The history of Camden county, New Jersey, Part 67

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


USA > New Jersey > Camden County > The history of Camden county, New Jersey > Part 67


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In the spring of 1872 there was a deadlock in the City Council on the election of a president, and the Legislature passed a supplement, provid- ing for the election of a Councilman-at-large, mak- ing the number of Councilmen twenty-five.


By the supplement of March 12, 1873, the city debt was limited to one million dollars, and loans for any one year should not exceed twenty-five thousand dollars. Statntes have since been enac- ted enlarging these limitations.


In 1876 an act was passed amending the charter by transferring the power to grant tavern licenses from the City Council to the Court of Common Pleas, on an appeal to the Supreme Court, the act was declared to be unconstitutional, because special, and therefore, void.


The revision of 1871 was an amplification of the charter of 1850, enlarging the powers of the City Council in some cases and making them plainer in others, and is sufficiently elastic, while stringent, to secure good government under good manage- ment.


The enlargement of the city bounds included a large amount of farm land, chiefly in the Eighth


Ward, the owners of which objected to paying a tax-rate demanded by urban improvements, and desired to sever the connection. To this end an act was passed by the Legislature setting off that por- tion of the ward lying east of a line running from Tenth Street and Kaighn Avenue, south to Vanhook Street, east to the west line of Evergreen Cemetery, and south to the north branch of Newton Creek, to Haddon Avenue. The terms of the act were : that the set off portion should pay a pro rata share, esti- mated by assessed values of the city debt incurred and unpaid subsequent to the annexation of New- ton township in 1871; three of the Haddon town- ship committee and three citizens of Camden ap- pointed for the purpose, to ascertain and report, and if the amount apportioned was not paid with- in three months after such report was made, the act was to be null and void. The assessment was made and the report rendered, but the residents failing to pay within the time specified, the trans- fer failed.


THE FIRST CITY HALL .- The charter incorporat- ing the town of Camden into a city was obtained in 1828. After the election of members to form the Council of the new city had taken place, they met for the first time and organized in a building used for the meeting of various societies within the limits of what was long known as the Vauxhall Garden. Soon thereafter a room on the second story of Richard Fetters' store, at the southeast corner of Third Street and Market, was rented as a "Council-room and Court Hall." This place was used but a short time. On May 14th of the same year three lots were purchased on the south side of Federal Street, and the building committee, com- posed of John K. Cowperthwaite, Samuel Laning and Richard Fetters, was empowered to borrow two thousand five hundred dollars on the credit of the city, with which to erect an appropriate "City Hall, Court-House and Jail." The money was obtained from Jacob Evaul, a well-to-do farmer, who lived a short distance from town. The build- ing then erected was of stone, with a brick front of forty feet on Federal Street, and two stories high, with an attic. It was completed by the early part of 1829. Gideon V. Stivers was the carpenter; William Fortiner, the mason; David R. Lock, now (1886) engaged in the produce business in the market on the site of the old City Hall, was one of the workmen employed by the master car- penter. The basement of the building contained the prison. The court-room, used also for the sessions of the Council, and for public meetings, was in the second story, and the attic served the purpose of a jury-room. A broad stairway on the


THE CITY OF CAMDEN.


429


outside led to the second story, where an entrance was gaiued through a double door. The " third story " was let to Camden Lodge, No. 45, at twenty dollars per year, but if the Council saw fit to put in " Dormand" windows, the lodge was to pay four dollars additional, and the Council was to have the use of the room on " said third story at all the Courts of Quarter Sessions." This unpretentious structure served the purpose for which it was de- signed during a period of half a century, undergoing, but few changes. About thirty years after it was


scenes and incidents that took place within its walls before its demolition, it would have furnished much that is interesting.


