The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 41

Author: Robson, Charles, ed; Galaxy Publishing Company, publisher
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy publishing company
Number of Pages: 924

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NIGHT, EDWARD C., President of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, Merchant and Importer of Philadelphia, was born in Gloucester, now Camden, county, New Jersey, December 8th, 1813. He comes of a family intimately associated with the early history of Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Ilis ancestor, Giles Knight, of Gloucestershire, England, came over in the ship " Welcome," with William Penn, sailing from England on September 30th, 1682. He settled in Byberry, and died in 1726; Mary, his wife, died in 1732. Their son, Thomas Knight, then lived in New Jer- sey, on a place belonging to Titian Leeds, the almanac maker. The parents of E. C. Knight, Jonathan and Re- becca Knight, were members of the Society of Friends, to whose tenets he himself still adheres. His father was a farmer and died in 1823. He worked on a farm until 1830, when he obtained a situation in a country store at Kaighn's Point, New Jersey. In that occupation he continued until September, 1832, when he engaged as clerk in the grocery store of Atkinson & Cuthbert, South street wharf, Philadel- phia, on the Delaware. At this period, while quite young, an incident occurred which indicated the character of the future man. He was receiving but four dollars a week, when, engaged in his duties, he observed a man being car- ried down the Delaware upon the ice. He labored to persuade several men, who were standing ncar, to attempt his rescue. Their reply was, " He will be no loss to the community. Let hun go." Offering, out of his own little purse, a dollar apiece to two men, if they would rescue him, they succeeded in saving him from his perilous posi

lost on the prescrver. He reasoned that if a man's life were worth two dollars, it would be well to have that amount always in his pocket for emergencies. In May, 1836, he established himself in the grocery business on Second street, in the same city, giving his mother an in- terest in the concern. The firm was sufficiently prosperous to enable them, in 1844, to appropriate a sum large enough to pay the balance due by the estate of his father, which proved after his death to be deficient about twenty per cent. About this time he became interested in the importing business, acquiring a share in the ownership of the schooner " Baltimore," which was at once placed in the San Domingo trade, making regular trips between Cape Haytien and Philadelphia, freighted principally with coffee. In September, 1846, he removed to the southeast corner of Water and Chestnut streets, and for over thirty years has been engaged, at first alone and then as the principal part- ner of the firm of E. C. Knight & Co., in the wholesale grocery, commission, importing and sugar refining business. In 1849, this house became, and thereafter continued to be, interested to a considerable cxtent in the California trade; it sent out the first steamer that ever plicd on the waters above Sacramento City. The business at present is princi- pally that of sugar-refining, for which purpose the firm oc- cupies two large houses at Bainbridge street wharf on the Delaware, and that of importing molasses and sugar from Cuba, together with teas from China. As affording some idea of the close attention Mr. Knight has always paid to business, it may be mentioned that during thirty-seven years no one but himself has ever signed a note for the firm, and for years he worked sixteen hours per day. During the last thirty years he has embarked in many enterprises, and discharged the duties of many positions outside of his or- dinary business. IIe was President of the Luzerne Coal and Iron Company; was a Director in the Lackawanna & Bloomsburg Railroad Company ; Director of the Southwark Bank in 1840, and for several years thereafter-also the Bank of Commerce and the Corn Exchange Bank, and a member of the Board of Trade; was appointed by the city as one of the Trustees of City Ice Boats, and served for twenty years; also a Director in the Girard Life Insurance and Annuity Trust Company ; and in 1859 he made several inventions in sleeping cars, put them into operation, and subsequently sold his interests in the patents to incorporated companies. He also served as President of the Coastwise Steamship Company, that built in Philadelphia the vessels " John Gibson " and " E. C. Knight." For years he served as a Director in the Pennsylvania, the North Pennsylvania, the Trenton & West Jersey Railroads. In the project for establishing a second line of railway between Philadelphia and New York he took a warm interest, and when cventu- ally brought to a successful issue in the construction of the Delaware & Bound Brook Railroad, which, in connection with the New Jersey Central and North Pennsylvania Rail-

