Woodside, the North End of Newark, N.J. / Its History, Legends and Ghost Stories Gathered from the Records and the Older Inhabitants Now Living

PART II.

C. C. Hine In 1895. “There may have been men of greater and more beautiful character than his, but I never knew any and never read of any. I count it one of the most fortunate things of my life to have been for so many years so closely associated with him. While it (the portrait) does not do full Justice to the subject (I do not think any photograph could), it is a face I am glad to look at and it recalls some of the pleasantest memories of my whole life and some of the things which, I am sure, have been of the utmost value to me in many ways. He left nothing but a trail of good wherever he went. My memory is of a life rather than of episodes; I only wish I could describe it as it was lived. The only two absolutely unselfish people I ever knew were Mr. Hine and my own mother.”

C. C. HINE AND HIS TIMES.

This second part is intended to cover as well as may be the period of time beginning with the opening of Woodside as a residence section. During these years Mr. Charles Cole Hine took such an active interest in the welfare of the neighborhood and was so wrapped up in and identified with its best interests that its history is his biography, consequently I feel that it will be proper to give here a brief outline of his life previous to the year 1867, when he settled in Woodside.

When women could lift their little children up to “take a last look at the best friend they ever had”, as was done while the people passed by the coffin of Mr. Hine as it lay in the church, such as did not come in direct contact with the man may to some extent understand what a feeling of love he inspired in those who knew him.

For me he had a living reality that death has never removed; it was years before I could accept the situation. Concerning no one else have I ever had the same feeling. Death has removed others and I have accepted the condition as final, but for a long period after the death of my father I had a feeling amounting to momentary conviction that he had opened the office door and was coming toward me, and have looked up from my desk many a time to welcome him. This could not have been a matter of local association, for I was occupying an office which he never saw. What it was I do not know.

“Thy voice is on the rolling air,
I hear thee where the waters run;
Thou standest in the rising sun,
And in the setting thou art fair.”

CHARLES COLE HINE.

Charles Cole Hine was born in New Haven, Conn., December 21, 1825. When six years of age his parents removed to Hornellsville, N. Y. His father was a carriage builder, but of nomadic tendencies, and the boy had small opportunity for schooling, though as a matter of fact he went to school all his life; he had an instinct for acquiring knowledge that could not be suppressed, and as a result those who knew him best in after life took it for granted that he was a college-bred man.

With the versatility of many another self-made man he turned his hand to many things in his youth while finding himself. He once went on a concert tour with three other young men, driving from town to town through Ohio and western Pennsylvania. At one time he turned to art for a living and actually did support himself, after a fashion, for a brief period, painting portraits. Mr. Hine’s father moved to Massillon, Ohio, in 1837, and there the boy grew up and cast his first vote. Once when clerking in a store in Massillon, among the commodities of which was a line of books, the proprietor, who was of a kindly disposition, allowed the young man to read as he liked, and as a result he read every book in the place, including an encyclopÆdia, some six hundred volumes in all.

When the telegraph was young he became interested in that and established lines through parts of Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, contracting for poles and their erection, selecting the local operators and teaching them the Morse alphabet, and doing any other missionary work that was needed. That he was something more in this than ordinary is evidenced by the fact that in Reid’s “History of the Telegraph in America” Mr. Hine’s name is frequently mentioned, and always in complimentary terms. While in charge of the office in Louisville, he invented a transmitter to repeat messages in order to save the time of an operator, for in those days the electric fluid only carried a message so far, and long distance messages must needs be repeated by hand. Later some one invented and patented the same thing and made, I believe, a fortune by it.

An operator in the early days of telegraphy was a more important personage than at present. Mr. Hine has told how, when he was stationed in St. Louis, 1848-9, P. T. Barnum was taking Jenny Lind around the country and, upon reaching St. Louis, he insisted on getting inside the telegraph office and making the acquaintance of the operator. As a result he took Mr. Hine riding with him and gave him two tickets for each concert, no mean gift when tickets were selling at $20.00 each.

The year 1849 was the year of the cholera and of the “great fire” in St. Louis. “The city was a charnel house; funerals were the principal events and the chief business of the hour; hearses went on a trot when they could not go faster.” Mr. Hine was convalescing from the disease and had been carried from a room at Olive and Main streets to his boarding house. That same night the “great fire” started on the levee. Four hundred buildings in the business heart of the city, which included Olive and Main streets, were destroyed.

While living in St. Louis Mr. Hine met Mary Hazard Avery, whose parents had also removed from Connecticut, and was married to Miss Avery in that city July 4, 1853. Before that time he had established himself in New Albany, Ind., where in due course he represented the Adams Express Company, and was secretary of a plank road, notary for two banks and agent for several insurance companies, fire and life.

While living here the New Albany Theological Seminary removed to Chicago, leaving a splendid set of buildings vacant, and Mr. Hine thought he saw the opportunity of his life in the establishment of a girls’ seminary. The property was easily obtained, and he spent all the money he had and all he could borrow fitting up the place but, as he once put it, “the New Albany Female Seminary opened simultaneously with the great panic of 1857”. He lost every cent he had and came out of the crash many thousands of dollars in debt.

When Mr. Hine wished to enter active business again he bought up the outstanding notes against him in order to protect himself and, although his former creditors had no claim on him thereafter, he gradually paid back every dollar of indebtedness with interest. In this he followed the somewhat unique method of ascertaining who among his old creditors were most in need, and paying these first.

As an insurance agent Mr. Hine had represented the Ætna Insurance Company, whose western general agent had said to him: “Mr. Hine, if ever you should want to go into insurance again, please let me know first”, and after the crash Mr Hine promptly sent word to the headquarters in Cincinnati that he wanted a position and as promptly got it. Thereafter he was connected with the western office of the Ætna until he removed to New York in 1865. Mr. Hine was brought east by the offer of the secretaryship of the International Insurance Company, but the methods adopted not being to his liking he resigned. He was then practically offered the position of Superintendent of the Insurance Department of the State of New York, but preferring to be his own master and delighting in editorial work, he purchased the Insurance Monitor in March, 1868, and that became his life work.

MR. HINE IN SEARCH OF A HOME.

As soon as his work would permit he began to look about for a home, and ultimately decided on Woodside, which was then beginning to be exploited as a residence section for toilers in the city. In this connection it can do no harm to tell a little story which he often told of himself.

As a young man he spent many of his leisure hours painting, and in 1844 painted much with a certain man in Massillon, Ohio, who was something of an artist, and during this time painted the man’s portrait, but he had completely lost sight of his friend for more than twenty years.

In 1866, when looking for a home site, Mr. Hine answered, among others, an advertisement of a Mr. M., in Morrisania, and while inspecting the house saw a portrait which he recognized as that of his artist friend of 1844, and one which he had seen many times, but which the lady of the house told him was Mr. M., an entirely different name.

When the gentleman himself arrived Mr. Hine recognized him, but neither gave any indication of the recognition and an appointment was made for Mr. M. to call at the New York office of his prospective customer the next day.

Home Of Mr. Henry J. Winser.

Home Of Mr. Henry J. Winser. House erected in 1866. Situated at 201 Washington Avenue. In the foreground stands the old apple tree that was used as a talking point by Mr. Ananias.

In the meantime Mr. Hine got out his old portrait of the man and placed it in his office where the caller would see it, expecting a good time in resuming the old acquaintance, but Mr. M. never came, and inquiry showed that he had disappeared suddenly, leaving no address, and that his house was vacant and in the hands of an agent.

Mr. Hine’s portrait of the man hung for many years over a door in the dining room at No. 209 Washington avenue, and he was fond of relating an entirely new supposition accounting for the mysterious disappearance of the gentleman, which was advanced by his pastor who, on a certain occasion, was dining at the house when the story was told, and who “looked up from his plate, gazed at the picture a moment, and then looking me square in the eye said, in a calm, deliberate voice: ‘Maybe he was afraid you would paint him again.’”

MR. HINE FIRST VISITS WOODSIDE.

Mr. Hine first visited Woodside in August, 1866; the house at 201 Washington avenue was for sale, having been erected by a Mr. Babbitt, who was unable to occupy it. Mr. Hine concluded it could be made to meet his requirements, and immediately closed the bargain; but it seems that Mr. Henry J. Winser had before this discovered the house and, being attracted by the great trees growing on the place, secured the refusal of the property for a few days, and it was before this time had expired that Mr. Hine made the purchase.

Here was a state of things which was unpleasant for all except Mr. Babbitt, who had his money, and he referred Mr. Winser to Mr. Hine, thus dismissing the matter so far as he was concerned. Mr. Winser as city editor of the New York Times was then investigating the Tweed Ring and could not attend to personal matters, hence it devolved on Mrs. Winser to open the negotiations which resulted in a sale to Mr. W. and the purchase of property adjoining on the north by Mr. Hine.

THE FIRST HOUSES ERECTED ON WASHINGTON AVENUE.

The Winser family moved in on September 1, 1866. At this time there were five detached houses on this (east) side of what was then Belleville avenue; these were occupied by Messrs. Winser, Best, Baldwin, Neumann and Daniel F. Tompkins. On the west side were six houses, occupied (from south to north) by Messrs. Sommer, an artist; Shannan, Mrs. Van Wyck, James Gamble, George B. Callen and John P. Contrell. Between Elwood avenue and Carteret street the foundations for four houses were laid, and on the hill above Carteret street Mr. Charles D. Morrison who, with Mr. John I. Briggs, composed the firm of Morrison & Briggs, builders, was erecting his own dwelling. Below these groups on the south there was no building until we came to the spacious house, embowered in trees, of Mr. Horace H. Nichols, and across Washington avenue from Mr. Nichols, at the point, the house built by Mr. A. P. Scharff, later occupied by Dr. MacKie, Mr. James A. C. Van Rossam and one Flavel.

THE FIRST HOUSES ERECTED ON LINCOLN AVENUE.

On what was then known as the Back road were the houses of Colonel Buck, Messrs. Samuel Royce, Miles I’Anson, E. A. Boyden, John Scharff, John C. Bennett; the first house of C. D. Morrison, present corner of May street and Summer place; the old Phillips farm house and the house of James Swinnerton, Jr., on the northeast corner of Elwood avenue, which was then Berkley street.

HOUSES ERECTED IN 1866-7.

Within the year there were built the houses of Mr. Hine, Mr. Harlan, C. D. Morrison, Miss Teel, Mr. Pratt, Mr. Palmer, Mr. Faitoute, Mrs. Jackson, Mr. F. F. Mercer, Mr. Blackwood, Mr. McDonald and Wm. Chippendale, the latter a son of Richard Chippendale, who came to this country on account of the Chartist troubles in England, and about this time the house of Mr. Horace Carter on the Gully road was built.

Several new houses were built on the River road near Grafton avenue, and were occupied by Mr. Webster, Mr. Oliver Gordon, formerly of Brooklyn, who had a large business with China and was a colleague of the Lows; and Benjamin Brigg, son-in-law of Mr. Gordon and the representative of the Brigg woolen mills in Huddersfield, England.

HOMES OF AN EARLIER PERIOD.

Of the old settlers there were the houses of Sandford, Munn, Melius, Colonel Cumming, Stimis, John McDonald, Coeyman and Weiler, on the River road; Mr. Alfred Hardwick Gibbs on the high ground north of the Gully road, known as “Thornhill”; the “Cedars”, built by Frank Forester (H. W. Herbert), which had been bought by Mr. Sanchez y Dolce, and was then occupied by him, and also a group of houses about the junction of Washington and Grafton avenues and Halleck Street, which is treated of elsewhere.

On the west side of Belleville avenue near Second river was the interesting old house occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Bird and Mrs. Bird’s two sons by a former marriage, Lewis and George Ashmun. This was a most delightful house, and the hospitality of the Birds was renowned. Mrs. Bird was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Strong, of Massachusetts, and inherited her gracious manner and charm of conversation from a long line of ancestors who were among the best people of New England.

They entertained with the grace of the early part of the nineteenth century, before the advent of that class of plutocrats that brought ostentatious pomp and more or less bad manners into society. Mr. Bird was a gentleman of the old school, and Mrs. Bird one of the most gracious and beautiful of women. It was always a delight to attend their evenings at home. One was sure of meeting all the charming people of the surrounding country and Newark, and there was no lack of brilliant conversation. When the gatherings were not too large and the company could assemble around the hospitable board the table-talk was sparkling with wit, while matters of graver import were freely discussed.

