USA > New Jersey > New Jersey's first citizens and state guide, Vol. II, 1919-1920 > Part 73
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His business address is State House, Trenton.
WILLIAM M. SCHULTZ-West Hoboken, (364 Hudson Boule- vard) .- Assemblyman. Born at Jersey City, N. J., May 11th, 1869.
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William M. Schultz was educated in the public schools of \w York City and has always taken a leading part in the politics . . West Hoboken, his home, and from 1908 to 1914, he filled the office of Com Les mer on Assessment. At the fall of 1918 election he was elected over Ma) his Republican opponent with a plurality of 19,591 votes.
AUSTEN SCOTT-New Brunswick .- College Professor. Born at Maumee, O., on August 10, 1848; son of J. Austen and Sarah (Ranney) Scott ; married on February 21, 1882, to Anne Prentiss Stearns, of Newark.
Austen Scott was Private Secretary to George Bancroft, the historian, and spent seven years between 1875 and 1882, in gathering the material and arranging it for the several volumes of that noted writer's "History of the Constitution of the United States." He has been a frequent contributor to reviews on varieties of topics.
Dr. Scott entered Yale College and graduated with the A. B. degree in 1869. He attended the University of Michigan receiving the A. M. degree in 1870 and spent three years after that in attending lectures at the Uni- versities of Leipzig and Berlin. While abroad Dr. Scott was Private Sec- retary to Bancroft. Upon returning to this country he engaged in teaching German at the University of Michigan. After he had concluded his labors in assisting Mr. Bancroft with his History he became Associate in History at Johns Hopkins University and was made Acting Professor of History in 1883. The same year he became Voorhees Professor of History, Political Economy and Constitutional Law in Rutger's College at New Brunswick. In 1890 he was promoted to the Presidency of the college and held it until 1906, when he retired to resume his work as Professor of History and Political Science in the Institution.
Dr. Scott was given the degree of Ph. D. by Leipzig University in 1873, and in 1891 Princeton University conferred the LL. D. degree upon him.
THOMAS ALDEN SHIELDS-Hackettstown .- Assemblyman. Born at Hackettstown, N. J., September 22nd, 1885.
Thomas Alden Shields was educated in the public schools and in 1906 he graduated from Lafayette College, with the degree of C. E., and for the year following served with the Engineer Department of the Pennsyl- vania Railroad at Renove, Pa.
He is now secretary and treasurer of the Shields Chamberlain Com- pany, a corporation engaged in the handling of coal, building material and pedigreed grain seed, and breeders of registered Tamworth swine. He has made a particular study of agricultural chemistry and bacteriology. He was elected to the Assembly in 1918.
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Assemblyman Shields is a member of the board of directors of the New Jersey Lumbermen's Association.
HOWARD EVERHART SHIMER-Belvidere, (Third St.) .- County Superintendant of Schools. Born at Shimerville, Pa., June 1, 1881, son of Llewellyn and Clara (Everhart) Shimer ; married at Doylestown, O., June 28th, 1906, to Lucile Miriam Miller, daughter of Samuel H. and Ellen (Snyder) Miller, of Doylestown, O.
Children : Charles Llewellyn, born Sept. 3rd, 1908; Samuel Mil- ler, born July 4, 1912.
Howard Everhart Shimer traces his ancestry back to Jacob Scheimer, who came to America about 1720. He was educated in the public schools of Shimerville, Pa., his birthplace, and thereupon entered Perkiomen Seminary, from which he graduated in 1898. He then entered Muhlenberg College, from which he graduated in 1901, being second in his class. From 1913 to 1914 he took the education courses at Columbia University.
Upon · completing his education, he taught mathematics and English at the Allentown, Pa., Preparatory School and in 1902 he became principal of the Nazareth, Pa., High School, holding the office for three years. In 1905 he became superintendent of the Nazareth schools and at the end of five years moved to Newton, New Jersey where he took charge of the schools of that city for seven years. Last year he became county super- intendant of the schools of Warren county, which office he still holds.
