USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Passaic > The Passaic valley, New Jersey, in three centuries.. Vol. 2 > Part 28
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 April, 1899, dissolving other associations, he, with his brother, John S. Seymour, of Washington and New York, and Eugene M. Harmon, of Cincinnati and New York, organ- ized the law firm of Seymour, Seymour & Harmon, with offices at 40 Wall Street, New York City. John S. Sey- mour's associates brought to the new firm an extended ex- perience in, and a comprehensive knowledge of, the law ap- plicable to patent and trade-mark cases, as well as the tech- nical and scientific skill and training required in its suc- cessful practice. The former was United States Commis- sioner of Patents under the second Cleveland administra- tion, and the latter was principal examiner of patents dur- ing the same term.
Mr. Seymour married Julia C Dikeman, only daughter of the late Nathan Dikeman, of Waterbury, Conn., and has three children : Helen, Margaret, and Frederick Seymour, Jr.
Mr. Seymour lives at No. 55 Prospect Street, Brick Church, in East Orange, N. J., and is the patron of litera- ture and rational athleticism in the town. He is a member of the Essex County Country Club of Orange, the Civics Club and the Democratic Club of East Orange, and the Lawyers' Club of New York. He is a member of Hope Lodge, F. and A. M., of Orange Chapter, R. A. M., of Da- mascus Commandery, Knights Templar, and of the bodies of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite, and also of Grace Church, Orange. At his home he organized the Biblical
373
BIOGRAPHICAL
Club, whose object has been to maintain a just balance be- tween the older orthodoxy and the later higher criticism of the Bible. In connection with the Civics Club he has helped to maintain and render into practice the best tra- ditions of American public life. He has been an active advocate of clean and patriotic politics, of rational and progressive humanity, and of the maintenance of repre- sentative institutions and self government according to the teachings of the founders of the republic. In politics he has been a Democrat and an advocate of tariff reform and of the gold standard of value.
JOHN BURNETT WOOD, a prominent citizen of Newark, was born in New Providence, N. J., on the 9th of August, 1860. He received a good publie school education, and sub- sequently became a teacher, teaching for two years at Millington, N. J., and three years at Stony Hill, Union Coun- ty. He then became a salesman for his broth- er, who was engaged in 1 the diamond business in Maiden Lane, New York City, and is now a mem- ber of the firm.
As a resident of New- ark, N. J., Mr. Wood has taken a deep inter- est in public affairs and is a prominent member of several lodges and other organizations, in- cluding the Roseville JOHN B. WOOD. Athletic Association, of which he is the President. In the spring of 1898 he was nominated and elected Alderman of the Eleventh Ward of Newark, and was re-elected in 1900.
374
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
JOHN W. LUSHEAR, President of the North Ward Na- tional Bank of Newark, was born in Millburn, N. J., on the 22d of May, 1861. He attended the public schools of his native town and a business college in Newark, and on June 5, 1878, entered the North Ward National Bank as junior clerk. Through his earnestness, fidelity, and integrity he was rapidly promoted to positions of executive responsibil- ity and trust, being elected Cashier of the institution Janu- ary 4, 1886, and a Di- rector October 6, 1892. On the Sth of February, 1897, he was unanimous- ly elected President, which position he still holds. In the manage- ment of the bank's af- fairs he has displayed great executive ability, a broad and accurate knowledge of finance, and a thorough grasp of the needs of the commu- nity. From the first he has maintained the con- fidence as well as the respect of all who know him.
JOHN W. LUSHEAR.
He is a Trustee of the Home for the Friendless of Newark, a member of the Newark Board of Trade, and a member of the North End, Forest Hill Field, and Northern Republican Clubs of Newark.
Mr. Lushear was married, October 22, 1884, to Eva M. Shaw, and has three children living.
