USA > New Jersey > Cape May County > Ocean City > Ocean City [N.J] guide book and directory 1894 > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
32
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
children to the fourth generation listen to reminiscences of his youth. His experience and wisdom of mature years lends a sparkling light to his rare gifts of genius, as the work of the lapidary develops the brilliancy of the diamond.
John Ryland Kendrick.
Among the many staunch friends of Ocean City, none are more devoted to its interests than Mr. and Mrs. John R. Ken- drick, whose handsome Queen Anne cottage, on Wesley avenue between Eighth and Ninthi streets, recently enlarged and re- modeled, is illustrated in this volume.
They first visited this beach when it was a small struggling collection of seasliore cottages, but believing in its future, they invested liberally in real estate and have done no little in attracting friends and investors to its hospitable shores.
Mr. Kendrick has been for many years past a resident of Philadelphia, and specially identified with carpet and uphol- stery manufactures, in which that city particularly abounds. He publishes The American Carpet and Upholstery Trade, a paper of wide influence and decided usefulness in its sphere. Mr. Kendrick's prominence in this line has entailed upon him a good deal of statistical and technical writing of a public nature. He was engaged in both the tentli and eleventh United States censuses and compiled an exhaustive report on "The Carpet Industry of Pennsylvania " for Governor Beaver's administration. This is found in the "Report of the Secretary of Internal Affairs " for the year 1889.
His last public service was rendered at the Columbian Exposition, where he served on the Board of Judges on Awards in the Department of Manufacturers. He was the only inale judge on textiles appointed from the city of Philadelphia by the World's Columbian Commission, and served as Vice Chairman of the Judiciary Committee while the awards on inannifactures. were in progress.
John Ryland Kendrick.
SIESTA.
-
7
L
F
Summer Residence of J. R. Kendrick.
33
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Kendrick and their children are 111011- bers of the Baptist Temple, at Broad and Berks streets, in Phil- adelphia, and when at the shore they engage heartily in all religious and social matters which tend to enhance the charms of a summer at the seaside.
The subject of this notice, though born in Georgia, is con- nected with the distinguished New England family of the same name, among whom are two uncles, Prof. A. C. Kendrick, D. D., LL. D., the eminent Greek scholar and founder of Roelies- ter University; also the late Dr. J. Ryland Kendrick, an elo- quent Baptist preacher and scholar of New York State, wlio prior to his death was president of Vassar College, Pough- keepsie. This branch of the family descends from Edward Kendrick, an opulent merchant, Lord-Mayor of London in the time of the "Persecution," and a nephew by marriage of Archbishop Cranmer, who perished at the stake. They were early located at Poultney, Vermont, in which State their an- cestors stood " minute men " on the Northern border during the Revolution. From the New Hampshire branch came Anna Kendrick, mother of the late Franklin Pierce, President of the United States.
Mr. John R. Kendrick, while assenting to the doctrine of heredity, contends that noble ancestry is valuable only so far as its virtues are emulated and its vices shunned, and concurs with Tennyson that "simple faith," with love for one's fel- lows, is a far better boast than Norman blood of a corrupted strain.
Councilman J. F. Hand.
In all cities, whether inland or on the seaboard, there are no more efficient and substantial factors toward their comfort and beauty than the work of those engaged in the building interests. In growing cities, especially, men who are con- versant with architecture and building in a practical sense are valuable acquisitions. Councilman Hand is one of these. The 3
34
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
first work for which he was called to the city was the erection of the artistic little cottage, "Holiday." Among the buildings which he has erected since are the M. E. Church and Rev. B. H. Sanderline's handsome residence and many others whose beauty of workmanship at once denotes the builder. Mr. Hand was born at Tuckerton, N. J., attended the public schools, but finished his education at Pennington Seminary. He is a nephew of the late Mrs. S. J. C. Downs, State President of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of N. J. He lias travelled extensively up and down the coast, was engaged by the Long Island Railroad Company and also by the United States Government to erect buildings. He is now serving his first term as Councilman, and is progressive and liberal, firm in his convictions and intrepid in his efforts toward crystalizing those convictions into such action as shall be for the best interest of the city.
·Councilman S. B. Sampson.
