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 31
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Taking an early interest in politics, he became a member of the Tren- ton Republican City Committee and was made its Secretary. He has been Vice President, President, and member of the Board of Governors, of the "City Invincible," a local republican political organization. He was elected to the General Assembly in 1891 and served in '92 and '93. In '93 the republican minority on the floor of the chamber named him as its leader. His first election to the State Senare was in 1904, when he served one term. He was elected a second time in 1913 and served another term that expired in January, 1917. Apart from his professional and political activities Senator Hutchinson was made a Master Mason in Trenton Lodge No. 5 in September. 1881, Worshipful Master in 1885 and District Deputy Grand Master in 1886.
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Senator Hutchinson is a Presbyterian. He was Deacon in the First Presbyterian Church of Trenton, and subsequently became an Elder of that church. He was a member of the Seventh Regiment, N. G. N. J. Gun Detachment, and Judge Advocate of the Second Regiment. He was also Vice President of the Trenton Board of Trade in 1889 and its President in 1890.
Senator Hutchinson is a member of the Mercer County Bar Associa- tion, and was one of the Charter members and organizers of New Jersey Bar Association.
ELIJAH C. HUTCHINSON -Hamilton Township, (Mercer Co.) -Merchant, Miller. Born in Windsor, (Mercer Co.), August 7th, 1855; son of Spofford W. and Mary (Cubberly) Hutchinson ; married on Nov. 22nd, 1876, to Ella D. Stults, daughter of Garret S. Stults, of Cranbury.
Children : Harvey S., born March 5th 1878; Raymont, born Oct. 9th, 1884; Spafford, born June 15, 1888; Stanley, born Feb. 23rd, 1897.
Elijah C. Hutchinson, besides being a Representative of the Fourth Congressional district in the National Congress at Washington, is of diver- sified business activities-interested in the pottery industry, a banker and a merchant miller.
Mr. Hutchinson in 1889 assisted in the organization of the Trenton Bone and Fertilizer Company, was made its Treasurer at the time, and three yearse later became its Manager. His closer business connection is, however, with the flour mill and grain elevator which he established in Hamilton Township. Incidental to this business, he is also President of the New Jersey China Pottery Company, Treasurer of Cochran Drugan & Com- pany, and a director of the Broad Street Bank and of the Mercer Trust Company. He was the first Treasurer of the Interstate Fair Association serving three years, and as one of its directors.
Mr. Hutchinson's political career began with his election to the House of Assembly in 1895-96. His plurality of 3,273 in '95 was more than doubled in '96. His Assembly work pointed him out as a logical candidate for a seat in the State Senate. Nominated by the republicans of the county, he was elected in 1889 over his democratic opponent, Bayard Stockton; and in the canvass for re-election, in 1901, he defeated ex-Judge Robert S. Woodruff.
During his second term in the Senate he was its President, and dis- charged the functions of that office with an even hand that won for him A resolution of thanks from his colleagues even of the Democratic minority. Soon after the expiration of his second term in the Senate, Mr. Hutchin- son was appointed State Road Commissioner by Governor Stokes. His management of the State Road Department was marked by many changes and reforms.
Mr. Hutchinson's first election to Congress was achieved in 1914, when he defeated Allan B. Walsh, the Democrat, who had preceded him at
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Washington and who sought re-election, by plurality of 3,312. In 1916 Congressman Hutchinson was renominated and re-elected, and also re- elected in 1918 by increased majority.
MILLER REESE HUTCHISON, E. E., Ph. D .- West Orange, (Llewellyn Park)-Inventor, Engineer, Financier. (Photograph published in Vol. 1-1917). Born at Montrose, Baldwin County, Ala., August 6th, 1876 ; son of William Peter and Tracie Elizabeth (Magruder) Hutchison ; married in New York City on May 31st, 1901, to Martha Jackman Pomeroy, daughter of John W. and Anna S. Pomeroy of "Woodside," Lake Minnetonka, Minn., and Jackson- ville, Fla.
Children : Miller Reese, Jr., born 1902; Harold Pomeroy, born 1904; Juan Ceballos, born 1906; and Robley Pomeroy, born 1908.
Miller Reese Hutchison, late Engineering Advisor to Thomas A. Edison, is a member of the Naval Consulting Board of the United States, President, Treasurer and Director of Miller Reese Hutchinson, Incorporat- ed, of 51st floor, Woolworth Building, New York, Vice President and Direc- tor of Hutchison Office Specialties Company, of New York, etc., etc.
