Harlan Webb Cortright

NJGenWeb ~ Morris County, New Jersey

The family of which Harlan Webb CORTRIGHT is a member can be traced back to the old Flemish town of Kortryk, made famous as early as the year 1302 as the scene of the “Battle of the Spurs” in which the French nobility and chivalry were totally defeated by the citizens of the Flemish towns, and which thus with Bannockburn, Crecy, and Poictiers rang the knell of feudalism in Europe. The battle gained the name from the fact that after victory, the weavers from Ghent and Bruges, who made up the chief part of the Flemish army, recovered from the slain some 4,000 golden spurs of the fallen knights. During the early part of the seventeenth century, Kortryk in common with the whole of Flanders was harried and devastated by the civil wars and persecutions of that dreadful period. Situated on the bank of the river Lys, about thirty miles southwest of Ghent, it was in the very storm center of disturbance and changed hands between the opposing forces no less than four times in a period of five years.

Among those who fled the town to escape the persecutions was a wealthy family, which, as was common in that time and country, took their name from their native town and called themselves VAN KORTRYK or VAN KORTRIGHT. They took up their abode for a time in the city of Leerdam, where dwelt Sebastian and Bastian VAN KORTRYK and where two sons, Jan and Michiel, were born to him. These two brothers, the progenitors of the American branch of the VAN COURTRIGHTS, or CORTRIGHTS, as they eventually came to be called, felt the lure of the new word at a time when there was a particularly strong emigrant tide setting from the low countries thither. Accordingly, on April 16, 1663, they and their families embarked in the good ship Brindled Cow, Jan BERGEN, master, from Amsterdam, and together with about ninety other passengers about a third of whom were French refugees from Mannheim, they set sail for America. The passage for himself and family cost Jan Bastian VAN KORTRYK something over 200 florins. It was about this time that many of the most distinguished families from Holland and the surrounding states, whose names were woven into the history of their adopted country, settled on and in the vicinity of Manhattan Island. The VAN KORTRYK brothers settled on the Bowery, Stuyvesant’s Bowery, as it was then called, but later removed to Harlem, where they became one of the wealthiest families and one of the largest owners of real estate among early settlers there.

From Jan Sebastian VAN KORTRIGHT, the descent is unbroken to our subject, who is of the ninth generation removed from them. The records of his distinguished forebears contain much that is of historic value and interest, such as the purchase by Bastian VAN KORTRYK, the second, of the tract of land on Sherman creek, Harlem, well known as the KORTRIGHT farm, the marriage of the same gentleman to Iolanta LaMONTAGUE, and the final disposal of the farm to Cornelius HARSEN in 1786. The COURTRIGHTS took an honorable part in the Revolution, and John COURTRIGHT, the representative of the family at that time, was killed in the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778. At this time it is known that Elisha COURTRIGHT was the owner of a large farm a few miles below Wilkes-Barre (Hanover), Pennsylvania, and that a few years later he bought the land in Salem, Pennsylvania, and moved there.

It was here that Nathan Dodson CORTRIGHT, the father of the subject of this sketch, was born February 11, 1817. He passed much of his youth in Luzerne county in the place of his birth, but at the age of nineteen entered the employ of PARDEE & FELL as a civil engineer in the building of the Beaver Meadow & Hazelton Railroad. Three years later he was appointed general shipping agent for the Hazleton Coal Company, and in 1842 made its superintendent and held this position until 1857, when he engaged in the coal business for himself. This business he conducted at Mauch Chunk in association with his son, Nathan Dodson CORTRIGHT Jr., in a most successful manner for forty-five years, or until the time of his death. He was a director of the First National Bank of Mauch Chunk, and for many years active in St. Paul’s Methodist Church of that place, and in the Sunday school and temperance causes. A man of great courage, of modest and retiring tastes and inclinations, instructive and entertaining in his conversation, he was a useful member of the community in which he dwelt. He was greatly interested in geology and had an abiding faith that the mountains of Carbon county, Pennsylvania, would prove upon development to be rich in many valuable minerals. He married Marguretta Louise Harlan, daughter of Ezekiel and Marguretta HARLAN, of Chester county, Pennsylvania. The HARLANS were of Quaker origin. To Mr. and Mrs. CORTRIGHT Sr. were born six children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the eldest.

Harlan Webb CORTRIGHT was born in Mauch Chunk, Carbon county, Pennsylvania, November 14, 1845. He obtained the elementary portion of his education in the schools of his native town, which he attended until he had attained the age of fourteen. At this age he entered the Williamsport Dickerson Seminary situated at Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and here he remained until he was sixteen years of age, when he left school to take up the active business of life. He speedily found a position with Mr. Ario PARDEE at Hazelton, Pennsylvania, as a coal dispatcher I that gentleman’s establishment, and filled it with ability for five years. During this period he took advantage of any opportunity to gain all information possible, and accompanied the engineers thus gaining a thorough knowledge of civil engineering and practical mining. In 1867 Mr. CORTRIGHT removed to New Jersey to become superintendent of the OGDEN Mine Railroad Company, of which he remained in charge for fifteen years. Upon this occasion he did not finally make New Jersey his home, but returned to Pennsylvania and became actively engaged in coal mining operations, during the course of which he familiarized himself with every detail of mining. As a result of his various activities, Mr. CORTRIGHT became well established financially, and in 1890, about the time that the great popularity of Lake Hopatcong was commencing, and the rapid development of the adjacent regions of New Jersey was assured, he removed to Morris county in that State and erected for himself the splendid house in which he now lives on Lake Hopatcong which commands a superb view of the entire lake. Mr. CORTRIGHT has always been a member and staunch supporter of the Republican party and the principles for which it stands. He is a member of Acacia Lodge, F. and A. M.

Mr. CORTRIGHT married, in 1874, Eliza Condict Le FEVRE, daughter of Dr. William Bonner and Mary Condict (HURD) Le Fevre, both deceased. Mrs. CORTRIGHT was born May 1, 1847, and received her education at private schools, the last she attended being the Packer Institute at Brooklyn, New York. She is a member of an old and prominent family, being a direct descendent of John ALDEN and Priscilla MULLINS of Mayflower fame. To Mr. and Mrs. CORTRIGHT have been born six children as follows:

1. Edgar Le Fevre, born September 12, 1875, died September 23 in the same year;
2. Mabel Louise, born 1876; wife of Dr. Alfred Chapman BENEDICT, born August 4, 1874, graduate of the New York University of Physicians and Surgeons; they have one daughter,
- Priscilla Alden BENEDICT, born January 12, 1908.
3. William Le Fevre, born December 3, 1879.
4. Mary Hurd, born July 16, 1885, died August 17 of the same year.
5. John Harlan, born December 24, 1886; married Olive QUACKENBUSH, October 1, 1912; they have one daughter,
- Louise Muriel, aged two months.
6. Abbie Hope, born February 26, 1889; at present living at home with her parents.

Mr. CORTRIGHT is a man of much courage and quick decision, and is a conspicuous figure in the community of which he is a member. He and his family are members of the Presbyterian church.

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