Chapter VIII: Part II: C. C. Hine and His Times (3)

Mrs. Hine was the third president of the Y. W. C. A. of Newark, and remained at its head through the many trying years of its youth, and when it was a very different institution from the present and very differently managed. She was also for many years president of the New Jersey branch of the Women’s Indian Association, and one of its most active members.

Nearer home she organized and conducted a Zenana Mission Band which, in itself, would have been considered work enough by most women and, in addition, she carried on a large Bible class in the Sunday school—all this without interfering in the least with her household duties, which she was slow to delegate to others.

THE ZENANA MISSION BAND.

The Zenana Mission Band, which was started by Mrs. Hine, became quite an institution, with its bi-weekly meetings and annual fair, which were held in the home at 209 Washington avenue. Just when it was begun, or how, I am unable to state, but it was many years ago, and the meetings were only stopped when advancing years compelled Mrs. Hine to give up the responsibility.

The meetings began early in the fall and lasted the day out. These continued until a fair was given during the following May or June, at which time the entire lower floor of the house was stripped of its furniture and devoted to the event. Tables and booths for the sale of all manner of articles, from embroidery to ice cream, being erected in every available corner.

Mrs. Hine designed the embroidery patterns used and both she and Miss Avery, being expert with the needle, began the pieces and set the pace for the others, they having been brought up at a time when household duties and the finer uses of the needle were a part of every girl’s education. Some of those with whom I have talked look on the educational value to those who came to these meetings as possibly the more important feature, believing that many of the young women who attended would never otherwise have had their taste and skill for such work developed, for the embroidery was most rich and elaborate, requiring exceedingly careful manipulation.

When the fair fell on rainy times and the fancy goods did not go off as desired Miss Avery would take a bundle of the best to New York and there dispose of the articles among her friends, for just about so much money was wanted to send out to India each year, and if it did not come it must be gone after.

MISS JANE A. AVERY.

In this connection I cannot forbear from a brief word concerning Miss J. A. Avery, Mrs. Hine’s sister and aid in all good works. Miss Avery was one of the most lovable persons I have ever met, her self-sacrificing spirit and constant thought of others being most marked. And with a saintly spirit she had an attractive personality quite beyond the ordinary.

She has been compared to a bit of delicate Sevres china, and possibly that is as good a comparison showing her daintiness as could be made, but Miss Avery was something more than merely attractive; her devotion to any duty in hand was such that she never had a thought of fear, nor did she allow the discomfort of pain to interfere. Before the day of trained nurses she was caring for an uncle—Judge Edward Avery of Massillon, Ohio—who required constant attention, and while so engaged the bones of one foot were crushed by the falling of a heavy iron. The doctor insisted that she must not stand on this foot, but this injunction she felt it was impossible to obey, and made that same doctor whittle out a thin board and bind it to the injured foot, and thus she hobbled about in constant pain, but giving the unremitting attention required by her patient.

One who knew Miss Avery well for many years writes that she “was one of those rare characters whose mission it is to bring comfort and cheer to their fellows. She was one of those large natures of whom Goethe says, ‘They impress not by what they do, but by what they are’.

“Wherever she went she was welcome; she had the remarkable faculty of seeing at a glance what was needed, and without a word doing the right thing, the wonderful gift of tact which, with a loving nature, makes the possessor a tower of strength. So winning was her personality that she made friends wherever she went, and always said laughingly that she could travel all over Europe with only her mother-tongue.”

It is impossible at this date to go into details concerning all those who were active during the early days of this period, but there are a few in regard to whom I have been able to secure some bits of information.

MR. HORACE H. NICHOLS.

Mr. Horace H. Nichols was a man who left his impress on all those who came in contact with him. Mr. Nichols was a carpenter and builder in Newark before his removal to Woodside. He secured the contract for fencing the cemetery and that brought him this way, and the beauties of the country gave him a longing to turn farmer, and so he bought a considerable tract here in 1846, and in 1852 built the white house which still stands back from the road. Here he started the growing of fruit, and was very successful, as many of us can testify.

Mr. Nichols had the character of a saint and, while not an aggressive man, was always ready “to dig down in his jeans” whenever the church called for help, and was ever looking for the opportunity to do his share—rather an unusual trait.

REMINISCENCES OF MR. HENRY J. WINSER.

Mr. Henry J. Winser was not with us during much of the very early period, owing to his appointment as consul at Sonneberg, Germany, during the eight years when Grant was President, and also through the term of President Hayes, and he had little opportunity for local activity.

Mr. Winser’s earliest experience in the War of the Rebellion was as military secretary (with the rank of first lieutenant) to Col. Elmer E. Ellsworth, whose blood was the first shed in the war.

The friendship with Ellsworth began in 1855 when he came to New York, a youth of seventeen, from his home in Saratoga County, hoping to be appointed as cadet to West Point. In this, however, he was disappointed, as the politicians desired the places for their friends’ sons.

He then began the study of law in Chicago, but also kept up his study of the art of war and, becoming impressed with the tactics of the French Zouaves during the Crimean War, and being well known in military circles in Chicago, it was an easy matter for him to form a company. This was organized as the Ellsworth Zouaves, and was composed of the flower of the youth of Chicago.

