Daniel Van Winkle

“ Wilbur William Saedler was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, April 19, 1889. Securing a practical education in the public schools of his birthplace, Mr. Saedler devoted the early years of his career to the gas business, being active in this public service for about six years. Thereafter entering the real estate business he has been very successful, not only from the personal view-point, but in the relation of his activities to the public good. He carries his progressive spirit into all his dealings, meeting the problem of the moment with a clear pre-vision of the future. ”

“ We wretched people must skulk with wives and little ones that are still left, in poverty together by and around the Fort at New Amsterdam."
What happened thereafter stands as a good memorial to the sober sense and the stout intelligence of these Dutchmen. In their misery, with the fruits of years of hard toil gone as in a whirlwind, they might have been excused for giving way to rage and hate. They might, as did many other pioneers in similar circumstances elsewhere, have cried for a war of extermination. They did not. These Holland men ran true to the Holland history of straight thinking. ”

“ The whole territory of the county is covered completely by thirteen dis- tinct and separate municipalities, each of which is under the control of its individual government. In order to secure the most reliable description of this whole territory, each of these sections was assigned to one possessing an intimate knowledge of its local history, thus assuring a degree of accuracy throughout the whole work and at the same time furnishing, in fact, a true narrative of the settlement, growth and development of the whole county. ”

“ Gabriel is deeply interested in gardening. Each year he has a splendid garden of his own, to which he devotes much time and energy. He is also deeply interested in the work of his church. He is a member of the Armenian Presbyterian Church, which for the past fourteen years he has served as a member of the board of trustees, which responsible official position he still holds. ”

“ Dutch currency was not only scarce and precious, but it was unknown to the Indians, and thus it occurred naturally that the financial system of the new colony established itself on a shell basis instead of a gold basis.
The shells were of a special kind and occurred in two colors, black and white. The Indians prized the black shells at a ratio about double that of the white. To the Dutch traders it seemed immensely like making money by magic to obtain valuable furs for common shells ”

“ In the production of such a work as this by the people of a given locality there is generated an enthusiasm for things historic that finds its way into civic life in a heightened community pride, in resolution that the present and the future shall not fall below the standards of the past, and that the work of to-day shall be performed in such manner as to make fair the record penned to-morrow. ”

“ Progressive Citizen. Among the many worthy citizens and reliable business men who have come to this country from other lands is Krikor Gabriel, of Woodcliff, New Jersey, owner and manager of a prosperous mercantile business located at Nos. 229 and 330-332 Bergenline avenue, Town of Union, New Jersey. Mr. Gabriel was born in Egin, Armenia, where his father died in 1880, at age of forty-seven years, survived by the wife and mother who died in Union Hill, New Jersey, August 13, 1922, aged seventy-five years. ”

“ He was appointed by the Board of Finance, at the request of a committee of citizens, assessor of his district in 1885, and reappointed 1886-88, serving as president of the board for all three terms. He also served as president of the City Tax Commission for three years, from 1889 to 1892. From 1892 until 1902 he was engaged in the real estate business. In 1902 he was elected president of the Jersey City Trust Company and held this position for six years, until 1908. ”

“ After the close of the war he found employment with Henry Heide, Inc., of New York City, in which connection he rendered efficient service for a period of two years. By this time he had acquired suitable experience and decided to engage in business for himself, but a favorable opportunity presenting itself, he instead accepted a position with the Eagan Letter Company. ”

“ McMahon is a Democrat, and when he entered public office it was in the capacity, for which his training gave him ample qualifications, of assistant district attorney. He has a large practice, and has won a reputation that is based upon proved ability and professional training equal to the heavy demands that have been made upon it. Mr. McMahon fraternizes with Jersey City Lodge, No. ”

“ William W. Edwards was a ship carpen- ter and later a truck gardener at Lafay- ette, Jersey City, and until he left school Mr. Edwards helped his father in the cul- tivation of his garden. He received his education at Public School No. 12, Jersey City High School, and New York Uni- versity, and after leaving college he entered the law office of his brother, the late Senator William D. Edwards. Dis- continuing the study of law he entered the First National Bank, Jersey City, as a runner and clerk at the salary of two dollars a week. ”

“ Those ancestors of New York and New Jersey, however, had more spacious ideas than are held by their apartment-dwelling descendants. The charter of the Dutch East India Company, which had granted the trading monopoly to its West India Company, designated New Netherland as comprising "the unoccupied region between Virginia and Canada"—a little tract that must forever inspire pained admiration in modern real estate dealers. It was bounded approximately on the south by the South River, as the Dutch called the stream that the English afterward re-christened the Delaware. ”

“ Freudenberg acts as notary public, is a Democrat by political affiliation, and is a member of Waverly Congregational Church. His brother, Eugene Freudenberg, fraternally holds membership in the Junior Order United American Mechanics, of Jersey City, Summit Council, No. ”

“ He is a practical and progressive executive, and in winning his success he has reflected credit upon his name and has given an impetus in the right direction to those lines of endeavor with which he is identified. ”

“ All the stage companies in the land spread the glad news. They also told with infinite joy how the foolish and heinously dangerous locomotives showered passengers with flaming wood embers so that they had to protect themselves with hoisted umbrellas which, alas! caught fire themselves. Therefore though optimists went on laying rails, the stage business continued to prosper so healthily that in 1832 at least twenty stage lines were crossing Bergen in all directions. ”

“ His many friends predict for him a successful career, and both his thorough preparation and personal qualifications, as well as the success of his experience as a speaker during his term of enlistment, seem to indicate that his friends prophecies will be fulfilled. ”

“ Gradually, to be sure, English people came in. New York was growing into a great town, and it drew merchants and adventurers from all parts, becoming indeed so metropolitan that even the pirates of the seven seas esteemed it as an excellent market for their plunder. But on the western bank of the river the old habits of Holland remained so fixed that we still find characteristic Dutch traits, Dutch architecture, even Dutch customs from the Hudson to the Ramapos.
In 1682, the Province of New Jersey was divided into four Counties—Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Monmouth ”

“ It stands at the gateway of the Nation and is the terminus of nearly all of its principal railroads, and hence the distributing station of its varied productions. The purpose of this, work is to present, in a general way, a complete his- tory of the county, and in order to do this it has been necessary to treat of the municipalities within its borders as individual entities. ”

“ In 1877 he was nominated and elected a member of the Board of Aldermen, representing the old Fifth District, and two years later, in 1879, he was elected to the State Legislature. He was reëlected for three successive terms in 1880-81-82, and during the last term was nominated for speaker of the Assembly. ”

“ Of these, the basement, besides accommodating a part set aside for the mechanical plant that serves the building, contains the fully equipped large safe deposit and storage vaults of the Trust Company of New Jersey.
The banking room of the Main Office of the Trust Company is on the first floor, the entrance to the offices being on Bergen Avenue and the entrance to the bank being on the corner. These premises are designed not only to give customers all modern banking conveniences, but to provide them with surroundings that shall satisfy a high sense of beauty. ”

“ The original plan of this ‘History of the Municipalities of Hudson County, New Jersey” has been followed with exactness and fidelity under the capable and scholarly editorship of Mr. Van Winkle and his local associates. Often, in a work of the magnitude of the present offering, circumstances arise which admit of circumvention only through radical departure from the course first charted, but in this instance there was little to obstruct the way. Mr. ”