It is impossible to say when this old house was erected; it bears every evidence of having been a very fine place in its day. One informant recalls having heard Mrs. Bird state that the house was built before the Revolution by an Englishman who sympathized with his king and was consequently compelled to leave the country when war was declared. This information Mrs. Bird secured from a daughter of Harry Coeyman, who had received it from her father. Presumably this is Henry M. Coeyman, a son of Minard, who is said to have served in the Revolution, and the son would thus have come on the scene early enough to know the facts.

The records do not go beyond 1790. On July 5, 1790, James H. Maxwell conveyed the property to Alexander McComb who, on May 21, 1792, conveyed it to Daniel McCormick who, on July 18, 1792, conveyed to Thomas Bennett. The next transfer is a sheriff’s deed dated June 24, 1812, to Jacob Stout, and on April 9, 1825, his widow, Frances, conveyed to the President and Directors of the New Jersey Bleaching, Printing & Dyeing Company. On September 10, 1829, a sheriff’s deed conveyed to Samuel Wright et als. Then follow the names of owners as follows: Andrew Gray, Bolton et als., Edward Dwight et als., American Print Works, 1835; James K. Mills, 1853; George Bird, 1853, and Jonathan Bird, 1859.

During the time that the house was occupied by Mr. Bird the place was approached from Mill street by a bridge across Second river just above the present Washington avenue bridge.

INTRODUCING MR. ANANIAS.

After the many years of unclouded friendship that have existed between the families of Hine and Winser it is difficult to realize that there could ever have been any other state of feeling, but at the outset conditions were just the reverse and the cause of it is rather an interesting little story.

Both homesteads were situated within what was once a Stimis apple orchard and each contained several magnificent apple trees that were probably over one-hundred years old, and it was one of these trees and an unruly tongue that caused the trouble. The tree in question was a picturesque old giant that stood on the Winser premises near the street and near Mr. Hine’s line.

A neighbor of both families, whom we will call Mr. Ananias, took a dislike to Mr. Hine, even before his house was finished, and undertook to make trouble for him. Knowing that both families admired and valued the trees which adorned their places he pitched on this particular apple tree, and first called on Mr. Winser and during a conversation managed to introduce the subject of the new neighbor, incidentally remarking that Mr. Hine, who was a new-rich upstart from the west, had taken a dislike to the Winser family and, having learned of its love of trees, had announced that he was going to have that apple tree down, Winser or no Winser, under the pretense that it interfered with his view.

Having planted and properly watered the seed of discord he proceeded to sow tares in the next field by informing Mr. Hine that the Winsers had expressed themselves in a very disparaging way concerning him and his, proposing to annoy him in any way they could and, having heard of his admiration for this great apple tree, intended to cut it down to spite him.

After this it was quite natural that the families should pass by on the other side—in fact the one turned its back on the other in so pronounced a fashion that there was no overlooking it.

The Winsers saw the family move in and noted that it consisted of one gentleman, two ladies and three children, and concluded that the slender lady, who was in black, was a widow, and that the slender boy was her son. And thus matters stood until one morning there was a bad accident in the Hine kitchen and Miss Avery, the supposed widow, came over for help. The cook had been burned and Mr. Hine, in beating out the flames, had had his hands burned until the skin hung from them in shreds.

Carron oil was wanted and a doctor was wanted, and Mrs. Winser, who was home alone at the time, did all in her power to assist the distressed by sending her horse for the doctor and coming to offer personal help. When she first saw Mr. Hine he was sitting with hands extended to avoid contact with anything, and when she expressed a wish to help he gladly accepted, but voiced his surprise that, feeling as she did, the offer should be made. This led to a prompt retort, and almost before they knew it the situation was explained and the eyes of both opened, and thereafter there was a well-worn path between the two houses. During the ten days or more that Mr. Hine was confined to the house Mrs. Winser took down any matters he wished to dictate and made frequent journeys to his New York office in his behalf.

Much might be told in regard to the sayings of Mr. Ananias, but possibly one or two more of his pleasantries will suffice:—

Mrs. Winser recalls her first visit to Woodside and the swarms of mosquitoes in the horse cars that were on hand to greet her: they were the real Jersey mosquitoes of well-defined propensity. It was August, and as she and Mr. Winser alighted in front of the house, which was then building, and which later became theirs, they were met by Mr. A., and to him voiced their opinions of the pests, but he waived it off with the casual remark that Woodside only had mosquitoes for a week or ten days during the middle or latter part of August, and while they were bad then, it was only for a brief period.

In July, 1867, Mr. Winser sailed for Europe on the destroyer “Dunderburg”, built by Mr. Webb, but finished too late for use in the Civil War, and which had been purchased by the French government. The trip was considered dangerous, as the vessel had been intended merely for coast defense, and the traveler not only made his will, having been warned that he was going to a watery grave, but left the most minute written instructions to help Mrs. Winser over the rough places.

What was Mrs. Winser’s astonishment when, as soon as her husband was out of reach, “the Woe of Woodside” (our friend Ananias) came to her with a memorandum saying that Mr. Winser had pledged himself to pay $300 toward the erection of an Episcopal church in Woodside. This was news to her, and she searched the book of written instructions in which all claims and all money matters had been entered by Mr. Winser without being able to find that he had made such a pledge as was claimed.

When she made this announcement to Mr. A. he promptly answered: “Well, if this amount is not paid by you, your husband’s honor will be at stake and you will be the cause”. Imagine the feelings of this wife of fifteen months when told that she must pay this moral (!) obligation or cover her husband’s name with dishonor. Finally, without consulting any one versed in the ways of the world, Mrs. Winser paid over the money and, according to Mr. A., the name of H. J. Winser was put down on the subscription list with others, but some weeks later she learned that the name was not down among subscribers, but headed the list, and was used as a means of extracting money from other Episcopalians in the neighborhood.

The Winsers had brought their letters to Christ Church in Belleville, and had had no thought of making any change; hence, on the return of Mr. Winser, and the facts being known, he was filled with wrath. It was too late, however, to do anything. The reason for this conduct on the part of Mr. A. is supposed to have been purely monetary, as he expected to profit by the work involved in the erection of the proposed church building.

Thus when one acquainted with all the circumstances once remarked that “the church was conceived in sin and born in iniquity” the statement is thought to meet the situation with a fair degree of accuracy.

Mrs. Winser was later appointed treasurer of the church guild, and had great satisfaction in making Mr. A. toe the mark when his part of the work was not properly done.

ST. JOHN’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

Until the building was under cover services were held in Morrison’s Hall, Washington avenue, opposite Elliott street, and the Lenten services, morning and evening, in the Winser house; but, as I understand it, when the church was organized some of the first services were held in Mr. Hine’s house, as witness the following:—

“At the first regular meeting of the Vestry of St. John’s church of Woodside, N. J., the following resolution was offered by Mr. E. A. Condit and unanimously adopted:—

“Resolved, that the Vestry of St. John’s Church, Woodside, hereby tender their acknowledgments to C. C. Hine, Esquire, for his numerous acts of kindness and courtesy in their behalf, and especially for the free use of his house as a place of public worship during the past summer.

“Resolved, that the Secretary communicate this resolution to Mr. Hine and record the same in the minutes of the Vestry.

“E. A. CONDIT,

”Secy. of the Vsty.“

On September 15, 1868, St. John’s Church was dedicated, the church building having been in use for some time previous to this. The annals of the parish pass this service over. Bishop Odenheimer and some twenty odd clergymen were present.

Rev. Mr. Lounsbury was the first rector; he remained only a short time and Rev. Samuel Hall succeeded him in February, 1868.

The following notes are from the parish register:—

“First meeting to organize, September 2, 1867.

“Cornerstone laid, November 29, 1867.

“Rev. Samuel Hall, rector, February 8, 1868, to February 8, 1873, when he resigned to become rector of the Church of the Redeemer, Morristown.

“Rev. H. H. Barbour, rector from April 17, 1873, to November 1, 1875.

“November 1, 1874, rectory occupied. Rev. Francis A. Henry, rector from April 29, 1876, to October 2, 1876.

“Rev. I. B. Wetherell, rector from November 29, 1876, to April 18, 1877.

“Rev. I. H. McCandless, rector from April 18, 1877, to November 1, 1877.

“Rev. George C. Pennell, S. T. D., rector from January, 1878, to January 15, 1880.

“Rev. Arthur B. Conger, rector from March 28, 1880, to April 1, 1882. Resigned on account of illness.

“Rev. A. L. Wood, rector from September 11, 1882, to September 1, 1891.

“Rev. Frank Albion Sanborn, B. D., rector, September 1, 1891.”

He was followed by Rev. George W. Lincoln, who was succeeded by Rev. Rowland S. Nichols, the present incumbent.

A WOODSIDE MOLASSES JAR.

That the women of Woodside were unusually attractive there is no denying. Of one of them it is told that she found herself in Newark rather late one evening after the cars had ceased to run and, being alone and unable to secure a livery team (for Newark was as primitive in its way forty years ago as was Woodside) she applied at the police station for help and an officer was sent with her on the walk home. They evidently had a very pleasant trip, for it was not more than three days later that the officer appeared at the lady’s home, dressed in his best, only to find that she was married. An introduction to the husband somewhat cooled his ardor.

CAPT. KIDD IN THE WINSER BACK YARD.

There is a tradition that Captain Kidd buried treasure at a point in the Winser back yard where an ancient apple tree flourished when we were young, and the following facts seem to show good foundation for the belief:—

We are told that oft during the quiet of the night (this was before the day of the trolley and its outrageous roar) the sound of a pick being driven vigorously into the earth could be heard from the direction of the old tree, but when the hearers gazed out into the dark no one could be seen. Those watching with the sick frequently noted such sounds, and as there were no visible diggers and the following morning no indications that the earth had been disturbed, it seems impossible that the work could have been done by other than the shades of the departed pirates. What, indeed, is to prevent our supposing that the ghost of the pirate captain himself was on hand, superintending the work in his old burying ground?

Then there were the snakes that guarded this old apple tree—great black snakes of a peculiarly ferocious and menacing aspect—which, as is well attested by the most reliable witnesses, were known to deliberately simulate crooked sticks which, when about to be picked up by some unsuspecting human, would dart out a fiery tongue and with a terrible hissing sound drive the too venturesome explorer to the uttermost parts of the Winser lot.

MORRISON & BRIGGS.

Morrison & Briggs were the chief builders of the first Woodside houses. As nearly as can now be learned it seems probable that it was they who induced Messrs. Parker & Keasbey to purchase land here about 1865, open streets and lay out sites for residences. The builders at first had a very small shop on Berkley street (now Elwood avenue) immediately adjoining the house of Mr. Swinnerton, but it was not long before they erected a two-story woodworking establishment on Washington avenue, just north of Elliott street.

Charlie Morrison, of the firm, was a curious specimen, good natured to a degree it would appear, for he was seemingly so unwilling to disappoint any one that he would promise the impossible without a blink. His fondness for moving was epitomized by his better half (very much better) once when she remarked that if he died first she should have his coffin put on wheels, as he would never be content to rest in one place long.

Morrison & Briggs had not been exactly trained in the art of building but they managed to bungle it through in one way and another. The house at 209 Washington avenue is an example: this was built in 1866-7, and my recollection is of hearing that the cellar wall must needs be torn down twice before it would pass inspection. When the last payment on the house was due it was necessary to furnish the builders with a list (quite a long one) of those things left undone with a gentle intimation that the final check would be forthcoming when the deficiencies were supplied. There was then a very good feint at something doing, when another list, somewhat shorter than the first, was handed to the builders, and so by a gradual process of elimination, as it were, the house was pronounced complete.

THE SAD FATE OF THE WINSER HORSE.

During the winter of 1868 the Winser horse came to a bad end. It seems that a brother of a certain General S. had rented a house on Halleck street, and as the General was an old friend of Mr. Winser it was taken for granted that the Major, his brother, was of the same standing, and he was immediately taken into the Winser bosom.

About this time the Winsers, having small use for their horse, had arranged to board it for a period in Westchester County, but when the Major heard of this he suggested that he take the animal, and that then if they wanted it at any time it would be near by. This was more than agreeable to the owners, and “Nelly” was soon installed in the Major’s stable.