Councilman Sampson was born at Smith's Landing and educated in the public schools of Atlantic county. His early life is marked by close and quiet attention to all liis ·under- takings. He came to Ocean City in 1880 and was the first contracting builder to locate on the island. The first liouse of any considerable size, the Bellevue, was built by him for I. B. Smith. Councilman Sampson bought the first lots and erected a beautiful home on Fourth street, near Asbury avenue, in 1880. This he is constantly improving and adorning. He was for awhile a member of the firm of Sampson, Steelman & English, but subsequently withdrew and is now conducting business for himself. He has a thorough practical knowledge of his pursuit and has built up his trade upon the merits of his own labor. He has been twice elected to the office which lie 110w fills. Councilman Sampson is slow in encouraging ques- tionable enterprises, never giving his vote until the matter lias
35
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
been well considered, thus frequently bringing about the result of a great saving of the city's money, while every substantial improvement at once calls forthi his full sanction and aid. His effective work lias been felt and acknowledged by the co11111111- nity and has invariably met with approbation.
Steelman & English.
The beauty of a city depends largely upon its architecture, and to those who design and construct its buildings is due the credit of the position it holds in this direction. Among those who have done a large amount of the work which adorns the streets and avenues of Ocean City is the above firin, the inen1- bers of which are J. C. Steelmen and E. B. English. These young men are well versed in the details and principles of this branch of industry and are moving rapidly toward the estab- lishing of an extensive and lucrative business. They are pre- pared at all times to execute orders with accuracy and prompt- ness, coupled with the courtesy which ever marks successful business men. They were both born and educated in Southern New Jersey and were among the early residents of the city. Mr. Steelman, the senior member of the firm, is serving a second teril as City Councilman. He is broad-minded and progressive, yet careful and conscientious. In him the people have a valuable guardian of their interests and the city all official who looks to the future and has the courage to cham- pion measures which tend toward her prosperity.
Councilman Henry Clay Sutton.
Councilman Sutton was born near the old historic land- mark, the Red Lion, dear to the hearts of all Delawarians, and located about twelve miles from Wilmington, August 22, 1849. While yet in his infancy his parents removed to Green-
36
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
wood farin, at Smyrna, Delaware, where he grew to man's estate, receiving the educational advantages of the public schools of his day. His natural ability as a railroader was early demonstrated, and now, with the advantage of long experience, he ranks among the most efficient of the employees of the West Jersey Railroad. When very young, he inade application and secured a position as clerk with the Adams Express Company, in Philadelphia, subsequently entering rail- road service as train baggage-master, which position he has held ever since. Mr. Sutton became a permanent resident of Ocean City in 1884, the year of its incorporation. He has identified himself with the First Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is an active and honored member. As a citizen, Mr. Sutton was fully alive to all those measures which tend towards the growth and prosperity of the city. He is thor- oughly conscientious, and in the new work which lies before him, aided by keen discrimination and fine ability, he will be relied upon for honest, earnest councilmanic labor.
Postmaster R. H. Thorn.
Mr. Thorn was born and educated in Frankford, Philadel- phia, and became a resident of Ocean City, May 4tlı, 1885, at which time he opened a hardware and furnishing store at the corner of Eighth street and Asbury avenue. In 1887, he pur- chased two lots adjoining the one he then occupied, and built store No. 805 Asbury avenue. In 1890, he bought the stand where he commenced business, and in 1891 built another store (No. 803 Asbury avenue) between the two already completed, together with a dwelling house facing on Eighth street. Thus, in less than seven years, from a foundation cautiously and firmly laid, has grown one of the most brilliant business enter- prises of the city. His large stores contain everything in the line mentioned, and are very largely patronized by the summer residents in furnishing their cottages, as well as by the local
Wm. Lake-Surveyor and Conveyancer.
R. Curtis Robinson.
EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR OF THE OCEAN CITY SENTINEL AND OCEAN CITY DAILY REPORTER
37
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
trade. Possessed of keen, demonstrated business ability, he has risen to the position he now occupies by his own efforts. Public-spirited movements are tendered his endorsement and support. Every new project and enterprise calculated to bene- fit the community, or prove conducive to the public welfare, is aided and encouraged. He has served as councilman, and on October roth, 1887, was appointed to the position of postmas- ter. He was again appointed to the position hie now holds September 16th, 1893. Mr. Thorn is most efficiently aided in all his work by the faithful and untiring efforts of his wife, a daughter of the late E. Smith, recently a large property holder in Ocean City.