BENJAMIN GARRISON DEMAREST, of Newark, was born in Passaic, N. J., June 26, 1867. He is a direct de- scendant of Jean des Marest (1), a prominent citizen and resident of Beauchamp in the Province of Picardy, France,
375
BIOGRAPHICAL
where Jean's son, David des Marest (2), was born about 1620. Upon reaching manhood David espoused the Protes- tant faith and fled to Holland to escape persecution, locat- ing at Middleburgh on the Island of Walcheron in Zealand. Here, on July 24, 1643, David married Maria, daughter of Francois Sommer, of Nieppe, a town of leinault. The couple resided at Mid- dleburgh until 1651, when they removed to Manheim on the River Rhine, in the lower Palatine, then under the protection of the Elector Charles Lewis. At Manheim, the Prot- estants were already being threatened by the Catholic princes, and David des Marest, with others of a like religious faith, determined to go BENJAMIN G. DEMAREST. to America for safety. Accordingly, early in the spring of 1663, they journeyed down the Rhine to Amsterdam, where they embarked for New Amsterdam on the ship " Spotted Cow," reaching the latter port on April 16, 1663. Des Marest first went with his wife and three sons to Staten Island, where they joined the Huguenot settlement, recently started. The following year he was elected to represent the settlement in the Provincial Assembly. The Indians proving troublesome, Des Marest bought and located on lands at New Harlem, then a name applied to the upper end of Manhattan Island. Here he prospered, acquired several town lots, and became promi- nent in town affairs. In 1677, a tax having been levied on him for the support of the Dutch Church at Harlem, he re- fused to pay it, claiming immunity therefrom because be was neither an attendant nor a communicant of the Dutch
376
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
Church. The " powers that be " sued him for the tax, pro- enred judgment, and proceeded by execution and levy to col- lect it. This angered Des Marest and he determined to leave Harlem. On the Sth of June, 1677, he purchased from the Hackensack and Tappan Indians a large tract (esti- mated at about 6,000 acres) of land on the east bank of the Hackensack River, extending northward from New Bridge. By subsequent purchase he added an extensive tract west of the Hackensack, on which he built two mills. He built his family residence at what is now Old Bridge and erected a French Church on the east side of the river, a little west of the Schraalenburgh road. The lands he purchased were claimed by several white persons and by the Indians. Some of these claims were not extinguished until after his death. He died in New York City in 1693, leaving a will by which he devised all his lands to his two surviving sons, John and Samuel, and to his very numerous grandchildren.
David des Marest, Jr. (3), the second son of the emi- grant, died in 1691, before the decease of his father. At the time of his death he was residing east of the Hackensack on part of his father's original patent near Schraalenburgh. IIe was born at Manheim in the lower Palatinate in 1652, and married, April 4, 1675, Rachel, daughter of Pierre Cres- son, a French refugee. .His occupation was that of a farmer. He had twelve children : David, Peter, Susanna, Rachel, Jacobus D., Samuel, Mary, Daniel, Benjamin, Ja- comina, Lea, and Lydia.
Daniel des Marest (4) married, in 1707, Rebecca de Groot, and had a son, Daniel (5), who married Cornelia Lydekker in 1753. Garret (6), son of Daniel (5), married Angeniete Durie and had a son, Daniel (7), who married Elizabeth Ben- son, and had a son John (S). The latter married Anne Van Buskirk and had a son Daniel (9), who married Mary C. Garrison. They were the parents of Benjamin Garrison Demarest (10), the subject of this sketch.
Benjamin G. Demarest was educated in the high school of his native city and subsequently entered the Columbia Col- lege Law School, New York City, from which he was grad- uated and received the degree of LL.B. in 18SS. The New York University Law School conferred upon him the de-
377
BIOGRAPHICAL
gree of LL.M. He read law with Hon. William F. Gaston, of Passaic, and Hon. Abner C. Thomas, of New York City, and was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1888 and to the New York bar in 1890. From 1893 to 1899 he held the posi- tion of title officer of the Fidelity Title and Deposit Com- pany, of Newark. Since that time he has practiced law in the City of Newark, where he resides. He is highly re- spected by the entire community.
LOUIS SCHLESINGER, well known as a successful real estate dealer, agent, and broker, has been a lifelong resident of Newark, where he was born December 16, 1865, his parents being Alexander and Fanny Schlesinger. After graduating from the Morton Street Public School he at- tended the Newark High School, and then began his business career. He engaged in the real es- tate business, and for some time was a part- ner of ex-Sheriff William 11. Brown under the firm name of Brown & Schles- inger, which partnership terminated Jaunary 1, 1900.
He is a representative citizen, publie spirited, progressive, and enter- prising, possesses a broad knowledge of real estate values, and ofien is called upon by insti- lutions and estates to LOUIS SCHLESINGER. appraise realty holdings. In the conduct of a large and growing business he has been very successful. The advancement of the best interests of his native city has always commanded his attention and received his loyal support.
