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 39
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Mr. Conover performed a most useful public service, and one for which his name well deserves to be commemorated, in connection with the Monmouth Battle Monument. The erection of such a memorial was a project dear to the heart of the Hon. Joel Parker, the distinguished war governor of the state, and when the Monmouth Battle Monument Asso- ciation and Commission was formed, in 1877, Mr. Conover was made treasurer, primarily through the instrumentality of Governor Parker, who reposed much confidence in him and had high respect for his business capa- bilities. This position was held by Mr. Conover from the primal organiza- tion until the completion and dedication of the monument on November 13, 1884. During all this period he was the sole fiscal agent, and he handled all the funds (some forty thousand dollars), investing them in government bonds and other first class securities, and so discreetly and successfully that the accruing interest was sufficient to meet all the ex- penses of the organization. Indeed, at the end, about one hundred dollars was yet in hand, and this has increased to the amount of some eight hun- dred dollars. The great success attending the undertaking received high praise not only throughout the state, but the nation, and well entitles Mr. Conover and his associates to what has been unstintingly accorded them- the highest meed of praise.
For fifteen years beginning in 1875 Mr. Conover was a member of the fire department of Freehold, where has been his lifelong residence, and for several years he was president of that organization. He was also secretary of the board of trade for one year. For several years he was secretary of the Monmouth County Bible Society. A Presbyterian in re- ligion, he was made an elder-the youngest in his church-when thirty years of age. He has also served as clerk of the session, minute clerk of the presbytery of Monmouth and of the synod of New Jersey. In politics he is a Democrat, but in recent elections has voted with the gold wing of the party.
Reference has been made to Mr. Conover as class poet at the time of his graduation from college, and some further mention of his literary work is deserved. During his student days he was a frequent contributor to the "Nassau Herald," the college journal, and in his class he took the highest grade in literary work and original declamation. Throughout his life he has passed many leisure hours with his pen, and his verses have
John starboard
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frequently adorned the columns of metropolitan as well as local papers and magazines. With a really poetic temperament, he possesses a splendid command of language, and in alliterative verse his powers are phenomenal. An example of his versification and a key to his sunny and philosophical disposition is afforded in the following on "Equanimity" from his pen :
Be mine the blooming meed or billowy main, Beneath the blue skies where dreamy Summers sleep; Wail Winter winds or tearful troubles weep --- Give me "content, with godliness great gain,"
Be long my life, or, at the best, but brief ; A bud unblown or sere, yet well-stored sheaf;
Of pleasure full or overfraught with pain- Love loyal to the power of Providence In things of spirit as in those of sense;
No chronic critic carpingly complain, Infatuate to woo a feud with Fate,
"The good die young," they say. Then why dilate
To nurse our sorrows over new Hopes slain ;
Are not most things about right, in the main ?
Mr. Conover was married, September 10, 1878, to Miss Laura Rich- ardson, daughter of Professor Amos Richardson, the scholarly principal of the Freehold Young Ladies' Seminary, whose life was a benediction upon all who came under his influence. She inherited her father's dispo- sition and tastes, and was educated by him. At an early age she mani- fested a fine talent for music and art. She studied music under S. B. Mills and William Mason-technique under the former and expression under the latter. From each she received splendid testimonials; both paid her the high and unusual compliment of giving her a benefit concert upon the completion of her studies, and Mr. Mason pronounced her his most talented female pupil. Mrs. Conover has rendered inestimable service to the people of Freehold in the practice of her art. She has taught since her girl- hood, in her father's seminary, in the Military Academy and at her home, and she also taught in the Female Annex at Princeton College during its existence, and has given excellent renditions on the concert platform. She continues her instructional work, and is yet organist of the Freehold Presby- terian church, a position which she has graced for more than thirty years past.
JOHN HUBBARD.
John Hubbard, who has been for many years township collector of Asbury Park, New Jersey, was born at the old homestead, in Middletown, Monmouth county, New Jersey, on the 21st of March, 1846, being the son of James Dennis and Cornelia Ann (Grover) Hubbard. He is of Norse 23*
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ancestry, the family name tracing back to "Hubbard the Dane," who in- vaded England in the ninth century to avenge the death of his father, the "Norse Sea King."
