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 31
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299
BISHOP ODENHEIMER'S TRIBUTE.
at the variety, extent and beauty of what he saw. A few evenings later, President Ulysses S. Grant, then Mr. Greeley's rival for the Presidency, visited the Exhibition, and was equally emphatic with his distinguished political rival in expressing the pleasure he experienced at the magnificent display. The renowned soldier- statesman, Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, said upon visiting the Exhibition, that he did not "believe any other city in the United States could do what Newark had done in the way of an Industrial Exhibition." Right Reverend William Henry Oden- heimer, Episcopal Bishop of New Jersey, likewise visited the Rink, and, in the course of a written tribute to the success and worth of the Exhibition, said : "The superb specimens of skilled handicraft, ranging from the most delicate to the most ponderous, all displayed with remarkable taste, must place Newark workmen and workwomen in the first rank of inventive and operative genius. Considered simply as a sample room, this Industrial Exhibition will make its permanent mark on the commercial interests of Newark, and, in the best sense of the phrase, will prove itself to be a 'mammoth adver- tiser' of its gifted mechanics and the attractive productions of their rare skill." The right reverend gentleman also spoke of the Exhibition as being " productive of permanent and valuable results to the community," and of being "a school of instruction for all classes of people, young and old," to the professional man, the doctor, the lawyer and the clergyman alike with the young mechanic. Continuing, the Bishop wrote : "If any one impression beyond all others was left on my mind, after a short but deeply interesting visit to the Exhibition, it was this-perfection of Newark work. Wherever I turned this element of perfection met my eye. The brazen padlocks glittered like gold ; the huge shears were ornamented as if for simple beauty ; the carriages and harness seemed as though they might have been made for a perpetual show-case. The thread and silk were attractive in the variety of their colors and in their artistic arrangement. The cutlery and the iron and steel-work of every description were perfect in their departments, even to the arrange- ment of the objects in lines and forms of beauty. Even the trunk department had its beauty, and the perfection of workmanship was seen in a trunk that could be converted, by a very simple process, into a baby's cradle and bath-tub." On Friday evening, October IIth, the Exhibition was formally closed with appropriate exercises.
300
A DECIDED SUCCESS-A HISTORIC STEAM-ENGINE RELIC.
Altogether it more than fulfilled the most sanguine expectations of its most enthusiastic projectors. It was a decided success, whether regarded as a thing of beauty and instruction, a unique and splendid collective exhibit of local mechanical art and industry, or in the more material light of an immediate financial success and an adver- tisement of the whole city, grand alike in its conception and in its achievement. On those who conceived the project, on the enter- prise that created it, and on the city that sustained it handsomely, it reflected equal measures of credit. It made not only Newarkers, but Jerseymen generally, proud of "our towne on Passayak," and throughout the Union and even in foreign countries it elevated, increased and extended to a degree impossible to measure the fame and reputation of Newark as a great manufacturing centre. The experiment was tried again during three succeeding years, but, owing to the setting in of the period of " hard times " following the panic of 1873, and the demands upon Newark for suitable repre- sentation at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, during the Summer of 1876, the Industrial Exhibition was not as great a success as at first.
Apropos of mechanical industries and exhibitions, space may appropriately be allotted here for reference to a steam-engine relic clustering around which are family and industrial historical memo- ries of deep general as well as local interest. This relic is a section of the first steam-engine ever used in this country. Intimately associated with it are the well-known names of Schuyler and Hornblower. The steam-engine in question was imported from England in the year 1753, by Col. John Schuyler, for use in the copper mines at New Barbadoes. These mines were the property of the Schuyler family, and were discovered by a curious chance. About the year 1700 Arent Schuyler, son of the celebrated Philip Pieterson Van Schuyler, who came from Holland half a century earlier, purchased from William Kingsland, who is said to have been a kinsman of Oliver Cromwell, part of a large tract of land opposite Belleville. Some ten years later, as the tradition goes, while ploughing in a field, a negro slave found a large stone, the heaviness of which excited his curiosity so that he carried it to his master. The latter perceived that it contained copper, and finding that it was from a bed of the same ore, he sent it to England for examina- tion. It was found to contain about eighty per cent. of a superior
30
THE SCHUYLER COPPER MINES.
