Biographies | Hudson County NJGenWeb

a proud part of The USGenWeb Project

Libraries & Societies | Maps | Military | Museums |

Naturalization & Probate | Vital Records

County Coordinator: Denise Wells

BIOGRAPHIES

What bios on this here?

A-C | D-F | G-I | J-L | M-O | P-R | S-U | V-Z

JOHN N. ACKERMAN is a descendant in the direct line from David Ackerman, the first American ancestor of the family. Southeast of Rotterdam, in Dutch Brabant, twenty-four miles from Breda, is the City of Bois-Le-Due, called by the natives Hertogenbosch. It is now the chief town of North Brabant, and was built and strongly fortified in the eleventh century, though it was a place of some note much earlier, being near the Maas River and the great highway built by the Romans in their later conquests in Northern Europe. In the seventeenth century there was much heath land to the south and west of it which has since been reclaimed. Agriculture and manufacturing were then, as now, the main employments of the people, Tilbury, the nearest city, being noted for its extensive cloth manufactories. The city contains the chapel and church of St. John, built in 1260 and rebuilt in 1312,-one of the oldest and best preserved edifices in Northern Europe. From the city a road leads almost direct to the renowned battlefield of Waterloo. Near Bois-Le-Due, in about 1620, was born David Ackerman, the son of a farmer and the progenitor of the Ackerman family in Hudson and Bergen Counties. Growing to manhood, he married in 1644, and engaged in tilling the soil until the stampede to the New World, caused by religious persecution and the threatened war with Spain and England drew him into its vortex. Being an ardent Protestant, he could not brook the fanatical domination of Romanism and when in August, 1662, the power of the state could no longer protect him in the exercise of his religious liberty, he, with many of his neighbors, including the Storms, Terbosches, and others, whose descendants have since become a numerous host in Bergen County, embarked with their families on board the Dutch West India ship "Fox" (Captain Jacob Hays), and on September 2, following, landed at New Amsterdam. David had with him his wife and six children-the latter aged respectively twenty, eighteen, sixteen, twelve, eight, and six years. It has been said "it may be doubted whether he survived the voyage"; but there is little reason for such doubt. It is true that the emigrant list published is a list of those who sailed from Holland ports, not of those who actually arrive at New Amsterdam. It is likewise true that the records make no further mention of either David or his wife. But these facts furnish no ground to doubt their arrival on our shores. The first family abode was in the Markvelt Stegg. In 1668 the family nucleus was at New Harlem. Whether David or his wife were living at the time of the removal to Harlem, whether Elizabeth on her marriage and removal to Harlem took her brothers with her, are at best subjects of conjecture. David may have died at the Markvelt Stegg residence, or he may have removed to Harlem and died there. However this may be, as no public records of deaths were kept, the date of his death and that of his wife, as well as her name, are facts which are likely never to be ascertained, except by accident. Of the children, Ann was the first to break the family circle by her marriage in 1664, and subsequent removal up the Hudson. Elizabeth followed her example in 1668, uniting in marriage with the somewhat renowned Kier Walters (ancestor of the Kiersens), who, however, died two years later. Lawrence was a youth of untiring energy and persevered in everything he undertook. In 1669, being then only nineteen, he hired a portion of what was then called the Archer farm at Harlem. In 1679 he married Greetje Egberts and remained at Harlem until 1685, during which time two daughters were born to him. David, the eldest son, went to New York, where, in 1680, he married Hellegorid Ver Planck, and remained there until 1686, during which time several children were born to him. Lodowyck, who seems, at first, to have been rather a wild boy, went to Kingston, N. Y., where, in 1681, he wooed and wedded Miss Jemeke Blaeck, by whom he had at least two children. After his removal to Bergen County his wife died and he married Hillegorid Bosch, by whom he had two children.

Abraham, the youngest of the children, married, in 1683, at New York, Aeitje Van Lear, by whom he had six children before his removal to New Jersey, and four more in New Jersey. Lawrence and David were the first of the family to remove to Bergen County in 1686. Lodowyck and Abraham followed in 1694. They all settled on large tracts of land between the Hackensack and Saddle Rivers, and also west of the Saddle River. The family became very numerous both in Bergen and in what is now called Passaic County. Numerous members of the family have been the most active and influential in the county, and have been honored with town, county and State offices. Others have been important factors in religious work, and have attained eminence in various branches of learning.

Lawrence Ackerman was buried at Wyckoff or Oakland. His children were John and James.

John Ackerman, son of Lawrence, married Catherine Romaine. Both are buried at Wyckoff or Oakland. Their children were Lawrence, Nicholas, and James.

Nicholas Ackerman, son of John, was born January 24, 1796, died June 1, 1869, married Polly or Maria Snyder, who was born in 1801, died March 24, 1877. Their children were John N., born January 28, 1818; Abraham, born August 27, 1830; and George.

John N. Ackerman, whose name heads this sketch, was born in Franklin Township, Bergen County, N. J., January 28, 1818, and is now one of the oldest residents of Hackensack. He is the eldest son of Nicholas Ackerman and Polly or Maria Snyder, a grandson of John Ackerman and Catharine Romeyn, and a great-grandson of Lawrence Ackerman. He was educated in the public schools of Franklin Township. He left home at the age of fifteen, and for two years worked at the trade of carriage making. Since then he has earned his own livelihood. When seventeen he went to New York City and learned the carpenter's trade, mastering every branch. In 1837 he returned to Hackensack, N. J., married Rachel R. Vanderbeck, and engaged in business as a manufacturer of sash, doors, and blinds, which he followed with marked success until 1896, a period of fifty-nine years. He then retired to enjoy in private life the fruits of a long and honorable career. Mr. Ackerman has resided in Hackensack since he established himself in business there in 1837, and from the first has taken an active interest in the growth and development of the town, and all those public matters which appeal to the progressive spirit of a patriotic, energetic citizen. Though never aspiring to office, and as a rule avoiding political life, he was for ten years a Justice of the Peace, and in this and other minor capacities has displayed great ability, sound judgment, and commendable enterprise.

Mr. Ackerman was married, June 14, 1837, in Hackensack, to Rachel Ryerson Vanderbeck, born February 7, 1806, died June 26, 1891, a descendant, like himself, of one of the old Holland Dutch families of Bergen County. Their children are George J. Ackerman, born March 27, 1839, and Mary R. Ackerman, born September 27, 1845.

