1935 · [Orange, NJ
by Colt, Thomas Clyde (1865-1937)
[Orange, NJ, 1935. Original typescript, 28 cm., 70 pp., rectos only, interleaved with 54 photos, both original and photo reproductions of historical scenes and figures, most 4 x 6 in., laid down and captioned. Hole punched at left margins and bound with a long metal fastener and plain green paper wrappers (worn and chipped). Thomas Clyde Colt's tribute to his first wife, and to the places in New Jersey that shaped both of their lives. In his preface he likens his work to Dickens' portrayal of David Copperfield and the vicissitudes of the life of a boy: "If you read this book, you will say it concerns the vicissitudes in the life of a girl. Maud is just as lovely a heroine as David is a hero, but Maud was real."
A portion of the text is devoted to a history of Morristown, Madison, and Newark, and Princeton, New Jersey and various historical figures including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Samuel F.B. Morse, and Thomas Edison. The author spends some seven pages on a brief history of the state of New Jersey and Thomas Edison's part in it. There are photos or photo reproductions of Washington, Hamilton, Morse, Edison, Molly Pitcher, Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Grant, the Chapel and Provost House at Princeton, the race horse Loantake, the Old Speedwell Iron Works at Morristown, the Old Astor Hotel in New York City pictured with Civil War troops marching down Broadway in 1861, etc.
The main focus of the text is the author's biography of Maud Gallagher, born in Morristown in 1870. Her father George was apprenticed to a carpenter before the Civil War interrupted his training. Her mother Frances Mather's parents were from Sussex County, New Jersey, a farming family with ten children. George and Frances married after the war and moved to Morristown, then Newark. George took some work building the new ocean pier at Coney Island but was caught in a storm on the nightshift and contracted a cold from which he never really recovered. He died in 1882, and Frances moved with Maud to Chicago to live with one of her married sisters. At some point there was a rift and Frances and Maud found themselves struggling on their own. Frances began to earn her living as a seamstress, and advertised her services: "Mrs. F.M. Gallagher, Dressmaker. Chidlren's Clothes a Specialty." Maud assisted her when she was not in school. After a few years they had earned enough money to return to New Jersey in 1885, to live with another of Frances' sisters, Libby, in Deckertown. Libby's son Edson Martin had a job as head baker at the Morris Plains Insane Asylum, and got Frances a job, likely as a seamstress. Colt notes that the asylum had by then been open for four years and had about 600 patients. In addition to the bakery, Edson helped with musical programs there which were offered as "part of the study to give them recreation and bring them back mentally, which was often possible."
Maud went to live with another of Frances' sisters, Ruth, in Madison for a time, before moving to a farm estate belonging to a Dr. Leslie Ward, and managed by her cousin Emily and her husband. Dr. Ward was one of the founders of Prudential Life Insurance Company. Colt digresses now and then, giving a description of life in Madison, New Jersey in the mid-1880s, the businesses, the local entrepreneurs, the race horses. He gives some details of the life, career and family of Dr. Leslie Ward. In 1886, Maud's mother Frances returned to the area, taking a job at the Essex County Insane Asylum and securing a place for Maud in the training school for nurses there. At some point during her training she was attacked by a patient and the doctor in charge, worried about her safety and her health, helped her to get a job at Dr. Ward's Prudential Life Insurance Company. At this point the author gives a brief account of his own autobiography. As a young man of 22, successful in the express freight business, he met Maud at a party and was smitten and they married in 1890. Frances herself moved on to New Haven becoming a housekeeper for an elderly widower. Here the story ends. Thomas Clyde Colt was the owner of Colt's Orange, Newark and New York Express, according to a 1902 Orange, NJ City Directory. He married Maud Mather Gallagher in 1890. They had one child who died young. Maud died in 1897 at the age of 27: "a lady of superior culture and natural refinement, of gentle, kindly temperament and loving disposition, and her cheering presence and life endeared her to all who knew her." [see: "Biographical and Genealogica History of the City of Newark and Essex County," (NY & Chciago: 1898, v. 2, p. 330] Colt remarried and had a family including a son, Thomas Clyde Colt, Jr. (1905-1985). The younger Thomas was a graduate of Dartmouth, and later director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Portland [OR] Art Museum, and the Dayton Art Institute. Apparently his father left his historical musings to him, as Thomas Colt Jr.'s biography in the Dictionary of Virginia Biography notes that in retirement he "spent much of his time gardening and working on his father's memoirs, which he published in 1979." This work, titled "Memories of the 19th Century," was published by him under his father's name in Dayton, Ohio. The Library of Congress describes it as an edition of 40 copies, 119 pp., with 2 leaves of plates and illustrations. (Inventory #: 70000)
A portion of the text is devoted to a history of Morristown, Madison, and Newark, and Princeton, New Jersey and various historical figures including George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Samuel F.B. Morse, and Thomas Edison. The author spends some seven pages on a brief history of the state of New Jersey and Thomas Edison's part in it. There are photos or photo reproductions of Washington, Hamilton, Morse, Edison, Molly Pitcher, Abraham Lincoln, U.S. Grant, the Chapel and Provost House at Princeton, the race horse Loantake, the Old Speedwell Iron Works at Morristown, the Old Astor Hotel in New York City pictured with Civil War troops marching down Broadway in 1861, etc.
