The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 51

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220

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THE PRESS.

held in Philadelphia under the auspices of the German-American Bi-Centennial Exec- utive Committee. Since 1884 the paper has been the maiu instrument to build up a Ger- man settlement in the so-called Liberty Park, in the Eighth Ward of Camden. The paper is Independent-Democratic in politics.

ALEXANDER SCHLESINGER was born at Breslau, Germany, in 1853 ; was educated in schools of his native city, and studied politi- cal economy in the University of Berlin. He was next employed as a clerk in Paris, and was also a newspaper correspondent. He then returned to Breslau, where he was a reporter on the Wahrheit, and afterward editor on the daily Freie Presse of Magde- burg. In 1878 he came to America and be- came a correspondent of a New York Ger- man newspaper, and in 1879 came to Phila- delphia as the editor of the Tageblatt of that city.

The NEW JERSEY COAST PILOT was first issued in 1882, T. F. Rose as editor and manager. It is published weekly. It is de- voted to the development of the coast interest ; its circulation is confined principally to its patrons along the coast of New Jersey. Its present editor and proprietor is G. W. Marshall.

The METHODIST HERALD, published in the interest of the Methodist Episcopal Church in New Jersey, was established Jan- uary 1, 1886, by the present editor and publisher, Rev. Robert J. Andrews. It issues monthly at fifty cents a year, and is a folio, twenty by twenty-four inches, six columns to the page.

Gloucester has had two newspapers,-the Gloucester City Reporter and the Gloucester City Weekly Tribune. There have been others published elsewhere which sought a circula- tion in Gloucester, but their stay was short. The Reporter was published by a company, of which James P. Michellon, Frederick P. Pfeiffer and James E. Hayes were the principal stockholders.`The paper was pub-

lished weekly, and the first number was issued November 15, 1874. The office was over the bank building at the corner of Monmouth and King Streets, afterwards re- moved to King Street, above Hudson, and in 1885 to Camden. The Reporter at one time exercised considerable influence, and its views on the questions of the day were quoted and discussed throughout the State. In 1885 it was purchased by Sickler & Rose, of the New Jersey Coast Pilot, and by them sold to James M. Fitzgerald, of the Camden Even- ing Telegram; from that office it is now pub- lished. The editors and managers, while it was owned by the Printing and Publishing Company, were Professor William Burns, John T. Brautigam, Thomas R. Hamilton, John H. McMurray, Benjamin M. Braker and Frederick H. Antrim.

The WEEKLY TRIBUNE, of Gloucester, was published by Thos. R. Hamilton and John H. McMurray. The first number was issued in April, 1882. On the 1st of January, 1883, they sold out to A. Aden Powell, who pub- lished it until May, 1884, when it was united with the Reporter.

William Taylor started a paper in Had- donfield and continued it for a year or more. Charles Whitecar also published a paper for a time in that interesting town.

SOUTH JERSEY NEWS, of Haddonfield, first saw light on February 2, 1882. Its original name was The Directory, and was founded by its present owner, H. D. Speak- man, who was an invalid; yet possessing plenty of enterprise, presented to the people of his town a little seven and three-fourths by eleven-inch sheet, three columns to a page and two pages. He printed and gratuitously distributed one thousand copies per week, thus establishing a good circulation. The proprietor kept on increasing the size, and, in a few months, commenced a subscription price of fifty cents per year. This was cheei- fully responded to by the people and the name was altered to the present one. The

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

1763 and 1826, was published in book-form during the last-mentioned year, in an octavo volume of one hundred and seventy-two pages. It is a very readable book, is well written and illustrates that he was an earnest and faithful worker to advance the truth of the Gospel and the interest of his religions society.

He died near Camden on the 13th day of October, 1826, in the seventieth year of his age, having been a minister over forty years. His " Journal " was published under the auspi - ces of Haddonfield Monthly Meeting, which paid a glowing tribute to his memory.

DR. ISAAC S. MULFORD, of Camden (a biography of whom will be found in the medical chapter of this work), was a lec- turer on medical and scientific subjects, and was the anthor of a number of arti- cles which appeared in medical journals. In 1848 he published a work of five hun- dred pages, entitled a " Civil and Political History of New Jersey." It is written in elegant English, and is recognized as a work of historic merit.

ISAAC MICKLE, whose biography will be found on page 221, obtained a liberal educa- tion, with a view to the practice of the law, and was granted an attorney's license in 1845. His tastes, however, were more for literature and antiquarian research, and in the course of his short life collected much valuable material in that direction. He became editor of the Camden Democrat and managed that paper with ability for several years. He was author of the " Reminiscences of Old Gloucester," in which work his industry and good judgment are manifest, saving from loss many facts and incidents relating to the first setttlements along the Delaware River.

