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 32
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The State Charities Aid Society through the late Mrs. Emily William- son and the now Mrs. H. Otto Wittpenn, interested itself in the matter; and the State Board of Children's Guardian was established with a spe- cial view, at the time, to the finding of proper homes for the little de- pendents. Its functions have since been enlarged very much ; and of late it has also undertaken the administration of the Widows Pension Fund. The function of the Public Bath Improvement Association is to see that sanitary and health laws and precautions against contagion are observed at the public baths; and the Association has also brought about the
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building in Newark of one of the most sanitary public bath houses in the United States. It is fitted with showers only, which the Association considers safest and most successful. Besides being President of this Association, Mrs. Jacobson is a Director in the American Association for Promoting Hygiene and Public Baths.
The Parental School of which Mrs. Jacobson is one of the Trustees was established by an act of the legislature of 1912 to provide and main- tain an institution for the detention of delinquents under eighteen and for the detention of those of tender years held as witnesses in the juvenile courts. The Court of Common Pleas appointed as Trustees, besides Mrs. Jacobson, Lathrop Anderson, ex-Senator J. Henry Bacheller, Mrs. Sidney M. Colgate and Winfred A. Manchee. The New Jersey Conference of Char- ities and Corrections was created to bring together, for effective co-opera- tive work, the men and women who are dealing at first hand with the problems of human affliction and distress. The object of the New Jersey Housing Commission is to improve housing conditions and to act as a clearing house of information for local Housing Committees.
Mrs. Jacobson is of English and Irish lineage, although her parents as well as their parents were born in this country. Her father and mother died when she was sixteen years of age and she was the oldest of nine children whom they left parentless. It developed upon her conse- quently to become the mother of the household until she married.
Mrs. Jacobson was one of the three women named by Mayor Haussling to serve on the Newark City quarter-millenial Celebration Committee of 100; and to her was entrusted the organization and charge of the Pageant House in which 400 volunteer women made about 1,000 costumes worn in the Masque that was a feature of the celebration. The design and decora- tion of a few have been copied by organizations needing costumes of that type. Mrs. Jacobson organized the wardrobe work and saw that all the women who participated were dressed and ready to fit into their places in the Pageant show at Weequahic Lake without delay or confusion.
Perhaps the work of which Mrs. Jacobson is justly most proud, is the organization and direction of the Home Service Section (formerly Civilian Relief) of the American Red Cross, Newark Chapter.
Mrs. Jacobson has personally directed this work since the beginning of the War, having under her jurisdiction over 100 volunteers and trained social workers who have been of assistance to and cared for over 5,000 families in Newark of soldiers and sailors who went away in the service of their country.
The work is still going on and will only be discontinued when the men are again returned to their families and in a position to support them as formerly.
Mrs. Jacobson is also a member of The Contemporary of Newark.
JACOB J. JANEWAY-New Brunswick, (192 Livingston Ave.) -Manufacturer. (Photograph published in Vol. 1-1917). Born in Middlesex county, March 15, 1840; son of Dr. George J. and
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Matilda (Smith) Janeway ; married at New Brunswick, on No- · vember 29, 1871, to Eliza A. Harrington, daughter of Henry L. and Sarah P. (Blakeslee) Harrington, of Philadelphia, Pa.
Children : Henry H., born March 19, 1873; George J., born Octo- ber 29, 1874 ; Emily Porter, born September 7, 1877; Lucius Porter, born June 18, 1881.
