“On The Map” with Trenton’s own Tal Brody

 “On The Map” with Trenton’s own Tal Brody, Trenton was represented by Steve and Iris Daner, Jon Weber and his wife, Bruce Zagnit, TCHS Class of 1961 President Jimmy Carrigan and myself (Steven Raam). 

SOME PROMINENT MERCHANTS IN TRENTON BY JOHN H. SINES, 1929

SOME PROMINENT MERCHANTS

Some of the pioneers in what, in the best sense of the term, is Trenton's "big business" were such men as Henderson G. Scudder, Sering P. Dunham, John H. Scudder, Joseph Allen Southwick, Colonel Eckford Moore, Thomas C. Hill, Captain Lawrence Farrell, John W. Manning, William J. Convery, William Dolton, John Taylor, Frank J. Wetzel, James C. Tattersall, John G. Conner, Richard Wilson, the Colemans, the Vannests, the Thomases, the Richardsons and others, all of whom have left their mark on the trade of the city. Some of them have been succeeded in business by their sons and their sons' sons, so that in these later days big mercantile interests are in the hands of such men as Edward W. Dunham, William V. Coleman, J. Ferd Convery, John W. Manning, Frederick W. Donnelly, Frederick S. Donnelly, Horace Mann, Nevius Brothers and others.

Trenton's value as a merchandising center early impressed itself upon keen minds in other places and has continued to do so. The result has been the constant opening of new enterprises and the introduction of new blood into those already established. These newcomers have included men from nearby towns and farming communities, as well as from the larger cities. Smith Lamson came here from South Jersey, after a bit of experience in Bordentown, and soon associated himself with the Dunham concern. H. M. and E. D. Voorhees came from Hightstown, first to clerk for others and soon to have a magnificent store of their own. The Dunhams came originally from Somerville, where the Nevius brothers were also located with one of their branch stores.

Then, too, came the Goldbergs, the Wirtschafters, the Hoenigs, the Swerns, the Lissners, the Hiedelmans, the Urkens, the Cohens, the Kuhns, the Fulds and scores of other Jewish merchants who have built up great business enterprises, often from such humble beginnings as to add romance to the always interesting story of buying and selling.

Two especially notable instances of Jewish success may be mentioned. Isaac Goldberg came to America as a poor Russian immigrant. He was imbued with the idea of making enough money to do for children what no one had done for him in the way of pleasure and recreation. His advent in Trenton was in the nature of a canvasser from door to door. In a few years he was the owner of a great department store, with a silk-manufacturing branch in Japan and connections with the great marts of the world. A few years more he was the president of a bank, established largely through his own enterprise and initiative. And as soon as he prospered he began doing something for the children of the poor, so that for years the Goldberg picnics for boys and girls in humble circumstances have been among the recognized and appreciated philanthropies of Trenton. Then there is the case of Henry Wirtschafter. Beaten down in Philadelphia by circumstances over which he had no control, Mr. Wirtschafter loaded a few belongings on a small cart and pushed it the thirty miles and more to Trenton. Here, with his clever wife for a clerk as well as a source of comfort and encouragement, he established a store so small that it was sometimes jeeringly referred to as a "hole in the wall." But that was not for long. The business grew amazingly and in a comparatively few years the little store gave place to a big one, one of the more prominent department stores of the city.

TWO NOTEWORTHY NEWSPAPERS IN OLD TRENTON

TWO NOTEWORTHY PAPERS

While a number of shooting stars were hastily passing across the journalistic sky in the days when comparatively no money and little credit were required to start a paper, two newspapers destined to live and to exert a powerful influence came into being. The State Gazette was one; the other was the True American. The former claims a continued existence from September 4, 1792. It was first called the State Gazette and New Jersey Advertiser and its infant days began in modest quarters on Warren Street opposite the Indian Queen Hotel (now the Trent Theatre site). Tri-weekly issues began January 14, 1840, and the journal became a daily January 12, 1847. The True American, which of course also started as a weekly, was cradled on State Street about where the Katzenbach hardware store6  was later located. March 10, 1801, was the date of the American's first issue, Matthias Day and Jacob Mann being the publishers. James J. Wilson, prominent in the politics of the period, was an early editor. 7  The American was discontinued for a time but on November 13, 1849, it had a re-birth, when Morris R. Hamilton as editor and William Magill as publisher absorbed the Daily News and the Emporium, a literary and religious journal, and created out of them the True American, 

For many years, the Gazette and True American maintained an easy local ascendancy, developing into staunch defenders of the Republican and Democratic parties respectively. Both by editorial ability and their location at the State capital, they received recognition as representative exponents of the policies of either political organization. Each bore the unmistakable stamp of partisanship. They were for many years four-page sheets and both conducted job printing plants, their prosperity resting in no small degree upon the official printing patronage which came to them from the State House, the county and the city, according to which party held control.