In the course of ten days Mr. Winser dropped in to see how his favorite was coming on, and was told by a stableman that his master had driven her to Pamrapo where he was superintending some road building. This seemed reasonable, but when a second visit some two weeks later elicited the statement that the Major had shipped “Nelly” from Pamrapo to Maryland, and it was found that the Major’s house was closed and that he would not return until January, it seemed about time to move in the matter.

The case was laid before a well-known lawyer in Newark, who would not touch it because the Major and he were on the same Republican Committee. It was then given to Mr. Runyon, later Chancellor and Ambassador to Berlin, and he, not being of the same political faith as the Major, took the case with great gusto.

The Major turned up in Newark in the course of time and the case was heard before Judge Depue. The Major said that “Nelly’s” bones were bleaching on the Eastern Shore of Maryland; that she was absolutely valueless, and that he had taken her out of pure pity to save her from ill-treatment. He had but one witness, who declared that he had driven with the Major, and had no hesitation in saying the horse was lame, half starved and not fit to be put in harness.

Mr. Runyon demolished this testimony by proving that this witness had no knowledge of the points of a horse, by showing that he was indebted to the Major for his position at that time and that he had not seen the horse until she had been in the Major’s possession for some time. The Major was inclined to be flippant with the Court and, finally, when asked how he stood in regard to certain transactions, he answered that he “stood in his shirt and trousers”. The judge warned him that he would have to answer for contempt of court.

After ten minutes’ deliberation the jury returned a verdict against the defendant for $400 for the value of the horse and also assessed the costs on him, but it is needless to say that he never paid either amount, being a politician of note. The Republican party in Newark has certainly been loaded with a hard lot of citizens, first and last.

THE OPENING OF WASHINGTON AVENUE.

It will now be necessary to go back a bit in our chronology in order to get at the beginnings of the Woodside we know.

The opening of Washington avenue, about 1865, was the beginning of a new era for the neighborhood, for then Parker and Keasbey purchased a considerable tract in the vicinity of Washington and Elwood avenues and cut it up for suburban dwelling purposes and Morrison & Briggs, contractors, appeared on the scene.

To be sure “the opening of the new highway consisted merely in setting the fences back and making a narrow cut through the hill just north of Carteret street, the earth from which was used to fill the ravine further north”. A single car track was then laid from the cemetery to Second river, and Woodside was open for business.

But it was not Woodside in those days. The first name attached to the locality, and which appears to have come into use about 1863, was Ridgewood. There was, however, a post office of this name already established in the state, and when the town was set off from Belleville the name was changed to the present form.

In 1865 this was a part of Belleville, but it was not long before efforts were made for a separation, as the following documents indicate:—

ASSEMBLY—NO. 498. STATE OF NEW JERSEY.

An Act to set off from the township of Belleville, in
the county of Essex, an election district, to be
known as Woodside.

1. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly
of the State of New Jersey, That all that
part of said township of Belleville, lying and being
south of the Second river, be set off from the
township of Belleville, and made and constituted
an election district to be known and called Woodside.

2. And be it enacted, That Alfred Keen,
Charles D. Morrison, and Charles Akers be and
are hereby appointed inspectors of election with
power to elect and appoint a clerk for said election,
at the annual town election to be held in April
eighteen hundred and sixty-eight, at Woodside
polling district in the public hall known as Woodside
hall, and who are hereby required and authorized
to perform all duties required of inspectors
of election, in and for said district, and shall
preside at said first town meeting in said district,
as inspectors of election.

3. And be it enacted, That at the election to be
held in April, anno domini eighteen hundred and
sixty-eight, and at each succeeding April, three
persons shall be elected as judges of election for
such election district for the term of one year, who
shall possess the powers, be required to perform
the duties, and be subject to the liabilities as other
judges or inspectors of elections, according to the
general laws of the State of New Jersey, as they
now are or may hereafter be, and said judges so
elected shall act as judges of all elections to be
hereafter held in said district, no ballot for this
purpose shall contain more than two names; in
case more than two names are voted for, the ballot
shall only be void as to said judge, and the
three persons who receive the highest number of
votes shall be deemed and taken to be elected
judges of election, in case two persons shall have
received an equal number of votes, the first person
named on the ballot for judge of election shall be
elected, and the said judges and clerk shall receive
two dollars per day for their services, and the said
judges of election shall procure a proper box for
said district, of which place and time of holding
elections they shall give at least two weeks’ notice
in five of the most public places in said district,
and the said board shall have power to appoint
a clerk, who shall perform such duties as is
required in the act to which this is a supplement.

4. And be it enacted, That all acts or parts of
acts inconsistent with this act be and the same are
hereby repealed.

1 5. And be it enacted, That this act shall take

2 effect immediately.

ONE DOLLAR EACH.

“Woodside, 13 Mar. 1868.

“Gentlemen—At a meeting of the citizens of Woodside, held last evening to consider the matter of a new Township it was resolved that the passage of the Bill now before the Legislature was desirable and Major Sears and Mr. Alfred Keen were appointed (with power to select three associates) to proceed to Trenton and urge the passage of said Bill.

“It was also resolved that the means to defray the expenses of these gentlemen be provided by a contribution of one dollar each from the signers of the Memorial, and I was appointed to collect such contribution. It being impossible for me to spare the necessary time to call upon you all, I request that you will hand the amount to my son, the bearer.

“Respectfully yours,

”C. C. HINE,

“To Messrs. C. D. Morrison, Lorenzo Hart, Wm. A. Wauters, A. Bigelow, Edw. Carrigan, Jonathan Bird, E. Coeyman, Sam’l Royce, J. S. Gamble, Louis Dovell, T. H. Blake, E. B. Smith, Geo. W. Harlan, H. McFarlin, B. Dodd, T. A. Roberts, E. F. Higgins, P. Smith, J. P. Contrell, Dan’l F. Tompkins, N. Caughlin, Edw. Morrison, Jas. Swinnerton, Jr., J. C. McDonald, H. E. Joraleman, Geo. Ashmun, John H. Meeker, Wm. Dixon, Geo. T. Teel, A. Van Riper, J. P. Fowler, Alfred Sears, John I. Briggs, Geo. B. Callen, A. C. Neumann, W. J. Harlan, B. R. Sage, D. Evans, Geo. W. Keen, Owen Carroll, C. C. Hine, B. F. Baldwin, H. J. Winser, Wm. Jacobus, Stephen Joraleman, G. W. Cumming, E. G. Faitoute, Aaron H. Keen, Anthony Epworth, E. Charlier, Henry Farmer, Geo. W. Gore, Patrick Brady.”

If there were more names than these they were on another sheet which has been lost.

The separation was effected apparently without much difficulty, and thereafter for a brief period Woodside was independent. For the gobbling of it by Newark see the early pages of this book.

REMINISCENCES BY MR. SWINNERTON.

The following items are taken from the “Reminiscences” by Mr. James Swinnerton, which were read before the Woodside Sunday School on the occasion of its twentieth anniversary, 1887.

“At first a single stage which ran every hour was the only public conveyance between Newark and Belleville. This region was then a very primitive neighborhood. Early comers recall the fact that Washington Irving and his friends roamed over these beautiful hills and wooded vales with gun and dog. It was a veritable Sleepy Hollow, and Irving, had he been a resident, instead of an occasional visitor, might easily have rendered the Passaic and its valley as famous as he did Tarrytown and the Hudson. The hill above Carteret street through which Washington avenue was cut was then a well known spot to sportsmen, quail, ground-doves and rabbits being the chief game as now recalled.

“The infusion of new blood in Belleville quickened the old, a direct avenue to Newark was demanded and a horse railroad determined upon. Farmers and others gave their time and the use of their teams to break through the ridge north of Carteret street, and a rough pathway was made over the hills to the bluff on this side of Second river. Those traveling further north must do so on foot after descending the bluff by a steep flight of steps and crossing the river on a rickety foot bridge of logs.”

THE WOODSIDE OF 1867.

“The early settlers found a country beautiful to behold, but with the usual discomforts of a new place. There were no stores, when short of provisions neighbor must forage on neighbor; there were no schools, Sunday or secular; there were no churches, there were no Sunday horse cars—ride to church we could not. There were no sidewalks, but there was a superabundance of mud—walk, therefore, we dared not. Those who were bold enough to do so found mud over shoe and usually arrived at the church door in a state of mind. Mud in Woodside at this time came early in the fall, stayed the winter out and lingered through the spring. Goloshes were at a premium and blacking brushes at a discount.

“A Woodsider of the period has been compared to a duck standing on one foot, with the difference that the duck stands thus from instinct, the Woodsider for the reason that he had no spot on which to place his other foot.

“During the day the horse-cars ran on twenty and forty-five minutes’ headway and seldom ventured out after dark, owing largely to the peculiar facility with which they ran off the track and the difficulty of setting them in the straight and narrow way again.

“Your present get off, cross over and wait for the bob-car arrangement is an improvement on the past, decidedly; as such it may afford you some consolation and hope for the future”. (Mr. Swinnerton thus wrote in 1887 when there was loud and prolonged indignation over the “bobtail” car service furnished Woodside).

These with other discomforts made life in Woodside interesting and will serve to show the situation during the first year. We were without the bread of life—often short of the bread that perisheth.

As there were no sidewalks the middle of the road was used as a foot path by those too early for the next car. “One day”, writes Mr. Swinnerton, “in the middle of the road, and in the spring of 1867, I met and was introduced to Mr. Hine. After the usual civilities Mr. Hine declared his purpose to start a Sunday school just as soon as he had moved into the settlement. This was good news, but I wondered how the ways and means were to be provided. Many of us had spent our last dollar when moving in, and there was not a spare room in the hamlet large enough to accommodate a Sunday school.”

“Several months before this the residents met under an old apple tree before the door of a small carpenter shop (Morrison & Briggs’s) to consider church and other interests, but the carpenter shop had disappeared and the apple tree promised little comfort beyond shade.

Home Of Mr. C. C. Hine, 209 Washington Avenue. In this house three churches have been organized, Presbyterian, Episcopalian and Dutch Reformed.

“When I ventured to ask ‘where?’ Mr. Hine’s reply ‘In my own house’ afforded me a new experience. The notion of any one inviting the children of a neighborhood to his home for religious instruction was novel.”

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL OF JUNE 16, 1867.

“Business engagements prevented my attendance at the first session of the school, but its praises were sung by the bairns at home and on the second Sabbath I went over, expecting to find a few scholars and a teacher or two arranged around an out-of-the-way room. To my surprise teachers and scholars in crowds were pouring into the house by the front door. On entering I saw chairs and benches in the parlor and the room occupied by the larger children; the library held the infant department, and there was provision for a Bible class in the hall.

“The school was in full swing—children singing—Mr. Hine leading and thumping a melodeon vigorously with one finger and a thumb—his practice when no five-fingered player was at hand.

“This show of life and activity was contagious. I fell into line at once by offering to fill the position of librarian. Mr. Hine’s reply to my offer, ‘we will look no further, but you must find your own library’, was characteristic of the man and the school. Money and books were in hand by the following Sunday.”

Church services were also held in the parlor of Mr. Hine’s house. The Rev. Mr. Scofield, pastor of the Central Presbyterian Church, Newark, preached the first sermon from the text, “What think ye of Christ?” Several city pastors filled the pulpit—or, rather, stood at the table, propping up the Bible with a pile of books.

Invitations to preach were frequently extended in this form: “We shall be very happy to have you come, but there will be no fee and you must bring yourself as there are no cars, and not a horse in the whole congregation.” Ministers from a distance came Saturday nights and “boarded round”. Theological students accepted invitations, bringing their first sermon, and glad enough of an opportunity to try it on a real congregation.

The following letter from Mr. Swinnerton, found among some of Mr. Hine’s old papers, is inserted here as it is interesting in this connection:—

“Newark, N. J., July 16, 1867.

“Mr. Hine:—

“Dear Sir—Send this just to let you know how we got along with the meetings on Wednesday and the Sabbath and, I am happy to say, first-rate. At the prayer meeting there was a fair attendance. Mr. and Mrs. Boyden led the singing. Messrs. Teal, Bennett, Pettit, Teal Junior and myself took part in the exercise.

