USA > New Jersey > Scannell's New Jersey first citizens : biographies and portraits of the notable living men and women of New Jersey with informing glimpses into the state's history and affairs, 1919-1920, Vol II > Part 24
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WARREN LEE GOSS-Rutherford .- Author. Born at Brew- ster, Mass., on Aug. 19, 1835; son of William W. and Hannah
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(Foster) Goss; married in Feb. 1871, to Emily A. Torbush, of Norwich, Conn.
Children : Harry T., barn Oct. 20, 1871, a Mechanical Engineer, firm Goss & Brice, New York City.
An enthusiastic veteran of the Civil War. Warren Lee Goss' writings, most of them, have a martial flavor: He started out with the idea of being a lawyer; but, the Rebellion breaking out meanwhile, his patriotic ardor was aroused, and he enlisted as a private in the United States Engineers in 1861. When the term of his enlistment ran out in 1863 he re-enlisted as a sergeant of Co. H of the 2nd Regiment, Mass. Captured, he had a taste of life in a southern military prison at Libby and Andersonville and later at the prison on the Charleston Fair Grounds and at Florence, South Carolina. He served until the close of hostilities, and, when he was dis- charged in Nov. 1865, sat down and wrote the "Soldier's Story of Cap- tivity at Andersonville," (1866). In 1887 "The Century" in its War Series printed eight chapters of his "Recollections of a Private," and in 1880 these were embodied in a volume with added chapters. "Jed," now in its 28th thousand, was published in 1889; "Tom Clifton," in 1892, "Jack Alden" in 1895, "In the Navy" in 1908, "Boys' and Girls' Life of Grant"
in 1911 and "The Boy's Life of General Sheridan" in 1913 are others of his offerings-all books on the Civil War and written to promote patriot- ism. In his "English Review of the Civil War," published in the "North American Review" in July. 1889, Lord Wolseley, Adjutant-General of the British Army, especially commended Mr. Goss' articles on the "Recol- lection of a Private" for general study. "For, after all," Lord Wolseley wrote, "questions of strategy and of tactics and of the importance of organization of all kinds, turn upon the effect which is ultimately pro- duced on the spirit and well being and fighting efficiency of the private soldier."
Mr. Goss is descended, on his father's side, from Colonel or General William Goss, who, after or just before the Restoration, together with his father-in-law General Edward Whalley, both of them military officers under Oliver Cromwell. and also members of the Court that tried and con- victed Charles I. of high crimes and treason and condemned him therefore to death, fled from England and went into hiding in Western Massachu- setts. His mother was descended in the ninth generation from Elder Wil- liam Brewster pastor of the Mayflower through his daughter Patience who married Governor William Prence. When his son graduated and went into business in New York City, Mr. Goss moved his home from Norwich. Conn., to Rutherford to give his only son a home.
Mr. Goss was educated at the Pierce Academy, Middleboro, Mass., and took a course in 1860, '61 at the Harvard Law School. Since the close of his service in the Army he has been engaged largely as editor and maga- zine writer. From 1873 to '76 he was President of the National Union of ex-prisoners of War and in 1890 its historian. He was for five years on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief of the G. A. R. and for two years officiated as its National Patriotic Instructor.
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Mr. Goss' club and society memberships are with the G. A. R., the Society of American Authors, etc.
GEORGE JAY GOULD-Lakewood .- Capitalist. Born in New York, February 6, 1864; son of Jay and Helen Day (Miller ) Gould ; married September 14, 1886 to Edith M. Kingdon.
George J. Gould has been making his home in New Jersey for some years. His estate at Lakewood is one of the most imposing in the country. His father was the most potent railroad magnate in the world of his day, and George Jay Gould, as the head of the family the late Jay Gould left, has succeeded to the functions in the railroad and business world that were engaging his father's attention when he died. Mr. Gould's adminis- tration of the estate left by Jay Gould has multiplied its value many fold.
Mr. Gould was educated by private tutors and first came into the business life of the country as a clerk in the banking house of W. E. Connor & Co., New York, in which his father was a controlling partner. Mr. Gould succeeded his father in the partnership in December, 1885, and became a member of the New York Stock Exchange in February of the following year. He entered the railway service in April, 1888, as Presi- dent of the Little Rock & Ft. Smith Railway Company, and he was elected the same year as President of the Manhattan Railway Company (N. Y.), serving until 1913. It was in 1SSS also that he made his first appearance among the officers of the Texas and Pacific Railway Company of which he is now President. He became its first Vice President in May and reached the Presidency in January of 1893. From May, 1893, to March, 1911. he was President of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, and since 1911 has been chairman of its Board of Directors. He became President and Director of the St. Louis Iron Mountain and Southern Railway Company in 1892, continuing in that relation until March of 1911. He was from 1893 to 1911 President of the Union National and Great Northern Rail- way Company, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Wabash Rail- way Company from 1903 to 1905 and Vice President of the Western Union Telegraph Company from 1901 to 1910.
