Obituary for Addison Ely

This obituary is from a newspaper clipping with "Passaic Daily News – Mar 14, 1928" hand-written along the top.^[1]

Captain Addison Ely Dies In Rutherford

End Came to Former School Principal, Soldier And Lawyer This Morning—Was Seventy-four Years Old—Known As A Great Fighter—Family Present

Whole Of South Bergen In Mourning

Captain Addison Ely, former school principal, soldier and lawyer of Rutherford, died peaceably and unexpectedly at his home, 230 Meadow Road, Rutherford, early this morning. Captain Ely, who was seventy-four years old, was surrounded by members of his family when the end came.

Was a Fighter

Throughout his long life Captain Ely was a fighter and that characteristic will be the one he will be best remembered. Whether at the bar, which profession he loved, or on the field of battle where men died for a cause, Captain Ely was the living exponent of the words of Captain James Lawrence, "Don't Give Up the Ship". Many a legal cause, believed lost, was won by that characteristic.

The whole of South Bergen is in mourning today for Captain Ely. The flags on the pubic buildings were ordered placed at half-staff by Mayor Harold R. Frizzell, out of respect to the man who captained Rutherford's first military company and who headed old Company L, when it left for the Spanish-American War, and the flags on the school buildings were ordered at half-staff because Captain Ely was principal of the old Park Avenue, Rutherford, school during the '80s.

Had Retired

Captain Ely had led a life of retirement during the last few years and while not in the best of health his condition was not believed to be serious. Yesterday he complained of feeling nervous and of having a pain about his heart and with the arrival of the family physician, was ordered to bed. There seemed to follow a sudden collapse and he sang [sic] so rapidly last night that little hope was held out for his recovery. The end came at 2 o'clock this morning.

Arrangements for the funeral have, as yet, been uncompleted.

Splendid Leader and Lawyer

Captain Ely went to Rutherford as principal in the old Park Avenue School, holding that position for seven years. There are still some of the scholars, prominent men and women, in and about Rutherford, who remember the teachings of Principal Ely in those days of forty-some odd years ago. The "old red school house" tactics predominated then and the "three R's" were practically the curriculum.

Captain Ely, like every member of his family, was ambitious and teaching was not his final goal. He saw the possibilities in law and grasped them. As a lawyer, since 1886, he handled and tried probably more cases than any lawyer in Bergen County. His experience as a teacher made him thorough and his cases were handled with attention to every detail. He taught many of the younger lawyers and his legal ability became known far and near.

Lover of His Home Town

As a student of civic government and a lover of his home town, Captain Ely had been in the front ranks at all times, nothing of importance, local, County or State, failing to get his attention.

An educator, lawyer, advocate of civic pride and a loyal friend, Captain Ely has long been linked with the history of Rutherford.

Married In Union County

Addison Ely and Emily Jayne Johnson, who survives him, were married December 29, 1874, at Connecticut Farms, Union County, at the home of William Harvey Johnson and Marietta Johnson, the father and mother of the bride. They were married by the Rev. Benjamin P. Johnson, who was a brother of the bride, assisted by the Rev. Robert Street, who for nearly fifty years had been the minister of the Connecticut Farms Presbyterian Church. The wedding took place at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. There was a reception after the ceremony at which a large number of friends and guests were present, most of whom have passed on.

After the wedding, carriages took the bride and groom to Elizabeth, where they took the train to New York and the boat from there to New Haven. A ride of about sixty miles in the cars brought them the next morning to Westfield, Mass., the birthplace of Mr. Ely, where they visited with Mr. and Mrs. William Harrison. They spent Friday night with Jared Sanford and Mrs. Sanford at Mount Vernon, and on Saturday they went to Caldwell reaching there Saturday evening about 6 o'clock. They went to the house of Mr. and Mrs. James H. Crane, with whom they made their home until the next September, at which time they began housekeeping.

The father of the bride, William H. Johnson, was known as "Harvey Johnson" from his birth, in 1805 to his death in 1903. He was known the country over as a Baptist. He was the son of William Johnson who married Rhoda Elizabeth Ball, the daughter of Uzal Ball of Jefferson Village, known as Maplewood. Uzal Ball was a cousin of George Washington, and while the latter was at Morristown, he frequently called on Uzal Ball, at Jefferson Village. Mr. Johnson, the father of Mrs. Ely, lived seventy-eight years in the house where he took his wife on the Morris Turnpike near Headley's store on the corners formed by the Morris Turnpike and the road to Newark. In 1820, Colonel John Kean, the grandfather of John Kean and Hamilton F. Kean, whose residence was near, stopped in front of Harvey Johnson's field and caused Lafayette to shake hands with Mr. Johnson. Mrs Johnson married Harvey Johnson in May 1831, and in 1881, he had his golden wedding at which Mr. and Mrs. Ely were present. Mr. Johnson died in 1903 and Mrs. Johnson in 1901.

Mrs. Johnson was the daughter of Sidney Lyon. At the time of her marriage she lived at Springfield, this state. Both Mr. and Mrs. Johnson died and were buried in the Connecticut Farms Cemetery by Elder Chick of Hopewell, where the nearest Baptist Church now stands.