The Front Door At 209 Washington Avenue.

The Front Door At 209 Washington Avenue. Through which the Sunday School teachers and scholars streamed each Sabbath for eighteen months beginning with June 16, 1867.

“The Sabbath school attendance was 56 against 57 Sabbath previous. Mr. Taylor gave us a new chapter in Sunday school experience. Singing good.

“Mr. Dixon preached at night; the service very interesting; good singing. Mr. S. was not very well but remarked on Monday morning that it had done him more good to come up and preach for us and breathe the country air than if he had stayed at home. We had a full house. We filled the aisle with chairs and there were, besides, nearly a dozen persons in the hall. Mr. Pettit led on Wednesday. I report progress with books—bookcase painting.

“Shall see about preaching for next Sunday to-day.

“Yours truly,

”J. SWINNERTON.“

A CHURCH BELL IS PROCURED.

Occasionally an expected supply would fail to come, and those who gathered for the services were then disappointed. To meet this Mr. Hine purchased a bell and hung it in the tower of his house and this, by clangor or silence, gave notice to all the country side. There were no street lights, and those attending evening service on moonless nights have been likened unto swarms of fireflies as they ranged over the fields toward the house, every man with a lantern in hand.

Building up a congregation without the help a pastor can give, and raising money for a church edifice, are no light tasks. Several of the families held cherished church connections in Newark which they were loath to give up; others were indifferent.

FAIRS, CAKE SALES AND LECTURES.

The few especially interested worked with varying experiences. Fairs were held, the ladies baked cakes and gave them to the fair, the cakes were purchased by their husbands and carried home again.

In October Mr. Henry J. Winser gave a lecture for the benefit of the church in the house of Mr. Hine, his subject being his recent trip across the Atlantic in the Dunderberg. As showing the capacity of the house, a circular issued at the time states that “about 200 persons can be seated”.

Fair Of The Woodside Presbyterian Church.

Fair Of The Woodside Presbyterian Church, In The Basement Of The Dutch Reformed Church Market Street.

Second page of poster.

[Illustration: Second page of poster.]

Third page of poster.

[Illustration: Third page of poster.]

The basement of a Newark church was secured for a midwinter festival (see copy of poster); we were snowed under, and with difficulty reached our firesides.

An auction of choice engravings and Prang’s chromos was attempted in the third story of a desolate building in Newark near the Market one Saturday night. Few people attended the sale and none purchased the pictures. At a similar attempt in Belleville chromos to the value of $1.25 were sold and, on counting the cash, it was found to be thirty-seven cents short.

THE RETREAT FROM BELLEVILLE.

“Moscow to Napoleon was a trifle compared to our retreat from Belleville that wintry night. Silently we carried our goods through that long-drawn-out village. Looked at through the mist of time this appears like a trifling incident, but then the giant Despair loomed above us, and it was only the splendid courage of Mr. Hine and his indomitable energy and perseverance which kept us going. Family interests he sacrificed for the common weal. To every objection there came but one reply: ‘I have enlisted for the war, and until a permanent building is erected my doors will stand open.’”

“They did stand open for eighteen months, or until January 3, 1869, when the second building erected for church and Sunday school purposes in Woodside opened its doors—the Woodside Presbyterian Church—St. John’s Church having been opened some months previous.” (Here ends Mr. Swinnerton’s very interesting paper).

THE ERIE RAILROAD.

One of the advertised inducements to settlers in Woodside was direct railroad connection with New York. The Erie had leased the Paterson, Newark & New York Railroad, which was opened in 1868 and connected with the Newark & Hudson Railroad to Jersey City, also leased to the Erie. This promised blessing was slow in coming, for at least three years elapsed before the New York connection was made, and in the meantime those whose business called them to the greater city must take the occasional horse car or walk to the D., L. & W. (which in those days stood for “Delay, Linger and Wait”).

The Erie has ever been to a Woodsider as a red rag to a bull. The extremely limited service of the “Newark Branch” and the absolute indifference of the management toward the convenience of travelers have been so pronounced as always to give the impression that the road regarded passengers as a necessary evil, to be endured but not encouraged and, as a result, hundreds in the old days turned from it in disgust and went elsewhere. It is safe to say that the Erie was the chief factor in holding the growth of this section in check, while to-day its foul breath blackens the heavens and desecrates the landscape as its engines vomit vast clouds of smudgy soft coal smoke with a villainous impudence that can nowhere be equaled. The Erie is the only railroad with more than one stop in Newark that charges more to one station than to another, and no other gives so little or so poor service. Such is its uniqueness.

THE MAKING OF A SUNDAY SCHOOL.

Mr. Hine took up his abode in Woodside on April 1, 1867. The following circular shows how prompt he was in starting the Sunday School:—

SUNDAY SCHOOL IN WOODSIDE.

There will be a Sunday School at the house of Mr. C. C. Hine, on Belleville Avenue, on Sunday June 16, 1867, at Half-past Two o’clock, p. m. All who feel an interest in this work are cordially invited to be present at that hour. Arrangements have been made for good singing and plenty of it. This SUNDAY SCHOOL is intended to be permanent.

In the Evening, at Eight o’clock, Rev. Mr. Scofield, from the Central Presbyterian Church of Newark, will preach on “THE PRECIOUSNESS OF CHRIST.”

On Wednesday Evenings, at Eight o’clock, until further notice, there will be Social Prayer Meetings.

All these Services are intended to be permanent.

A “BEFORE-THE-WAR” STORY.

Mr. Hine’s love for the Sunday school is so well known that no one will be surprised to learn that as a young man, and while traveling, he once taught a class in an Atlanta (Ga.) Sunday school.

This was before the war, and Mr. Hine used to tell as a good joke on his self-esteem, how adults gathered about his class to listen, until they outnumbered the scholars. This naturally made him feel somewhat elated until he found later that his auditors, learning that he was from the North, had gathered to ascertain whether he would inject any abolition talk into his teaching. The young man, however, was too wise to try anything of that sort, and was more than thankful that he had been when he discovered the true cause of his popularity.

THE MAKING OF A CHURCH.

Even before the Sunday school Mr. Hine had inaugurated church services in his dwelling, as is evidenced by this second circular:—

Presbyterian Church in Woodside.

Since the 9th of June public worship has been held in a private house in Woodside, the Presbyterian ministers of Newark officiating. A weekly Prayer Meeting has also been sustained since the same date. A Sunday School was organized on the 16th of June, and its roll now includes 84 names.

Application was duly made to Presbytery, and a committee of Ministers and Elders was appointed to visit Woodside and organize a Church, which duty they performed on the evening of Monday, Sept. 23d. Seventeen members united at that time, seven others have signified their intention of doing so, and it is thought the number will soon be increased to thirty.

An eligible lot of nearly a half acre has been secured, and subscriptions, sufficient to pay for it, made by the residents. An appeal is now made to the Newark Churches for means with which to build a Chapel. $4,000 or $5,000 will be needed.

The rapid growth and flattering prospects of Woodside are well known in this community, and the importance of FIRST occupying this promising field can hardly be over estimated. Generous encouragement promptly extended will, under God’s blessing, result in the speedy up-building of a much needed place of worship.

Presbyterian Church, Carteret Street.

THE FIRST CHURCH OF WOODSIDE.

The following “Annals of the First Presbyterian Church of Woodside” are copied from memoranda in Mr. Hine’s handwriting:—

“Woodside, Essex County, N. J.

“June, 1867.

“The first Public Worship held in Woodside was at 8 o’clock on the Evening of Sunday, June 9, 1867, in the house of Mr. C. C. Hine on Belleville avenue.

“Rev. Wm. C. Scofield of the Central Presbyterian Church, Newark, preached a stirring discourse from the text, ‘What think ye of Christ?’

“After the sermon it was announced that a Sunday school would be organized in the same place at 2-1/2 o’clock p. m. on the following Sabbath; and on a vote to establish and maintain a Social prayer meeting twenty hands were raised pledging attendance.

“At this date the village of Woodside is a mere suburban settlement, containing some forty houses that have all been built within the past sixteen months (this, of course, refers to the Washington avenue neighborhood). The want of Church privileges has been deeply felt, and this movement is designed to supply that want, draw the people of Christ together and build up a Church wherein and whereby He may be honored and souls saved.

“Saturday, June 8th, was a rainy day. The storm continued furious over night and until after midday Sunday. At sunset it was fair. Notice had been inserted in the Newark evening paper, and on Sunday afternoon forty-one houses were visited (by Mr. Hine himself) and personal invitation extended. About one hundred people assembled and the accommodations were crowded to their utmost capacity.

“Wednesday Evening, June 12, 1867.

“Twenty-five persons attended the first prayer meeting to-night. Messrs. Hine, Teal, Bennett and Pettit prayed—in the order written, and with singing and remarks and reading a part of Luke 12th the hour was profitably spent.”

MR. HINE’S HOUSE THE FIRST CHURCH BUILDING.

The parlor of Mr. Hine’s house was left unfurnished; it was a room 15x25 feet and the arrangement was such that the hall and the “library” across the hall could be used as an overflow. He purchased benches for the main room and placed a speaker’s table at the front end of the room, so that it commanded the hall and beyond, as well as the parlor. A bell so heavy that it shook the entire house, when in use, was hung in the tower, and his eldest, who, though young, was a husky lad, recalls with many a smile how he used to shift those long, heavy benches to meet the varying requirements of the day, displaying a species of muscular Christianity at this time which greatly pleased his sire, and how he would sit on the tower stairs and study his Sunday school lesson while he rang the bell for church or school.

But not all were of so becoming a disposition, for I am told that Mr. A. P. Scharff, who taught a class in Sunday school, called his scholars a “Band of Hope”, as that was the only thing he could do for them.

I very clearly recall being a member of the infant class—Class No. 9—under Miss Hannah Teel of blessed memory, and seating myself with other infants on the ledge of a book case in the library. If ever there was a good woman and a faithful one, it was Miss Teel, who watched over that infant class for many years, and who was wholly unconscious that she was doing anything more than her plain duty. That kindly face is indelibly impressed on the memory of many grown-ups who were once children of the infant class.

Of Miss Teal an old-time neighbor says: “Her memory is dear to all who were children in the early seventies. She was a woman of much executive ability and, in addition to her Infant Class in the Sunday school, she had a school for young children. Her sway was mild, but firm, and she delighted in teaching the little girls not alone the four necessary branches and sewing, but also many gems of poetry suitable for their young minds. In her home she was the mainstay of the household.”

Three churches were organized in this house, which can truly be called the First Church of Woodside: the Presbyterian, St. John’s Episcopal, and the Dutch Reformed, the latter being formed after a split in the Presbyterian congregation.

A SPLIT IN THE PRESBYTERIAN CONGREGATION.

In organizing the first church the majority favored the Presbyterian denomination, and funds were collected for a church building, which was duly erected on Carteret street. The first minister was one Clarence Eddy, and he proved so very unsatisfactory that he was soon invited to resign. I believe that the governing body of the Church had had occasion to censure the reverend gentleman for something, and later found that the minutes containing the censure had been tampered with. This was the last straw, and Mr. Eddy was given an easy opportunity to vacate, as the following letter indicates:—

“Woodside, N. J.

”June 15, 1870.

“Rev. Clarence Eddy.

“Dear Sir—The undersigned, members of your congregation, beg respectfully to express the belief that a dissolution of your connection with the church is, under existing circumstances, desirable.

“We, therefore, earnestly request that you will take early steps to consummate the separation; and this we do in a spirit of kindness to yourself and of regard for the church. We entertain no sentiment of personal hostility towards you and desire the separation to be made in such a manner as shall least disturb your own feelings and interests, both professional and private, and best conserve all the important relations involved.”

This letter was signed by forty-six members of the church, including the families of Messrs. Hine, Nichols, Halsey, Swinnerton, Beach, Dovell, Blackwood, Harlan, Briggs, Smith, Snowdon, McDonald, Whitehead, Coeyman, Boyden, Slater, Maclure, Carter, Snyder, Baldwin and Tompkins.

Mr. Eddy refused to accept the gentle hint and it then became necessary to take the matter before the Newark Presbytery, which held several highly spiced meetings, and which finally decided that “we must support the poor minister”, as one of the other “poor” ministers incautiously stated in public, and there was nothing left for those who had organized the church and erected the church building but to resign.

