USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. II > Part 35
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Mr. Leonard was married on Thanksgiving Day, 1882, to Miss Fan- nie M. Clark. daughter of Gilbert M. Clark, of Connecticut. Five children were born of this marriage, of whom three are living-Ella S., Gladys E. and Frances Josephine Leonard.
This sketch would be incomplete without reference to Miss Ella S. Leonard, the talented sister of Mr. Leonard. She was a student in Peddie Institute, and in her first year took the first prize for declamation, and, the following year, the prize for elocution. She graduated and was valedic- torian in 1879. In 1881 she entcred Vassar College, where she soon gave evidence of her taste and ability in literary work. She was made assistant editor and then editor of the "Vassar Miscellany," and at her graduation
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was class poet. During one of her vacations she made the tour of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1877 she and a classmate (Miss Caroline Lingle) founded the paper which is now conducted by Mr. Leonard, proving the practical merits of the "new woman's" movement. From a literary stand- point it was of high class, and it was conducted with such businesslike wisdom that it proved entirely successful financially, and its managers were enabled to erect a handsome office building at a cost of nine thou- sand dollars. Miss Leonard retired from the paper in 1889 and became associated with Miss Kate Field in that lady's Washington City Journal. Miss Leonard subsequently served upon the editorial staff of various Chi- cago dailies, and is now engaged with the J. H. Richards advertising agency in New York City.
CHARLES ALLEN.
Charles Allen was born in Middletown township, Monmouth county, New Jersey, April 18, 1829, in the house in which he now resides, on the banks of the Shrewsbury river. He is a son of the late Robert and Maria (Patterson) Allen, natives of Monmouth county, of Scotch descent. The late Captain Robert Allen was a son of James P. Allen, the latter an artisan, who pursued the business of cabinet maker in the city of New York. Upon the decease of Mrs. James P. Allen, their son, Robert Allen (who, was born in 1798), and the remaining children were sent to Mon- mouth county to make their home with their grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Charles Gordon, in Middletown township. Here Robert Allen received such education as was afforded by the township schools and at an early age became engaged in schooner and slooping traffic on the Shrewsbury river. By the time he had attained the age of twenty years he was master of a small vessel engaged in coast traffic and continued to be thus em- ployed for a period of twenty years. About 1840 he took up the vocation of agriculturist on a tract of land, a portion of which is now the property of his son, Charles. He pursued this calling up to the time of his decease, 1875.
In his political affiliations Mr. Allen was a Democrat of stalwart order and was active in his identification with his party's interests through- out his entire life. While not an aspirant for political preferment, but on the contrary held strictly aloof from official position, he did permit his name, under great pressure, to appear as his party candidate for assembly- man, and was elected for two successive terms, serving upon numerous important committees of the legislative body with faithfulness and effi- ciency. He was for twenty-five years a consistent member of the Middle- town Baptist church, and was a liberal contributor. His wife was the daughter of John and Mary Patterson, both of whom were natives of Monmouth county. Mrs. Maria ( Patterson) Allen, who was born in 1797, died in 1866, leaving two children-Phoebe A., who became the wife of Cornelius Vanderveer, a farmer of Ocean township, Monmoutlt
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ALLEN B. ENDICOTT.
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county, died in October, 1901, leaving three children : Frank; Maria A., who married John Howland; and Elizabeth T. Vanderveer.
Charles Allen, the only survivor of this family, and the immediate .
subject of this sketch, received his schooling in Middletown township, and was thereafter engaged up to his twenty-fourth year in assisting in the cultivation of his father's farm. In 1853 he married Miss Mary, daughter of Captain Andrew Winter, in Middletown township, and in 1855 was established in farming on his own account, having purchased part of his fa- ther's estate. Upon this land he now resides, and to the original tract, which he inherited, he added seventy acres more by purchase. In addition to his agricultural interests Mr. Allen has been an oyster planter on an exten- sive scale, marketing his produce in the city of New York and Philadelphia. He was one of the charter members of the Second National Bank, Red Bank, and is a member of the directory of that institution. While Mr. Allen, like his father, has been an uncompromising Democrat, he still feels it his duty as well as his privilege, to be first a good citizen and after that a politician. Consistently with this he has supported the candidates for office which were qualified in his opinion to fulfill the duties of the offices sought.