DR. L. F. FISLER, whose biography will be found in the medical chapter of this work, in 1858 wrote and published a local history of Camden, a carefully-prepared little vol- ume of sixty-two pages, containing much interesting information.

JOHN CLEMENT, who, since 1864, has been lay judge of the Court of Errors and Ap- peals, has turned much of his time to anti- quarian literature and the examination of original documents. This line of study and investigation led him to prepare a very val- uable book, entitled " The First Settlers of Newton," containing four hundred and forty- two pages, published in 1877. Judge Clem- ent later wrote and published the “Re- miniscences of Old Gloucester County in the Revolution" and "The West New Jersey Society," and has contributed numerous ar- ticles on historical subjects to the current magazines and the local newspapers.

WALT WHITMAN was born at West Hills, Huntington, Suffolk County, State of New York, May 31, 1819 ; father, a farmer and carpenter, descended from early English immigration ; mother's maiden-name, Van Velsor, of Holland-Dutch stock ; was brought up in Brooklyn and New York Cities and went to the public schools; as a young man, worked at type-setting and writ- ing in printing-offices ; has traveled and lived in all parts of the United States, from Canada to Texas, inclusive; began his book of poems-" Leaves of Grass "-in 1855, and completed it in 1881, when, after six or seven stages, the final edition was issued. Mr. Whitman is also author of a prose book, -"Specimen Days and Collect,"-publish- ed in 1883. During 1863, '64 and '65, he was actively occupied in the army hospitals and on the battle-fields of the Secession War, as care-taker for the worst cases of the wounded and sick of both armies. A little while af- ter the close of the war, he had a severe para- lytic stroke, from which he has never siuce entirely recovered ; lives in partial seclusion in Camden, N. J .; calls himself " a half- paralytic ;" still writes and lectures occasion- ally.

The foregoing paragraph (from a late book, by Allen Thorndike Rice) gives a con- densed but correct statement of the life of Mr.

329

THE PRESS.

held in Philadelphia under the auspices of the German-American Bi-Centennial Exec- utive Committee. Since 1884 the paper has been the main instrument to build up a Ger- man settlement in the so-called Liberty Park, in the Eighth Ward of Camden. The paper is Independent-Democratic in politics.

William Taylor started a paper in Had- donfield and continned it for a year or more. Charles Whitecar also published a paper for a time in that interesting town.

SOUTH JERSEY NEWS, of Haddonfield, first saw light on February 2, 1882. Its original name was The Directory, and was founded by its present owner, H. D. Speak- man, who was an invalid; yet possessing plenty of enterprise, presented to the people of his town a little seven and three-fourths by eleven-inch sheet, three columns to a page and two pages. He printed and gratuitously distributed one thousand copies per week, thus establishing a good circulation. The proprietor kept on increasing the size, and, in a few months, commenced a subscription price of fifty cents per year. This was cheer- fully responded to by the people and the name was altered to the present one. The

332

HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

He died near Camden on the 13th day of October, 1826, in the seventieth year of his age, having been a minister over forty years. His " Journal " was published under the auspi . ces of Haddonfield Monthly Meeting, which paid a glowing tribute to his memory.

DR. ISAAC S. MULFORD, of Camden (a biography of whom will be found in the medical chapter of this work), was a lec- turer on medical and scientific subjects, and was the author of a number of arti- cles which appeared in medical journals. In 1848 he published a work of five hun- dred pages, entitled a "Civil and Political History of New Jersey." It is written in elegant English, and is recognized as a work of historic merit.

JOHN CLEMENT, who, since 1864, has been lay judge of the Court of Errors and Ap- peals, has turned much of his time to anti- quarian literature and the examination of original documents. This line of study and investigation led him to prepare a very val- uable book, entitled " The First Settlers of Newton," containing four hundred and forty- two pages, published in 1877. Judge Clem- ent later wrote and published the " Re- miniscences of Old Gloucester County in the Revolution" and "The West New Jersey Society," and has contributed numerous ar- ticles on historical subjects to the current magazines and the local newspapers.

