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 61
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Mr. Badgley's office is at 164 Market Street, Newark, N. J.
MOSES NELSON BAKER-Upper Montclair .- Editor, Engin- eer. Born at Enosburgh, Vt., on Jan. 26, 1864; son of Benjamin Nelson and Sarah Maretta (Wright) Baker; married at Burling- ton, Vt., on Aug. 22, 1889, to Ella S. Babbit, daughter of Asher Stevens and Emmeline (Jones) Babbit, of Keesville. N. Y.
Children: Theta Helen, born in 1890; Will, born 1892 (de- ceased 1895) ; Frederick Wood, born 1894; Elizabeth, born 1896; Ruth, born 1902; Dorothea, born 1907.
Moses Nelson Baker was Chairman of the Executive Committee of the National Municipal League, 1911-'18 ; was a member of the Montclair Board of Health for twenty years, serving as its President from 1904 to 1915; was a member and Vice-President in 1915-'16 of the New Jersey Department of Health, and in 1904, served as President of the New Jersey Sanitary Association. He served as a member of the Montclair Township Committee in 1893-'94.
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Barber
Mr. Baker can trace his American lineage back for many generations. He was educated in the Enosburgh district school and at Craftsbury Acad- emy and the University of Vermont, from which latter he received the Ph. B. degree in 1886 and the C. E. degree in 1899. After working on the Union Pacific Railway at Pocatello, Idaho, in 1886/87 and being elected school trustee of Pocatello, he spent a short time in an architect's office in Fitchburg, Mass. In November, 1887, he became Associate Editor of "En- gineering News," New York City, continuing in that position until and after consolidation as "Engineering News-Record" April 1, 1917. He was Director of the Engineering News Publishing Company prior to 1911 and of the Hill Publishing Company from 1911 until the formation of the McGraw-Hill Publishing Company in 1917.
Mr. Baker edited "The Manual of American Water Works" of '88-'S9'90, '91 and '97, and "The Municipal Year Book" of 1902, and is the author of "Sewage Purification in America," 1893; "Sewage Disposal in the United States" (joint author), 1894; "Sewerage and Sewage Purification," 1896; "Potable Water", 1899; Municipal Engineering and Sanitation" (jointly with Ella Babbit Baker), 1901; municipal engineering articles in the In- ternational Year Book, 1898 to date, and likewise in the International En- cyclopedia and the American edition of Nelson's Encyclopedia ; "British Sewage Works", 1905; "Notes on British Refuse Destructors", 1905, and of numerous articles and addresses on municipal engineering, and sanitation and on public health.
ALFRED N. BARBER-Trenton .- Secretary Board of Public Utility Commissioners. Born at Lambertville, N. J., May 19, 1867.
From April 1880 till July 1884, Mr. Barber worked in the office of city clerk of Trenton. At the end of that time he entered the employ of the New Jersey Steel and Iron Company, and served that concern until it became a part of the American Bridge Company. He then resigned to become contracting agent for the sales department of John A. Roebling's Sons Company.
Mr. Barber has always taken an active interest in public affairs. For three years, 1905, 1906 and 1907, he served as assemblyman from Mercer County, and during the last mentioned year was also the Republican leader. Soon after the creation of the Board of Railroad Commissioners in 1907, he was appointed secretary of that body which office he still occupies.
THOMAS BARBER-Phillipsburgh .- 380 South Main St .- Phy- sician. Born at Port Warren, N. J., on May 11th, 1868, son of Robert Kennedy and Mary Stroh Barber.
Thomas Barber is a lineal descendant of John Barber Esquire, who settled at what is now Lopatcong Township, prior to 1740, and is first men- tioned as appearing before the Presbytery of New Brunswick making the
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first appeal for preaching in his neighborhood near the Musconnekunk in 1739. Senator Barber's ancestors were actively engaged in the Revolu- tion. His great grandfather, son of John Barber, was for some time a revo- lutionary soldier. His great grandfather, Thomas Kennedy, a nephew of General William Maxwell, was a member of Kennedy's brigade of teams. His great grand father, Henry Stroh Sr., was wounded at the battle of Trenton. His great great grand father Mathias Shipman, was Lieutenant Colonel of Second Sussex Regiment. His great great grandfather, Jonas Hartzell, was a member of a committee of safety, who afterwards served as Sheriff, State Senator, Member of Assembly and Judge in Pennsylvania.