The following, taken from a newspaper clipping, shows what the separation meant to the church. The writer, who merely signs with the initial D, states that of the $5,000 already paid on the church, less than $450 were paid by those who remained, while some $4,500 were raised and paid by those “who, from self respect, have been obliged to leave it”, and more than two-thirds of the current expenses of the church were also paid by them. Personally I am just enough lacking in Christian charity to be pleased at the hole the Eddyites found themselves in, but that has long been a thing of the past and the bitter feeling then engendered is so completely forgotten that one who was in the front rank of the Eddyites can now say that “Mr. Hine was Woodside”.

A PARTISAN.

Mr. Daniel Halsey, who resided on Carteret street, at one time did business in Petersburg, Va., and it became the custom to have Mr. Halsey send to Petersburg for a colored girl when any of his neighbors desired such help; thus there was gradually formed a small colony of Southern negroes, who were usually intensely loyal to their employers. One of these, a large, husky negress named “Milly”, was employed by Rev. Mr. Eddy and thereby hangs a tale, as the story books say.

Shortly after the split in the Presbyterian Church, and when the feeling was very bitter and the entire neighborhood was divided into “Eddyites” and “Hineites”, Mr. Hine had occasion to call on Mr. Eddy for some purpose and was conducted by that gentleman upstairs to his study.

Two or three times during the interview Mr. Eddy, who was an extremely nervous man, thought he heard some one on the other side of the closed door and, excusing himself, got up to look out into the hall, but, seeing no one, resumed his seat. The conference over, Mr. Hine was shown out, and as Mr. Eddy returned to his study he saw standing in a niche near the head of the stairs his colored Milly, with a flat-iron in either hand and, as he approached she brandished her weapons, shouting as she did so: “Ah was ready for him! Ah was ready for him!” expecting, of course, there was to be a fight and recognizing her duty to her employer. Probably Mr. Hine never knew how close he came that day to a broken head.

Milly was one of the impulsive sort and, so far as her lights went, she lived up to them. Mrs. Perry tells how, when she used to stand on the corner of Lincoln and Elwood avenues, hesitating to engage the sea of mud which lay between her and home, and which was usually over shoe-top—the real, red, Jersey mud—Milly, when she happened to spy her beloved Sunday school teacher in this predicament, would rush from the Eddy back door to the corner, pick up the little woman, tuck her under her arm and carry her across the street as a child might carry a doll. It was of no use to resist; Milly was as large as a man and as strong as two.

PIONEERING IN WOODSIDE.

In these crude times many were the emergencies that arose, and much ingenuity was called into play to meet them, for between the Erie Railroad and that farce known as the street car, Woodside was almost as isolated as an island in mid ocean. Thus the making of a mistake that in these days would be a trifle was sometimes momentous in its consequences.

This gave a certain pioneer flavor to the situation and made of the community one great family where neighbor was dependent on neighbor, and thus brought out and developed character that the present easy times do not call out, and men and women loomed large or small as they actually deserved.

One of the small-sized emergencies which arose had to do with a certain Sunday morning communion service in the Presbyterian Church, and the situation was like this:—

Mrs. Cumming had made objection to the use of wine at the communion, claiming that its very smell was intoxicating and its influence bad, and the discussion that followed led to a resolve to try unfermented wine, which was then just beginning to be introduced. As a consequence Mr. John Maclure, at whose house the vessels used in the service were kept, and who had charge of the preparations for the service, made a special journey to New York to purchase a bottle of the unfermented wine.

Mrs. Margaret Perry, a daughter of Mr. Maclure, tells how on the Sunday morning of this particular communion service, while she was practising the morning’s music on the church organ and her father was preparing the communion table, she heard an exclamation of surprise, and looked up to ascertain the trouble.

Mr. Maclure was a Scotch Presbyterian, and was necessarily limited in his Sunday morning vocabulary, and there he stood in a momentary daze, and wholly unable to fit words to the situation, with a quart bottle in his hand which, instead of containing, as he had supposed, unfermented wine, was full of Carter’s best black ink. The clerk in New York had wrapped up the wrong bottle.

Imagine the desolation of the situation when, after inquiring of Mr. Hall, rector of St. John’s, it was learned that he had only just enough for his own communion service, and there was no other where to turn, for there was probably not a bottle of wine of any sort in the small community.

But here was demonstrated the pioneer readiness to meet and conquer the unexpected. Mr. Maclure gathered his family about him and all repaired to his garden, where the grapes were just beginning to ripen, and while some gathered others pressed the fruit, and by straining the mass through cheesecloth enough “unfermented wine” was secured to meet the situation and save the day.

PASTORS OF THE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH.

Following Mr. Eddy came Dr. James Evans, who served for five or six years; then the Rev. James A. Trimmer, four to five years; the Rev. Jos. W. Porter, five to six years; the Rev. Henry C. Van der Beek, who served nineteen years; during his pastorate the church was moved to Forest Hill. The present incumbent is the Rev. Frederick W. Lewis.

SUNDAY SCHOOL IN THE ELLIOTT STREET SCHOOLHOUSE.

Mr. Swinnerton writes that Mr. Hine did not favor the suggestion that another Sunday school be started when the subject was first proposed, as he was not willing to do anything that would appear like opposition or that might cause damage to his first love, but there were sixty-odd children among the families that had left the Presbyterian Church, and they were soon clamoring for Mr. Hine. In the meantime the trustees of the public school which had just been erected on Cottage, now Elliott, street, Messrs. Albert Beach, John C. Bennett and James Swinnerton, offered the use of the building for Sunday school purposes, and though Mr. Hine hesitated, they kept on with the work of organization and, when he fully appreciated the feeling, he yielded and, once his mind was made up, took hold in good earnest.

FORMATION OF CHRIST CHURCH OF WOODSIDE.

The Sunday school was naturally followed by a church organization, and the services of the Rev. John M. Macauley, who was then living in Belleville, were secured, Mr. Hine and Mr. E. A. Boyden being appointed a committee for this purpose. As a burned child dreads the fire, it was but natural that the first thought was for a church organization independent of all denominational control but, this not appearing feasible, it was later decided that the Reformed Dutch Church would satisfy the larger number, and that denomination was adopted.

The following, taken from the church books, shows the method of procedure and gives the names of those who were active:—

“Woodside, N. J., May 16, 1871.

“At a meeting held at the house of Mr. Charles C. Hine, and composed of representatives from thirteen families of the neighborhood, it was resolved to organize a Church Society.

“After reading of the scriptures and prayer being offered by Revd. Dr. Macauley and Messrs. C. C. Hine and H. H. Nichols, the meeting was formally organized by the election of Horace H. Nichols as Chairman and Jas. Swinnerton, Jr., as Secretary.

“It was then voted to organize without a denominational name or connection, and on the standard of belief of the Presbyterian Church, and it was also decided, by a full vote, to call the Society ‘Christ Church of Woodside’.

“A committee composed of H. H. Nichols, C. C. Hine, E. A. Boyden and Jas. Swinnerton, Jr., was appointed to post the legal notice and arrange a meeting for the election of officers, etc.

“The meeting then closed with prayer by Dr. Macauley.

“The persons present at the above meeting were:

“Revd. Dr. Macauley,

“Mr. and Mrs. C. C. Hine,

“Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Nichols,

“Mr. and Mrs. A. Beach,

“Mrs. Callen,

“Mr. L. Dovell,

“Mr. Stent,

“Mr. Warnock,

“Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Higgins,

“Mr. and Mrs. E. A. Boyden,

“Mr. and Mrs. B. G. Blackwood,

“Mr. Jno. I. Briggs,

“Mrs. Miller,

“Mr. Dowling,

“Jas. Swinnerton, Jr.

“JAS. SWINNERTON, Jr., Secretary.

“The following is a copy of a notice posted pursuant to vote of meeting held the 16th inst.:—

“NOTICE!

“Notice is hereby given that a meeting will be held at 8 o’clock on the evening of Tuesday, May 30, 1871, at the house of Mr. Chas. C. Hine, in Newark, Essex Co., N. J., to complete the organization of a church to be known as ‘Christ Church of Woodside’, and to elect officers for the same and to transact such other business in connection therewith as may be necessary. Persons desirous of uniting are requested to present their letters at that meeting.

“H. H. NICHOLS,
”C. C. HINE,
“JAS. SWINNERTON, JR.,
”E. A. BOYDEN,
“Committee.

“Woodside, May 18, 1871.

“Woodside, May 30, 1871.

“Pursuant to notice given, a meeting was held at 8 o’clock p. m. this day at the house of C. C. Hine, Esq.

“After prayer by Rev. Dr. Macauley, the meeting organized by the election of Mr. H. H. Nichols as Chairman and E. F. Higgins as Secretary.

“The notice calling the meeting was then read by the Secretary and, after some discussion, a paper was drawn up and signed by those persons present willing to unite in the proposed Church organization.

“The following is a copy of said paper and signatures:—

“We, the Undersigned, hereby organize ourselves as a Christian Church, to be known as ‘Christ Church of Woodside’, Essex Co., N. J., to be governed by such standards and regulations as may be hereafter adopted. (Signed by)—

“H. H. NICHOLS,
”MARY C. NICHOLS,
“AMELIA F. NICHOLS,
”C. C. HINE,
“MARY H. HINE,
”JANE A. AVERY,
“B. G. BLACKWOOD,
”R. T. BLACKWOOD,
“E. A. BOYDEN,
”JANE D. BOYDEN,
“LOUIS DOVELL,
”MRS. LOUIS DOVELL,
“ALBERT BEACH,
”MARIA A. BEACH,
“MRS. G. B. CALLEN,
”JAS. SWINNERTON, JR.,
“ELIZABETH E. SWINNERTON.

“Messrs. C. C. Hine and E. A. Boyden were appointed a committee to secure additional signatures.

“It being thought desirable not to proceed further in the organization until the report of the committee had been received, the meeting adjourned to meet at the same hour and place on Tuesday evening, the 6th day of June, 1871,

“ELMER F. HIGGINS,

“Woodside, June 6, 1871.

“An adjourned meeting was held at 8 o’clock p. m. at Mr. Hine’s house and, after prayer by Rev. Dr. Macauley, the officers of the last meeting presiding, the minutes of the first and second meetings were read by the secretary and approved.

“Mr. Nichols reported having conferred with the Gentlemen interested in the Reformed Church, who stated that they did not intend to locate in Woodside.

“Mr. Boyden for Committee to secure additional signatures, reported having seen several persons who stated that they would attend this meeting if possible, and that some were present.

“Mr. Hine then read a form of covenant which was referred to a committee of three, consisting of Dr. Macauley and Messrs. Beach and Blackwood, for revision or amendment, who at once retired and, after about fifteen minutes, returned.

“Dr. Macauley reported that the committee thought the paper remarkably well drawn up, but that they would suggest that the clause reading ‘that repentance to-ward God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and assistance from the Holy Ghost are sufficient to cleanse us from our sins and restore us to fellowship with our God’, be altered slightly in its phraseology, which alteration would not materially effect or change the meaning, as follows: ‘That through repentance towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, we may be cleansed from our sins and restored to fellowship with our God’, which amendment being accepted by Mr. Hine, this paper as amended was adopted and reads as follows:—

“In the fear of God and with a sincere desire to promote the cause of Christ and our own growth in the divine life, we do now enter into covenant with God and with one another in the formation of a Church to be known as ‘Christ Church of Woodside’, the following being a brief summary of our belief. We take the scriptures of the Old and New Testament as the only rule of faith and practice; we avouch the Lord Jehovah to be our God and portion and the object of our supreme love and delight; the Lord Jesus Christ to be our Saviour from sin and death, our Prophet to instruct us, our Priest to atone and intercede for us, and our King to rule over, project and enrich us, and the Holy Ghost to be our Sanctifier, Comforter and Guide.

“Unto this Triune God—Father, Son and Holy Ghost—we do without reserve and in a covenant never to be revoked, give ourselves to be his willing servants forever, and in humble reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ we promise to discharge our several duties, in the closet, in the family and in the community, and also to attend upon the stated means of Grace, the preaching of the Word and the ordinances of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

“We do humbly confess the total depravity of our natures, the enmity of our hearts against God and the manifold transgressions of our lives, but we believe, nevertheless, that through repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, by the grace of the Holy Ghost, we may be cleansed from our sins and restored to fellowship with our God; and as a further expression of our faith and belief we adopt the creed commonly known as the Apostle’s Creed.

