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 46

Author: Sackett, William Edgar, 1848- ed; Scannell, John James, 1884- ed
Publication date: 1917
Publisher: Patterson, N.J. : J.J. Scannell
Number of Pages: 1454


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 46


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In 1879 Col. Prout came to live at Nutley which has been his home ever since. For 16 years he was editor of the "Railroad Gazette" (now the "Railway Age Gazette") an authoritative weekly journal of railway engin- eering, transportation, finance economics. It was his work there that won his degree for him.


For nearly twelve years Col. Prout was First Vice President and Geu- eral Manager of the Union Switch and Signal Co. (George Westinghouse, President), engaged in the manufacture and installation of block signals and other safety apparatus for railroads. On the death of Mr. Westing- house he succeeded to the Presidency and shortly after retired from business. He is now Chairman of the Nutley Chapter of the American Red Cross.


Colonel Prout is a member and former Director of the American Socie- ty of Civil Engineers, a Corresponding Member of the American Geograph- ical Society, and a member of the Century Club and Railroad Club of New


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Pyne


York, the University Club of Pittsburgh, the Chicago Club of Chicago, and the Yountakah Country Club of Passaic.


M. TAYLOR PYNE-Princeton .- Lawyer, Trustee. (Photo- graph published in Vol. 1, 1917.) Born in New York City, on De- cember 21st, 1855; son of Percy Rivington and Albertina Shelton (Taylor) Pyne; married at Trenton, on June 2nd, 1880, to Mar- garetta Stockton, daughter of Major General Robert F. Stock- ton, of New Jersey.


Children : Percy Rivington 2nd, born June 23rd, 1881; Robert Stockton, born May 27th, 1883, died 1903; M. Taylor, Jr., born November 5th, 1885.


Mr. Pyne is of English lineage and graduated from Princeton Uni- versity with the degree of B. A. in 1877, and M. A. in 1880. He studied law in Columbia University, receiving the degree of LL. B. in 1879, and was given the honorary degree of L. H. D. in 1903, by the same institu- tion. He was Republican Presidential Elector in 1908 and 1916, Chair- man of Princeton Township 1899-1911; and is President of the Warren R. R. Co., and the Lake Carnegie Association, Vice President of, the Princeton University Press and Chairman of the New Jersey Public Li- brary Commission, of which he has been a member since its organiza- tion in 1900, and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Young Men's Christian Association of New York City, and is Treasurer of the War Council of the Diocese of New Jersey and Chairman of the American Li- brary Association War Work Campaign for New Jersey.


Mr. Pyne has been Trustee of Princeton University since 1885 and of the Lawrenceville School since 1898; Director of the National City Bank of New York since 1892 ; Manager of St. Luke's Hospital, New York City, from 1882 to 1915; Manager of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R. R. Co. since 1892, and Director of the United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Co. since 1898, the Commercial Trust Co. of New Jersey since 1906, the Princeton Bank and Trust Co. since 1897 and the Prudential Insurance Co. of America since 1917. He was Director of the Farmers Loan and Trust Co., 1883-1917, the Franklin Trust Co. of New York, 1907-1912, the Consoli- dated Gas Co. of New York, 1892-1906, the Harvey Steel Co. 1892-1913, the New Jersey Zinc Co. 1892-1911, the Lackawanna Iron and Coal Co. 1891- 1914, the Lackawanna Steel Co. 1902-1913, the United States Mortgage and Trust Co. 1909-1910. He has also served as Trustee of St. Paul's School, Concord, N. H., and the Pomfret School, Pomfret, Conn.


Mr. Pyne studied law in the office of Evarts, Southmayd & Choate (Mr. Evarts being then Secretary of State of the United States and Mr. Choate later becoming Ambassador to the Court of St. James) and for a number of years practiced law in New York State, for eleven years being General


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379


Queen


Solicitor of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western R. R. Co. He settled in New Jersey in 1894, his residence being "Drumthwacket," in Princeton.