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roads, gave a second continuous and through line between that of a clerk in a store at Centreville, New Jersey. ITis the two great cities, he was chosen President of the new road. integrity of character and high personal qualities won and retained for him the esteem and respect of the community in which he resided, and in 1848 he was elected to the New Jersey Legislature. His services in that body were so well appreciated by his constituents that, in 1849, he was re-elected. In 1853 he engaged in mercantile pursuits on his own account in Centreville, and did a prosperous busi- ness. At the Presidential election of 1856 he was chosen one of the electors for President Buchanan, and in 1859 he was elected Surrogate of Hunterdon county. Up to this time, and until the breaking out of the war of the rebellion, he acted with the Democratic party, and he was elected to the various positions to which he was chosen by a Demo- cratic constituency. When the war broke out, however, he became a Republican, and with that party he has ever since been identified. In the year 1869 he was appointed by President Grant one of the Inspectors of Customs for New York, but resigned the position after holding it for one year. In 1872 he was appointed one of the Common Pleas Judges of Hunterdon county, which position he still holds, and which he fills in a thoroughly able and satisfac- tory manner. He is a master in chancery, and is trustee for a number of estates, as well as a Director of the Hunter- don County National Bank. He is a man of strong religious convictions, and is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He was married in 1845 to Susan A. Cole, daughter of David O. Cole, Esq., of Readington, New Jersey. About the middle of the year 1876, a change in the manage- ment of the New Jersey Central being deemed advisable, Mr. Knight was asked to lend the strength of his name and his great financial and exccutive abilities to the corporation as its President. He consented to do so, and has since that time been laboring faithfully to restore the road to its former prosperity, and with good prospects of success. Up to the close of the year 1876 he had served for some time the Guarantee Fidelity and Trust Company as its President, but the affairs of the New Jersey Central occupied so much of his time and attention that he then resigned the presidency, continuing, however, associated with the direction of this Philadelphia institution in the capacity of Vice- President. He is also a Director of the Union League, the Insurance Company of the State of Pennsylvania, and the Merchant's Fund. He was also Chairman for seven years of a commit- tee of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, to assist in es- tablishing a line of American steamships between Philadel- phia and Europe. Of the company which has grown out of that movement he was first President. This company contracted with Cramp & Sons for four ships of over three thousand tons each. All of them are now in service-the " Pennsylvania," the "Ohio," the " Indiana," and the " Illinois," and have proved first-class vessels, while two more are being built. This enterprise has conferred marked advantages upon Philadelphia, and his efforts in hringing matters to their present satisfactory condition have met with high appreciation at the hands of the mercantile community and of all who are concerned for the material prosperity of the city of Philadelphia. In politics also he has been prominent, acting latterly with the Republican party. In 1856 he was nominated hy the American, Whig and Reform parties for Congress, in the First District of Pennsylvania. He was an elector from the same district on the Presiden- tial ticket when Abraham Lincoln was first elected Presi dent. He was a member of the convention assembled in 1873 for the purpose of revising the Constitution of the State of Pennsylvania, in which his long and varied business experience rendered his advice much sought and his influ- ence potent for good. His name is a synonym for integrity and honor.

AN FLEET, IION. DAVID, Judge, of Fleming- ton, was born in Readington, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, August 13th, 1819, and is a son of William T. Van Fleet, of that place. He is of Dutch descent, his ancestors having come from Holland in the year 1600, and settled in that vi- cinity. He received in his youth such education as the common schools of the neighborhood afforded, and for a time he followed the occupation of school teacher, and then

OORIIEES, J. VRED, Lawyer and Prosecutor of the Pleas, was born at Somerville, New Jersey, August 5th, 1819. His family was an old one of Dutch extraction, several of whose members won distinction by their services in the patriotic cause during the revolutionary war. Nicholas Voorhees, his father, was a gentleman of high standing and sturdy integrity, and a staunch supporter of the Dutch Reformed Church. He married Sarah Dumont, a descendant of a well-known French Huguenot family. The subject of this sketch prepared for college at the Somerville Academy. Advancing rapidly, he was able to enter the junior class of Rutgers College, where he graduated in 1840, with high standing. Having determined upon the study of the law, he entered the office of the late Judge Brown, at Somerville, in 1841, where he remained, a diligent worker, until after his admission to the bar in 1844. He at once entered upon a lucrative practice, and was licensed as counsellor in 1848. He was married in 1858 to Annie R. Borden, of Mount Holly, New Jersey. He lived a life of quiet industry and usefulness until the outbreak of the rebellion, when he at once took a prominent part in the stirring events of 1861, and in the fall of 1862 went to the front with a commission as