He is a member of the New York Schoolmaster's Club and the Jersey Council of Education.
JOSEPH SIEGLER-Newark, (34 Wallace Place) .- Lawyer and Assemblyman. Born at Newark, N. J., September 6th, 1889, son of Louis and Bertha Siegler; married at New York, N. Y., on March 25th, 1913 to Edith R. Untermann, daughter of Louis and Lena Untermann.
Children : Doris, born March 26tlı, 1914.
Joseph Siegler began his career as a newsboy. He attended the pub- lie schools of Newark, graduating from the Morton street school in 1904. He then entered Newark High School which he attended until 1905 and thereupon New York University Law School, where he graduated in 1909. From the time he was nine years, until entering Law School, he sold papers in his home city, which helped to pay the expenses of his education.
After graduating from law school he went to the law offices of Edward I. Croll and Frederick Jay, where he remained until being admitted to the bar at the June term of court in 1910. Since then he has been prac- ticing law for himself. In June, 1913, he was admitted as a counselor at law, and as master in chancery June 28, 1913.
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He is a member of the Newark Lodge of Elks, Court Montefiore No. 92, Foresters of America, progress Aerie No. 1987, Fraternal Order of Eagles, Newark City Lodge, I. O. Brith Abraham, Eziekiel Lodge, Bnai Brith, Granite Lodge, Knights of Pythias. He is treasurer of the Demo- cratic Lawyers Club of Essex County.
His business address is 31 Clinton Street, Newark, N. J.
LOUIS SILVER-Town of Union, Weehawken P. O .- Real Estate and Assemblyman. Born in New York City, N. Y. October 3rd, 1871.
Louis Silver was educated in the public schools of Weehawken. At the fall 1918 elections he was elected to the State Assembly with a plurality of 19,448 votes over his Republican opponent Mayberry.
HAROLD M. SIMPSON-Sussex .- Lawyer and Assemblyman. Born at McAfee, N. J., Dec. 27th, 1886 ; son of Ora C. and Mag- dolene B. (Mabee) Simpson ; married at Newton, N. J., June 29th, 1915, to Grace E. Hess, daughter of William H and Elanore Hess, of Shinandoah, Pa.
Children : Frances E., Jan. 22, 1917.
Harold M. Simpson is of Revolutionary stock. The family has lived in Sussex County for over two hundred years, Ora C. Simpson, the As- semblyman's father served as country clerk of Sussex for fifteen year.
Assemblyman Simpson was educated in the public schools of Newton. He attended the English and Classical School of Newton and later Lehigh University and Princeton University.
He was appointed District Supervisor of Inheritance Tax for Sussex County and was elected to the Assembly in 1918.
He is a member of the following organizations, Benevolent and Pro- tective Order of Elks, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Independent Order of Owls, Loyal Order of Moose, Knights of Pythias, and the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity.
ALBIN SMITH-Paterson, (741 East 22nd St.) -Lawyer. Born at Franklin Furnace, Sussex county, N. J .; son of A. M. Smith, of Paterson, N. J. 1
Senator Albin M. Smith received his early education in the public schools of Paterson, and upon his graduation from public school was em-
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ployed as a telegraph operator and railroad clerk, and having a desire to study law, he took evening courses at the New York Law School. In 1905 he was admitted to the New Jersey bar as an attorney and in 1911 as a counselor. He has been practicing law in Paterson since his admission to the bar.
His public life began in 1903 when he was elected an Alderman of Paterson, in which office he remained until 1907. In 1917 he was elected to the Assembly, and in 1918 he was elected Senator of Passaic county.
His business address is 152 Market St. Paterson, N. J.
JAMES SMITH, Jr .- Newark, (326 Ferry Street. )-Manufac- turer. Born at Newark, on June 12, 1851.