Senator Barber attended the Phillipsburgh High School from 1881 to 1883, and finished preparation for College at the Easton High School in 1885. Owing to ill health entrance in college was delayed till 1891, when he entered Lafayette, from which he received his Bachelor's degree in 1895, and Masters in 189S. He entered the Medical Department of the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania in 1895, from which he received Degree of Doc- tor of Medicine in 1898. He located in Phillipsburg and has since practiced in conjunction with his brother Dr. Isaac Barber. He began his political career 1911 when he was a candidate for the State Senate on the Demo- cratic ticket and won over his opponent Marvin A. Pierson, with plurality of 2152 votes. In 1914 he was re-elected with an increased plurality over Shoemaker, and again in 1917, over John C. Sharpe. He is a member of the Elks, Eagles, and Moose Lodges.
HUGH C. BARRETT-East Orange, (86 Washington St.)- Lawyer and Assemblyman. Born at Newark, N. J., March 13th, 1886, son of Michael T. Barrett.
Hugh C. Barrett is the son of the late Michael T. Barrett who occu- pied a seat in the Assembly in 1887, and 1891-'93 was the first Democratic Senator from Essex County in twenty-five years.
Mr. Barrett attended St. Mary's Academy, Newark and later Prince- ton University, from which he was graduated in 1908. Two years after- ward he completed his studies at the New York University Law School.
After leaving school, he studied law with the firm of Lum, Tamblyn & Colyer, and was admitted to the bar in 1910. At this date he became as- sociated with his father in the firm of M. T. & H. C. Barrett. This law concern still exists with the addition of a new name, Roy Anthony.
On Jan. 1, 1911, Mr. Barrett was elected Corporation Council of Harrison, N. J., and has occupied that position ever since. At present he is also council for the Newark Firemen's Relief Association, the Firemen's Mutual Benefit Association, Branch No. 4, and the U. S. Savings Bank, of Newark.
In 1918 he was elected for the first time to public office as Assembly- man, on the Democratic ticket. During the session of 1919, he was the Democratic leader.
WILLIAM GEORGE BESLER-Plainfield .- Railroad President. Born at Galesburgh, Ill., March 30th, 1864; son of John D. and
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Biddle
Anna (Chopin) Besler, married on October 10, 1888, to Effie B. Lewis.
William G. Besler is President of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. He has risen to his station by progressing promotions from a train masters clerk. With a technical education acquired at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he entered the office of the train master of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, at Galesburg, in 1880, and was speedily advanced to Division Superintendent. In 1899 the Philadelphia and Read- ing Railway Company tendered him the position of Superintendent of the road, and accepting, he became the General Superintendent in September, 1900. In March, 1902, he was made General Manager, and in December, 1902, Vice President as well as General Manager of the Central Railroad .of New Jersey, and was elected President of the company, on May 1st, 1914.
Mr. Besler is a member of the Railroad, Engineers and Technology Clubs of New York and a director of the Coal and Iron National Bank of New York City.
CHARLES MILLER BIDDLE-Riverton .- Merchant. Born at Philadelphia, Pa., Feb. 3rd, 1844; son of Robert and Anna (Mil- ler) Biddle married at Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 19th, 1868, to Han- nah Mellvain, daughter of Hugh and Martha (Gibson) McIlvain.
Children : Anna, Nov. 24th, 1869; Martha Mellvain, March 28th, 1871; Helen Elsie, May 16th, 1875; Hannah Mellvain and Charles Miller, twins, Aug. 14th, 1878, and Robert 2nd, born Feb. 19th, 1880 (deceased 1919).
At about eighteen years of age, Charles Miller Biddle entered the hardware business in the store of R. & W. C. Biddle & Company, in Sep- tember 1861; this business having been established by his father, Robert Biddle and his uncle, William C. Biddle, in 1837. After four years of faith- ful service he was taken into the firm before he was yet of age. After the building was burned in 1866, the firm purchased property on Commerce St., Phila., Pa., and changed the name of the concern to Biddle Hardware Co. Several years later after the senior members of the firm, his father and uncle retired, Charles Miller Biddle bought out the remaining members and became sole proprietor of the business. On January 1st, 1914, he bought out the corporation of Supplee Hardware Company and established the Supplee-Biddle Hardware Company, of which concern he is now President, and his son, Charles Miller, is serving as Vice President. This makes the third generation of the family now in the business which is in its eighty-first year, and is considered one of the largest hardware jobbers in the East.
Always a Republican, Mr. Biddle in 1912 was Alternate Delegate-at- large for New Jersey on the Republican ticket. Several years ago he was defeated by one vote for Mayor of Riverton. Governor Edge ap- pointed him in the year 1917 a member of the Auxiliary Committee of
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the Department of Conservation and Development of the State of New Jersey.
He is a direct descendant of William Biddle, the original emigrant who came to New Jersey from London, about 1681, and who had .been a member of the Society of Friends before 1860.