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First Lieutenant and Quartermaster of the 30th Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers. Here he participated in all the hard service of camp life, until failing health compelled him to resign. After some time spent in recruiting his energies, he reopened his office in Somerville, where he has since remained. In 1872 he was appointed by Governor Parker Prosecutor of the Pleas for Somerset County, which office he still holds. He is also attorney for the Somerset County Bank and for the Bound Brook & Delaware Rail- road. Mr. Voorhees is a man highly respected, both as a citizen and an official, and for his integrity of character.

EWITT, HON. SILAS WRIGHT, Lawyer and Member of the State Legislature, was born in Warren county, New Jersey, in the year 1846. He prepared for a collegiate course in Blairs- town, New Jersey, and then entered Lafayette College, Pennsylvania, in the year 1865. After a full four years' course he was graduated in the class of 1869. Among his classmates were Rev. Walter Q. Scott, of Phila- delphia, and Messrs. William Patton and R. E. James, of the Pennsylvania bar. Selecting the profession of law for his life career, he commenced his legal studies in the office of J. F. Dumont, Esq., at Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and was admitted to practise in that State in 1873. Two years previously, however, he had been admitted to the bar of Pennsylvania, after a course of study in the office of Messrs. Armstrong and Lynn, at Williamsport, in the same State. His political opinions led him into association with the Democratie party, on whose behalf he has always labored actively and with much effect. In the fall of 1876 he be- came a candidate for election from his district to the State House of Representatives, and after a spirited contest was elected by a considerable majority, although in the previous year the Democratic nominee had heen defeated. This at- tests his popularity in the district, and indeed he is widely respected for his abilities and esteemed for his personal qualities.

county in the Legislature of the State, as did also some of his descendants, who were men of marked intelligence and influence. Passing through the limited course of instruction of the country schools of that period, he acquired a fair degree of elementary education. For some years after leaving school he was employed as an assistant in his father's store, where the town library was kept, and this being placed under his care, gave him the opportunity of indulging in reading of a varied character. Of the advan- tage here afforded him he diligently availed himself, thus gratifying his taste and fostering the habit of continually adding to his store of information by constant and judicious reading, which, even in the press and manifold occupations of his after life, he always preserved. A little before attaining his legal majority he left his native place to begin the battle of life at Salem, New Jersey. A successful career of two years in that place enabled him to establish himself in Philadelphia. To this city he removed in 1823, and uniting with Mr. William L. Abbott and S. C .- Wood, under the firm of Wood, Abbott & Wood, he started in life as a city merchant at what is now No. 309 Market street. With this house, under all its various changes of title, he remained connected to the day of his death. Commencing with but limited means, in competition with established houses of large capital and unlimited credit, who had been accustomed to extend long credits to their customers, with correspondingly large profits, the firm of Wood & Abbott inaugurated a system of selling for cash and at only five per cent. advance on cost, under which, by rapidity of sales and a frequent turning of the capital they possessed, the new house succeeded in equalizing profits with their more powerful competitors. From that time forward the labors and influence of Mr. Wood were felt in almost every undertaking having for its object the advancement of the material prosperity of Philadelphia. He was the first to introduce the bleaching and dyeing of cotton goods on a large scale for this market, in competition with the established and powerful corporations of New England. Even while carrying on this extensive business he found time to embark in other enterprises. The advance of the town of Millville, in New Jersey, is due to his far- sighted sagacity ; about the year 1851 he became actively interested in that place, and establishing there a large cotton factory, bleaching and dye works, as also extensive iron works, he gradually built up the town to a manufactur- ing depot of importance. The first to appreciate the fact that southern New Jersey would bear the extension of rail- road improvement, he built the Millville & Glassboro' Rail- road, and afterwards exerted a powerful influence in the building of the Cape May road, with the various branches that contribute to the usefulness of that line and the conve- nience of its passengers and freight patrons. About IS51 he also started the manufacture of cast-iron gas and water pipe, under the firm of R. D. Wood & Co., whose products