“We do bind ourselves by covenant to this Church, to watch over it in the Lord, to seek its peace and edification, to submit to the discipline of Christ as here administered and to strive together for the support and spread of the gospel of our Saviour in all ways as opportunity may be given us, relying only upon Him who is able to keep us from falling and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

“On motion of Mr. Beach, Messrs. H. H. Nichols, C. C. Hine and B. G. Blackwood were elected as Elders for one year.

“Messrs. A. Beach, E. A. Boyden, E. F. Higgins, Jas. Swinnerton, Jr., and L. Dovell were elected as Trustees for one year.

“After prayer by Dr. Macauley the meeting adjourned.

“ELMER F. HIGGINS,

”Secretary.

“Christ Church, Woodside, Newark, N. J., from which the First Reformed Church of that place was organized, held its first service of public worship in the schoolhouse on the corner of the old Belleville road and Cottage street, on the 19th of February, 1871, Rev. John M. Macauley, D. D., officiating. In the following month—March 12, 1871—Dr. Ray Palmer and Rev. Mr. Strieby preached; with this single exception Dr. Macauley continued to preach there for two years. During this time a call, signed by every member of the church not absent from home at the time, was tendered to Dr. Macauley to become the regular pastor of the church.

“In September, 1872, the question of a denominational connection was decided in favor of the Reformed (Dutch) Church and application was made to the classis of Newark for admission. This application met favorable consideration and a committee consisting of Revs. E. P. Terhune, D. D., J. P. Strong, D. D., C. E. Hart, and Elders A. C. Wheaton, James Browe, was appointed to visit Woodside and organize the church in accordance with the regulations of classis.

“Woodside, October 30, 1872.

“The committee appointed by classis to organize a Reformed Church at Woodside assembled for that purpose Wednesday evening, October 30th, at the schoolhouse. The exercises were opened by religious services. Rev. Dr. J. P. Strong preached a sermon from Psalm lxxxvii., 3d verse.

“After these services the committee proceeded to receive the members, thirty-two in number, applying to be organized as a church.

“The organization was completed by the election of Horace H. Nichols, Charles C. Hine and Baxter G. Blackwood as Elders, and James Swinnerton, Jr., Louis Dovell and E. A. Boyden as Deacons.

“The following resolutions were adopted:—

“Resolved, That the ordination of officers take place on Sabbath, November 17, 1872.

“Resolved, That the title of the church be ‘Christ Church, The First Reformed Church, Woodside’.

“November 17, 1872, after morning service, and in pursuance of previous action, the ordination of the officers elected October 30th was taken up, Dr. Macauley officiating. Mr. Boyden having declined to act as Deacon, Messrs. Dovell and Swinnerton were duly ordained to that office, and Messrs. Blackwood, Nichols and Hine as Elders.”

Christ Church, Washington And Delevan Avenues.

Christ’s Church, Washington And Delevan Avenues. The first building of this congregation and the third church to be organized in the house of Mr. C. C. Hine. Note the horse cars.

During the summer of 1872 arrangements had been made for the erection of a neat chapel on an elevated piece of ground on Washington avenue and work on the same commenced. The building was completed during the following Spring and worship was begun therein on the 2d day of March, 1873. The house was dedicated shortly afterward (March 9th), Revs. Terhune, Strong, Abeel, Hart and the pastor, Dr. Macauley, taking part in the services. The stained glass used in this building was a Woodside production, made by George Laerter in a small place in the neighborhood of Washington avenue and Halleck street.

DR. MACAULEY THE FIRST PASTOR OF CHRIST CHURCH.

On the 5th of March, 1873, at a meeting attended by all the elders and deacons, it was resolved to repeat the call to Dr. John M. Macauley, to become the settled pastor of the church. A committee was then appointed and instructed to proceed with that duty in conformity with the usages of the Reformed Church. The call was duly drawn up and, on the 31st of December, 1873, a meeting, moderated by Rev. Dr. J. P. Strong, of Belleville, was held, at which the instrument was completed and signed and ordered to be placed in Dr. Macauley’s hands for approval prior to presentation at the next regular meeting of classis.

DR. JOHN M. MACAULEY.

On May 3, 1874, Dr. Macauley was installed pastor of the church. The Doctor was a man of rare education, a delightful companion with a brilliant mind and a forceful and graceful method of speaking; a pulpit orator of the old school, trained in gesture, word and manner as well as mind. Will Cumming, of the River road, then a young man studying law, and himself unusually clever, used to come regularly to the Sunday morning service in order to study the Doctor’s polished manner and language. The Doctor was one of the very few who could preach a long sermon and hold the close attention of his audience to the last word.

TWO UNMENTIONABLES.

After the Doctor came two who covered a period extending from 1881 to 1894, and concerning whom little that is agreeable can be recorded. However a search of the church records shows that on December 8, 1888, a bill for fertilizing the church lawn was submitted by the pastor and ordered paid; thus we see that his labors were not all in vain. During this period the church building was moved from No. 215 Washington avenue to the present location and a parsonage was erected in the rear.

REV. ISAAC VAN WART SCHENCK.

As is well known it is easier to get an old man of the sea on one’s back than to get rid of him, but the spell was finally broken when, on August 13, 1894, a call was extended to the Rev. Isaac Van Wart Schenck, who proved to be the opposite in every respect of his two predecessors. Mr. Schenck was a whole-souled man who always gave his best to the church and he was greatly beloved by Mr. Hine.

It is interesting to note that the first trolley car ran through Woodside on the first Sunday that Mr. Schenck preached in the church.

REV. HENRY MERLE MELLEN.

Mr. Schenck was succeeded by the Rev. Henry Merle Mellen in September, 1900, and, under his administration, the present church edifice was erected, the success of this enterprise being largely due to Mr. Mellen’s exertions.

Christ’s Church, Washington And Delevan Avenues. The second church edifice of this congregation. Erected 1906-7.

On December 6, 1903, the mortgage of $1,900 on the old church property was burned and the church cleared of all indebtedness.

February 4, 1904, the question of erecting a new church edifice was publicly discussed by the congregation, and the minister was instructed to appoint a building committee of twenty members.

March 10, 1904, the building committee met and organized with Judge Alfred F. Skinner as chairman, William B. Abbey as secretary, and George S. Bruen as treasurer. It was decided to limit the cost of building and furnishings to $25,000.

April 29, 1905, Charles G. Jones of Belleville was selected as architect.

March 20, 1906, it was decided to move the old building to the back of the lot.

April 12, 1906, ground was broken for the new building.

June 14, 1906, the corner stone was laid under the auspices of the Classis of Newark.

January 20, 1907, the new church was opened for worship.

January 21, 1907, the building was dedicated.

Memorial windows to the memory of Mr. C. C. Hine and Mrs. Mary H. Hine, to Mrs. Anna W. Hine and to the parents of Mr. Mellen, the minister, were placed in the building.

The cost of the new church complete was a trifle over $46,000.

This brief outline by no means tells the story. As before stated, the inception of the church is due to the Rev. Henry Merle Mellen, and the raising of money was also largely due to Mr. Mellen’s activity and unselfish devotion to the cause. The building committee was more than fortunate in its chairman and members, and the result of their work is an ornament to the locality.

INCIDENTS OF THE EARLY DAYS OF THE CHURCH.

During the very early days of the church on the hill, sexton Budd introduced his patent gasoline lamps for lighting purposes, and no doubt was proud of his accomplishment, but why the crazy things did not blow up the first time they were lighted is the chief mystery of the situation. As nearly as we can recall the outfit consisted of the ordinary glass font with a small metal tube at the top through which the vapor arose, which gave light when a match was applied. These did not stay long, for Mr. Hine, who was an insurance man, very shortly discovered their possibilities.

The lighting of Christ Church was first accomplished with kerosene lamps, there being no gas in the neighborhood then, except that made on the premises of Mr. Hine for his own house. It occurred to that gentleman that he could attach the church (which then stood on the lot adjoining his home) to that same gas machine, and thus do away with the dim and troublesome kerosene burners.

The idea was good, but the pumping machinery which forced the flow of gas through the pipes was inadequate for the extra work and, as a result, the pump must be wound up by hand two or three times during a Sunday evening. This usually fell to the lot of the small boys who did not go to evening service, they being strictly charged to visit the cellar every thirty minutes or so and do the necessary work; but small boys had a way of getting sleepy in those days, and there is a tradition that Mr. Hine, being warned by the gradual dimming of the lights, had to leave the church in a great hurry occasionally and operate the pump himself.

THE CHURCH CHOIR.

Mr. Hine was musical to his finger tips and found great enjoyment in the practice of the art. In his youth he composed a number of songs and ballads which were published in St. Louis. Naturally he had charge of the church music, and among the pleasantest experiences of his life were the choir rehearsals, and particularly was this the case when Mr. Jay Ten Eyck presided at the organ and the quartet choir consisted of Mrs. F. W. Schmidt, Mrs. Dr. J. E. Janes, Mr. Harrison I. Norton and Mr. Hine. One who knew him well at that time has said that “he was just like a boy going to a ball game when he came down to the church on choir rehearsal nights”, such was his enthusiasm.

The selection and preparation of special music for Easter and other occasions gave him the most keen delight. At such times he would come home with an armful of carols and spend evening after evening trying them, usually with his flute, his daughter-in-law being at the piano. The possibilities were then taken up by the choir and the resulting music was reasonably good, though considerable good natured fun was poked at the choir-master on one occasion, at least, when, after having labored earnestly over a long Easter Sunday anthem the domine immediately began his prayer with, “Oh, Lord, we thank Thee that it is finished”.

Mr. Hine was notably successful with the Sunday school music, having a peculiar faculty for arousing the enthusiasm of children. His “Now, children!” brought prompt and complete attention from all, and he was so absorbed himself in the work and was so much a part of it that the children abandoned themselves to his sway and responded with a gusto that made the singing of the school a great feature.

WOODSIDE, 1868-9.

Woodside was set off from Belleville in 1868 and lasted as an independent town just about two years. Again I fall back on Mr. Swinnerton, who was town clerk both years, for details. He says:—

“When the new element came it found a lot of old-timers, very glad to welcome us and to benefit by the church and Sunday school privileges, but unwilling to spend any money for street or sidewalk betterment. Belleville contained many of the same sort, but there were some there who helped us secure our set-off into a township.”

WOODSIDE TOWNSHIP.

UNION TICKET.

For Judges of Election,
CHARLES AKERS,
EDWARD P. SNOWDEN,
HORACE B. NICHOLS.

For Assessor,

NATHANIEL J. CRANE.

For Collector,

JAMES S. GAMBLE.

For Town Clerk,

JAMES SWINNERTON, JR.

For Justice of the Peace,

ELIAS OSBORN.

For Town Committee,
CHARLES AKERS,
MILES I’ANSON,
JOSEPH I. DOWLING,
HORACE CARTER,
JOHN McMULLEN.

For Commissioners of Appeal,
JOHN C. BENNETT,
EDWARD G. FAITOUTE,
JOHN I. BRIGGS.

For Chosen Freeholder,
CHARLES AKERS,
HORACE H. NICHOLS.

For Constables,
JOHN BURKE,
BETHUEL MUNN,
PHINEAS M. SMITH.

For Surveyors of Highways,
TRUMAN H. ALDRICH,
GEORGE K. HARRISON,
JOHN C. BENNETT.

For Pound Keepers,
NATHANIEL J. CRANE,
JOHN C. BENNETT,
JOHN I. BRIGGS,
JOHN McDONALD,
GEORGE K. HARRISON.

Road Tax $4,000 00
School Tax, per child 3 00
Poor Tax 500 00
Dog Tax, as the law allows.
Incidental Expenses 500 00

“The village had scarce gained its independence, however, when it was saddled with a heavy debt in the shape of bonds for the Midland (now Greenwood Lake) Railroad. This made it imprudent to attempt the raising of money for local improvements, but the year Mr. Hine was on the Town Committee $4,000 was raised for street improvements and divided between the five districts of River road, Washington avenue, Back road, Bloomfield road and the cross road in Woodside. Mr. Hine spent $600 in making a gravel walk from the cemetery to Carteret street, and gave the remaining $200 to General Cumming for use on the Gully road.