Dr. Hutchison was educated in the private schools of Mobile, Ala., from 1883-1889, and at Marion Military Institute, Marion, Ala .. (1889-'91), Spring Hill (Ala.) College, 1891-'92), the University Military Institute (Mobile) (1892/95), finally completing his collegiate studies at the Ala- bama Polytechnic Institute. Auburn, Ala., (1895-'97) where he devoted himself exclusively to electrical and mechanical engineering. Subsequent- ly, in his researches in apparatus to ameliorate deafness, he attended the Alabama Medical College in special aural investigation and study.
At the age of ten years he commenced to devote practically all his spare time to manual training in pattern shops, foundries, machine shops, electrical repair shops, power houses. etc., etc., and kept it up until he finished college in 1897. thus learning his profession both practically and theoretically. He took out his first patent-a lightning arrester for tele- graph and telephone lines-at the age of sixteen. This was followed in 1895, by the Akouphone, an electrical device to enable the deaf to hear.
At the outbreak of the Spanish-American War Dr. Hutchison volun- teered his services and was appointed Electrical Engineer of the 7th and 8th Lighthouse Districts, under Major A. N. Damrell. U. S. A .. and was engaged in laying submarine cables and mines, protecting the harbors from Key West to Galveston. When the war ended he returned to re- searches in which he was engaged when it broke out. His efforts were productive of the Acousticon, to this day the standard instrument for the alleviation of deafness and of which there are several hundred thousand in daily use. The Acousticon was quickly followed by various electrical and mechanical devices, in commercial service.
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In 1899 and again in 1902 he was requested to go to Europe to apply his Acousticon to several of the nobility and to one of the reigning mon- archs and, as a result of his efforts, he was, on August 21st, 1902, pre- sented with a gold medal by the Queen of England "as a reward of merit for Scientific Investigation and Invention." During his stay there he was present, in Westminster Abbey, at the Coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
Upon his return to America, he re-established his Laboratory and in due time produced, among other noteworthy inventions, the "Klaxon Horn," used universally throughout the entire world, the "Hutchison Electrical Tachometer," the "Hutchison Spool-O-Wire Fastener," etc., etc. Alto- gether he has been granted several hundred patents and for a number of years has officiated as Consulting Engineer to several large financial institu- tions in New York City. His inventions were awarded gold and silver medals at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904. He was a Com- missioner of the Department of Electricity at the Louisiana Purchase Ex- position, and Member of the International Electrical Congress in 1904, and of the International Engineering Congress in 1915.
Dr. Hutchison is a member of the Naval Consulting Board of the U. S. A., American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Society of Auto- motive Engineers. American Institute of Radio Engineers, National Iusti- tute of Social Sciences, National Geographic Society, Kappa Alpha, Acade- my of Political and Social Sciences, Museum of Natural History, En- gineers Club, A. A. A., N. Y. Athletic Club, University Club of Washington, - D. C., and American Defense Society ; member and Director of the Ameri- can Radio Relay League, life member of the New York Electrical Society, . and the Navy League of the United States, and Associate Member of the American Society of Naval Engineers, and the U. S. Naval Institute.
In 1911 he became associated with Mr. Edison in the development of the Edison Storage Battery for Submarines. In 1912 he was appointed Chief Engineer of the Edison Laboratory, Edison Storage Battery Co., and Thomas A. Edison (Inc.) and Chief Engineer to and Personal Representa- tive of Mr. Edison. In 1916 he was made Engineering Advisor to Mr. Edison. On January 1st, 1917, Miller Reese Hutchison, Inc., was organ- ized by Dr. Hutchison and took over the exclusive sales-right of the Edi- son Storage Battery for all military and naval purposes of practically all nations.
The degree of Electrical Engineer (E. E.) was conferred by the Ala- bama Polytechnic Institute in June, 1913, and that of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph. D.) was conferred by Spring Hill College in June, 1914. for con- spicuous achievements in the realms of science and philosophy.
Dr. Hutchison has delivered many lectures on "Edison and some of his Inventions," and other subjects before scientific and engineering so- cieties, clubs, the inmates of penitentiaries, reformatories, etc. He is a strong advocate of social reform and uplift in prisons and reformatories.
His principal pastime is work, but he has been from childhood a de- votee of wrestling, boxing, fencing, bicycle riding and other forms of violent physical exercise, and he yet finds time for his favorite sport of horseback riding on his jumper, "Big Ben." His West Orange residence is "Colonia," Llewellyn Park, a short distance from the Edison Labora-
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tory. His country seat is "Woodside," Lake Minnetonka, Minn., at which the members of bis family spend their summers and which he visits oc- casionally when his activities permit.