THE NEW CITY HALL .- This massive structure of imposing appearance is the second building which Camden has owned and used for the trans- action of municipal affairs and for keeping the records of the city. It is constructed of a fine quality of brick, is trimmed in brown-stone and has large, airy and convenient apartments. Its situation is on an elevation and from its summit is


THE NEW CITY HALL.


erected, a one-story building was added on either side of the front stairway. One was used as an office for the mayor, and the other for the clerk. This historic old building, in which the " city fathers" discussed the great questions pertaining to the public good and the successful growth and devel- opment of the city and her people, served its pur- pose for a period of half a century. In 1877 it gave place to the market-house then erected on the same site. Could the old hall of justice and legis- lation have told its own history, and described the


afforded a fine view of the two cities, of the scenery up and down the noble Delaware and a large area of the surrounding country. The original hall was insufficient for the demands of a rapidly-grow- ing and prosperous city, which, after the annexa- tion of the township of Newton, had a population of nearly thirty thousand. The demands for a new city hall became urgent. An act of the Leg- islature was passed giving the city authorities power to issue and dispose of bonds to the amount of seventy five thousand dollars, and in


51


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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.


1871, Jesse W. Starr offered to donate four and one-half acres of land upon which to construct the building. After considerable discussion, re- sulting from the location of the land which was then and is yet without the limits of the built-up portion of the city, the generous offer was not ac- cepted until 1874. Frederick Bourquin, Claudius W. Bradshaw, James S. Henry, Charles S. Moffett, John S. Read, William C. Figner, Joseph H. Hall, Augustus J. Fulmer, Charles S. Archer, William T. Bailey and James A. Parsons were ap- pointed a building committee. The plans and specifications of the building were prepared by Architect Samuel D. Button, of Camden, and the contract for the construction of the building was given to E. Allen Ward for the sum of one hun- dred and twenty-five thousand dollars. Prepara- tions were immediately made and the work of erection progressed rapidly and soon after the com- pletion of the building the first session of the City Council was held in it during the month of De- cember, 1875. Of the exact cost of this building the truthful historian sayeth not. A committee appointed to inquire into the subject in 1883 esti- mated the cost at one hundred and forty thousand dollars. This estimate included the cost of con- struction only and not the internal fixings required to fit up and furnish the apartments within the building. The increase of the cost above the amount originally reported was caused by changes being made in the plans during the time the build- ing was in the course of erection.


MAYORS OF CAMDEN .- The following is a com- plete list of the mayors of Camden with the terms of their services. Following this list are bio- graphical sketches of each of them :


1828-30. Samuel Laning. 1857-58. Benjamin A. Hammell.


1830-38. Oideon V. Stivers.


1858-60. Clayton Truax.


1838-40. Elias Kaighn. 1860-62. Thomas B. Atkinson.


1840-44. Lorenzo F. Fisler. 1862-63. Paul C. Budd.


1844-45. John K. Cowperthwaite. 1863-64. Timothy Middleton.


1845-46. Charles Kaighu.1


1864-67. Paul C. Budd.


1846-48. Thomas B. Wood. 1867-71. Charles Cox.


1848-49. Benjamin A. Ilammell. 1871-74. Samuel M. Gaul. 1849-51. Charles Sexton. 1874-76. John II. Jones.


1851-52. Lorenzo F. Fisler.


1876-77. John Morgan.


1852-53. Charles D. Hineline.


1877-80. James W. Ayers.


1853-55. Lorenzo F. Fisler.


1880-86. Claudius W. Bradshaw.


1855-56. Samuel Scull. 1886. Jesse Pratt.


1856-57. James W. Shroff.


SAMUEL LANING, the first mayor of Camden, was elected by the Council in 1828 and 1829, re- signing in February, 1830, a few weeks before the expiration of his term. He was long a prominent man in public affairs, a builder by occupation, su-


pervising the erection of the old City Hall, on Fed- eral Street, in 1828. In 1840 he built the row of three-story brick houses on the south side of Fed- eral Street below Second, then regarded as an im- portant improvement. For several years he and his son Paul conducted a livery stable at Front Street and Federal. He was an alderman for a number of years.


