Stories of West Orange

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INTRODUCTION

The greatest resource of West Orange will always be its history and people. This book continues the time-honored tradition of celebrating our local heritage. Although much can be learned here, it is not intended to be a complete or chronological history of the town. West Orange is perhaps best known as the home of Thomas Edison. I have always contended that he deserves his rightful place in history, but there is so much more to West Orange than just Thomas Edison, as these stories will reflect.

This collection contains many colorful tales about West Orange that have perhaps been otherwise overlooked by history. It tells about surviving artifacts reaching back to colonial times. It sheds light on nationally known figures such as Amos Alonzo Stagg, who grew up here, and General George McClellan, who lived here. Countless books have been written on McClellan’s life, but not a single one can provide new insight about the night he died in West Orange. This book contains never-before-published details by the last surviving person to have lived in McClellan’s former house and shares a firsthand account by a person who was there the night he passed away. Liberace launched his career here, Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt first discovered a romantic interest for each other here and the legendary football coach Joe Paterno got his start because of a decision made by a former school principal in West Orange.

Stories of West Orange tells of murder, tragedy, Olympic glory, curing cancer, automobile development, overcoming slavery, Wild West justice, a lion on the loose and more. It provides a unique cross-sectional view of historical vignettes scooped out from a streaming confluence flowing down the corridor of time and offers a glimpse into a place and time our grandparents once knew, like a message in a bottle cast adrift on the ocean, hopefully one day to symbolically wash up on shore in the minds of those seeking historical discovery. Ideally, this collection of stories and pictures will equally serve a purpose today to inspire many to become more aware of our forgotten past.

My personal family history spans nearly 150 years in the community, beginning with my great-grandfather Richard Fagan, who was born about 1868 and lived in West Orange. He was followed by my grandfather James Fagan Sr., born in 1901, and my father, James Fagan Jr., born in 1921. I have always endeavored to include stories from my own family history as an added layer of texture to tell about West Orange from a local and personal perspective.

It should be noted that every individual West Orange veteran can be credited with unselfish devotion in the service of our country. Each one has a compelling story equally important as the next, and all are worthy of our attention, gratitude and respect. Chapter 9 tells only about a few with some unique circumstances, and it is not intended to diminish the importance or sacrifices of countless other town veterans and their many contributions.

History, it can be said, is like meeting an old friend who knows who we are, tells us what we want to hear and leaves us to visit another day, politely reminding us of the best and worst of all our potential and constantly inspiring us to be what we can and should be. Some may say history is dead, but it is alive and well, and you will feel its beating pulse on the pages of this book.

History should not be considered the exclusive property of historians. Instead, it belongs to all of those who are aware of it. Hopefully, one hundred years hence, a yet unborn generation will look on this body of work and disregard the understood boundaries of time as they hear these voices of yesterday echoing forward into the future.

It is to that purpose and sense of vision to which this book is written to celebrate and preserve West Orange history because everything old will become new again to teach, guide and enlighten us on the road to our own self-discovery as a people, always mindful as worthy stewards of our community’s heritage that our proper treatment of history will one day be the final verdict on ourselves.

Chapter 1

SURVIVING ARTIFACTS PROVIDE A TANGIBLE HISTORY

The Long Journey Home

The battles of Lexington and Concord, beginning the war for American independence in April 1775, mostly confused and divided those living in the New Jersey colony. Shortly after the Continental Congress declared independence on July 4, 1776, the war came a bit closer to what is present-day West Orange, then part of the Newark settlement. British general Howe invaded nearby Long Island and New York, where the Continental army was defeated, and General George Washington retreated across New Jersey with Howe in close pursuit. This increased the Loyalist sentiment in New Jersey, as the cause for American independence seemed to begin fading away. Then on Christmas Eve 1776, Washington crossed the Delaware River and launched a surprise attack. He won strategic victories at Trenton and Princeton and gained partial control of New Jersey. With renewed confidence, Washington spent the rest of the winter at Morristown, protected behind the hills of the Orange Mountains of the Watchung Mountain Range. But key British outposts remained close by at Newark, Elizabeth and Perth Amboy.

In 1776, living in present-day West Orange were Nathaniel and Mary Williams with their six children. They were married in 1755 and lived in a small farmhouse near the current intersection of Eagle Rock and Harrison Avenues. They were considered well-to-do planters with rich holdings. Nathaniel’s younger brother Benjamin lived in the same area and enjoyed an equally prosperous existence. Both were ingrained with a deep loyalty to the British Crown and remained outspoken about their profound allegiance to England. They frequently met with other Loyalists, called Tories, near the present-day intersection of Washington and Main Streets. This area was originally called Williamsville, but it soon took on the name of Tory Corner, by which it is still known today.

