USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Passaic > The Passaic valley, New Jersey, in three centuries.. Vol. 2 > Part 14
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
In compliance with a request for a paper on the " Prac- tical Uses of Vital Statistics " Mr. Iloffman read a paper before the New Jersey Sanitary Association on December 7. 1900, published in the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, December 27, 1900. In this address Mr. Hoffman made a
171
BIOGRAPHICAL
special plea for more comprehensive investigations into the mortality and disease liability of men employed in dan- gerons and unhealthy occupations, a subject to which in the course of his office duties he has devoted a large amount of time.
Through the efforts of Mr. Hoffman the statistical depart- ment of the Prudential Insurance Company has developed to so high a degree of perfection that it ranks foremost in this respect among the statistical offices, not only of life insurance companies, but of the different State govern- ments, in this country and abroad.
Mr. Hoffman is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society of London and a member of the American Statistical Asso- ciation, the American Economic Association, the New York Medico-Legal Society, the New York Reform Club, the New England Society of Orange, and other organizations.
He was married, July 15, 1891, to Miss Ella G. Hay, of Ameriens, Ga. They have had four children, of whom three are living: Ella, Frances, and Virginia. They reside on Hillside Avenue, Orange, N. J.
FREDERICK HARVEY LUM, of Chatham, Morris County, N. J., a prominent member of the bar in Newark, was born in Chatham on the 5th of October. 1848. His parents were Harvey M. and Phobe JJ. S. ( Bruen) Lum. ITis ancestors on both sides have been resident in this conn- try for more than two centuries. The Lums in America de- seend from Jonathan, Matthew, and Samuel Lnm, who came over from England in the early part of the seven- teenth century, settling in Connecticut. Frederick H. Lum's ancestor was Samuel; the line descends through his son Samnel and grandson Samnel, Israel (1745-1835), Samuel D. (1819-51), and Harvey M., who was the father of Fred- erick H. Two of Mr. Lum's ancestors, Samnel and Israel, fought side by side in the Continental Army during the Revolution, being ardent patriots and rendering valiant ser- vice to their country.
Ilis father, Harvey M. Lmm, son of Samuel D. and Hamntal (Genung) Lum, born in 1820, died in 1886, was a
172
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
successful builder and a man of much influence in that township, where he resided. He married, first, Margaret Sturges, who bore him a daughter, Margaret Drake Lum; and second, Jane S. Bruen, daughter of Ashbel and Mary (Chandler) Bruen. They had the following children: Frederick Harvey Lum, Merritt Bruen Lum, Edward Har- ris Lum, Charles Mandred Lum, and Caroline Elizabeth Lum, wife of Frank M. Bndd, of Chatham. The ancestor of all the Bruens in North Jersey was Obadiah, second son of John Bruen, Esq., of Bruen, Stapleford, Cheshire, England, who, according to records extant, was christened on Christ- mas Day, 1606, and was a descendant of Robert le Brun (A.D., 1230), who came from Normandy to England, and of whom record is made in the Domesday Book. Frederick H. Lum's maternal grandmother, Mary (Chandler) Bruen, was born in 1803 and died in 1889, being the daughter of Jonathan Chandler, of Elizabethtown, N. J. (1762-1836), who at the age of sixteen entered the Continental Army as a drummer boy, and was taken prisoner by the British, but eventually released.
Frederick H. Lum was educated at the private schools of John F. Pingry, D.D., at Elizabeth, and Julius D. Rose, Ph.D., at Summit, N. J., and studied law under the pre- ceptorship of Judge JJohn Whitehead and William B. Guild, of Newark. He was admitted to practice as an attorney of the Supreme Court of New Jersey at the February term, 1870, and as a counsellor in 1873. Ile has been a member of the law firm of Guild & Lum, with offices in Newark, ever since entering upon his profession in 1870.