378
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
GEORGE ROWLAND HOWE, manufacturer, of New- ark, N. J., is of English ancestry of the very best blood. The first immigrant of the name to this country from England was John How. He was the son of John How, Esq., of Hodenhull, Warwickshire, and was connected with Lord Charles How, Earl of Lancaster, in the reign of Charles I. The ancestor in this country, John How, came first to Water- town, Mass., where he remained for a short time, and then re- moved, in 1639, to Sud- bury in the same colony. He there took the free- man's oath in 1640. He was the first white man to settle in Marlbor- ough, Mass., where he was found in 1657, and died there in 1687. While living at Sud- bury, in 1642, he was ap- pointed Selectman and Marshal for the town. His son, Thomas How, was born probably at Sudbury, in 1656. He represented Marlbor-
GEORGE R. HOWE.
ough in the General Court, was Colonel in the militia, and active in the early Indian wars.
The family name in England had been spelled How, and that mode of orthography was retained in this country un- til it was changed by Bezaleel Howe, son of Thomas, who added a final e to the name, and that manner of writing it lias since been adopted by all the members of the race. This Bezaleel was born before the Revolutionary War, in time, however, to enlist in the New Hampshire line in the Con- tinental Army just before the battle of Bunker Hill. He served throughout the entire war and remained in the regu- lar army for fourteen years after peace was declared. He served for six years under General Anthony Wayne and re-
379
BIOGRAPHICAL
tired with the rank of Major. During the Revolution he served in Washington's bodyguard as auxiliary Lieutenant, and was a member of the commander-in-chief's military fam- ily during nearly the whole of the last year of the war, and as Captain, and at the close of the contest commanded the escort which took General Washington's papers and per- sonal effects to Mount Vernon. The original letter of in- structions for the march has been deposited among the archives of the New Jersey Historical Society at Newark.
John Moffat Howe, the father of George R. and son of Bezaleel, of Revolutionary times, was a physician and a clergyman. He was a resident of the City of Passaic, Pas- saie County, N. J., and one of the most distinguished citi- zens of that thriving town, being largely and most honor- ably identified with its material affairs, more particularly with its educational interests. Ile was an inhabitant of that town at a time when wise men were needed to control the sentiment of the community and give it tone and char- acter. This he did in an eminent degree, and by his ex- ample and efforts aided materially in making the town what it now is. The bent of his mind and the characteristics of his temperament led him to take a deep interest in the de- velopment of the appliances adopted for the education of the youth of the city, and to his exertions is largely due the present admirable system of public instruction in Passaic. His qualifications in this direction were recognized by the Governor of the State, who appointed him one of the mem- bers of the State Board of Education, which position he held for many years. Dr. Howe was the first Railroad Com- missioner from Passaic.
On his mother's side George R. Howe is descended from two prominent New England families, Barnard and Jen- kins. Through one of them he traces his genealogy to Peter Jenkins, who settled at Nantneket as early as 1620, and it is believed that one of his maternal ancestors came over in the " Mayflower."
George Rowland Howe was born October 21, 1847, in New York City. He was educated at private schools and at the Passaic Academy. After receiving a thorough preparation he entered the New York University as a special course
380
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
student, but did not graduate. Leaving college in 1866, he entered the employ of Carter, Hale & Co., a very large manu- facturing establishment of jewelry in Newark. For ten years he remained in their employ, and so conducted himself as to win the entire confidence of his employers. In 1876 he was invited to become a member of the firm, which has since been conducted under the title of Carter, Hastings & Howe. This firm is one of the strongest and most reliable in the country, and Mr. Howe, whose position in the estab- lishment for many years has been that of manager of the factory, has aided largely in accomplishing this result.
Mr. Howe is faithful to the political party whose princi- ples he approves, but is by no means servile in obedience to its mandates. He is an independent thinker; and while he is an enthusiastic supporter of the Republican party he serves it because he is a true patriot and believes that through its success the best good for his country will be obtained. He has never filled any political office, has never been ambitious for such honors. His tastes and inclinations do not lead him into the arena as a candidate. He has, how- ever, been a member for five years of the Board of Educa- tion of East Orange, where he resides. He is now a mem- ber and has been President of the Newark Young Men's Christian Association, a member and Director of the New Jersey Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and a member of the New Jersey Historical Society, of the Wash- ington Headquarters Association of Morristown, of the Es- sex Club of Newark, of the Essex County Country Club, of the New Jersey Society of Founders and Patriots of Amer- ica, of the New England Society of the Oranges, and of the Republican Club of East Orange.