George J. Ackerman, oldest child of John N. and Rachel R. Ackerman, married Julia A. Groesbeck, December 24, 1863. She was born November 24, 1842, and died April 11, 1886. They had one child, George Groesbeck Ackerman, born November 6, 1867, who married, September 27, 1893, Emeline Inglehart, of Watertown, N. Y., who was born December 3, 1869. They have one child, Alison Groesbeck Ackerman, born October 13, 1806.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 53-55.

WILLIAM OUTIS ALLISON. of Englewood, N. J., is descended in the eighth generation from Lawrence Ellison (or Allison), a Puritan, who moved from Watertown, Mass., to Wethersfield, Conn., thence to Stamford in the same State, and finally to Hempstead, Long Island, with other emigrants who accompanied Rev. Richard Denton in 1644. These emigrants are supposed to have been a part of the colony which came over from England with Robert Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall in 1630. John Ellison, son of Lawrence, became one of the founders of Hempstead in 1644. His son John, a native of Hempstead, was the immediate founder of the family of Allisons which, for several generations, have lived and slept within the limits of Haverstraw, Rockland County, New York. He was one of the company that purchased the north part of the Kkiat patent of land in Orange County, which is now Rockland County, in 1719, and founded the Town of New Hempstead, nor Ramapo. HE died in 1754, after a life of great usefulness and activity. Of his nine children, Joseph, the third, was born in August, 1721 or 1722, resided in Haverstraw, and died January 2, 1796. He was called Captain Joseph Allison, and became one of the largest landowners and farmers in his section. March 10, 1743 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew Benson, who died December 12, 1767, leaving ten children. His second wife, whom he married May 1 1769, and who died April 16, 1815, was Elsie Parsells, and she bore him eight children.

Matthew Allison, the eldest of all these eighteen children, was born in Haverstraw, and died before 1795, leaving several children, among them Hendrick Allison, who married Sarah Marks, daughter of George Marks, of the same town. They moved to Manhattan Island, thence to New Dock, N. J., and finally to Hackensack Township, Bergen County, to a point beneath the Palisades, near what is now Englewood Township. They were the grandparents of the subject of this article. William Henry Allison son of Hendrick and father of William O., was born in Hackensack Township on the 10th of September, 1820. In 1840 he married Catherine, daughter of David and Elizabeth (Blauvelt) Jordan and granddaughter of Joseph Jordan, a French soldier, who came over with Lafayette ad fought for American independence, and who, after the Revolution, married Elsie Parsells, and settled at Closter, on the top of the Palisades, where he died.

The maternal ancestors of William O. Allison were among the original Dutch settlers at Old Tappan, one of the earliest settlements in New Jersey, and have resided in Bergen County for more than two hundred years.

William O. Allison was born in old Hackensack (now Palisade) Township, Bergen County, N. J., March 30, 1849. From his early boyhood he lived much of the time in the family of William B. Dana, a prominent resident of the Palisades, a man of forceful and exemplary character, and a journalist of culture. The accident of this environment had an important part in his career, and he has never failed to fully acknowledge, by word and deed, the benign influence which Mr. Dana's wife, Mrs. Katharine Floyd Dana, exerted upon him. She took a deep interest in the boy, and his intellectual development was guided by her in a manner born of superior intelligence and refinement and by the great strength of character which she possessed. Finding in him the inherent traits for development, she saw them expand into manhood, and broaden and increase in power. Never was a friendship more liberally rewarded. His gratitude was expressed by the devotion which he accorded to her and by his adoption of the name "Outis" in compliment to a fancy of hers that his initial should correspond to those of her nom de plume, "Olive A. Wadsworth."

In 1868 Mr. Allison, having received an excellent training at the hands of this childless woman, entered the office of the Financial Chronicle and the Daily Bulletin, which were owned by Mr. Dana and John G. Floyd, Mrs. Dana's brother. Here he acquired a thorough and general knowledge of the publishing business, and with this and keen business instincts he soon developed into the best commercial reporter ever connected with the New York press. He invented and instituted a system of thoroughness in reports which had previously been unknown, and which few reporters have been able to copy successfully. When he entered Mr. Dana's employ he received $7 per week; inside of three years he had a weekly salary of $40 as a reporter. But this rapid progress did not satisfy his ambition. The confidence which he felt in his system of making a specialty of a few markets and doing them thoroughly led him, on October 21, 1871, to issue the first number of the Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter, a small four-page paper of extremely modest appearance when compared with other publications already prominent in the industries to which it was devoted. The Reporter, however, contained more of real value to the subscribers than any other sheet, and its growth in circulation was remarkable, while its advertising patronage, in connection with added departments of valuable reading matter, forced numerous successive enlargements.

But it was not until after a hard struggle of several years that Mr. Allison saw the fulfillment of the hope which he had entertained at the beginning of his career. His perseverance, united with great business tact and skill, alone brought him into prominence in a field in which he now has no superiors and few if any equals. As a result of the policy of obtaining and furnishing accurate, comprehensive, and valuable information concerning all the markets which the paper covers and reports, the successful growth of the business is believed to have no parallel in commercial journalism. The Reporter soon became one of the most profitable class publications in the country, and exerts an influence in the trades in which it is allied such as no other commercial publication has wielded. In 1874 he established The Painters Magazine, with which was subsequently consolidated the Wall Paper Trade Journal, and about the same time he purchased The Druggists Circular, which was started in 1857. These three publications--the Oil, Paint and Drug Reporter, The Druggists Circular, and The Painters Magazine--not only continue to hold their prestige and influence among the trades which they represent, but enjoy a constantly increasing measure of success and a world-wide popularity and reputation.

These relations have brought Mr. Allison into close personal contact with a large clientage, have made his judgment and opinions much sought after, and have led him into enterprises outside of the publishing business. Inheriting a tendency to operate in real estate, he has acquired from time to time considerable tracts of land on or near the Palisades until he has become one of the largest landowners in that section. And the eminent success which he has achieved as publisher, financier, and real estate operator has won for him the respect, confidence and admiration of all who know him. His industry and good judgment, his commercial and financial enterprises, and is many successful achievements, together with his unostentatious benefactions, mark him as a man of distinction and honor. He has gained by his own efforts an enviable place among the foremost publishers and financiers of the day, and may well regard with pride the career which he has carved out of surroundings shown of none of the difficulties and temptations which every one encounters.

