USA > New Jersey > New Jersey's first citizens and state guide, Vol. II, 1919-1920 > Part 55
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He was formerly a member of the Plainfield Common Council, presi- dent of the Plainfield Board of Education. president of the Plainfield Anti-Tuberculosis League and for eleven years secretary of the Plainfield Charity Organization Society.
He is a member and former president of the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of New Jersey, member of the Psi Upsilon Fraternity. the University Club of New York, Railroad Club of New York, Psi Upsilon Club of New York, Plainfield Country Club, Essex Club of Newark and the Down Town Club of Newark.
He has prepared and edited "Recollections of the Civil War." pub-
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lished by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1912, from manuscripts and original letters of his father.
His business address is 30 Church Street, New York City.
FRANK JOHN URQUHART-Newark, (342 Clifton Avenue. ) - Editor. Born at Toronto, Canada, May 4, 1865; son of Adam and Ellen (Rogers) Urquhart ; married at Newark, N. J., April 28, 1895, to Martha Elizabeth Nicals, daughter of William H. Nicals.
Children : Jean, born April 7. 1901, and Louise Woodruff, born January 17, 1903.
Frank John Urquhart is a descendant of English-Scotch ancestry. His maternal great-grandfather was a clergyman in the north of Ireland, and his son went to Canada in the early part of the nineteenth century. There the father of Frank John Urquhart joined him, remaining in Toronto until 1867, when he came to New England, settling at Leominster, Massa- chusetts.
In his early life, he attended the public schools of Leominster, gradu- ating from the Leominster High School in 1883. With the September term that same year he entered Dartmouth College, at Hanover, New Hamp- shire, from which he was graduated in 1887 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.
He has since been a resident of Newark, where he now is associate editor and one of the directors of the Newark Sunday Call, Printing and Publishing Company. Prior to the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, he assisted in organizing the New Jersey Naval Reserve in Newark. He is the author of a number of books on the history of the city of Newark, and for several years was a lecturer on the history of Newark in the public schools of the city.
At the time of the 250th anniversary of the founding of Newark in 1916. he was a member of the Committee of One Hundred and was chair- man of the Committee on Monuments and Tablets.
He is a member of the Vestry of the Protestant Episcopal Church of St. James, of Newark, the Newark Board of Trade, the North End Club, Dartmouth College Alumni Association of New York and an honorary member of the Newark Camera Club.
His business address is 204 Market Street, Newark, N. J.
BENJAMIN A. VAIL-Rahway .- Lawyer. Born in Woodbridge, on August 15, 1844; son of Benjamin Franklin and Martha C. ( Parker ) Vail.
Benjamin A. Vail, ex-State Senator and ex-Judge, is of Quaker origin, his grandfather, Benjamin Vail, an early settler upon a farm between Rah- way and Plainfield, having been of the Society of Friends. The family had
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come from England to Massachusetts in 1637, and Edward Fitz Randolph, of Colonial memory, was one of his direct ancestors.
Senator Vail graduated from Haverford College in 1865. He studied law in the offices of Parker & Keasby, was admitted to the Bar in 1868 and became a counselor in 1871. He opened an office in Rahway for the practice of his profession and meanwhile engaged in public affairs. He was a mem- ber of the Rahway Council, in 1875 was elected to a seat in the New Jersey Assembly of 1876 and re-elected a year later to that of 1877. He served later for two terms for Union county in the State Senate and in 1884 pre- sided over that body. In 1898 Gov. Griggs appointed him Law Judge of the county and Gov. Murphy reappointed him in 1903. While he was sitting on that bench Gov. Stokes nominated him to the Senate for a Circuit Judge and he served until 1914.
JAMES VAN DYK-Montclair. (48 Walnut Street.) -Merchant. Born at Caroundelette, Mo., January 23, 1863; son of Nicholas and Eliza (Bennett) Van Dyk; married at Brooklyn, N. Y .. Sept. 7, 1892, to Cecile Russell, (deceased 1912), daughter of Joseph F. and Mary Russell; married at Brooklyn, N. Y., Oct. 12, 1913. to May O'Brien, daughter of P. and Margaret O'Brien.
Children : James J., born Nov. 14, 1894; Doris, born Dec. 10, 1896; Francis, born June 14, 1900; Margaret, born June 25, 1917.
James Van Dyk is a descendant of Captain John Van Dyk, who was a soldier of the Revolution, serving in Colonel Lamb's artillery corps, throughout the war.
He attended the public schools of Brooklyn, and after graduating from grammar school, he entered the High School, taking an evening course. From 1890-92 he was a medical student at the Long Island College Hospital.