Mr. Howe has a strong religious element pervading his whole being. It is, however, an intelligent belief, for lie will not permit the conclusions of others on any important matter to control his action, and he exercises a sound judg- ment, a discriminating mind and knowledge, matured by study and reading, in determining for himself the right action to be pursued. This religious faith led him many years ago to accept Christianity as the proper religion for man to adopt. Following in this matter the same rule
381
BIOGRAPHICAL
adopted by him in all other matters, he long since, after uniting himself with Christian churches wherever he has re- sided, threw the whole strength of his forceful nature into the support of the organizations of which he became a member. He is now a member and Ruling Elder of the First Presbyterian Church of East Orange. His support has always been given to the right, and in whatever posi- tion he may have been placed he has influenced all who have come within the circle of his control. The many employees of the large establishment under his management have felt his masterful desire to aid them in attaining those acquire- ments which lead to high and noble lives.
Mr. Howe, on June 11, 1879, was married at Homer, N. Y., to Louisa Anna, youngest daughter of Paris Barber and Jane Eno, his wife. Two children have been born from this marriage : Herbert Barber Howe and Ruth Eno Howe.
JOSEPH C. SHARWELL has always resided in Newark, N. J., where he was born December 18, 1862, his parents be- ing William G. Sharwell and Mary A. Townroe. He ob- tained his education in the Newark public schools, and in 1889 engaged in the milk business in his native city. In 1896 he also established himself in the grocery trade, and successfully continued both enterprises nniil May, 1900.
On the 12th of June, 1900, Mr. Sharwell was appointed Superintendent of the Alms Honse at Newark, which posi- tion he still holds, discharging its dniies with acknowledged ability and satisfaction. He served five years in the Fifth Regiment, N. G. N. J., and was also a member of the Twenty- third Regiment, N. G. N. Y., of Brooklyn, receiving an hon- orable discharge from both organizations. He is a member of the Indian Club, of the Eleventh Ward Republican Chub, of Trinity Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Roseville, and of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Mr. Sharwell is a popular citizen, a man of great energy, and respected and esteemed by all who know him. He mar- ried Mary A., daughter of Bernard Connelly, and has had five children : William G., Mabel, Leon, Gertrude, and Weldon.
382
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
WILLIAM JEROME DAVIS, of Harrison, Hudson County, has not only achieved distinction as a lawyer, but stands among the prominent men of New Jersey. His father, Hiram W. Davis, was a large and successful pro- moter of railroads and real estate, and a descendant of an cestors who emigrated from Wales. His mother, Emma L. Davis, was descended from Captain William Sanford, who came from England, or New Barbadoes, in 1668. The home- stead, a portion of which Mr. Davis now occupies, was a part of a traet purchased from the Proprietors of the Province of East Jersey by Captain William Sanford, July 4, 1668.
Mr. Davis was born in Harrison, N. J., November 9, 1858, and was edneated at Hackettstown Seminary and Yale Col- lege. Upon graduating from the latter institution he en- tered the law office of Hon. William Brinkerhoff as a stu- dent, and was admitted to the bar of New Jersey in June, 1884. He has practiced in Harrison continuously since. At the present time he is a director in connection with sev- eral of the trolley lines of Essex and Indson Counties, and is connsel for a number of street railroad and manufactur- ing corporations. Mr. Davis has served as President of the Martin Act Commissioners of the Town of Harrison and is a member of the Sinking Fund Commissioners. He has always taken great interest in local and State politics, and has attended the last six Republican National Conventions. During the National campaigns he has been at the head of the organization in West Hudson County. He is a Director of the General Electric Company, the Consolidated Traction Company, and the East Newark Gas Company, and is coun- sel for the Harrison and Kearny Building and Loan Asso- ciation. He is a member of the Union League, the Harrison and Kearny Campaign Clubs, and the Essex Rangers.
JOSEPH ALBERT CORWIN, M.D., for many years one of the leading physicians in Essex County, was born in Sparta, Sussex County, N. J., May 17, 1810. He was the son of William Corwin, of Chester, N. J., and Martha Vance, and a direct descendant of Matthias Corwin, one of the first settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England.
383
BIOGRAPHICAL
The family trace their ancestry back to King Matthias Cor- vinus, of Hungary, in the fifteenth century.
