Passaic County, New Jersey Biographies

Passaic County, New Jersey Biographies

George Le Baron Hartt
(1849-1913)

George LeBaron was born to Jarvis and Prudence (Brown) Hartt July 11, 1849 in Wilmot (Paradise) Nova Scotia. He died January 9, 1913 in Passaic, N.J. He married three times. 1st marriage was to Claudine Matilda Millington. She was born in Passaic NJ. 2nd marriage was to Margaret Florence Montgomery Hartt, April 27, 1876 in church of Holy Trinity, New York, NY. She was a daughter of Henry and Jessie (Main) Hartt born June 28, 1849 died December 17, 1877 at 142 East 34th Street, New York. 3rd marriage to Hester Elizabeth Downing. She died 1892.

On account of ill health, he had little schooling as a lad, but he was able to take a special course at Cornell University, where his brother, Charles Frederick, was a professor. There he developed a talent for art, and, on coming to New York at the age of nineteen, he began to study art as his life's work. Mr. Hartt was art editor of the New York "Daily Graphic" in the days when illustrations had to be made by hand in black and white. He handled many famous assignments in his day, including the Brooklyn Academy fire and the return of Boss Tweed to New York under arrest.

He was the first man to telegraph a picture, and it was long a mystery how the "Graphic" could print the picture of a boat race at Cornell University the day after it happened. He did this by a system of lines and numbers. When Mr. Hartt left the "Graphic" he went into the commercial field and was head of a number of art departments of printing and lithographic companies.

He moved to Passaic in 1885 and was identified with the social, artistic and musical life of the city until his death. He was involved with the Kenilworth Society, the Century Club, the Passaic Choral Union, and many organizations during his life here. He had a dramatic tenor voice and at various times sang in nearly all of the choirs of the city. He was for a brief time a member of the Passaic Board of Education.

Mr. Hartt, through his mother, Prudence Boardman Brown, was descended from Simon Willard, who came to America in 1605 and whose family never left the Colonies. SOURCE: History of Passaic and Its Environs by William W. Scott Historical---Biographical Vol 1, pg. 109 (VII), contributed by Carole Dick

Note: A child of George and Claudine (Millington) Hartt was Constance Endicott, who died in 1982 in Hawaii.

JETUR R. RIGGS, M. D.
BY C. S. VAN RIPER, M. D.

DR. JETUR R. RIGGS was born at Drakesville, Morris County, N. J., June 20th, 1809, his father being a farmer in comfortable circumstances. He attended school at Succasunna, and for about two years studied the languages under the direction of the Rev. Jacob Green; afterward for four years under Ezra Fairchild, who had a large select school at Succasunna. Among his companions at this school were several whose names have since become prominent in literary and professional life, such as David, A. Hayes. John Goble, John Taylor, Enoch Bowles, Dr. John Stewart and others. The Doctor early in life evinced a great fondness for hunting, at which he spent much time, in company with Dr. Jacob D. Woodruff, now of Brooklyn, N. Y. He retained a fondness for this sport to the close of his life, it being quite a common occurrence to see the Doctor starting of a morning into the country on a hunting expedition for a few days.
He commenced the study of medicine with Dr. Absalom Woodruff, and when about eighteen years of age went to sea on board a whaling ship ; was absent nearly a year; on returning, resumed his studies; attended lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, and graduated (I have been informed) in 1831. He commenced practicing medicine at Newfoundland, Passaic County, N. J., where he remained, attending to a large country practice, until the spring of 1849, when he left for California, by the overland route. This trip was undertaken with the impression that it would improve his health, having suffered for some time with acute gastritis. He was prostrated at St. Josephs and forced to remain, his companions proceeding : but recovering in a short time he went on, overtook them, and after having undergone many hardships, and escaping many perils, they finally reached their destination in 113 days from the time of starting, the shortest period in which the trip had been performed up to that time. During this journey his skill as a sportsman served him a good turn, enabling him, several times, to procure game, when their provisions were exhausted.
He returned from California in 1851; remained with his brother, A. R. Riggs, at the home of his youth, nearly one year; and again commenced practicing medicine in the city of Paterson, Passaic County, N. J., where he remained, attending more or less closely to his professional duties, as his other engagements, of which I shall speak hereafter, and his health did allow, until a few months previous to his decease, which occurred at his birth-place, on the 5th day of November, 1869.
The Doctor was one of the five applicants to the State Medical Association for the formation of the Passaic County Medical Society,-he at this time being a resident and practicing at Newfoundland, a distance of over twenty miles to the county town. But notwithstanding this isolation, he is said to have been a regular attendant upon all the meetings of the Society, taking great interest in its welfare, in the advancement of medical science, and in upholding the esprit de corps of the profession.
The Doctor took naturally to politics; in fact, was a politician from his boyhood. His political views in early life were decidedly liberal, but as he advanced in years, became ultra-a result to which the dyspeptic trouble under which he labored for the last twenty years of his life, naturally tended. The commencement of his official career was in 1837, when he was elected member of the Legislature from Bergen County. At this session of the Legislature, Passaic County was formed from parts of Bergen and Essex Counties. He was again elected to the State Senate in 1855, over his competitors, James Nightingale, the Whig, and Charles Inglis, the American candidate. Again in 1858 he was nominated and elected to Congress on the anti-Lecompton ticket, by 650 majority in the District, Hon. John Huyler being the opposing candidate.
Dr. Riggs was a man of good physical appearance, generous to a fault, a fine conversationalist, and favored with a large circle of friends. He was a thorough physician, a scholar, and a gentlemen in his dealings with his professional brethren.
PATERSON, April 26, 1870.
[Source: Transactions of the Medical Society of New Jersey By Medical Society of New Jersey; 1868. Newark, N.J.; Printed at the Evening Courier Office, 309 Broad St. 1868, pg.98-99 , submitted by Michelle Byrd]