In order for General Washington to take back New Jersey, it meant identifying the Tories and those loyal to the British. In the spring of 1777, Washington ordered local militias throughout New Jersey to find all traitors to the American cause. This order put Nathaniel and Benjamin William in a difficult position. They had been offered protection by the British, but the growing presence of New Jersey militias and surging support for American independence endangered their property holdings and comfortable lifestyles. It was decided that a pardon would be granted to anyone who would change their allegiance to the American cause. The date of August 5, 1777, was set as the deadline by the Council of Public Safety, and as the final hour drew near, Benjamin Williams reluctantly denounced his allegiance to the British and accepted the pardon. He did so not because he believed in American independence but because he was more interested in preserving his wealth and social standing. However, his brother Nathaniel had views more profoundly aligned with the British cause and could not bring himself to side with the American cause.

This issue so deeply divided Nathaniel and his wife, Mary, that he took his two eldest sons, Amos and James, and fled to join the British army in New York City. He left behind his farm and wife and their four youngest children in present-day West Orange. Mary Williams expected to lose the farm and property since it legally belonged to her husband. The law at that time required all land belonging to Tory sympathizers be confiscated and sold at public auction. But Mary petitioned the Council of Public Safety for her family to remain on the farm. She had expressed open disagreement with her husband’s beliefs and maintained faith in American independence and was confident in Washington’s ultimate victory. Mary could bid only a small fraction for the farm, which was valued at considerably more. Mary was held in such high regard that during the public auction, no one was permitted to bid against her for ownership of the farm. Her outspoken views in favor of independence and her refusal to join her husband in New York with the British had won her favor. No opposing bids were placed at the auction, allowing Mary to keep the farm by being the only bidder.

Mary Williams was considered a true Patriot, despite her family being divided by the issue of American independence. She would never again see her son Amos or her estranged husband, Nathaniel, who died of smallpox in New York in 1782. Before Mary’s own death in 1816 at the age of eighty, she welcomed home her other son James, who left with her husband to join the British army. He had been exiled to Nova Scotia for thirty years following the Revolutionary War but eventually returned to Mary for a joyous reunion.

In 1926, a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution officially recognized the struggles and sacrifices of Mary Williams. A bronze tablet was placed on a boulder in front of the Eagle Rock School, now used for West Orange Board of Education offices on Valley Way. The tablet proclaimed:

A life consecrated to the cause of American Independence, Mary Williams (1736–1816) maintained her home near this site during the stirring days of the American Revolution, giving freely of her supplies to Washington’s troops while her husband Nathaniel, and two sons were with the British forces. Erected in loving memory of this loyal woman by the Mistress Mary Williams Chapter, DAR October 23, 1926.

It was dedicated to her memory only a stone’s throw from the farm where she once lived. However, the bronze tablet was sadly stolen in 1974 and has never been replaced. But the boulder proudly remains as a silent testimony and a forgotten memorial to the brave patriotic spirit of a truly heroic and courageous woman.

Members of the local DAR chapter pose in 1974 in front of the bronze tablet honoring Mary Williams. Author’s collection.

This house was built by Mary’s son Zenas in 1822, replacing the house built circa 1720 by Matthew Williams on the same site, seen here circa 1901. Author’s collection.

The one-and-a-half-story farmhouse where Mary Williams lived was built about 1720 by her husband’s grandfather Matthew Williams. It was built of quarried stone and was twenty by twenty-eight feet in size. It had a clumsy-looking chimney resembling a stone fence set on end. There was also a roomy garret containing a large grain bin, with a spout at the bottom to draw off the contents, which were protected from the weather. It was a cavernous and gloomy house, with two small windows in the front and an eight-foot-wide entry. It survived to 1822, when it was replaced by a frame structure built by Mary’s son Zenas Williams. In 1886, it was purchased by the Bramhall family, and it survived until the early part of the twentieth century, when it was torn down. Today, Our Lady of Lourdes Church now occupies the site of Mary Williams’s former home.

In the possession of Nathaniel and Mary Williams at the time of their family’s breakup in 1777 over the issue of American independence was a grandfather clock. The brass clockworks bear the name of Stephen Tichenor, an early clock maker located in Newark, New Jersey. When Nathaniel left to join the British in New York City, the clock was given to the safekeeping of his younger brother Benjamin until he returned. When Nathaniel subsequently passed away in 1782, the clock became the property of Benjamin. In the days following the Revolutionary War, Benjamin became locally known as Governor Ben because of his large physique and dignified appearance. Although he had taken the pardon offered him in 1777, he had always remained a Tory at heart and contended to the day he died that the Declaration of Independence was a big lie. Although a prominent and prosperous businessman, he pledged to never accept an office within the structure of the new American government. For many years, he attended Trinity Church in Newark, which eventually drew his attention closer to the religious faith of the Church of England. Subsequent meetings at his home led him to organize the founding of St. Mark’s Church in West Orange.

When Governor Ben passed away in 1822, his brother Nathaniel’s grandfather clock passed to his son Amos. When Amos died in 1843, it went to his son