quality of copper. Schuyler, wishing to reward the virtual discov- erer of his mine of copper and of riches, gave the negro his freedom and told him to express three wishes, which would be granted him additional. The first wish was to live with his master as long as he lived, and have all the tobacco he could smoke. The second wish was for a dressing-gown " with big brass buttons, just like massa's." The negro was at a loss to name a third wish. He was urged to ask something valuable. After studying some time and scratching his head, he finally said, " I guess, massa, I'll hab a little more 'baccy." For many years the mine yielded large quantities of rich ore, until it was worked as deep as hand and horse-power- could clear it of water. Then it was, in 1753, that Col. John Schuyler, one of Arent's sons by his second wife, sent to England for one of the steam-engines he had heard about, and which were then being used with great success in the Cornwall mines. These engines were constructed by Joseph Hornblower and his sons. Col. Schuyler also ordered that an experienced engineer be sent with the engine. Accordingly, with the latter came Josiah Hornblower, a son of Joseph, then a young man of about twenty-five years of age and of decidedly prepossessing appearance. Young Horn- blower expected to return to England as soon as the Schuyler engine was in satisfactory operation. He was induced to remain, however, and in a few years married Miss Kingsland, whose father's plantation adjoined that of Col. Schuyler's. It may here be remarked that the late highly honored and esteemed Chief Justice Joseph C. Hornblower-who was born at Belleville, and died in Newark, full of years and distinctions, in 1864-was the youngest of a family of twelve children resulting from this union.
The engine was one of the kind known as Newcomen's or Cornish engines, James Watt not yet having invented his separate condenser, nor the use of high pressure. It worked admirably in the copper mines, which continued for many years to yield large quantities of highly prized ore. After 1760 they were worked for several years by Hornblower himself. The approach of the War for Independ- ence-in which both Hornblower and the Schuylers took ardent parts. as patriots-caused the operations to cease. Work was resumed, however, in 1792, and was carried on for several years by successive parties. It finally ceased altogether early in this century, and the old engine was broken up and the materials disposed of.
302
MORAL AND MATERIAL PROGRESS.
The boiler, a large copper cylinder with a flat bottom and a dome-shaped top, was carried to Philadelphia. The relic just referred to is a portion of the cylinder about six feet long and four feet in diameter. It finally passed into the hands of Messrs. David M. Meeker & Son, the malleable and grey iron founders, and was by them exhibited at the Centennial Exhibition. The Schuyler mines are still in possession of the Schuyler family, and it is believed by some will yet be made to yield greater wealth than ever.
Returning to our subject proper, we find that steadily in the wake of increasing population and wealth followed a corresponding increase of banking and insurance companies, as well as religious, educational and charitable societies. Up to the year 1860 there had been established in Newark ten banks, including three savings institutions. In 1876 the number of banks had increased to nine- teen, five being savings institutions, and the number of insurance companies to twenty-three, great and small.
At the head of the insurance companies of Newark, likewise at the head of those of the State of New Jersey, and of hundreds of the most prosperous similar institutions throughout the country, stands the MUTUAL BENEFIT LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY, the very remarkable history of which suggests the thought that in the generally considered prosy records of every-day business life, no less than in the domain of social existence, where the passions play the leading parts, there are romances in real life, some of which, at least, serve admirably
" To point a moral or adorn a tale."
On the principle, perhaps, that "distance lends enchantment to the view," we are wont to wonder at the rise of such houses as those of the Rothschilds and the Barings, the reigning money powers of Europe, whose ambassadors are to be found in almost every part of the world-at their marvelous accumulation of wealth, and their undemonstrative but, nevertheless, enormous influence. But here at our own doors, standing modestly yet majestically in our midst, is a concern whose history is quite as remarkable in most respects as either the one founded in Frankfort by Meyer Anselm Rothschild before the American Republic was born, or the one established in London, in 1770, by the sons of John Baring, “late of Bremen." Indeed, in some respects the Newark institution is
203
THE MUTUAL BENEFIT LIFE INSURANCE BUILDING.
303
NEWARK'S RIVAL OF ROTHSCHILD AND THE BARINGS.
more remarkable than either of those named. It is true that Rothschild was of a race and lineage most hated, persecuted and despised in Europe, and nowhere more so than in Germany; but it was his fortune, nevertheless, to be the chosen custodian of Elector William's riches ($5,000,000), which he was authorized to use as he saw fit ; and to be also selected by the German Govern- ment to transact much of its financial business. The Barings, likewise, early attracted the attention of the wealthy in England, and were entrusted with vast amounts, which they handled most judiciously and to the enrichment both of themselves and their patrons. And yet the great financial outgrowths of German genius at Frankfort and at London have taken more than a century to reach the eminence they now enjoy. The Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, on the other hand, has risen to be what it is within the period of a third of the same time, and without the aid either of government funds, the avarice-causing smiles of the wealthy, or even the adventitious circumstance of location amidst a great population such as that of New York or London.