OOD, RICHARD D., Merchant and Manufac- turer (cotton and iron), was born in Greenwich, Cumberland county, New Jersey, March 29th, 1799. ITis ancestors, who came from Glouces- tershire, England, were among the original settlers of Philadelphia ; one of them, Richard Wood, arriving in this country, with some of the earliest Quaker emigrants, in the latter part of the seventeenth century, here located, while his grandson, also named Richard, moved to Cumberland county, New Jersey, of which he became one of the Judges and a Justice of the Peace in the reign of George II. He also represented his ; have entered a large proportion of the cities of the Union.

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He was the owner of the original tract upon which is built | not only to the community in which he lived, but to the the town of Vineland, New Jersey, and it is owing to the entire country ; and benefits of his enterprise and examples will be strong in their influence for good in generations yet to come. generous and liberal terms with which he treated the founder of that thriving place, that the project was carried out. About 1867 he erected large factories at May's Land- ing, New Jersey, and also constructed a mammoth dam on the Maurice river at Millville. He was, also, at critical IXON, JAMES HARRIS, A. B. and A. M., Law- yer, of Millville, was born in Cedarville, Cumber- land county, New Jersey, January 30th, 1836. His father was George W. Nixon, who followed the occupation of a farmer in the same county, of which also his mother, Martha Harris, was a na- tive. He obtained his preparatory educational training at Harmony Academy, Bridgeton, which is now known as West Jersey Academy. Having fitted himself for a univer- sity course, he entered Princeton College in January, 1855, and was graduated in June, 1858, with the degree of A. B. In due course he received the degree of A. M. in 1861. After graduation he engaged in teaching school for three years, making an engagement at the Lawrenceville High School. Having a taste for the legal profession, he began to study law with the Hon. J. T. Nixon, then of Bridgeton, but now United States District Judge, and residing at Tren- ton. Having complied with all requirements he was ad- mitted as an attorney in November, 1863, and as counsellor three years subsequently. In the month after admission as attorney he located at Millville, and commenced the prac- tice of his profession, which he has continued to prosecute at the same place ever since, with a steadily increasing suc- cess. His affiliations have always been with the Republi- can party, and in the fall of 1864 he was elected to the popular branch of the Legislature on the ticket of that or- ganization. He served in the House for four years, during the last two of which he acted as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In 1868 he was elected to the Senate, where he served one term of three years. Since that time he has devoted himself to the prosecution of his profession, only permitting the use of his name in politics during the present year, when he was one of the Presidential electors upon the Republican ticket. He has given especial attention to the criminal law, and occupied considerable space in the public eye during the celebrated Landis trial, on which occasion he was of counsel for the defendant. periods in their history, a powerful supporter, at one time, of the Schuylkill Navigation Company, promoting confi- dence in it by liheral subscriptions to its stock and loans when they were looked upon with suspicion and doubt ; and, at another time, of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, when it was of the most critical importance that its then President (Samuel V. Merrick) should be seconded, as he was, in his efforts to carry forward to completion that great undertaking, by men in its directorship of just such per- sonal influence, fertility of resource and force of character as Mr. Wood. In fact, he was one of the projectors of this great railroad, as well as one of the reorganizers and largest owners of the Cambria Iron Works, at Johnstown, Pennsylvania. He was long a Director of the Philadelphia Bank; was one of the founders of the Union Benevolent Association of Philadelphia, and held directorships in numerous other railroads, corporations, and public institu- tions. Mr. Wood's talent and goodness of heart alike were proved by his conspicuous ability in the power of moulding persons who at different times joined his enter- prises as assistants. He rarely separated from those men, but developed and applied their powers until they became useful members of his different firms, or sometimes left him, upon the completion of their business education, for the creation of individual fortunes. From the lahoring man to the possessor of business talent, he perceived the qualification of every applicant, and constituted himself the life-long friend of all who were suited to aid him; so powerful was his influence and disposition to promote the advancement of enterprising and deserving young men, that possibly a hundred of Philadelphia's wealthy and honored citizens owe their first success in business to a partnership in one of the various enterprises inaugurated and prosecuted by Mr. Wood. His agreeahle relations in society depended largely upon his even and pleasant tem- per, conversational powers, ready and well-stored memory, and natural urbanity. Educated with the Society of Friends, of which he was a life-long though not active member, he ever displayed the sobriety and justice of apprehension common to that sect, Of his religious character, it may be said that he felt far more than he showed, having a AGONER, IIENRY G., M. D., Physician and Surgeon, of Somerville, was born in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, August 16th, 1829, his father being William Wagoner, a farmer and manufacturer in that county. In his youth he received a classical education, studying for the dislike to formality and bigotry quite equal to his love for true heartfelt Christianity. He died April Ist, 1869. Out of his fortune of several millions, he devised numerous bequests to charitable objects and public institutions, among which were $5000 to Haverford College, $500 to the Union Benevolent Association of Philadelphia, and $500 most part under private tutors. Having decided to enter the medical profession, he entered upon a preparatory to the Shelter for Colored Orphans. He was a benefactor

