USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > The history of Newark, New Jersey : being a narrative of its rise and progress, from the settlement in May, 1666, by emigrants from Connecticut to the present time, including a sketch of the press of Newark, from 1791 to 1878 > Part 16
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A MAP of the Town of NEW -ARK in th
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NEWARK is one of the most pleasant and flourishing Towns in the UNITED STATES It is on the main road between NEW-YORK and PHILADELPHIA. rune Miles from the former, and eighty seven from the latter Its Stone quarries are visited by travellers from curiosity It is noted for us Cider . the making of Carriages of all sorts Coach-lace Men's and women's Shoes , In the manufacture of this last article
ono third of the Inhabitants are constantly employed
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Johnson Treat
State of NEW-JERSEY Published in 1806.
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The Mapas originally published had no References The following figures indicate some of the localities at that time
Mr Van Cortland's House 10 Academy
2 George Nelson's House 11 Baptist Church
3 M" Ja" R. Smith's House. 12 The Bank
13 Old Meeting House
14 Jail
G The Stone Dock
15 Presbyterian Church
. ? The Upper Common
16. South School House
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9 Trinity Church. ( Epis1) 18 Egg Dock
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149
HARRY LAWRENCE-SHOEMAKING AND SHOEMAKERS.
After a few years his religious society -he was its preacher-broke up and the members returned to the old fold. His great principles were cmancipation of the body from slavery, and the mind from ignorance and error.
Mr. Combs was a believer in the sure reformatory influences of universal education. About the time of his Georgia sale he estab- lished a free school for his apprentices, of whom he had a number. His is claimed to have been the first school of the sort in the United States. True to his principle of emancipation of the body from slavery, he set free a black man he owned named Harry Lawrence. It is sad to have to relate that upon Friday, October 4th, 1805, the living proof of the philanthropy of Mr. Combs was hanged in Newark for the poisoning of his wife. Many others of Mr. Combs's apprentices turned out to be leading and valuable citizens and business men.
To return to the subject of shoemaking, the industry made rapid strides during the years immediately preceeding and following the opening of the present century. Undoubtedly this was the result. of improved traveling facilities, the Passaic and Hackensack rivers having been bridged and the highways between here and Jersey City greatly improved. It required very little capital to start business. As the trade increased in volume it improved in quality, so that soon the town became celebrated far and near for its fine boots and shoes. These went to New York, to Philadelphia, and as far south as Savannah in wagon loads. Other industries sprung up as well as tanning, currying and shoemaking, but the latter took and kept the lead. In 1806 Mr. Charles Basham, an instructor, and afterwards principal of the Newark Academy, published a map of Newark, (a fac-simile of which is herewith reproduced), in the corner of which the town was fittingly emblematized for the time being, by the figure of a shoemaker hard at work. .
At a period a little later than the publication of Mr. Basham's map, it is reliably stated that fully nineteen-twentieths of the industrial population of Newark were employed in some depart- ment of labor in which leather was the leading article used. Anterior to this, a number of the leading shoe-manufacturers of Newark carried on business in the southern part of the town. Foremost among these were the Goble Brothers-Luther and Calvin-Aaron Roff, David Crowell, Jonathan Belden, David Hays,
11
150
LUTHER GOBLE-CARRIAGE MAKING AND JEWELRY.
Joseph Case and Ephraim Bolles and his brother Enoch. The two latter introduced great improvements in the trade and became the fashionable makers of the town in both boots and shoes.
As regards public spirit, Luther Goble was a man somewhat after the mould of Moses N. Combs, with whom he served his appren- ticeship. He was born in northern New Jersey, either in Morris or Sussex County, his ancestors, like those of Caldwell and the Boudinots, being French Huguenots. He came to Newark about the year 1783, was uneducated, but had an ambition to learn the tanning trade. He was a steady, industrious lad, attentive to his work in the tannery and shoe shop by day and his book in Combs' free school by night. About the year 1795 he launched out in business on his own account, and was very successful. He foresaw that shoe-making was destined to be a great industry of Newark. Mr. Goble is remembered by some still living as a man of large benevolence and a citizen of very excellent qualities. After he had accumulated considerable capital he built a number of small houses, homes for workingmen, making the conditions of possession and permanent ownership so easy that their fulfilment caused little inconvenience. During the year 1835, while examining a new house on Broad street which he was building, Mr. Goble accidentally fell through the timbers, and sustained injuries which resulted in his death.