Just a third of a century ago, in May, 1845, the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company was organized. Such was the condition of its exchequer that it was without means to pay the paltry $300 expended in procuring a charter, or the $250 required for the first year's office rent. It was without a dollar of capital, and it was thought by the friends of the first President, Robert L. Patterson, that he was hazarding a loss of his first year's salary ($1,200) by embarking in the enterprise ; while the first Secretary and Treasurer was advised that he would lose the $800 he was to receive for his year's arduous toil. It was a time, too, when life insurance was in its infancy, when there were not five thousand policies in force in the entire United States, and when the whole system had yet to be perfected into the science it has since become, and to be popularized by rare business tact, talent and spotless probity and uprightness. Nor should it be forgotten that here in Newark where the enterprise was started, there were less than 16,000 inhabitants. But if the infant concern had no capital at its back and no funds in its treasury to defray necessary expenses of starting, it had more than their equivalent. It had men of clear head, broad business grasp, remarkable foresight, extraordinary creative genius and exem- plary character to guide and guard and foster its interests from
304
SPLENDID RESULTS OF GENIUS AND PROBITY.
infancy upwards. This institution, which began thirty-three years ago with really less than nothing, has grown with the years until it is able to announce this current year (1878) to the hosts of people directly and indirectly interested in its welfare, that its sure and certain assets are over thirty-three millions of dollars, or, to be accurate, $33, 181,828.49. An idea of the extent of the operations of the Company is furnished by the following figures : The number of policies in force on January Ist, 1878, was 42,796, insuring $126,193,045.00. Since the organization of the Company the receipts up to January, 1878, were : premiums, $74,012, 101.68 ; interest, $19,641,801.58, of which payments on policy claims were made to the amount of $23,422,595.09; surrendered policies, $6,226,757.34; dividends, $22,350,783.50; taxes and expenses, $9,401,637.37 ; returned to members, $52,000,135.93; reserve and surplus, $32,252,129.96. Of the twelve original directors of the Company two only survive-Henry McFarlan and Lewis C. Grover. In 1862 President Patterson, who, more than any other man, secured the formation of the Company, died and was succeeded by the present incumbent, President Grover, to whose exceptionally great business tact, talent and experience is mainly due the wondrous success of this immense concern.
Such were the beginnings, such is the history in brief, of an institution which is destined to live in history as a proud monument not alone of the genius of its creators, but of the fiducial honor and greatness of the city of Newark, of the State of New Jersey and of the United States of America. With rigid adherence to the facts, it may be said that the foundations of this Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company were laid in the bed-rock of Justice, Equity and Truth, and that the grand structure has been reared to a lofty altitude among the financial institutions of the American Continent by the implements of Economy, Prudence, Industry and Honesty. As such, Newark may most justly be proud of its giant offspring of the order of benevolence and " mutual benefit."
Right here it may be fittingly remarked that, as regards the general character of the financial institutions of Newark from the time of the establishment of the first bank, in 1804, up to the present time, they have always more than compared favorably with the financial institutions of any or all other cities in the Union so far as stability and wisdom and prudence of management are
305
SCOTCH GENIUS, ENTERPRISE AND INDUSTRY.
concerned. During a period extending over seventy years, never once has there been recorded the absolute failure of a leading Newark bank, nor is there citable a single. instance in which an important financial officer has betrayed his trust to the robbery of citizens and the scandal of the community. And it is worthy of permanent recollection that, amid the long, disaster-spreading storm which set in after the panic of 1873, mercilessly sweeping to wreck and ruin on a lee shore hundreds of the 'staunchest structures, the banks and other trust companies of Newark, with a few prominent exceptions, gallantly and safely rode the fierce gale without losing a spar or shifting a bolt.