Mr. Allen served for a number of years as a township assessor. Mr. and Mrs. Allen have had six children, of whom two survive. These are Charles Allen, Jr., a farmer who resides on a part of the farm referred to above, which was deeded to him by his father; and Rebecca W., who married Henry J. Ely, lumber merchant of the Atlantic Highlands. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Allen, Jr., have five children : Eda M., Robert G., Albert Rutan, Myra Belle and Charles R. Allen. Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. Ely have two children, Allen Judson and Mary Achsa Ely.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Allen are also members of the Middletown Baptist church, having been identified therewith for a period of more than forty years. Mr. Allen has served as trustee of that congregation since 1876 and as deacon since 1880, and treasurer since 1882.
ALLEN B. ENDICOTT, LL.B. 1
Alien B. Endicott, presiding judge of the court of common pleas of Atlantic county, whose residence is in Atlantic City, was born at May's Landing March 7, 1857. He graduated at Peddie Institute, Hightstown, New Jersey, in June, 1876. He read law under the tutorship of Hon. Peter L. Voorhees, of Camden, and afterward entered the law department of the University of Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1879 with the degree of LL. B. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1880, and became a counsellor in 1884. He served as collector of Atlantic county for sixteen years, from May, 1883, until he was appointed judge.
He carried through successfully the condemnation proceedings to acquire the then existing water plants for municipal purposes, and also 21*
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the suit of Atlantic City against the Camden and Atlantic Railroad Com- pany and the state of New Jersey to require that corporation to pay its taxes to Atlantic City instead of to the state. Judge Endicott was for eleven years city solicitor of Atlantic City. He helped organize the Union National Bank of Atlantic City in 1891 and has been its president since its organization. Its capital stock now sells for more than double its par value, which is the best evidence of the successful conduct of that institu- tion. He is owner of valuable ocean front property in Atlantic City and is one of the largest stockholders in the St. Leonard and other land com- panies.
HENRY WINSOR.
None of the residents of Asbury Park has been a more potent factor in adding to its material prosperity than he whose name heads this sketch. From the date that he became a citizen of Asbury Park up to the present time, a period of twenty-eight years, he has been a force that has exerted a powerful influence in the upbuilding of the community. Active and pro- gressive, he soon became a leader. His brain has conceived and his energy has developed many successful enterprises.
Henry Winsor, son of Thomas and Aletta Christopher Winsor, was born at Bound Brook, New Jersey, November 21, 1852. His an- cestors were English; his grandfather, George Winsor, was a native of Devonshire, England, and became proprietor of a large tract of land at Bound Brook. The town of Bound Brook is located upon part of this tract. In 1856 the family moved to Farmingdale, and located on a farm which is now known as the Winsor stock farm and is owned by Henry M. Bennett. The boyhood days of our subject were passed on this farm. They were happy, joyful days, the innocent pleasures and incidental work doing much to lay the foundation for the future successful career.
After attending the public schools our subject entered the Penning- ton ( New Jersey) Seminary, where he was prepared for the Freehold Institute, from which he was graduated with high honors in the class of 1872. In the fall of that year he began teaching school in Monmouth county, near Freehold, and continued to teach during the winters for eight years. It had been his custom since the foundation of Asbury Park to pass his summer vacations there, and in 1873, being convinced that it would develop into a populous and prosperous community, he determined to locate there. He became a clerk for Henry Steinbach and enjoyed the distinction of being the only dry goods clerk in the town.
In 1877 he was elected secretary of the Asbury Park Building and Loan Association and has held that position continuously since then, a period of twenty-four years. In that position he demonstrated his ability as a financier and laid the foundation for future successes. When he became secretary of the association its assets were thirty thousand dollars. Under his management they have grown year by year and now amount to over seven hundred thousand dollars.