W. Lake, C. E.
When new land is to be utilized, Nature, in her economy, calls forth men best adapted to the work-those fearless of heart, strong of arm and skilled in the peculiar craft of a pro- cess of evolution which changes it into the streets and aventies of a well-planned city. Mr. Lake was born at Bargaintown, April 27, 1838. Not satisfied with the educational advantages of the day, he pursued a course of study by himself, and at an early age was teaching in the public schools. He chose the profession of a civil engineer, received an appointment when very young and has successfully followed this calling ever since. Mr. Lake has held numerous township offices and in 1863 was appointed Commissioner of Deeds. In 1875, he was appointed Master in Chancery, and the same year elected to the office of Justice of the Peace of Atlantic county, which posi- tion he held till his removal to Ocean City. His pioneer work in this place is best estimated by a knowledge of the fact that he has surveyed every foot of the island and examined every original title from 1695 down to 1879, at which time it was purchased by the Ocean City Association, and has drawn off 2,000 deeds. Surely, he may be termed one of the city fathers. The position which he has attained is an illustration to the
38
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
rising generation of the power that lies within one's self to develop the attributes with which Nature has endowed him, and bring forth brilliant and lasting results.
Rush E. Cox.
In reviewing the commercial interests and advantages of Ocean City, one is confronted by many enterprises worthy of extended notice and consideration. It is a fact, and one which merits more than passing observation, that in this thriving resort there are located inany establishments whose operations would reflect credit upon much larger cities. Again and again, in every calling and pursuit, examples are brought before our notice of the success of our young men.
Mr. Cox, son of A. E. Cox, one of the pioneer hotel keepers of the city, is one of these examples. He was born in New Egypt, N. J., and came to Ocean City December roth, 1880. He was then but a boy under the paternal roof, and engaged in such work as the peculiar circumstances and surroundings of the place called for. He soon entered steamboat service, where he was employed but a short time, when he engaged in railroad work, in which he was rapidly promoted to the position of conductor of a passenger train, which position he held for five years on the W. J. R. R.
April 15th, 1893, he opened a grocery store in a much- needed locality of the city, Twelfth street and Asbury avenue, where he is doing a thriving business. Mr. Cox carries a heavy stock of only the best groceries, and caters to the demands of the public in this direction in the most careful manner. Cour- teous and affable in his bearing, together with prompt and reliable service, the result can only be success.
39
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
R. C. Robinson.
By strict adherence to the line of business marked out, Mr. Robinson, editor and proprietor of the Ocean City Sentinel and of the Ocean City Daily Reporter is achieving success. The latter paper is the first daily ever issued in the city and its wide circulation tells of the need felt by the public for a newspaper of its kind. Mr. Robinson was born in Atlantic county, N. J., in 1862. His father died when he was nine years of age, and lie was early thrown on his own resources. At sixteen years of age lie entered a wholesale dry-goods house, but finding the business distasteful he engaged to learn the printing business in the Banner office, at Beverly, N. J. He then accepted a position with A. L. English, of the Atlan- tic Review, Atlantic City. Mr. Robinson was first in the em- ploy and was then associated with Mr. English in business for over six years. During this time he was editor and manager of the Mays's Landing Record, and assistant editor of the Philadelphia journal Over the Mountains and Down by the Sea. He came to Ocean City in 1885, and forming a partnership with W. H. Fenton, purchased the Ocean City Sentinel, and in a short time became sole proprietor. In 1888 he represented Ocean City in the Board of Freeholders of Cape May county. He was ap- pointed postmaster in 1889. Upon assuming the duties of this position, he immediately set about having the mail service extended and the office designated a money-order office, succeeding in both. Mr. Robinson is possessed of those faculties which constitute the elements of success-hard labor and strict attention to whatever line of business in which he may be engaged.