Mr. Gould is now also Director D. & R. G. Ry. Co., Rio Grande South- ern R. R., Western Md. Ry. Co., W. Va. Central & Pittsburgh Ry. Co., Utah Fuel Co., Davis Coal & Coke Co., Guaranty Trust Co., Globe Express Co., and Manhattan Ry. Co.
Mr. Gould is a member of the State of New York Chamber of Com- merce, the American Geographical Society, the S. R. and the Society of Foreign Wars. His club memberships are with the Royal Southampton Yacht, New York Yacht Club, Atlantic Yacht, Spesuita Island Rod and Gun, Automobile of America, Country of Westchester, County of Lake- wood, Rumson Country, New York, New York Athletic, and the Lawyers, of New York City.
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Gourley
Mr. Gould's New York City home is at 857 Fifth Avenue; his office at 165 Broadway, N. Y.
WILLIAM B. GOURLEY-Paterson .- Lawyer. Born in Gil- ford, County Down. Ireland, on March 2, 1857: son of Henry Gourley and Catherine (Boyle) Gourley.
William B. Gourley has served in the State Legislature, been Chair- man of the Democratic State Committee, served as a member of the Democratic National Committee and proven his efficiency as a presiding officer and chairman at some of the most turbulent State Conventions in the history of that party. His parents came to the United States in 1866 and settled in Paterson. He was educated in the public schools; and, having studied law in the offices of James Evans, once City Counsel of Paterson and of Albert Comstock, also of Paterson, was admitted as an attorney in June, 1880 and as a counselor at the June term of 1883. He was afterwards licensed to practice at the Bar of the United States Circuit and District Courts. Seton Hall College conferred the degree of LL. D. upon Mr. Gourley in 1917.
Mr. Gourley allied himself with the Democratic party and was an independent candidate for the New Jersey House of Assembly in the old fourth assembly district of Passaic county in 1881. His opponent was Thomas Flynn who was afterwards Speaker of the House. Mr. Gourley was defeated upon that occasion by 26 votes, but four years later com- manded the regular nomination of the party. The plurality of 1300 by which he then won at the polls was the largest that had ever been given for a candidate for that office in Passaic up to that time. The legislative session of 1886 in which he participated was full of exciting episodes : and one of his achievements was the making of an all-night speech, of five hours duration, to prevent the passage, in the closing hours of the legisla- ture, of an act to which his constituents were opposed. Before that ses- sion was over, Gov. Abbett nominated him to the Senate for Prosecutor of the Pleas of Passaic County and he served for two terms of five years , each.
Apart from his official work for the state and the county, Mr. Gourley has been energetic in party service. He associated himself early with the Passaic County Committee; and for ten years was the Chairman of its sub-Committee on organization. His service as Chairman of the Demo- cratic State Committee covered the nine years from 1898 to 1907. The Democratic National Convention of 1900 designated him as New Jersey member of the Democratic National Committee; and he served until 1908, when ill health forced him to abandon active participation in politics and he resigned his position on both Committees to devote himself to his law practice. He has been a delegate to many State Conventions and was Permanent Chairman of two. That of 1898 was one of the most tumultous that ever sat in the state; and Mr. Gourley was selected to occupy the chair because of his known ability to deal with situations of that kind.
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Gray
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Since his retirement from politics Mr. Gourley has devoted himself entirely to his practice. which is mainly in the line of corporation work. He is a member of the Reformo, Grolier and Bibliophile Clubs.
ROLLIN P. GRANT-Westfield .- Banker. Born at Westfield, on Jan. 6, 1870; son of Anson F. and Elizabeth P. Grant ; married at Westfield, on Oct. 16, 1895, to Mary Coger, daughter of John J. Coger-(now deceased ).
Children : Winifred Mae.
Rollin P. Grant is President of the Irving National Bank of New York City. The Irving National Bank conducts its operations on a strictly commercial basis. Its resources, since it absorbed the National Nassau Bank, exceed $130,000,000, and it has a capital of $4,000,000 with a sur- plus in excess of $3,000,000.