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Upon the organization of the First National Bank of Asbury Park, in 1886, he was elected its president, thus becoming the first president of the first bank of Asbury Park. In 1889 he was elected president of the Asbury Park and Ocean Grove Bank, which position he now occupies. As its president Mr. Winsor has conducted this institution most success- fully. At the present time (July, 1901) its capital is $50,000; surplus, $50,000, and undivided profits, $10,000. Its total resources reach over $1,000.000 in the summer. Its directorate is formed of the following gen- tlemen : T. Frank Appleby, N. E. Buchanan, C. C. Clayton, George W. Evans, J. T. Ferguson, Dr. J. A. W. Hetrick, John Hubbard, Lewis Rainear, George W. Treat, Amos Tilyon and Henry C. Winsor.
Mr. Winsor has been interested for many years in sea shore real estate and has developed a part of Ocean Park, now Bradley Beach. He was one of the organizers of the Coast Land Company, which developed Allenhurst, and he was at one time a director in the Atlantic Highlands Association, which developed Atlantic Highlands. He is now interested in Bradley Park.
Politically Mr. Winsor has ever been a zealous advocate of the prin- ciples of the Republican party and has labored earnestly for the success of his party. In 1879 he became the first collector of taxes for Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, a position to which he was elected at each suc- cessive election for eight years by large majorities-testimonials to his popularity and the confidence of his fellow citizens. He wa's also for five years a member of the city council.
Deeply interested in the advancement of religion, he has done much for the church. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he was formerly steward and of which he has been a trustee since 1878. He is a member of Blue Lodge, No. 142, F. & A. M., and of Council No. 23. Jr. O. U. A. M.
On December 31, 1876, Mr. Winsor married Miss Mary Bartram, daughter of James and Mary Bartram, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mrs. Winsor is a descendant of John Bartram, who was American botanist to George the Third of England. Mr. and Mrs. Winsor are parents of four children, Anna. Mabel, Bessie, Marie and H. Harrold.
Mr. Winsor is still in the very prime of life. What he has done indicates what he will do. Of him it is just and merited praise to state, that as a financier he is an acknowledged leader, and that he enjoys the confidence and esteem not only of his friends and associates, but of the entire community.
F. F. ANNESS.
The works of the Anness & Potter Fire Clay Company, of Wood- bridge, New Jersey, are among the most extensive in the state in that line of manufacture, and their product is unrivalled in excellence, and enjoys wide popularity with first class contractors and builders.
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This establishment is the outgrowth of a modest clay mining busi- ness established about 1860 by L. C. Potter. In 1900 the Anness & Potter Fire Clay Company was incorporated with the following named officers, who continue to conduct the business: L. C. Potter, president; F. F. Anness, vice-president and general manager ; and L. E. Potter, secretary.
Mr. Anness was born January 12, 1860, a son of Charles Anness. The elder Anness took up his residence in Woodbridge, New Jersey, about 1862, and opened up a clay manufacturing business at Spa Springs, New Jersey, which he conducted with gratifying success until 1892, when the plant was sold to the Staten Island Clay Company. While carrying on the before mentioned business, he conducted its affairs solely in his personal name. Subsequent to the sale he was engaged in clay and brick manufac- ture under the firm name of Charles Anness & Sons, and later under the name of the Anness & Lyle Manufacturing Company, manufacturers of fire brick, sewer pipe and other clay products. In 1900 Mr. Anness re- tired from active business and is now living in pleasant ease at his home in Woodbridge.
F. F. Anness was reared in the same business with his father, and his personal guidance acquired a thorough practical knowledge of it in all its details. The two were associated in both the manufactories with which the elder Anness was afterward connected as managing head. In the Anness & Lyle Manufacturing Company the younger Anness was the treasurer and general manager, and in that twofold capacity exhibited all the quali- fications necessary to the successful conduct of the business. In 1900, sub- sequent to the retirement of his father, he aided in the formation of the Anness & Potter Fire Brick Company, and was placed in the vice presi- dency and general manager of the corporation, the positions which he at present occupies. It has been his fortune to be thus prominently identified with one of the most important industries of the city where is his home, and which has contributed in no small degree to its prosperity and prestige. Outside the line of his business interests, he is ever solicitous for the welfare and advancement of the community, and is recognized as an active and capable leader in all movements conducing to these ends.
Mr. Anness is a member of the Woodbridge Athletic Association and of the Royal Arcanum. His political affiliations are with the Republican party.
