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 50

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 50


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Judge Shipman's son, Jehiel G., a graduate of Princeton and for a time a student in the law office of Robert H. McCarter, is now of the law firm of Fort & Fort, Newark.


GEORGE S. SILZER-Metuchen, (Graham Place.) -- Jurist. Born at New Brunswick, April 14, 1870; son of Theodore and Christina (Zimmerman) Silzer ; married at Metuchen, on April 18, 1898, to Henrietta T. Waite, daughter of Cephas K. Waite.


Children : Parker Waite, born April 20, 1900.


George S. Silzer was elected to the New Jersey State Senate in 1906, on an anti-bribery platform suggested by the agitation of the day against the purchase of seats in the United States Senate. The amendment to the Federal Constitution which provides for the popular election of United States Senators was largely due to the belief that money had more to do than merit with Senatorial elections. Mr. Silzer had been a leading member of the New Brunswick Board of Aldermen and Chairman of the Democratic County Committee, and he entered the anti-bribery movement with consid- erable force. Made the democratic candidate for the State Senate in 1906, he was elected by a handsome majority and re-elected by a larger one in 1909. The translation of Dr. Woodrow Wilson from Princeton University to the Governorship of New Jersey was the outgrowth of a reform move- ment. of which the anti-bribery agitation was a feature.


Mr. Silzer was in the Senate during the first two years of Gov. Wilson's administration, and aided in the passage of the remedial and corrective legislation which Governor Wilson promoted. The Governor nominated him for Prosecutor of the Pleas of Middlesex county at the expiration of his senate term in 1912. In 1914 he resigned to accept appointment as a Cir- cuit Judge. The appointment was for an unexpired term, and when it ran out in 1915 he was reappointed. His term will expire in 1922.


Judge Silzer was educated in the local schools and at the High School of New Brunswick. He was admitted to the Bar as an attorney in 1892 and made a counselor in 1899. He is a 32nd degree Mason, of the Mystic Shrine, a B. P. O. E., a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association and of the New Brunswick Country and Somerville Country, Metuchen Golf and the Metuchen Clubs.


FREDERICKA MeHARG SIMS-Newark, (247 Belleville Ave.) -Singer. Born at Newark, N. J., September 12, 1895; daughter of Winfield Scott and Josephine (Courter) Sims.


Fredericka MeHarg Sims is descended from English-American stock. Both father and grandfather, Captain Lindsay D. Sims, were veterans of the Civil War.


In her early life, she attended the public schools of Newark, and later the Barringer and Central High Schools. She graduated in 1914.


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Her career as a singer began shortly after. She studied music with Wilfried Klamroth, of New York, and before completing her course, in May, 1916, received extensive concert engagements. Her singing at vari- ous charitable festivals in her home city brought her many offers to go on the stage, and in April, 1916, she organized her own company and for almost two years she appeared on the Proctor and Keith Circuit in a high class musical act.


When the war broke out. she became interested in charity work to re- lieve and entertain soldiers and sailors, and thereupon gave up professional work for the duration of the war. In Canada she sang to 1,000 wounded men, convalescing at Toronto, and since then she has sung in army en- campments from Canada to South Carolina. She also aided in recruiting work for the army and navy, and during the Liberty Loan campaigns as- sisted the New York, Newark and Philadelphia Liberty Loan committees, by singing at rallies. All in all she sang to more than half a million men during her tours around the camps, and as recognition of her services she was awarded the red triangle by the Y. M. C. A.


She is soprano of a quartet of the Church of the Redeemer in Newark. ยท She is a member of the Newark Musicians Club and the Music Study Club of Newark.


WINFIELD SCOTT SIMS -- Newark, (163 Mt. Prospect Ave.) -Inventor. Born in New York City, on April 6, 1844 (deceased January 7, 1918-see Vol. 1, 1917.) ; son of Lindsay D. and Cathe- rine B. Sims ; married on June 11, 1867, to Lida Leek, of Newark. -2nd, on June 24, 1891, to Mrs. Josephine Courter French.


ALFRED FORD SKINNER-Madison .- Lawyer. Born at New- ark, on September 24, 1862 ; son of Daniel M. and Mary C. (Squier) Skinner ; married at Newark, on January 31, 1894, to Josephine Phillips, daughter of John M. and Elizabeth Phillips, of Newark.


Children : Alfred Phillips, born February, 1895; John Morris, born January 2, 1897, (died in infancy ) : Mary Eleanor, born September 23, 1900; Morris Phillips, born August 22, 1904.