To Stephen Wheeler, Cyrus Beach, Caleb Carter, Robert B. Campfield and afterwards Campfield and Hedenberg, are traced the earliest manufacture of carriages in Newark -- one or two of them being extensively engaged in the trade as early as 1804. The pioneer in the jewelry trade of Newark was Epaphras Hinsdale, who came here about the year 1801, and started business in a building on the site now occupied by the stately and substantial McGregor structure. Hinsdale is supposed to have been the first person in America to establish a factory for the exclusive manufacture of jewelry. In a few years he took as partner a journeyman in his employ named John Taylor. The firm established a very high character for fair dealing and superior workmanship. Among their customers none used to cut a greater dash while shopping than Colonel Mayor, the brother-in-law of the late distinguished soldier, General Winfield Scott. The Colonel used to drive into town with an elegant equipage, six horses, driver and postilion-a grand turn-
151
HATTING, WOOL RAISING AND CHAIRMAKING.
out. Upon the site now occupied by the Second Presbyterian Church on Washington street, facing the Park of the same name, is said to have been established the first iron foundry in Newark. This must have been prior to 1810, the year in which the foundation stone of the church was laid. An Englishman employed there to remove the sand from the castings subsequently removed to New York, established a foundry there and accumulated a splendid fortune. About this period hatting was also established in Newark, as it had previously been in Orange. The founder of this trade here was William Rankin, still another type of the Moses N. Combs order of men-successful in business and philanthropic in his tendencies. It is said that when he proposed coming here from Elizabethtown, his friends sought to dissuade him, upon the ground that Newark was already supplied by Orange with all the hats it could sell. Luckily for himself and for the manufacturing industry of Newark, the argument failed to swerve Rankin from his purpose.
Wool raising received particular encouragement as early as 1788. At a town meeting held April 28th of that year, it was agreed to offer money premiums for the best wool. " The increase of Sheep," . declared the citizens, " and the consequent production and increase of Wool being of the utmost importance to the interest and pros- perity of the Country, and the inhabitants of this Township being disposed to encourage and promote so laudable a design, do agree to give the following premiums upon the Conditions following, viz .: " These conditions were " to the person who shall shear off of his own Sheep in the Spring of 1789, the greatest quantity of good, clean wool, the sum of ten Pounds;" and eight, six, five, three and two pounds to the persons who should shear the next greatest quantity in degree. It was provided that "No person shall be entitled to either of the above s'd premiums unless he shall reside within this Township, and unless he shall appear before David Banks, Esqr., on or before the tenth Day of June, 1789, and shall make oath to the quantity of Wool he shall have Sheared as above s'd."
Chairmaking was quite extensively carried on here, a leading manufacturer for many years being David Alling, who was highly esteemed as one of the most active and energetic business men of the town. He established a high reputation for style and work- manship, and not only supplied a large home trade but an extensive Southern demand, especially between the years 1825 and 1836.
152
ESSEX COUNTY MANUFACTURES IN 1810.
During the first administration of President Madison, the first regular effort was made by the Federal Government to investigate the condition of American manufactures. Acting under instruction from Hon. Albert Gallatin, Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Tench Coke, of Philadelphia, prepared a statement based upon the census returns for 1810. From this statement the following interesting statistics relating to our local industries have been compiled :
TABLE OF MANUFACTURES IN ESSEX COUNTY, N. J. IN 1810.
ARTICLES OF MANUFACTURE.
No. OF FACTORIES.
PRODUCT.
VALUE.
Blended and unnamed Cloths and Stuffs.
201,836 yards
$160,000.00
Woolen Goods in Families
43,000
Looms.
763
Carding Machines.
26
Fulling Mills.
43,000
=
Drawing and Roving Machines
I
Spindles
9,900
Fur IIats.
26,150
78,480.00
Blast and Air Furnaces
I
324 tons
14,172.00
Bloomeries.
I7
659
3,333.00
Naileries.
3
31,360 lbs.
3,136.co
Tin Plate work
29,250.00
Tallow Candles
11,529.00
Plating Manufactories.
15,000.00
Soap.
3,846.00
Leather unnamed.