40
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
H. B. Adams.
Real estate and insurance business is a most important factor in the material prosperity of a community. A casual observer can form no conception of the important position held by the active, enterprising agent, devoted to the work of buying and selling real estate, establishing values and otherwise stimulating property-holders to the great improvements it lies within their power to make. H. B. Adams is one of this class. The judi- ciou's principles which he upholds in his transactions, the com- petency with which he investigates points connected therewith, are securing for him a large and deserved patronage. Mr. Adams is also editor and proprietor of the Weekly News, a paper which, though of recent issue, has already a large circulation, giving, as the well-directed efforts of a journalist always must, an additional and irresistible impulse to the progress and development of the city it represents. The popularity of Mr. Adams is shown in the fact of his having been elected to the position of City Clerk; to that of Secretary of the Electric Railway Company, and Director of the Water Works [Com - pany.
F. P. Canfield.
Among the numerous instances of successful young men, because of enterprising and progressive business principles, Ocean City has none who is making more rapid strides than tlie subject of this sketch. F. P. Canfield was born in Springfield, Ill., in 1860, but traces his lineage back to the first settlers of the State of New Jersey, and is descended from a family noted for superior intellectual endowments through a long line of ancestors. He was educated at Edwards' School, beneath the shadow of the Capitol buildings of his native State, and was engaged as a florist for some years afterwards at that place. Coming to Ocean City in 1886, he immediately determined to
Ex=Councilman F. P. Canfield.
Residence of F. P. Canfield, Fourth and West.
H. B. Adams. EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR WEEKLY NEWS
.
Residence of Henry Reinhart, Central Ave. near 10th St.
41
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
make it his future home. He is now engaged in a thriving real estate business, and has himself invested largely in real estate. Mr. Canfield has served as Councilman and while broad and liberal in his views was careful and discreet in all his movements for the public good. He resides in a beautiful cottage at Fourth street and West avenue.
42
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
Wrecks
" Oh, ship, afloat on the wandering wave ! The heavens are black and the night is dark ; The stars are sleeping-no light to save The weary, storm-driven, laboring bark ! l'et the winds are shifting, the shadows lifting, The dawn comes floating down on the breeze. Onward, now, with the calm waves drifting, Sailing down through the silver seas ! "
Following the nature of a continent-building sea, the chan- nels about Great Egg Harbor Bar, the treacherous shoals upon which incalculable damage has been done to life and property, are gradually closing up and new ones forming further out. It has not been many years since the salt-water pond, near the sand hills between Second and Third streets, was in the path of the old ship's channel; the line of high water is distinctly marked a number of feet back of the sand hills, by shells and drift, the entire length of the island. It seems impossible, while listening to the never-ending drama of the winds and waves, that we cannot wrest from the ocean some history of the havoc it has wrought, but never for a moment do the waters, in their ceaseless murmurs or deep-voiced thunders, reveal the tragedy of the ship that went down in a solitude so great that it was the only object, an infinitessimal speck, that varied the waste of waters from its appearance at the dawn of creation. Nor do the broken echoes along the shore bear any intelli- gence to us of those which, while not recorded, foundered in full view of human succor along the shore, powerless to reach them save by an appalled vision. As if in mockery
Rush E. Cox, Grocer.
Residence of Councilman J. C. Steelman.