“Our portion went to Soho (which appears to have been then a part of Woodside). The others stirred the ground a little, leaving the mud as deep as ever.” Woodside was an awful mud-hole in wet weather.

The Town Committee met at night, usually in the house of Mr. Swinnerton, Town Clerk; none but the town officers attended these meetings. The two annual town meetings were held in a small hall on Washington avenue, opposite the Morrison & Briggs carpenter shop; this hall burned later. Two or three informal meetings were held in a small carpenter shop standing in Mr. Swinnerton’s yard, on the northeast corner of Elwood and Lincoln avenues (this was the first Morrison & Briggs shop). Here Woodside was given its present name.

So far as can now be recalled the Town Committeemen were General Cumming, for the River road; Mr. Hine, for Washington avenue; either Mr. Phillips or Mr. Faitoute, for Lincoln avenue; Charles Akers, for the Bloomfield road; “a fine, old Irish gentleman for Soho”, and Joseph Dowling for the cross street. James S. Gamble was Treasurer.

A WOODSIDE TRAGEDY.

Possibly the only tragedy connected with Woodside was the shooting of Albert D. Richardson on December 2, 1869. Mr. Richardson was a celebrated newspaper correspondent and an author of some note. He had traveled over a large part of the United States and had settled in Woodside because of its rural beauty, having purchased the house built by Miles I’Anson, which now stands on Summer avenue, facing Chester.

A Mrs. McFarland, who was later known to literature as Abbie Sage Richardson, and who came of a good Boston family, married Daniel McFarland, the black sheep of a prominent New York family, and, after supporting him for a reasonable length of time, she secured a divorce. Mr. Richardson assisted her in establishing herself, and about this time McFarland, while under the influence of liquor, met him in the office of the Tribune and shot him down. Richardson was removed to the Astor House and lived for a week. He was a widower with three young children and, desiring Mrs. McFarland to look after them, he married her while on his deathbed.

WOODSIDE AND THE STREET CAR.

From the beginning and up to comparatively recent times Woodside has been compelled to make a continuous fight for proper street car service.

The first car track laid extended from the cemetery to Orange street, where it met the track which had been laid in 1862 from Market street. There was but one car, and that was pivoted on the trucks so that, a king bolt being drawn, the body of the car was swung around while the trucks remained on the track—this instead of reversing the horses to the other end of the car, as was done later. About 1865 the tracks were extended north through Woodside to Second river, to what was then known as “Flanigan’s station”, and for six years they went no further.

It was many years before the Woodside section was treated as part of the main line, all sorts of bob-tail excuses being offered us. Cars would come as far as the “Pump” (cemetery), and there passengers could wait for the “bob-tail” or walk as they saw fit. There was no shelter against the winter’s storm or shade from the summer sun. “Old Mose”, who watered the horses at the pump, which stood just about where the Washington avenue sidewalk on the west now ends, was possessed of a movable bench which followed the shadows of the trees as the sun made its daily progress through the heavens, and this was the only spot whereon to rest our weary bones while waiting. Mose was a good natured old soul whom every one liked, and was as much of an institution as was the old West-farm pump from which he drew the water for the horses. His “Now, William, let her propel”, when it was time for a car to start, became a by-word.

Naturally those living in Woodside were always grumbling at the poor car service furnished, and there was a constant fight with Mr. Battin, and later with Mr Barr, and many a delegation descended on the Board of Aldermen, and almost invariably its head and front was Mr. Hine who, while he loved peace, did not believe in peace at any price. The company’s charter required that all cars should run to the city line (Second river), and Mr. Hine, with his wonted energy, at once inaugurated an active campaign by writing to the papers as well as stirring up the City Fathers, and by dint of his “sticktoitiveness”, as he called it, he won his point and the octopus was forced to loose his tentacles and be subject to the law governing its agreements.

In this connection a friend writes concerning Mr. Hine: “I remember, of course, his prominence in our town meetings and meetings after Woodside became annexed to Newark. He was the best speaker by far in our section, and better versed in parliamentary rules, so that he kept the meetings in better order than they would otherwise have been. He had a great faculty of leading people to state their views, thus getting a subject well ventilated and adding much interest to a meeting. In consequence of his great ability for speaking he was always chosen leader of our citizens’ delegations whether to the City Fathers for better horse car facilities, or to the Erie Railroad officials for improvements on that ‘system’.”

NOTES ON MR. HINE’S CHARACTER.

Mr. Hine’s character was of a grade not often met with. I was with him probably more than any one else, as for many years we came and went together morning and night and were closely associated during business hours, and I can in all truth say that never once have I heard him utter a word, even by implication, that could not have been uttered in any presence, nor did I ever hear him gossip of his neighbors nor offer a criticism of any one not present except once, and that was so gentle that, had it come from another, it would have passed unnoticed. In this one case he referred to an erratic genius who played the church organ for many years, and who sorely tried his patience.

But it must not be supposed that because of his gentle ways Mr. Hine could not fight. Nothing could stop him when a sense of duty impelled; not even the fear of death—if he ever had any such fear. As an instance: When traveling for the Ætna Insurance Company Mr. Hine, shortly after his marriage, and when a wife and baby were dependent on him, was sent to a town in Arkansas to establish an agency for the company, being instructed to select a certain man if he was found to qualify.

They met and Mr. Hine, being satisfied, gave the man his commission as agent, but during the following evening he discovered that his new appointee had celebrated by getting drunk, and immediately concluded to take up the agency. Those acquainted with the man, however, insisted that he do nothing of the sort, stating that his agent was a fire eater, who would accept it as a personal insult and would shoot.

Mr. Hine believed that only a coward carried arms and never did so himself, though he had been much in the Southwest and recognized the small value put on life (this was about 1857 or 8). However he saw what he believed was his duty and, while admitting later that he faced the man with considerable fear of the consequences, he did face him, and as briefly and with as little sting as possible, stated his reasons for withdrawing the commission. Strange to say the “fire-eater” acknowledged the justice of the move and expressed himself as sincerely sorry at the outcome. Only the highest class of courage can compel a man to face such a situation.

I once by chance heard him tell an individual himself that he was either a knave or a fool, but neither knew that the remark was overheard, and Mr. Hine never again spoke of the matter so far as I know. He could tell the man himself, if necessity demanded it, but would never speak of it to others.

His contempt for money, except for the good it could be made to do, was genuine and deep seated. His charities, considering his limited income, were boundless, as evidenced by his check stubs after his death. An examination of these showed merely that the $50 or $100 had gone to “an old friend”, or were marked with the one word “charity”. While in many cases money thus handed out was ostensibly loaned, Mr. Hine early learned never to expect its return, and he was seldom disappointed. One of his pet aphorisms, “gratitude is a lively sense of favors to come”, was frequently applied to this situation.

The fact that he was imposed on and defrauded by charity fakirs time and again never made any difference; the next time he would take chances rather than run the risk of not helping where help was needed. He often said that “he could swallow anything he could get through his shirt collar”, and his shirt collar was a mighty easy affair, as many “a friend in need” discovered.

On the other hand, no matter how much it might curtail his income by antagonizing a customer, he would hit every head in sight if he thought it deserved it, and he knew how to hit—none better. He had a way of grasping a situation and clarifying its follies or crooked features that was at times merciless.

As before stated, Mr. Hine’s opportunities for school education were limited in his youth. On the other hand, his knowledge was almost universal. How he kept abreast of the times as he did was a mystery, even to his own family, for he had no time to read, beyond his morning and evening paper between home and office. His evenings, when not filled with church matters, were largely taken up by those who were ever calling on him for help and who never went away without receiving the best he had to give, whether they were young or old, or the poorest of the poor. He would explain a matter to a child with as much courtesy and patience as to an adult.

On one occasion when he was confined to the house with some slight indisposition a small girl appeared at the back door with a straggling bunch of field flowers in her hand and handed it in with the simple message, “Tell Mr. Hine that I love him”. Hardly anything could have touched the recipient more deeply, and yet that small girl voiced a sentiment that was almost universal among those who knew him best.

Mr. Hine was as punctilious in doing for his own boys as for the church, and while he believed in making them earn those things they desired, that they might the more fully appreciate them, he always stood by his agreements, not only in letter but in spirit. His idea seems to have been to make the boy feel satisfied that he had been given a square deal. Possibly one or two small instances will do no harm here:—

One of the boys once saw a velocipede in a Newark store that he thought he wanted, and began to save his money for that purpose. As I recollect it, the machine was to cost $12. In the meantime the father saw one in New York for $10 that looked to him just as good, and told the youngster about it, and announced that he would bring it out. On arrival it proved to be a size or two smaller—a $10 size—and the boy was disappointed, but instead of telling him it was just as good, he seemed to get down to the lad’s level and appreciate that it was a matter of importance to him, and he made good without a hint of grumble at the extra trouble involved in taking the machine back and bringing out the larger one, and he paid the added $2 himself. He had said he could get one just as good for less money. He seemed to expect no particular thanks, merely giving the impression that he was only doing what he had agreed to do.

Mr. Hine’s eldest was probably born with a streak of tar in his composition, for he has been an ancient mariner ever since I first knew him. No sooner was the boy large enough to run around a bit than he wanted a row boat on the river; but his father promptly responded to such a proposition with, “No, young man; not until you can swim across the river”, evidently in the belief that this was still some seasons off. But the lad wanted the boat, and the moment he could stand the temperature he was in the river, and generally several times a day (his mother never suspected how often), and by hard work and much persistence he managed to get the hang of the thing long before the summer was out, and one day announced that he could swim across the river and wanted the boat.

Naturally his father was a bit incredulous, but they went to the water’s edge, and while the elder hired a boat at the Point House, the son retired to the privacy of the Melius dock and stripped for the ordeal. His clothes were put in the boat and the two started, and you can be sure that the father kept close by in case of accident, but there was none, and the boy got across all right. Then his father asked if he could swim back, and he said he would try, and did.

No sooner were his clothes on again than he said: “Now, can I have that boat?” and quite as promptly came the answer, “Yes; we will go down town now and get it”. There was no quibbling or hesitation or delay, and no matter how the father may have felt in allowing his small son to have a boat, he had given his word and that settled it, and within the hour the lad was rowing up the river in his own boat, as proud as any small boy could be and without any idea of the situation except that both parties to the bargain had lived up to it.

His methods of punishment were usually well fitted to the occasion. I still recall one instance with a clarity of vision that omits no detail. Mr. Hine was left in charge of the Winser premises during the absence of that family in Europe and, during that portion of the year when “sling shots” are in vogue, a group of young highwaymen, of which the younger two hopefuls of the Hine family were members, thought it was fine fun to sling stones between the blinds of the Winser house, then vacant, and hear the glass smash. But one day Mr. Hine discovered what was going on, and appointed himself a committee of one to investigate. He made no fuss whatever—just said we would have to replace the glass. It made no difference that others besides ourselves had helped in the mischief; if the others would help to pay for it that was all right, but none of his affair. Of course few of the other boys could see the thing from our point of view, and it took just about all of our little hoard, which had almost reached the point where we could purchase a greatly desired printing press, to pay for the damage. It was a cruel blow, but we never broke any more glass.

Mr. Hine, just as a matter of course, did any little thing he could for friend or neighbor; it never occurred to him to hesitate when he saw the opportunity.

When the matter of a station agent was first being agitated for the Woodside stop on the Newark branch of the Erie, one who thought he wanted the job fixed up a petition and went to the depot one morning to secure the signatures of such commuters as he knew. Seeing Mr. Hine and hoping for his name to head the list, he offered the paper to him, asking that he sign it if he approved. After reading Mr. Hine not only signed, but himself took the paper to every man present and insisted that each one sign, responding to those who objected that they did not know the young man, that he did, and had known him almost all his life, and knew he was safe to indorse. The result was that twice as many signatures were secured from that group as were hoped for. It was a small thing, but the prompt and hearty way in which it was done made it a benediction, and that man still thinks of Mr. Hine with pleasure and likes to tell why.

MRS. MARY HAZARD AVERY HINE.