Mr. Lum has actively supported the Republican party all his life, and is one of the influential members of that or- ganization. In 1868 he was chosen Secretary of the Re- publican organization of Chatham Township, Morris Coun- ty, where he resides; and on several occasions he has served as chairman of local party organizations. He was Presi- dent of the Village of Chatham, and after its incorporation as a borough was made its Mayor, an office in which he still continues. He is a Director of the German National Bank of Newark, and a member of the Essex Club of New- ark, the Newark Athletic Club, the Chatham Fish and Game
173
BIOGRAPHICAL
Protective Association, and the Hollywood ( Adirondack) Club.
He was married, May 10, 1870, to Alice Elizabeth Harris, of Nyack, N. Y. They have six children : Susie May, Charles Harris, Frederick Harvey, Jr., Ralph Emerson, Ernest Cul- ver, and Lorintha Storms.
EDWARD HARRIS LUM, of Chatham and Newark. son of Harvey M. and Phohre J. S. (Bruen) Lum, was born in Chatham, Morris Comty, N. J., June 12, 1857. His immedi- ale ancestors were: grandparents, Samuel D. and Hamntal (Genung) Lum and Ashbel and Mary (Chandler) Bruen; great-grandparents, Israel and Patience (Pierson) Lum, Benjamin and Nancy (Harris) Bruen, and Jonathan and Mary (Jewell) Chandler. In the Lum line he is a descend- ant of Samuel Lum, one of three brothers who came from Eng- land in the latter part of the seventeenth con- tury and settled in Con- nectient. The family name, however, is Scotch. In the days of Irish freedom there were five Lums who wore members of the Irish Parliament at one time. Two of Mr. Lum's paternal ancestors, Sammel and Israel Lum, father and son, fought in the American Revo- Intion. Through his mother, whose maiden EDWARD H. LUM. name was Phoebe J. S. Bruen, Mr. Lum traces his ancestry to John Bruen, of Stapleford, Cheshire, England, who was baptized December 25, 1606, and was a descendant of Robert le Brun, who came
174
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
from Normandy to England in 1230. Obadiah Bruen, sec- ond son of John Bruen, of Stapleford, emigrated from Eng- land to Connecticut, and is named in the Connecticut char- ter of 1662. Ile removed to Newark, N. J., with the Milford colonists in 1666, and his name stands second on the list of subscribers to the Fundamental Agreement. On his mother's side Mr. Lum also comes from stanch Revolution- ary stock. His great-grandfather, Jonathan Chandler, born May 23, 1762, was a drummer boy in the patriot army, was captured by the British, but was released on account of his youth after spending some time in prison in New York, and immediately rejoined the army, in which he performed good service.
Through his great-grandmother, Patience Pierson, Mr. Lum is descended from Rev. Abraham Pierson, the first pastor and so-called founder of Newark. In deference to him the first settlers named Newark after his home town in England.
Edward Harris Lum received his early education in the public school of Chatham, N. J. He was prepared for col- lege at the Madison (N. J.) Classical Institute, and was graduated from Harvard University in the class of 1880. During a part of the year 1881 he was employed in the bank- ing and brokerage house of William Ballou & Co., of New York City. From 1881 to 1889 he was manager of the law and collection department of R. G. Dun & Co. in Philadel- phia and Chicago, spending two years in the latter city. Since 1890 he has been successfully engaged in the real estate and insurance business in Newark.
HIe has served as a member of the Board of Education of Chatham, Morris County (where he resides), is a Trustee and Treasurer of the Chatham Presbyterian Church, and is a member of the Philadelphia Shakespearian Society, the University Club of Essex County, the Chatham Fish and Game Protective Association, the New Jersey Historical Society, and the Sons of the American Revolution.
Ile was married, June 23, 1885, to Annie Baird Torrey, and they had two children: Merritt B. Lum, Jr., and Keu- neth Lum. His first wife died June 29, 1892, and on Feb- ruary 14, 1895, he married Katharine Heath Woodruff, by
175
BIOGRAPHICAL
whom he has had two children: Margaret Woodruff Lum and Caroline Woodruff Lum. Only one of Mr. Lum's chil- dren, Merritt B. Lum, Jr., now survives.