51,970.00
Boots, Shoes and Slippers
324,775
400,000.00
Flaxseed oil.
18,800 gallons
18,800.00
Distilleries
82
307,310 17,600
153,650.00 6,600.00
Carriages made.
129,500.00
Paper Mills
IO
17,850.00
Potteries
27,750.00
Drugs.
30,000.00
Book Binders.
I
Total.
$1,169,871.00
As expressly stated in the table, all the woolen goods were made in families ; all the cloth, likewise.
.
The war of 1812 gave a decided impetus to the manufacturing industries of Newark. Before proceeding with the regular narrative, however, let us diverge slightly and note some of the causes which materially promoted the industrial growth of the town. As
Breweries.
15,000.00
Large Screw, Steel springs &e.
153
ROUGH ROADS, "SCOWS" AND "PERIAUGERS."
already intimated, foremost among these were the great improve- ments in traveling and transportation. Up to 1765 there was no direct land route between Newark and New York. That year an act was passed by the General Assembly authorizing the construction of a road between Newark and Paulus Hook, also the establishment of ferries over the Passaic and Hackensack rivers. David Ogden, Daniel Pierson, Joseph Riggs, junior ; Nathaniel Baldwin, Joseph Hedden, junior ; Caleb Camp, Uzal Ward, Joseph Rogers, junior ; and Thomas Brown, of Bergen, were incorporated as " The Trustees of the Road and Ferries from Newark to the Road leading from Bergen Point to Paulus Hook." The road and ferries established and maintained under this and supplementary acts occupied almost identically the same route now used by the Newark Plank Road and Ferry Company. This parent highway was, beyond doubt, an exceedingly rough one to travel over, and the ferries were flat- bottomed boats called "scows," moved forward and backward by ropes. It was not until after the Revolution-when Newark was described by a traveler as "a genteel neighborhood where there was much tea drinking"-that a daily stage line was established. In 1790 an act was passed by the Legislature authorizing the erection of bridges over the Passaic and Hackensack rivers, " and for other purposes therein mentioned." By this act, Samuel Tuthill, John Neilson, Robert T. Kemble, William Maxwell and John Pintard were appointed commissioners to lay out a road from the Old Court House in Newark to Paulus Hook, and to construct bridges over the Passaic and Hackensack rivers. Mr. Maxwell having died soon after the passage of the act, Samuel Ogden was appointed a com- missioner in his stead. Under the law, money to promote the enterprise was raised by lottery, the legal limit to the fund being $5,000. It sounds strange to read that " the bridges over the rivers Passaic and Hackensack were built by the Rev. Uzal Ogden and others, under a certain contract or agreement made by the Commis- sioners appointed by the Legislature, and were completed in 1795." In those days, however, contracts were entered into and fulfilled with an eye single to the public good ; it was a matter of honor, not of profit, to be a contractor. Ferrying the Hudson across from Paulus Hook, at the period referred to, was tedious and disa- greeable and sometimes even dangerous. The boats used were called periaugers-two-masted vessels of narrow beam and with
154
NEWARK AS A PRODUCE MARKET.
lee-boards. A journey to New York-which, in 1800, had a popu- lation of less than 70,000-was attended with greater preparations, and probably more anxiety, than is a trip to St. Louis or the Far West now-a-days. A single two-horse stage started every morning for Paulus Hook, returning in the afternoon. In Paulus Hook there was but one house at this time, a large two-story double building, kept as a tavern by the ferry-master. In those days periaugers were the terror of the timid dames and demoiselles of Newark
While the difficulties and danger of travel between Newark and New York were a hindrance to the prosperity of the town in one direction they were a benefit in another. They retarded manufac- turing industry, but, on the other hand, they secured to Newark a large and profitable traffic in country produce. Newark was the great market for the butter, poultry and grain yield of not only the adjacent districts, but of the country for scores of miles around. From New York, every market day, came out large numbers of dealers who preferred to do business directly with the farmers of parts now embraced in the counties of Morris, Sussex, Warren and Hunterdon, rather than through the Newark resident dealers. Among those through whose hands passed, however, a great deal of this produce, the names are recalled of a few dealers-Israel Beach, Beach & Vanderpool, Jacob Plum, Moses Hedden, I. I. Brown, Jasper Ten Broeck, Pennington & Bruen, John Y. Baldwin and Co., John Burnet (postmaster), Jabez Parkhurst and Thomas Jones. About the year 1811, when the periauger was superseded by steam-propelled boats, Newark lost much of its glory and fame as a market town. The farmers from the outlying counties went direct to Jersey City, and there disposed of their products to the New York dealers.