Mrs. Mary Hazard Avery Hine was born in Westport, Conn., January 29, 1821. Her parents removed to the West when she was a young woman, and she met Mr. Hine in St. Louis, Mo., and there married him. Mrs. Hine was educated in New Haven, receiving the best schooling which that city could give a girl eighty odd years ago, and she grew up under favoring circumstances. She was a woman of fine mind and great breadth and strength of character, and a recognized leader.

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.

Woodside As God Made It. Picture taken about 1885 from a Washington Avenue back yard. Looking south across the fields toward the Passaic.

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.

During this time he received four wounds and two furloughs, one of ten days for bravery on the field of battle and one of thirty days after serving three years in the ranks. And Mr. Kinsey says he “had no special adventures—just plenty of fighting”.

By the time his mother had given her consent to his enlistment all the New Jersey regiments were full, so this fifteen-year-old boy went to New York and enlisted at Fort Schuyler in the First Long Island Regiment, which was principally raised through the efforts of Henry Ward Beecher, whose brother was chaplain to the regiment and whose son was a lieutenant therein. This regiment was later known as the 67th N. Y., and when its members became decimated by slaughter it was merged in the 65th N. Y.

Mr. Kinsey was in all the principal engagements of the Army of the Potomac except that at Winchester. During the Battle of the Wilderness he received a bullet in his leg which he carries yet. At the Seven Days’ Battle, under Brigadier General Abercrombie, his regiment could see nothing in front because of fields of tall grain, and he alone volunteered to scout, keeping a couple of hundred yards more or less in advance of the line, climbing trees and exposing himself in other ways, and it was for this exhibition of bravery that he received the ten days’ furlough referred to above.

He was promoted to the sergeancy of Company C, 67th N. Y.; was shot in the head while before Petersburg, a “minie” ball, which is about the size of one’s thumb, passing through his cheek and out of the back of his head at the base of the brain. Because of this wound he was in the Fairfax Seminary, which had been turned into a hospital, when Lincoln was shot, but through the efforts of Governor Ward was transferred to Newark, and was here in the hospital some three months, being mustered out while still a patient, on August 8, 1865.

Mr. Kinsey came to Woodside in 1867 and has ever since resided at the northeast corner of Summer place and May street, in the first house erected by Morrison & Briggs.

DR. J. E. JANES.

Dr. J. E. Janes is worth a good word if for no other reason than because of the good he did. The Doctor never refused to go when a call came, no matter what the night, or if he knew that there was no money compensation for him. He was endowed with that good Samaritan disposition that is so typical of our associations with all that is best in the old-fashioned country doctor—everybody’s friend and at the service of all. When the Doctor found it necessary to remove his family to the balm of the southern California coast Woodside lost a man.

MR. PETER WEILER.

Mr. Peter Weiler of the River road is spoken of as a man of large stature and determination and, withal, not easily bluffed. When the Paterson & Newark Railroad (now the Newark Branch of the Erie) was put through, the railroad people made every effort to avoid adequate payment for the land taken, and in many cases they succeeded in securing the property for little or nothing, but such an arrangement did not at all meet with the views of Mr. Weiler, and when they attempted to rush his place he built a rail fence across the proposed line of track and mounted guard with a shotgun, and the railroaders, like Davy Crocket’s coon, came down.

BELLARS.

One of the queer sticks of the times was Bellars, the church organist. No one ever called him “Mr.” Bellars—he was just plain Bellars—an odd combination of ignorance and musical genius. He could not read the simplest Sunday school music but, once he heard a tune, nothing could drive it out of his head.

When it came to new music he was a trying proposition and grievously tormented Mr. Hine’s patience. Occasionally there were stormy scenes about the organ loft, and at least once Mr. Hine threatened to dismiss him if there was not an immediate improvement, winding up his peroration with “It’s a short horse and it’s soon curried”.

During the latter years of the Bellars reign Mr. Hine owned a house on Cottage street, opposite the school house, which he allowed the former to occupy rent free as compensation for his weekly performance on the organ, and somehow the organist got it into his twisted noddle that the house had been given to him for work done, and it became necessary for the court to pass on the matter.

Bellars employed Will Cumming as his attorney, and the latter showed considerable genius in handling the case, for he led his forlorn hope in such fashion that he almost prevailed against the facts, and as Mr. Hine’s lawyer was as lame as Will was active, the case actually looked serious at one time because of the ease with which the young man whipped the elder around the legal stump.

Bellars was the music teacher of the neighborhood at a time when my benighted parents conceived the notion that I should learn to play the piano. Now, while Mr. Hine was very musical, my mother’s one standard of music was the speed at which it was performed, and one could play to her on a Sunday such a secular composition as “Yankee Doodle”, if only it were played slow and solemnly, and she would accept it as orthodox without hesitation, and I am my mother’s son when it comes to musical matters; hence I call my parents benighted for casting their money before Bellars.

So far as can be judged, at this distance, Bellars’s chief notion of the teacher’s function was to receive the dollar, or whatever the lesson cost. Thus we can readily comprehend what the result must have been when such a teacher and such a pupil got together. The gentleman was a ventriloquist, or said he was, and he would cause little birds to sing up the chimney or under the piano, and sometimes a cat would meow or a dog bark in the far corner of the room. All this served to pass the hour devoted to the weekly lesson.

The last time I saw Bellars was some years after his departure from Woodside, on an occasion when he was gawking down Broadway with a carpet bag that must have long lain dormant in some neglected corner, a picture that would have done a Puck artist a world of good, with his lean figure and excruciatingly thin visage. What was his latter end I know not, but I verily believe that he dried up and blew away.

BOATING DAYS ON THE PASSAIC.

During the eighties and early nineties the Passaic river, where it skirted Woodside, was one of the most celebrated rowing courses in the country, and here assembled well-known oarsmen from far and near, including such men as Courtney, Hanlon, Oomes, Ten Eyck, Edward Phillips and George Lee.

So far as known, the Rev. Mr. Sherman, rector of Christ Church, Belleville, was the first to use a racing shell on the river. Closely following Mr. Sherman came Mr. James S. Taylor, whose earliest recollections are of the river and its ways. Mr. Taylor grew up on the water and was one of its first boatmen.

Probably the first boat club was the Woodside Rowing Club; but this was more of a social organization with rowing as a side issue. John Eastwood, a leading member, later joined the Tritons and became Commodore of the Passaic River Rowing Association. The Passaic Boat Club is considered the first. Its original house was situated about opposite Centre street, but it was not long before the Club moved to Woodside and established itself just below the Point House.

The Triton Boat Club, the third to be organized, soon out-distanced the others, and became the social as well as the boating centre of the Passaic. It was really born in 1868, in Phil. Bower’s boathouse, where certain oarsmen stored their boats, but was not officially organized until 1873, when the members met in the office of the Newark Lime & Cement Company. Twelve men attended this meeting, but only six names are given as organizers of the club: Frederick Townley, Henry C. Rommel, Truman Miller, Samuel A. Smith, Frederick Earl and Sidney Ogden. The other six seceded and organized the Eureka Boat Club.

About 1875 the club built its first house at the foot of the Gully road, and the following year the first regatta was held. The Passaic offered a beautiful course to oarsmen, but it did not come prominently before the country until the Eurekas rowed in the races held at Philadelphia during the Centennial. This called attention to the Passaic and resulted in the first National Regatta on its waters, 1878. A moonlight race between the Tritons and the Viking Boat Club of Elizabeth, which was pulled off in October, 1879, is remembered as one of the notable events.

Both Edward and Frank Phillips were prominent as oarsmen of the club, the former so much so that he, with Henry Rommel, was sent to the National Regatta held at Saratoga in 1881 or 1882. Henry Rommel, by the way, is probably the most “be-medaled” member of the club. George Small was another well-known Triton, as was George Lee who was brought out by the club and sent by it to England.

Those enthusiastic members who had no time for meals, recall Ed. Holt’s “Floating Palace” with its cargo of pie and soft drinks as a welcome haven of refuge, and they also indorse the statement that the place was entirely respectable.

A Canoe Regatta On The Passaic.

A Canoe Regatta On The Passaic. As seen from the float of the Ianthe Canoe Club.

It is still a matter of common remark by oarsmen of other localities that the Passaic was the finest river on which they ever rowed.

The Triton organization still exists in the hope that some day the river will be restored to its old-time purity and again be in condition for aquatic sports, but all it does at present is to eat a dinner once each year. It is rather a remarkable fact that the club has never lost an active member by death, except in one case of suicide.

Possibly the first racing boat other than a single shell owned by the Triton Club, was one fitted for three pairs of oars and a coxswain, which was originally purchased by a well-known group of gentlemen that resided on the banks of the Passaic. John Rutherfurd was one of these, and the boat was kept for a long time on the lawn in front of his dwelling.

One of the familiar figures of early days was Doctor Lauterborn, of Mulberry street who, after walking to the Passaic boathouse, thought nothing of rowing to the city of Passaic and back, finishing his afternoon by walking home.

CANOEING RECOLLECTIONS.

The history of the Ianthe Canoe Club, and of canoeing in general on the Passaic river, dates back to a certain mysterious green canvas canoe that, in 1880, appeared from no one knows where. Presumably it was constructed by some budding genius in the loft of his father’s barn, but all that we know definitely now is that its discovery was made by Will McDonald.

This green canoe was the inspiration which set others at work and during the winter of ’80-1 a second canvas canoe, painted black, was built in the cellar of 77 Lincoln avenue, by “Lin” Palmer, who, as he won the first canoe race ever paddled on the Passaic and launched the first white man’s canoe on our beautiful stream, so far as is known, is entitled to a central position in the limelight.

The black Palmer was launched with much circumstance in the following spring, and was at that time the only canoe on the river, as its green progenitor was not baptized until some time later, when Will McDonald purchased her.

In 1881 a group of six boys, consisting of Lincoln B. Palmer, Robert M. and Albert Phillips, Will McDonald, John Russell and one other, formed the Ianthe Canoe Club. John Russell was boy in a drug store at the corner of Belleville and Bloomfield avenues, and he brought to the meeting a soda water fountain catalogue, which contained many pretty names, and from this the name of the club was selected, the lady appearing therein as a particularly attractive water sprite. George P. Douglass, who became a factor in canoeing circles about 1887, was a later acquisition to the club.

The old Woodside Rowing Club’s building was standing idle. It belonged to the Messers. Hendricks, and a visit to these gentlemen resulted in an arrangement whereby the club was to have the building rent free, provided it kept the place in repair.

The club grew and prospered and in August, 1882, its members were invited by the Triton Boat Club to participate in the first canoe race ever held on the river. It seems that one Hussey, a member of the Triton Club owned a canoe and had a reputation as a paddler, and it was because there was no one else to play with that the boys were asked to enter the race. There was no thought but that Hussey would win; he had been in races before and was the star of the occasion. “Lin” Palmer beat him quite handily and there was gloom in the home of the Tritons. And thus ended the first canoe race, which was participated in by “Walt” and Will McDougall, as well as by “Lin” Palmer and —— Hussey.

During the following five years the club prospered greatly, but no events of importance are recorded. In 1887 John Pierson, of Bloomfield, and “Lin” Palmer, were sent as the first representatives from the Passaic river to an American Canoe Association meet, which this year was held on Lake Champlain. Neither of these representatives had ever been on such an expedition before, and their outfit was primitive in the extreme—so much so that they were shortly dubbed “the frying pan cruisers” by those who traveled with more elaborate and cumbersome outfits. But from now on the Ianthe moved up into the front rank of canoeists, as its members acquired the habit of capturing prizes, and held this position until the condition of the river drove all boating from its surface.

We have about come to the end of this somewhat peculiar narrative, but before closing it I wish to say a final word in regard to Mr. Hine: I have interviewed very many who had to do with the early days of Woodside, without reference as to whether they were personal friends or not, and have heard but one opinion expressed, and universally expressed, in a manner too sincere to admit of any doubt. Each one recalls the man with a vividness and interest that time seemingly cannot dull, and each impression is but a repetition in one form or another of a great heart and a pure, clean minded man.

It is given to few to be remembered as is Mr. Hine, and though he has been dead more than twelve years (April 16, 1897), the memory of him and the impression he left are as distinct and clear as though his departure were but yesterday. The abundant tears which were shed over his bier came from hundreds who felt that they had lost a personal friend and helper.

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