BENJAMIN ANTHONY ROBINSON, M.D., of Newark, N. J., physician, was born in Newark on the 3d of June, 1862, his parents being Morton and Ann ( Collins) Robinson. His pedigree in the direct paternal line is as follows: Row- land Robinson (1), married Mary Allen (granddaughter of Governor Henry Bull); Governor William Robinson (2), mar- ried Abigail Gardner; Chris Robinson (3), married Ruhamah Champlin; Chris C. Robinson (4), married Elizabeth An- thony; Thurston Robin- son (5), married Sarah Perry; Morton Robinson (6), married Ann Col- lins; Benjamin Anthony Robinson (7).
lle received his gen- eral education in the Ninth Ward Public School of Newark and the Newark Academy. later taking the course at Bryant & Stratton's Business College. He then entered the house of William R. Foster & Co., of New York City, as bookkeeper, but gave up that employment on account of ill health, BENJAMIN A. ROBINSON, M.D. wont West, and for eleven years was engaged in the cattle business on the plains. Being recalled to the East by the sickness of his father, he presently took up the study of medicine. He has been engaged in the active practice of his profession since the 31st of March, 1892.
Dr. Robinson is a member of the Newark Camera Club,
176
TIIE PASSAIC VALLEY
of the Essex County Medical Association, of Kane Lodge, No. 55, F. and A. M., of Union Chapter, No. 7, R. A. M., and of Kane Council, No. 2, R. and S. M.
He was married, November 29, 1892, to Alice O'Donnell. They have had five children : Benjamin Perry, Dorothy May, John Thurston, Rachel R. (deceased), and George Pearse.
PAUL WILLIAM RODER, a well known lawyer of New- ark, was born in Basel, Switzerland, May 17, 1852, his pa- rents being Charles and Anna ( Guertler) Roder. The fam- ily moved to Luzerne, Switzerland, and thence in 1866 to this country, settling in Newark. In 1868 the father, Charles Roder, died, and the support of a widowed mother, two younger brothers, and a sister fell upon Paul W. Roder, the eldest son. For five years he worked in a factory, strug- gling to take care of the family, and in the mean- time studying hard to fit himself for active life. Having had from early youth a strong desire to enter journalism, he be- came attached in 1873 to the Newarker Post, which soon discontinued pub- lication. In 1874 he was made a member of the staff of the New Jersey Frei Zeitung, then under the management of its founder, the late Benedict Prieth, and in a few years became city editor of that paper and PAUL W. RODER. also a member of the editorial staff of the New York Staats Zeitung, where he remained until 1881. Although Mr. Roder's journalistic work kept him very busy he took up the study of law under the late Judge Caleb
177
BIOGRAPHICAL
S. Titsworth, and at the same time entered the Law Depart- ment of Columbia College, from which he was graduated in 1882. The same year he was appointed Judge of the First Criminal Court of Newark, which position he resigned to become Tax Commissioner, an office which he filled with ability and satisfaction for several years. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in February, 1884, and from the first has enjoyed a large and successful practice. Mr. Roder was a member of the Board of Education of the City of Newark for a period of four years ( 1880 to 1884), representing the old Thirteenth Ward. He was Chairman of the Committee on Evening Schools and the originator of the free evening drawing school, from which thousands of scholars have since graduated. This school is now one of Newark's great- est institutions.
Mr. Roder was married, May 28, 1877, to Marie Antoinette Voigt, and has three children: Anna Antoinette, born March 5, 1878; Paul Garfield, born February 5, 1881; and Walter Lincoln, born January 9, 1890.
WINFIELD SCOTT SIMS, of Newark, a well known in- ventor, was born in New York City, April 6, 1844. He romes of English and Scotch ancestry. His father, Lind- say D. Sims, was Captain of Company 1, Seventh New Jer- soy Volunteers, in the Civil War, having for eleven years previously been in the regular army under General Win- tield Scott. He participated in the Seminole and other frontier wars, and died from the effects of wounds received in the battle of the Wilderness. On the maternal side Mr. Sims's Scotch ancestors were military men of valor under the kings of Scotland back to the ninth century. The fam- ily removed to Newark when the subject of this sketch was a small child.
