J. Howard Hulsart

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

A prominent man in the education circles of northern New Jersey, J. Howard HULSART, was born October 31, 1859, in Middlesex county, New Jersey, near the town of Matawan. Here on his father’s farm his early boyhood was spent. His father was Cornelius L. HULSART, born on the homestead near Matawan, New Jersey, 1829, and farmed for a great many years, dying on the day before Thanksgiving, 1907, at the age of seventy-eight years. The mother of J. Howard HULSART was Rhoda A. (CARHART) HULSART, born near Keyport, New Jersey, August 8, 1832, died in March, 1891, leaving three children:

Charles C., a farmer of Matawan, who is employed by the United States department of agriculture in pursuing a number of important investigations;
J. Howard HULSART, with whom the present biographical sketch is concerned;
Maria, married Charles AGAN, of South Amboy, New Jersey, a painter by occupation.

The grandfather on the paternal side was John HULSART, a farmer of Middlesex county, who married Maria LAMBERSON and died young, leaving two children. Mr. HULSART’s mother’s father was Joseph CARHART, who was born near Keyport, 1796, and after being a farmer all his life, died in 1880. His wife’s name was Elizabeth HUFF, and eight children were born to them. On both sides the families are of old colonial stock, the HULSARTS tracing back to 1717, when they settled in Monmouth county, removing afterwards to Middlesex county. Members of the HULSART and of the CARHART families served in the Revolutionary War. There were at one time five HULSARTS enrolled in one New Jersey regiment during the Revolutionary War. Matthias HULSART, great-grandfather, was a prisoner for eighteen months.

Brought up on his father’s farm, the academic education of young J. Howard HULSART was that of the usual country-bred lad. He went to the district schools of the neighborhood and later to Glenwood Institute at Matawan. This preliminary work was followed by courses of study at Harvard University and the Illinois Western University, from the latter of which institutions he received degrees. He had early made up his mind to make pedagogy his life work, and at the age of twenty-one years he began teaching. His first appointment was in the Long Branch school district. In this position he remained for eleven years, doing good and faithful service, his work having that grasp of essentials and that progressiveness which marks that of a man who will be a leader. In 1891 he was appointed local supervisor of schools at Dover, and here he remained for seventeen years, when he was promoted to the office of county superintendent of schools of Morris county, holding that position ever since that time. A successful man has usually been an enthusiast about his work and this has been evidenced in the case of Mr. HULSART, who takes the keenest interest in all that pertains to education in all its phases. He belongs to a number of the organizations affiliated on the lines of educational work. For six years he was secretary of the New Jersey State Teachers’ Association and for one year its president. For a year he also served as president of the New Jersey High School Teachers’ Association. He was president also for one year of the New York School Masters Club. For the past four years he has been secretary of the New Jersey State Council of Education, and been the recipient of a number of other honors throughout Morris county. He is in his political principles a Republican. For two years he has been worshipful master of Acacia Lodge No. 24, Masonic order. He is a member of the Royal Arcanum and of the Junior Order United American Mechanics. He is a member of the Presbyterian church.

Mr. HULSART married (first) December 27, 1881, Ella L. COTTRELL, who died May 2, 1903, leaving three children:

C. Raymond, born February 16, 1883, now a civil engineer in the employ of New York City on the Catskill Aqueduct;
Pierre M., born January 27, 1885, also employed with his brother on the Catskill Aqueduct;
Ester, born June 25, 1894, now a student at Goucher College, Baltimore, Maryland.
A fourth child, Reta, was drowned in infancy.

Mr. HULSART married (second) at Corning, New York, August 10, 1904, Nancy Eleanor SEYTER, born near Corning, daughter of Charles W. and Mary (ENGLISH) SEYTER, the former a farmer of near Corning. They have no children.

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