43
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
of our desire to discern these mysteries, crushed and bat- tered fragments are cast up, and we trace in these characters of driftwood as best we may the secret the sea witliholds. In this unbroken line, strewn with shattered spars, half-pet- rified or covered with shells, or, perhaps still bearing the mute appeal for help in the tatters of the red flag upon the splintered topmast, with portions of taffrail, keel and rudder, cordage covered with seaweed, rude, handwrought wooden pins and shining copper bolts, broken compasses, sailors jackets and ship's furniture, fruits and merchandise from every country and nation in the world, fancy is powerless in her wildest flights to reach the truth. Slowly the caravels and fellucas of the early mariners pass before us in their creeping, timorous course. Of these there is little doubt but that the Dolphin, commanded by the dauntless Florentine navigator, Verrazzani, while skirting the coast of New Jersey, in 1524, turned hier prow to- ward the Inlet and entered Great Egg Harbor Bay. The triple decked galleon plunges clumsily in her wake and of these the Spanish Lagadere with her freight of gold and silver coin sank near Great Egg Harbor Inlet. The African slaver sails past with her freight of human souls and we watch till she passes beyond the line of vision, knowing that the barracks and shackles of Perth Amboy will receive the living cargo. The low built corsair or lugger of the Moorish pirate steals silently along with her swarthy crew and glancing across the bay to Somers Point we remember an alinost obliterated path leading near the old hostelries, that could tell strange tales of shipwreck, on out into the fields till it reaches a tiny grave yard surrounded by a low stone wall. In the centre stands an unpretending monument reared to the memory of Capt. Richard Somers, who perished in the famous attempt to rescue the crew of the Philadelphia in Tripolitan waters when Alger- ine piracy was at its height in the early part of the present century, while the lone pine at the Anchoring Point nearby marks the spot where lie the bones of one of the most noted pirates of our own country. The name of Capt. Somers also
44
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
recalls the well-known vessel which became the subject of a mnost thrilling tragedy on the high seas. In quick succession pass out through the Inlet the open boats and ketches in which the sturdy sons of the Revolution of Cape May and Atlantic coun- ties ventured upon the open sea. The Rainbow, Unity, Enter- prise and Skunk, and after dyeing the red coats a deeper crim- son, towed one British boat after another into port, the latter vessel alone recording nineteen captures. The fate of the brig Fame is told, when on the night of February 22, 1781, shie capsized near Somers Point, and of a crew of thirty-two men, twenty-seven succumbed to the sleep of death from exposure or drowning. Before the Life Saving Service reached out its strong arms to rescue victims of shipwreck, the most noted was that of the Perseverance. In 1815, this brig went down with thirteen of the ship's company of seventeen and a cargo valued at $400,000. A number of relics from this wreck are still in existence. The old "Dutch " hull, lying keel upwards on Bond's bar, in Great Egg Harbor Bay, bearing the evidence of the cause of disaster in its charred timbers, is reported in the records of the Coast Guard of the Mediterranean Sea as a Ger- man barkentine, loaded with petroleum, which burned in those waters; the hull was then driven by storms or drifted with the counter current of the Gulf Stream, reported again and again by incoming vessels, always holding its inverted position till it found a haven on this side of the Atlantic. As late as Febru- ary 13th, 1888, a suggestion of the smuggler, or buccaneer, comes to us in the mysterious stranding of the Spanish brig, Panchito, with her swarthy crew and a cargo of hides and logwood. Partly submerged, near the foot of Twentieth street, lies the wreck of the Angela Brewer, which came ashore in 1864, loaded with cotton and molasses, while in close prom- imity the hill of the Zetland, wrecked November 2, 1881, with a cargo of salt, is fast yielding to the elements. A short distance beyond, the Sallie Clark, lumber laden, stranded, having lost two of her crew in the disaster. In- stinctively we listen for the frantic appeals for help which came
45
OCEAN CITY GUIDE BOOK.
over the waves forty years ago, when the Rhine, with three hundred emigrants from the Fatherland, went down, and the Elizabeth, with two hundred and fifty Irish emigrants, sank ten years later. In these wrecks but one, a babe, while being thrown from the vessel to the life boat, was lost. Remains of the liull of the fruit laden Dashaway, from Sicily, wrecked in 1860, lie near the foot of Fifty-second street. The Deboralı Diverty, coal laden, sank in the night off Corson's Inlet, some- time between June 17th and July 3d, 1884, and of the ship's company of eight, no message has ever reached human sight or hearing. Near the Excursion House, when the tide is very low, part of the steamner Utah, wrecked in 1864, laden with fine wines and china, is still visible. The Marcia Lewis, coal laden, stranded on Great Egg Harbor Bar and went to pieces in a few hours September 1, 1892. At nearly the same place the staunch schooner J. and H. Scull, lumber laden, came up on the bar January 18, 1892, and for forty-one days, or until February 29th, resisted the fury of the breakers, when she was carried up on the main beach, her hull but slightly strained. The wreck of the sloop Sallie and Eliza, August 20, 1892, will long be remembered by the thousands who thronged the beach when the half drowned mate was brought astore by the Life Saving Service and the captain was reported missing, while at the same time the yachts Mattie Parker and Lottie stranded. April 27, 1894, the two-mnasted schooner Charles J. String, loaded with fish guano, bound for Milford, Delaware, foundered on the bar and sank a few days later.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.