EDWARD J. ILL-Newark. (1002 Broad Street.)-Physician- Born in Newark. May 23rd, 1854; son of Fridolin and Julia (Rehmann) Ill: married in Newark, January 10th, 1878, to Clothilda Dieffenbach, daughter of Henry Dieffenbach, of Newark.
Children : Mrs. George A. Scheller, Dr. Edgar A., of Newark : Mrs. Charles A. O'Malley, of Brooklyn, N. Y .; Mrs. Arthur C. Hensler, of Newark.
Dr. Edward J. Ill has spent all his life in Newark where he has built up a large practice and achieved a wide reputation as a physician. His early education was acquired in the Newark schools. After his graduation from the High School in 1872, he took a course at Columbia College, from which he graduated in 1875. Crossing the waters he attended lectures at Strassburg, Vienna and Freiburg. Upon the completion of his studies, he settled down to practice in Newark.
Dr. Ill has found it possible, in spite of the demands made upon his time and energies by his practice, to take part in the civic and sometimes in the political affairs of Newark. In 1879-'80 he was elected a member of the Board of Education, and from 1880 to '95 he served as Trustee of the Newark City Home. He is also a director of the Prudential Insurance Company of America, representing the policy holders and appointed by the Chancellor. And in 1904 the Governor appointed him to serve as a con- sultant to the New Jersey State Village for Epileptics at Skillman.
Dr. Ill was Vice President for New Jersey of the Pan-American Medi- cal Congress in 1893: President, in 1899, of the American Association of Obstetricians and Gynecologists : in 1912-'13 he was President of the Acad- emy of Medicine, Northern New Jersey, and in 1907, or the New Jersey Medical Society. He is a Fellow of the Southern Surgical and Gynecologi- cal Association and the New York Academy of Medicine. He is also Gyne- cologist and Medical Director at St. Michael's Hospital : Gynecologist and supervising Obstetrician, Hospital of St. Barnabas: Consulting Gynecolog- ist of the Newark Beth Israel and St. James Hospitals; Mountain Side Hospital, Montclair : St. Elizabeth's Hospital. Elizabeth ; Somerset Hospi- tal, Somerville : Muhlenberg Hospital, Plainfield : Perth Amboy City Hos- pital. Perth Amboy : Stump Memorial Hospital. Kearny: All Soul's and Morristown Memorial Hospitals, Morristown and the State Hospital at Morris Plains
Dr. Ill was also a Director of the Ocean County Trust Company. He has found opportunities, between times, for literary work, and has pre- pared sixty or more papers for the professional periodicals on special medi- cal topics.
JOHN ILLINGWORTH-Newark. (58 Park Place .- Manufac- turer. Born at Yorkshire, England, son of Robert and Mary Hling-
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worth ; married at Newark, on October, 1870, to Madeline Williams (died January, 1914, age 68.)
Children : Clarence, born 1874; William H., born 1876, and Ida May, (Mrs. Dalrymple) born 1879.
The story of John Illingworth's life is practically a history of the steel industry of the United tSates. His father was a collier in an English mine . with a family of nine children and small means for their support. As a consequence they had to get out early and provide for themselves. One of his sons, John's brother, Benjamin, found employment in the great steel works in Sheffield, England, and became an expert. The production of steel in this country was first undertaken by the Adirondack Steel Co. in Jersey City ; and, needing proficient men, the company sent to England for them. Benjamin was among the first to respond to the call. He rose to be Mana- ger of a department in the Adirondack Works, and later achieved recogni- tion as an authority in the manufacture of steel. When he became settled in his new occupation he found an opportunity for John, and invited him across the seas to take the benefit of it.
John learned the trade under his brother and himself later came to be recognized as one of the best informed men in the steel industry in the United States. Several machines of his invention-one a device for cast- ing skate steel; another for rolling and polishing steel that, with the im- provements later made in it, came to be of universal utility - facilitated the manufacture of the metal and opened avenues for Mi. Illingworth's ad- vancement. In 1864 he was taken as a partner into the firm of Prentice, Atha & Co., which controlled the first steel plant in Newark. In 1891 Mr. Illingworth became allied with the firm of Benjamin Atha & Co., and under the firm name of Atha & Illingworth they were known as among the largest steel manufacturers in the country. Later in 1888 Mr. Illingworth started the John Illingworth Steel Company in Harrison, on the site where the Crucible Steel Company of America is now located. In 1905 he, with his two sons and Charles P. Soden, started the John Illingworth Steel Com- pany at Frankfort, Pa., of which he is still President.
