USA > New Jersey > Atlantic County > Atlantic City > The Daily union history of Atlantic City and County, New Jersey : containing sketches of the past and present of Atlantic City and County > Part 35
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This boat was fastened to a projecting mast by a light line when the R. G. Porter, Captain Hudson, hove in sight. The Porter was in ballast from Boston to Philadelphia, and came close to the steamer ten minutes after it had sunk. It was then nearly 3 o'clock in the morning. Men not in the boats, two of which had been smashed in the crash, were clinging to the driftwood and the wreck. The wind was blowing a gale and the sea was rough. All except enough to man the boats were quickly gotten aboard the Porter and made as comfortable as possible.
By 8 o'clock in the morning 46 souls had been saved. The Porter had then drifted about five miles to leeward. when Captain Hudson determined to beat back to the wreck if possible to find other members of the crew adrift. The spars could be seen projecting 20 or 30 feet above the surface of the sea. Captain Guthrie and his officers thought it would be of no use to try to get back to the wreck and strongly urged Captain Hudson not to take the risk in such a wind and such a sea. But he persisted, determined to save every living soul possible. Nearing the wreck a black spot was noticed on the angry sea, which proved to be the hurricane deck of the Walker with five men clinging to it. One of them was Lieutenant Sewell, who was so exhausted that he had to be lashed to the deck with ropes by his companions. These were gotten aboard about 10.30 o'clock. These five men were the last of the living to escape from the Walker. The remaining twenty were lost.
Unable to enter Absecon inlet in such a sea, Captain Hudson made direct for Cape May, reaching that place at 4 o'clock on that Thursday afternoon, passing around the Point in full view of the big hotels, with colors at half mast. Crowds of people on the beach were startled at the sight and hastened out to welcome the rescued and destitute crew. They provided food and clothing and kindly cared for Mrs. Sewell. Before Cape May was reached Captain Hudson was sent for by Lieutenant and Mrs. Sewell, who after seven hours separation and a very perilous experience were happily united again and saved by the skill and bravery of Captain Hudson. They thanked him most heartily for saving their lives and the gratitude and thanks of the saved is all the thanks or recognition that Captain Hudson has ever received.
BIOGRAPHY.
From Cape May some of the saved got passage to New York and others to Philadel phia. While a full report of this thrilling event was recorded in the United States Register of that date, up to the present time no medal has ever been struck and no recognition by the United States Government or any department thereof, was ever made of Captain Ilud son's brave and successful rescue of 51 out of a crew of 71 precious lives.
ROBERT H. INGERSOLL.
Robert H. Ingersoll, Judge of the District Court of Atlantic City, was born at Mays Landing. November 17. 1868. In the public schools and about the court house of his native village he formed the tastes and laid the foundation for his professional career. He entered Rutgers College in 1884, at New Brunswick, and while there as a student for several winters, through the favor of Senator John J. Gardner, he served as a page in the State Senate and formed acquaintances and became familiar with legislative proceedings which make him an expert in those matters. He studied law with Hon. J. E. P. Abbott. the present prosecutor of the Pleas of Atlantic County, and when admitted to practice, in 1890, associated himself with Judge Allen B. Endicott, of this city.
In 1892 he was elected Coroner, and in 1805 was elected Alderman and President of Council. When the office of Recorder in this city was made a salaried position as a city magistrate Mr. Ingersoll was elected to fill the place for two years. 1896 and 1807. and he made an efficient and popular officer.
Through his efforts, largely. the necessary legislation was secured to establish a Dis- trict Court in this city, whereupon Governor Voorhees appointed him the presiding judge. Judge Ingersoll is happily married to Miss Emma, daughter of Hon. William H. Skirm, of Trenton, N. J., and has a beautiful home on St. Charles Place.
Judge Ingersoll is active in fraternal societies, being Past Regent of the Royal Arca- num: Past Grand in American Star Lodge, I. O. O. F .: Past Master of Trinity Lodge. F. and A. M., and a member of Trinity Chapter. R. A. M. He has recently been appointed District Deputy Grand Master of the twelfth Masonic district of New Jersey. He is also an ex-lieutenant of the Morris Guards.
EMERY D. IRELAN.