Mr. Allison was married October 22, 1884, to Caroline Longstreet Hovey, daughter of Alfred Howard Hovey and Frances Noxon, of Syracuse, N. Y. Her parents dying when she was very young, she was adopted by the late Hon. George F. Comstock and his wife, and took the name of Comstock. Mrs. Comstock was a sister of Mrs. Allison's mother, and Mr. Comstock was at one time Attorney-General of the United States and Chief Justice of the New York Court of Appeals. Mrs. Allison was born in Syracuse on June 12, 1862, received her education at Keble School in that city and at a French school in Neuilly, near Paris, France, and resided in Syracuse until her marriage. She died at Paris on March 31, 1896. Their children were Katharine Floyd Allison, born July 13, 1885; Frances Cornelia Allison, born November 23, 1887; Allis Allison, born September 30, 1888, died April 14, 1889; William Dana Allison, born September 8, 1890, died September 8, 1894; John Blauvelt Allison, born January 13, 1893; and Van Kleeck Allison, born May 23, 1894. All were born in Englewood, N. J. Mr. Allison married, second, Mrs. Caroline A. Comstock, daughter of David Shaw, of Detroit, Mich.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 148-150.

AARON STOCKHOLM BALDWIN, of Hoboken, comes from one of the oldest families of New England, his ancestors emigrating from the mother country with the early colonists. From New England they moved into Eastern New York, and there raised the standard of their race, conquered the primeval forests, and exemplified in their lives the sterling traits of industry, integrity, and progress. Like the subject of this sketch, many of them achieved prominence in public and business affairs, wielding a potent influence for good, and leaving behind them the memories of an honorable name.

Mr. Bladwin was born in East Fishkill, Dutchess County, N. Y., June 8, 1839, being the son of Elisha S. Baldwin and Aletta C. Stockholm, a grandson of Daniel Baldwin, of Lake Mahopac, Putnam County, N. Y., and of Aaron Stockholm, of Fishkill, from whom he was named, and a great-grandson of Elisha Baldwin, a pioneer of the Hudson River Valley. His father was born at Lake Mahopac, and during his active life followed successfully the dual occupation of farmer and live stock dealer. Mr. Baldwin attended the East Fishkill public schools until he was twelve years old, when he entered Pingree Academy at Fishkill, where he reamined five years. Afterward he spent five years at what is now Drew Seminary in Carinel, Putnam County, graduating in 1860. His sutides in these institutions were in every way worthy of the broad and receptive intellectual qualities which he manifested as a boy, and which have served him sell in business and public relations.

Having received a thorough classical training, he returned home, and in Septembe, 1863, went to Chicago to accept a position with the American Express Company, which he held until July, 1870. At that date he moved to Weehawken, N. J., and engaged in the live stock storage business as general live stock agent for the Erie Railroad, and continued in that capacity until 1898, when he organized and incorporated the Weehawken Stock Yard Company, of which he is President and Treasurer and a director.

Mr. Baldwin has been an active Republican ever since he cast his first vote and almost every since the organization of the party, and for about a quarter of a century, with the exception of one or two years, has been a leading member of the Hudson County Republican Committee; and he is now Chairman of its Organization Committee, which has been asked to devise ways and means by which the party can be re-organized in the coutny. He was member of the Hudson County Board of Chosen Freeholders in 1881, 1882, and 1883, from the Tenth Assembly District, and for seven years served as a member and Chairman of the Board of Tax Commissioners of Hoboken, where he settled in April, 1886, and whe he still resides. He is now one of the commissioners appointed by Governor Voorhees to inquire into the expediency of consolidating the several municipalities of Hudson County into one great city. This commission was formally organized June 14, 1809. Mr. Baldwin is also one of the commissioners in Hoboken to adjust the taxes in arrears under the Martin act. He has been a delegate to almsot every State, district, county, and local Republican convention for upward of twenty-five years, was an alternate delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1880, and in 1896 was his party's candidate for Sheriff of Hudson County, and, though defeated by about 1,100 votes, carried Hoboken by over 500 and not only reduced the usual Democratic majority to an insignificant figure but changed entirely the complexion of the Democratic vote and raised the standard of the Republicans.

His activity and prominence in the ranks of the Republic party and his long and honorable connection with the live stock markets of New Jersey and New York have won for Mr. Baldwin an extensive acquaintance, among whom he is universally respected and esteemed. He is one of the most popular men of Hudson County. He is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of Hoboken, and has always supported with liberal hand every movement designed to promote the general welfare.

Mr. Baldwin was married, June 30, 1869, to Elizabeth Janet Watson, daughter of George L. Watson, of Auburn, N. Y.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 180-182.

PETER BENTLEY, SR., was one of the most illustrious members of the bar of the State of New Jersey, and was peculiarly identified with Jersey City as one of two or three lawyers who first practiced in that municipality. Mr. Bentley was the son of Christopher and Eleanor (Althouse) Bentley, of English descent upon his father’s side. His mother’s family was one of the ancient Holland stocks of New Amsterdam. Their son was born in 1806 upon a farm in the village of Half Moon, Saratoga County,
N. Y.

Young Bentley’s services were required upon the farm during the summer season, and he enjoyed only such educational facilities as the crude district schools of that pioneer country afforded. The very excellent education, classical as well as English, which he enjoyed during life was wholly the result of his own application in reading and study. In 1825, after twenty years spent upon the farm, he came to Jersey City and entered the employ of Yates & McIntyre, who conducted a species of printing business. He remain with them for five years, and during this time determined to adopt the more ambitious profession of a lawyer, which had been his desire from early boyhood. Thus early in 1830 he entered the law office of Samuel Cassedy, whose practice extended throughout the old County of Bergen, from Rockland County in New York to Kill von Kull.

Mr. Bentley read law assiduously, and was soon practicing with unusual success in the justices’ courts. He gained the confidence of the old Dutch farmers of Bergen County, and became in a special sense their lawyer. He was admitted to the bar of New Jersey at the May term of the Supreme Court In 1834, and in the September term of 1839 was admitted as a counselor, with the full privilege of practice in all the higher courts of the state. But In 1833, a year previous to his admission even to ordinary practice, we find him holding the office of City clerk, or “Clerk of the Board of Select Men of Jersey City,” as the title reads, in the rising young municipality which he had chosen as the scene of his life’s work. Nothing could bear more striking testimony than this fact to the universal confidence and esteem which he inspired. Later on, as a full-fledged lawyer, he became the attorney of the selectmen of Jersey City, and represented them in 1842 in the celebrated case of the selection against Dummer, in which he triumphantly established the doctrine of dedication by maps.

In 1843 Mr. Bentley was elected to the office of Mayor of Jersey City, which, as has been well said, “was not so much a matter of party success as an expression of confidence and good will among neighbors.” During this same year (1843) was inaugurated the famous case in which Mr. Bentley maintained the right of Mrs. Bell to lands under water, on the western shore of the Hudson River, which had descended to her by will and been re-affirmed by an act of the New Jersey Legislature. This controversy was carried from court to court, and contested in all the higher courts in the State during the greater part of a quarter of a century, when Mr. Bentley finally triumphed, to the great surprise of those who had prophesied failure. This case well illustrates the persistence which was so characteristic a feature and such an important element of his success in all his cases throughout his life.