PETER QUACKENBUSH-Paterson, (369 Broadway.)-Mer- chant. Born at Paterson, on February 24th, 1844; (Deceased, 1918-see Vol. 1, 1917.) ; son of Peter and Hester (Demarest) Quackenbush ; married at Paterson, to Sarah Amelia, daughter of William D. Quin; 2nd-married at Colorado Springs, Aug. 18, 1910, to Marion, daughter of D. Wilson Moore.


Children : Sarah Amelia, born January 10, 1883, died October 12, 1898; William Dixón, born December 16, 1877, who graduated from Princeton University, class of 1899.


PAUL ALLAN QUEEN-Flemington .- Lawyer. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917). Born at Mount Pleasant, (Hunterdon Co.), August 8th, 1833; son of John Wahl and Livera Apgar Queen ; married on December 21st, 1SS0, to Lizzie McLenahan, daughter of Robert Mills McLenahan, M. D., and Christiana Van Syckel McLenahan, late of New Hampton, (Hunterdon Co.).


The father of Paul Allan Queen, who died in February, 1917, in his ninety-first year, had lived all his life at Mount Pleasant, where he was active in educational, religious and civic affairs. Thomas Queen, Sr., the great grandfather was of Scotch extraction, coming to this country to settle in Philadelphia, about the year 1791. His son, Allan Queen, took up his residence at Mount Pleasant, married Eleanor, daughter of the late Henry Rockefellar and so became the founder of the Queen family in New Jersey. He too, took a large interest in public and educational af- fairs.


After a preparatory course, Paul Allan Queen was engaged in teaching before entering upon the study of law, which he had chosen for a profes- sion. After his admission to the New Jersey Bar he was connected with important litigation, acted as Counsel for several of the municipalities of the county and for several years was County Solicitor. In 1893 he became a member of the New Jersey Democratic State Committee, serving for three years, and in 1899 was elected Surrogate of Hunterdon county, serving for five years. He was a Delegate from the Fourth Congressional District to the National Democratic Convention, held in Baltimore, in June, 1912. It was at the hands of that convention that Gov. Wilson received his first nomination for the Presidency. In 1912 Governor Wilson ap- pointed Mr. Queen Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Hunterdon coun- ty; he served until the expiration of his term, in 1917.


Judge Queen is one of five sons, who have achieved positions in their several professions. Two of these, the Rev. Sylvanus R. Queen, Presby- terian clergyman of Philadelphia and William Henry Queen, of Mount


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Randolph


Pleasant, are dead. The surviving brothers are Louis Apgar Queen, M. D., of New York City, and ex-Judge Wahl Queen, of Jersey City.


Mrs. Queen's father was a physician of large practice and her mother was a sister of ex-Justice Bennet Van Sycko! of the New Jersey Supreme Court.


LEWIS V. FITZ RANDOLPH-Plainfield, (741 Front Street). -Financier (retired) (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917). Born in Somerville, on May 16, 1838; son of Enoch Manning Fitz Randolph and Mary Ann (Van Syckle) Fitz Randolph ; married on May 16. 1867, to Emily Caroline Price, Daughter of Matthias Price, of Newark.


Children : Mrs. Lee Ashley Grace, of New York City; Mrs. Charles Daniel Parfitt, of Ontario, Canada ; Mrs. Robert Spurr Weston, of Brookline, Mass .; Mrs. Harry Keith White; Miss Mar- ion Fitz Randolph.


Lewis V. F. Randolph is living in Plainfield free from the cares of busi- ness, after a career of exceptional variety and activity. His experiences and life work have included those of an accountant, director, treasurer and president of railways, banker, manager of estates, mayor, exchange presi- dent, traveller, poet, ranchman, horticulturist, publisher and lecturer.