Jacob J. Janeway is President of Janeway & Carpenter, Inc., manu- facturers of wall paper, at New Brunswick. During the War of the Re- bellion he served for nearly three years in the Union ranks. Having en- listed in the Fourteenth Regiment New Jersey Volunteers, he was appoint- ed and commissioned to be Captain of Company K by Governor Olden of the State on August 23, 1862, and was shortly mustered into service. On September 19, 1864, he was promoted to the rank of Major and was again advanced to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, December 13th of the same year. On April 2nd, 1865, he was made Colonel by Brevet of the United States Volunteers "For Gallant and Meritious Services before Petersburg. Va." He was mustered out of service June 18, 1865. He had thus been an active participant in the battles for the preservation of the nation for two years and nine months. With the Regiment he took part in the following engagements :
Manassas Gap, Va., July 17, '13; Wapping Heights, Va., July 24, '63; Culpepper, Va., Oct. 12, '63; Bristow Station, Va., Oct. 14, '63; Kelly's Ford, Va., Nov. 7, '63 ; Brandy Station, Va., Nov. S, '63; Locust Grove, Va., Nov. 27, '63; Mine Run, Va., Nov. 29, '63; Wilderness, Va., May 4 to 7, '64; Spottsylvania, Va., May 8 to 11, '64; Spottsylvania C. H., Va., May 12 to 14, '64 ; Po River, Va., May 15. '64; North Anna River, Va., May 23 to 24, '64; Hanover, C. H., Va., May 30 and 31, '64; Cold Harbor, Va., June 1 to 10, '64; Bermuda Hundred, Va., June 14, '64; before Petersburg, Va., June 16 to 23, '64; Monocacy, Md., July 9, '64; Snicker's Gap, Va., July 18, '64; Strasburg. Va., Aug. 15, '64; Charlestown, Va., Aug. 21, '64; Opequan, Va., Sept. 19. '64. In the battle at Opequan, Va., Major Peter Vredenburgh, commanding the Regiment, was killed and Captain Janeway took command retaining it until the close of the war. Under his command the Regiment took part in the following additional battles : Flint Hill, Va., Sept. 21, '64; Fisher's Hill, Va., Sept. 22, '64; Mount Jackson, Va., Sept. 25, '64; Cedar Creek, Va., Oct. 19, '61; Hatcher's Run, Va., Feb. 5, '65; Fort Stead- man, Va., March 25, '65; Capture of Petersburg, Va., April 2. '65; Sailor's Creek, Va .. April 6, '65; Farmville, Va .. April 7. 65; Lee's Surrender (Appomattox, Va.) April 9, '65.
Colonel Janeway's family is of English descent. William Janeway born in London, the first of the line of whom there is any record in this country, came to New York City in 1694. He was an officer in the English Navy. He brought with him the Charter of the Parish of Trinity Church, New York-the greatest Episcopal parish in the United States. He bought of William Merrett, Mayor of the City of New York, May 10. 1698, farm.within the City, from near the City Hall to East River. Fur- ther in this ancestral line are Jacob Janeway, born 1707, who married Sarah Hoagland. June 26, 1738: George Janeway, born October 9, 1741, who married Effie Ten Eyck, December 13. 1767; and Rev. Jacob J. Jane-
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way, D. D., born December, 1,74, and married to Martha Gray Leiper, April 17, 1804. George J. Janeway, son of Rev. J. J. Janeway, and father of Colonel Janeway, born October 14, 1806, was a physician practicing in New Brunswick.
Colonel Janeway was educated at the schools in New Brunswick, and became a student in Rutgers College in the class that graduated in 1859. After leaving College he was a clerk in Schieffelin Brothers, Wholesale Drug Business, New York City. He entered the Army August 23, 1862, and remained to the close of the war. Then was with Janeway & Company in the wall paper business until 1872, when he formed a co-partnership with Charles J. Carpender and started manufacturing in a building which now is part of those occupied by Johnson & Johnson, Manufacturing Chemists. As the business grew the buildings were found to be too small and ground was purchased adjoining the Pennsylvania Railroad on Paterson, Schuyler and Church streets. In 1884 a five story and basement building was built and fully equipped and Janeway & Carpender became the largest manu- facturers of wall paper in the country. In 1889 Colonel Janeway bought out the interest of Charles J. Carpenter and continued the business alone. In 1892 he sold out to the National Wall Paper Co., an organization which dissolved after eight years. Colonel Janeway then bought back the busi- ness and in 1900 incorporated under the corporate name of Janeway & Carpender, and became President. In 1904 he took in his son, Lucius Porter Janeway, just graduated from Princeton College, who later became Vice President ; also in 1907 Rev. Charles J. Scudder, a graduate of Rut- gers College and Seminary, who married his daughter, Emily Porter Janeway, and who became Secretary soon after his connection with the company.
In March, 1907, the factory buildings were totally destroyed by fire. Colonel Janeway rebuilt on the present site across the river on land that would give ample room, about 600 feet square. The new buildings were started a short time after the fire and were built and the factory was running before the fire went out. The reason of this was that the fire smouldered for almost a year while, in four months from the time of start- ing to build, the plant was running : by working two forces night and day the Company was able to get out samples and do almost the normal busi- ness that year. The buildings they now occupy constitute the largest in- dividual wall paper factory in the country, and also afford plenty of room for growth. With the addition of branch houses at 520-526 Canal Street, Chicago, Ill., and 23 North 10th Street, Philadelphia, Pa., they can carry sufficient stock to supply promptly all the wants of their customers scattered throughout the country.