Alfred F. Skinner, who is now of the law firm of Pitney. Hardin & Skinner in Newark, had been previously active in the official life of the state and community. The republicans of Essex county named him as one of their candidates for the New Jersey House of Assembly in 1893, and serving in the legislature of 1894, he was re-elected to that of 1895. The revision of the New Jersey Borough Law, which bears his name, was one of the features of his work in Trenton. Two years later he was made the republican candidate for Register of Deeds for Essex county and elected. While serving in that capacity, Gov. Voorhees, in 1900, tendered him the appointment of Presiding Judge of the Essex County Courts,


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and he resigned his county office to accept the judicial one. He sat on the Bench until 1906, when he resigned that also to become a partner in the firm of which he is still a member.


Judge Skinner's early education was acquired in private schools in Newark. He entered Rutger's College in 1880, graduating in 1883. After leaving college he took a course in the Columbia Law School in New York. He studied law in the office of John W. Taylor, who from 1873 to '75, was President of the State Senate, was admitted as an attorney in 1886 and became a counselor in 1891. He afterwards acted as clerk for eight months under Edward M. Colie and later served as Managing Clerk for Whitehead & Condit ; then formed a partnership with Jay Ten Eyck which was dissolved when he went upon the Bench.


Judge Skinner is a member of both National and State Bar Associa- tions, one of the Trustees of Rutgers College and a member of the Essex Club of Newark, the Madison Field Club and the Lawyers Club of New- ark.


JOHN EYRE SLOANE-South Orange, (55 Montrose Ave.)- Soldier, Manufacturer, Engineer. Born at South Orange, N. J., September 16, 1886; son of T. O'Conor and Alice E. (Eyre) Sloane; married at West Orange, on June 17, 1914, to Madeleine Edison, daughter of Thomas A. and Mina (Miller) Edison.


Children : Thomas Edison, born March 4, 1916, and John Edison, born April 21, 1918.


John Eyre Sloane is a descendant from old English and Irish families. He is a paternal descendant of the O'Connors of Roscommon, one of the oldest Royal families of Ireland. The last remaining Irish title, that of "The O'Conor Don," is held by a cousin. His maternal ancestors came to England with William the Conqueror, and later settled in Ireland. Both families came to America about 1786 and settled in New York City and central New York State.


In his early life, he attended private schools of South Orange, his birthplace, and later attended the Dearborn-Morgan School at Orange. He later entered the Carteret Academy of Orange, graduating in 1904 and thereafter Columbia University, from which he graduated with the class of 1908 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts.


After graduating from college, he went into the commercial business, and in 1911 he went into the manufacturing business. Because of his interest in aviation, he established one of the first areoplane plants in the country in Long Island City in 1912. He also did considerable work in the design and construction of gas engines.


Shortly after the outbreak of the great war he became attached to the Equipment Division of the Signal Corps to aid in the supervision of manufacturers. He was commissioned in the regular army and with a force of several hundred men which he organized he was able to save months of time and millions of dollars to the government in obtaining Signal Corps equipment. He was later detailed to the General Staff to


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establish a Surplus Stocks Division and assist in the adjustment of can- celled contracts.


He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers, and of the Aero Club of America. He is a sportsman and traveler, having traveled extensively in this country, Alaska. Canada and Europe.


THOMAS O'CONNOR SLOANE-South Orange, (55 Montrose Avenue. )-Scientific Expert. Born in New York, November 24, 1851 : son of Christian and Eliza M. (O'Conor) Sloane; ; married September 18, 1877, to Isabel X. Mitcheli. of Brooklyn-2nd, on April 16, 1884, to Alice M. Eyre, of Dublin, Ireland.


Children : Thomas O'Conor ; Chas. O'Conor ; John Eyre; Alice M.


Mr. Sloane is a graduate of St. Francis Xavier's College, at that time located in New York City. He graduated in the class of 1869, receiving from the College the degree of B. A. Later he graduated from the School of Mines of Columbia College, as it was then called, receiving the degree of E. M., and next the degree of M. A. from St. Francis Xaxier's College. In 1876 he received the degree of Ph. D. from Columbia College for original work in the analysis of coal gas and the technology of coal gas manufac- ture. In 1912 he received the degree of LL. D. from St. Francis Xavier's College.