GIDEON V. STIVERS, elected by the Council in 1830, and each succeeding year until 1837, inclu- sive, was born in Bellville, Essex County, in 1786, and learned his trade of carpenter in New York City. When free he followed his trade in Newark for a short time and then came to Camden. The first house he built in this city, was for Edward Sharp, in 1810, Silas Willitts doing the mason work. The house still stands on the southeast corner of Second and Cooper. He also built St. Paul's Church and many other buildings. His shop was on Fourth Street below Market. After he came to Camden he turned his attention to bridge-building, his first effort in that line being the bridge over the Delaware between Lambertville and New Hope. David Locks and Benjamin M. Farrow, now resid- ing in Camden, worked for him, the latter as an apprentice. In 1838 he removed to Philadelphia, returning to Camden in 1856. In 1859 he was the Democratic candidate for mayor, but was defeated. In 1865 he again removed to Philadelphia, where he died February 26, 1870.


ELIAS KAIGHN, the third mayor, elected by the Council in 1838 and re-elected in 1839, was born September 23, 1799, at Clarksboro', Gloucester County, and when of age came to Camden, locating at Kaighns Point, where he engaged in industrial pursuits. He was made an alderman and as such took his seat in the Council in 1835 and many sub- sequent years, being elected by the people in 1841, when his commission had expired, but resuming his office as an alderman the following year. He was elected a member of the City Council by the Democrats of the South Ward in 1853 for three years. He was also a member of the Camden township committee and of the Board of Chosen Freeholders. He was a member of the Methodist Church when located at Fourth and Federal, and was one of the organizers of the Union Methodist Episcopal Church, Fifth and Mount Vernon, with which he remained until his death, holding various official positions, as steward and class-leader, being as energetic in his religious life as in his business enterprises. He died November 4, 1864.


LORENZO F. FISLER, M.D., was elected mayor by Council in 1840 and re-elected in 1841-42 and '43, he being one of the aldermen of the city and


1 Richard W. Howell was elected for the term beginning 1845 but declined to serve.


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THE CITY OF CAMDEN.


as such taking his seat in the Council in 1839. He was a candidate for mayor on the Whig ticket in 1848, but was defeated by Benjamin A. Hammell, American. The vote was, Hammell, 269; Fisler, 243; Jonathan Burr, Democrat, 249.


In 1851 he was elected as the American candi- date, receiving 440 votes to 345 votes for John Sands, Democrat, and 135 for Dr. Othniel H. Taylor, Whig. In 1852 he was defeated by Charles D. Hineline, Democrat, the vote being, Hineline, 514; Fisler, 512; Walter Patton, Whig, 60.


He was the Whig and American candidate in 1853, and was elected, his vote being 649 to 477 for Albert W. Markley, Democrat, and was re-elected in 1854 as the American and anti-Nebraska nomi- nee, receiving 833 votes to 450 for John K. Cow- perthwaite. He was the Republican candidate in 1859, but was defeated, as he was in 1866 and 1869, when on the Democratic ticket. He was born in Cumberland County in 1797, came to Camden in 1836 and died in 1871.


(For sketch of Judge John K. Cowperth waite, the fifth mayor, see page 215, and for sketch of Richard W. Howell, Esq., a prominent lawyer, see page 217.


CHARLES KAIGHN was the sixth mayor. Rich- ard W. Howell was elected by the people in March, 1845, but refused to serve, and City Council elected Chas. Kaighn. He was born June 30, 1806, in the Ferry House, Front and Kaighn Avenue, and was the great-grandson of John Kaighn, the first set. tler at Kaighns, Point. In the division of the estate of his father, Joseph Kaighn, his share in- cluded the lands lying east on Locust Street, and this he sought to improve by wharfing the river- front, where the ship-yard now is, providing better ferry facilities and filling up the low grounds, and it was to aid the last improvement that he pro- jected a railroad upon which to haul earth from the high lands, the road-bed of which, along At- lantic Avenue, is used by the Gloucester Railroad. He was member of City Council, township com- mittees and Board of Chosen Freeholders. He was a stanch advocate of education, a friend to the poor and a philanthropist. He removed to Philadelphia. He was secretary of the Camden Gas- Light Company when he died, February 19, 1868.