The Fitz Randolph and Van Syckle families have had their homes in New Jersey for upwards of two hundred and fifty years, and the names of several of their fore-bears are on the roll of Revolutionary heroes. Mr. Randolph was but six years of age when his parents came to Plainfield, and he has held his home there during the greater part of his life. His early education was acquired chiefly at the Mauriac Academy in Plainfield. His father, a manufacturer, teacher and poet, died at forty-one. The son went from the Academy to earn a living. While serving as a clerk, he taught a private grammar class, with mechanics and clerks older than himself for pupils. Before he was sixteen years old he taught a Bible class in Sunday School and continued in charge of it for nineteen years, and a literary society which he helped to organize flourished for eighteen years.


In 1854 Mr. Randolph became connected with the American Exchange Bank in New York City, and continued in that service until, in 1863, he en- listed in the Union Army. Mustered out as a sergeant, he returned to the bank's service and went from it to the Illinois Central Railroad, as an ex- pert accountant. There in time he was placed in the Company's money de- partment in Chicago and later became Secretary to the President, Assistant Treasurer, Treasurer and Director of the Company. Twenty-one years of service with the Company left him in impaired health; and in 1885 he sought recuperation in travel. Purchasing a ranch in the West, on his return, he came to own about four thousand grade Hereford and short- horned cattle iu New Mexico.


In 1886 the executors of Samuel J. Tilden's will invited him to become their Secretary and to assist in the management of the estate; and he be-


4


381


Read


came Secretary of the Tilden Trust, the New York Library Corporation to which ex-Gov. Tilden had bequeathed some millions of dollars and which was in part the foundation of the great public library at the 42nd Street corner of Fifth Avenue, New York. When Andrew H. Green, one of the Trustees of the estate died, Secretary Randolph was appointed to fill the vacancy ; and in the administration of the estate he was closely associated with John Bigelow, noted as scholar and statesman.


For nine years, later, Mr. Randolph was President of the Atlantic Trust Co., and in 1903 was made President of the Consolidated Stock & Petroleum Exchange of New York. Twice re-elected to the Presidency, he retired in 1906. He organized and was the first President of the Atlantic Safe Deposit Co., accepted the Presidency of the Kanona & Prattsburg Railroad Co., helped the Carolina and Cumberland Railroad out of bankruptcy, and sold it to the Southern Railway, served as President of a company operat- ing a line of steamboats about New York harbor and up the Hudson River ; and, as President of the Illinois and Iowa Fuel Company, operated large coal mines in the Middle West. For many years he was half-owner and publisher of a newspaper. He was also a Trustee of the Jonathan Sturges estate; and, as co-executor and trustee under the will of William R. Clark- son, assisted in the transfer of the property according to the Clarkson will to the Jennie Clarkson Home for Children (of which he is Vice President) and which now cares for about fifty little ones.


Mr. Randolph was elected Mayor of Plainfield in 1880. In that posi- tion he appointed the first Trustees of the Public Library and was for years a member and Vice President of the Board. He was one of the organizers and an original Trustee of the Muhlenberg hospital.


Mr. and Mrs. Randolph (who celebrated their golden wedding at their home in Plainfield in May of 1917) made in 190S and afterward a series of foreign tours. They came back with works of art and curios gathered in all parts of the world. In 1900 Mr. Randolph's volume of poems en- titled "Survivals" appeared ; seven years later he published "Fitz Randolph Traditions" ; and in 1915 he delivered a series of lectures on India and on Italy before Carson-Newman College of Tennessee, and the college con- ferred the degree of Litt. D. upon him. He is, and has been for many years, President of the Board of Trustees of the First Baptist Church of Plain- field, of which his grandmother, Mary Manning Fitz Randolph, was a con- stituent member a hundred years ago.


WILLIAM THACKARA READ-Camden .- Lawyer. Born in Camden,on November 22, 1878.


William Thackara Read is Treasurer of the State of New Jersey. He had previously been a member of the State Senate. His early education was gotten at the public schools in Camden. He subsequently attended the Willian Penn Charter School of Philadelphia, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1900 with the degree of Bachelor of Science.