James Smith, Jr., Was United States Senator from this state for the term beginning March 4, 1893, and ending March 4, 1899. It was he too who first gave to Woodrow Wilson, through the nomination for Governor of New Jersey, the introduction into American politics that eventuated in Gov. Wilson's attainment of the Presidency of the United States. The advance- ment of Dr. Wilson from the Presidency of Princeton to the Presidency of the nation was the culminating triumph of Mr. Smith's long activity in poli- tics and statesmanship.
Senator Smith had already became a prosperous business man of New- ark when he began to exhibit an interest in the movement for the upbuild of the city and in its politics. There were then, as there have been since, but few civic and citizens movements without his participation. In 1883 he ac- cepted a nomination for a seat in the City Council and was elected by more majority than the republican candidate against him had votes. It is a matter of history that his work in the City Council was in the direction of the substantial improvement of conditions in the city.
He was pressed afterwards to become a candidate for Mayor; and even after he had refused to consent to the use of his name a City Democratic Convention put him in nomination and he was obliged to put his second declination in a form that was seen to be final. The convention that ten- dered him the nomination was that which named Schoolmaster Haynes for the office and Mr. Haynes was Mayor for several succeeding terms. There were, however, other departments of the city government in which Mr. Smith thought he could render efficient service for the community; and when the Legislature created the City Board of Works, Mr. Smith became one of its members. He was the promoter there of the movement for the in- stallation of a new water plant for the city; and it was mainly through his energy that it was accomplished. Commissioner Smith supervised all the plans for its construction, carried on the negotiations with the East Jersey Water Company and attended to all the details of its introduction until water was turned in from the new supply heads. No public improvement
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has so much contributed to the aggrandizement of Newark as the replacing of the undesirable old supply from the Passaic River with the new supply from purer fountain heads.
Senator Smith's political activities meanwhile branched out from the city to the state, and he was soon recognized as a force by the state leaders. He became a member of the Democratic State Committee, and when the democratic joint meeting in the Legislature of 1893 hesitated to promote Gov. Lean Abbett to the United States Senate, Mr. Smith was made the caucus nominee instead and elected for the six year term ending in 1899. When his term closed, a republican legislature was in control of the State House and he was of course supplanted by a republican.
There was a fair prospect in 1910 of the election of a democratic candi- date to the Governorship provided the party put a commanding name be- fore the people. Senator Smith induced Woodrow Wilson, then the Presi- dent of Princeton University, to consent to enter the lists as an aspirant. The Senator had enough influence with the State Convention to carry Dr. Wilson's name through it and financed his election ; and Dr. Wilson's nomi- nation at Trenton in September was ratified by a plurality approaching 50,000 at the polls in November. His election as Governor was made with a view to his promotion to the Presidency of the United States, in the Na- tional Campaign then taking shape.
In the winter of the following year (1911), a successor to John Kean in the United States Senate was to chosen by the Legislature. Ex-Senator Smith was an avowed aspirant for the distinction, and the democratic ma- jority of legislators who had been elected in the fall of 1910 were under- stood to be favorable to his candidacy. New Jersey had, meanwhile, adopted what was called a "Preferential Senatorial Primary Law," under which the party electors were privileged to express their preferences among the aspirants for the United States Senate. The primary vote was merely ad- visory, however ; and Senator Smith, taking the view that the election of a Senator was a purely legislative function, failed to enter into the contest at the primary polls. James E. Martine, of Plainfield, who announced himself as a candidate against Mr. Smith, had things pretty much his own way in the democratic popular poll. When the Legislature convened for the elec- tion of a new Senator, Gov. Wilson took the view that the popular nomina- tion of Mr. Martine made in incumbent upon the Legislature to elect Mr. Martine to the Senate, and his espousal of Martine's cause resulted in Sen- ator Smith's defeat.