City Clerk Emery D. Irelan, who is one of our most popular city officials, was born March 2, 1864, in Atlantic County. He attended the public schools of Philadelphia until he graduated under Henry M. Hallowell. He then became clerk for the Reading R. R. Co .. but resolving to improve his mind still further. he resigned and returned to school for another winter. He then accepted a position with Schubert & Cuttingham, manufacturers of tackle blocks for vessels. In time he became an operator on a wood carving machine and joined the firm of William B. Allen, cabinet makers at Frankford. Later we find him, in 1885. associated with Frambes, Somers & Co., in Atlantic City. He served with that firm until the dissolution of partnership, whereupon he drifted to Birmingham, Alabama. Then he drifted into legal channels and took up the study of law under Carlton Godfrey. Es. of this city, which profession he foresook when he was elected City Clerk, in 1892. At that time City Council was equally divided, nine Republicans and nine Democrats, and desiring to break the deadlock, influential friends prevailed upon him to be a candidate for building inspector, which resulted in his election and the accomplishment of the object for which it was intended. The following year he was elected City Clerk, and has been re-elected con- tinuously since. Upon the last occasion he received the unanimous vote of both parties.
It was not long before he was made treasurer of the Atlantic City Firemen's Relief 1-20 ciation, the funds of which are derived from the insurance companies doing business in this
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DAILY UNION HISTORY OF ATLANTIC COUNTY.
city, and are used for the purpose of assisting indigent firemen and their widows. He is trustee of the United States Fire Company, past exalted ruler of Atlantic City Lodge, No. 276, P. B. O. E., and a member of the American Star Lodge. I. O. O. F., Brotherhood of the Union, Knights of the Golden Eagle; organizer of Minerva Circle, B. W. H. F., Pequod Tribe, I. O. R. M. He is a Republican in politics, and attends St. Paul's M. E. Church and Christ M. P. Church. He married Miss Emily Fabian, of Wilmington, Delaware.
GEORGE W. JACKSON.
George W. Jackson was born in Philadelphia in 1842. When two years old his parents moved to Camden, and there the boy was educated in the public schools. At the outbreak of the war Mr. Jackson enlisted in Companies 4, 5, 6 and 7, New Jersey Volunteers. He was promoted to a lieutenancy. At the close of the war he engaged in business in Phila- delphia as a contractor and builder, till 1879, when he came to Atlantic City and engaged in the bathing business with his accustomed energy. His first season was at the Ashland baths, below Pennsylvania avenue. In 1880 an important law suit pending affecting the title of the property, he purchased of John F. Star land at the foot of Virginia avenue, which has since become valuable. It was sold to the Steel Pier Company in 1897, for $150,000. Mr. Jackson had arranged to build the pier himself, but finally joined interests with Kennedy Crossan, Dr. Filbert and others, taking a large interest in the pier and serving as treasurer of the company. He owns extensive real estate and is the treasurer and active member of P. B. O. E., No. 276. He is also a director of the Union National Bank.
MARCELLUS L. JACKSON.
Marcellus L. Jackson was born in Hartland, Maine, September 25, 1846. He first came to Hammonton in 1868, and spent one year farming and teaching school. He went west for one year and back to Maine in 1870, and finally decided to locate in Hammonton. In the spring of 1871 he opened a meat and provision store with Benjamin H. Bowles as a partner. At the end of three years Mr. Bowles retired from the firm and Mr. Jackson has successfully prosecuted the business ever since, having as finely equipped a country market as there is in South Jersey. Mr. Jackson has been a member of the Board of Freeholders since 1887, and for two years Director of the Board. For eleven years he was president of his building association, and for twelve years has been vice-president of the People's Bank. He was elected to the Assembly in 1895 by a plurality of 1.506. and in 1896 re-elected by a plurality of 2,405. Mr. Jackson is a member of various societies and is the present Post- master of the town of Hammonton.
JOHN C. JACOBS.
