NEW JERSEY HISTORICAL SOCIETY
The annual meeting of The New Jersey Historical Society was held in the beautiful and spacious building of the Society on West Park Street, Newark, on October 25, 1905. A business meeting was held at noon, at which the annual reports of officers were read, showing the very prosperous condition of the Society. The Corresponding Secretary, William Nelson, in his report alluded to the fact that the present completed his twenty-fifth year of continuous service as an officer of the Society, and so was a sort of silver jubilee of his. He was elected Recording Secretary in 1880, holding that office for ten years, when he was elected Corresponding Secretary, which office he has held for fifteen years. The correspondence during the year had embraced between 400 and 500 letters of all sorts and covering a great variety of topics.
Francis M. Tichenor, Librarian, reported that during the year there had been 2400 visitors at the Library.
Ernest E. Coe, for the Committee on Membership, reported that the Society now had 784 members.
A very important adjunct of the Society for several years past has been the Woman’s Branch, presided over by Miss M. Antoinette Quinby, who read the report of the work of that body. The women have been devoting themselves specially during the past year to the compilation of tombstone inscriptions throughout the State, and Miss Quinby presented to the Society two large, handsome volumes of such inscriptions.
Dr. J. Ackerman Coles, Judge Amzi Dodd, Robert F. Ballantine, Wallace M. Scudder and George R. Howe were elected Trustees for the term of three years, and Jonathan W. Roberts for the term of one year to fill a vacancy.
The address of the day was delivered by the Rev. William Y. Chapman, pastor of the Roseville (Newark) Presbyterian Church, his subject being “Acadia.” He was himself a native of Nova Scotia, and from his earliest boyhood had been familiar with the scenes so beautifully and pathetically described by Longfellow in his exquisite poem “Evangeline.” In the interest of truth, however, he was constrained to say that the cold facts of history differed very widely from the narrative of the romantic poem, and he described clearly and graphically the events which constrained the English commander to deport the recalcitrant French settlers.
At a subsequent meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Society, the following officers were elected for the ensuing year:
President, Jonathan W. Roberts; Vice-Presidents, Wallace M. Scudder, Francis M. Tichenor and George R. Howe; Corresponding Secretary, William Nelson; Recording Secretary, Joseph F. Folsom; Treasurer, William C. Morton; Librarian, Francis M. Tichenor; Trustees to fill vacancies, Dr. W. S. Disbrow, of Newark, and W. Elwood Speakman, of Woodbury.