Colonel Janeway's oldest son, Henry H. Janeway, is a Surgeon prac- ticing in New York City and is an Attending Surgeon of the Memorial Hospital, 106th Street and Central Park, West, New York City, specializ- ing on the use of radium. His son George J. Janeway graduated from Princeton Seminary but on account of ill health has no charge. Both these sons are graduates of Rutgers College.
Colonel Janeway's club and society memberships are with the Military Order of the Loyal Legion of the United tSates Commandery of the State of Pennsylvania, and the New Brunswick Country Club. He is Treasurer
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Jefferys
and Trustee of the Francis E. Parker Memorial Home, Treasurer for the Corporation for the Relief of Poor Children, and Director of the Children's Home in New Brunswick.
JAMES N. JARVIE-Montclair, (150 Upper Montclair Avenue.) -Coffee Merchant. Born in Manchester, England, on December 13th, 1853 ; son of William and Isabella (Newbegin) Jarvie; mar- ried at Bloomfield, on August 28, 1909, to Helen Vanderveer New- ton, daughter of John and Emma (Westervelt) Newton of Bloom- field.
James N. Jarvie, for many years a world leader among sugar refiners and coffee importers, came, when less than two years old, to this country with his parents and has lived in Montclair since 1904. His father was born in Perth, Scotland; his mother in Bellford, Northumberlandshire, England. He retired in 1906 from the firm of Arbuckle Bros., who are en- . gaged in the sugar refining and coffee importing business and along other mercantile lines, and with which he had been associated. He has been connected at different times with The Mutual Life Insurance Company, Guaranty Trust Company, Central Trust Company, National Bank of Com- merce, Bank of America, New York Mutual Gas Light Company of New York, and the Southern Pacific Company, and is a Trustee of The London Assurance Corporation.
Mr. Jarvie is a member of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions, and has been connected with the Westminster Presbyterian Church of Bloomfield since its inception. As a memorial to his father and mother, he gave, under the management of its Trustees, a Public Library for the town of Bloomfield in 1901. It has something like over twenty thousand books on its shelves, and a circulation of between forty and fifty thousand per annum. In 1917 he offered to the Church's Board of Trustees to pur- chase the property of the late William H. White adjoining the church grounds on Franklin Street and to erect upon it a parsonage to be known as "Helen's Manse," in memory of his wife. He had previously given the church a Sunday school and a library building, known at Jarvie Memorial Hall, as a tribute to his parents. And he has just given $100,000 toward the new School of Dentistry connected with Columbia University as a memorial to his brother, Dr. William Jarvie.
Mr. Jarvie is a member of the Metropolitan Club, New York Yacht Club, Down Town Association, Jekyl Island Club, Robins Island Club, Montclair Club, Montclair Art Association. Glen Ridge Golf Club, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. and various other associations.
UPTON SAGER JEFFERYS-Camden .- Editor. (Photograph published in Vol. 1-1917). Born at Trenton, April 14, 1864; son of the Rev. William H. and Beulah Clayton (Turner) Jefferys ;
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Jess
married at Crestmont, Pa., December 16, 1914, to Mary Francis . Pieper.
Upton S. Jefferys is a South Jersey publicist. His father was a mem- ber of the New Jersey M. E. Conference and served as pastor of its leading churches. His ancestry runs back to the New Jersey Colonial period. One of his forbears on his father's side was among the earliest settlers of Connecticut Farms, then a part of Essex county, but now of Union. His maternal ancestors were early land owners in Gloucester county. He was educated in the public schools of Camden and Gloucester county and in a private school in Camden.
Mr. Jefferys has been engaged in newspaper work all of his life. Hav- ing learned the printer's trade, he became a reporter for Camden and Philadelphia dailies, published a daily and subsequently a weekly news- paper in Camden, was New Jersey editor of the "Philadelphia Inquirer" for nine years, and since 1900 has been editor of the "Camden Post-Tele- gram," the leading daily Republican newspaper in the south part of the state.
Interested, and a factor, in Republican politics, he was. when the late Senator William J. Bradley of Camden was Speaker of the House, his Secretary for two terms. He subsequently became Assistant Clerk of the House of Assembly, serving several terms, and was elected Clerk of the House in 1912 and again in 1915-1916-1917-1918. In 1913 and 1914, during the legislative sessions, he conducted the Republican State Com- mittee's publicity work, and he assisted in Governor Walter E. Edge's publicity campaign in 1916. He was Secretary to United States Senator David Baird, 1918-1919.