CASSIMER W. BOYNTON.
There is one subject of more absorbing interest than all others to men of the present day, and that is, how to attain success; books are written upon it, men of prominence are constantly being interviewed, and their thoughts upon the subject given to the public that it may have something to feed upon. From the lives of prosperous men emanates an inspiration, telling in its effects upon others. No biographical record of those con- spicuous in New Jersey history would be complete without the name of
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Cassimer W. Boynton, the renowed manufacturer of Woodbridge, New Jersey.
Mr. Boynton is a sturdy son of the Pine Tree state, where he was born at Bangor, on February 14, 1836, the son of Gorham L. and Louise (Bassford) Boynton. His father, Gorham L. Boynton, was an owner of extensive tracts of timber land in the state of Maine. During his business connection with Asa Pingree they were, in fact, reputed to control more timber land than any company of single individuals in the state. A goodly share of this land has descended to his heirs. Naturally in the midst of so much building material, he turned his attention to contracting, and to meet his own requirements and as well to prepare material for others, he owned and operated many sawmills; for a number of years he acted as surveyor-general of the lumber interests of the state of Maine. It is claimed that Mr. Boynton's ancestry in the state of Maine antedates the founding of the city of Bangor itself.
As is customary with New Englanders, his education was a matter of great importance. After finishing at the public schools of Bangor he attended the Lawrence Scientific School at Cambridge, then the Rens- selaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, New York, at the latter following a three years' course and receiving a thorough training as a civil engineer ; so well, in fact, had he progressed in the mastery of the profession that during the last two years of his course at Troy he acted as assistant teacher of mechanical engineering. His graduation occurred in 1856, shortly after which he was appointed assistant engineer and placed in charge of the western end of Bergen tunnel. After this he was engaged as chief engi- neer of the San Francisco water works. Under this appointment he built two large reservoirs, installed the necessary pumps, one of which is one of the highest single lifts ( three hundred and ten feet through a half mile of pipe) in the country. In connection with the water warks he has built an aqueduct three thousand feet long, through solid rock, beneath the fort on Black Point. This was finished in the year 1862, and for two years after this he was engaged as mining engineer in Sonora and Mexico. From 1864 to 1866 he was again professionally engaged in San Francisco. In the early part of 1866 he returned to the Atlantic coast, and after spending some months in examining mill sites finally located at Wood- bridge. There he erected commodious works for the manufacture of brick drain-pipe and tile. During the thirty-six years that they have been in operation they have made many additions. He employs a large number of men, and the plant has an output during the height of the busy season of about five hundred dollars worth of finished pipe, etc., per day. The location is peculiarly fitting, the property having a frontage upon Wood- bridge creek and another upon Staten Island Sound, the latter permitting the erection of wharves at which vessels of the largest draught can safely lie even at the neap tides. The market for the product of the works is mainly found in the Eastern states, but a considerable business is also done in supplying other portions of the country. In New York there is a very general demand for the Woodbridge hollow bricks (used for roofing fire-
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proof buildings), and the larger portion of the drain pipe used in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, and in the capitol grounds at Washington came from the Woodbridge factory. Besides the hollow brick above referred to the firm makes a specialty of small tile for under-draining. Mr. Boynton owns and controls about a mile of the water front on Woodbridge creek and on Staten Island Sound. This is an excellent site for factories, and now has both railway and street car service. He has taken great interest in the con- struction of trolley lines in his vicinity, and in connection with Mr. Robert W. de Forest and Henry Maurer, built the trolley line from Boynton Beach to Rahway, with lighting plants for Rahway, Woodbridge, and Sewarren, and acted as president of the company for several years. He is now presi- dent, and actively interested in the construction of the Glassboro & Clayton Electric Company in South Jersey.
