canal. Mr. Welch organized hi- stall, drew hi- plans

and specifications, procured his materials, employed

and officered a force of four thousand in. u. and lin-
ished the work in three month-, and all within his

estimate, One of the items of work was twenty
thousand cubic yards of cement masonry, laid in the
dead of winter and kepi from freezing by housing and
artificial beat.

From 1 862 to 1 867, as \ ice-president of the • lamden

and Amboy Railroad Company, he \\a- the executive

..Hi.er of the "Joint Companies," whose works ex-
tended across New Jersey. At the beginning of
1867, he, with Hon. 1 1 ami It on Pish and others, effected
the consolidation of the New Jersey Railroad Com-
pany with the "Joint Companies," thus bringing the

wide system of railroad- and canal- between New-
York ami Philadelphia into one interest and under
one'management. Be was appointed general presi-
dent of the Associated Companies. Bon. Hamilton

i ing vice-president, and Bon. Joseph P. Brad-

Icy secretary. This position he held until I 1
1871, when the Pennsylvania Railroad Company took
possi ssion of the works under their lease. Bis policy
was to improve the work- connecting the two
cities of the Union in such a manner as to remove all
ground of complaint and all fear of competition.



290



HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.



Those associated companies are now merged into
" The United New Jersey Railroad and Canal Com-
pany." He is still president of the Belvidere Dela-
ware and some smaller railroad companies, all oper-
ated by lessees.

One special object Mr. Welch had in view in try-
ing to effect the consolidation of the "Joint Com-
panies" and the New Jersey Railroad and Transpor-
tation Company was to reach, over the New Jersey
Railroad, a good terminus for the whole system on the
harbor of New York. Having secured the assent of
his associates in this direction, he purchased seventy
acres at Harrison's Cove, on the west bank of the
Hudson, opposite the business heart of the city of
New York, and elaborated a plan by which the
greatest amount possible of water-front should be ob-
tained on it by means of short ship-canals running
partly through it. The object was to bring railroads,
ships, store-houses, ferries, and carts all together, so
as to reduce the cost of moving and handling to the
least possible amount. A recapitulation of his views
is contained in his printed report to the board of
directors of June 18, 1868. To get control of this
terminus was one of the principal objects of the Penn-
sylvania Railroad Company in leasing the works of
the United Companies.

Mr. Welch conducted the negotiation for the lease
with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, and suc-
ceeded in securing provisions, believed to be new in
such leases, making the stock of the United Com-
panies very much more valuable than it otherwise
would have been. One item was that each stock-
holder should receive his ten per cent., notwithstand-
ing any new agreement the directors might make or
that the majority of the stockholders might agree to.

Believing from the first that the act under which
the lease was effected was insufficient (which was
afterwards so decided by the court of last resort), Mr.
Welch drew up, and the Legislature passed, an act
validating the lease as it was.

Mr. Welch is not merely an administrator, but es-
pecially an originator. In 1863 he originated and
put in operation a system of safety signals on the line
between New Brunswick and Philadelphia, — extended
in 1867 from New Brunswick to Jersey City, and in
1872 over the Pennsylvania Railroad from Philadel-
phia to Pittsburgh, — which has entirely prevented the
most dangerous class of accidents, previously so fre-
quent and so fatal. It is sometimes confounded with
the English " block system," from which, however,
it differs essentially, and from which Mr. Welch re-
ceived no hint, not knowing of its existence at the
time he invented his system, which he called "the
American safety system." The system was described
in a report made by him to the National Railroad
Convention held in New York in 1866. In 1866 he
adopted a plan of a steel rail more economical and
forming better connections than those previously in
use, the principles of which are stated at length in



his " Report on Rails" made to the American Society
of Civil Engineers at its annual convention in 1874.
These principles have since been extensively recog-
nized and adopted.

Mr. Welch's efforts have not been confined exclu-
sively to his profession. From 1840 to 1845 he was
associated with Capt. Robert F. Stockton in the oper-
ations which resulted in building the war-steamer
" Princeton," the first propeller-ship ever constructed
in America, and in the introduction of cannon of
extraordinary size, since followed by Rodman and
others.