· Having purchased, in the year 1678, lands in New Jersey, this ancestor , embarked for that Province about the year 1671, and upon his arrival, set- tled at the place now known as Kinkora, between Burlington and Borden- town, N. J., to which he gave the name of Mount Hope.
The great grandfather of the present Mr. Biddle was active in the Revolutionary War. On March 13, 1877, he was appointed president of the Board of War and Navy of the Supreme Executive Council under the new Constitution.
At the present time he is president of the Riverton Iror Pier Com- pany, president of the Riverton and Palmyra Water Company as well as being director in the Chamber of Commerce of Philadelphia, the Logan Trust Company, Philadelphia, and treasurer of Swarthmore College, of Pennsylvania, and Trustee for several large estates.
Mr. Biddle's club memberships are the Union League of Philadelphia, Riverton Yacht Club, of which he has been vice-Commodore for fourteen years, and of the Riverton Country Club.
JAMES H. BIRCH, Jr .- Burlington. - Manufacturer. (Photo- graph published in Vol. 1, 1917.) Born in Burlington, on June 17, 1872; son of James H. (Sr.) and Hannah (Conrow) Birch.
James H. Birch became actively interested in the carriage manufac- turing business at his father's plant in Burlington, soon after he had com- pleted his education ; and visited nearly all parts of the world in promot- .
ing the extension and expansion of the business.
Mr. Birch in his extensive travels observed that every locality had its special vehicle suited to the peculiarities of the country and other condi- tions, and became satisfied they were so wedded to their own fashions that they would be slow to accept the probably better fashions prevalent here. And it came to him that the business of providing each with its own kind, could be easily extended over the world. It is due to these obser- vations of his and the energy with which he has acted on them, that the Birch name is now in the traffic of every country on the globe where people use vehicles of any kind; even Jinrikishas are made and shipped from their factory.
Mr. Birch was one of the pioneers in introducing American manufac- tured products on 'round the world trips. Mr. Birch's chief diversion is the publication of "The Log" of the Circumnavigators Club, embracing in its membership those who have been round the globe once or oftener. Among its distinguished globe-trotting member-readers are Ex-President Wm. Taft, Ex-Secretary of State William J. Bryan, Poultney Bigelow, Brigadier Gen. Hon. Sir Newton J. Moore, K. C. N. G., John Henry Mears, play manager, who holds the world record for encircling the globe, Ex-Governor J. Krank-
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Birch
lin Fort of this state, and W. N. Macmillen of Nairobi, British East Afri- ca, who entertained Ex-President Roosevelt on his hunting trip to the Dark Continent.
Mr. Birch is one of the three who launched the Circumnavigators Club. He is the first Keeper of the Records, then became Scribe, is one of the first Governors and has just been elected Governor for three years by the Board of Governors.
Mr. Birch is a director in the Mechanics National Bank of Burling- ton, the Burlington City Loan & Trust Co., and the Robert Morris Trust Co., of Philadelphia and a member of the Board of Managers of the Bur- lington Savings Institution. He is also a member of the New York Athle- tic Club.
THOMAS HENDERSON BIRCH-Burlington .- Diplomat and . Manufacturer. (Photograph published in Vol. 1, 1917.) Born in · Burlington, September 5, 1875; son of James H. (Sr.) and Hannah M. (Conrow) Birch ; married at Philadelphia, to Helen L., daugh- ter of Dr. Thomas and Helen Barr.
Thomas Henderson Birch is connected with the diplomatic service of the United States through appointment, by President Woodrow Wilson as U. S. Minister Plenipotentiary to the Kingdom of Portugal; and had pre- viously risen to wide recognition among the manufacturers of New Jersey. He was educated at private schools and business colleges, and soon went into the manufacture of carriages.
The business was established at Burlington by Ambassador Birch's father in 1862; and, until about twenty years ago, had continued its opera- tions wholly to the home trade. Its expansion was first promoted by an order from the Boston Fruit Company, now the United Fruit Company, for carts to be taken back to the West Indies on their empty banana steamers running out of Philadelphia. This trade grew into a fixture; and upon a visit made to Jamaica by one of the sons it was seen that the United States had great advantages for competing with vehicle makers in almost every country.
Through the push and energy of the father and sons, the exports of the establishment reach every known country on the face of the globe. It even sends Jinrikishas to the cities in Japan, India, Madagascar, and South Africa. The first carriage sent to Abyssinia had the Birch name- plate and was brought by King Menilek. The Boers and Britains alike used Birch wagons in the Transvaal war as did the Japanese and Rus- sians in Manchuria, and the Americans and Spaniards in Cuba. The Birch export catalogue lists hundreds of peculiar vehicles built after the fashions of those used in the countries for which they are sent. The catalogue itself is printed in three languages and its business statements are carried in fourteen languages, including the Chinese, Arabic and Hin- dustani.