Mr. Jefferys was for sixteen years connected with the National Guard of the state. He has taken an active part in public movements, especially social welfare work. Largely through his efforts the playground move- ment was established on a permanent basis in Camden and he was the first President of the Board of Playground Commissioners, appointed by the Mayor. He assisted in preparing a revision of the playground laws of the State.
When a state of war with Germany was declared. Mr. Jefferys was appointed a member of the Committee of Public Safety of Camden, was made Chairman of the Publicity Committee and served in the Executive Council.
Mr. Jefferys is a member and ex-President of the New Jersey Legis- lative Correspondents Club and a member of the New Jersey Press Asso- ciation, the Young Men's Republican Club of the Second Ward. Camden and of Camden Lodge No. 293. B. P. O. E., Camden Y. M. C. A. and the Pen and Pencil Club. Philadelphia.
FRANK B. JESS-Haddon Heights .- Counselor-at-Law. Born at Philadelphia, Pa., on Nov. 3, 1870; son of Levi B. and Emma (Watson) Jess; married at Camden, N. J., on April 4, 1893, to
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Johnson
Louise Ketcham Belding, daughter of Theodore E. and Mary (Mumford) Belding, of Camden, N. J.
Children : William H., born Dec. 28. 1893; Frank Nelson, born Feb. 12, 1896, Everett Mumford, born Jan. 23. 1912.
Frank B. Jess obtained his education in the public schools of Camden. Mr. Jess began his work in the world as a reporter in 1887, at seven- teen years of age, and after several years' experience in Camden, he went to Philadelphia and accepted a position as news editor of "The Call" (since suspended) and successively became news editor. Washington correspondent and financial editor of "The Bulletin" of Philadelphia.
During this period he also employed part of his time studying law under the supervision of his brother, the late William H. Jess, and was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1897. He was a member of the Council of the Borough of Haddon Heights from its incorporation in 1904, to January 1, 1906, and also for several years a member of the Board of Education of the borough. At present Mr. Jess is solicitor of the Borough of Haddon Heights.
For two years. (1907-1908) he served as an assemblyman from Cam- den county, and in the latter year, he was elected Speaker. On May 8, . 1908, he was appointed Chief Examiner of the Civil Service Committee and served in that capacity until April 16, 1909. At that date, he was confirmed as a member of the State Board of Equalization of Taxes, and was appointed President of that body in 1910 for a term of five years.
In 1915 he was re-appointed and upon the consolidation of the Board of Equalization and the State Board of Assessors into the Board of Taxes and Assessment, he was chosen a member of the new board. In 1917 he was re-appointed by Governor Edge, and in 1918 was made the Presi- dent of the board.
In 1912 Mr. Jess attended the Republican National Convention at Chicago as a Delegate-at-Large from New Jersey and later in the same year was a Delegate to the Progressive Convention at Chicago when. Col. Roosevelt was nominated for the Presidency. He subsequently was elected chairman of the New Jersey State Progressive Committee.
The sons of Mr. Jess. William and Frank Nelson. volunteered when war was declared on Germany. and saw service in France.
Mr. Jess' business address is 531 Federal street, Camden, N. J., and the State House, Trenton, N. J.
WILLIAM M. JOHNSON-Hackensack. (Main Street)-Law- yer. (Photograph published in Vol. 1-1917). Born in Newton. (Sussex Co.) December 2nd, 1847; son of Whitfield S. Johnson and Ellen Green : married on December 22, 1872, to Maria E. White, daughter of William and Hannah (Haines) White.
Children : George W., born July 25, 1877: William Kempton. born February, 1883.
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Johnson
William M. Johnson was First Assistant Post Master General under President Mckinley. For years previously he had been a leading member of the New Jersey State Senate.
The Johnson family name has appeared conspicuously in the records of the past. Senator Johnson's great grandfather, Capt. Henry Johnson, was an officer in the Revolutionary War. His father, Whitfield S. John- son, a prominent lawyer of Newton, was Secretary of State of New Jersey from 1861 to 1866. The functions of that office demanded Secretary John- son's presence at the State Capitol, and he made his home there after his appointment. William M. graduated from Princeton in 1867; and, ad- mitted to the New Jersey bar in 1870, practiced in Trenton till 1875, when he removed to Hackensack where he became a busy and successful lawyer.