Mr. Illingworth incidentally became interested in fire matters; and under appointment of Mayor Seymour, served as Fire Commissioner of Newark for ten years.
Mr. Illingworth is a member of the North End Club, Newark.
CHARLES H. INGERSOLL-South Orange .- Manufacturer. (Photograph published in Vol. 1-1915). Born at Delta, Eaton County, Mich., October 29th, 1865; son of Orville Boudinot and Mary Elizabeth Ingersoll ; married on July 5th, 1898, at Brooklyn, N. Y., to Eleanor Ramsey Bond, daughter of Thomas A. Bond.
Children : Jane Bond, aged 17. Mary Elizabeth, aged 16; Eli- nore, 15: Anna Louise, 12.
While the name of Charles H. Ingersoll is most associated in the public mind with the "Dollar Watch" that has reduced a luxury of the rich to a
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common commodity, his activities in other directions reveal a man of marked versatility. A glance over the list, further on, of organizations with which he is identified reveals the almost endless variety of topics that interest him. Typical among these organizations are the American Fair Trade League and the United States of Europe Association of New York of each of which he is President, the Society for the Elimination of the Eco- nomic Causes of War, the Anti-Capital Punishment Committee of the Na- tional Prison Association, the National Popular Government League of Washington, D. C., the Society for the Promotion of Training for Public Service, the Municipal Ownership League, the Society for Lower Rents, (N. Y.) and several associations devoted to the single tax propaganda.
Other connections disclose his wide interest, as well, in state and neigh- borhood civic affairs. He was active on the New Jersey Constitutional Convention Committee, and by Gov. Wilson's appointment served on the Morris Canal Investigating Committee. At home he has identified himself with the Progressives in local affairs, is President of the Civic Association of South Orange, Treasurer of the Civics Club of the Oranges, is member of the New England Society of Orange and connected with the South Orange Field Club and the Essex County Country Club. Of the home organ- izations outside his town, he is Treasurer of the National Voters League, member of the Committee on Taxation of the Manufacturers Association of New Jersey and identified with the Woodrow Wilson Democratie League of Essex County, the Equal Franchise Society of New Jersey, the Manufac- turers and Merchants' Taxation League of New Jersey and several auto- mobile associations.
The "Dollar Watch" is the product of the combined genius of his brother, Robert H. Ingersoll and himself; and, though it is only twenty- five years since it was first offered to the public, over 50,000,000 of the time- pieces have been turned out for the markets of the world from the Ingersoll factories. The history of the establishment dates back to 1879, when Robert H., at 19. started out on a cattle train from the family farm in Delta, Michigan, and worked his way, amid many hardships, into New York. There, with a cash capital of $175. which he had managed to save, - he opened a little shop, 6x15 feet in size, at No. 92 Fuiton Street, for the sale of rubber stamps, made by a process of his own. Business prospered, and only a year later, in 1880, he called his brother. Charles H., to bis assistance. Under their combined efforts trade grew even faster, and a whole Fulton Street floor was required to serve it. They combined, with the rubber stamp enterprise, a few novelties Robert invented; and, ad- vertising extensively along novel lines, they built up a mail order business of $50,000 a year.
Happening to drop into a small watch-making establishment one day, Robert H. Ingersoll noticed, on a shelf, a battered and rusty alarm clock, somewhat under the average size. A casual glance suggested to him the possibility of a similar time piece, reduced to watch size, that could be sold at a low figure. The idea so impressed the brothers that they began the series of calculations and experiments out of which came the first "Ingersoll Watch." It was a large, cumbersome affair popularly regarded as a joke. But the idea was novel, and even its small sales spurred the Ingersolls to further efforts. They so reduced its size and improved its
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mechanism that its sale immediately doubled. Then, realizing its possi- bilities, they set about developing it systematically. By applying the same general methods that had made their other articles so successful and by liberal advertising, they succeeded in rapidly increasing the de- mand, and the profits which resulted were devoted to improving the watch. Thus the evolution continued, the watch becoming smaller as the sales became greater.