The main focus of the text is the author's biography of Maud Gallagher, born in Morristown in 1870. Her father George was apprenticed to a carpenter before the Civil War interrupted his training. Her mother Frances Mather's parents were from Sussex County, New Jersey, a farming family with ten children. George and Frances married after the war and moved to Morristown, then Newark. George took some work building the new ocean pier at Coney Island but was caught in a storm on the nightshift and contracted a cold from which he never really recovered. He died in 1882, and Frances moved with Maud to Chicago to live with one of her married sisters. At some point there was a rift and Frances and Maud found themselves struggling on their own. Frances began to earn her living as a seamstress, and advertised her services: "Mrs. F.M. Gallagher, Dressmaker. Chidlren's Clothes a Specialty." Maud assisted her when she was not in school. After a few years they had earned enough money to return to New Jersey in 1885, to live with another of Frances' sisters, Libby, in Deckertown. Libby's son Edson Martin had a job as head baker at the Morris Plains Insane Asylum, and got Frances a job, likely as a seamstress. Colt notes that the asylum had by then been open for four years and had about 600 patients. In addition to the bakery, Edson helped with musical programs there which were offered as "part of the study to give them recreation and bring them back mentally, which was often possible."
Maud went to live with another of Frances' sisters, Ruth, in Madison for a time, before moving to a farm estate belonging to a Dr. Leslie Ward, and managed by her cousin Emily and her husband. Dr. Ward was one of the founders of Prudential Life Insurance Company. Colt digresses now and then, giving a description of life in Madison, New Jersey in the mid-1880s, the businesses, the local entrepreneurs, the race horses. He gives some details of the life, career and family of Dr. Leslie Ward. In 1886, Maud's mother Frances returned to the area, taking a job at the Essex County Insane Asylum and securing a place for Maud in the training school for nurses there. At some point during her training she was attacked by a patient and the doctor in charge, worried about her safety and her health, helped her to get a job at Dr. Ward's Prudential Life Insurance Company. At this point the author gives a brief account of his own autobiography. As a young man of 22, successful in the express freight business, he met Maud at a party and was smitten and they married in 1890. Frances herself moved on to New Haven becoming a housekeeper for an elderly widower. Here the story ends. Thomas Clyde Colt was the owner of Colt's Orange, Newark and New York Express, according to a 1902 Orange, NJ City Directory. He married Maud Mather Gallagher in 1890. They had one child who died young. Maud died in 1897 at the age of 27: "a lady of superior culture and natural refinement, of gentle, kindly temperament and loving disposition, and her cheering presence and life endeared her to all who knew her." [see: "Biographical and Genealogica History of the City of Newark and Essex County," (NY & Chciago: 1898, v. 2, p. 330] Colt remarried and had a family including a son, Thomas Clyde Colt, Jr. (1905-1985). The younger Thomas was a graduate of Dartmouth, and later director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Portland [OR] Art Museum, and the Dayton Art Institute. Apparently his father left his historical musings to him, as Thomas Colt Jr.'s biography in the Dictionary of Virginia Biography notes that in retirement he "spent much of his time gardening and working on his father's memoirs, which he published in 1979." This work, titled "Memories of the 19th Century," was published by him under his father's name in Dayton, Ohio. The Library of Congress describes it as an edition of 40 copies, 119 pp., with 2 leaves of plates and illustrations. (Inventory #: 70000)
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