In 1843 the College of New Jersey, at Princeton,
conferred upon him the honorary degree of A.M.
He has been a member of the Presbyterian Church
since 1832, and an elder since 1844, and has several
times been a member of the General Assembly of that
church. He was an occasional contributor to the
Princeton Review while it was an organ of the Pres-
byterian Church in America, his chief articles being
"The Anointment of Jesus by Mary of Bethany,"
"The Perpetuity of the Sabbath," and "God's Sev-
enth Day of Rest." In the article on " The Perpe-
tuity of the Sabbath" he takes the position — -probably
never suggested before — that many Hebrew local
laws were declaratory of the moral law, just as many
English statute laws are declaratory of the common
law. For more than a quarter of a century he was
superintendent of the Sabbath-school, and he now
conducts the Congregational Bible-class in the Rev.
Dr. Studdiford's church. For many years he has
been a most diligent student of the sacred Scriptures.
Thoroughly orthodox in his belief, he is also inde-
pendent and original in his Bible investigations,
taking nothing at second hand, but seeking to find
for himself the meaning of the inspired text. Few
laymen have given as much attention as he to the
study of the Bible, and not many of the clergy are
better versed in the principles of its interpretation.

In politics Mr. Welch is not tied to either party
organization, but has decided opinions, one of which
has long been in favor of civil service reform, which
he considers essential to the salvation of the republic.
He was married in 1834 to Mary H. Seabrook, who
died in 1874, leaving five children, the eldest of whom
is the widow of Mr. William Cowin, of Lambertville,
and the youngest daughter was the wife of Rev. R.
Randall Hoes, of Mount Holly, and now of New Ro-
chelle, N. Y. She died April 7, 1879. His eldest
son, Ashbel Welch, Jr., operates the Lambertville
Iron-Works.

Mr. Welch is loved and honored by a large circle
of friends, among whom, as well as in the world at
large, his influence has ever been potent for good.
Cautious and conservative, yet kind and conciliatory,
he eminently " follows after the things which make
for peace." Earnest and independent in his search
for truth, wise in counsel, public-spirited as a citizen,
liberal as a benefactor, firm and conscientious in the







IJX



CITY OF LAMBERTVILLE.



291



maintenance of right, true and faithful in all the re-
lations of life, he com hines in hi nisei f >| utilities which
make him one of the most valuable members of

society.



I)K. P. 0. STUDDIFOKD.

Peter Ogil vie Studdiford, D.D.,waa bom in Bridgi
water township, Somersel ( '"., N. J., near the present
village of Branchville, on tin- Soutb Branch of the
Baritan, on the 11th of January, 1799. His father,
the Rev. Peter Studdiford, was fur forty years the
venerated and beloved pastor of the Reformed Prot-
estant Dutch Church of Readington, N. J. His
mother, whose maiden name was I'h.ebe Vanderveer,
was a daughter of James Vanderveer, an extensive
landholder of Bedminster, Somerset Co.

Dr. Studdiford early manifested an unquenchable
thirst fir learning. When only nine years ..hi he
was placed under the care of the celebrated teacher
ih. Rev. Robert Finley, 1>.1>.. at the I llassical Acad-
emy in Basking Ridge. There be studied with great

assiduity and laid the foundation Of his line classical

attainments, lie subsequently went t<i the academy
:m Somerviile, then under the care of Cullen Morris,
Esq.

"Having completed bis preparation, he entered
Queen's (now Rutgers] College, at New Brunswick,

and in the summer of LSIli graduated at that institu-
tion with the highest honors of his .-lass.

"After leaving college he was occupied fur about
three years in teaching — first in Bedminster, and
afterwards in Somerviile— with great acceptance, al-
though many of his pupils in both places were older
than himself.

"On the 8th of Julj , L819, he entered the theolog-

i eminary of the Presbyterian Church at Pru -

ton, where he remained prosecuting his studies for the
ministry until the 29th of September, L821. On the
27th day ..I' April in the same year, at :i meeting of
tlir Presbyter] of New Brunswick, in Trenton, he was

licensed !•> preach the gospel, together with nit f

his fellow-students."

He preached during the spring vacation in the em-
ploy of the < leneraJ Assembly - Board of Missions at
Bristol and Tullytown, in Pennsylvania.

tin Wednesday, the 28th of November, 1821, in the
Presbyterian church at Trenton, he was ordained as
an evangelist by the Presbytery of New Brunswick,
at the same time with the Rev. Charles Hodge, D.D.,
ami the Rev. William .1. Armstrong, D.D., and on
the following Sabbath, the 2d day of December, 1821,
he commenced his labors at Lambertville, having
agreed to preach at that place and at the church in

Solebury, Pa., alternately for a year.

In the month of September, 1822, on the applica-
tion of seven persons, the "Church •.) Georgetown

and Lambertville" was organized.