WALT WHITMAN was born at West Hills, Huntington, Suffolk County, State of New York, May 31, 1819 ; father, a farmer and carpenter, descended from early English immigration ; mother's maiden-name, Van Velsor, of Holland-Dutch stock ; was brought up in Brooklyn and New York Cities and went to the public schools; as a young man, worked at type-setting and writ- ing in printing-offices ; has traveled and lived in all parts of the United States, from Canada to Texas, inclusive; began his book of poems-" Leaves of Grass "-in 1855, and completed it in 1881, when, after six or seven . stages, the final edition was issued. Mr. Whitman is also author of a prose book, -" Specimen Days and Collect,"-publish- ed in 1883. During 1863, '64 and '65, he was actively occupied in the army hospitals and on the battle-fields of the Secession War, as care-taker for the worst cases of the wounded and sick of both armies. A little while af- ter the close of the war, he had a severe para- lytic stroke, from which he has never since entirely recovered ; lives in partial seclusion in Camden, N. J. ; calls himself " a half- paralytic ;" still writes and lectures occasion- ally.

The foregoing paragraph (from a late book, by Allen Thorndike Rice) gives a con- densed but correct statement of the life of Mr."

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AUTHORS AND SCIENTISTS.

Whitman, who has been a resident of Cam- den for over thirteen years,-since 1873. In addition to the two volumes mentioned above, must be named a third one,-" No- vember Boughs,"-now about appearing, and which will, probably, complete the author's utterances. One of Whitman's critics says : " He is the greatest optimist that ever lived, and believes that America leads the world."

At the present date (November, 1886) he is dwelling in a little cottage of his own, 328 Mickle Street, Camden, not far from the Delaware River. In person he is large, ruddy-faced, white-haired, long-bearded, stout and tall, and weighs two hundred pounds ; his mental powers clear as ever, but his body disabled in movement, the legs almost entirely. He is unmarried and lives in a very plain and democratic manner. His books yield a narrow income. In a late notice, by one of his friends, it is said " the older he grows, the more gay-hearted Walt Whitman becomes." His works are, prob- ably, more read in Europe, especially the British Islands, than in America.

DR. REYNELL COATES, a sketch of whom will be found on page 247, possessed one of the most brilliant intellects of the State of New Jersey. He was well-educated in the classics, in the natural sciences and in general literature. Although a physician by pro- fession, he devoted most of his time to liter- ary pursuits. In 1852 he was nominated for Vice-President on the Native American ticket, with Daniel Webster for President. He moved to Camden about 1850. He was the author of "Leaflets of Memory," "School of Physiology," " Domestic Prac- tice " and other well-known works. He de- livered a lecture, in 1836, before the Phila- delphia County Medical Society, on the " Necessity for the Improvement and Ad- vancement of Medical Education," and delivered a series of very successful lectures in Boston and elsewhere. He was a power- fil and logical speaker, having a fine phys-

ique, commanding presence and graceful delivery, while his mental grasp of his subject, whether purely professional, politi- cal, philosophical or literary, carried convic- tion with it and made him one of the men of mark of his day. He was intimately associated with Poe, Willis, Griswold and other literary lights. It always annoyed him to think that of all his literary productions, the one holding the most prominent place, and yet popular, is "The Gambler's Wife," which he always contended was marred by an addition for " stage effects."

EDWARD D. COPE, the distinguished scholar and scientist, resided for a number of years in the village of Haddonfield, where he performed a considerable portion of the sci- entific investigations which have made his name famous. He was born in Philadelphia in 1840. In early life he manifested an es- pecial predilection for the study of the nat- ural sciences, and while a mere youth had mastered the more complex aspects which a close investigation of the anatomy and mor- phology of animal life revealed. He received his first systematic training in the Acad- emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, towards the extension of whose vast collec- tions he subsequently very materially assisted. His earliest published contributions to science were in the departments of herpetology and ichthyology, in both of which fields he be- came a recognized authority. He next ex- plored the fields of vertebrate paleontology, and now probably has no peer in this de- partment of scientific knowledge, his discov- eries being made principally in the Western Territories. Therepeated annual expeditions to the region of the Rocky Mountains, partly in conjunction with the explorations of the United States Geological Survey, but dur- ing the past few years conducted at his own individual expense, have brought forth a wealth of departed animal forms, bewild- ering in the manifold types of structure which they embody. These, which are to be

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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

counted by hundreds of species, fishes, amphib- ious reptiles and mammals, throw surpris- ing light on the evolution or genesis of life- forms, and render comprehensible the com- plexities of type structure which we find rep- resented in the living fauna of the present day. Professor Cope is a firm upholder of the doctrine of evolution, but inclines to the Lamarckian hypothesis of transformism, or to that explanation of the phenomena of var- iation which involves the assistance of the immediate mechanical law, rather than to pure Darwinism.