The True American's rise as an influential newspaper of state-wide reputation began with its purchase by David Naar in 1853. Judge Naar's career would supply enough material for a chapter by itself. He was one of the most forceful and dignified writers on public questions that Trenton journalism ever produced. 

JUDGE NAAR AND THE NAAR FAMILY

Judge Naar was honored with public offices, local and State. He was a member of the State constitutional convention of 1844, served as State treasurer in 1865 and was for some years secretary of the State sinking fund. An oil portrait of judge Naar (his judicial title was gained in Union County before he came to Trenton) hangs in the State House corridors, unusual distinction for a journalist. Having campaigned the entire State for Polk in 1844, he was appointed by the new President as United States consul at St. Thomas, W.I. (where he had been born November 10, 1800), and held the post for three years.

Locally he served in numerous official capacities. A man of erudition, speaking four languages, and personally of the highest integrity, he filled out a life of great usefulness and distinction, passing away February 24, 1880, in his eightieth year.

The Naar family, of whom the judge was the pioneer here, contributed several notable citizens to Trenton. The family, by the way, traces its history back over four centuries to the expulsion of the Jews from Portugal, an elaborately planned genealogical tree being extant which attests the lineage. 

After a liberal education as a youth, Joseph L. Naar had learned the trade of printer on the True American while it was published by his father at Warren and Front Streets but this was only as a step in his training for future proprietorship. On assuming the editorship, he maintained the traditions of his father in making the paper an exponent of liberal Democratic thought. For over a quarter of a century, the True American columns scintillated with caustic, pungent comment upon current events. Ever courageous and resourceful in argument, he became a dangerous antagonist upon public questions. A close and intelligent student of the Constitution, he was equally at home in the use of the lighter weapons of the editorial armory, and his treatment of debated issues never failed to arrest attention throughout the city and State. He was private secretary to Governor Ludlow and had much to do with the successful establishment of the Trenton Public Library, serving several years at a trustee. His death occurred September 19, 1905, aged sixty-three.

DECLINE OF TRUE AMERICAN

During Joseph L. Naar's regime as editor and publisher, the True American plant was removed (January 1, 1893) to its own building on North Warren Street, from the leased quarters at the southeast corner of State and Broad Streets, which had been occupied since 1872. Simultaneously the paper in make-up and special features was brought up to modern standards, besides being enlarged. Political patronage, however, had fallen off, and it was difficult out of ordinary revenues to meet the expenses swollen by enterprising news policies. As a bid for wider circulation, the price of the paper was cut to one cent a copy, and as a further expedient the editor sold preferred stock to friends in the sum of nearly $50,000. Then came Mr. Naar's death, following which the once powerful local American experienced a series of misfortunes, including various changes of proprietorship, reorganization as an afternoon issue, and two receiverships. It was estimated that within a comparatively few years $350,000 had been sunk in the property, a large portion of which was in the shape of a subsidy from Woodrow Wilson supporters in his first campaign for the Presidency. Henry E. Alexander of Ohio, Professor Henry J. Ford of Princeton and William H. Gutelius, a New York publisher, were among those who tried to put the American on its feet again. On August 8, 1913, the property was disposed of at receiver's sale for $47,000, including the real estate, and the Trenton Times, with which the True American had latterly competed for the local afternoon field, acquired control and suspended publication of the century-old sheet.

SKETCH OF THE GAZETTE

The Gazette too has had an eventful history. It has seen its ups and downs through a lengthy career, but on the whole it was more fortunate in its business management than its competitor. Able men guided its policies from the start, among them the Shermans, Matthias Day, Henry Harron, E. R. Borden, and others, the story of whose work is told exhaustively elsewhere.

After a political somersault or two, the Gazette under J. L. Swayze settled down about 1857 into a thoroughgoing Republican organ. Jacob R. Freese, the next in control, was a kaleidoscopic figure in the community for twenty years. He was many things in turn - a physician, an editor, president of the board of trade, provost-marshal of the District of Columbia during the Civil War, a city booster, a platform orator and finally a banker, meeting his Waterloo in the latter capacity. Brook and Vannote, one a hard-headed business man and the other first a printer and later a Methodist preacher, took over the Gazette in December 1865, but such a team did not promise well, and not until 1869 was the permanent success of the plant assured, with its purchase by Murphy and Bechtel. 