John C. Jacobs, late State Senator of Brooklyn, New York, was born of Revolutionary stock in Lancaster, Pa., December 10, 1838. He died in this city, the home of his adoption, at the close of a busy, useful life, on September 21, 1894. In his early youth he moved with his parents to Brooklyn, where he attended the public schools, served as errand boy in a law office, worked as a newspaper reporter and gained the power and influence which enabled him to achieve the success and triumphs at the hands of his fellow citizens. At the age of twenty, he was the political editor of the New York Express. In 1859 he became the legislative correspondent of that and several other newspapers at Albany. At the outbreak of the Civil War he became a war correspondent, and witnessed some of the fiercest battles in that great contest. In 1867 Mr. Jacobs served with distinction in the New York Assem-
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BIOGRAPHY
bly, serving seven years, till 1873. He was several times a candidate for speaker and served on many important committees. In 1874 he was elected State Senator, a position which he held for eleven years, till 1885. That he could have been nominated and elected Governor of New York is a matter of history. In 1879 he was chairman of the Democratic State Com- mittee which renominated Lucius Robinson for a second term. John Kelly, the chief of Tammany Hall, desired Senator Jacobs to stand for the nomination, which would have surely turned the tide in his favor. The Senator in his capacity as chairman would enter- tain no such motion and declared Gov. Robinson the nominee. The outcome was that A. B. Cornell, Republican, was elected Governor. On removing to Atlantic City for the benefit of his shattered health. Senator Jacobs no longer took active interest in politics, but de- voted himself to his family. He became very much interested in the city of his adoption and promoted many local improvements.
ALBERT M. JORDAN.
Albert M. Jordan, President of the Atlantic City Sewerage Company, its chief pro- motor and manager from the beginning, was born in Auburn, N. Y .. July 20, 1847. His father was a printer. When the boy was eight years old the family moved to the frontier town of Quasqueton, lowa, where lived at that time more Indians than white people. There, with a partner, the senior Jordan started the weekly Guardian, a country newspaper. In the war of the rebellion the father enlisted and died in the army. After two years at Cornell College, Iowa, where he took an engineering course. Mr. Jordan came cast to Philadelphia to learn the printing trade. He worked for four years for the firm which later became that of Allen, Lane & Scott. After holding for six months a position in the Gov- ernment Printing Office at Washington, Mr. Jordan went back to lowa and became part owner of the Dubuque Daily Times. He was active in politics and became a personal friend of Hon. William B. Allison. In Dubuque, Mr. Jordan devoted some of the best years of his life to active journalism. He finally disposed of his interests in the Daily Times at a good figure, and in 1881 came to New York, expecting to open an advertising bureau. He made the acquaintance of one Winfield Scott West, a civil engineer from Virginia, who had a patent system of drainage for level towns, and through the suggestion of his father- in-law, the late Josiah S. Hackett, of the W. J. & S. R. R., Camden, Mr. Jordan proceeded to introduce the "West system" of sewerage into Atlantic City. He interested Dr. Board- man Reed, the late John L. Bryant and leading hotel men in the enterprise and accom- plished what was considered by some an impossible engineering feat, that of laying large pipes eight and ten and fifteen feet below the surface in the water and quicksand of this island. He thus secured to this health resort sanitary conditions of inestimable value and importance. Mr. Jordan was made receiver of the company as first organized, and after the purchase at public sale by A. J. Robinson, a wealthy contractor of New York, he be- came superintendent of the reorganized company of which he is now president. He is the personal representative of Mr. Robinson, who is largely interested in real estate in this city.
J. ADDISON JOY.
J. Addison Joy. M. D., was born October 27, 1854. in Peru. Mass. of Puritanic stock His early education was acquired in the district schools of that town.
When fourteen years of age his parents removed to Greenville. I11., where he attended high school for two years. In 1870 they returned east and located at Toms River. N. J.
Here his studies were continued mostly under private instruction, and in 1874 he en- tered Amherst College, graduating four years later. After teaching a few years he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated in 1884.
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DAILY UNION HISTORY OF ATLANTIC COUNTY.
Immediately after graduation the doctor located in Luzerne County, Pa., and remained there until 1890. In June of that year he came to Atlantic City, and has since practiced here, gaining the confidence of the people and building up a large and lucrative practice.
In 1886 Dr. Joy married Miss Nettie B. Clark, of East Hampton, Mass., and has two sons.
The Doctor is a member of the Atlantic City Academy of Medicine, the Atlantic County Medical Association, the Legion of the Red Cross, and the Patriotic Order of the Sons of America. In politics he is a Republican.
ARTHUR W. KELLY.
Arthur W. Kelly was born at West Creek, Ocean County, N. J., June 23, 1869. He finished the public schools and at the age of sixteen began teaching. After two years at this and a year at Pennington Seminary, he was for two years principal of the school in his native town. During this period he also did considerable work as a land surveyor. While teaching he began the study of law and later served a clerkship in the offices of George Reynolds, in Burlington, and Hon. Charles E. Hendrickson, in Mt. Holly. He was ad- mitted to the bar as an attorney in June, 1892, and as a counsellor in June, 1895. In July, 1892, he opened an office in this city, where he has since remained.