Thomas H. Birch early interested himself in the State Militia, and rose to the rank of Colonel. He made the acquaintance of Woodrow Wil-
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son after Dr. Wilson had become Governor of New Jersey, and the re- lations between them, personal as well as political, became very close. Governor Wilson made Col. Birch one of his personal Aids; and, after he had become President, he tendered to Col. Biren the position of United States Minister to Portugal. The diplomatic distinction was one that was not unagreeable to Colonel Birch and he accepted. The United States Senate, upon receiving the name in September, 1913, promptly confirmed the nomination. Col. Birch is now located at the American Legation in Lisbon, Portugal.
CHARLES CLARKE BLACK -- Jersey City, 15 Exchange Place -Jurist. Born in Mt. Holly, July 29, 1858; son of John and Mary Anna (Clarke) Black; married at Flushing, N. Y., February 12, . 1890, to Alice Greenleaf Hazen, daughter of Melzar F. and Emma C. Hazen, of Flushing, Long Island. (Mrs. Black died March 21st, 1915.)
Charles C. Black is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the State of New Jersey. His birthplace was on a Burlington County farm. He was prepared for college and later graduated from Princeton College (class of '78). He studied law at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, was admitted to the bar as an attorney in June, 1881, and as a counselor three years later and practiced law in Jersey City.
At the time when Mr. Black began the practise, the inequality be- tween the taxation of individual property and of the railroad holdings was a topic of large interest in Jersey City ; and he gave particular attention to the problems incidental to the situation there. His view was that the rail- roads had so arranged legislation, and were so influencing the taxing authorities, as to escape a large share cf the public burden they ought to bear; and he, became quite conspicuous in the local and state agitation for equal taxation. The first immediate official result of his interest in the matter was his appointment in 1891 to the State Tax Board, and he served on that board till 1908. He was appointed by Gov. Griggs and by Gov. Murphy on the Equal Tax Commissions of 1806 and 1904.
Mr. Black's work for equal taxes led to his nomination on an "equal tax" platform for the governorship by the democratic State Convention of 1904. In that contest he was opposed by Edward C. Stokes and defeated. Governor Stokes subsequently nominated him as a member of the new Board for the Equalization of Taxation; and, the Senate confirming him, he served on that board till Governor Fort in January of 1908 appointed him a Circuit Court Judge. While he was serving on that bench a vacancy was created in the Supreme Court, by the death of Justice Voorhees ; and Governor Fielder named Judge Black to fill out Justice Voorhee's unex- pired term. He was appointed in 1915 for the full term by Governor Field- er. His circuit comprises the counties of Atlantic, Cape May, Cumber. land and Salem.
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Justice Black has published "Proofs and Pleadings in Accident Cases," "New Jersey Law of Taxation" and "Law and Practice of Accident Cases."
WILLIAM HARTWELL BLACKWELL-Titusville .- Fruit- grower and Assemblyman. Born at Washington's Crossing, N. J., on July 22, 1882; son of Charles E. and Sarah E. (Hartwell) Blackwell ; married at Titusville, N. J., Sept. 6, 1905, to Bertha Allen, daughter of S. Judson and Elizabeth (Bergen) Allen.
Children : Warren Allen, May 13th, 1910.
William H. Blackwell traces his descent back to Stephen Blackwell and Ely Moore, who were soldiers of the Revolution.
He attended the public schools of Hopewell Township and later the State Model School, graduating in 1901.
Mr. Blackwell ranks as one of the largest producers of Bartlett pears in the state of New Jersey. In recognition of his activities in the agricultural line, he was three times elected president of the Mercer County Board of Agriculture. What at the head of that body he succeeded! in bringing about its re-organization and placing it in closer touch with the State Board of Agriculture and the Office of Farm Demonstration.
In November, 1918, he was elected to the State Legislature from Mercer County, this being the first political office he has ever held.
He is a member of the following clubs and organizations; New Jersey Society, Sons of the Revolution, New Jersey State Horticultural Society, Cyrus Lodge, No. 148, F. and A. M .; Mercer County Board of Agriculture, Titusville Grange No. 163, Mercer County Pamona Grange, No. 8; New Jersey State Grange, and is president of the Pleasant Valley Vigilant Society.
WILLIAM A. BLAIR-Elwood .- Farmer and Mechanical En- gineer. Born at Philadelphia, Pa., in 1882.