Mr. Boynton was joined in marriage on December 20, 1866, to Miss Eunice A. Harriman, of Georgetown, Massachusetts; nine children have been born to them, namely: Mary Louise, a graduate of Vassar, and the editor of the Perth Amboy Republican, the leading paper in that city ; Helen G., who is a graduate of the State Normal School, and is now the wife of William T. Ames, of Sewarren; Gorham L., who was for two years a student in Columbia College, and is now an architect and lumber mer- chant of Sewarren; Cassimer W., a bright young business man who con- ducted a real estate and insurance business up to the time of his death, which occurred in October, 1900, occasioned by an accident on the Penn- sylvania Railroad; Georgie S., who is the business manager of the Perth Amboy Republican and is a graduate of Vassar College; Ernest H., a graduate of Brown University, who is engaged in the real estate business in Perth Amboy; Albert, an elective student in Cornell College; C. D., a graduate of the Lawrenceville College, now engaged in the real estate and insurance business with his brother; and Dorothy S., who resides with her parents.
Socially Mr. Boynton is affiliated with the Americus Lodge, F. & A. M., of Woodbridge, and in his political views favors the Republican party. Mr. Boynton is highly respected by all who are acquainted with him for the many excellent traits he displays, not only in his business life, but also in his home.
JAMES M. BROWN.
The Browns of Woodbridge have for many generations been inhabit- ants of that section of New Jersey. The genealogy of the family dates back to George Brown, the illustrious founder of the Woodbridge branch of the family. He was of Scotch origin, and was appointed one of the trustees of the first Presbyterian church organized in Woodbridge.
The subject of this brief sketch, James M. Brown, was born on the ancestral estate at Woodbridge on August 5, 1819. He was the third in order of birth of a family of six children born to Thomas C. and Abigail
Thomas & Brown.
The Jais Publishing Co.
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1. Brown.
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Brown. In 1836, upon completing his education at the public schools in Woodbridge, he entered upon his business career as a clerk in the general store of \V. & P. Brown of Rahway, which position he filled for four years; he afterward entered the employ of his brother, John T. Brown, who con- ducted a successful store in New York City; here he remained for only two years, when on account of failing health, he was compelled to relin- quish his position, and seek to repair his physical condition in a more con- genial employment. This he found on board a coasting vessel commanded by Captain David Tappan, in whose service he continued for seven years, in which time he regained perfect health. In the spring of 1845, upon the death of his father, he returned home to assist in the management of the old farm.
Mr. Brown, in his political views, was a Whig when that party was in existence, later becoming a Republican, on which ticket he voted every presidential election since; his first vote for President was for Harrison in 1840. Mr. Brown was the president of the Rondout and Kingston Gas- light Company, which is situated at Roundout, New York; they manu- facture gas by a new process, which is much cheaper than by the old method, and is now becoming very popular; naptha and anthracite coal are the only materials used in its manufacture.
Mr. Brown's marriage to Phoebe J., daughter of Crowell and Fanny L. Hadden of Brooklyn, formerly of Woodbridge, was solemnized on October 23, 1846; two children were the result of this union, namely : Lewis, the younger, who died at the age of six years, and Thomas C., who still resides at the old home. Both Mr. and Mrs. Brown were earnest and faithful workers and members of the Presbyterian church of Woodbridge, the former since 1842; he also served as a member of the board of trustees, and was an honored deacon in that church since the year 1853. Mrs. Brown was a lady of exquisite culture and refinement, and was passion- ately fond of both vocal and instrumental music, being very proficient in both branches of the art. She passed out of this life on the 6th of De- cember, 1880, in the fifty-first year of her age, and Mr. Brown died in 1883.
THOMAS C. BROWN.
It is remarkable how much outside work a man can do even when reared to life upon a farm, and spending his days within its environs. Thomas C. Brown has followed agricultural pursuits throughout the years of his existence, vet is acknowledged as one of the foremost representative citi- zens of Woodbridge, Middlesex county, New Jersey, where he was born on August 11, 1848. He is the son of James M. and Phoebe J. ( Hadden) Brown, the former a descendant of George Brown, who came from Scot- land, and was the first of this family to settle in America.
Thomas C. Brown, our subject, received his education in the public schools of his native place, and later on completed it at the Elizabeth Acad-
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emy. He preferred the free life on a farm to business pursuits, and so he assisted his father until the latter's death, which occurred in 1883, when he came into possession of the fine homestead in which he still resides. He has spent much time and labor upon his farm, and it is now considered to be one of the most profitable and productive pieces of land in the county.
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