The fame of the “Chicago Zouaves” had become so widespread that a year or two before the war Ellsworth was asked to bring his men East, and so great was the enthusiasm over their exhibition that Colonel Ellsworth’s methods were soon widely copied.

At the time of Mr. Lincoln’s election to the Presidency, Ellsworth was employed in his law office. He accompanied him to Washington and remained near the President during the unsettled period which followed the inauguration. He was among the first to obtain a military commission from President Lincoln, and was sent to New York with instructions to form a regiment from the ranks of the Volunteer Fire Department of the city in the shortest possible time.

Mr. Winser was impressed into the service on this occasion. In a very short time Ellsworth had twelve-hundred men enlisted and mustered into the service of the United States under the call for three months’ volunteers, and in the extraordinarily brief period of three weeks from the time he arrived in New York he marched at the head of a thousand well-equipped men to the steamship at the foot of Canal street. On reaching Washington this body of raw recruits was at first given quarters in the Capitol building, owing to lack of camp equipage.

There were many anomalous things connected with the organization of the volunteer forces in the early stages of the war, and not the least anomalous was the fact that Ellsworth appointed Mr. Winser his military secretary, with the rank and uniform of first lieutenant.

The advance into Virginia had been determined upon and instructions were given to embark at two o’clock in the morning for Alexandria. Ellsworth then entered the tent which he and Mr. Winser shared and asked the latter to get some sleep while he finished his final arrangements. Then it was that he wrote that brief, but pathetic letter to his parents which drew tears from many unaccustomed eyes after it was published. The letter is in an old scrapbook of Mr. Winser’s, and reads as follows:—

“Headquarters First Zouaves,
”Camp Lincoln, Washington, May 23, 1861.

“My dear Father and Mother:—

“The regiment is ordered to move across the river to-night. We have no means of knowing what reception we shall meet with. I am inclined to the opinion that our entrance to the city of Alexandria will be hotly contested, as I am just informed that a large force has arrived there to-day. Should this happen, my dear parents, it may be my lot to be injured in some manner. Whatever may happen, cherish the consolation that I was engaged in the performance of a sacred duty, and to-night, thinking over the probabilities of the morrow and the occurrences of the past, I am perfectly content to accept whatever my fortune may be, confident that He who noteth the fall of a sparrow will have some purpose even in the fate of one like me. My darling and ever-loved parents, good-bye. God bless, protect and care for you.

ELMER.“

Just as daylight was breaking on the morning of the twenty-fourth of May, the steamers carrying the Ellsworth Zouaves arrived at Alexandria. The commander of the sloop-of-war Pawnee, which lay off Alexandria, had already proposed terms of submission which had been accepted by the city, and it was supposed that there would be no resistance to the occupation of the town.

The following is Mr. Winser’s account of what occurred:—

“Ellsworth was the first to land, and then Company E, Captain Leveridge, formed upon the wharf. Without waiting for the remainder of the regiment to disembark the Colonel gave some hurried instructions for interrupting the railroad communication and, calling to me, said: ‘Winser, come with me to the telegraph office. It is important to cut the wires.’ Mr. E. H. House, correspondent of the New York Tribune, had accompanied the expedition, and he and the Rev. E. W. Dodge, chaplain of the regiment, who were standing near, asked if they might go with us. We had gone only a few paces when I suggested to Ellsworth that perhaps it would be well to take a squad of men as an escort. He assented at once and I soon overtook him with a sergeant and four men from Company A. We ran up the street for about two blocks on a double-quick in the supposed direction of the telegraph office, meeting a few sleepy-looking people on the way. The Colonel at this moment caught sight of a large Confederate flag which had just been raised above the roof of a building apparently two or three blocks distant to the left. He at once said: ‘Boys, we must have that flag!’ and told the sergeant to go back and tell Captain Coyle to follow us with his entire company.

“Not heeding the mission to the telegraph office for the moment, we pushed on toward the building with the flag flying over it and found it was the Marshall House, an hotel of second-class grade. As we rushed into the open door the Colonel called out to a man in shirt and trousers who was entering the hallway from the opposite side: ‘What flag is that over the roof?’ The fellow looked neither surprised nor alarmed at the irruption of armed men, and answered, doggedly as I thought: ‘I don’t know anything about it; I am only a boarder here.’ Without further parley the Colonel ran up the long winding stairway to the topmost story, the rest of us following closely. It did not take long to find the attic room, whence opened a skylight with the flagstaff within easy reach, and the large flag was soon upon our heads.

“I passed it down to the men below, and as I got off the ladder I saw the Zouaves tearing off pieces as mementos of the exploit. This I stopped, saying that the flag must not be mutilated, but must be preserved as a trophy. The entire occurrence could not have occupied more than a couple of minutes. I was busy rolling the long flag over my arm when Ellsworth turned to the stairway holding one end of the flag. He was preceded by Private Francis E. Brownell, of Company A. Mr. House and Chaplain Dodge were close beside him, and I was a few steps behind, still rolling the flag on my arm as compactly as possible. There were two men in the attic room whom we had not noticed at first in our eagerness to get down the flag. They arose in great bewilderment to witness our deed and were almost fully dressed. They had, however, no connection with the tragic event.