At fifteen he opened a store for the C. A. Tea Co., at New Bedford, Mass., which he managed for one year. The next two years he was used as a developer of stores needing stimulation. At eighteen he opened a tea store on his own account at 116 Bridge Street, Brooklyn, which is still run- ning. For the next twenty years his time was divided among dramatics, medicine and business. At forty he decided upon a business career and in 1902 incorporated the James Van Dyk Company.
He is now president of the James Van Dyk Company, which operates sixty chain tea stores throughout several states; a director of the Essex National Bank of Montclair, and during the war was appointed chairman of the advisory council of Minute Men of New Jersey.
He is a member of the following clubs : Rotary Club, Masonic Frater- nity, Sons of the Revolution, Society of Cincinnati, Glen Ridge Golf Club, Montclair Club and the Congregational Church of Montclair.
His business address is 50 Barcley Street, New York City.
HENRY van DYKE-Princeton, ("Avalon")-Author, Clergy- man, Diplomat. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917.) Born
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at Germantown, Pa., November 10, 1852; son of Henry Jackson and Henrietta (Ashmead) Van Dyke; married on December 13, 1881, to Ellen Reid, of Baltimore, Md.
Henry van Dyke was, until the time of his resignation in 1917, United States Minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg. He had been in 1902 and 1903 Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America.
Dr. van Dyke graduated from the Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn in 1869, and, entering Princeton, received his diploma with the A. B. degree in 1873. The University conferred the A. M. degree three years later, and in 1884 the D. D. degree. In preparation for his work in the pulpit, he entered Princeton Theological Seminary and graduating from there in 1877, took a course for two years at the University of Berlin. He was ordained in 1876, and three years later became pastor of the United Congregational Church at Newport, R. I. In 1SS2 he accepted a call to the Brick Presby- terian Church in New York City. He ministered in that pulpit until 1900, resuming his work in 1902 and 1911, without salary.
In 1900 he became Professor of English Literature in Princeton Uni- versity. The appointment as United States Minister at The Hague, was ten- dered to him by President Wilson in 1913. He served there during the great War of the Nations that broke out between the German-Austrian Alliance and the French-English-Russian Alliance in 1914. In September, 1916, he asked to be relieved of his post in order that he might have more freedom to speak and write his mind. At the request of the President he continued his official duties until early in 1917. During the year 1918, Dr. van Dyke served voluntarily in the U. S. Navy, as Chaplain with the rank of Lieutenant-Commander.
Dr. van Dyke's literary work and work in the Church as well have attracted world wide attention ; and many colleges have honored him with scholarship degrees. Harvard conferred the D. D. degree in 1894 and Yale in 1896. Union in 1898, Washington and Jefferson in 1902, Wesleyan in 1903, Pennsylvania in 1906, and Geneva, Switzerland, in 1909 conferred the LL. D. degree. The University of Oxford conferred upon him its highest de- gree, D. C. L., in 1917. The French Government promoted him on Jan. 1, 1919, to Commander in the Legion of Honor.
Dr. van Dyke has been a Trustee of Princeton University, Preacher to Harvard, Lyman Beecher Lecturer at Yale, and in 1908 was American Lec- turer at the University of Paris. He was President of the Holland Socie- ty in 1900 and 1901 and of the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1909 and 1910. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, and of the French Societe des Gens de Lettres.
Dr. van Dyke has contributed much to the literature of the day. He is the author of "The Reality of Religion" (1884), "The Story of the Psalms" (1887). "The National Sin of Literary Piracy" (1888), "The Poetry of Tennyson" (1889), "Sermons to Young Men" (1893), "The Christ Child in Art" (1894), "Little Rivers" (1895), "The Other Wise Man" (1896), "The Gospel for an Age of Doubt" (1896), "The First Christmas Tree" (1897), "The Builders and Other Poems" (1897), "Ships and Havens" (1897),
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"The Lost Word" (1898), "The Gospel for a World of Sin" (1899), "Fish- erman's Luck" (1899). "The Toiling of Felix and Other Poems" (1900). "The Poetry of the Psalms" (1900). "The Ruling Passion" (1901), "The Blue Flower" (1902), "The Open Door" (1903), "Music and Other Poems" (1904), "The School of Life" (1905), "Essays in Application" (1905), "The Spirit of Christmas" (1905), "Americanism of Washington" (1906), "Days Off" (1907), "The House of Rimmon" (1908), "Out-of-Doors in the Holy Land" (1908). "The Spirit of America" (1909), "The White Bees and Other Poems" (1909), "Collected Poenis" (1911), "The Sad Shepherd" (1911 ). "The Mansion" (1911). "The Unknown Quantity" (1912), "The Lost Boy" (1914). "The Grand Canyon and Other Poems" (1914), "The Red Flower" (1917), "Fighting for Peace" (1917), and is editor of "The Gateway Series of English Texts." "Select Poems of Tennyson" and "Little Master- pieces of English Poetry" (6 vols.)