By the time the Senatorial campaign of 1913 opened, the constitution of the United States had been changed so as to provide for the election of United States Senators by popular vote instead of by the legislatures ; and Senator Smith became a candidate in the State senatorial primary. He was again opposed by President Wilson and again defeated. He has since had little to do with politics.
Senator Smith was educated at private schools and had a collegiate training in Wilmington, Del. For a time he was in the dry goods business there. He subsequently engaged in the manufacture of patent and enameled leather in Newark, under the firm name of J. H. Halsey & Smith. The busi- ness grew into large proportions rapidly, and the products of its plant were sold in the markets of Europe as well as of the United States. Mr. Smith
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became President of the Federal Trust Company in Newark and held that position for some years.
Senator Smith has been a delegate-generally a delegate-at-large-to all of the recent Democratic National Conventions.
GEORGE WASHINGTON SNOW, Jr .- Jersey City, (84 Win- field Ave.)-Assemblyman. Born at Jersey City, N. J., Aug. 11, 1881; son of George W. and Mary R. (Southard) Snow; married at Bayonne, N. J., Oct. 30, 1904, to Katherine A. Sheridan, daugh- ter of Thomas W. Sheridan.
Children : Jean, born April 1st, 1906, (deceased Dec. 1st, 1909) ; Katherine Randolph, born Oct. Sth, 1907, and Ethel Marie, born April 9, 1914.
George Washington Snow, Jr., traces his ancestry back to the two Snow brothers who came from England and settled in New York and Massachusetts in 1713. His maternal ancestors were the Southards and Randolphs, two old families, mentioned in New Jersey's early history.
In his early life he attended the public schools of Jersey City, gradu- ating from the Jersey City High School and thereupon entering the La Salle School. He was elected to the Assembly in 1918.
He is a member of the following clubs : Jersey City Lodge No. 211, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. New York Bay Lodge, No. 298, B. R. T.
His business address is, Greenville Terminal Pennsylvania Railroad, Jersey City, N. J .
FRANK HENRY SOMMER-Newark-Lawyer. Born in New- ark, on September 3, 1872; married on November 24th, 1897, to Kate Whitehead Royce, daughter of Edward and Hannah (Throck- morton ) Royce.
Children : Florence Catherine: George Raymond and Frank Henry, Jr.
Frank Henry Sommer is Dean of New York University and, allied with the Progressive wing of the Republican party, has been one of the forces in the public affairs of the State for some years past. He was one of the chief Lieutenants of Everett Colby in the "New Idea" movement that disrupted the "Boss system" of New Jersey in 1911, '12, '13, and his administration of the office of Sheriff has led to some of the reforms reflected in the recent legislation of the state.
Sheriff Sommer is of German origin, the founder of the family having come to this country first to Cincinnati and later removed to this state. The Columbia University dean is the third in the ancestral line.
For his early education he was sent to the public schools in Newark and graduated in 1893 from the Metropolis Law School. He subsequently
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took a course in law at the New York University and was awarded the LL. D. degree in 1899. Admitted to the Bar as an attorney in 1893 and made a counselor in '97, he entered into a business partnership with Edwin G. Adams but later became a member of the firm of Guild, Lum & Sommer, the business of which was afterwards taken over by the law firm of Som- mer, Colby & Whiting.
Prior to his election as Sheriff, Mr. Sommer served as a member of the Board of Education in Newark and he was made a member of the Board again in 1915.
Mr. Sommers club connections are with the Essex County Country, the Lawyers of Newark and the Roseville Athletic.
ROBERT ELLIOTT SPEER-Englewood, ( Walnut Street) .- Secretary Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. Born at Hunt- ingdon, Penn., September 10th, 1867; son of Robert Milton and Martha (McMurtrie) Speer ; married at Harrisburg, Penn., April 12th, 1893, to Emma Doll Bailey, daughter of Charles L. and Emma H. (Doll) Bailey.
Children : Elliott, born November 1st, 1898; Margaret, born No- vember 20th, 1900; Eleanor, born May 5th, 1903; Constance, born November 9th, 1907, and William, born December 6th, 1910.