W. Scott Sims was graduated from the Newark High School in 1861. He served during the Civil War in the Thirty-seventh New Jersey Regiment. Returning home, he turned his attention to the invention of electric apparatus and devised various improvements in electro-magnets. lu 1872 he constructed an electric motor to be used for light
178
THIE PASSAIC VALLEY
work. By means of this motor, weighing forty-five pounds, and a battery of twenty half-gallon Bunsen cells, he was able to propel an open boat sixteen feet long, with six per-
W. SCOTT SIMS.
sons on board, at the rate of four miles an hour. This elec- tric boat was the first practical attempt to move boats by electricity. Since then Mr. Sims has constructed torpedo
179
BIOGRAPHICAL
boats for the United States Government and for experi- mental tests in France and England which have a speed of twenty-two knots an hour and carry five hundred pounds of high explosives.
Previous to this Mr. Sims had served an apprenticeship of two years in the Newark Machine Works and afterward was with the Manhattan Arms Company, then with the L. Wright Machine Works, and subsequently took charge of the mechanical department of the Newark Patent Package Company. During this period his inventive faculty was con- stantly on the alert. He later gave attention to brokerage and real estate, in which he acenmulated considerable prop- erty, but in 1869 he became thoroughly interested in electric- al matters. His first effort was the invention of a practi- cal torpedo that could be propelled by electricity. His ex- periments finally proved successful, and he has to-day the only successful electric dirigible torpedo boat in the world. Ilis torpedo is a sub-marine boat with a cylindrical hull of copper and conical euds, supplied with a screw propellor and rudder. The electrical power is generated by a dyna- mo-electric machine on shore or on shipboard, and by its means the torpedo is propelled, guided, and exploded. Since 1879 the government tests of these boats have been satis- factory, and many of them have been purchased by the gov- ernment. They have a speed varying from ten to twenty miles an hour, and carry charges of dynamite varying from two hundred and fifty to five hundred pounds.
In 1894 Mr. Sims began experiments on dynamite guns. His experience with high explosives and his constant inquiry into matters appertaining to arms kept him constantly on the alert for improvements. Approached by Dana Dudley with the idea of firing high explosives, he carried the ilea through numerous experiments to a successful issue. When the Cuban insurrection started Mr. Sims came in contact with their representatives here. le both sympathized with the Cubans and was their advisor. The first dynamite guns he built were for the Cuban Junta-two portable guus to be carried on horseback, neither piece to weigh more than two hundred and fifty pounds, and to fire projectiles con-
180
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
taining four pounds of explosive gelatine (the highest ex- plosive known) a distance of a mile or a mile and a half, that would destroy everything within a radius of forty feet. These guns, although firing the most deadly explosive known, were constructed on so simple and so safe a plan that any man could fire them. They were used in some thirty engagements, and proved so effective that the Span- iards fled panic-stricken before them. The highly success- ful use of these guns by the Cubans impressed the officials of the United States Government so favorably that the Sims-Dudley Defense Company was entrusted with orders from the Secretary of War and Commander-in-Chief of the Army for the construction of a considerable number of guns and ammunition therefor, which were in due time delivered and were used with great effect in various battles, both in Cuba, Porto Rico, and the Philippines. The havoc wrought by these guns in the siege before Santiago, and the part they contributed to the success of our army, received the unqualified commendation of soldiers and officers of the army as well as the United States War Department.
In 1867 Mr. Sims married Lida Leek, who died in 1888, leaving two surviving children : Ernest L. and Grace L. His second marriage was to Mrs. Josephine, widow of F. W. French. They have one child, Frederika MeHarg Sims. Mr. Sims is a member of Northern Lodge, No. 25, F. and A. M., of Damascus Commandery, No. 5, K. T., of the North End Club, and of the Park Presbyterian Church of Newark, where he resides.