He attended the Law School of the University of Pennsylvania and be- came familiar with the practice in the law office of J. Wilard Morgan,


3S2


Rellstab


former State Comptroller. He was admitted to the Bar as an attorney in November, 1903, and as a counselor in 1906. Opening an office in Cam- den, he was made solicitor of the First National Bank and of the Mutual Building and Loan Association, of that city. He is a member of the Board of Managers of the Camden County Bar Association and a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association and of the American Bar Association. He has been also Solicitor of the borough of Riverton and of the township of Voorhees, and for eight years was District Examiner of the Board of Education of Camden.


Mr. Read is a republican. In 1911 he was sent to the State Senate, representing Camden county and three years later re-elected. He soon-com- manded recognition by his colleagues and served at various times on the Committee on the Judiciary, State Prison, Corporations, Elections, Militia and Riparian Rights. He was Senate minority leader in the Senates of 1913,-14 and majority leader in 1915 and served on the Jury Reform Com- mission.


While he was serving his second term, the republican joint caucus of the two Houses elected him to succeed Edward E. Grosscup, democrat, as Treasurer of the State. He became the State's chief financial officer in April the following year and is now holding the position.


Senator Read is a militant statesman and in March, 1909, became second Lieutenant of the Third Regiment N. G. N. J. assigned to the First Battalion as Quartermaster and Commissary. He is an expert rifleman and was a member in 1910-'11 of the Third Regiment Rifle Team. In 1915 Adjutant General Sadler appointed him on his staff with the rank of Major. In 1917, he was made Lieut. Col. on the staff of Gen. Spencer, and in 1918 was promoted to Colonel.


Senator Read is Vice President of the First National Bank of Cam- den and Director of the West Jersey Trust Co. of Camden, and of the Colestown Cemetery Co. He is a member of the American Academy of Political and Social Science and the Union League of Philadelphia. He is connected with the Camden Lodge No. 15, F. and A. M., Siloam Chap- ter. Van Hook Council, Excelsior Consistory 32nd degree, Tall Cedars of Lebanon and Crescent Temple.


ALFRED REED-Trenton .- Jurist. Born in Ewing Township (Mercer County), December 23, 1839, (deceased Dec. 6, 1918, see Vol. 1, 1917), son of George B. and Mary (Hepburn Reed ; married at Trenton on August 1, 1878 to Rosealba, daughter of George Souder, of Philadelphia.


JOHN RELLSTAB-Trenton .- Jurist. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917). Born in Trenton, September 19, 1858 ; son of John and Therese (Schaidnagel) Rellstab ; married in 1880, to Mary L.


383


Richards


Francis, who died in 1899 and 2nd to Mary J. Whittaker, in 1905.


.


John Rellstab is a Judge of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey. His father was a native of Switzerland and his mother of Bavaria. He began his education in the parish school connected with Trinity Evangelican Lutheran Church and went afterwards to the public schools of Trenton. He was apprenticed to learn the pottery trade, but. with ambitions in other directions, he entered his name as a law student with the late Levi T. Hannum and devoted his nights to the law books.


In the pottery trade, after becoming a journyman he was appointed to a clerical position in the office of the New Jersey Pottery Company, was put in charge of the Company's sales rooms in New York and afterwards went on the road on the firm's Western and Southern routes. Later he was engaged in the same capacity for the East Trenton Pottery. Mean- while, he continued his legal studies and was admitted to the Bar as an attorney in 1882 and counselor in 1889. For a time he was in partnership with the late Judge James Buchanan 'in Trenton.


His first public function was as Solicitor for the borough of Chambers- burg (1884-'88) and later, for two periods, he served as City Solicitor of Trenton (1889-'92, 1894-'96). He was appointed Judge of the District Court of Trenton in 1896 and served there until Gov. Voorhees appointed him Judge of the Mercer County Court in 1900. He was still on that Bench when President Taft nominated him to the United States Senate for Judge of the United States District Court for the district of New Jersey. The nomination was made May 6, 1909, and the confirmation came on May 18.