Robert Elliott Speer was educated in the public schools of Hunting- don, Pa., and in 1883 entered Phillips Academy at Andover, Mass., which he left in 1885. That same year he entered Princeton University, gradu- ating in 1889 with the degree of B. A. and from 1890 to 1891 he attended the Princeton Theological Seminary.
He has travelled extensively in the interest of foreign missions, particularly to Asia and South America. He made five distinct trips, namely in 1894, 1896-'97, 1909-'10 and 1915. In 1891 he was appointed secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Churches of the United States. He is the author of several books on Missionary and religious subjects. During the war he was appointed chairman of the Gen- eral War Time Commission of Churches.
His business address is 156 Fifth Avenue, New York City, N. Y.
EDNA EARLE COLE SPENCER (Mrs. John Onens) -Bridge- ton, (SS East Avenue.)-Author and Religious Worker. Born at Barnesville, Ohio, September 14, 1881; daughter of Charles M. and Florence (Cunard) Cole; married at Barnesville, N. J., on November 29, 1917, to John Onens Spencer, son of James and Nettie (Lane) Spencer.
Mrs. Edna Earle Cole Spencer is of English stock. Her paternal an- cestors came from England about 1800, while her maternal ancestors are. Southerners for many generations back.
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She was educated in the public schools of Barnesville, Ohio, her birth- place. In 1902-1904 she attended Mt. Union College at Alliance, Ohio; in 1905 entered the Hartford School of Religious Pedagogy, from which she graduated in 190S.
Since completing her schooling she has been active in religious edu- cational work. For seven years she was Educational Director in the First Congregational Church at Gloversville, N. Y .; Maverick Congre- gational Church, East Boston, Mass .; First Congregational Church, Mari- etta, Ohio. She has also taught at the Summer Schools at Northfield, Narragansett Pier, Lake Brome, Canada, Winona Lake, Indiana, Asbury Park and others.
She has been very active in Sunday School work, being a member of the State Association Board. She is also active in Red Cross work in her home city and in Woman's Club work. From 1916 to 1917 she was State Elementary Superintendent of Sunday School Work for New Jersey.
She is also widely known as a writer and author, among the books she has written being "The Good Samaritan," a book of twelve bible stories, dramatized for children to be acted. A number of short stories have also been written by her and used in church and Sunday School papers extensively.
JAMES MADISON STEVENS-Ocean City, (619 Wesley Ave.) -Superintendent of Public Schools. Born at Philadelphia, Pa., September 28, 1865; son of Theodore and Mary Anne (Biggs) Stevens ; married at Madison, Wis., June 26, 1900, to Caro Louise Bucey, daughter of John and Mary (Slater) Bucey.
Children : Theodore Bucey, born February 10, 1902; James Madison, born October 30, 1905; Robert Bucey, born December 21, 1912.
James Madison Stevens is descended from an old English family of which one William Stevens came to America in 1614, and who in 1652 settled in Talbot county, Maryland. The Stevens family has been prominent in that section of the country until recent years, and one member of the family was governor of the state. In 1887 a brother of his mother, B. T. Biggs, was governor of Delaware.
In his early life, he attended the public schools of Philadelphia, leav- ing the Central High School in 1882 to read with a private tutor. In 1883 he entered Wesleyan University of Middletown, Conn., from which he graduated in 1887. In 1890 he was granted the degree of Master of Arts.
Mr. Stevens was principal of Niantic, Conn., High School, 1888-'89; principal of Saguache, Colo., public schools, 1889-'93; superintendent of Darlington, Wis., public schools, 1896-1901; superintendent of public schools at Ocean City, N. J., since July, 1903; principal of Ocean City State Summer School, 1913 to date.
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He is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity of Wesleyan University, and Delta Kappa Epsilon.
His business address is High School Building.