Mr. Bentley also contributed largely toward the commercial upbuilding of Jersey City. Finding the banking facilities wholly inadequate to the needs of the growing city, and having the full confidence of capitalists, in 1853 he organized the Mechanics’ and Traders’ Bank and became its President. In this position he manifested remarkable business abilities, and to his personal efforts the institution is principally indebted for its prosperity. He also became a prominent Trustee of the Provident Institution for Savings in Jersey City, and continued as its legal adviser until his death. Similarly, he was Vice-President of the Savings Bank of Jersey City, a Director and at one time Treasurer of the Gas Company, and Treasurer of the Jersey City and Bergen Plank Road Company. Beginning with an extensive purchase of land in 1854, he was also a pioneer in the development of real estate interests on the western slope of Bergen Hill. Here he built the elegant mansion which still remains the home of his wife. The activity he manifested outside the strict lines of his profession, as shown in these various enterprises, gives us good evidence not only of his unusual business abilities, but of the great confidence which was reposed in him by shrewd business men on every hand.

“Peter Bentley,” says Jacob Weart, Esq., of Jersey City,” was one of the active men who laid the foundations and who helped to plan our municipal corporations, and draft our laws and charters, upon which the institutions of this great county have been reared.” Mr. Bentley also interested himself In the cause of his fellow citizens to prevent municipal extravagance and unjust and wasteful tax extortion. Finding that the accumulations of unpaid taxes of many years had imposed hardens upon millioins of dollars worth of property which were absolutely unjust and unendurable to the property holders, he conceived the idea of a commission composed of leading citizens which should readjust these burdens upon an equitable basis, advantageous to the suffering citizens and the city treasury alike. Accordingly, in 1873, he brought his plan before the consideration of the Legislature, and had the pleasure of seeing it enacted into law. Under its provisions a commission was appointed with Judge Haines, an ex-Governor and ex-Justice of the Supreme Court, at its head. The work accomplished by this commission has been simply invaluable to Jersey City, and has satisfactorily solved the most formidable problem which ever threatened the welfare of the municipality. The accomplishment of this plan of relief was the last great service which Mr. Bentley rendered to his fellow citizens ere he passed away, on the 26th of September, 1875.

He was a rare gentleman, peculiarly attached to his wife and children, most gracious and hospitable in his home, sincere and earnest in his religious faith, and so honest and honorable in all the affairs of life that the faintest breath was never raised to question his perfect integrity.

On the 13th of October, 1812, Mr. Bentley was married to Miss Margaret E. Holmes, of Jersey City, the descendant of an ancient English family. Highly cultivated and of the most kindly disposition, she was the devoted companion of Mr. Bentley, and was a source of strength and inspiration to him until the day of his death. She still survives him, as she does also her son, Peter Bentley, Second, and holds their memory in reverent affection. In addition to this son, a sketch of whose life is also given here, they were blessed with but one other child, a daughter.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 121-123.

PETER BENTLEY, Second, the only son of the subject of the previous sketch and the heir of all his hopes, succeeded his father in the respect and affection of the community, just as he succeeded him in his legal practice and other business affairs. Never was a father more wrapped up in a son, and never did a son respond more perfectly to the high ideal of his father. He was born in Jersey City on the 5th of December, 1845, and received his education entirely at home and in his father’s law office. As a boy, he manifested a most amiable disposition, and was much given to serious reading—the thorough investigation of historical questions, and peculiarly of everything concerning his father’s affairs and important law cases. The Rev. Van Cleck was the boy’s tutor, and he grounded him in a most thorough education. When a boy, during his summer vacations and on Saturdays, he used to accompany his father to the office, and there copy papers and entertain himself with various law authorities. His father encouraged him to think that he was thus of great assistance, and presently, indeed, he was enabled to copy briefs and make citations, etc., with a skill which was of real service.

As his general education was finished, and began to study law in earnest, a room in his father’s office was especially fitted up for his use, and here he mastered the intricacies of legal lore and prepared himself for the service which must precede his admission to the bar. It has been said that the hopes of the father were completely wrapped up in the son. The desire of the former that the young man should do well in the examinations was so great that, as the ordeal approached, his anxiety quite unnerved him, and he was obliged to absent himself during the examination. In this suspense his relief can be imagined when a neighbor brought him the news of the result, remarking with a laugh, “You need not have felt anxious, Bentley, for your son has carried off the honors, with the highest standing in the entire class of thirty candidates who took the examination.” And such indeed was the fact. Immediately upon his son’s admission to the bar, the elder Mr. Bentley formally turned over his office to him, placed all his affairs in his hands, and gave him the full revenues of their joint practice. Thus gradually, the elder lawyer withdrew from active practice, devoting his energies in other directions, until the full burden of his extensive legal business was fully upon his son’s shoulders.

Nor was the latter in any way unworthy to take his father’s place. He maintained the same relative position in the community as his father, displayed similar abilities and the same unimpeachable integrity, and inspired everywhere the same widespread confidence and respect. He frequently championed the cause of his fellow citizens, as his father had done. For example, he was the successful counsel in proceedings whereby the unjust water rents on vacant property, and upon property where the water privileges were not used, were set aside and made inoperative, with thus a great saving effected to the taxpayers. Again, at the time of his death, he was the representative of the citizens in proceedings instituted to set aside the whole tax levy on the ground of gross inequality in its assessment. But his practice was most remarkable for his handling of commercial enterprises. He manifested great ability in settling disputes, and thus keeping them out of the courts. He was the counsel for the Standard Oil Company, and counsel for the leading counsel of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and counsel for the Barber Asphalt Company, of New York City, and the Provident Institution for Savings and the Consumers Gas Company, of Jersey City. He also rendered important legal services to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company.

Mr. Bentley was a man of remarkable powers of memory. He kept the most minute details of all of his cases in his mind, and could lay his finger on any given fact at any time. After his father’s death e, in 1875, formed a legal partnership with Charles H. Hartsborne, under the firm name of Bentley & Hartshorne. This endured until January 1, 1886, when Mr. Hartshorne was obliged to withdraw on account of ill health. From this time until his own death Mr. Bentley practiced alone. This sad event occurred on the 30th of April 1888, when he was in the prime of life, and it was considered a public calamity by the whole community. He was never strong in constitution, yet did not himself realize this fact, and often worked beyond his strength. He was of a refined, sensitive, and sympathetic nature, benevolent and whole-hearted like his father, and as deeply attached to his own family.