WILLIAM MEEKER was born near Birmingham, War- wickshire, England. He took the oath of fidelity at New Haven, Conn., July 1, 1644, and settled in Elizabethtown, N. J., in 1665. He married Sarah Preston, who came to New Haven in the ship " True Love " in 1635. She was a danghter of William Preston, of New Haven, whose wife presented her husband's will, dated July 9, 1647, and an inven- tory of his estate at the court held at New Haven, September 7, 1647. In the will he calls himself a mem- ber of the Church of New Haven and names six chil-
181
BIOGRAAPIIICAL
dren: a daughter, wife of Joseph Alsop; a son, Edward Preston; a son, Danyell Preston; a son, John Preston; a daughter, Mary Pres- ton; and Sarah, wife of William Meeker. The remainder of his estate in New Haven, in Now England, he gave to his wife. In his will he made this statement:
I have an estate in Okl Eng- land, and for part of my house and lands and other goods given by my father to my elder brother and myself, and left in the hands of two trustees, namely, Mr. William Lawson and Mr. Will - iam Banke, to be kept in trust on our behalf when we should demand it ourselves, heirs, exec- utors, administrators, or assigns, lying in Yorkshire, in a town called Giglesweke in Craven. This lands and goods what there is of it is to be divided into four parts to be equally divided SAMUEL MEEKER. amongst the children I had by my former wife, as Daniell, Edward and JJohn Preston, and my daughters Eliza- beth, Sarah and Mary.
William Mecker and Sarah Preston had issue Joseph, born in 1648; Benjamin, born March 17, 1619; Sarah, born February 7, 1653; May, born October 6, 1656; and JJohn, born September 7, 1666. William Mecker's will was dated December 9, 1690, and he died soon after.
Benjamin, second son of William Mecker, married Eliza- beth, who survived him. His will was recorded in 1705. They had issue William, Benjamin, Jonathan, Daniel, Sam- nel, Thomas, and Joseph.
Benjamin Meeker, second son of Benjamin, made a will which was recorded in 1751. He married Phebe, who survived him, dying in 1755, aged seventy-five. They had issue Benjamin Meeker, Samnel Mocker, Phebe (wife of Nehemiah Ludlan, Esther (wife of Stephen Hinds), and Sarah (wife of Isaac Woodruff).
182
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
Samuel Meeker, second son of Benjamin (2), was born in 1716 and died in 1757, in his forty-first year. He married Charity, and had issue Benjamin Meeker (married Mary Harriman), Matthias Meeker (married Miss Parsons), and Captain Samuel Meeker (married Mary Clarke).
Captain Samuel Meeker lived in Springfield Township, in that part now known as Short Hills, both during and after the Revolutionary War. He commanded a troop of light horse that was recruited in Essex County, largely from Springfield and vicinity. This troop was in constant service during the war, was in both battles of Springfield, and acted as the escort to the scaffold of Morgan, the murderer of Rev. James Caldwell, January 29, 1782. During the years 1777, 1778, and 1779 it was stationed at Rahway at Terrel's Tav- ern, watching the enemy. The troop paraded before Gen- eral Washington while he was stopping at the house of the Rev. M. Van Arsdale at Springfield. Among its members were (mostly from Springfield) Joseph Doty, Ephraim Lit- tell, Thomas Osborne, John Wilcox, Nathan Bedell, John Walker, Jonathan Townley, Benjamin Bedell, Isaac Halsey, x Nathaniel Crane, Samuel Parsons, James Halsey, Daniel Halsey, Nathan Elmer, James Whitehead, Ichebod Clark, and Recompence Stanley.
Captain Samuel and Mary Meeker had issue William Meeker, born August 6, 1762; Samuel Mecker, born July 10, 1763; and Phebe Meeker. Captain Meeker died at Short Hills, N. J., about 1800. His widow, Mary, died in 1824, aged eighty-two years.
Samuel Meeker, second son of Captain Samuel Meeker, was a shipping merchant and banker in Philadelphia. He was twice married, first, to Nancy Briant, of Springfield, who died about a year aferward, and, second, March 7, 1792, to Miss Jane Ilampton, daughter of Jonathan Hampton, of Elizabethtown. He died in 1831, without issue.