Eleven Children Born

Mrs. Ely was nineteen the March following her marriage and Mr. Ely was twenty-one. They had eleven children, one of whom, Jared Sanford, a boy, died when he was ten months old. Seth Harrison was the surviving twin. He died November 19, 1927, in Dover. The children were Addison, born November 21, 1875, died in 1920; Abigail M., the wife of Howland Woodward; Seth Harrison, of Dover, now dead, a lawyer; Sanford Dana, an architect; Emily Emeline Abbott, of Ann Arbor, Michigan; Clara Harrison Stranahan, a member of the New Jersey Bar; William Harvey Johnson, judge of the East Rutherford District Court; Leon Abbott, milk dealer; Captain Hiram Baldwin, at present at the Frankford Arsenal at Philadelphia; J.S.T. Stranahan, a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, now partner of his brother, Judge William H.J. Ely, in the practice of law; Addison was graduated from Columbia University but went to Michigan University for his law course.

With this exception, the boys and girls attended the Michigan University except Hiram, who went from the University to West Point, being appointed by Senator Hughes, and Stranahan, who passed a competitive examination for the Annapolis Academy, being appointed while at the Michigan University by Congressman Ramsey.

In January 1920, Addison, who was a captain in the U.S. Army, being a Judge Advocate at the time, underwent an operation for gravel^[2] from which he did not recover.

There are now five boys and three girls. The grandchildren are Nathaniel Addison and Catherine, the children of Addison, who married Clara A. Lord. She lives at 45 Pierrepont Avenue, Rutherford. Abigail married Frederick Howland Woodward. She has one girl, Emily, and two sons, Frederick Howland and Addison Ely Woodward, twins who live at Fitchburg. The late Seth Harrison had three children, Seth, Jr., William H. and Elsie Catherine.

Emily has three children, Marie, Waldo and Priscilla; Dana has three children, William, Boyd Miller Robbin and Rosie; Harvey has four children, William Harvey, Joseph, Edward and Mary; Elizabeth [sic] Hiram has two children, Hope and Hiram Baldwin, Jr.; James has one girl, Arline. There are twenty-three grandchildren in all. The only son not married is Leon.

Record In America

The following is the record of Addison Ely's family in America: the three Samuels, Levi, Elihu, William and Addison. Nathaniel was the ancestor who came to this county in 1634 in the Ship "Elizabeth" and settled at Newtown, now Cambridge. Later he formed one of the Colony who went with the Rev. Thomas Hooker to Hartford. Sometime after, he established Norwalk, Connecticut. In 1659, he went to Springfield and for the remainder of his life was associated with Mr. Rynchov and lived there until he died, in 1675. His house still stands at Springfield on the corner of Dwight and Sandford Streets. His wife, Martha, died in 1688. He left no will but his estate was inventoried and among other things he left a Negro man who was valued at fifteen pounds.

There were then the three Samuels, then Captain Levi, who was a Captain in the Revolutionary War. He was Addison Ely's great grandfather. Then came Elihu, then William and then Addison. Mr. Ely was a Harrison on his mother's side and until Mr. Ely left Massachusetts, all of his mother's and father's ancestors were Massachusetts people. He was related to the people in and about Westfield. There were but few foreigners in Westfield at that time.

Addison Ely went to Rutherford in 1879 and was the principal of the old Park Avenue school and resided at that time in the old Pollon House at the corner of Erie Street and Meadow Road, Rutherford. He remained as principal of the school until 1886, when he resigned^[3] and was admitted to the Bar of the State at the February term of the Supreme Court in 1888. He continued to practice in Rutherford until May, 1924, when he retired from active practice. He moved in the meantime from the old Pollon home to his home on Meadow Road, known as "Elycroft" where most of his children were born and where he continued to live until the time of his death.

He was Captain of old Company L and took the Company out at the time they went to the Spanish War in 1898. He is the only living charter member of the Boiling Spring Lodge of Masons. One time he was candidate for Congress on the Democratic ticket for several years he served as counsel for the Board of Chosen Freeholders of Bergen County. He always had been an active supporter of the Democratic party throughout the County. Many years ago he was a member of Company One of the Fire Department. He had always been a member of the Union Club of Rutherford and the Union League Club of Hackensack.

Mr. Ely laid out the old Pollon farm, which ran from Meadow Road to Mortimer Avenue, Rutherford, covering the section of the town through which Addison and Newel Avenues are now laid out. Under his direction, these streets were laid out and various companies that he was affiliated with built several hundred houses in Rutherford. He had long been a member of the Bergen County Bar Association and was one of the organizers of the New Jersey State Bar Association.

Captain Ely at one time conducted a chain of weekly newspapers, including the old Bergen County Herald of Rutherford and also owned what is now the Bergen County Record many years ago. He organized and directed the Dover and Rockaway Gas Company from 1900 to 1916 and was identified with the original Bergen County Gas and Electric Company before the days of Public Service here and was still a director in that company which represents the holding of the Public Service in Bergen County.

Published 2 January 2025. Updated 5 January 2025.