Board of Suffrage, member State Board Women's Peace Party, Suffrage Chairman-at-large of Passaic County, member of Ex-Club of N. J. State Federation, Ex-President's Club of the Sixth Dis- trict, Child Labor and Welfare Committee. She has lectured on education and art.
In her own city Mrs. Sylvester has been elected twice to the Presi- dency of the largest Women's Club. She is a charter member of the Kenilworth Society, the leading social and literary society ; a Trustee of Unitarian Church; Director of Day Nursery; Chairman of Three Min- ute Speakers in Liberty Loan Drives; Chairman, School Child Welfare Committee of National Defense. She is a member of the Browning Society of New York City and has been Vice-President of Mt. Holyoke Alumnae Association. Mrs. Sylvester has also done literary work, having pub- lished stories and articles in papers and magazines. She has for three years conducted a page in New Jersey Bulletin of Federated Clubs.
Mrs. Sylvester was educated at Mt. Holyoke College and subsequent- ly studied Art in the Art Student's League of New York City and in the studios of Bolton and Frank Jones, Walter Satterlee, William Chase and others. She conducted a studio for several years in Jersey City and trained many Art students. Her paintings in oil and water color were well known in the exhibits of National Academy of Design, the Fine Arts Exhibitions of New York and Philadelphia.
The family of Mrs. Sylvester traces back to English ancestry on both sides. Her father's parents were Quakers and her father was trained at Wesleyan College for the Methodist ministry. Her mother, Cornelia (Burling) Pond, was born and married in New York City Her grand- father, Lancaster S. Burling, was Trustee for many years of the first Meth- odist church in this country in John Street, New York City, where his name is recorded on a bronze tablet ; and her grandmother, Cornelia Burling, was the first female Superintendent of the first Methodist Sunday School in New York. Lancaster Burling was, during most of his lifetime, connect- ed with the only bank in New York at the time, "the City Bank."
THOMAS WHITNEY SYNNOTT-Wenonoh .- Retired. (Photo- graph publisher in Vol. 1, 1917). Born at Glassboro, 1845; son of
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Myles and Harriet Heston (Whitney) Synnott ; married at Phila- delphia, Pa., in 1872, to Mary D. Eldridge, daughter of Septimus Tustin and Mary Pierce Eldridge, of Philadelphia.
Children : Clayton Eldridge Synnott, born in 1876.
Thomas W. Synnott's ancestry gives him admission to membership in the Society of Colonial Wars and of the Sons of the Revolution. A Presby- terian in doctrine, he is President of the Board of Trustees of Princeton Theological Seminary and is otherwise interested in religious work. He is a member of the Presbyterian General Assembly's Committee on Evange- listic Work, of its Board of Publication and Sabbath School Work, of the Board of Aid for Colleges of the Presbyterian Church of the United States, of the Executive Committee of World's Sunday School Work and of the Presbyterian Historical Society, also Vice-President of the General Board of Education of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. He is also Presi- dent of the Gloucester County Bible Society, Vice President of the New Jersey State Sunday School Association, Treasurer of the Inter-Church Federation of New Jersey, Vice President of the Lord's Day Alliance of the United States, and President of the New Jersey State organization whose efforts to enforce observation of the Sabbath, in Atlantic City especially, have attracted wide attention.
In business life he was an important factor until he retired from active work in 1892 to devote himself to the field of philanthropy. From 1870 he was the guiding force in one of the oldest and largest glass manufacturing establishments in the country. The plant at Glassboro was acquired by Col. Thomas Heston, his great-grandfather, at the close of the Revolution. It was long known as Heston's Glass Works, but the title was changed later, and the business has for many years been conducted under the name of the Whitney Glass Works. Mr. Synnott became the first President of the Whitney Glass Works when it was incorporated, and he retained that position until he retired from active business in 1892.
While a republican in politics and a member of the Union League of Philadelphia, Mr. Synnott has declined all offers of political preferment. Governor Fielder however in 1915 appointed him a member of the State Board of Education and he accepted the position. His term will expire in 1923. Besides the organization memberships already referred to, Mr. Synnott is President of the First National Bank of Glassboro, Trustee of Lincoln University, Keswick Colony, School for Christian Workers, and a member of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, New Jersey Historical Society. National Institute Social Sciences and of the National Economic League.
JEAN R. TACK-Newark, (16 Wright Street.)-Jeweler. (Pho- tograph published in Vol. 1, 1917). Born in Newark, on March 27th, 1875; son of Jean and Amelia (Locher) Tack; married at Newark, on March 16th, 1904, to Amelia Gertrude Eberle.
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Jean R. Tack has been President of the New Jersey Retail Jewelers Association for four years, is Vice-President of the American Retail Jewel- ers Association and has been the official representative of the National As- sociation at many state conventions in the South and West. Also, repre- senting the 4,000 retail jewelers throughout the country, he is a National Councillor to the United States Chamber of Commerce at Washington.
Mr. Tack began his education at the Green street elementry school, and continued under private tutors and is a graduate of the Newark Busi- ness College. At the age of fourteen he began to acquaint himself with the jewelry business and the watch making trade and later the optical profes- sion. in his father's establishment. While remaining active in business, he took a course in the study of optics at the Philadelphia Optical College and in 1890 was awarded the degree of Doctor of Optometry. He succeeded to the business in 1899 when his father retired and opened a new store oppo- site the Jersey Central Railway station on Broad Street.
The rapid growth of the business made larger quarters necessary and the new location at 857 Broad Street was secured. He acquired ownership of the Weequahic Cut Glass business and the stock was added to that in the Broad Street store. The exactions of the increased business made it necessary for Mr. Tack to turn over the optical branch to assistants and even to place the watch and jewelry departments in the hands of efficient department heads. He continues however to give personal attention to the selection and purchase of the loose and mounted diamonds the establish- ment requires. Mr. Tack's years of study of gems of the first water has made him a recognized diamond expert.
Notwithstanding the demands of business. Mr. Tack finds opportunity for participation in the civic and social life of the community. He is a member of the Newark Yacht Club and was its Commodore in 1898-99-1900. He has been Secretary and Treasurer of the South Broad Street Merchants Improvement Association for many years and was chiefly instrumental in securing the extension of the white light district from North Broad Street down through South Broad Street. He is Chairman of the Vigilance Com- mittee of the Advertising Men's Club and is an active member of the Ro- tary Club. the Credit Men's Club and the New Jersey Chamber of Com- merce. His activities in the Retail Jewelry Association have been par- ticularly directed to the prosecution of the "fly-by-night" jewelry adven- turers.
MARTHA TARBELL-East Orange, (84 Beech Street.)-Wri- ter. Daughter of Horace Sumner and Martha A. (Treat) Tar- bell.
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