Dr. Studdiford continued to supply this church



and that of Solebury until tile month of .Inn.-,

L825, when he was formally installed pastor of these

church. - . Early in 1848 hi- pastoral relation with

the Solebury Church was dissolved, and from that

time until hi- death he remained pastor exclusively
of the church in Lambertville.

lie married Eleanor W. Simpson, daughter of Judge

John N. Simpson, of New Brunswick, N. J.

Eight children were the fruit of this marriage, —
Seven sons and one daughter. The daughter and
two -mis died in early childhood.

Hi- sixth -on, Josiah Simpson Studdiford, after

graduating with honor from the College of New
Jersey and almost finishing his preparation for the

profession of law, entered tin- service ot hi- country

n hen the war of the Rebellion broke out. as adjutant
of tin- Fourth New Jersey Regiment, and was killed

in a giilhint hayonet-charge at < 'rampton Pass, South

M tain, Md., Sept. 11, 1862.

In the year \*2l the College of New Jersey con-

f 1 on the subject of this biographical -ketch the

honorary degree of Master of Arts, and in 1S44 the
honorary degree of Doctor in Divinity.

In the year 1826, 0D the death of his father, he "as

called to the pastorate of the Reformed Dutch Church

of Keadington, to which his father had so long min-
istered. But this call, as well as very eligible calls to
several other churches .luring his ministry, he was

constrained hy a sense of duty to decline.

t )n the 5th of June, 1866, he departed this life while
on a vi it to hi brother in-law in the (if- ot h-ilti-

lllore.

Dr. Studdiford was an able theologian, a finished
classical scholar, a ripe Hebraist, a master of varied
learning, a most instructive preacher. One of the
most modest and unselfish of men, he labored with
untiring zeal in the work of the ministry, looking for
no other reward than the approbation of hia Divine
Master.

At his funeral Or. Charles 1 lodge, who had been

a -.1 lmate.it' hi- at Somerviile, bore this decided

testimony : " What he was as a boj he was as a man.

The impression hi- made on hi- schoolfellow- was
the impression he has left mi this community alter his
forty-live year- of pa-tnral service anion- them. In-
tellectual superiority, distinguished scholarship, and

g in. — in the iiiu-t comprehensive sense of that

word w.-rc his characteristics in school, ami have been
his characteristics through life. Hewasag 1 -tu-

dent, a g 1 and obedient pui.il, good in his moral

character, good to all around him. Although I knew
him longer, perhaps, than any one in this large audi-
ence, you knew him better, for he lived among you

and lived for you. It i-, however, a satisfaction to

hi-, .Id friends to bear their testimony to his varied

excellence. We all c-tcciiic.l him as an eminently

wise, judicious, learned, and aide theologian. In the
course of fifty-five years 1 never heard him -peak evil

Of an] man, and I never heard any man speak evil of



292



HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.



him. In the discharge of his pastoral duties he was,
as you well know, instructive, faithful, and laborious.
In the judicatories and boards of our church he was
uniformly kind and courteous, and his opinions were
always received with the greatest deference. Very
few men have lived a more honorable and useful life,
and very few have been more lamented in death."

In the autobiography of the Rev. Dr. Hodge, pub-
lished in his " Memoirs," is the following passage :
" The only one of my schoolmates at Somerville with
whom I was associated in after-life was the Rev. Peter
0. Studdiford. During his whole ministerial life he
was pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Lambert-
ville, N. J. That church rose under his care from a
mere handful to being one of the largest in the Synod.
Dr. Studdiford was distinguished for learning, wis-
dom, and goodness in the most comprehensive sense
of that word."



MARTIN CORYELL.

Martin Coryell was born July 20, 1815, at New
Hope, Bucks Co., Pa. His father, Lewis S. Coryell,
was the great-grandson of Immanuel Coryell, who was
an early settler in the section which has become
famous as the place of Washington's crossing of the
Delaware in the time of the Revolution. Coryell's
Ferry, embracing both sides of the river, was settled
by branches of the Coryell family, many of whose
descendants are still living, and among whom the
subject of this sketch is prominent.

Lewis C. Coryell, father of Martin, was born in
Round Valley, Hunterdon Co., and spent most of his
life on the west side of the Delaware River, in Bucks
Co., Pa., opposite Lambertville, where he died, Jan.
28, 1865, in the seventy -sixth year of his age. He
was an active business man, taking a prominent part
in the improvements of his day, and promoting by his
energy and means their accomplishment. He was
intrusted with many important offices : was commis-
sioner for the improvement of the Delaware River
above tide-water, superintendent of the mechanical
work on the Delaware Division Canal, and director
in several railroad, coal, and other companies.