Yet another of the specially remarkable institutions of Newark, is one which distributes its blessings with a prodigality equal to that of Portia's unstrained "quality of mercy;" one which furnishes employment to about a twentieth part of the entire number of per- sons engaged in manufacturing pursuits here, viz. : fifteen hundred hands; one which pays in wages from $16,000 to $20,000 every fortnight ; one which occupies, with its buildings, several acres of ground in the Eighth ward, fronting the Passaic river, the floorings of which buildings measure no less than eight acres; and one which, in its line of business, stands without a rival on the broad continent of America. We speak now of the CLARK THREAD WORKS, which were established in the year 1866, and which have contributed in a degree not easily measured not alone to the material growth and importance of the city, but to the enviable fame and reputation of its skill in manufactures.
In earlier pages we have seen it certified that, by the advent of large numbers of Scotch, in 1685, " American society was enriched with a valuable accession of virtue," &c. In like manner, within a recent period, American manufactures have been enriched with a valuable accession of Scotch genius, enterprise and industry-for the founders of the Clark Thread Works were and are of the same race with the adventurous but ill-fated " George Scot, of Pitlochie "; with William Alexander, " commonly called the Earl of Stirling," whose courage and firmness on the field of Monmouth more than neutralized the traitorous inertia of Lee, and did much to win that field; with Mercer, the martyr-patriot of Princeton ; with Wither- spoon, one of the master-minds of the Continental Congress, and with a host of others whom the land of Wallace and Bruce and Burns
7
306
GEORGE A. CLARK-IHIS PAISLEY MONUMENTS.
sent to America to benefit humanity and the cause of freedom, of learning, of science and of religion. To George A. Clark, a native of Paisley, Scotland, is justly ascribed the chief credit of having founded the great industrial institution in question. He came of a family trained in similar pursuits, his ancestors having established a factory at Paisley nearly seventy years ago. It still exists, and rivals its New World offspring-for such the Newark factory may properly be termed-in the vastness of its dimensions and products. Into the enterprise Mr. Clark infused his remarkable energy, and it was an established success from the very first. Unfortunately, the chief founder did not live to witness the full fruition of his plans and the perfection to which the works were destined to be brought under the zeal, energy and skill of those who continued where he suddenly left off. He died in Newark, February 13th, 1873, sincerely deplored by thousands of citizens. From a shapely shaft of Aberdeen granite reared over his grave in Paisley's " silent city of the dead," the author, during a pilgrimage to the spot in the Summer of 1875, transcribed the plain, unpretending epitaphs of the deceased Newark manufacturer and his relatives, as follows :
JOHN CLARK.
ROBERT KERR CLARK, Died 18th June, 1860, aged 25.
ANNABELLA CLARK, Died 31st July, 1863, aged 31.
JOHN CLARK, Died 27th June, 1864, aged 73.
GEORGE AITKEN CLARK, Thread Manufacturer, Died at Newark, New Jersey, U. S., 13th Feb., 1873, aged 49.
There is now in course of erection at Paisley another monument to the memory of Mr. Clark, one in consonance with his practical, mankind-benefitting character-a splendid City Hall. Upon the death of George A. Clark, the management of the works chiefly devolved on his surviving brother, William Clark, whose executive skill has pushed the concern on to constantly broadening fields of usefulness and benefit. He has been ably assisted by a corps of experienced lieutenants. To attempt a full description of the
-
THE POST OFFICE AND CUSTOM HOUSE.
307
CLARK THREAD WORKS-BALLANTINES' BREWERY.
gigantic corporation is something from which we shrink. It may be said generally, however, that it is a model of completeness, a wonder in extent-an institution well calculated to set marveling those who usually recur thoughtlessly to a spool of cotton thread, the staple product of the works. This thread is made up of nearly eight millions of doublings, and yet is so fine as to be hardly visible a few inches from the eye. The number of feet of draft which one pound of cotton goes through-that is to say, the number of feet of fine yarn into which it is spun-reaches the incredible amount of one trillion, seven hundred and seventy-two billion, three hundred and twenty million, six hundred and thirty-five thousand, six hundred feet, or, stated in figures, 1,772,320,635,600. The web of cotton from which this immense length of thread is drawn is originally forty inches wide. The cotton before being made into thread is doubled 6,967,296 times, as it passes through the different processes. If the total draft is divided by this sum it will give the total number of feet of thread in a pound of cotton, viz. : 254,337. But there is a loss of twenty per cent. in the manufacture, making the total, therefore, 305,252 feet of thread for a pound of cotton-enough to reach from New York to Trenton, or about sixty miles. Such is the extent of the enterprise that there has been organized among the employes a full and admirably trained and equipped fire-hose company ; a Relief Society which paid out nearly $12,000 to mem- bers in 1876; a flourishing boat club, and an instrumental band of eighteen pieces. Furthermore, the company does all its own printing and lithography, and turns out some magnificent specimens of work in both departments. As for the future of this vast hive of industry, only the men who mould and guide such concerns may indulge in prophecy.