William Meeker, son of Captain Samuel Meeker, married Sarah Hays, of Westfield, N. J., March 31, 1782. They had issue James Clarke Meeker, born August 5, 1783, died May 28, 1785; William Meeker, born December 8, 1784, died Sep- tember 7, 1794; Samuel Meeker, born November 13, 1786; James Meeker, born December 6, 1788, died February 5,
183
BIOGRAPHICAL
1792; Henry Meeker, born Jammary 8, 1791; Phebe Merker, born October 30, 1792, married John Woods; William Meeker, born February 28, 1795; and Alleta Meeker, born March 1, 1797, married Randolph Jones.
William Meeker was in the militia during the Revolu- tionary War and participated at the battle of Springfield, where he saw a British soldier in the act of firing the Pres- byterian Church. He shot him on the spot. The editice was afterward destroyed by the English. William Meeker was a farmer, and moved to Morris County, whence he removed some years later to a farm near Rahway, N. J., where he died January 3, 1831, aged sixty-eight years. His widow, Sarah, died Jannary 25, 1842, aged seventy-nine. This Will- iam was the father of Samuel, who was prominent in New- ark's business and religious circles for many years.
Samuel Mecker, last named, was born in 1786, in Spring- field, in the home of his grandfather, Captain Samuel Meeker, whose name he bore. He did not long remain in his native place, but left there very early to reside with his unele of the same name in Philadelphia, by whom he was educated at the school of the Rev. Dr. Robert Finley, of that city. He entered Nassau Ilall at Princeton as a student and remained there about two years. His tastes, however, did not ineline to a professional lite, but to a business ca- reer. Very early in the last century, and just before the War of 1812 broke out with England, he entered into busi- ness in New York. But the war was the cause of great dis- order in business circles, and at its close he was compelled to abandon his chosen career for a time. Ile retired to a farm near Rahway, in Clark Township. The inaction of a farmer's life, however, did not suit his active, enterprising spirit, and as soon as there was a more saitsfactory outlook for business he became a partner with his brother, William, in the manufacture of carriages for the Southern market. The facilities for the transportation of goods were then very limited, and the freightage of these commodities entailed a large expense on the producers. There were no railroads, but there were a few steamboats, the only method of trans- portation for their carriages to the Southern markets. The goods must be carried by trucks from Rahway to Elizabeth-
184
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
town Point, or, as it was then called and known, "the Point," then loaded into the steam vessels, carried by them to New York, then unloaded and put on sailing vessels, and in them taken to some Sonthern ports. All this required time and the outlay of considerable money. The exigencies of such business as that conducted by Mr. Meeker and his brother required the presence of one of them in the South.
Samuel Meeker was the partner selected for that impor- tant post. He established himself at Charleston, S. C., where the firm had a repository for the display of their carriages, and, spending several years in charge of the business, was thus brought into contact with the very best element of Southern society, for it was from that class that customers for so expensive a luxury as coaches generally came. He was there in 1833, in the midst of the nullification excite- ment, when the passions of South Carolina politicians were at fever heat. Mr. Meeker was possessed of too much good sense to be carried away by the ruling folly of the hour. lle had so excellent a judgment that he was able to appre- ciate at its true valne the madness of the men who would rush into rebellion. Then Andrew Jackson was President, and he was too good a patriot, too great a lover of the Union, to be so infatuated by State pride as to believe that any State would be benefitted by secession or treason to the government. His sentiments of disapproval were fully ex- pressed in letters which he wrote to his friends in the North and which are still in existence. The principal nullifiers were among his best customers, but he would suffer no self- ish ends to stand in the way of his allegiance to the repub- lic. Having secured a competency from his Southern busi- ness, he resolved to retire, and in 1830 came to Newark and built the house which he occupied within a few months of his death. Into the erection of his home he carried his usual methodical, strict manner of doing business. He knew every detail of the workmanship, was familiar with every stick of timber which went into the house, and made himself acquainted with every feature and progress of the building as it went along. The house was one of the best ever erected in Newark. It is now occupied by Dr. Edward Ill, the eminent physician and surgeon.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.