THOMAS B. WOOD, elected mayor in 1846 and re- elected in 1847, was born at Allowaystown, Salem County, and worked on a farm until he removed to Williamstown, Gloucester County, where he was employed in a store and afterwards kept one of the hotels in that village. In 1843 he was elected to the State Assembly by the Democrats. During the session of 1844 the county of Camden


was set off from Gloucester, and Williamstown, in- cluded in Washington township was embraced within the limits of the new county, of which Wood was appointed the county clerk, when he re- moved to Camden and was made mayor. When his term as clerk expired' in 1849, he engaged in business at the foot of Cooper Street, and after- wards kept a store on Pine Street below Fourth, where he died.


BENJAMIN A. HAMMELL was mayor twice: In 1848, when, as the Native American candidate, he received 269 votes to 259 for Jonathan Burr, Dem- ocrat, and Lorenzo F. Fisler, Whig, and in 1857, when, as a Democrat, he received 576 votes to 529 for Joseph J. Moore, American, and 295 for Charles Reeves, Republican. He was a member of Council in 1845 and in 1851; was a member for three years for the Middle Ward. He was engaged in the sausage business, and died August 26, 1869.


CHARLES SEXTON was born near Jacobstown, Burlington County, and came to Camden in 1824. He worked for Isaac Cole as a coach-trimmer, and later was in the employ of the Camden and Am- boy Railroad Company, at the shops at Borden- town. He was an ordained Baptist minister. Al- though never settled as a pastor, he preached in many of the pulpits in this section of the State, and assisted in establishing several churches. He became a man of influence, and was well known for his exemplary life. He was elected to the City Council in 1845, and was elected mayor, as the Whig and American candidate, in 1849, receiving 421 votes to 376 for Charles D. Hineline, Democrat. He was re-elected in 1850, by a vote of 477 to 349 votes for George Smith, Democrat. He died in 1883, at an advanced age.


CHARLES D. HINELINE, elected in 1852, was an erratic but brilliant man. He was born in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, and learned the trade of a printer in Philadelphia. He came to Camden in 1842, and purchased the Tribune, a weekly paper, of Harrison & Ferguson; took in with him as partner Henry Curtz, now of 413 Federal Street, and changed the name to the American Star. In a few months he sold out his interest to a man named Crane, and went West. Returning in 1845, in the following year he estab- lished the Camden Democrat, which he conducted with success until 1853, when he sold it to Isaac Mickle, the lawyer and historian, and returned to his birth-place, in Northampton County, where he kept store and engaged in the liquor business. Ill success attended him, and in 1855 he again came to Camden and established a weekly paper called the Spirit of '76, which, in a few months, was merged


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HISTORY OF CAMDEN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.


into the Camden Democrat. Shortly afterwards he, with Henry L. Bonsall and William Van Nortwick, established the Mechanics' Own, a labor paper, in Philadelphia, and a few years later Charles D. Hineline died. He represented Camden County in the Assembly in 1850 and 1851, and was largely instrumental in securing the passage of the law limiting the hours of labor to ten each day. He was an earnest advocate of the rights of the workingman, and with voice and pen advocated laws calculated to lighten the exhaustiveness of labor.