November 30, 1869, Mr. Bentley married Miss Emma Parker, of Jersey City, daughter of Captain Robert Parker, who was the owner of Watts Island, in Chesapeake Bay, when he died and was buried. This island has been the old family patrimony for many generations, since its first occupation in early colonial days. Their children were Eleanor, born July 13, 1871, now the wife of Warren H. Dixon, son of Judge Dixon, of Jersey City; Emily, born December 5, 1872, now Mrs. Joseph M. Rector; peter Bentley, third, born February 6, 1874; Richard Parker Bentley, born September 25, 1875; John, born June 16, 1879; Eugenie, born December 23, 1881; and Parker, born June 16, 1884.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 123-126.

PETER BENTLEY, Third, eldest son of Peter Bentley, Second, and Emma (Parker) Bentley, was born in Jersey City on the 6th of February, 1874. He pursued his studies at Princeton College for a time and subsequently read law with Warren Dixon. He was admitted to the bar of New Jersey before the Supreme Count November 27, 1896, and since then has been actively and successfully engaged in the practice of his profession in Jersey City. Mr. Bentley has displayed marked legal qualifications, and though a young man has already gained distinction as a lawyer and advocate. He is prominently identified with public affairs and respected and esteemed by all who know him.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 126.

JOHN ALBERT BLAIR, Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, General Quarter sessions, and Orphans’ Court of the County of Hudson, was born near Blairstown, N. J., on the 8th of July, 1842, his parents being John H. Blair and Mary (Angle) Blair. He is the grandson of William and Rachel (Brands) Blair, of Knowlton Township, Warren County, N. J., and descends from one of the most distinguished families in the State. His ancestors sprang from the noted Blair family of Blair-Athol, Perthshire, Scotland, whence they came to this country in 1720, settling in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Among them were two brothers, Samuel and John Blair, both of whom were educated at the Log College on the Neshaminy under the celebrated William Tennant. They became distinguished ministers of the Presbyterian Church. The Rev. Samuel Blair was called to Fagg’s Manor in Chester County, Pa., in 1739, where, in conjunction with his pastoral work, he conducted a school that was among the most noteworthy of the early Presbyterian academies. His son, also the Rev. Samuel Blair, was pastor of the Old South Church in Boston before the Revolution. He became chaplain of the Pennsylvania Battalion of Riflemen that participated in the siege of Boston. The Rev. Samuel Blair, the second, was offered the presidency of the College of New Jersey (Princeton), but declined in favor of Dr. Witherspoon. The Rev. John Blair was ordained pastor of Big Spring, Middle Spring, and Rocky Spring in the Cumberland Valley in 1742, but resigned in consequence of the frequent Indian incursions on the frontier (1755-57) and succeeded his brother at Fagg’s Manor. In 1767 he became Professor of Divinity and Moral Philosophy at Princeton, and was acting President of the college until the accession of Dr. Witherspoon in 1769. He died at Wallkill, in the New York Highlands, in 1771.

While one branch of the family was devoting its energies to the work of the ministry and the dissemination of knowledge, another was molding the commerce which has since become one of the maintstays of the State of New Jersey. In the latter part of the eighteenth century another Samuel Blair was sent by a Philadelphia firm to take charge of the iron industry at Oxford Furnace, in Warren County, N. J. This Samuel Blair was the great-great-grandfather of Judge John A. Blair and the great-grandfather of the late John Insley Blair, who died December 2, 1899, at the age of ninety-seven, after one of the most eventful careers in the history of New Jersey.

Judge John A. Blair’s rudimentary education was obtained in the public schools of his native place, and later on he prepared for college at the Blairstown Presbyterian Academy. He entered the College of New Jersey at Princeton and was graduated from that institution in 1866. At the close of the college term he began the study of law in the office of the Hon. J. G. Shipman, at Belvidere, N. J. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney at the June term, 1869, and as a counselor at the June term, 1872. In January, 1870, he came to Jersey City, where he has ever since resided and been engaged in his profession.

On the passage of the law of the law creating district courts in Jersey City Hon. Bennington F. Randolph and Mr. Blair were appointed the first judges thereof by the Hon. Joseph D. Bedle, who was at that time Governor of the State. In May, 1885, Mr. Blair was appointed Corporation Counsel of Jersey City, which office he held until his resignation in 1889. He was re-appointed in 1894 and served in that capacity until April 1, 1898, when he resigned to accept the appointment of Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, General Quarter Sessions, and Orphans’ Court of the County of Hudson, to which he had been appointed by Governor Griggs just before the latter became Attorney-General in President McKinley’s Cabinet.

Judge Blair is a sound lawyer, an attractive and eloquent speaker, a man of fine classical acquirements, and the possessor of a large and choice library. He is a prominent and active Republican in politics. Although never seeking office, his name has been frequently mentioned in connection with some of the most prominent positions in the State. He is a regular attendant of the First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City. He is a member of the Palma Club, was one of the organizers of the Union League Club, and was President of the latter organization for several years.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 84-86.

CORNELIUS BRINKERHOFF, of Secaucus, is the son of James D. and Jane (Alcorn) Brinkerhoff and a grandson of John Brinkerhoff and Kate Bogert, and was born in West Hoboken, N. J., October 31, 1859. He is descended in the ninth generation from Joris Dircksen Brinckerhoef, of the Province of Drenthe, in Holland, who left Holland and lived for a time in Flushing, a seaport in New Zealand, whence he came to this country in 1638. Settling on Staten Island, N. Y., he contracted with Cornelius Melyn, the owner, to reside there; but on account of the murder of some of the planters by the Indians, in 1641, he secured a release from the contract and moved to Brooklyn, Long Island. He married Susannah Dubbels, and died January 16, 1661. Of their four children the second, Hendrick Brinckerhoef, married Claesie, daughter of Cornelius Boomgaert, and settled near English Neighborhood in New Jersey. In 1677 he purchased land on Bergen Hill, and became the founder of a numerous family in Hudson and Bergen Counties, his children being Geertje, Margrietje, Cornelius, Joris, Derrick, and Jacobus. Most of these as well as their parents united with the Hackensack church. James D. Brinkerhoff will reside in West Hoboken, his wife having died in December, 1803.