Dr. van Dyke's club memberships are with the Century. University, Players. Authors, National Arts, Princeton, Franklin Inn, Ste. Marguerite, Salmon, San Francisco Fly-Fishers and Santa Catalina Tuna.
JOHN CHARLES VAN DYKE-New Brunswick. (George St.)
-University Professor. Born at New Brunswick, on April 21, 1856; son of John and Mary Dix (Strong) Van Dyke.
John C. Van Dyke has written the story of his ancestry. with all the color of a romance, in a brouchure issued in December, 1915, for private circulation. The first of the line of whom there is any record here is "Thomas Janse, the Immigrant," who came from Holland to the shores of Long Island toward the close of the sixteenth century-the first far-adven- turer in the family for several centuries. He was an old man at the time, and he brought his large family of sons and daughters with him. He landed at New Amsterdam, which at that time, in its oscillating rule between the Dutch and the English, was in control of the Dutch ; but he soon moved to the heights of Broekelene (Brooklyn). There he and his wife Sytie are duly recorded in 1661 as members of the First Reformed Church. Their son. Jan the Second, went to the locality known as New Utrecht and was among the first of the settlers there, became the "Sergeant of the Town"- a position which was probably in those days the equivalent of the Mayor of these days-and was also conspicuous in church work. His heirs sold his farm there in 1675 for 2500 guilders.
His son. Jan the Third, still made New Utrecht his home however ; and in the local annals appears the record of his service in the militia as a Lieutenant. It was not long before the British drove the Dutch out of New Amsterdam; but from the English Earl of Bellemont, the new governor, who had denounced the execution by the British of Leisler, the Dutch lead- er, as murder, he in 1700, accepted a commission as Captain of the Militia.
Meanwhile New Utrecht was growing in population and because it had probably become uncomfortably civilized, Jan the Fourth, his son, came over the river to New Brunswick. There he was listed as one of Colonel Har- mens New Jersey Militia. and his name appears among those who made up
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the first Board of Aldermen of the city of New Brunswick. The city, popu- lated by immigrants from Long Island and Dutch from Albany, soon be- came too crowded for Jan, and he moved to the less settled valley of the Mill Stone. He came to be recognized as one of the substantial land owners of the county. He was a contributor to the building in 1751 of the square stone church in which Theodorus Frelinghuysen preached. Domine Van Harlingen who preached there later was less popular than the great Fre- linghuysen, not because of his smaller ability but because he preached only in Dutch and many of the young people could not understand the language. "" Jan the Fifth was a Church Warden of Harlingen in 1754 and either he or his father was one of the founders of the church there. He was one of the Minute Men of that locality in May '75 in Captain Vroom's Company, Second Battalion, Somerset County Militia.
Jan's brother, Ruloff, who was a deputy to the Provincial Congress and a member of the Committee of Safety, his brother, Abram, a Lieutenant of Grenadiers, Jan's own son, Abram the younger, his cousins and nephews and relatives by marriage were all in arms against the King and for the country. But there was one heart breaking exception. Jan's older son had been a magistrate and was a Colonel in the British Army at the time of the outbreak of hostilities; and, refusing to break his oath of allegiance and remaining with the British, became famous in the Van Dyke annals as "The Family Tory." His father required that he deed back the farm he had given him, which Colonel John did promptly enough on the understanding that in case he was killed in the war his wife and children should have it back again. Unwilling to fight against his own people and brothers, he asked to be transferred to the British Navy and he was taken prisoner and confined at Philadelphia till his wife secured his release. Jan the Fifth gave his life to the cause on the battle field of Monmouth.
Abraham the Sixth, next in the line, was the half-brother of Colonel John The Tory, but they grew up together and seemed to be close compan- ions till the differences of the war separated them. Abraham the Sixth was one of the sons of Jan the Fifth, who took up arms for the American cause. One tradition is that after the close of the War a horse galloped up to the porch of his home with a ride so ragged that his wife, with the fear of the Hessians in her soul, sprang for her flint lock to defend herself and kept him pounding at the door till he had convinced her that he was her husband returned from the War. He subsequently became a local magi- strate of his district and perhaps held other county offices.