SAMUEL SCULL was elected mayor by the Amer- ican party in 1855, by a vote of 641 to 544 votes for Thomas B. Atkinson. He was born in Camden in 1816, and worked for a time at carriage-making, his father, Samuel Scull, being one of the earliest and most extensive carriage-makers of the city. He afterwards engaged in the sausage business, his factory being on the southeast corner of Locust and Kaighn Avenue. He was elected to Council in 1851, and re-elected in 1854 and 1856, and served three terms in the Assembly. He was one of the pillars of the Union Methodist Episcopal Church. He died January 4, 1864 ..


JAMES W. SHROFF, mayor in 1856, was elected by the Democrats, his vote being 752, to 730 for Joseph Myers, American and Anti-Nebraska. He was a carpenter and builder, and for many years had charge of the moulding loft at Starr's Iron Works. He died in 1864.


CLAYTON TRUAX, the thirteenth mayor, was born in Gloucester City December 11, 1814, and came to Camden in 1833, when eighteen years old, to learn the trade of shoemaking with Reilly Barrett, which avocation he followed with success for many years, his shop and store being on Arch Street, below Fourth. In 1855 he was elected to repre- sent the Middle Ward in the City Council, and in 1860, having served as mayor, was again elected to Council, and re-elected in 1863, making nine years of service, during which time he was a leading and influential member.


In 1858 he was the candidate of the American party for mayor, receiving also the support of the Republicans, and was elected by a vote of 879, to 768 for Samuel Doughty, the Democratic nominee. He was re-elected in 1859, having as competitors Gideon V. Stivers, Democrat, and Dr. Lorenzo F. Fisler, Republican. The vote was, Truax, 863; Stivers, 353 ; Fisler, 374. He died July 19, 1876, and was the first public man in whose honor the new city hall bell was tolled.


THOMAS B. ATKINSON was elected to Council from the Middle Ward in 1853, and recorder in


1856, as a Democrat, his vote being 777 to 647 for William J. Miller, American. He was defeated for mayor in 1855 by Samuel Scull, and in 1867 and 1869 by Charles Cox, but was elected in 1860, receiving 608 votes to 578 for Paul C. Budd, Ameri- can, and 547 for William F. Colbert, Republican ; in 1861, the vote being,-Atkinson, 904; Budd, 634; Samuel Hufty, 480.


Mr. Atkinson was born in Camden in 1815, and was a son of Josiah Atkinson, a prominent citizen and a magistrate of the county. He was a carpenter and builder, and a number of large buildings in the city were the result of his handi- work; among them, the Third Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Third and Bridge Avenue. He became connected with the church during the great revival of 1837-38, and to the end remained a consistent member. He died January 3, 1886.


PAUL C. BUDD was born in Philadelphia in 1804, and came to Camden twenty years afterward, where he worked for Isaac Vansciver, the carriage- maker, as a coach-painter. House-painting was also in his line, and he worked at it for many years. In 1852 he was elected justice of the peace in the North Ward, and re-elected five successive times, making a total service of thirty years. He was appointed crier of the county courts in 1859, and held the position until within a short time of his death, a period of nearly twenty-two years. He was seven times a candidate for mayor, being de- feated three times-in 1860 and 1861 by Thomas B. Atkinson, and in 1863 by Timothy Middle- ton.


The following is the vote cast when he was elected mayor : 1862-P. C. Budd, American-Re- publican, 987; James M. Cassady, Democrat, 716. 1864-P. C. Budd, Republican, 1159; Timothy Middleton, Democrat, 868. 1865-P. C. Budd, Re- publican, 1126; Wesley P. Murray, Democrat, 857; 1866, P. C. Budd, Republican, 1304; Lorenzo F. Fisler, Democrat, 1188.


In 1874 he was elected city recorder for three years. During his term (1876), John H. Jones, the mayor, died, but before Recorder Budd could take possession, by virtue of his office of recorder, the City Council held a special meeting and elected John Morgan to fill the vacancy. Paul C. Budd died in 1881.