Murphy and Bechtel were fortunate in finding on the Gazette staff at its purchase a former Freehold school teacher, William Cloke, who, after a short turn as reporter, was promoted and quickly gave the editorial page a reputation for distinction of style, a rich fund of humor and literary allusion and a breadth of information on national, state and local subjects. Between Cloke and Joseph L. Naar of the True American there ensued for years a series of passages at arms which were eagerly looked for in Trenton and were widely copied through the State. Naar was able and incisive, Cloke, more discursive but equally combative, possessed an exuberant fancy - each proved a foeman worthy of the other's blade.

In purely local matters, the Gazette almost invariably stood for progressive policies in public improvements, such as a public park, a sewerage system, etc., while the True American almost as certainly wanted the acid test applied before projects involving heavy financial burdens upon the taxpayer were adopted. Thus a wholesome threshing out of public questions was always insured. 10

10 Up to 1872, the local dailies adhered to the printing of Monday morning's papers on Saturday. But on Sunday evening, January 21 of that year, the Trenton Bank was robbed and Monday local sheets appeared without a line on the sensational occurrence, while the New York and Philadelphia papers of the same day carried the news. The mortification of so pronounced a "beat" led to an immediate order from the Gazette and American publishers thereafter to go to press Sunday night, for the following day's issue.

In June 1908 the Gazette transferred its newspaper and job printing plant from its old stand, at the northwest corner of State and Broad Streets, to a handsome and commodious new structure on East Hanover Street, specially built for the purpose. This company on December 1, 1925, sold out to a new organization with Edward C. Rose president, Ferdinand W. Roebling, Jr., vice-president and Frank D. Schroth treasurer and publisher. These gentlemen introduced important improvements in the various departments.

Six months later, the Gazette was consolidated with the Trenton Times, James Kerney thus becoming editor and publisher of the Times, Gazette and Sunday Times-Advertiser. Mr. Schroth continued with the newly organized company in the capacity of assistant treasurer and general manager, and Messrs. Roebling and Rose remained as preferred stockholders. Its circulation is in excess of 16,000 daily.

JOHN BRIEST'S EMPORIUM

Coincident with the development of the Gazette and True American as two-cent morning papers, the Emporium, a smaller sheet at one cent a copy, was started August 5, 1867, by John Briest, who had been foreman of the True American composing room during the Civil War. Mr. Briest was a bright, talented, snappy writer and with the aid of his brother Charles as reporter and John B. Faussett as business manager kept the Emporium going for twenty-five years. It was first issued from the northeast corner of Warren and Hanover Streets but later from East State Street near Montgomery. John Briest, who had been mayor (1871-75) and had held various other municipal offices, was made city comptroller under the board of public works and in 1895 sold his paper which had a short life under the new owner, St. George Kempson, a Middlesex County publisher, who removed the plant to Perth Amboy about 1895.

THE TRENTON TIMES

One of the leading newspapers of New Jersey today, the Trenton Times, came into existence almost unheralded one October afternoon (October 12) in 1882. It exerted an instant appeal by its attractive make-up, the fresh sprightly manner in which the news was handled, and a certain dash and vigor of editorial expression. These were traits which up to that time had not distinguished the substantial plodding sheets of the town. The printing of more important occurrences of the day, without regard to whether they were local or general, upon the first page and under striking yet artistic headlines, was a new departure for Trenton, as was the absence from that page of all display advertising. The general appearance of the paper and its treatment of the news were closely modelled after Frank McLaughlin's Philadelphia Times, which indeed had set the pace for many other newspapers.

The Trenton Times came naturally by the same characteristics, its founder, Lawrence S. Mott, having after his graduation from Princeton in 1877 joined the Philadelphia Times desk staff and having proved an apt student under Colonel McClure. Moreover, the men whose money supported Mr. Mott's local enterprise had as their motive a desire to smash certain political machinery in New Jersey. The Hon. Henry Stafford Little, long clerk in chancery and a power in Democratic politics, thought that the new newspaper might be useful in breaking the strength of United States Senator John R. McPherson, his political foe within the party lines. Others with various ambitions in public life rallied also to Mr. Mott's support, such as Garret D. W. Vroom, Judge Edward T. Green, and Mayor Frank A. Magowan, but none at the same financial risk as "Staff" Little. The Trenton Times accordingly proved a free lance in New Jersey journalism and before a great while had acquired some of the reputation of its big Philadelphia namesake as a breeder of libel suits, 

The Times devoted a great deal of attention to politics, local and state, it developed the personal interview to an extent never before known in Trenton, and it introduced "picture" journalism here. Edward S. Ellis, the novelist, was clever in delineating faces, and drew a considerable number of rapid sketches of members and attaches of the Legislature during the session of 1883, which were reproduced in the Times's columns and made a hit by the novelty of this feature. But while the Times had created an impression in the news field, it had found difficulty in building up a paying advertising patronage. 