His palcontological explorations were prin- cipally among the Permian deposits of Texas and New Mexico, the Cretaceous deposits of New Jersey (" greensands ") and the West, the Laramie beds and the Tertiaries of the Central Basin, but his excursions are also in great measure extra-limital, embracing Mex- ico, South America, etc., etc. His observa- tions are embodied in several ponderous vol- umes, published under the authority of the United States Geological Survey, in greater part contributions to the Hayden series of reports, and in many papers published in the American Naturalist (of which he is the responsible editor), the Proceedings and Jour- nal of the Academy of Natural Sciences, and the Transactions of the American Philosoph- ical Society. Professor Cope is a member of numerous scientific associations of this country and Europe, and was the recipient of the Bigsby gold medal of the Geological So- ciety of London in 1879. The University of Heidelberg conferred upon him its doc- torate in 1886, and distinguished honors have been placed upon him by many of the learn- edl societies of the world.

CHARLES F. PARKER, a well-known bota- nist, and for a number of years, and up to the time of his death, curator-in-charge of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia, was born in that city November 9, 1820, and died in Camden September 7, 1883, where he had resided since 1853. He was a

book-binder by trade, but was much interested in the natural sciences, and had made collec- tions of plants, shells, insects and minerals. His herbarium, purchased immediately after his death by Princeton College, was partic- ularly rich in the flora of New Jersey. No other botanist had made so many visits to the vast pine barrens and swamps of the State, or had collected so extensively ; and this collection is one of the finest and most perfect in existence, a monument of his skill, energy and patience. Before he became a member of the academy, in 1865, he was well- known to Gray, Torrey, Watson and other distinguished botanists. Many of his speci- mens to-day enrich the herbariums of scientists and institutions both in Europe and America. At the desire of Darwin, he made for him a collection of American insect-eat- ing plants. He was one of the first to dis- cover that the ballast deposits in and around Philadelphia and Camden afforded a new field for botanical study. His conchological knowledge frequently enabled him to de- termine, from occasional fragments of shells, the part of the world from which the strange plants found in these deposits had come.

Born a naturalist, he had an innate faculty for classifying, selecting and arranging, com- bined with nice tactual and great manual dexterity. Prof. Grey said his mounted specimens were uurivaled. A great part of the academy's collection, so diverse and so extensive, bears evidence of his skill, labor, taste and pains. During the ten years of his administration as curator-in-charge the actual manual work of arrangement, as well as the general scientific determination of much of the material added during that time, besides much that was on hand, but still unclassified, was performed by himself.

Soon after becoming a member he devoted all the time he could spare from his bindery, and, with Messrs. Durand, Meehan, Burke and Redfield, rearranged the academy's her- barium. There, alone, he spent all his leisure

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AUTHORS AND SCIENTISTS.

for several years in the systematic arrange- ment of the conchological collection, prepar- ing and mounting in his own superior style over one hundred thousand specimens. Dnr- ing his curatorship he mounted between thirty and forty thousand additional speci- mens, all outside of the time for which he was employed. His skill was so well known that he was asked to arrange and elassify the collections of some of our colleges. His own shells, after his decease, were accepted at the price named by a gentleman in the West.

In the preliminary catalogue of the flora of New Jersey, printed under the auspices of the State Geological Survey, he gave con- siderable time.

He left no publie writings, and had he left 110 collections, his volunteer labors alone (which were unapproached by that of any . 1885, in the sixty-fifth year of his age, to be

other member), in arranging and better adapt- ing the academy's invaluable museum for scientific study, would have been no mean contribution to the promotion of knowledge.

JAMES S. LIPPINCOTT, a resident of Had- donfield, N. J., for several years before his death, was a man of good literary and seien- tifie attainments. He contributed many articles to scientific magazines and assisted the Agricultural Department at Washington in making its annual report reliable and attractive.

He edited an American edition of " Cham- bers' Encyclopedia," and did much work on " Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary."

He was a elose observer of the weather, and his notes of climatic changes and influences are valuable additions to that branch of knowledge. His industry and perseverance are shown in the general and exhaustive index he made of the Friend, a religious journal, and devoted to the interests of that society, extending through forty volumes.

He twice visited Europe, and traveled ex- tensively there, making notes of the people, the country and resources, which he put in the shape of letters to the press and to his

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The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 51

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards Number of Pages: 1220

Author: Prowell, George Reeser, 1849-1928
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : Richards
Number of Pages: 1220