While studying law he also instructed himself in stenography, and in 1895 was ap- pointed by Judge Ludlow official stenographer of the courts of his circuit, consisting of Atlantic, Cape May. Cumberland and Salem Counties.
In 1898 he published "Kelly's Questions and Answers," a legal work which has met with favor among law students and the bar. It is a compilation of answers to all the bar examinations for a period of fifteen years.
Mr. Kelly is a member of Trinity Lodge, F. and A. M., and American Star Lodge of Odd Fellows. He married Miss Annie Haywood, of West Creek, and has three children. In politics he is a Democrat.
SAMUEL HASTINGS KELLY.
Samuel Hastings Kelley has done more probably than any other one man to develop the district of Chelsea, which has rapidly become a refined and well regulated section of Atlantic City.
Born in Philadelphia, September 4, 1857, he attended the public schools of his native town until he had been grounded in the English branches. During the years 1879 to 1882 we find him in Chicago as travelling agent for the Pullman Car Company. He afterwards branched out as a stock broker and continued in this business until 1889, when he moved to Atlantic City.
At this time, the territory now embraced within the precincts of Chelsea, was almost a barren waste, and Mr. Kelley consecrated his energies to the development of the region. How well he has succeeded is shown by the forty-eight houses which he has built and which grace the section where his own pretty home is located. Mr. Kelley deals in real estate, improved and unimproved. He handles his own property and confines his attention to the transaction of his individual business.
In the spring of 1897 he was elected to City Council, and in the following year was appointed chairman of the sanitary committee. He at once resolved to secure the removal and enlargement of the garbage crematory, which he did, the improved plant at the meadow end of Tennessee avenue being a monument to his endeavors. He was also energetic in his endeavors to secure a cheaper light for the city and was instrumental in having the price per arc light reduced from $127.75 to $105 per year. Mr. Kelley, who is the father of three
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BIOGRAPHY.
children, two boys and a girl, the eldest of whom is nine years of age, was a candidate for Mayor and a't another time for State Senator. He is a member of the Jr. O. U. A. M., the local lodge of Elks, attends the M. E. Church, and is a stalwart Republican. He is deeply interested in politics and his friends believe that the future holds rewards commensurate with his ability, standing and services to the party with which he has been affiliated since boyhood.
LOUIS KUEHNLE.
Louis Kuehnle, Sr., who died at his home in Egg Harbor City, August 7, 1885, was born at Hasmusheim, Germany, in 1827. He was trained for the occupation of a hotel chef. and after emigrating to America, in 1849, he found employment in some of the leading hotels of this country. He was employed in Washington, D. C., where President Buchanan boarded previous to coming to Egg Harbor City, in 1858. Here he opened the New York hotel and kept it continuously up to the time of his death. In 1852 he married Miss Kate Werdasin. They had three sons, George, Louis and Henry, who survive him.
He was highly esteemed by his fellow citizens, was Mayor of Egg Harbor City several terms, was a member of Council and the school board for years, and represented his city in the Board of Freeholders for a number of years. He purchased and opened Kuehnle's hotel in this city, January 9, 1875, and placed it under the management of his son, Louis Kuehnle, Jr., who subsequently became the sole owner.
EDWARD S. LEE.
Edward S. Lee, who at the municipal election in March, 1900, was re-elected to Council from the Second Ward, a position that he has held continuously since 1888, is a son of John Lee, of Philadelphia, and was born in that city, October 22, 1857. He learned the trade of a bricklayer and mason and first came to Atlantic City in the employ of his uncle, the late George F. Lee, when he purchased the Hotel Brighton property in 1876.
Mr. George F. Lee at that time was considered one of the wealthiest men in Philadelphia. He had amassed a fortune as a builder of gas works in many large cities, including Chicago. and was a pioncer in this city in providing accommodations for spring and winter guests. He was the first to build sun parlors along the boardwalk and a hotel for the winter trade.
The nephew, Councilman Lee. had been employed on the Centennial Exposition build- ings previous to coming here. In 1877 he located here permanently and became one of the most extensive and successful contractors and builders. He was a member and treasurer of the board of health three years previous to his election to council. He has for years been an active member of the Neptune Fire Company and a public spirited citizen actively identi- fied with the progress of the town. He has been chairman of the most important committees of council and displayed unusual executive ability.