After serving on the U. S. Geological Survey of the territories in 1872, visiting the then little known Yellowstone Park and the geyser basins with Professor Hayden's party, he acted as private assistant to Professor Chas. F. Chandler of Columbia College, and in the spring of 1873, accepted a posi- tion of chemist of the New York Gas Light Company. While occupying this position he published a number of papers on original work on coal gas, re- ports of lectures which he gave on scientific subjects appearing in the dif- ferent journals of the time. In 1877, he published a description of a new process for determining sulphur in illuminating gas. This is really the first accurate method for making this somewhat difficult determination. It pro- vided for the combustion of gas in air, which air was purified before use so as to free it from any sulphur it might contain. Careful tests show that no sulphur escaped the apparatus : so the determination was scientifically ac- curate. In 1877 he was appointed chief engineer of the Citizens' Gas Light Company of Brooklyn, and while there invented a Self Recording Photo- meter called the Thermophote. This registered upon a dise of paper the candle power of coal gas throughout the day so that any variations were shown as well as the time at which they occurred. This is supposed to be the first instrument that recorded mechanically the candle power of gas. Really applied to coal'gas, it has not been introduced into the water gas field.


Dr. Sloane is author of several books on electrical toples, a "Standard Electrical Dictionary" among them. Others of his books are on the Liquefaction of Gases, Home Experiments in Science. etc. He was an early contributor to the now "Engineering Record." and has written much for other technical publications. Articles of his have appeared, too, in the


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"Encyclopedia Britannica," "Appleton's Annual Encyclopedia," "New York Gas Light Journal," the "New York Independent," and many other publica- tions.


Mr. Sloane appeared on the lecture stage at an early date, has given a great many lectures in different institutions of education and served as Public Lecturer for the New York City Board of Education. He has ap- peared as scientific expert in a large number of patent cases. He served for a number of years on the editorial staff of the "Scientific American," of New York City. He was a member of the New Jersey State Board of Edu- cation for several years during the incumbency of Gov.'s Stokes and Fort. He was President of the South Orange Public Library for a number of years, is a member of the New York Yacht Club, of the Automobile Club of America, a charter member and governor of the Washington Society of Essex County. He was Professor of Natural Science and Higher Mathe- matics in Seton Hall College, South Orange, and a Trustee of the South Orange Public Library.


JOHN WEBLEY SLOCUM-Long Branch .- Lawyer. Born at Long Branch, April 23, 1867.


John Webley Slocum, a life long resident of Long Branch, is a member of the State Board of Public Utility Commissioners. His ancestor, John Slocum, according to the old records of May, 1668, was one of the Associate Patentees of Monmouth county.


Mr. Slocum, after leaving school, studied law and was admitted to the Bar as an attorney at the June term of 1888 and as a counselor in 1892. He was City Solicitor of Long Branch for eight years.


In the fall of 1911 Mr. Slocum was named by the democrats for the State Senate and, elected. he served for the ensuing three years. At the ses- sion of 1914 he was made President of the body, and during the Governor's absence on a western trip in June of that year he was sworn in as Acting Governor. At the expiration of his term he was appointed Law Judge of the County Courts at Freehold, but resigned his seat on the Bench to accept appointment to the Board of Public Utility Commissioners. His term will expire in 1921.


Judge Slocum is a member of the American Bar Association. the New Jersey Bar Association, Trustee of the Monmouth County Bar Association, and a member of the Monmouth County Historical Association. He is also a large stockholder in the Long Branch "Daily Record" and the President of that corporation.


FRANK H. SMITH-Plainfield .- Commissioner of Banking and Insurance. Born at Pawcatuck, Conn., May 26, 1869: son of Thaddues and Susan Smith; married at Westerly, R. I., on Sept. 27, 1897, to Marietta Bentley, daughter of Senator B. C. and Hen- rietta C. Bentley.


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Frank H. Smith traces his ancestors back to Jolin Rodman, an Irish Quaker who immigrated to Newport, R. I., in 1645.


Frank H. Smith, in his early life, attended the public schools of Paw- catuck, Conn., and Plainfield, N. J., but left at the age of 14 to become office boy in Potter Printing Press Works, Plainfield.


He is now President of the Rahway National Bank, Vice President of the Lawrence Portland Cement Company, of Siegfried, Pa., and sales manager of the company at their New York office. But recently (Dec. 1, 1917), he resigned as Director of the Plainfield Trust Co., and the execu- tive and investment committee of the Eagle Fire Insurance Company, of Newark. He is also a director of the Gleason Lighterage Co., of N. Y.


He served as president of the Plainfield Common Council in 1900; Tax Collector of Plainfield 1900-04, and Register of Deeds for Union county 1904 to Dec. 1, 1917; he was chairman of the Union County Republican Committee for ten years and is now chairman of the Executive Committee.