Judge Rellstab is a republican in politics and active in the Presby- terian Church, one of its ruling elders and a teacher of the Men's Bible Class. He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Y. M. C. A. and the Florence Crittenden Mission and a Trustee of Princeton Theological Sem- inary.


ALBERT RICHARDS-Dover. (14 Bank St.) .- Retired. Born at Easton, Pa., Aug. 11th, 1855; son of Henry and Jane (Price) Richards, married at Sparta, N. J., Sept., 16th 1897; to Blanch, Lantz, daughter of Robert and Catherine Lantz.


Children : Jack Van Nostrand. July 5th, 1898.


Albert Richards, is of old English stock. His father, a mine con- tractor emigrated from England in 1816 and settled in Pottsville, Pa. His mother was born at Durham, Pa., of English parentage. In his early days. he attended the public schools of Easton, Pa .. his birthplace, graduating from Easton High School in 1874. The year following his graduation from school he became contractor and superintendant of the Hurdtown Mine, at Hurdtown, N. J., and remained in that capacity until 1893. In May, 1893, he purchased the Mansion House at Dover from the I. B.


384


Riker


Jolley Estate, and for twelve successive years, was its proprietor and manager.


He has always taken an active part in the public and civic affairs of his home town. and from 1907-'OS he was a member of the Dover Common Council. The following year he was appointed a member of the Board of Visitors of the State Agricultural College at New Brunswick and the following year, in 1911, a member of the Board of Managers of the State Hospital at Morris Plains.


He is a member of Acacia Lodge, A. F. M., Baldwin Chapter, Royal Arch Masons, Ode De St. Amand Commandery, Morristown, Mecca Tem- ple, A. A. O. N. M. S., and is a charter member of the Dover Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.


*


CLARENCE B. RIKER-South Orange, (432 Scotland Road). -Manufacturer. Born at Cresskill, N. J., October 9, 1863. Son of Andrew J. and Caroline (Tysen) Riker. Married at Brooklyn, N. Y., on April 14, 1887, to Jessie Carpenter, daughter of Daniel H. and Hester L. Carpenter.


Children : Marion C., born May 26, 1SSS, Carleton B., born April 2, 1890 and Daniel C. July 23, 1892.


Clarence B. Riker is a descendant of the Riker family that settled in Long Island in 1664. His family afterwards settled in New York where they occupied prominent places in the law and judiciary and were actively identified with the revolution and all patriotic movements of the time.


He was educated in the public schools of Orange and in 1877 he entered the Prescott Academy at Orange from which he graduated in 1880.


He entered the banking and shipping office of Busk & Jevons, 41 Wall Street, New York, in 1881, serving six years in the steamship depart- ment. He then became General Manager of the Booth and Red Cross Steamship lines to Brazil, serving in that capacity for three years.


In 1891 he organized The Sydney Ross Company, Manufacturers and Exporters of Pharmaceuticals of which he has been President and General Manager since its organization.


"He is an extensive traveler, having either on business or pleasure, visited nearly every part of the world. He is well known in natural his- tory circles, this study being taken up during his spare time; and during his trips he has made extensive collections, among which are many species new to science. He is also well known in these circles for his collections and explorations on the Amazon River.


Six weeks prior to the outbreak of the European War he organized and equipped the South Orange Home Guard consisting of 140 men, which organization was the first of its kind in the State ready for duty.


He is a member of the following Clubs: Essex County Country Club, Camp Fire Club. Circumnavigators Club, Explorers Club, Japan Society,


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Robbins


South Orange Field Club, Orange Camera Club, Orange Lawn Tennis Club, New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce.


His business address is 147-153 Waverly Place, New York City.