Abraham the Seventh was distinguished in the family annals for his marriage to Sarah, the daughter of Jolin Honeyman, a famous spy of the Revolutionary era. Honeyman had served under Gen. Wolfe at Quebec, but later on, sympathizing with the American revolt, he sought an introduction to Washington. There were several interviews between himself and the Chief; and it was arranged that he was to act the part of a spy for the American cause in his part of New Jersey. When he had learned any mat- ter of importance he was to allow himself to be captured by the Americans. This was all carried out as arranged. After he went over into the British lines Washington made an ostentatious offer of a reward for his capture but coupled with the injunction that Tory be brought unharmed to head-
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quarters. The capture was made as arranged near Trenton and the Chief saw Honeyman alone for half an hour-then ordered him to the guard house. During the night a slight fire started in the camp and the guards rushed to put it out. When they returned the prisoner was not there. Two days later Washington had recrossed the icy Delaware and won the battle of Trenton. Honeyman was directly responsible for the battle.
Later when Honeyman's escape became known a band of local patriots attacked his home at Griggstown with the idea that he had taken refuge there. They found only the spy's wife and small children ; and to stem the anger of the mob she asked for the leader to come forth. Major Baird stepped out and she handed him a paper the reading of which. quickly dis- solved the crowd. It was Washington's order that she and her children be protected from all harm though no protection was to be accorded to Honeyman himself. All through the war Honeyman was the object of the anathema of his patriotic neighbors while he played the spy for Washing- ton. But after the war Washington and several of his generals came to visit him-and the story was out.
Dr. Van Dyke's father was for five years Prosecutor of the Pleas of Middlesex county. He was subsequently for two years Mayor of the city of New Brunswick; and serving later (1847-'51) as a member of Congress, he saw the stirring time of the war between the United States and Mexico, to which he was bitterly opposed. At the first National Convention of the Republican Party in 1856, when the name of Lincoln was proposed for Vice President, Mr. Van Dyke, then a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, opposed the selection on the ground that Lincoln was too great a man for any office but that of President, then predicted his nomination in 1860 and was at the convention of 1860 that made Mr. Lincoln president. He subsequently moved to Minnesota, where he became a member of the State Legislature and was afterwards appointed Judge of the Third Judi- cial District of Minnesota.
Dr. Van Dyke himself is a writer of large repute and has been Profes- sor of the History of Art at Rutgers College since 1889. He has also been University Lecturer at Columbia, Harvard Princeton and other institutions of learning. He has been Librarian of the Sage Library at New Brunswick since 1878 and is a member of the New Jersey State Board of Education and Vice President of the National Institute of Arts and Letters. He was educated at various secondary schools, privately tutored, and prepared for the Military Academy at West Point but declined the appointment. He studied at Columbia University and in Rutgers College and for many years made a specialty in Europe of art studies. He was admitted to the New York Bar but never practiced.
Dr. Van Dyke is a member of many societies and clubs, including in New York the University, the Century, and the Authors. His writings have been on art subjects, on nature, history and criticism. He has also been the editor of many art magazines including "The Studio" and the "Art Re- view." His notable books on Art are: "Art for Art's Sake" (1893), "His- tory of Painting" (1894), "Meaning of Pictures" (1903), "Studies in Pic- tures" (1903), "The Old Dutch and Flemish Masters" (1895), "New Guides to Old Masters" (1914). His books on nature include : "Nature for Its Own
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Sake" (1898), "The Desert" (1901), "The Opal Sea" (1906), "The Moun- tain" (1916). He has published over thirty volumes on various subjects.
JOSEPH B. VAN SCIVER-Philadelphia (Chestnut Hill)- Furniture Manufacturer and Dealer. Born near Hainesport, N. J., May 14, 1861; son of Abram and Lydia H. (Bishop) Van Sciver ; married at Camden, N. J., June 9, 1892, to Flora G. Kelley, daughter of Samuel and Fanny J. (Andrews) Kelly.
Children : Joseph B., Jr., born August 1, 1893 ; Lloyd, born April 28, 1896; Russell, born May 15, 1898; Ruth, born April 13, 1906.
Joseph B. Van Sciver was brought up and educated in the city of Camden, where he attended the E. A. Stevens School. His ancestors emi- grated from Holland during Colonial days and settled in New Jersey.