Martin Coryell was educated in the schools of his
native town and at the select school of Dr. Peter O.
Studdiford, at Lambertville. For two years he was a
pupil (in his fourteenth and fifteenth years) of the
then eminent mathematician and astronomer, John
Gummerc, in Burlington; but failing health com-
pelled him to relinquish his studies and to learn
the carpenter's trade, which he followed for a year
with results beneficial to his health, but his ener-
gies were directed into other channels. While at
work upon the "State dam" in the Delaware River at
Wells' Falls, Canvass White, an engineer of emi-
nence selected to construct the Delaware and Raritan
Canal, came upon the work to examine and consult
witli those in charge of the dam upon the feasibility



of extending that work across the river and making
it a feeder for the Delaware and Raritan Canal. In
making a close examination of the river, Mr. Coryell
was selected to manage the boat in the somewhat
dangerous rapids. Mr. White was so well pleased
with this service that he requested Col. Simpson Tor-
bert to employ him to establish and determine high-
and low-water marks along the river ; and, later, he
was given a position as rod-man on the Delaware and
Raritan Canal.

While at home on a visit in the winter of 1839-40,
a freshet occurred which seriously damaged the Dela-
ware Division Canal. He was called upon to exam-
ine into the extent of the damage and to estimate the
cost and time necessary to restore navigation. This
service was satisfactorily performed, and Mr. Coryell
was retained in the State employ as a principal as-
sistant on the Delaware Division Canal until the year
1842, when he took charge of the Morris Canal as
engineer, under John Cryder, representing the Eng-
lish bondholdei - s. This proved a troublesome and,
pecuniarily, a disastrous affair, and, with the mone-
tary derangements which followed and the cessation
of work on public improvements, Mr. Coryell turned
his energies into other channels. He soon after, at
the suggestion of Judge Fox, turned his attention to
the law, especially land and water cases, and his name
was enrolled as a law-student in the office of B. H.
Brewster, of Philadelphia, a fellow-student of Sena-
tor Don Cameron; but, on account of injury to his
eyes, the result of night-reading, he sought other
employment.

In 1844 he was employed by the canal commission-
ers of Pennsylvania on the Columbia Railroad. His
duties were to inaugurate and popularize the use of
steam as a motive-power on the West Chester Rail-
road (then operated as a horse-power railroad), which
he successfully achieved in spite of much local oppo-
sition. He was then made superintendent of the
Schuylkill level of the Columbia road, extending
from Philadelphia to the Plane, — an important and
difficult position in those days of combined railroad
and canal transportation.

During the next few years he officiated as engineer
in various parts of the country : he surveyed the un-
derground workings of the Hazleton Coal Company's
mines ; was engineer and manager of the Lake Supe-
rior Copper Company, and was one of the earlypioneers
in that mining region. In 1847 he returned to New
Jersey, and was employed to construct a coal-wharf
at Bergen Point, and soon after entered the employ of
the Raritan Canal Company, under Ashbel Welch,
Esq., under whose superintendence Mr. Coryell lo-
cated the greater part of the Belvidcre Railroad, and
prepared and put down the superstructure from Tren-
ton to Lambertville. In 1853 he was engineer-in-
chief of the Brunswick Canal, and during the next
six or seven years he was engaged in like capacity
upon (lie railroads and canals of Pennsylvania, ami




(^ts&Ct^^i^





,Y



city OF la.mi;i:ktvii.i.i:



293



New Jersey, particular!} developing the coal region
of Hazleton and what is now the Lehigh Vallej
Railroad.

In 1862 he removed to the Wyoming Valli
tling al Wilkesbarre, where he pursued hi- profession
of iml and mining engineer. He wa in 18fc4 upon
the organization of the Warrior Run Alining Com-
pany, made director, secretary, treason r, and mana-
ger. The collierj was placed on a business basis
and then leased, when Mr. Coryell's conne<
manager ceased.

His professional duties have taki n him to all parts
of the land, and rendered him familiar with the vari-
ous coal-fields and mining regions of Pennsylvania,
Michigan, Virginia, Kentucky, etc. He -pent one
seasonal Cape Breton, examining the coal property
of Robert Belloni at ( Sow Bay.