“In the order I have mentioned we began our descent of the broad, winding stairway. My attention was too much occupied in managing the bulky flag to know by actual observation precisely what happened in the first instant of the lamentable tragedy. I heard the clash of weapons and at the same moment the report of two guns, with so imperceptible an interval between that it might have been taken for a single shot. I saw Ellsworth fall forward at the foot of the first flight of stairs, and I saw Brownell, standing on the landing near the turn to the second flight, make a thrust with his bayonet at the tottering form of a man which fell headlong down half the second flight of stairs. No explanation of what had happened was needed. As Brownell reached the first landing place, after the descent of a dozen steps, a man rushed out and, without noticing the private soldier, leveled a double-barreled gun squarely at Ellsworth’s breast. Brownell said that he made a quick pass to turn the gun aside, but was not successful, and the contents of both barrels, slugs or buckshot, entered the Colonel’s heart, killing him instantly. He was on the third step above the landing when he received the shot, and he fell forward in that helpless, heavy manner which showed that every spark of life had left his body ere he reached the floor. The murderer’s fingers had scarcely pressed the triggers of his weapon when Brownell’s rifle was discharged full in the centre of his face, and as he staggered to his fall the shot was followed by a bayonet thrust of such force that it sent the man backward down the upper section of the second flight of stairs, where he lay for hours afterward with his face to the floor and his rifle beneath him. This man proved to be James T. Jackson proprietor of the Marshall House, and I fully recognized him as the person we had met as we entered the house.

“We were dazed for a few seconds at the shocking calamity, but we rallied, not knowing how soon we should be called upon to defend our own lives. There were only seven of us, and Mr. House was unarmed. The noise and confusion of the last few moments had aroused the sleepy household, and we saw that in point of numbers we were in a small minority. I stationed the three Zouaves at points commanding the approaches to the passages converging on the stairway where we stood, and directed that the first man who showed himself in the passages should be shot down. The occupants of the rooms in our immediate vicinity were gathered together in a single apartment and Brownell, who had reloaded his rifle, was placed as guard over them with instructions to shoot the first man who should evince a hostile disposition. The Chaplain and I searched the story above, finding only the two men whom I have before mentioned as being in the attic room when the flag was cut down; these we led down and put in Brownell’s custody. Mr. House, meanwhile, had kept watch that no one approached us from the story below. These defensive measures were only the work of a minute or two.

“We next turned our attention to our dear friend, the Colonel, whose life-blood had literally deluged the hallway. If we had not been too sadly sure that he was beyond the reach of any aid we could offer there would not have been even the slight delay there was ere we raised him from the floor. Mr. House and I lifted him up tenderly and laid him upon the bed in a room that was vacant. His uniform was so drenched with blood that it was almost impossible to discover the exact location of his wound. Unfastening his belt and unbuttoning his coat we found that the murderous charge had penetrated his left breast, taking into the wound much of the clothing, making a cavity almost large enough to insert a clenched hand. Poor fellow! We washed the stains from his face, which was beautiful in death—the expression of the handsome features not at all changed, except by the pallor, from that which his friends knew so well in life, and we composed his body, over which we laid the Confederate flag which had so long waved in defiance within sight of the White House, feeling that its use in this way purified it.”

The sword which Ellsworth wore at the time of his murder was given to Mr. Winser and is still in the possession of the family.

Mr. Winser was at the battle of Cold Harbor and had his horse shot under him. After the battle, during the night, a rifle ball lodged in the tent pole directly over his head, so low down that it must almost have passed through his hair, but so exhausted was he that he was all unconscious that death had been so near. During the Draft Riots in New York, in July, 1863, Mr. Winser was in command of the battery which protected Printing House Square. He also did effective work in communicating with the authorities on Governor’s Island, and although he was a marked man owing to his connection with the New York Times, he went fearlessly about the city looking after his friends in the sections where a reign of terror had set in.

Mr. Winser was once made prisoner of war by Gen. Thomas W. Sherman, who was in command at Beaufort, S. C. Mr. Winser had criticised his methods in a letter to the Times. This so angered the General that he caused his arrest, sending him on board the Arago, which was just leaving for New York, without permitting him to communicate with any of his friends. The publication of the affair resulted in Mr. Winser’s reinstatement at headquarters in South Carolina.

Mr. Winser was with Farragut at New Orleans, as a representative of the Times. In those days the means of communication were exceedingly slow, and Mr. Winser, recognizing the value to his paper of such a “scoop” as the first news of this important event would be, rowed down the Mississippi from Fort Jackson to the Gulf, where he found a schooner bound for Key West. This he boarded, and reached his destination a few hours ahead of the steamer from Havana, Cuba, which touched here for mail and passengers on its way to New York.

Thus the New York Times had an account of the bombardment and surrender of Forts Jackson and Phillip three days in advance of any other journal. This was considered the greatest “beat” ever known in the history of journalism. It was not only the means of giving the news to the country, but was also the first intimation that the government itself received of the success of the fleet. Mr. Winser returned to New Orleans and was there during the Butler regime and chronicled the General’s achievements for his paper.

Mr. Winser was also present at the meeting of Grant and Lee under the famous apple tree to arrange for the surrender of the Confederate Army.

