NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

Source: History Morris County New Jersey, Volume II, Lewis Publishing Co., 1914

It is claimed by many that fortune has favored certain individuals above others. Thorough investigation, however, of the cause of success and failure shows that the former is due to the improvement of opportunity, the latter to the neglect of it. Fortunate environments encompass nearly every man at some stage of his career, but the strong man and the successful man is he who realizes that the proper moment has come, that the present and not the future holds his opportunity. The man who makes use of the now and not the to be is the one who passes on the highway of life others who started out ahead of him, and reaches the goal of prosperity in advance of them. It is this quality in John Hodtchkins BICKLEY that early made him a leader in the iron industry of New Jersey and that has enabled him to have a number of important commercial inventions patented and marketed. Mr. BICKLEY has now reached the vulnerable age of seventy-five years but is still active and is doing valuable work as a metallurgist inventor in his spacious shop at Dover, New Jersey, where he is experimenting in making iron direct from the ore. He has extensive real estate interests in Morris county and here is held in high esteem as a man of unusual ability and energy.

A son of English parents, John Hodtchkins BICKLEY was born in Boonton, New Jersey, October 4, 1838. Both his paternal and maternal grandfathers were prominent iron workers in England prior to their immigration to America in the early part of the nineteenth century. The former, John BICKLEY, came to this country in 1827, making the voyage on the vessel on which the machinery for the Boonton Rolling Mill was a part of the cargo. In 1820 Mr. BICKLEY’s maternal grandfather, Thomas HARRIS, was placed under arrest by the order of an English ironmaster who accused him of carrying the iron industry from England to France while he was en route from Dover to Calais. Subsequently he was freed and he continued to reside in France until 1828, which year marked his advent in Boonton, New Jersey. Both the above gentlemen were skilled iron workers and for many years were in the employ of the New Jersey Iron Company. John BICKLEY, son of John BICKLEY, and father of John H. BICKLEY, was the discoverer of fettling puddling furnaces with magnetic ore, this was in 1832 in Boonton Rolling Mill at Boonton, New Jersey, which method became universal. He married Elizabeth HARRIS, daughter of Thomas HARRIS, and to this union were born the following children:

• Thomas;
• John Hodtchkins, the immediate subject of this review;
• William;
• Henry;
• Joseph;
• George;
• Miriam, wife of Abel WOOD;
• Alice, wife of Walter WOOD.

Of the foregoing five are living in 1913.

At the tender age of seven years Mr. BICKLEY, of this sketch, began to work in the rolling mills at Danville Pennsylvania, as the piler of iron and puller up. His tenth, eleventh, and twelfth years, however, were spent in school at Chelsea, Massachusetts, and subsequently he was a diligent student in night school at Pottsville, Pennsylvania. Much of his leisure time during his entire life has been spent in reading and he is considered an extremely well read man. His father was at one time part owner of the iron works at Pottsville, Pennsylvania, and when he failed in business young Mr. BICKLEY entered upon an apprenticeship to learn the profession of architect in the office of Isaac Paul LYKENS, of Pottsville. He possessed considerable natural talent along that line and at the end of the two years was a proficient architect. In 1861, when the dark cloud of Civil War obscured the national horizon, he manifested his intrinsic loyalty to the cause of the Union by enlisting as a soldier in the Tenth Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry for three months’ service. Subsequently he re-enlisted in the Pennsylvania militia and for three months served with honor as lieutenant of his company. The following year found him again interested in business as an ironworker at Pottsville and in 1888 he located at Dover, New Jersey, which city has since represented his home. Here he has won considerable renown as a metallurgist inventor. His first patent obtained from the government was for a crowfoot used in boiler construction. Next he invented and had patented a device for rolling cotton ties, this invention is very a important one and is recorded as such in the Iron and Steel Encyclopedia. Another of his patented inventions has to do with the rolling of car axles. Associated with him in the above patents is his son, John H. BICKLEY Jr., who has likewise spent most of his life thus far in the iron industry. Father and son worked together for many years and were regular chums in their associations. The latter is now living in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he is mechanical engineer and chief draughtsman for the Reading Iron Company. In addition to his extensive iron interests Mr. BICKLEY is the owner of a great deal of valuable real estate in Morris county and he has money invested in a number of local business enterprises of importance. His success in life is due entirely to his own well directed endeavors and as such is most gratifying to contemplate. Although well advanced in years he is admirably preserved and is filled with dynamic force and energy.

In the year 1861 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. BICKLEY to Anna Maria STIN, daughter of John and Susannah (BLYTHE) STIN, both members of prominent families in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania. The grandfather of Mrs. BICKLEY was a Revolutionary soldier and fought under General Washington at Valley Forge. John STIN was a railroad employee and he and his wife were the parents of the following children:

• Anna Maria, who married Mr. BICKLEY and who died in January, 1912;
• Elizabeth, wife of Ferdinand SPIEGLE;
• Sally, wife of Lewis SCHARTLE;
• Catherine, wife of John CLORE;
• John, who is a cashier of the Miners’ Bank at Pottsville, Pennsylvania.

To Mr. and Mrs. BICKLEY were born three children, concerning whom the following brief data are here incorporated:

• 1. Alice, widow of Alfred E. BROWN, formerly a member of the shoe manufacturing concern known under the title of A. E. BROWN & Company, at Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania; Mr. BROWN died in 1906 and was survived by four children: 
  • Clarence, 
  • Guy, deceased; 
  • Anna and 
  • Arthur.
• 2. John H., mechanical engineer for the Reading Iron Works, at Reading, Pennsylvania; married (first) Stella SMITH, who bore him a son, John H. (3d); graduate of University of Pennsylvania, class of 1913, in mechanical engineering and mathematics with honors; now superintendent of construction for Ritter & Connelly, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on their iron construction at Rockford, Illinois; married (second) Ida (MILLER) HALDERMAN.
• 3. Minnie Louise, wife of Conrad MANN, an employee in the Ulster Iron Works at Dover; they have three children: 
  • Ada, 
  • Elizabeth and 
    Elizabeth MANN married George PROFIT, of Dover.
  • Harold. 

Mrs. BICKLEY, who died in January, 1912, was a devout member of the German Reformed Church. She was a woman of charming personality and her demise was uniformly mourned throughout Dover and this section of Morris county. Mr. BICKLEY is a Methodist in his religious faith, and in national politics is a stalwart Republican, although he votes for the man and not the ticket in all local elections. He is a kindly gentleman and is highly esteemed and beloved by his numerous friends in Dover.

This biography was transcribed by John Cresseveur (1949-2003).

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