HON. CLORODA A LABY

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course of reading with Dr. John Manners, of Clinton, States. Notwithstanding this, the obligations of the firm New Jersey, and graduated from the University of Pennsyl- vania in the spring of 1853. After his graduation he went to Stanton, New Jersey, where he entered upon the practice of his profession. He remained there in active and success- ful practice until 1859, when he removed to Somerville, New Jersey, where he has since resided. His skill as a practitioner and his estimable personal qualities rendered lum exceedingly popular, and his patronage extended largely and rapidly, embracing Somerville and a large por- tion of the surrounding territory. The strain produced by his large practice was too severe for his physical strength, and in 1869 he found it necessary to obtain the assistance of a partner. He therefore associated with himself Dr. J. S. Knox, now of Chicago, and so far as possible withdrew from active practice, in the endeavor to rceruit his wasted strength. The partnership endured until 1873, when, by the retirement of Dr. Knox, he again assumed the entire labor of his large practice. He is a member of the State and County Medieal Societies, and ranks among thie fore. most of his profession in his part of.the State. Withal he is a courteous and accomplished gentleman, and is esteemed for his personal and social qualities no less than for his great professional learning and skill. He is a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity, has been Master of Solo- mon's Lodge and High Priest of Keystone Chapter, which he was instrumental in organizing. He was married in 1854 to the daughter of Philip R. Dakin, M. D., of Wil- mington, Ohio. She died July, 1876.

ZALSEY, HON. GEORGE A., ex-Member of Con- gress, of Newark, was born in Springfield, Union county, New Jersey, December 7th, 1827. During a period extending baek to 1694, his ancestors had resided in that neighborhood. They were farmers, and in his youth he himself was accustomed to the labors of the farm. His parents, however, removed with him to Newark, and a new career opened before him. He went as an apprentice into the establishment of Messrs. Halsey & Tucker, manufacturers of patent leather, and mastered all the details of that husiness. Subsequently, an opportu- nity presented itself to enter into the wholesale clothing busi . ness in connection with Southern firms, and the opportunity was promptly accepted. He specdily developed into a pru- dent, enterprising and successful business man, and the qualities which have since gained him reputation and hon- ors were brought into strong relief. ITis energy found new avenues of endcavor, and he became connected with various banking and insurance institutions of Newark. When the war of the rebellion broke out in 1861 the firm of which he was the head suffered crushing reverses, its property being all swept away by the sccession of the Southern

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 41

Author: Robson, Charles, ed; Galaxy Publishing Company, publisher Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy publishing company Number of Pages: 924

Author: Robson, Charles, ed; Galaxy Publishing Company, publisher
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy publishing company
Number of Pages: 924