SAMUEL 3 KIRKBRIDE ROBBINS-Moorestown .- Lawyer. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917). Born at Mt. Holly, May 9, 1853 ; son of Barzillai W. and Anna (Wilson) Robbins ; married at Pemberton, on October 4, 1882, to Edith E. Shreve, daughter of Barzilai R. and Agnes E. Shreve, of Pemberton.


Children : Agnes M. and Edith C.


Samuel K. Robbins' participation in public affairs has made him a notable figure in the State and a force in its affairs, particularly in the South section.


He began his public service in 1897 as a member of the Board of Education of Chester Township, Burlington Co., on which he served until 1903. From March 1899 to March 1903 he was President of the Board. Meanwhile he served on the County Board of Election from 1900 to 1903. In the Fall of the latter year he was nominated by the republicans of the county as a member of the House of Assembly and elected by a large ma- jority. Re-elected in 1904 and 1905, he served as a member during the legislative sessions of 1904, 1905. and 1906. In the memorable session of 1906 he was elected Speaker of the House and took an active and con- spicuous part in shaping the important legislation of that year.


In the Fall of 1906 he was given the republican nomination for the State Senate and, elected after a spirited campaign, he served in the Senate during the Legislative sessions of 1907 and 1908 and 1909, being the majority floor leader in 1908 and President of the Senate in 1909. He was the first citizen of New Jersey to be chosen as both Speaker of the House and President of the Senate within a period of three years.


While in the Senate he was appointed by Gov. Fort one of the four members-at-large of the Republican State Committee on which he served until 1911. He was also appointed one of the Receivers of the defunct State Mutual Building and Loan Association of New Jersey by Chancellor Pitney in 190S, and rendered valuable service in winding up the compli- cated affairs of this institution, whose membership was State wide-real- izing 81% of their investments for the Stockholders. He also represented the Second Congressional District as a Delegate to the National Republican Convention of 1908. where he was chosen the New Jersey member of the Committee on Credentials.


On the last day of the legeslative session of 1909. he was appointed by Gov. Fort to be Clerk of the Court of Chancery of New Jersey, to suc- ceed Vivian M. Lewis, resigned. His resignation as President of the Sen- ate was accepted and his nomination confirmed. He completed his term of service as Clerk of the Court of Chancery on April 14th, 1914, since which time he has held no public office other than membership of Local Board No. 2 for Burlington County during the year 1918 but has kept in close touch with public affairs.


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Roebling


Senator Robbins was prepared for college at Fort Edward Institute, Fort Edward, N. Y., and at Andalusia College, Andalusia, Pa. He entered Princeton College (now Princeton University) in 1870, and was graduated in June. 1874, with the degree of A. B. He read law with Charles E. Hendrickson at Mount Holly, and was admitted to the Bar at the June term, 1880. In September of that year he located at Moorestown and opened offices there and also in the City of Camden, where he has con- tinued to practice his profession ever since.


Senator Robbins is a member of the Princeton Club of Philadelphia, of the New Jersey Society of Pennsylvania, and of the Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. He also is Past Master of Moorestown Lodge No. 158, F. & A. M., and a charter member of Mt. Holly Lodge No. 848, B. P. O. E.


CORINNE ROOSEVELT ROBINSON (Mrs. Douglas) -- Orange, -Author. Daughter of Theodore and Martha Bulloch Roosevelt; married at 6 West 57th St., N. Y., April 29th, 1882, to Douglas Robinson, son of Douglas and Fanny Monroe Robinson.


Children : Theodore Douglas, born 1883; Corinne Douglas, born 1886; Monroe Douglas, born 1887; Stewart Douglas, born 1889.


The father of Corinne Roosevelt Robinson was one of New York's foremost business men and philanthropists, and her brother, Theodore Roosevelt, was President of the United States from the fall of 1901 to March 4, 1909. While Mrs. Robinson has a New York home at 9 East 63rd Street, she has been much identified with the social and civic life of the Oranges. Mr. and Mrs. Robinson spend their summers at their country home in the Mohawk Valley, New York and a part of the fall season at Orange.




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