On November 13, 1917, Mr. Smith was appointed Commissioner of Banking and Insurance by Governor Edge, to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of George M. La Monte. He took possession of the officee on December 1st, the same year.


He is a member of the following clubs : Bankers Club, of New York ; Elks, Park and Country Clubs, all of Plainfield, 32nd degree Mason ; K. of P .; Odd Fellows.


His business address is No. 1 Broadway, New York City.


GEORGE THEODORE SMITH-Jersey City .- Banker, Manu- facturer. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917). Born in New York City, on April 29, 1855; son of Charles Tappan and Martha Elizabeth Smith, of Portland, Me .; married on April 25, 1882, to Hattie Louise Young, daughter of Edward F. C. and Harriet M. Young.


Children : Natalie Young Smith.


George T. Smith is the chief factor in the First National Bank, the most important financial institutions in Jersey City and one of the most po- tential in New Jersey, and President of the New Jersey Title Guarantee & Trust Company of Jersey City and of the Joseph Dixon Crucible Co., of Jersey City. The New Jersey Title Guarantee & Trust Company is the first of its class in the state; the Joseph Dixon Crucible Company has for more than a half century commanded the markets of the world with its products.


Mr. Smith was but seventeen years of age when he entered the service of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company; and continuing in it until 1909, finally rose to be its General Agent in New York City. Mrs. Smith is the only daughter of Edward F. C. Young, who for more than one quarter of a century was a leading factor in the financial, political, civic and social life of New Jersey. He was of such dominant influence that it used to be said in the county that "all lines lead to the First National Bank." Mr. Young had been City Comptroller and a delegate to several National Conventions and in 1892 became a candidate at the Democratic State Convention for the


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nomination for Governor. Assured, at the start, of the nomination, he found himself, when Convention day arrived, confronted by an unanticipat- ed opposition ; but his friends pressed his name upon the delegates, and in the balloting he had a vote just short of the majority he needed to win. The Convention, one of the most tumultuous ever assembled in Trenton, gave the nomination to ex-Senator George T. Werts, of Morris county. Gov. Werts and Mr. Young became fast friends after the nomination was made; and Mr. Young contributed very largely to Senator Wert's success at the polls.


When Mr. Young died the directors of the First National Bank of Jersey City invited Mr. Smith to succeed him as its President. He served as President of the bank until, because of the operation of what is known as the Clayton Act of Congress, he resigned in October of 1916, to devote himself, in banking matters, to the Presidency of The New Jersey Title Guarantee & Trust Company.


While Mr. Smith has never been particularly ambitious for political preferments, Governor Werts in 1895 appointed him to a seat on the Bench of the Court of Errors and Appeals. Subsequently he was persuaded to allow the use of his name as the democratic candidate for the Mayoralty of Jersey City in the campaign in which Mark M. Fagan made his first can- vass for the office on the republican ticket. At that time there was enor- mous excitement in Jersey City over the relations of the corporations to the local taxing authorities, and Mr. Smith's family connection with Mr. Young, who was then a director in very many of the largest corporations in the state, cost him votes that otherwise might have gone to him.


Mr. Smith has been quite as conspicuous in the church and civic life of the state as in banking affairs, is a Warden of St. John's Episcopal Church, and a member of the New Jersey State Chamber of Commerce. He is also Vice President of the Colonial Life Insurance Company of America, and Director in many financial and other corporations.


Mr. Smith is a member of the Carteret, Jersey City and Bergen Tennis Clubs of Jersey City ; the Essex County Country Club, West Orange; Knick- erbocker Country Club, Tenafly ; Sleepy Hollow Country Club, Scarborough on Hudson, N. Y., the Bankers, Lawyers, Traffic and Automobile Clubs of America of New York City, Chevy Chase Club, Washington, D. C., and the Church Club of the (Episcopal) Diocese of Newark.


J. SPENCER SMITH -- Tenafly .- Merchant. Born in Sherbrooke, Canada, July 7, 1880; son of John R. Smith and Ann (McIntosh) Smith; married on September 28, 1910, to Mary Lennox Ewing, daughter of Wm. and Catherine Ewing.


Children : Ewing, born Sept. 20, 1911; Graham, born May 11, 1915.


J. Spencer Smith is of Scotch ancestry, his father being from Elgin, Scotland; his mother from La Praire, Province of Quebec, Canada. The family moved to the suburbs of Brooklyn and afterwards in 1899 to Tenafly. Mr. Smith became active in local affairs on the democratic side, was largely


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instrumental in organizing the Borough Club of Tenafly for the bettering of local conditions, and in 1902 was elected to the Municipal Council, serv- ing one term. He was elected member of the Board of Education, March 17, 190S, has served continuously since, and is now the Vice President of the Board.