Mr. Brinkerhoff was educated in the public schools of his native town and spent much of his early life on the farm. Afterward he was employed and spent much of his early life on the farm. Afterward he was employed by his uncle, C. H. Brinkerhoff, on a tugboat in New York harbor, and here developed that mechanical and professional genius which he has since displayed with so much credit and honor. Becoming an engineer by trade, he has filed various responsible positions, and at the present time is superintendent of the New Jersey Trap Rock Company at Snake Hill, N. J. He is also Chief Engineer of the Fire Department of North Bergen Township, having been appointed to that office in August, 1898, and having been a leading member of the department for about eight years. He is also a member of the Royal Society of Good Fellows. Mr. Brinkerhoff inherits the sturdy mental and physical qualities of his race—a race famous for its attributes of thrift, industry, integrity, and uprightness of character. He has always taken a deep interest in public affairs, has contributed materially to the growth and advancement of his county, where his ancestors have resided for more than two centuries, and is active in the support of all worthy projects. His attention, however, has been given chiefly to the duties of the different engineering positions which he has held, and in which he has achieved marked success. He resides in Secaucus.

September 9, 1882, Mr. Brinkerhoff married Mary Margaret Leahy, daughter of Thomas and Mary Leahy, of County Tipperary, Ireland. They have one daughter, Lillian May, born November 15, 1883, in New York City.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 105-106.

HENRY H. BRINKERHOFF, JR., M.D., member of the Board of Health and one of the leading physicians of Jersey City, was born at Rocky Hill, Somerset County, N. J., on the 23d of May, 1865. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers of the State, coming originally from Holland. “Joris Dircksen Brinckerhoef, the founder of the American branch of this family, came from the County of Drent, or Drenthe, in the United Provinces, and having lived some time at Flushing, a seaport in Zealand, arrived in this country in 1638. He settled on Staten Island, and entered into a contract with Cornelius Melyn, the owner of the island, to reside there; but owing to the murder of some neighboring planters by the Indians, in 1641, he obtained a release from the contract, August 15, 1641. Then he went to Long Island and settled in Brooklyn. He married Susannah Dubbels, who died January 16, 1661.” The family settled in Bergen County at a very early day, and is one of the oldest and best known in the eastern part of New Jersey. In 1677 Hendrick Brinckerhoef, son of Joris Dircksen Brinckerhoef, purchased land on Bergen Hill, Jersey City, and was the ancestor of the family in Hudson and Bergen Counties, while another son of the original emigrant, Abraham Brinckerhoef, is the founder of the Long Island branch.

Dr. Brinkerhoff’s parents were Henry H. Brinkerhoff and Elizabeth Vreeland, daughter of Michael Vreeland, granddaughter of Michael Vreeland, Sr., and a great granddaughter of Johannis Vreeland, who was the son of Michael Vreeland, who was the son of Cornelius Vreeland, who was the son of Michael Jansen. The Vreeland family arrived in this country in 1636 from Holland. On his father’s side Dr. Brinkerhoff is a grandson of John V. W. Brinkerhoff, a great-grandson of Hartman Brinkerhoff, a great-great-grandson of Hendrick Brinkerhoff, and a great-great-great-grandson of Hartman Brinkerhoff, whose father, Cornelius Brinkerhoff, was the son of Hendrick, the founder of the New Jersey branch of the family.

Dr. Brinkerhoff was educated in the public schools, graduating from the High School of Jersey City in 1883. Subsequently he spent half a dozen years in mercantile pursuits, and then, having decided upon medicine as his life work, entered Bellevue Hospital Medical College, and after graduating began a private practice which he has since continued, and in which he has achieved eminent success.

He is one of the best known physicians in Jersey City. He is City Physician, member of the Jersey City Board of Health, Visiting Physician and Associate Surgeon of St. Francis Hospital. Treasurer of the Hudson County Medical Society, and prominently identified with the Home for the Homeless and the Hospital for Contagious Diseases in Jersey City. He enlisted as a private in Company A, Fourth Regiment, N. G. N. J., November 9, 1886, was promoted Corporal December 13, 1887, became Sergeant of his company, April 3, 1888, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Company C January 15, 1894, Captain July 2, 1894 and Associate Surgeon of St. Francis Hospital. Treasurer of the Hudson County Medical Society, and prominently identified with the Home for the Homeless and the Hospital for Contagious Diseases in Jersey City. He enlisted as a private in Company A, Fourth Regiment, N. G. N. J., November 9, 1886, was promoted Corporal December 13, 1887, became Sergeant of his company, April 3, 1888, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant of Company C January 15, 1894, Captain July 2, 1894, and Major of the Fourth Regiment in 1899, which latter position he still holds.

He is a member of Woodland Lodge, Knights of Pythias, of the Holland Society of New York, of the Hudson County Medical Society, of the New Jersey State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association, and is thoroughly identified with the affairs of the city and active and influential in promoting every worthy object. He is especially generous in the encouragement of those movements which have the welfare of the community at heart.

Dr. Brinkerhoff was married on the 28th of April, 1897, to Ella Adelaide Hayes, of Newark, N. J.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 101-102.

J. HULL BROWNING, prominent financier and railroad president, was born at Orange, N. J., December 25, 1841, and is the son of John Hazzard Browning and Elizabeth Smith (Hull) Browning, both natives of New London County, Conn. His paternal ancestor, Nathaniel Browning, came to this country from England in 1645 and settled at Warwick, R. I. On the maternal side he descends from Rev. Joseph Hull, born in Somersetshire, England, in 1595, who settled in Weymouth, Plymouth Colony, in 1635, and in 1639 was one of the founders of Barnstable, Cape Code, Mass. The descendants of Rev. Joseph Hull were conspicuous in the Revolutionary War and in the War of 1812, both in the army and navy. Colonel John Hull, grandfather of J. Hull Browning, commanded a regiment at the battle of Stonington, Conn.

Mr. Browning was brought to New York at the age of two years, was educated in the public schools, and was graduated from the New York Free Academy (now the College of the City of New York). He engaged in the wholesale clothing business in New York City with two brothers until 1883. Upon the death of Charles G. Sisson, his wife’s father, he was left as executor of his estate, and one year later (1875) succeeded him as President of the Northern Railroad of New Jersey, a position which he held till July 1897, when he sold out his interest in that corporation. He was left, also, as executor of his father’s estate and succeeded him as Director and later became President of the Richmond County Gas Light Company. HE has been prominently and successfully connected with numerous railroad and commercial enterprises. He improved the facilities of the Northern Railroad of New Jersey, and built some of the finest railroad depots in the country to accommodate its business.

Although a prominent and influential Republican, Mr. Browning has always refused offers of nominations for public office, but he has taken a leading part in every movement made to advance the interests of Bergen County and of the Town of Tenafly, where he resides. He was for some time President of the County Republican League and is Vice President of Christ Hospital in Jersey City, a charity which has profited by his business ability and generous liberality. HE was a Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket in 1892 and 1896, but with the exception of these honors, and local responsibilities in the Borough of Tenafly he has held no offices.