He was one of the commissioners for the exchange of prisoners from Andersonville, and his reports of the condition of the men were most harrowing.

When the famous Butler-Porter controversy occurred in 1889, it was Mr. Winser who was able to prove that Butler’s charges against Porter were untrue.

When Mr. Winser sent his report of Farragut’s passage of the forts below New Orleans (as narrated elsewhere), fearing there might be a miscarriage, he wrote a second account which was forwarded by the same steamer that carried the letters of other newspaper correspondents. This latter manuscript was returned to him and hence, when Admiral Porter wrote, asking him if he remembered the circumstances of the sudden order from Captain Porter to the flotilla to cease firing and return, Mr. Winser was able to give a transcript of the affair from his manuscript letter.

It was a great grief to Mr. Winser that General Butler should have placed himself in so unpleasant a position, for he had valued him as a friend and soldier, and was most reluctantly brought into the controversy.

When he settled in Woodside Mr. Winser was city editor of the Times and was deep in the investigation of the Tweed Ring. This work was so exacting that he had no time even to attend to his own private affairs, and paid little attention to Woodside politics, except in one instance.

During the first year of Woodside’s independence there were no politics; no salaries attached to any of the offices, and consequently the good men were allowed to fill them. But by the time the second annual election approached there were a few soreheads who joined themselves unto the scattering Democrats and the house was divided against itself.

This necessitated some electioneering, which was undertaken by Mr. Winser and Mr. Theodore G. Palmer, who went the rounds of the district canvassing for votes. The result was overwhelmingly Republican and eminently satisfactory.

Mr. Winser broke down in January, 1869, and was told by the doctors that he must stop night work. He was advised by a friend to apply to General Grant for a consular position, and Sonneberg was suggested for its beauty of location and the wide field it offered for consular and other work, as it was the largest consulate in Germany.

Mr. H. J. Raymond, of the New York Times, was bitterly opposed to this and refused to help in any way, declining even to write introductions to his political friends in Washington or to request their aid in the appointment. Mr. R. said: “I do not want you to leave the Times and I shall in no way help you in your desire.”

But after Grant’s inauguration Mr. Winser wrote, asking for the Sonneberg post, and his was the first appointment made after March 4, 1869.

Secretary of State Hamilton Fish was a friend of Dr. Cox, father-in-law of Mr. Winser, and knew his (Mr. Winser’s) record as a journalist, and this doubtless was a help. Mr. Winser’s appointment was regarded as most remarkable, in that politics and pressure had nothing to do with it. Grant made it because he was a personal friend and the State Department probably sanctioned it because, in the application, Mr. W. said that he spoke three languages and referred to his Times editorials upon political matters.

While consul at Sonneberg Mr. Winser was appointed by the United States Government, Commissioner to the World’s Fair at Vienna in 1873.

When Mr. Winser returned from Sonneberg in 1873, intending to resign, Mr. Fish urged him to reconsider his decision and return to his post to go on with the work he had done for the government.

Mr. Winser was the first American officer to look into the emigration from Germany. He stopped the deportation of criminals from Germany to this country. He was the first man to study the forestry system in Germany, the consulate being in the centre of the forestry department of the country. Knowing the language thoroughly and being persona grata in high official circles he had access to all departments.

He wrote a most exhaustive report on the “Forests and Forest Culture of Thuringia”, which was sent to the State Department on November 28, 1873, and is in the “Commercial Relations” of 1873. So valuable was this report deemed by the State Department that it was printed as a separate pamphlet and sent to every newspaper in the country. In his report Mr. W. urged upon this country the necessity of cultivating and preserving its forests, as the time would come when care would be needed for their conservation from an economic point of view, for the supply of timber and for the effect they produced upon the climate, rainfall, etc.

The press of this country, one and all, hailed the report with derision, it being regarded as ridiculous that this great country with its primeval forests and its vast area of timber land could ever be depleted. Even the Times feared that Mr. Winser’s four years’ residence in a little country like Germany had dwarfed his ideas.

Twenty years later when the country became alarmed concerning the fearful devastation then going on throughout its forests men were rushed to Germany to learn its art of forestry.

Mr. Winser sent the government the first translation of the new German tariff. It was received from the Coburg Minister of State within an hour after he received it from the Imperial Government, and permission to keep it for twenty-four hours was given. At 9 a. m. Mr. and Mrs. W. sat down, after giving directions that they were not to be disturbed, and at 8 p. m. the work was finished, they dividing the pamphlet book in half and each working independently of the other. This feat created a sensation at the State Department and at the Consulate General at Frankfort. Mr. Winser had taken the precaution to notify the State Department that the voluminous matter had left Coburg on a certain date. He also wrote the Consul General, through whose office all documents were forwarded, that he had done this, so that no detention could be possible on the way. It was a fortunate thing that this was done, as the Consul General wrote he was sorry that he could not keep the document for a few days that he might get “some points”. He wanted to know how it was possible for Mr. W. to obtain the law before it had been given to the public.

Mr. Winser also sent the first translation of the new laws concerning the Rinderpest to the government.