Gov. Wilson in 1911 appointed him a member of the Commission to Investigate Port Conditions of New York. In 1914 he was appointed by Gov. Fielder as member of the New Jersey Harbor Commission. In 1915 he was appointed by Gov. Fielder as member of the Board of Commerce and Navigation and was reappointed by Gov. Edge in 1917. He served as Chairman of the Board of Appraisers of the War Department appraising the Bush Terminal property in the Port of New York during 1918.


Mr. Smith is engaged in business in New York, as President of the Smith & Nessie Co., distributors of food products at S2 Hudson St. He be- longs to the National Democratic Club of New York and Knickerbocker Country Club of Tenafly, and is an officer of the Bank of Tenafly.


OLIVER DRAKE-SMITH-Englewood .- Lawyer. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917). Born in New York City, on June 7, 1854; son of Daniel Drake-Smith and Henrietta Maria Richards ; married at Englewood, on December 4, 1897, to Mary Lydecker, daughter of the late Cornelius and Catherine T. (Van Blarcum) Lydecker, of Englewood; (Mrs. Drake-Smith died March 11, 1912.)


Children : Olive, wife of Oswald Kirby-died December 16, 1910.


Oliver Drake-Smith has been a practicing lawyer in New York City for forty years except for a short period in 1878, when he accompanied General John C. Fremont to the territory of Arizona, of which the latter had been appointed Territorial Governor, and explored with him a part of that territory and for a short time engaged in mining business there. He is of English origin on both father's and mother's side. Joseph Drake, collaterally related to Sir Francis Drake, settled in Orange county, New York, about 1750. Mrs. Drake-Smith's father was a member of the State Senate in 1872, '73 '74.


Oliver Drake-Smith received his early education at the Churchill Insti- tute in New Canaan, Connecticut, at Gray's and Kursteiner's private school in Englewood, and afterwards at Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass., and Columbia College, New York. He was graduated from Columbia Law School in 1875, served a clerkship in the law office of Miller, Peet & Opdyke and soon afterwards began the practice of the profession in New York City.


Mr. Drake-Smith has been a director and officer of nearly every private corporation that has existed in Englewood, such as The Bergen County Gas Light Company, the Englewood Electric Light Company, Trustee of the Englewood Protection Society, Road Board and Fire Association, all of which have now passed out of existence. He is now Director of the Pali- sades Trust and Guaranty Company and President of the Englewood Sewer-


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age Company, the Englewood Club and the Englewood Cemetery Associa- tion.


Mr. Drake-Smith has always been prominent in the councils of the re- publican party of New Jersey. In 1879 he was elected to the House of Assembly from the then second Assembly District of Bergen County, be- ing the first republican to represent that district in the Legislature. In 1882 and 1883 he was Chairman of the Bergen County Republican Ex- ecutive Committee. He has served as a member of the Township Com- mittee, Township Treasurer, President of the Board of Health and Road Board and in 1896, when Englewood was incorporated into a city, he was in March of that year unanimously appointed its first Mayor by the City Council. He served until May 1st, when the newly elected officers assumed their official duties. He has since served in the City Council and been City Treasurer.


Mr. Drake-Smith also served as Postmaster of Englewood for about a year during a bitterly contested political fight. The postmaster had been removed, without cause as he alleged, and many of the most influential men in the town became engaged in the resulting controversy. Drake- Smith, being on the deposed postmaster's bond, was, at the request of the authorities at Washington, sworn in and assumed the duties of the office until a successor was appointed.


He is a member of the Englewood and Knickerbocker Country Clubs, Englewood Club, Delta Psi Fraternity and St. Anthony Club of New York.


WHITFIELD WILDRICK SMITH-Arcola .- Banker. Born at Andover, Sussex County, N. J., Sept, 1873, son of Jeheil T. and Katheryne (Wildrick) Smith; married at Newark, N. J., June 17th, 1896, to Marguerita Wills, daughter of Aaron S. and Mary Florence (Joralemon) Wills of Montclair, N. J.


Whitfield W. Smith is a great-grandson of Peter Smith, a Revolu- tionary officer, who served as quartermaster in the Third Pennsylvania Continental Army. Jeheil T. Smith, his father was a merchant and early settler of Andover, for many years having filled the office of postmaster. His maternal ancestors, the Wildrick family, were prominent in Warren County.




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