The American ancestor, James Hubbard, was the youngest of eleven sons and was born in England, in 1613. He emigrated to America and settled in Charleston, Massachusetts, in the year 1637. removing thence to Long Island in 1643, and was granted land in what is now Gravesend, by the Indian chief, Panramrora. The line of descent through this an- cestor is through James, born in Gravesend, December 10, 1665; James (2d), born June 18, 1706; Jacobus, born May 23, 1744, died in Holmdel, Monmouth county, New Jersey, August 18, 1807, having been a success- ful physician and surgeon ; Elias, born December 18, 1781, died April 12, 1876; James Dennis, son of Elias and Eleanor (Hendrickson) Hubbard, and father of John Hubbard, the immediate subject of this review, was born September 30, 1812, two hours after the advent into the world of his twin brother, Dr. William Henry Hubbard.
John Hubbard was educated in the common schools of Middlesex county, New Jersey, and at the Eastman Business College. in Poughkeepsie, New York. Upon leaving school he followed the vocation of bookkeeping until 1879, when he removed to Asbury Park, where he became a painter and contractor. He was also baggagemaster of the New York & Long Branch Railroad at Asbury Park station until 1884. An active Republican, Mr. Hubbard was, in 1883, elected clerk of Neptune township, in which capacity he served three years. In 1886 he was elected to the office of town collector, which incumbency he retained for nine consecutive years. He was then elected city collector, and served in this capacity until July 1, 1900, when he resigned to assume the office of postmaster, to which he had been appointed by President Mckinley In 1890 he was the Republican candi- date and nominee for clerk of Monmouth county and reduced the normal Democratic majority of the county from fourteen hundre 1 to about five hundred votes. An idea of his popularity may be gleaned from the fact that the Democratic candidate for congress carried the county by twenty-one hundred votes, while Mr. Hubbard was defeated by only five hundred and seventy votes. He is a member of the Republican congressional committee and as a delegate has attended nearly all the various county and district conventions.
M. Hubbard is deeply interested in church work, being a member of the vestry of Trinity church, Protestant Episcopal, and in all matters pertaining to material and educational advancement in his town. He is an active director of the Asbury Park Building and Loan Association; was one of the incorporators and is a director and the secretary of the Asbury Park & Belmar Street Railroad Company ; and was one of the incorporators of the Asbury Park & Ocean Grove Bank, of whose directorate he is a member. Fraternally he is identified with Asbury Lodge, No. 142. F. & A. M .: Standard Chapter, No. 15, R. A. M., of Long Branch: Corson Commandery, No. 15, Knights Templar; Asbury Park Mecca Temple of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine; New York City Park Council, No. 38,
William Edgar
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Ancient Order United Workmen; Asbury Council. No. 42, Junior Order of United American Mechanics ; Neptune Lodge, No. 84, Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows; and Asbury Lodge, Benevolent Protective Order of Elks; while he also holds membership in the Monmouth Social Club and Asbury Park Wheelmen.
In October, 1872, Mr. Hubbard was united in marriage to Miss Alice Thomas, daughter of Richard C. Thomas, of Brooklyn, Long Island, and they have two children : Walter T., who is employed in the Asbury Park and Ocean Grove Bank, and is second lieutenant of Company H, Third Regiment, National Guard, New Jersey, and a veteran of the Spanish war ; and Alice, who remains at the parental home.
WILLIAM AND PETER K. EDGAR.
The Edgar family descended on both the paternal and maternal sides from a long line of well known and respected citizens of New Jersey. Thomas Edgar, the founder of the family in America, was the sixth son of David Edgar and Catherine Forrester, of Brechin, Forfarshire, Scot- land. He settled in Woodbridge, New Jersey, about 1710 and married Janet Knox, of the Dissenters that came over with Neil Campbell. Their children were David, Alexander, William, Catherine, Anabel and Janet. Alexander, the second son, was of the branch from which William and Peter K. Edgar descended. His wife was Mary Smith, whose father owned the property where Sewaren is now located. Their eldest son, Thomas, married Elizabeth Knapp, to whom were born six sons and seven daughters. Thompson, the youngest son of Thomas and Elizabeth, was the grandfather of William and Peter K. He was an active and energetic man. Interested in politics he served his district in the legislature for two terms and was also a member of the board of chosen freeholders and the township committee. He married Mary Crow, the grand-daughter of Col- onel Samuel Crow, of Revolutionary fame. Their two children were Francis P. and Amanda S., the latter the mother of our subject. William P., the father of William and Peter K., was born in Metuchen in 1814, a son of William Edgar, a Scotchman who came to Metuchen from the West Indies. William P. was connected for twenty years with the firm of Adee, Timpson & Company, dry goods merchants of New York. He purchased the Ichabod Potter farm, where he d'edl in 1899. For twenty- five years he was engaged in mining clay. His wife, Amanda S. Edgar, was born on the Edgar homestead, now known as the Campbell farm, and died in 1857. leaving two sons, William and Peter K. Edgar.