In 1871, he marred Eva B. Sisson, daughter of Charles G. Sisson, of Jersey City, and they have one son, J Hull Browning, Jr.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 113.

JOSEPH CHILD, Street Commissioner of the Town of Kearny, N. J., is the son of George and Bridget (Noon) Child, and was born in Bradford. Yorkshire, England, on the 26th of September, 1849. The family is an old one in both England and America, and is descended from three brothers who figure conspicuously in the early shipbuilding interests of the English nation, and who received titles for their activity in both industrial and public affairs. Mr. Child’s parents were both here born and married in England, and spent their active lives in that country. There he received an excellent private school education, and after completing his studies he engaged in the business of brick contracting, which he followed successfully until 1873, when he came to America. Locating first in New York City, he soon mastered and for some time followed the trade of iron moulder. In 1884 he removed to Kearny, Hudson County, N. J., where he still resides. Here he resumed his trade for a few years and then engaged in the meat business for himself. He followed that line with marked success until he was obliged to abandon it in order to devote all his energies to the public positions which his fellow citizens conferred upon him.

As a stanch and consistent Republican Mr. Child has taken an active interest in the affairs of his adopted town, and for several years has wielded an important influence in party councils and municipal matters. He has served as Water Purveyor and Street Commissioner of the Borough of Kearny with great satisfaction and still holds these positions. He is an active member of the Exempt Fire Department of Kearny and has held the positions of Foreman and Assistant Foreman. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a prominent member of Victory Lodge, Knights and Ladies of the Golden Star, of Arlington, public spirited, patriotic, and enterprising, thoroughly interested in the affairs of the community, and highly respected as a liberal and energetic citizen. His integrity of character, his fairthfulness in all business relations, and the close attention which he has given to public duties have brought him into more than local prominence, and stamp him as a man of the highest attributes. Though born and reared in England, he is descended from ancestors who came to America during the early history of the colonies and fought with distinction in the Revolutionary War.

Mr. Child was married first to Martha Ann Berry, daughter of William and Sarah (Greaves) Berry, of Oldham, England. She died leaving two children, William and Matthew. He married for his second wife, Eva Gilbert (nee Revere), daughter of Judge Revere, of Harrison, N. J. She died January 23, 1899. For his third wife he married Mrs. Annie Eastwood, of Kearny, N J., where they reside.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 120-121.

THE COLE FAMILY. One of the earliest families to arrive in America was Barent Jacobsen Kool (now written Cole), of Amsterdam, Holland, an officer in the Dutch West India service, who came over to New Amsterdam during the administration of Director-General Peter Minuit, under whom he served for some time with credit to himself and to his country.

His son, Jacob Barentsen Cole, married Maritie Simmons and located at Kingston, N. Y., about 1659. This Jacob had eight children, the youngest of whom was Jacob, baptized at Kingston, N. Y., January 1, 1673, married Barbara Hanse, and in 1695 removed to and settled at Tappan, N. Y., where he died, leaving six children, all of whom married and settled either in Rockland County, N. Y., or in Bergen County, N. J. One of these, Abraham, born in 1707, married Ann Meyer. They were the great-grandparents of Rev. Isaac Cole, who was for many years pastor of the Dutch Church at Tappan, and whose son, Rev. David Cole, of Yonkers, N. Y., has published a History of Rockland County, N. Y., and of the Tappan Church.

Barent, said to be a brother of Abraham, above mentioned, bought a large farm of the Van Valens a little south of Closter, where his descendants are numerous. Other branches of the family started at Hackensack. It may be safely said that many hundreds of the family are scattered over Bergen and Hudson Counties.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 157.

GILBERT COLLINS, a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, was born in Stonington, New London County, Conn., August 26, 1846, and is a descendant of an old English family which originally came from Kent, England. His great-great-grandparents were Daniel Collins and Alice Pell. His great-grandfather, Daniel Collins (1732-18199), of Stonington, served in the Revolutionary War, and according to existing records was First Lieutenant in the First Regiment Connecticut line, formation of 1777, and it is also known that he was in service from 1775. He married Anne Potter. His son Gilbert (1789-1865, grandfather of the present Gilbert Collins, served several terms in the Connecticut Legislature. His wife was Prudence Frink. Judge Collin's father, Daniel Prentice Collins (born in 1813, died in 1862), was a manufacturer in Stonington throughout his life; he also had business relations in Jersey City, ad on this account his son eventually made choice of that city as his field of labor and his home. His mother, Sarah R., was a descendant of the Wells family, of Connecticut.

Judge Collins was prepared for Yale College, but the death of his father ad the involved state in which his financial affairs were left rendered the completion of his course there impracticable. The family, which consisted of his mother and one sister, removed to Jersey City, N. J., in 1863, and in 1865 he there entered the la office of Jonathan Dixon, now a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney in February, 1869, and as a counsel in February, 1872. On January 1, 1870, he became a partner of Mr. Dixon and continued in that relationship until that gentleman was elevated to the bench in April, 1875. He afterward formed a partnership with Charles L. Corbin. In 1881 William H. Corbin was admitted as a member of the firm, which continued under the style of Collins & Corbin till March 7, 1897, when Mr. Collins was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, which position he still holds, having recently been assigned to the Hudson circuit.

His jury practice was the largest in his county, and probably was not exceeded by that of any one in the State. He was counsel for the Hudson County National Bank, of which he was a director; counsel for the New Jersey Title Guarantee and Trust Company, of which he was one of the founders and active promoters; and local counsel for the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company.

Judge Collins is, in politics, a Republican; he has been nominated by his party for State Senator (1880) once and for Conogress twice (1862 and 1888). For two years, from May, 1884, to May, 1886, he served as Mayor of Jersey City, having been elected by a combination of an independent organization of citizens with the Republicans. For five years previous to 1893 he served as Chairman of the Republican County Committee, when he declined a re-election.

June 2, 1870, he was married to Harriet Kingsbury Bush. Of their six children, a son and two daughters survive. Their son, Walter Collins, was graduated with honors from Williams College, and is now practicing law in Jersey City. Judge Collins is a member of the Union League and Palma Clubs of Jersey City, and one of the Board of Managers of the New Jersey Society of the Sons of the Revolution.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, page 70-71.