Mr. Coryell removed to Lambertville, >". J., in
1876, designing to make it tin- place of his permanent
n idence. Hi- is a director in the Amwell National
Bank of Lambertville. To him i- largely due the
successful establishment of the city water-works, of
which be still on as a controlling interest.

In .Inn.', L842, In- married Myra A. Coryell, who
wa- born at Lambi rtville in 1820.



WILLI \.M Mi CREADT.

William ami Sarah McCready, grandparents of
William McCready, -the one a native of Scotland,
ami tin- other of Ireland,- .ami' to this country im-
mediately after their marriage and settled in the citj
of New York, whirr tin v reared a family, consisting
of three sons ami three daughters. < Ine of the sons,
Thomas, married Catharine McKinley, of New York.

ami hail three eh ih Inn, William, . I oh n, ami Tl IBS.

William, the subject of our sketch, was the eldest of

the family, ami was horn in the city of New ¥ork,
.Inly 19, 1817, Hi- lot in life was destined to be a
checkered one, and to furnish a striking example of
perseverance ami energj under peculiar difficulties.

When about thirteen years of ajre In wa- thrown
upon his own resources, and from that time until he
was twenty-one hi waseng iged in Philadelphia and in
Montg ery Co., Pa., in learning the trail. ■ of a hat-
ter, serving an apprenticeship of eight years. At the
close of this period, in 1838, he established himself as
a hatter at New Hope, and in 1839 bought out an op-
q establishment in Lambertville, N. J., and con-
ducted both shops. The business proved successful, and
he soon a. hi.. I thereto a milling interest, and
quently went into the hardware trade, including the
handling of coal ami iron, continuing in these pux-
auits till 1861, when he sold oul at the beginning of
the Rebellion.

Mr. McCready, however, was not long out of busi-
ness at this time, lie built a !la\-niill ami a hay-
packing establishment, ami followed these by the



erection of a paper-mill ami then commenced his
career as a manufacturer of paper. In all these un-
dertakings In- encountered a Beriee of disasters truly
discouraging to a less resolute ami determined nature.
.- secret enemy seemed to be bent on the destruc-
tion ..f his business, ami employed the "tire fiend"
to execute his work of revenge. Hi- hatting estab-
lishment wa- first burned down ; then, when he had
gotten his hay-presses ami his flax-mill in successful
operation, these were also destroyed by fire; he then
built ami equipped hi i hret paper-mill, which was hke-

w i-e burned. He was thus obliged t itend against

an unseen ami unknown enemy. When hi- hatting and
haj business were burned he hail no insurance; in the
flax ami paper business tlie insurance was small. But
hi- energy ami determination never faltered, though
each tir. seemed like a crushing blow to hi- hopes

anil prospects of -in.. - .

He built a n.u paper-mill on a much larger scale
in 1867, to which he gave the very appropriate name
of " Perseverance Mill." This mill is qow well
known to the paper trade throughout the country. It
stands on the hank of the Delaware ami Raritan
Canal at Lambertville. ami has been for more than a
decade gradually growing up to the pro], onion- which

Mr. McCready designs it finally to attain, as he has

I. .en able to appropriate means for additions ami im-
provements. Although nominally belonging to the

Lambertville Paper-Mannfacturim: Company, it is as
much nn.ler the control ami management of Mr.

McCready a- if it were absolutely his property, the

ipanj having been formed to relieve him from

financial embarrassment, ami to enable him t<> p

hi- creditors ami redeem the property under hi- own

able and skillful management.

[n justice to Mr. McCready, a brief history of this
arrangement should he given. In consequence of
various disasters, involving a loss of business ami
heavy expense in building, etc., he became embar-
rassed in 1869, ami offered to turn over to hi- creditors
every dollar of hi- property a- security, so far a- it
would go. The) having tin' utmost confidence in

his integrit) a- a business man, refuse, I to see him

sacrificed, ami formed a i tpan) under the name

of the Lambertville Paper-Manufacturing < lompany,
allowing him to go on, at the same time paying in-

I , the i i|.an\ .till hi- debts -hoiihl b

up. lie entered into 1 1 1 i - arrangement with the
company, first lor five years; hut at the expiration of

that time, although he hail made the business profit-
able, the propert] wa- not redeemed. Feelin
scious of hi- ability to carry the matter through

jfully, Mr. McCready offered thecompan
inducements to extend the time five years longer;

ami, while be ha- put the business upon siieh a foot-
ing a- to lie able to redeem it at any moment, he has
thought it advisable, with the consent of the com-
pany, who deem themselves full) secured, to expend

a portion of the protit- of the- business in the enlarge