The effect of the loss of this sort of traffic was to concentrate energy and activity in manufacturing industries. But before this, in 1804, the business generally of the town had swollen so that there was a demand for the establishment of a bank. Accordingly, under an act of the Legislature of 1803-4, granting a charter therefor, the Newark Banking and Insurance Company was established ; also another organized at the same time in Trenton. These constituted the pioneer financial institutions of New Jersey. Associated intimately as it is with the most important part of the
155
THE PARENT BANK OF NEWARK.
rise and growth of Newark; associated with it as have been the worthiest and most distinguished of Newark citizens of a previous generation or two, the Newark Banking and Insurance Company deserves more than a passing reference in these pages.
It was organized May 4, 1804, when a Board of Directors was chosen, 'as follows: Elisha Boudinot, Archibald Mercer, J. N. Cum- ming, William S. Pennington, David D. Crane, Silas Condit, John Crawford, Aaron Coe, George Nelson, Moses Hedden and Stephen Hayes. Shortly afterwards, upon May 15th, Elisha Boudinot was elected President and William Whitehead, Cashier. How near we are to the birth-period of Newark's dawning greatness as an important business centre is shown by the fact that one of these Directors was still alive up to December Ist, 1867. His demise broke the last link which bound together the infancy and the age of the parent financial institution of Newark. The business of the bank was at first transacted in the parlor of Smith Burnet's residence on Broad street. The first and largest deposit ($300) was made the day of opening by Judge Boudinot, the total deposits for the day being about $4,000. These were placed for safe keeping at night in a strong, iron-bound wooden box. Upon the mantelpiece overhead were displayed, as a sure and efficacious guard against robbers, two knives of small-sword dimensions and two large horse pistols. Despite these precautions, there was an uneasy feeling among the bank officers, and it was finally decided, when the deposits reached a large sum, to place the amount for security in the Manhattan Bank at New York. In 1805 a site for a building was purchased- the same which is still occupied by the institution. A piece of ground, having a frontage on Broad street of fifty-nine feet and a depth on Bank street (then Maiden lane) of one hundred and sixty feet, was purchased for $583.33. Fifty-one years later, in 1856, twenty-two feet front of the same ground was sold at the rate of $450 per foot. The first building erected by the bank for its use was a two-story brick edifice, with brown stone trimmings. In its day it was considered very handsome. The north end and upper part of the building formed the residence of the cashier, Mr. Whitehead, and there was born his son, a gentleman who has contributed a great deal of talented and well-directed literary industry to the accumulation and preservation of valuable New Jersey history. Some years after the sale of a portion of its real
156
THE FIRST PRESIDENT, JUDGE ELISHA BOUDINOT.
estate the old building was torn down and the present stately and substantial brown stone structure was erected in its stead. When it began business, the nominal capital of the bank was $800,000. To the amount of $500,000 this was gradually paid in. The present capital stock is $500,000, with the limit of one million. Under its original charter the bank was authorized to establish a branch at Paulus Hook. Accordingly the " Jersey Bank " was organized, but it was afterwards removed to New York and is now the Union National Bank, of Wall street. Upon the third extension of its charter, the Newark Banking and Insurance Company changed its title to the Newark Banking Company. In 1865 it became a National bank. The list of Presidents succeeding its charter officers is as follows: General John Noble Cumming, Judge Boudinot's successor ; Silas Condit, who became President in 1819; John Taylor, who succeeded President Condit, February 3d, 1842; and James B. Pinneo, who was elected September 14th, 1854, and still holds his office. Aaron Beach succeeded Mr. Whitehead as Cashier in 1814; Jacob D. Vermilye, Mr. Beach in 1841; and Charles G. Rockwood, the present Cashier, Mr. Vermilye in 1858. The first President of the bank, Judge Elisha Boudinot, was a man of more than ordinary merit. Like Caldwell, the " Rebel High Priest " of Revolutionary times, Judge Boudinot came of Huguenot ancestry. As early as 1777 he was sufficiently prominent in the State, and in the esteem of the patriots, to be chosen Secretary of the Council of Safety for the State, as the following extract from the minutes of the meeting of April 29th of that year shows :
His Excellency, Governor Livingston, was pleased to lay before the Board, a Letter from Elisha Boudinot Esqr of Date the 18th Instant, informing that he was obliged to decline the office of Secretary which this Board had conferred upon him.