On Mr. Winser’s return from Germany he was appointed, by Mr. Henry Villard, Chief of the Bureau of Information of the Northern Pacific Railway. In this capacity he inspected all the country tributary to the railroad, writing many pamphlets on the resources of the far West. He also wrote concerning the Yellowstone Park and its wonders.

He was in charge of the foreign guests at the celebration of driving the last spike of the railroad. Later he became assistant editor of the Commercial Advertiser, and then became managing editor of the Newark Daily Advertiser. Just before his death he prepared the history of Trinity Church, Newark, on the occasion of the sesqui-centennial celebration. For nine years he was clerk of the vestry.

Mr. Winser was one of the charter members of the “Monks of the Passaic”, a literary organization affiliated with the “Monks of the Meerschaum” in Philadelphia.

Mr. Winser, Mr. Noah Brooks and Prof. Byron Matthews organized “The Wednesday Club”, which has become one of the best-known literary clubs of Newark. He was a life member of the New Jersey Historical Society.

Mr. Winser’s church and other connections in Woodside are referred to elsewhere.

MR. JAMES SWINNERTON.

Mr. James Swinnerton, to whom I owe more than to any other one man for material covering this period, was a member of Swinnerton Bros., manufacturing jewelers in Newark. He removed to Woodside in 1866, being one of the very first of the new element.

Mr. Swinnerton immediately assumed a prominent place in the community, being town clerk during both the years of local independence and taking a foremost position in church and Sunday school development. So well satisfied were the voters with his work as town clerk that, when the second annual election was held, and an opposition ticket was put in the field, he received 185 of the 192 votes cast for that office.

Mr. Swinnerton has a natural antiquarian bent and, as a consequence, has preserved many memorials and a vivid memory of the past, and such of these as relate to Woodside he has freely put at my disposal, throwing light into many a dark corner.

MR. ALBERT BEACH.

Mr. Albert Beach was born in Newark and moved to the Bartholf farm on the old Bloomfield road about 1865. He was a kindly man and had a number of boys who were always ready to help along any mischief in which we were interested, and as Mr. Beach himself was much interested in the church we were quite neighborly, boy and man. And then all boys appreciated Mrs. Beach, who was one of those who sensed the fact that a boy’s heart lay next his stomach, and who immediately established close relations with both. The Beach house was overrun with boys a goodly portion of the time, and they were not all Beach boys, either.

GEN. GILBERT W. CUMMING.

General Gilbert W. Cumming lived on the River road in the old Stimis house. The General’s property came down to the swamp where we boys learned to skate, and his rail fence was a great temptation when a fire was wanted, which was mostly all the time. It is still well remembered how, on such occasions he would come charging down the hill “spitting blue sparks”. The General’s habit of language was acquired in the army, apparently, and it generally sounded as though the army was in Flanders at the time; certainly it was of the pyrotechnic order, and no one could well blame him with such an inciting firebrand as his rail fence became. He was a thoroughly good man, however, and while he had the reputation of being somewhat crusty and quick tempered, he could be quite genial when all things worked together for peace. “He was an old-fashioned lawyer of the Abe Lincoln school.”

The General was born March 12, 1817, of Scotch parents, at Stamford, N. Y. He was admitted to the bar in New York, but removed to Chicago in 1858. When the Civil War broke out he offered his services and was appointed Colonel of the 51st Illinois Volunteers, which he was largely instrumental in raising.

Under General Pope he participated in the battle of New Madrid, Mo., and while in charge of a brigade on the way to Tiptonville his capture of Island No. 10 against great odds brought him prominently to the front. For this he was made a brigadier-general for “gallant and meritorious services at Island No. 10”.

Proceeding to Tiptonville he assisted in the capture of 6,000 Southern soldiers and later took part with his brigade in the attack on Fort Pillow. He was also at Corinth and Shiloh and was brought home from the latter on a cot, his breakdown being due to hard work and exposure. During a long rainy period he regarded himself as fortunate if he had a brush heap to sleep on, such a thing as a tent or any form of shelter being out of the question. He never fully recovered from a mild form of paralysis induced by these hardships.

During one period of his service he was placed as a guard over a Southern home occupied by its mistress. The General applied to her for permission to sleep on the porch of the house, but she promptly responded that no “Yankee” could sleep on her porch, and he was compelled to wait until all were asleep before he could venture to seek its shelter. Being a polite man, the General did not fail to thank the lady on the following morning.

He used to tell how the Yankees, after stewing their coffee again and again until there was nothing left to extract, would sell the grounds to their opponents for a dollar a pound. Johnny Reb must have been in straits for coffee.

In spite of all he went through the General was a strong temperance man, never drinking liquor, even in the army, where good drinking water was often impossible to find. The General was always to be found on the side of law and order and was the one to whom Mr. Hine went in the early days of Woodside to stop the Sunday horse cars. Ideas have changed greatly during the past forty years in regard to the observance of the Sabbath, and it may seem strange to some that a serious effort was once made to disconnect this rural settlement from the rest of the world on that day, but such is the fact. The General did get out an injunction and the peace of the neighborhood was complete for a time, but the street car people, as usual, had their way in the end.

MR. JOHN MORRIS PHILLIPS.