Edmund C. Hill bid it in at the receiver's sale. Mr. Hill, who was one of Trenton's progressive citizens, deeply interested in every feature of municipal advancement, nailed to the editorial masthead the not original but quite effective slogan, "Keeping everlastingly at it brings success," and by playing up local news as never before, increased the circulation substantially.

Soon the Times began to attract attention, with, Dr. Wishart serving as editor.

A reorganization of the company was effected February 1, 1903, through which Dr. Wishart and Mr. Savory dropped out and James Kerney acquired an interest. With Mr. Kerney's coming, the Times took on a livelier and more aggressive tone and began to wear the earmarks of unmistakable success. The purchase of its own building on South Stockton Street, the installation of every latest mechanical device and the gradual enrolment of an army of employees in the editorial, reportorial, business and mechanical departments have gone hand in hand in the development of a many-sided newspaper to meet the demands of an exacting public.

THE SUNDAY ADVERTISER

The Sunday Advertiser, Trenton's first successful venture in Sunday journalism, was brought out by Andrew M. Clarke and William K. Devereux on January 7, 1883, a few months after the Trenton Times had been launched. Mr. Clarke, on February 19, 1888, sold out to Thomas F. Fitzgerald, Charles H. Levy and John J. Cleary, all seasoned reporters', who devoted themselves earnestly and enthusiastically to the work of developing a prosperous property. It was originally printed from the William S. Sharp's job-printing plant, West State Street, having editorial and typesetting rooms on the second floor of the Dippolt Building on South Broad Street. Within a couple of years, Mr. Clarke purchased a press of his own and located the entire quarters at 7 South Warren Street. It was the period when the Knights of Labor were flourishing and when under the leadership of President T. V. Powderly, American labor grew conscious of its power as never before. 

The Sunday Advertiser became a semi-official organ of the Knights in Trenton and for nearly a year ventured also into the daily field in that capacity. This was about 1884.

Soon after Messrs. Fitzgerald, Levy and Cleary became owners, they purchased the extensive three-story brick building at 33 West State Street which was the home of the Sunday Advertiser for the rest of the quarter of a century during which this firm held the reins; they brought the paper to a high journalistic level and established it in pronounced public favor. The circulation reached about 16,000, which was considered very large at the time.

Yiddish, Part 7

Or shmuts. Dirt – a little dirt, not serious grime. If a little boy has shmutz on his face, and he likely will, his mother will quickly wipe it off. It can also mean dirty language. It’s not nice to talk shmutz about shmutz. A current derivation, “schmitzig,” means a “thigamabob” or a “doodad,” but has nothing to do with filth.

shtick
Something you’re known for doing, an entertainer’s routine, an actor’s bit, stage business; a gimmick often done to draw attention to yourself.

tchatchke
Or tshatshke. Knick-knack, little toy, collectible or giftware. It also appears in sentences such as, “My brother divorced his wife for some little tchatchke.” You can figure that one out.

tsuris
Or tsores. Serious troubles, not minor annoyances. Plagues of lice, gnats, flies, locusts, hail, death… now, those were tsuris.

tuches
Rear end, bottom, backside, buttocks. In proper Yiddish, it’s spelled tuchis or tuches or tokhis, and was the origin of the American slang word tush.

yente
Female busybody or gossip. At one time, high-class parents gave this name to their girls (after all, it has the same root as “gentle”), but it gained the Yiddish meaning of “she-devil”. The matchmaker in “Fiddler on the Roof” was named Yente (and she certainly was a yente though maybe not very high-class), so many people mistakenly think that yente means matchmaker.

yiddisher kop
Smart person. Literally means “Jewish head.” I don’t want to know what goyisher kop means.

As in Hebrew, the ch or kh in Yiddish is a “voiceless fricative,” with a pronunciation between h and k. If you don’t know how to make that sound, pronounce it like an h. Pronouncing it like a k is goyish.

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-yiddish-handbook-40-words-you-should-know/

South Trenton 6

Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases 16 (Impress friends and family)

UNGABLUZUM: To look as if one is going to cry.

VER CLEMPT: All choked up.

VUS MACHS DA: What's happening? What's up?

YENTA: A busybody, usually refers to an older woman.

YENTZ: Course word for sexual intercourse. Also means to cheat or screw someone. Yentzer is the noun.

ZAFTIG: Juicy, plump. Can refer to food, ideas or people. A buxom woman.

ZIE GA ZINK: Wishing someone good health.

ZETZ: A strong blow or punch.