Dr. Corwin took lectures in medicine and was graduated from the Vale Medical School in 1835, and ho- gan the practice of his profession in Washing- ton, N. J., where he re- mained two years. In 1837 he moved to Belle- ville, Essex County, and continued there in ardu- ons practice until 1849, when he was obliged to give up owing to ill health. After a good rest, however, he re- sumed active practice, in 1850, in Newark, hav- ing removed there from Belleville. From this time until 1890, when he retired, he had a large JOSEPH A. CORWIN, M.D. and successful business. He continued to practice to some extent until his death in 1893. Dr. Corwin's professional career covered a period of fifty-five years, wholly within his native State and chiefly in Newark and vicinity, and during that period he enjoyed the entire confidence of the community. A man of broad intellectual attainments, he exercised an important in- finence among his hosts of friends and acquaintances, and always bore an untarnished reputation. He was one of the most public spirited, patriotic, and enterprising citizens of Essex County, and as a physician was universally honored and esteemed. Brought up under Presbyterian influence, he held early in life membership in that denomination, but between 1840 and 1850 became interested in and devoted to the Protestant Episcopal Church, of which he became a leading member, serving in official positions for many years. He was for a long time a Vestryman and Warden of Christ
384
THE PASSAIC VALLEY
Church, Newark. No physician of his day was endeared to a more devoted circle of clients.
Dr. Corwin was first married, in 1837, to a Miss Kinney, of Lodi, opposite Belleville, N. J., who died in 1851, leaving four children : Francis N. W., born in 1840; William A., born in 1844; Charles F., born in 1846; and Mary G., born in 1850, who died in early life. In 1856 he married, second, Emma Whybrew Baldwin, of Newark, by whom he had four children : Theodore Wellington, whose sketch follows; Clif- ford, born in 1859, who died young; Robert Lowell, born in 1869; and Joseph Wilmer, born in 1871. Mrs. Emma W. (Baldwin) Corwin was the daughter of Samuel A. and Leti- tia D. (Ward) Baldwin, of Newark, and a granddaughter of A. K. Ward and Abby Alling. One of her ancestors, Lieutenant John Alling, of Newark, was a minuteman dur- ing the Revolutionary War and figured conspicuously as a sharpshooter at the time the British pillaged that city.
THEODORE WELLINGTON CORWIN, M.D., of Newark, eldest son of the late Dr. Joseph Albert Corwin and Emma Whybrew Baldwin, was born in that city on the 1st of June, 1857. He was educated mainly in the private classical school of James Shier, B.A., of Newark, and studied medi- cine under his father. In 1876 he entered the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York ( the Medical Depart- ment of Columbia College), graduating from that institu- tion February 28, 1879, and receiving a special diploma for general proficiency. He was admitted to competition for three prizes and won the third. On April 1, 1879, he was appointed interne at the Charity Hospital, of New York City. where he served until the Ist of October, 1880, when he received its diploma. In October, ISSO, he was appointed house physician of St. Barnabas Hospital, Newark, and in 1887 visiting physician, which position he still holds. In 1886 he became attached to the clinic in St. Michael's Hos- pital, Newark, as assistant in the department of skin dis- eases, where he remained until 1889. In the latter year he established a clinic for diseases of the throat and nose, which has since become a prominent feature of the hospital
385
BIOGRAPHICAL
work. He has been attending physician at the Home for Aged Women since 1889.
He was admitted to the Essex District Medical Society shortly after his return from New York City, and since 1893 has twice been its re- porter. He was received successively into the Es- sex Medical Union, the Newark Medical Associ- ation, the Society for the Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men of New Jersey, the Practitioners' Club, the Newark Medical and Surgical Society, and the New Jersey Acad- emy of Medicine. He is also a member of the New Jersey State Med- ical Association, the American Medical Asso- ciation, the American Laryngological, Rhino- THEODORE W. CORWIN, M.D. logical, and Otological Society, the New York Academy of Medicine, the North End, University, Wednesday (literary), and Northern Republican Clubs, and other societies and institutions. Since 1884 he has been examining physician to the Knights of Honor, and since 1893 to the Knights and Ladies of Honor. In 1895 he was chosen a Vestryman at St. James's Episcopal Church, Newark.
Dr. Corwin is one of the leading physicians in Essex Conn- ty, and as a specialist of ability in the treatment of dis- cases of the throat and nose stands among the foremost in the State. He has been eminently successful. As a citizen he is popular, enterprising, and highly respected.
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.