William A. Blair was educated in the public schools of Philadelphia, Pa. He has taken a keen interest in the public affairs of Atlantic Coun- ty, and from 1916 to 1917 was a member of the Atlantic County Board of Chosen Freeholders. At the fall elections in 1917 he was elected to the Assembly on the Republican ticket and at the 1918 elections was re- elected to office over Meyers, high Democrat with a prurality of 4,129 votes.
GEORGE E. BLAKESLEE-Jersey City .- Highway Board. Born at Bridgeport, Conn., March 23rd, 1873.
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Bloomfield
George E. Blakeslee received his education at Bridgeport, Conn. For the past twenty-four years he has been a resident of Jersey City. At present he is engaged in the automobile business of that city.
Mr. Blakeslee has also taken an active part in public affairs. He was instrumental in having the Egan Road Law introduced in the Senate, and was considerably influential in having it adopted by the public with more than 89,000 majority of votes.
In recognition of his ability, on March 24, 1917, he was appointed a member of the Highway Board by Governor Edge for a four year term.
CHARLES A. BLOOMFIELD-Metuchen .- Manufacturer. Born in New York City February 25th, 1849.
Charles A. Bloomfield received most of his early education in a pri- vate academy in Summit and the College of the City of New York, and after graduation entered the law office of his father, who was connected with the firm of McElrath, Bloomfield and ex-Judge Daly.
The parent was one of the distinguished lawyers of his day, and it is a matter of record that not a single case he ever tried as a trial lawyer was reversed by high courts.
Having little taste for law, Charles Bloomfield, however, forty years ago took up the mercantile life entering the clay business near Metuchen and organizing the Bloomfield Clay Company which has mines on the Raritan Ridge. In 1912 and 1913 he became the president of the National Brick Manufacturers Association, and at one time was also the head of the New Jersey Clay Workers Association and originator of the Depart- ment of Ceramics in the State Agricultural College at New Brunswick, N. J.
His ancestry is traced back to the early settlers of this country, the original family having landed at Newburyport, Mass., in 1632 and settled in New Jersey in 1639. Mr. Bloomfield is now residing on the land that came to his forebears from the Indians. One of his ancestors, General Joseph Bloomfield, was governor of New Jersey and Grand Master of the Masonic lodges of New Jersey in 1799 and 1800. The town of Bloomfield, N. J., was named in commemoration of one of the family who was a deeply religious man and assisted in the erection of the old Bloomfield Church.
At the last session of the Grand Lodge of the Free Masons he pre- sented to it a commission made out to General Bloomfield, an ancestor, who distinguished himself in 1793.
Mr. Bloomfield, while not a politician in the general sense of the term, at the same time has always taken a great interest in political affairs, at one time being suggested as Republican candidate for the Governorship of New Jersey, recently his name was put forward as a candidate for Con- gress in the Third Congressional District.
Mr. Bloomfield's club memberships are chiefly in Masonic Order and are, Belleville Lodge, no. 1108; Mt. Zion Lodge, No. 135, at Metuchen, of which he was past master; the Jerusalem Chapter, No. 8, New York;
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Brandes
Temple Commandry No. 18, Knights Templar. New Brunswick, N. J., 32nd degree Scottish Rites, Valley of N. J., and of' Salaam Temple, A. A. O. M. S., at Newark, and the Masonic Veterans of the Grand Lodge, of which he was a short time ago elected president.
JAMES BOWEN-Jersey City, (225 Clinton Ave.) -- Assembly- man. Born at Towanda, Pa., on Aug. 1, 1883,
His education was obtained in the public schools of Towanda, Pa. He came to Jersey City where he engaged in a building and general contract- ing business.
In the fall election of 1918. he was elected to the Assembly on the - Democratic ticket.
JULIU'S BRANDES-Paterson, (519 Marshall St.) -Manufac- turer. Born in Hanover, Germany, 1851.
Julius Brandes, president of the silk ribbon manufacturing company, of Paterson, which bears his name has been engaged in the textile indus- try from early manhood.
After obtaining his education in Hanover, Ga., he entered the silk dyeing business of his father with whom he laid the foundation of his present day success. This early training was supplemented by several years service with the big chemical works of Bremen, Germany. When Mr. Brandes arrived in this country in 1868, it was natural that he should turn to the silk industry, and he accepted employment in the various leading mills of Paterson in various capacities, enlarging his already com- prehensive experience.
After about ten years residence in America, he became manager of the William Wicke & Company, where after proving his ability by de- veloping the business, he was admitted to partnership in the firm. In the course of a few years, facts show, that Mr. Brandes increased the out- put of the mill from 5,000 to 200,000 yards of ribbon a day.
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