TIMOTHY MIDDLETON, elected mayor in 1863 over Paul C. Budd, Republican, by a vote of 958 to 948, was born January 21, 1817, in the stone house, on the Kaighn farm, now standing on Sixth Street, north of Kaighn Avenue. His father, Amos A. Middleton, worked some of the Kaighn land and afterwards the William Cooper farm, and


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THE CITY OF CAMDEN.


was a member of the City Council for ten consecu- . became a book and job printer, and later published tive years,-1838 to 1848. On these farms young Middleton was brought up, obtaining his education in slack seasons at the Camden Academy, or in the Hatch school-house. On November 19, 1840, he married Hester A. R. Jenkins, daughter of Andrew Jenkins, and rented the Johnson farm at Pea Shore, and then the Johnson farm at Glouces- ter City. He removed to Camden in 1857. In 1861 he was elected city marshal by the Demo- crats, and, in 1863, mayor. He was a candidate for the latter office in 1864, but was defeated by Paul C. Budd. He was of kindly disposition and generally loved and respected. He died April 15, 1867.


CHARLES COX was elected mayor in 1867, on the Republican ticket, by a vote of 1173 to 1107 for Thomas B. Atkinson, re-elected in 1868 by 1408 to 1289 for Dr. Lorenzo F. Fisler, in 1869 by 1575 to 1280 for Thomas B. Atkinson ; and in 1870 by a vote of 1640 to 1575 for William H. Jeffreys. In 1871 he was the Republican candidate for city re- corder, and was elected by a vote of 2420 to 2221 votes for John Goldthorpe.


Charles Cox was born at White Horse, Camden County, February 15, 1820, and worked at farming until fifteen years of age, when he was apprenticed to Jacob Shaffer to learn the painters' trade, which he pursued when he came to Camden, in 1839, and followed for twenty years afterwards. He then engaged in the milk business, with his depot on Bridge Avenue, below Fourth Street, at the house he built for his residence many years before. When his term as recorder expired, in 1884, he opened a magistrate's office, associating with it the real es- tate business. He was elected assessor of the city in 1844 as a Whig. He has been a consistent mem- ber of the Methodist Episcopal Church for years.


SAMUEL M. GAUL, elected mayor in 1871 by a vote of 2415 to 2297 for William H. Jeffreys, Dem- ocrat, is a native of Philadelphia, where he was born June 2, 1822. He learned shoemaking, came to Camden in 1858, and in 1861 enlisted in the army as first lieutenant of Company G, Fourth New Jersey Volunteers ; served through the war and won the captaincy of Company F, same regi- ment. The only other political office he has held was that of assessor of the South Ward, to which he was elected by the Republicans in 1870.


JOHN H. JONES was elected mayor in 1874, by the Democrats, over Henry L. Bonsall, Republi- can, the vote being, Jones, 2789; Bonsall, 2748. He died before the completion of his term. He was born in Queen Anne's County, Md., in 1809, and, at the age of fourteen, went to Philadelphia,


the Daily Sun, a Native American organ. He afterwards published the American Banner, a weekly advocate of Native American principles, and which found extensive patronage in West Jersey. He came to Camden and assumed the leadership of the American party, which, for sev- eral years, was dominant in the city and strong throughout this section of the State. In 1858 he was the nominee of a section of the party in the First District for Congress, but was defeated, and, in 1859, was the unsuccessful candidate of that party for sheriff of Camden County. He served in the Board of Chosen Freeholders from the Seventh Ward, and there, as elsewhere, was progressive in his views. In 1870, when the Camden Democrat was struggling for life, Mr. Jones was given charge of it and his vim and ability soon placed it in the van of influential journals in this part of the State. As a politician and journalist, he advocated the rights of the working men, and, as an employer, practiced his precepts, always paying high wages. He was childless, but no waif was turned from his door, and there were always happy children in his house. He left the mayor's office on the evening of October 27, 1876, and went to his home at Seventh Street and Pine, and, shortly after entering, died without a word.




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