When it was possible to offer the watch for $1, the demand became so great that it eclipsed all their other interests and one by one these were discontinued. The firm now has many distributing centres-in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Montreal, London, Beunos Aires, China, India, etc. At its plant, the watches are produced at the rate of forty-two per minute, 20,000 per day or 6,000.000 per year. Sixty thousand dealers in the United States are selling them; and, in the summer of 1901, the firm gave watch-making Europe a surprise by closing with the Symonds of London a contract for a million of its time pieces. Charles H. entered full partnership with his brother in 1887. He acquired his education in the schools at Delta, Mich., and upon coming to New York plunged into its life and into that of his home in South Orange with characteristic- energy.
The list of his clubs and associations embraces, besides those already referred to, the Manufacturers Association of N. Y .; N. J. State Chamber of Commerce: Sphinx Club (Advertising), N. Y .; Trenton Chamber of Commerce, (N. J.) ; Waterbury Chamber of Commerce, (Conn.) ; The Fairhope League. (Organic Education), V. P. (Greenwich, Conn.) ; N. J. Automobile & Motor Club, (Newark) : Automobile Club of America ; Automobile & Motor Club ; Michigan Society of N. Y .; Newark Museum Association ; Maiden Lane Historical Ass'n. (N. Y.) ; American Academy of Political & Social Science. (Phila.) ; American Association for Labor Legislation, (N. Y.) ; American Civic Association. (Wash.) ; American Forestry Association. (Wash.) : American Free Trade League. (Boston ) : American Proportional Representation League : American Sociological So- ciety, (Chicago) ; Business Men's Association to Untax Industry. (N. Y.) ; City Club of N. Y .; Congestion Committee of N. Y .; Joseph Fels Fund Commission, (Cincinnati) ; Henry George Lecture Association. Chica- go) : Manhattan Single Tax Club, (N. Y.) : Merchants Legislative League ; Municipal Government League: National Americanization Committee. (N. Y.) ; National Conservation Association, (Wash.): National Geographic Society ; National Municipal League. (Phila.) : National Voters League. (Wash.) ; Treasurer N. J. State Federation : Treasurer N. Y. State I. & R. League; Treasurer N. Y. State Single Tax League, People's Institute, : (N. Y.) ; Postal Progress League, (N. Y.) : Reform Club, (N. Y.) ; Sunrise Club. (N. Y.) : Twilight Club, (N. Y.) ; Voters Legislative League: Wood- row Wilson Advertisers League. (N. Y.) President : Wilson Business Men's National League. (N. Y.) Member Exec. Com.
This unique club list may not appeal to censors of social standing. but speaks volumes for Mr. Ingersoll's disposition to lend a helping hand to movements, no matter how obscure, if their aim is to secure co-opera- tion in beneficial progressive action in varied fields. He is responsible
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for the operation of the Self Masters Colony at Union, this State, which takes care of nearly one hundred 'down and outs."
Notwithstanding the variety of social, economic and political in- terests indicated, Mr. Ingersoll represents himself as being first and fore- most. a Single Taxer, believing it to be fundamental to all other reforms; his donations to this cause are considerable, and his national prominence in this movement is indicated by his affiliations as a member of the Joseph Fells Fund Commission, Manhattan Single Tax Club, (Vice President), and other similar propaganda organizations.
MARY A. JACOBSON (Mrs. Frederick C.)-Newark, (1074 Broad Street )-Social Worker. Born at New York City, on Sep- tember 25th, 1869; daughter of William T. and Mary (Shaw) Atkinson; married at Newark, on November 16th, 1904, to Fred- erick Church Jacobson, son of William E. and Rebecca Jacob- son.
Mary A. Jacobson's activities, outside of those of her home, are der voted particularly to the improvement of conditions in child life and to prison reforms. She had been Secretary for several years of the New Jersey Conference of Charities and Correction when in 1909 she was elected President for the year. She is President of the Newark Public Bath Improvement Association, Chairman of the Executive Committee of the New Jersey State Board of Children's Guardian, a member of the Board of Trustees of the Essex County Parental School, a Director of the State Charities Aid and Prison Reform Association, a Director in the New Jersey Housing Association, and Chairman of the Civilian Relief Committee of the Newark Chapter American Red Cross.
As Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Children's Guardian all the work not requiring the full vote of the Board demands her attention ; and this relates not only to the dependent children's branch of the work but to the widows pension work as well. The Board of Children's Guardian first came conspicuously into view when, some years ago, it was discovered that the Hudson county authorities were herding an enormous colony of little children with adult paupers, male and fe- male, of the most depraved character, in the county Alms House; and a general excursion through the almshouses of the state resulted in the discovery that like conditions prevailed, only in less degree, in almost all the counties.
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