William Edgar was born August 7, 1846, in Woodbridge, attended the schools of his native town, and spent two years in a mercantile house in New York. For twenty-five years he was associated with his father in the clay mining and shipping business. In his political views he is an independent Democrat, and in 1871 was elected township clerk, while sub-
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sequently he was a member of the board of chosen freeholders and the township committee. He is actively interested in all matters pertaining to the welfare and advancement of the community and is a member of the township board of education and a fire commissioner. His church affil- iations are Presbyterian, and he has been clerk of the session for a num- ber of years. Mr. Edgar married Miss Amelia G. Davies, of Brooklyn, New York, and three children have been born to them,-Edith L .; Amanda G., the wife of John E. Breckenridge, of Palmer, Massachusetts; and Frank P.
Peter K. Edgar was born April 4, 1848, in Woodbridge, and attended the Woodbridge schools, the Fort Edward Institute, of New Jersey, and was graduated at Princeton with the class of 1858. He studied law at the Columbia College Law School and with the late Jonathan Edgar, of New York. From 1879 until 1900 he edited and published "The Independent Hour," a weekly newspaper, at Woodbridge. He was formerly township clerk and for three years clerk of the board of chosen freeholders. Mr. Edgar is unmarried. The two brothers now live in the late residence of their father, which, with the exception of a few years, has been in the possession of the Edgar family for nearly two hundred years.
REV. ALLEN HENRY BROWN.
There is a natural pride in every man who is able to trace his ances- try back link by link to the landing of the first pilgrims. This the Rev. Allen H. Brown, of Atlantic City, New Jersey, one of the most venerable and well beloved Presbyterian ministers of western New Jersey can do; he possesses an unbroken chain of genealogical annals which establish for him the distinction of being a direct line descendant of one of the "May- flower's" adventurous voyagers. He was born at 182 Pearl street, New York City, September 23, 1820, the son of Silas and Olivia (Brown) Brown.
Silas Brown was born October 16, 1791, at Bern (now known as Knox), in the vicinity of Albany, New York. At the age of twenty he entered the employ of Peter Van Loon, a prominent merchant in the city of Albany, subsequently becoming a successful dry goods merchant on his own account in New York City. In politics he was an adherent of the Whig party, and in religion he was a Presbyterian, uniting with the church late in life. He was a true friend to the poor and needy, and especially did his sympathies go out to those who had been deprived of their eyesight; he was one of the board of managers of the institution for the blind in New York City. Olivia Brown, mother of the Rev. Allen H. Brown, was the daughter of Isaac and Prudence (Belden) Brown, of Stamford, Connecti- cut, was born February 19, 1792. This family were members of the Church of England, and adhered to the mother country during the Revolutionary war.
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The genealogical record of the Brown family on the paternal side is as follows: John Brown, great-great-grandfather of the Rev. Allen H. Brown, a native of Stonington, Connecticut, married Elizabeth Minor, daughter of Ephraim Minor, in October, 1692, and ten children were born to them. Of these children, Ichabod, the sixth in order of birth, born March 12, 1704, married Sarah Chapman and their son, Andrew Brown, married Sarah Cobb, the daughter of Colonel Oliver Babcock, of Wester- ley ; their son, Silas Brown, married Olivia Brown, and nine children were born to them, of whom the Rev. Allen H. Brown was the third in order of birth.
By another line of descent the Rev. Allen H. Brown is descended from John Howland, who was the thirteenth signer of the Mayflower compact, a form of government drawn up on the "Mayflower" at Cape Cod, and signed by forty-one of the principal men of the first band of pilgrims. John Howland married Elizabeth Tilley, the daughter of John Tilley, who was the sixteenth signer of this compact; their daughter Desire married Captain John Gorham in 1643; their daughter Elizabeth married Joseph Hallett in 1666; their daughter Lois married Henry Cobb in 1690; their son married Mary Babcock, daughter of Colonel Oliver Bab- cock, in 1733; their daughter, Sarah Cobb, married Andrew Brown on February 14, 1771; their son Silas married Olivia Brown, and their children were Emily Maria. Horatio Stanton, Allen H., Horatio Silas, William Isaac, Louisa Matilda, Edward Stanton, Harriet Elizabeth and Caroline Belden.