In 1881 Mr. Van Sciver began the furniture business in a little store with but twenty feet frontage, on Federal Street, Camden. The business developed in leaps and bounds, so that in 1888 he moved his business into a new four story building erected for the purpose at the corner of Federal Street and Delaware Avenue, directly opposite the Pennsylvania Railroad terminal and the ferry. There he engaged in the manufacture of furni- ture. at the same time catering to the retail trade, and so phenominal was the growth of the business since then that additions were made to the plant in 1890, 1898 and again in 1908, so that today it is a structure of seven stories, and covers floor space of more than six acres.
Besides being head of that concern, Mr. Van Sciver is vice-president of the Hainesport Mining and Transportation company, vice-president of the De Frain Sand Company and a director of the Knickerbocker Lime Com- pany. The Hainesport Mining and Transportation Company and the De Frain Sand Company were developed by Mr. J. B. Van Sciver and his brother George, from a small industry. These companies have become the greatest manufacturers and distributors of building materials in Phila- delphia. During the war they supplied the government with the greater part of the gravel, crushed stone and other concrete materials used in constructing the plants and piers, for the shipbuilding industries at Hog Island. Chester, Bristol, Camden and Philadelphia.
Mr. Van Sciver is a member of the following clubs : Manufacturers Club of Philadelphia ; City Club of Philadelphia ; Whitemarsh Valley Country Club; American Academy of Political and Social Science; New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania ; Pen and Pencil Club and the Netherlands Society.
His business address is Federal and Delaware Streets, Camden, N. J.
BENNET VAN SYCKEL-Trenton .- Jurist (Photograph pub- lished in Vol. 1, 1917.) Born in Bethlehem, Hunterdon Co., April 17. 1830; son of Aaron and Mary (Bird) Van Syckel; married at
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Flemington, in 1857, to Mary Elizabeth Sloan, daughter of William H. and Caroline Imlay Sloan.
Children : (surviving) William S., Charles S., Bessie.
Bennet Van Syckel sat on the Bench of the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey for thirty-five years and four months, holding the seat by the appointment of republican as well as democratic governors. Since his retirement from the Bench he has acquired wide recognition as a consulting and advising lawyer in important litigations. His legal opinion carries al- most the weight of a judicial deliverance.
Justice Van Syckel is of Holland ancestry and a member of the Hol- land Society. The first settlers of his line came to New York between 1652 and 1700 and scattered about that part of New Jersey which is now Hun- terdon county. The Justice began his education at nine years of age in a boarding school in Easton, Pa., of which Dr. John Vanderveer was princi- pal. He entered the Sophomore class of Princeton College at the age of thirteen and graduated in 1846 in the same class with David A. Depue, who was for many years Chief Justice of the state. He studied law with Alex- ander Wurts in Flemington, was admitted to the bar in 1851 and entered upon the practice at Flemington. In 1869 he was nominated to the Senate by Gov. Theodore F. Randolph to be an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court. The confirmation came promptly ; and he sat for many years in the Union and Ocean county Circuit. He was reappointed by Gov. Bedle in 1876, by Gov. Ludlow in 1883, by. Gov. Abbett in 1890, by Gov. Griggs in 1897 and by Gov. Murphy in 1904. Three months later because of ill health he retired.
His retirement from the Bench after thirty-five years of service was marked by two notable demonstrations-first on the part of the Bar of the state when it presented, for the Supreme Court room in the State House, a portrait of the Justice : and second on the part of the Bar of the Union county of the gift of another portrait of the Justice to be hung in the cham- ber in the Court House in which he had long presided. On the occasion of the presentation of the portrait for the State House, the late Cortlandt Parker made the presentation speech, and Gov. Murphy made the speech of acceptance. Among the others who gathered to pay court to the Jurist were the late United States Senator Kean, Gov. Stokes, Bishop Scarbor- ough, Congressman Ira W. Wood and the late Judge William M. Lanning. At the ceremony in Union county, May, 1905, addresses were made by Jus- tice Fort, Chancellor Magie, Craig A. Marsh and Richard V. Lindabury ; Judge Benjamin A. Vail accepted the portrait on behalf of the Freeholders.
During his incumbency Justice Van Syckel saw the city of Elizabeth through her perilous bankrupt era and sent the officials whose extravagance and corruption had precipitated the bankruptcy to the state prison. He was also on the Bench during the stress of the excitements, centering in Union county, that led to the popular uprising against what is known as the "Jockey Legislature," and later to the amendment of the State Constitution so as to forbid forever the passage of laws countenancing gambling. Since his retirement from the Bench he has been called into consultation upon many important public questions that have come to the front-as to their legal aspects,-and he was also one of the Commissioners who acted on the
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