Mr. John Morris Phillips belonged to that generation which was the last to be born in the old farm house now standing on Summer avenue, and he appears to have been the first to break away from the traditions of the farm.

Mr. Phillips was born November 4, 1817, and early showed an inclination for mechanics. He was apprenticed to the pattern making business under Mr. Horace T. Poinier, and later found employment under the noted Seth Boyden; afterward he worked for the West Point foundry and from there came to the Novelty Iron Works, New York City, and all this time was learning and perfecting himself in every detail for future activity. His memory was so phenomenal that when he had examined a piece of mechanism its details never passed from his mind, and he could duplicate it without again referring to the original. This, of course, was a tremendous help in after life.

In the fall of 1845 the Hewes & Phillips Iron Works were started in a small way at 60 Vesey street, New York, but the following year the business was moved to Newark. The concern grew rapidly to large proportions, and by the time the Civil War broke out was one of the foremost establishments of the kind in the country and during the war it did an immense amount of work for the government.

All the turret machinery for the first “Monitor”—the one which saved the day in Hampton Roads—was made here, as was that for the five succeeding monitors including the Modoc, Cohoes, etc. That the Monitor’s machinery was well made the action at Hampton Roads amply proved.

Over 200,000 stand of arms were manufactured at the Hewes & Phillips Works, and here the government also sent 12,000 flint-lock muskets to be modernized. These, it is said, were part of a gift to the country made during the Revolution by LaFayette, which had not been used at that time.

Mr. James E. Coombes, an expert on American military small arms, writes that Hewes & Phillips did alter a number of flint-lock muskets to percussion, but he doubts if they were such obsolete weapons as those brought over by LaFayette. Mr. Coombes says: “It was the policy of the government to use only the later models of flint-locks for this purpose, as there was a vast quantity of them on hand. I have seen a number of these guns. They were stamped ‘H & P’ on the nipple lug—in fact, have two in my collection, but they are all late models.”

Mr. Coombes’s opinion is accepted by military authorities generally, but in spite of this I am inclined to think that the story is correct, because it appears to have come so straight from Mr. John M. Phillips himself.

Hewes & Phillips also altered 8,000 flint-locks for the state of New Jersey, asking nothing more in return from the state than the actual expense of the work. The machinery for the first Holland submarine was made here during the Civil War.

Owing to threats made by Copperheads during the latter part of the war that the factory would be destroyed, the place was guarded day and night by a company of infantry. At that time Mr. Phillips lived on Bridge street and his back yard adjoined the machine works, and he could step from his house to his shop without exposing himself to possible danger from the disaffected element.

Of the seventy boys and men who went out from this factory to enlist in the army every one came back, and not one received a scratch to show for his service. All apprentices who enlisted before their time was up were put to work on their return at journeymen’s wages, while serving the remainder of their time as apprentices. Thus did the firm at its own expense recognize the services rendered by these young men to their country.

That Mr. Phillips was a broad-minded and far-seeing man is not alone proven by the business foundation he laid, but also by the monument he left in beautifully embowered Lincoln avenue. His love for trees was almost as great as for human beings, and because of this Lincoln avenue is to-day as beautiful as is the traditional New England village green.

When the city saw fit to improve Lincoln avenue it did so by cutting down all its shade trees and transforming it into a dreary desolation. Mr. Phillips had in front of his house a row of cherry trees which were his pride and admiration and were also, alas, a source of considerable friction between himself and the neighborhood small boy, for the boys found it comparatively easy to adapt themselves to the Phillips cherries. I believe that their owner finally discovered that a generous coat of fresh tar on the tree trunks was as good a small boy preventive as it is in the case of certain insects. There is a tale of an expressman who took one of these tarred tree trunks to his bosom before he discovered the error of his ways, and the manner in which he blessed his tarry top-lights—so to speak—is one of the traditions of the neighborhood.

These cherry trees went with the rest, and when the destruction had been so complete that there was no further job for the contractor-friend of the politicians that functionary went elsewhere. Then Mr. Phillips called on his neighbors in an effort to enlist them in a plan to rehabilitate their street by the planting of trees but, finding most of them indifferent, he planted trees on both sides of the way, from the cemetery to Phillips Park, a double row one-half mile long, and it is these trees which to-day shelter the avenue from the summer’s sun. The trees were procured from a nursery on his own property located about where Delavan ends in Summer avenue.

MR. DAVID MACLURE.

“The memory of him is sweet and pleasant”, more than one of his former scholars testifies. Mr. Maclure is a round peg in a round hole, although he happened into his present line of work in rather an accidental manner.

He was the first clerk that the Prudential Insurance Company ever employed, but earning his bread and butter by such uncongenial drudgery soon wearied him, and he gave up the position with the idea of turning to art or to the ministry for his life work; but while in this somewhat uncertain state of mind the fates decided otherwise.

At this time he was living at the home of his parents on Lincoln avenue, and, when it was learned that the school at Montgomery was closed for lack of a teacher, a friend fairly pushed him into the opportunity thus opened. He shortly became popular with old and young, and fitted so snugly into the position that vaulting ambition has never since troubled him.