JACOB H. LEEDOM.
Jacob H. Leedom was born in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, in the year 1825, and died October 13, 1895. He enjoyed the distinction of having been a passenger on the first train that ever made a through trip from Philadelphia to Atlantic City. That was in 1854. and the men who composed the crew of the train which carried brick and lumber, worked that eventful night by the light of their lanterns in order to lay the rails across the draw of the bridge, that is so familiar to the people of this city. True, trains had made trips from the neighboring metropolis to points near Absecon and the meadows prior to the night upon which Mr. Leedom made his memorable journey, but this fact did not detract from
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DAILY UNION HISTORY OF ATLANTIC COUNTY.
the interest attached to the incident in which the subject of this sketch figured. In his seventh year his father died, and his mother sometime afterward married a second time and removed to Baltimore, where the boy followed. He was then in his tenth year, and until he attained his majority he remained at home, devoting himself to school and the trade of tailoring, which he was soon master of. He was in his twenty-first year when his step- father died, and he then lost no time in removing his mother and the children to Philadel- phia, where he carried on the tailoring business for himself. Early in the summer of 1854. his attention was attracted to Atlantic City, and seeing exceptional inducements here, he established bath houses on the beach and returned each summer until 1878, when he moved to this city in company with Mrs. Leedom, whom he had happily married some years before. In 1885 he and Mrs. Leedom moved to the present handsome hotel, widely known as the Leedom, 163-165 Ocean avenue, near the Beach.
He was an ardent Republican during the active years of his life, and during his residence here was Recorder of the city, and also acted as Mayor during part of one summer. He was a member of the Board of Health, almost since the day it was organized, and was acting as treasurer of that body at the time of his death. He was a profoundly religious man and was largely instrumental in the establishment of the First Baptist Church here. When he and Mrs. Leedom came to this city, they felt very much the absence of a place of worship of their denomination, and never rested until they saw the realization of their desires, the first meeting of the purpose being held in February, 1880, and a permanent organization in July following with a membership of seventeen. He was elected Deacon, Treasurer and President of the Board of Trustees, and labored zealously for the best interests of the sect. Four years before his death, which occurred rather unexpectedly, he resigned the treasurer- ship, feeling that he was unable to perform its duties with that faithfulness to detail for which he was ever noted, in all his relations to civil and religious life. However, he lived to see the church grow from a membership of seventeen to almost three hundred. It was one of the pleasant features of his life to revert to the time when the congregation of the First Baptist Church worshipped in a room on the second floor of the building then known as Mehler's Hall on Atlantic avenue. During the last ten years of his life he was a Prohi- bitionist and labored conscientiously for the success of the cold water party. He will also be recalled as a very religious, charitable and generally esteemed citizen of Atlantic City. His remains rest in Mount Moriah Cemetery and his widow conducts the hotel which has so long borne the honored name of Leedom.
JOSEPH E. LINGERMAN.
Joseph E. Lingerman was born in Philadelphia, Pa., March 1, 1844. At the age of fourteen years, he entered the employ of Hon. John P. Verree in the iron business, in whose employ he continued for 23 years. In 1881, after having accumulated a small amount of money, he came to Atlantic City and started in the hotel business. He built the hotel Runnymede on Kentucky avenue, which hotel he disposed of quite recently. He success- fully conducted the old Memorial House for several years.
Mr. Lingerman has been particularly successful in business engagements, having built several cottages in this city.
In 1890 he was elected a Justice of the Peace of the Second Ward, but declined to serve.
He has been a member of City Council for the past six years and his popularity is attested by the fact that in his election to City Council, he secured the largest majority of votes ever obtained in the Second Ward. He is a member of Odd Fellows and several other societies.
Mr. Lingerman was married in 1872 and he and his wife are now living a retired life in one of their pleasant cottages on South Carolina avenue, near the Beach.
BIOGRAPHY.
BARCLAY LIPPINCOTT.
Barclay Lippincott, the well-known Philadelphia merchant and cottager in this city. was the son of Judge Benjamin P. Lippincott, a wealthy and influential member of the society of Hicksite Friends, in Salem County, N. J. He was born December 9, 1816, in the old family mansion which is still standing near Harrisville, where several generations of Lippincotts have lived.
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