Mr. Johnson was soon active in politics ; and in 1884 was designated as the Bergen county member of the Republican State Convention. The State Conventions of 1888 and 1904 named him as a delegate to the Repub- lican National Conventions of those years. His election to the State Sen- ate in 1895 is memorable in Bergen county annals because he was the first Republican that county had ever sent the Upper House of the State Legislature. Re-elected in 1898 he became leader of the party, and in 1900 was chosen President of the Senate. When, in the summer of 1900, Gov. Voorhees made a trip across the sea, President Johnson became Acting Governor, by virtue of his office. All of the legislative work of the sessions, when Senator Johnson was in the Senate, bears the impress of his suggestion and judgment. He was particularly active in guarding the State Treasury against improvident raids ; and he first suggested legisla- tion for the elimination of the grade crossings of the railroads. One act offered by him and the discussions it aroused drew public attention to the subject, and opened the door to the remedial legislation that has since been perfected.
In 1900 President Mckinley invited him to accept the post of First Assistant Post Master General of the United States, and Senator Johnson undertook the labors of the office. One of his achievements was the build- ing of the Rural Free Delivery Service, then in its infancy, into a robust branch of the Post Office Department. Ill health compelled him to resign the office in 1902. The nomination for Governor, which was drifting to him in 1907 without opposition, would have been equivalent to his election, if Mr. Johnson's health had permitted its acceptance. His not over-robust constitution accounts, too. for his refusal of judicial honors afterwards tendered to him,
He was appointed by the Chancellor in 1913 as one of the appraisers to ascertain the value of the stock of the Prudential Life Insurance Com- pany. This important work involving millions of dollars in value was carried to a successful completion and the mutualization of the Company became effective on the basis of the valuation as fixed by the appraisers.
Senator Johnson has taken a deep interest in the life of the town in which he makes his home, and directed some of his energies to its develop- ment. In 1901 he erected, and gave to Hackensack, a handsome public library building, fully equipped, which was designated by the town author- ities as the "Johnson Public Library ;" and in 1915 he had erected an ex- tensive addition to the building, making it complete and well adapted to
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Jordan
the uses of the town. He is Vice President of the Hackensack Hospital, and another of his public benefactions is the Home for Nurses of the Hackensack Hospital, a handsome and commodious building of fire-proof construction, erected in 1916. To the Second Reformed Church of which he has been an officer for many years, he donated a handsome organ. In June of 1916 the citizens of Hackensack tendered him a public dinner in recognition of the many helpful things he had done for the town.
Senator Johnson is President of the Hackensack Trust Company and Director of the Hackensack National Bank and of other local corpora- tions. He has for a number of years been a director of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark; is a Director of the General Chemical Co., the Columbia Graphophone Mfg. Company, and the Hackensack Water Company, and a member of the Washington Association, the New Jersey Historical Society of which he is a Trustee; the Bergen County Historical Society, and the New Jersey Bar Association of which he was President in 1912.
Some of Senator Johnson's clubs are the Lawyers (N. Y.), The Hack- ensack Golf, The Arcola Country and The Oritani Field. ,
JAMES T. JORDAN-Paterson, (34-18th Ave. ) -- Piano Mer- chant and Musical Director. Born at Wednesbury, England, Oc- tober 28th, 1864; son of James and Sarah (Allen) Jordan ; mar- ried at Paterson, N. J., May 17th, 1893, to Alice Bradbury, daugh- ter of James and Alice (Bowker) Bradbury, of Paterson, N. J.
Children : Florence B., born Jan. 22nd, 1895; Dorothy, born June 2nd, 1902.
James T. Jordan's parents emigrated from England to this country in 1871, and settled at Montreal, Canada. Later, when he was ten years old, the family moved to Paterson, N. J., and Mr. Jordan attended the public schools there until he was fourteen, and then was forced to go to work.
He entered the piano business in 1895, and has since been connected with it. In 1904 the Jordan Piano Company of Paterson was incorporated, and he was elected its President and General Manager.
Although most of his attention is required in his business, Mr. Jordan has also found time to engage himself in civic and musical affairs of his home town. He has organized and been at the head of musical affairs and has been prominent in all music events of the city.
Chiefly through Mr. Jordan's efforts and liberal donation. the Park Avenue Baptist Church of Paterson of which he is a member was rebuilt and eventually finished.
He has done considerable traveling abroad, visiting Europe every two or three years since 1887, and was in Belgium at the beginning of the World War in 1914. In his own country, he has journeyed to a great de- gree, having toured the North, South and West, as far as California.
Mr. Jordan served two years as President of the Paterson Chamber of Commerce. (1917-18) is a member of Joppa Lodge F. & A. M., a
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Kahn
Knights Templar, a 32rd Degree Mason and a Shriner. He is also a member of the Paterson Rotary Club, and until June, 1918, was a mem- · ber of the Hamilton Club of Paterson.
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