From the Montgomery school he came to the Elliott Street School in Woodside, was next transferred to the Eighth Ward School, and from there to the Chestnut Street School, where he has been principal for many years. Mr. Maclure has a way of making study attractive to children and stimulating them to strive the more to reach that promised land which he pictures so pleasantly—that those who have once been his scholars remember the days spent under his care with unmixed pleasure. “Beyond the Alps lies Italy”, is the way he sometimes put it to them.

The following verse is not offered as an evidence of Mr. Maclure’s literary skill, but rather to show the personal interest which he takes in the children, and as one of the many ways in which he attaches them to him:—

“To Annie E. Bennett, March 27, 1883.

“‘Dear Anna, on your natal day,
A word of wisdom let me say:
Grow up, my blithe and little lass,
So that, as years and seasons pass,
You’ll still be found as pure and good
As on this day of bright childhood.
Remember this, my little maid,
That youth and beauty soon will fade;
But truth and honor ne’er decay,
But live to bless life’s closing day.’

“Written expressly for you on your eleventh birthday
by your friend and teacher,

“David Maclure.”

Mr. Maclure is a many-sided man: A painter of pictures—good pictures—a writer of books and magazine articles, and a designer and maker of fine furniture. His home is full of his handiwork, which is the more to be praised because “the kitchen is his work-shop”.

A book of poems entitled “Thoughts on Life”, and two novels, “David Todd” and “Kennedy of Glen Haugh”, have brought him fame in the literary world, and he is also the author of several school text-books.

COL. SAMUEL L. BUCK.

Col. Samuel L. Buck, according to the dry records of the Adjutant-General’s office at Trenton, was commissioned Major in the Second Regiment, Infantry, New Jersey Volunteers, on the twenty-second day of May, 1861, and was mustered into the United States service as such for the period of three years. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel January 20, 1862; Colonel, July 1, 1862; and was honorably discharged July 21, 1864, during the War of the Rebellion. The official record goes no further.

He was at Chickahominy June 27, 1862, when of the twenty-eight hundred men in the Second Regiment only nine hundred and sixty-five answered at roll-call the following day. He commanded the regiment at Crampton’s Gap, where it met Longstreet. He was wounded at Chancellorsville, and was in many engagements.

The Colonel delivered a lecture on his recollections of army life in the Woodside Presbyterian Church, April 3, 1879, which was later published in pamphlet form, but he was so extremely modest as regards his own part in the fighting that it furnishes no data for my purpose. Many recall that he had a fine record for bravery and efficiency, but I have found no one who could tell the story.

MR. DANIEL F. TOMPKINS.

Mr. Daniel F. Tompkins was an antiquarian whose researches brought to light and preserved much that was interesting concerning the local history of Woodside. He discovered a number of Revolutionary relics in the “Anthony Wayne camp ground” west of Summer avenue in the Carteret street neighborhood and his inquiries among the old inhabitants resulted in the preservation of valuable and interesting matter that would otherwise have been lost.

Mr. Tompkins was a somewhat eccentric man and had some rather odd fads—possibly the best known of which was his large flock of goats, which was a prominent feature of the Washington avenue landscape for many years. Another, which was possibly not so well known, was a fondness for choice toilet soaps, of which he is said to have kept a large quantity in his house. We all know that cleanliness is next to Godliness.

That he was public spirited and alive to the value of a park system there is no doubt, in fact he might almost be called the father of the Essex County park system of to-day. Mr. Tompkins owned property around the Boiling Spring, which has been a boundary mark from time immemorial and one of the corners of Woodside, and he was the first to suggest a park in that region, offering to give his land if the city would purchase more and make the whole into a public park, and while his offer was not taken, there is little doubt but that he helped to start the agitation which resulted in the present system of breathing places for the people.

JOHN F. DRYDEN.

The history of the man who has made a success of this life is always interesting. Starting with nothing but a willingness to work and an ability to think and having faith enough in himself and his ideas to hold to his purpose through all set-backs and discouragements, he is reasonably sure to reach the top.

When or where Mr. Dryden was born I do not know, but he may have come from the land of wooden nutmegs, as he was a graduate of Yale. I do know that he came to Woodside in the early seventies a poor man; so poor, if his old neighbors remember rightly, that he did not even possess an overcoat to keep out the chill of winter.

One cold, cheerless day a gentleman and lady with two children were seen to enter a vacant house on Lincoln avenue, just below Elwood. Those living nearby noted that the gentleman made frequent excursions to the front gate, evidently looking for that load of furniture which did not come. After considerable persuasion he was induced to accept an invitation from a neighbor to spend the waiting time in that neighbor’s house.

Such was Mr. Dryden’s introduction to Woodside, but even then he was dreaming of industrial insurance, and his constant companions and most intimate friends were mortality tables and dry statistics, and it was not long before he became acquainted with certain gentlemen who succumbed to his persuasive tongue and furnished the capital with which the Prudential was started.

At first the company consisted of Mr. Dryden and an office boy, and occupied a corner of somebody’s store on Broad street, Mr. Dryden’s salary at this time being $10 per week but growth was rapid, and soon Col. Samuel L. Buck was installed as assistant, and it was not long before the office became a hive of Woodside men and boys, many of whom have grown up with it and still remain in its employ.