Mr. Boudinot was born in 1742, and, after settling in Newark, became a distinguished lawyer. In 1792 he was appointed a Supreme Court Justice for a term of seven years. He was a younger brother of Elias Boudinot, member of the Continental Congress and President of that body in 1782, and who was also the first President of the American Bible Society. Judge Boudinot died in 1819, his illustrious brother, Dr. Boudinot, following him to the grave two years later.
A few years subsequent to the establishment of the Newark Banking and Insurance Company-whose depositors soon included
.
157
THE NEWARK STATE BANK.
large numbers of people throughout the northern section of New Jersey-the business of Newark had increased so that additional banking facilities were demanded; and, under an act of the Legis- lature passed January 28th, 1812, the State Bank of Newark was organized, the first meeting being held on February 8th following. Under the same act banks were established at Trenton, New Brunswick, Camden and Morristown. The capital stock of the Newark State Bank was limited to $400,000. Judge William S. Pennington was chosen the first President, and Mr. Caleb S. . Halsted Cashier; the first Board of Directors being W. S. Pennington, Aaron Munn, Isaac Andruss, Oliver Wade, John Alling, Smith Burnet, Moses N. Combs, Stephen D. Day, Martin Ryerson, Abner Ackerman, Isaac Pierson, James Vanderpool and Job S. Dodd. President Pennington's successors were Elias Van Arsdale, Caleb Carter, Elias Van Arsdale, junior; Samuel Meeker, Charles S. Mack- net, William B. Mott and Theodore Macknet, the present President. Cashier Halsted's successors were George Charles Hereford, John Fleming, Charles J. Graham, Jacob D. Vermilye, William B. Mott, James D. Orton and Isaac Gaston. The ground upon which the bank building now stands was purchased in 1812 from Luther Goble for $2,Soo, the rear lot upon which the bank proper stands being obtained a year later for $310. The old structure, a comfort- able brick house, more like a residence than a bank, was torn down in 1869, and the present elegant and commodious establishment reared in its place -- a credit to the enterprise of its proprietors and a decided ornament to the city. In the early days the State Bank was guarded from robbers in the primitive style already described. Mr. Hereford, the second Cashier, met a sad fate in consequence. While examining the pistols one evening one of them accidentally exploded, the discharge wounding the unfortunate gentleman so that he died soon after.
On the eighteenth of June, 1812, the United States, exasperated beyond endurance at the long continued and arrogant disregard of her rights and those of her seamen by Great Britain, declared war against the latter power. This ultimatum was only reached by our Government after the most careful consideration. While jealous of their rights and liberties, the American people considered it wise to suffer considerably rather than precipitate hostilities with their old trans-Atlantic foe. With the close of the Revolutionary war
158
THE WAR OF 1812-BUSINESS PROSPERITY.
they turned their swords into ploughshares and their bayonets into reaping-hooks. They desired peace, if with honor it could be maintained. They had, a dozen years before, averted a collision with France by a policy of forbearance; and, in this particular connection, it is interesting here to note that at the Town Meeting held April 9th, 1793, the people of Newark, by an almost unanimous vote, adopted an address to both Houses of Congress "Praying that they would take some Effectual Measures to restrain the arming of our Merchant Ships, and that they will not involve the Country in an immense increase of debt by instituting or aug- menting a national maritime force; but avoid both as the best means to prevent being led into war." Now, however, forbearance had ceased to be a virtue. The aggressions on American commerce growing out of the British "Orders" were borne with, as were also the outrages perpetrated by British men-of-war on American seamen ; but the strife stirred up by England's agents, whereby the Shawnee Indians, under Tecumseh, threatened deeds of desolation and blood against the Western settlements, brought matters to a crisis. Soon after General Harrison's signal triumph over Tecumseh at Tippecanoe, war was declared with England.
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