THE CONKLIN FAMILY are scattered over Bergen and Hudson Counties, most, if not all, of them being descended from John Conklyne, of Nottinghamshire, England, and his wife, Elizabeth Allseabrook (married in 1625), who came to America in 1638 and settled at Salem, Mass., where he and his brother, Ananias, established the first glass works in America. They moved to Southold, L. I., about 1650. From thence John removed to Huntington, L. I., where he died in 1683, aged about eighty-three years. His brother, Ananias, settled at Easthampton, L. I. His descendants spell the name Conkling, of whom the last Senator Roscoe Conkling was one. John's descendants spell the name Conklin. His grandson, Nicholas became one of the purchasers of the "Kakiate" patent of many thousand acres in Rockland County, N. Y., and settled at Haverstraw in 1711. He left several children, among whom were John, Edmund, Elias, William and Joshua. Of these, John, born at Eastchester, N. Y., about 1700, married, January 1, 1720, Gertrude, daughter of John de Pew, and settled at Haverstraw. Edmund married Barbara, daughter of John Hogencamp. Joseph Conklin, Rebecca Hyer, his wife, and Samuel Conklin and Jannetie Hyer, his wife, settled at Haverstraw, N. Y., in 1709. Matthias Conklin, probably a brother of Nicholas, above mentioned, left his home at Phillips Manor in Westchester County, N. Y., early in 1719, and went to Hackensack, where on the 27th of September of that year he married Sophia Mabie, daughter of Casparus Mabie, the first immigrant of that name. Matthias bought from Henry Ludlow and settled on a large farm on the west side of the Hudson River in Bergen County, N. J., a little south of the present New York State line, bounded south by the Riker farm, north by the Gesner farm, east by the Hudson River, and west by the "Ludlow Ditch." His sons were Jacob, Abraham, and Casparus, of where Jacob inherited the bulk of his father's lands. He married Hester Lawrence and had issue Delifrens, Barent, Maria, John, Elizabeth, David, and Jacob. Abraham, his brother, married Margaretta, daughter of William Bell, and left a family of nine children, while Casparus, who married Mynote Martling, left six children.

The descendants of the above spread rapidly over Rockland County, N. Y., and Bergen County, N. J.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 157-158.

Transcribed and Contributed by: TIM DINGMAN

Livingston Conkling, the founder and President of the Associated Justices of the Peace and Constables' Protective Association of Hudson County, is a descendant of some of the oldest and most distinguished families in this country. His paternal ancestors came from England and Ireland in 1735, settling first in New York and removing thence in 1750 to Hackensack, Bergen County, N. J. He is the great-great-grandson of Alfred and Hannah (Marshall) Conkling, a grandson of Matthew and Frances (Brickel) Conkling, and a son of Matthew H. and Elvina (Van Ripen) Conkling, his mother being a daughter of Jacob Van Ripen and Katherine Van Drouf, a granddaughter of Isaac and Martha (Goetschins) Van Ripen, and a great-great-granddaughter of Jacob and Mary (Vreland) Van Ripen. Her ancestors came from Holland in 1649 and were among the earliest ancestors in Eastern New Jersey. Through his grandmother Mr. Conkling is a great grandson of Sir Alfred Brickel, of Manchester, England, and through his father he is closely related to the later Hon. Roscoe Conkling, whose ancestors came from Kent County, England. His grandfather, Matthew Conkling, was one of the famous drummers of his day. In 1854 he was presented with the first silver drum ever made. He was the first Poormaster in Hoboken and was active during the Civil War. Matthew H. Conkling, the son of Matthew and father of Livingston, was the organizer and leader of Conkling's famous New Jersey Brass Band in 1870, and ably represented the family, which has been prominently identified in the politics of Hudson County for upward of sixty years. Mr. Conkling's mother's cousin, Hon. Garret D. Van Ripen, was Mayor of Jersey City, while another relative and namesake, Jacob Livingston, represented his district in the State Senate.

Livingston Conkling's full name is Matthew Livingston Conkling. He was named after his father, but because of the similarity of the names of his father and grandfather, both of whom bore the name Matthew, he dropped the Matthew and has continued to use only the middle name, Livingston. The family name was originally Conklin, and not Conkling, but a number of descendants added the g, thus giving the name its present form. On the paternal side the family is of Irish and English descent.

Livingston Conkling was born in Hoboken, N.J., on the 10th of May, 1861, and inherited all the sturdy characteristics which made his ancestors so famous in the early and subsequent history of this section of the State. Receiving an excellent public school education in his native city, he learned the trade of decorating and painting, and at the present time is senior member of the well known firm of L. Conkling & Co., painters and decorators, 115 Clinton Street, Hoboken, and 125 Eighth Avenue, New York City. Mr. Conkling has achieved marked success in business and is popularly known as a man of ability, integrity, and great force of character.

He has also achieved prominence and distinction in public life, and in this connection bears with credit and honor the eminence which the family has maintained for so many generations. He entered the National Guard of New Jersey as a private in the old Ninth regiment, and from 1880 to 1889 served as Sergeant in the Second Regiment, N.G.N.J., and from 1889 to 1892 he was Captain of the old Columbia Guards in New Jersey. In political affairs he has been for several years one of the ablest leaders of the Republican forces in the county. He has served efficiently as a member of the Hudson County Republican General Committee for six years, was a member of the Republican Executive Committee of Hoboken for a time, and Vice-President of the Ninth Assembly District Republican Committee for one year. He has been a delegate to numerous city, county and congressional conventions and always wields a potent influence in party councils and in campaign affairs. He was Secretary of the Garfield Club in 1893, President of the McKinley Club of Hoboken four years, orator of the Achaean League, No. 2, of Hoboken, Commander of Christian Woerner Post, No. 1, Sons of Veterans, in 1888, and Judge Advocate-General of the National Department, Sons of Veterans, U.S.A., in 1889. In 1899 he organized the Associated Justices of the Peace and Constables' Protective Association, of which he is President.

Judge Conkling is serving his second term as Justice of the Peace, having been first elected in 1894 and re-elected in 1899, and represents the third generation of his family who has held that office in the City of Hoboken, his predecessors being his father and grandfather. He is also a Commissioner of Deeds and a member of the Knights of Honor, and in every capacity has gained the confidence and esteem of the entire community. He is an energetic, progressive, and public spirited citizen, and a man of broad intellectual attainments.

June 30, 1889, Judge Conkling married Miss Julia Hetzel. They have six children; Irving, Raymond, Gertrude, Roscoe, Isabel and Matthew Livingston, Jr.

Source: Genealogical History of Hudson and Bergen Counties, New Jersey, Editor, Cornelius Burnham Harvey, The New Jersey Genealogical Publishing Company, 1900, pages 271-273.