It is not necessary to follow Mr. Dryden through his many successes. He long ago became too great for Woodside, and removed to other surroundings, but he is part of the early history of this region.

“One with a flash begins and ends in smoke;
The other out of smoke brings glorious light,
And (without raising expectation high)
Surprises us with dazzling miracles.”

THE “COUNT”.

No stronger contrast to Mr. Dryden could be shown than in the person of “Count” Whitehead, a debonair gentleman who began with a flash and ended in smoke. For a brief period our friend was the glass of fashion and the mould of form for Woodside; he had some money and an ability to “blow it in” that was notable. During this period he drove tandem and clothed his Adonis-like figure in a way that held all eyes. When last heard of the “Count” was a ticket chopper in the Pennsylvania ferry house.

LIEUT.-COL. W. E. BLEWETT.

In the spring of 1861, Mr. Blewett became active in organizing a company of volunteers, the men being recruited principally from Belleville. This company of 101 men subsequently formed Company F of the Second Regiment of New Jersey (three-year volunteers). They were mustered in at Trenton May 1st, 1861, as part of the First New Jersey Brigade, reporting on May 6th at Washington, being the first fully organized brigade to arrive for the defense of the National Capital. A few days later the brigade crossed the Potomac, and was the first regiment of three-year volunteers to enter the state of Virginia.

At the Battle of Bull Run, July 21st, 1861, the Brigade (4th Division under General Runyon) was held as a reserve, but not engaged. They, however, were of service in covering the retreat of our army to Centerville. Later the Second was attached to the First Brigade (Kearny’s), Franklin Division; afterward to the First Brigade, First Division, First Army Corps. After much service and a most brilliant career, on the expiration of its term, the Brigade returned to New Jersey for muster out.

The Second New Jersey was pre-eminently a fighting regiment.

On June 12th, 1861, Mr. Blewett was mustered in as Second Lieutenant of Company F; June 4th, 1862, received commission as First Lieutenant, and April 16th, 1862, by command of Brigadier General Kearny, was detailed to take command of the Provost and Artillery Guards. Of this command he was very proud, owing to the fact that the appointment came direct from General Kearny, a much coveted honor.

Friday, June 27th, 1862, the First New Jersey Brigade was ordered to Woodbury’s Bridge over the Chickahominy, there to meet Gen. Porter’s Division. (Six companies of the Second, under Lieut.-Col. Samuel L. Buck, were at that time on picket duty, and therefore took no part in this action.) Colonel Tucker led out the remaining four companies, including Lieutenant Blewett’s command with the rest of the Brigade. From Woodbury’s Bridge this Brigade, with others, was sent to engage the enemy near Gaines’s Mills and was soon in the thick of the fight. Porter’s Division, in hand-to-hand conflict, held their position against overwhelming odds until reinforcements, long delayed, arrived, but owing to the fact that their position was unfavorable and to the superiority of the enemy in numbers, the Union troops were compelled to retire. (The Confederate forces numbered perhaps 56,000; the Union troops, 33,000. The Union loss was 6,000 killed and wounded, besides nearly 2,000 prisoners. The Confederate loss was placed at 9,000 killed and wounded.) The Second Regiment had the right of line, and though outnumbered and flanked by the enemy, they were the last to leave their station in the field. In this fight the regiment lost its colonel, Isaac M. Tucker, Capt. Charles Danforth, Color Sergeant Thomas Stevens of Belleville, and many others. The flags taken at this time were returned by a North Carolina regiment many years after. On the afternoon of June 27th Lieutenant Blewett was shot in the right breast. The ball took a downward course, and remained lodged in his side. While working his way to the hospital a fragment of a bursting shell cut his belt and accoutrements from his side. Upon arriving at Gaines’s Mills, then used as a hospital, Dr. Oakley dressed his wound and advised him to stop there, but fearing capture he continued on. This was fortunate, as later all the wounded at that hospital were taken prisoners. Aided by his colored servant he reached home in Belleville, July 4th, 1862. Owing to the fact that the ball could not be located the wound was long in healing. This incapacitated him for active service, and while stationed in Washington, September 9th, 1862, he resigned. Later Lieutenant Blewett became active in the National Guard of this state, was commissioned Captain Company H, Second Regiment, New Jersey Rifle Corps, September 19th, 1866; Captain Company H, Second Regiment National Guard, April 14th, ’69; Major and Quartermaster on the staff of Joseph W. Plume, Brigadier-General First Brigade, October 27th, ’69; Lieutenant-Colonel and Brigade Inspector, November 27th, ’71; resigned November 30th, ’74.

MR. THOMAS W. KINSEY.

Mr. Thomas W. Kinsey comes from a long line of warriors, and has lived up to the traditions of the family.

Four brothers of the name came to this country in the Mayflower: two settled in Connecticut and two in New Jersey. An early ancestor, John Kinsey, was speaker of the New Jersey House of Representatives. The grandfather of Thomas W., Joel Kinsey, fought in the Revolution; his son, Joel, Jr., volunteered for the war of 1812, and his grandson, Thomas W., above, when fifteen years of age, enlisted for three years at the beginning of the Civil War and, when his time had expired, re-enlisted on the field for three more, or until the end of the war, putting in four years and seven months of fighting.