Mr. Grant left school when he was eighteen years of age to accept a place with the wholesale shoe house of Morse Rogers. He was soon offered the position of Paying Teller in the New York National Exchange Bank, and three years later, in 1901, he became its Cashier. In 1908, when the consolidation with the New York National Exchange Bank was ef- fected, the title, "Irving National Exchange Bank" was adopted and he was elected Vice President. When, later, it purchased the control of the Mercantile Bank, the title was changed to the Irving National Bank. For a long time the business was conducted at Chamber Street and West Broadway, but upon the completion of the Woolworth Building, it took the more ample accommodations offered there.
Mr. Grant, who was elected President of the Irving National Bank in 1912, is one of the youngest of the executives of the great metropolitan financial institutions. He had assumed a good part of the administrative work, and was therefore in close contact with every branch of the busi- ness, before he succeeded to the Presidency, and, ever since he became a force in the management of its affairs, the policy has been one of con- servatism as well as a wide-awake enterprise.
Mr. Grant is well known as a lover of outdoor sports, devoting a good part of his leisure time to golf and tennis. He is a familiar figure on the links near Westfield, where he resides.
Mr. Grant is also a Director in the Peoples Bank & Trust Co., of Westfield; and his clubs are the Union League, Hardware, and Bankers, of New York City : Siwanoy Country Club, Mount Vernon, (N. Y.), Wyan- danch Club, Smithtown, L. I., and the Baltusrol Golf Club, at Milburn.
EDWARD W. GRAY-Newark, (141 Wakeman Avenue.)-In- surance. Born in Jersey City, on Aug. 18, 1870; married in 1898, to Altha R. Hay, of Summit.
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Green
Edward W. Gray is a member of Congress from the Eighth New Jer- sey District, and in business is President of the Argus Press, publishers of the Bayonne "Review." He attended the public schools of Jersey City ; and, beginning as a clerk in a store, entered newspaper work a few years later as a reporter on the "New York Herald." In 1898 he became City Editor of the Newark "Daily Advertiser," and five years later was made President and General Manager of the Company that published it. Leaving the newspaper field he organized the Commercial Casualty Insur- ance Company.
Mr. Gray was Secretary of the Republican State Committee when he was first elected to a seat in Congress, in 1914. He was a member of the State Board of Tenement House Supervision for eight years, served for three years as Private Secretary to Governor Stokes and for six years as Secretary of the Republican State Committee.
`JAMES MONROE GREEN, (Ph. D., LL. D.)-Trenton, (943 Berkeley Avenue)-Educator. (Photograph published in Vol. 1- 1917). Born at Succassunna, (Morris Co.) on August 29th, 1851 ; son of William Hampton and Alice (Hopkins) Green ; married at Long Branch, on October 8, 1878, to Caroline E. Morris, daughter of Jacob Wolcott and Elizabeth L. (Pearce) Morris, of Long Branch.
Dr. Green obtained his early training in the district schools in the vicinity of his home until January of 1867, when he went to Trenton and entered the State Model School. In the following September he entered the Normal School where he remained a year. For the next twelve months he taught district schools at Mt. Freedom and Ledgewood, in his home county. at the same time continuing his studies. He then returned to the Normal School and completed the course, graduating with the class of 1870.
After graduation from the Normal School, Dr. Green taught at Morris Plains for a year, when he received the appointment to the principalship of School No. 1, at Long Branch, where he remained until 1874, when he entered Dickinson College. During his stay at Dickinson the schools of Long Branch were grouped together and related to a new high school. On leaving Dickinson Dr. Green was assigned to the principalship of this high school and to the superintendency of all of the schools of the city.
In 1889 he was appointed by the State Board of Education to the prin- cipalship of the State Normal and Model Schools at Trenton, where he remained until his resignation, June 30, 1917. In 1887 Dickinson College conferred the degree of A. M. upon Dr. Green, and LL. D. in 1905. In 1884 he received the degrees A. M. and Ph. B. from Illinois Wesleyan University, and Ph. D. in 1890.