Also fronting the Passaic river, at distant points, are two other concerns which richly deserve enrollment among those which have assisted Newark in winning fame for varied industries. One is the extensive ale brewery and malt-house of P. Ballantine & Sons; the other, the Passaic Carbon and Agricultural Chemical Works, owned and conducted by the brothers Alfred and Edwin Lister, and situated on the river bank at the foot of River street.
More than half a century ago, Peter Ballantine, another thrifty Scotchman, settled in Albany, New York, and established an ale brewery there. Twenty years later, in 1840, he removed to Newark.
308
PASSAIC CARBON AND AGRICULTURAL CHEMICAL WORKS.
From his then skillful efforts has grown the extensive and important business of which he continues the active head, though now in his eighty-seventh year. With him have long been associated his sons, Peter H., John H. and Robert F. Ballantine. Nearly two hundred workmen are usually employed, and the annual products reach about $750,000. The ales brewed by the firm are declared by authorities to rival in quality the best brands manufactured in England. Besides the Ballantine's there are two other ale breweries in Newark-Lyon & Son, on Canal street, and Morton & Brothers, on High street. The total sales of ales in Newark annually, reach about 132,000 barrels ; of lager-beer, 288,000 barrels; valuation of all, $3,000,000.
About the year 1842 Joseph Lister, an Englishman of ingenuity and experience, came to this country, bringing with him a bone- grinding machine. He was the pioneer in America in the utiliza- tion of animals' bones into fertilizing material. His sons, Alfred and Edwin Lister, succeeded him and established themselves in Newark about the year 1850. Such is the extent of their concern-the largest of its kind in the world-that they employ about 300 hands, and do a business of about $1,000,000 annually. Their trade reaches to Europe and South America, and it may be said that the soil of thousands and tens of thousands of acres of land in the Old World and in the New, have been made to laugh with plenty through the "pungent grains of titillating dust " manufactured by them from the bones of animals, and distributed over their lands by scientifically-guided agriculturists. The bones used by the firm are gathered in large quantities from various parts of the country, the West being especially a great source of supply. Not only do the Listers produce the finest kind of fertilizers but also a species of tallow admirably suited for the manufacture of the choicest toilet soaps. In addition, thanks to the scientific scope of their researches and the marvelous machinery they employ, they are able to trans- form into sizing for certain fabrics matter that formerly was thrown away as refuse. Instead of being common-place, the Passaic Carbon and Agricultural Chemical Works form an industrial study of the deepest interest to the student of mechanic arts, science and philosophy.
Recurring to institutions of a religious and educational character, we find that the twenty churches which Newark boasted of in 1833
309
RELIGIOUS AND EDUCATIONAL.
had increased in 1864 to seventy-seven. These were divided as follows : Presbyterian, 16; Methodist, 14; German (3 Presbyterian, 3 Roman Catholic, 2 Methodist, 2 Evangelical, 2 Episcopal, I Bap- tist and I Reformed Dutch), 14; Episcopalian, 6; Baptist, 6; Roman Catholic, 4; Reformed Dutch, 3; Congregational Presby - terian, I; United Presbyterian, I; Bethel, I; Universalist, I ; Spiritualists, I; Jewish Synagogues, 3; African (2 Methodist, I Episcopal and I Presbyterian), 4-grand total, 77. The twelve years following witnessed a further increase of thirty-two societies, the total now (1878) being : Presbyterian, 16; Presbyterian Missions, 5 ; Reformed Presbyterian, I ; United Presbyterian, I ; Congrega- tional, 2; Reformed Dutch, 9; Baptist, 13 ; Episcopal 12 ; Episcopal Reformed, I; Methodist, 17; Methodist Missions, 5; Methodist Protestant, 2; Lutheran, 3; Roman Catholic, 10; Bethel, I ; Universalist, I; Unitarian, I ; Jewish Synagogues, 3; Independent, 6-total, 109. The first member of the Jewish faith to settle in Newark was Louis Trier, a native of Germany, who came here in April, 1844, and was employed in Halsey & Tucker's tannery. Two years later there were enough Israelites here to form a small con- gregation. They worshipped in a room in Broome street. Twelve years later, in 1859, the first synagogue was built on Washington street.
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