ZEYDE: Grandfather, or old man.

ZHLUB: An insensitive, ill-mannered person, a clumsy individual.

Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases 12 (Impress friends and family)

POTCHKA: To fool around; to be busy without a clear goal.

PUPIK: Belly button.

PUTZ: A vulgarism for males' private parts but most usually used as term of contempt for a fool, or an easy mark.

RACHMONES: Compassion.

SAYKHEL: Common sense.

SCHLOCK: A shoddy, cheaply made article, something thats been knocked around.

SCHMALTZ: Literally chicken fat. Usually refers to overly emotional and sentimental behavior. 

Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases 10 (Impress friends and family)

NARRISHKEIT: Foolishness, trivia.

NEBBISH: An inadequate person, a loser.

NOODGE: To bother, to push, a person who bothers you.

NOSH: To snack. NOSHERYE refers to food.

NU: Has many meanings including, "so?; How are things?; how about it?; What can one do?; I dare you!"

NUDNIK: A pest, a persistent and annoying person. 

Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases 9 (Impress friends and family)

MISHEGOSS: Inappropriate, crazy, or bizarre actions or beliefs.

MISHPOCHA: Family, usually extended family.

MOMZER: A bastard, an untrustworthy person.

MOYL: The man who circumcises baby boys at a briss.

NACH A MOOL: And so on.

NACHES: Joy. To "shep naches" means to derive pleasure. Jewish children are expected to provide their parent with naches in the form of achievement. 

Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases 8 (Impress friends and family)

MAZEL TOV: Good luck, usually said as a statement of support or congratulations.

MEESA MASHEENA: A horrible death. The phrase "a messa mashee af deer" means a horrible death to you and is used as a curse. Some have suggested that Masheena is the origin for the insulting name for Jews of sheeny.

MEESKAIT: A little ugly one; a person or thing.

MEGILLAH: Long, complicated and boring.

MENSCH: A person of character. An individual of recognized worth because of noble values or actions.

MESHUGGE or MESHUGGINA: Crazy, refers to a more chronic disturbance. 

Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases 7 (Impress friends and family)

KVETCH: To annoy or to be an annoying person, to complain. 

LOCH IN KOP: Literally a hole in the head, refers to things one definitely does not need.

LUFTMENSH: A dreamer, someone whose head is in the clouds.

LUZZEM: Leave him be, let her or him alone.

MACH SHNEL: Hurry up.

MACHER: An ambitious person; a schemer with many plans.

MAVEN: An expert, a connoisseur. 

Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases 6 (Impress friends and family)

GAY SHLAFEN: Go to sleep.

GELT: Money.

GONIF: A thief, a tricky clever person, a shady character.

GOY: A derogatory term meaning gentile, goyim is the plural, and goyisher is the adjective.

GREPSE: To belch.

GORNISHT: Nothing. Often used in a sarcastic manner, as in what did you get from her? Gunisht.

Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases 1 (Impress friends and family)

A BI GEZUNT: So long as you're healthy. Expression means, "Don't worry so much about a problem, whatever it is. You've still got your health." 

ALTER COCKER: An old and complaining person, an old fart. 

AY-YAY-YAY: A Joyous, or at times sarcastic, exclamation. 

BALABUSTA: The wife of an important person or a bossy woman. 

BEI MIR BIST DU SHAYN: To me you're beautiful. 

BERRYER: Denotes a woman who has excellent homemaking skills. Considered a compliment in the pre-feminist era. 

Yiddish, Part 5

shlep
To drag, traditionally something you don’t really need; to carry unwillingly. When people “shlep around,” they are dragging themselves, perhaps slouchingly. On vacation, when I’m the one who ends up carrying the heavy suitcase I begged my wife to leave at home, I shlep it.

shlemiel
A clumsy, inept person, similar to a klutz (also a Yiddish word). The kind of person who always spills his soup.

schlock
Cheap, shoddy, or inferior, as in, “I don’t know why I bought this schlocky souvenir.”

shlimazel
Someone with constant bad luck. When the shlemiel spills his soup, he probably spills it on the shlimazel. Fans of the TV sitcom “Laverne and Shirley” remember these two words from the Yiddish-American hopscotch chant that opened each show.

shmendrik
A jerk, a stupid person, popularized in The Last Unicorn and Welcome Back Kotter.

Cemetery - Workingmen's Circle - Cedar Lane

The Trenton Jewish Historical Society is vigorously investigating this cemetery and other 'orphan' cemeteries (sponsors that have ceased to exist - B'nai Abraham, Ansche Emes, Ansche Fife, Adath Jeshuran,  Brith Shalom, etc.)