Dr. Green is a life member of the National Education Association, of which he was President in 1901, the general session of this body holding its meeting that year at Detroit, Michigan. In 1895 he served as President of the Normal Department of the N. E. A. He holds membership in the
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Griggs
Association of Colleges and Preparatory Schools of the Middle States and Maryland (Pres. 1910-'11), the State Teachers Association (Pres. 1881), the New Jersey Council of Education (Pres. 1896), and the New Jersey Sanitary Association (Pres. 1886). As a member of the State Board of Examiners he is familiar with the history of the system of certificating teachers for the State, and has frequently suggested and drafted the revision of the rules pertaining thereto. He has served too on the ad- visory boards of the State Conference of Charities and Corrections, and the New Jersey Congress of Mothers and Parent-Teacher Associations, and is actively interested in the success of their work.
Dr. Green has lectured at several of the large Universities, at Har- vard, Pennsylvania, etc., and his contributions to educational literature may be found in the Volumes of the National Education Association, the official documents of the New Jersey Council of Education, the "Edu- cational Review," and in various educational periodicals and newspapers of the State and country. As a speaker he has been in demand at the various educational, patriotic civic and social gatherings of the State and nation. He was for years an instructor at the county institutes, in which capacity he has addressed the teachers of every county in New Jersey many times. He is a member of Phi Kappa Psi and Phi Beta Kappa fraternities, the Sons of the Revolution, the Trenton Chamber of Commerce, the Young Men's Christian Association, the Schoolmaster's Club, the Symposium, and the Trenton Country Club.
During Dr. Green's administration of the State Normal and Model Schools the annual enrollment of the Normal department increased from 255 to 682, the Model from 445 to 641, and the staff of instructors from 29 to 66. The course of study in the Normal School was developed to include-in addition to the general course-kindergarten, domestic science, manual training, and commercial courses, of two years in length-and a four year high school teachers course-a teachers college course ; and the entrance requirements were raised to graduation for a four year course high school on the "Approved List." In 1889 Dr. Green proposed a system of approving high schools, adopted by the State Board of Educa- tion, resulting in an approved list of 135 public and 49 private high schools, from which the Normal School now draws its students.
Student teaching centers, were established' throughout the State so that Normal students might secure there a very practical experience in teaching.
Under Dr. Green's principalship, the original school buildings were connected by a center building in which are housed the auditorium. labora- tories, class rooms, etc., a separate gymnasium, and a large wing in which are accommodated the domestic science and nature departments, the library, and various class rooms. The boarding halls were also enlarged by two dormitory wings and an isolated infirmary.
JOHN W. GRIGGS-Paterson .- Lawyer. Born in Newton (Sussex Co.) July 10, 1849 ; son of Daniel and Emeline (Johnson )
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Griggs ; married on October 7, 1874 to Carolyn Webster Brandt of Belleville, daughter of William and Eliza ( Leavitt) Brandt- 2nd on April 15, 1893, to Laura Elizabeth Price, daughter of War- wick and Beulah R. (Farmer) Price.
Children : John Leavitt, born June 10, 1876; Helen, born No- vember 22, 1877; Leila, born November 21, 1879; Daniel, born No- vember 21, 1880; Constance, born November 23, 18S2; Elizabeth, born May 31, 1894; Janet, born June 20, 1896.
John W. Griggs from 1901 to 1907 was a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, was Governor of New Jersey for 1896-98, and Attorney General of the United States from 1898 to 1901. As the plurality of 27,000 by which he reached the Governorship in 1896, over the candidacy of Chancellor McGill, was three times as large as any by which any previous candidate had been chosen, and, as the first Republican the State had accepted for the office since Civil War times, his election was of direct and immediate import in National politics.
At that time the National campaign of 1896 was in its formative state, and it was generally understood that ex-Gov. Mckinley of Ohio, was to be made the Republican nominee for President. The capture of New Jersey by the Republicans by so striking a majority, pointed her out as the state in the East that should name MeKinley's running mate, and eventuated in the nomination for the Vice Presidency of Garret A. Hobart, of Paterson, whose splendid campaign, as Chairman of the Republican State Commit- tee for Mr. Griggs, had put him in the eye of the people.
Mr. Griggs had previously served in both branches of the State Legis- lature. The Republicans of Passaic county sent him to the House of As- sembly in 1876 and again in 1877. In 1882 he became the Senator from Passaic and, re-elected, served in the Upper House until 18SS, being Presi- dent of the body in 1886. His caustic oratory and force in debate com- manded quick attention, and he had scarcely entered the legislative arena before he was among the recognized leaders of the State.