LILLIAN JOSEPHINE STOCKTON (Mrs. Charles W.) - Ridgewood. (Paramus Road.)-Women's Clubs. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917.) Born in Clarinda, Ia., on June 10, 1864; daughter of Thomas Richard and Elizabeth Pierce Stock- ton ; married at Longmont, Col., on September 17, 1891, to Charles William Stockton, born at La Grande, Ore., June 6, 1863, son of William M. and Nancy Farrie Stockton.
Children : Kenneth Evans, born January 25, 1893; Dorotliy, born February 7, 1894, both in Kansas City, Mo.
Mrs. Stockton was President of the New Jersey State Federation of Women's Club 1915-17, as well as a Director of the General Federation of Women's Clubs. Her connection with club work in New Jersey began as Vice President of the Ridgewood Woman's Club (1909-'11), of which she was one of the organizers. She was President of this club 1911-'13, and became connected with the State Federation work in 1912 as Director and Chairman of the Department of Sociology. Mrs. Stockton became interested in woman's club work in Chicago, where she lived for six years prior to making New Jersey her home, and where she was an active member of the Woodlawn Woman's Club.
Mrs. Stockton was educated in the public schools of Iowa and in Tabor College, Iowa.
EDWARD CASPER STOKES-Millville .- Banker. Born in Philadelphia, Pa., on December 22, 1860; son of Edward H. and Matilda G. (Kemble) Stokes.
Edward Casper Stokes was Governor of New Jersey for the term be- ginning in January, 1905. The majority by which he had been elected in the fall of 1904 is the largest ever given to a candidate in the history of the state. In the Legislature of 1902, he came within one vote of receiving, at the hands of the majority joint caucus of the Legislature, the republican nomination for United States Senator. The enactment of the Senatorial preferential primary law was of his inspiration; and, at the republican primaries for the choice of United States Senators in 1913, he was the lead- ing candidate. He served for some years as Chairman of the Republi- can State Committee; and altogether his public activities have given him national conspicuousness.
Gov. Stokes's forebears on both sides are of Jersey stock. There are seven generations between the ex-Governor and the Thomas Stokes who is the first of the family to be chronicled on this side of the seas. On his mother's side he is connected with a family that has lived in Burlington
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county since the close of the seventeenth century. His father's people were Quakers and native Jerseymen. Edward H. Stokes, the ex-Governor's father, studied pharmacy at the start in Medford, but took afterwards to banking, and, settling finally in Millville, became the President of one of the banks there. Edward C. Stokes's preparatory schooling was at the public schools in Millville, and in the Friends School in Providence, R. I. He subsequently entered Brown University and graduated from there, second honor man, in 1883. Soon after graduation, he accepted a clerk- ship in the bank in which his father was at the time serving as cashier.
Meanwhile, he was taking a deep interest in public affairs. His special interest in educational problems led to his appointment as Superintendent of the Millville schools. He was elected to the New Jersey House of As- sembly in 1890 and again in '91. His speech on a pending local option bill during his second year in the Assembly gained him wide repute as an ora- tor. In 1892, he was elected to represent Cumberland county in the State Senate and re-elected in '95 and '98. He was a leader in the anti-race track movement that eventuated in the anti-gambling amendment to the State constitution ; and during the excitements over the attempt of what is known as "The (democratic) Rump Senate" to exclude republican senators-elect from the Senate chamber in 1894, he exerted a large influence in the move- ments that resulted in their admission. He served as Chairman of the Committee that revised and codified the State school law system-a codification that has brought about a contribution of nearly $3,000,000 an- nually for school purposes out of the State's General Fund ; and forced through the Legislature the act requiring the payment of weekly wages in cash. The wage legislation grew out of the habit of the mine-owners and glass-blowers of paying their employees in orders upon the "company's stores." After the close of his Senate term, Gov. Voorhees appointed Sena- tor Stokes clerk of the Court of Chancery.
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