The Rev. Allen H. Brown received his education at the University of New York, later at Columbia College, and matriculated at Princeton Theological Seminary in the class of 1840-41. He made his public profes- sion of faith in the Murray Street Presbyterian church, later attending the Duane street church; he became the secretary of the Sunday-school mis- sionary society of that church during the years of 1838-39. Shortly after his graduation from Princeton he was employed by the American Tract Society, as a colporteur in the pines of New Jersey ; later he became the agent of the society and superintendent of the work in New Jersey. In December, 1846, he went to Mays Landing to supply the pulpit of the Presbyterian church, resuming the work of the Tract Society in the spring of 1847; in the fall of the same year he returned to Mays Landing to enter upon what has proved to be his life work. The Rev. Allen H. Brown became the second synodical missionary in New Jersey (John Brainerd, born 1720, his predecessor, one hundred years earlier, having been the first), traveling from Toms river to Cape May, and from Bridgeton (now Mt. Holly) to Salem, for the purpose of preaching the gospel, promoting the cause of education, erecting school houses and organizing churches, and securing other laborers to assist in this good work. He was licensed to preach the gospel in 1843 by the presbytery of New York. On October 12, 1847, with a written memorial from some members of the presbytery of West Jersey, he appeared before the presbytery of New York at Jamaica, Long Island. Here, with the assistance of his pastor, the Rev. George
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Potts, D. D., and the Rev. James W. Alexander, D. D., arrangements were made for his ordination as evangelist by the said presbytery of New York, but the synod of New York took exception to this action of the pres- bytery, and thwarted this well-intended purpose. Mr. Brown was ordained at Mays Landing as evangelist by the presbytery of West Jersey on January 5, 1848, and regarding his work as that of an evangelist, itinerant or mission- ary at large, he was never installed pastor of Mays Landing church, nor of any other. The presbytery of Burlington, in April and September, 1861, by formal action, endorsed and welcomed Mr. Brown as missionary agent within their bounds, and thus his work was extended to the upper coast. Mr. Brown introduced a resolution at a meeting of the synod at Trenton in 1872, for the appointment of a committee to consider the work of home missions and church extension in New Jersey. Dr. Samuel Miller, the moderator, appointed the committee of one from each presbytery, and Mr. Brown as its chairman.
During all his missionary work Mr. Brown has reckoned Atlantic county as his legal residence, although he sojourned for limited seasons in Newark, New York and Camden. The schools of the time were at a low ebb and for a period Mr. Brown's time was about equally directed to- ward the betterment of school conditions and advancement of school inter- ests, and it was largely through his personal efforts that many schools were established in Atlantic and portions of Cape May and Burlington counties, und competent teachers obtained for them from Holyoke Seminary and other leading educational centers. For more than half a century Mr. Brown has been closely identified with the Atlantic County Bible Society, having been for many years its secretary, and in recent years its president. For several years Mr. Brown made strenuous efforts to promote the ob- servance of the Sabbath. In 1883, quite unexpectedly to himself, he was elected a commissioner to the general assembly at Saratoga.