A most important service was that which he rendered while in the Senate in connection with the first act ever passed for the taxation of the railroads. The railroads were once claiming exemption from taxation under irrepealable contracts with the state; and even the great Pennsyl- vania Railroad Company was then paying into the State Treasury less than $300,000 a year in the form of transit duties. Governor Abbett had made his campaign on the insistment that they should be made amendable to the taxing laws of the state as other property holders were ; and soon after the opening of the Session of 1884 he flung into the legislature an act he had drawn to that end. The act was one of the most bitterly contested in the recent history of the State. The Houses were for a time deadlocked over it. The Democratic Assembly insisted upon passing it as Abbett had drawn it; the Republican Senate stood for modifications Senator Griggs had proposed to it. Agreement was not reached through a series of con- ference committees ; but a joint committee in which Senator Griggs was the master-mind, finally got it into the shape in which it was finally passed. The income of the state under the law and others by which it has since been elaborated, now exceeds $4.000,000 a year.
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Grosscup
Senator Griggs' senate work put him among the leading statesmen of the commonwealth; and the Republican State Convention of 1895 placed him in nomination for Governor. Assuming the office early in January of 1896, he resigned in 1898 to become Attorney General of the United States. He resigned that position on April 1st, 1901 and resumed practice of law in its larger field in New York City and Paterson. He is identified with large financial interests in both cities and has appeared in many im- portant litigations for some of the most prominent corporations in the country. He is President of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company of America, a Director of the New York Telephone Co., the Bethlehem Steel Co. and the American Locomotive Co.
Governor Griggs graduated from Lafayette College in 1868 and re- ceived the degree of LL. D. from Princeton in 1896 and from Yale in 1900. He studied law first in the office of ex-Congressman Robert Hamilton at Newton and afterwards in the office of Socrates Tuttle of Paterson, father of Mrs. Hobart. He was admitted as an attorney in 1871 and as a coun- selor in 1874. In '78 he was appointed Counsel of the Passaic County Board of Freeholders and in 1879 made City Counsel of Paterson.
He is a member of the Union League of New York City, the Hamilton Club of Paterson and of the Arcola Country Club.
EDWARD E. GROSSCUP-Wenonah .- Real Estate. Born in Bridgeton, August 2, 1860; son of Charles C. and Anna D. Gross- cup.
When James R. Nugent was retired as Chairman of the Democratic State Committee, in August, 1911, Edward E. Grosscup, who was represent- ing Gloucester County in the Committee, was elected to succeed him, and the conduct of the New Jersey campaign for Governor Wilson's election in the Presidential contest of 1912 fell to Mr. Grosscup's hands. Mr. Grosscup was re-elected in 1913 for the three year term ending in 1916.
Mr. Grosscup had led forelorn hopes as a Democratic candidate in several local contests before he thus came into state view. In 1896 he was the Democratic candidate for Sheriff in Cumberland County and in 1898 for State Senator. In the latter campaign he was opposed by Edward C. Stokes, afterwards Governor; and. in both, the Republican leanings of the country made his candidacies hopeless ones. In 1899 he removed to Gloucester County and there. in another Republican county, he sought political preferment as a candidate for the House of Assembly. In 1908 he consented in the interest of party autonomy, to stand as a candidate for Congress against Congressman Henry C. Loudenslager.
Governor Wilson appointed Mr. Grosscup a member of the State Board of Equalization of Taxes in 1011, but he resigned before the expiration of his five-year term to accept the office of State Treasurer, to which the Legislature elected him in 1913. He served there until the spring of 1916. In the fall of that year Governor Fielder appointed him State Purchasing
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Agent under an act just previously passed by the legislature. His term will expire in 1921.
PAUL GUENTHER -- Dover, (Rockaway Road) -Manufacturer. Born at Geithain, Saxony, May 13th, 1860; son of Bruno and Theresa (Wuensch) Guenther; married at Paterson, N. J., Sept. 12th, 1895, to Olga Mechel. daughter of Charles and Louise (Ho- magk) Mechel.
Children : Margaret, born June 18th, 1896.
Paul Guenther comes froma old German stock and his early education was received in the private school at Saxony, Germany.
At the age of thirty, in 1890, Mr. Guenther imigrated to America, and began business at Dover, N. J.
Despite the fact that most of his interests have been confined to commercial and business enterprises, he has also found time to connect himself to several fraternal organizations among which are the Hamilton Club, of Paterson, N. J., the Republican Club, of New York and the Auto- mobile Club of America.
He is also the President of the Paul Guenther Silk Hosiery, Inc., vice president of the Eagle Fire Insurance Company of Newark, N. J., and a director in both the National Union Bank, of Dover, N. J., and the Emery- Beers Co., Inc. of New York City.
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