Mr. Brown discovered many important historical items about John Brainerd, and printed a series of seven letters in the "Woodbury Con- stitution" in the autumn of 1850. He also co-operated with Professor George Macloskie, LL. D., in publishing the Journal of John Brainerd for the years 1761 and 1762. Among Mr. Brown's published historical papers are "An Outline History of the Presbyterian Church in West or South Jersey from 1700 to 1865," delivered by appointment of presbytery in Bridgeton, October 5, 1865, before the Historical Society of New Jersey ; on May 15, 1879, by request, he read a paper on "The Character and Em- ployments of the Early Settlers on the Coast of New Jersey." Before the same society he read a paper on May 20. 1886, "Jonathan Pitney, M. D., and Fifty Years' Progress on the Coast of New Jersey." In 1888 the synod of New Jersey published Mr. Brown's historical sketch of the synod of New Jersey for the quarter of a century from 1861 to 1886, which Mr. Brown delivered as retiring moderator of that body. Mr. Brown prepared the history from 1741 to 1811 of the Presbyterian church of Pilesgrove, or Pittsgrove. In 1886 Mr. Brown offered a resolution in synod for the ap- pointment of a committee to gather materials of the history of the pres-
Isaac Inslee
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byteries and the churches of the synod of New Jersey, and thus Mr. Brown, with the assistance of others, was called to lead the pilgrimage to the Old Scots' Burial Ground and Tennent Church in 1895, and by the voice of the synod to superintend the raising of the money and erection of the Presbyterian Historical Monument in Old Scots' Ground, in Monmouth county. He delivered an address at the unveiling, on June 14, 1900, giv- ing the history and description of the monument. A tablet placed upon the base of this monument bears this inscription : "To the untiring effort of the Rev. Allen Henry Brown, which led to the erection of this monument, this tablet is set as a memorial by the synod of New Jersey." At the fall meeting of the presbytery of West Jersey, in Cape May, September 26, 1900, the Rev. Allen H. Brown presented his resignation as a Presbyterian missionary after a service of fifty-four years.
On August 12, 1852, at Lowell, Massachusetts, Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Martha A. Dodge, daughter of Bartholomew and Mary (Fish) Dodge, of Amherst, New Hampshire. Mrs. Brown was a graduate of Holyoke Seminary, and a teacher at Tuckerton, New Jersey, until her marriage; she possessed rare intellectual gifts, and her poetical talent appears in a booklet printed for her family in 1878, entitled, "Spring Flowers and Autumn Leaves." She died at the house of her son, in New- ark, on March II, 1885. Their oldest child was Silas Belden, born May 17, 1854, graduated from Lafayette College as civil and mining engineer ; he has been manager for the firm of the S. Balard Rubber Company of New York for some years ; he married Elizabeth Evans, on April 21, 1881, and two sons and three daughters have been born to them, four of whom survive, viz .: Allen H., Elizabeth, Morris Evans and Charlotte Belden Brown; they reside at Montclair, New Jersey. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Allen H. Brown were Allen Henry, born May 17, 1855, died December 12, 1859: Mary Dodge, born January 1, 1858, a teacher in New York; and Louisa Matilda, born January 18, 1860, a teacher in New York.
ISAAC INSLEE.
Isaac Inslee, who is now living a retired life in Woodbridge, is one of the leading residents of that city and a representative of one of the oldest families of the state. Of Scotch ancestry, the first of the name in America crossed the Atlantic from the land of hills and heather and took up their abode in Massachusetts, whence their descendants later came to New Jer- sey. George Inslee, the great-grandfather of our subject, located at Wood- bridge and defended the colonial interests in the war with Great Britain which brought independence to the nation. His son, George Inslee, Jr., the grandfather of our subject, was born in this locality, and in early life engaged in carpentering and the undertaking business. Later he turned his attention to farming. His fellow townsmen called him to serve in many public positions of trust and responsibility and he was widely known
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as a progressive citizen, kind hearted and considerate. These qualities won him the respect and love of all with whom he came in contact. He reared a large family, being three times married. He first wedded Mary Cutter, and their children were Hannah M., Isaac, John. Phebe, William, Caroline, Charles T. and Elias B. For his second wife the father chose Nancy Drake, and unto them were born the following named: George P., Phineas J., Nancy, Jacob F. and Henry C. For his third wife he chose Mrs. Sarah Ann Sutton, but no children were born to them.
William Inslee, the father of our subject, belonged to the first family and was born in 1810. Reared in this neighborhood. after attaining to man's estate he engaged in carriage making in Rahway and later followed farming. He also spent some time in the south, at Columbus, Georgia, where he had a carriage repository, shipping his carriages to that point from Rahway. In New Jersey he filled a number of local political offices, being a leading Whig in early days and later a prominent member of the Republican party. Socially he was connected with the Odd Fellows lodge at Rahway and was progressive and public-spirited, co-operating in many movements for the general good. He married Margaret Fornate, and unto them were born the following children: Isaac, Phoebe, Catherine, Sarah Freeman, John, Emma, Marietta, William J., Augusta and Albert, all of whom are yet living, with the exception of Phoebe C., Sarah Freeman and Marietta.
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