Manuscript Group 29, Eugene Vanderpool (1844-1903), President of the Newark Gas Light Company Papers, 1817-1929 (Bulk dates: 1880-1903)

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Manuscript Group 29, Eugene Vanderpool (1844-1903),
President of the Newark Gas Light Company

Papers, 1817-1929 (Bulk dates: 1880-1903), 3 linear feet
/ 7 boxes/volumes

Call Number: MG 29 + Box number

• Summary

• Biographical Note

• Administrative
  History: The Newark Gas Light Company

• Provenance Note

• Scope and Content Note

• Related
  Collections

• Box/Folder List

Summary:

Primarily business correspondence, minutes, annual reports, and financial records
pertaining to the Newark Gas Light Company, which was headed by Eugene Vanderpool and
merged in 1895 with the Citizens’ Gas Light Company of Newark.  He was the son of
Mayor Beach Vanderpool of Newark, and an 1864 Princeton graduate.  Although he began
his career as a gas engineer, Eugene Vanderpool became President of Howard Savings
Institution.  Includes correspondence with John J. Clancy, Henry C. Kelsey, Frederick
W. Stevens, and Marcus L. Ward, Jr.  There are papers of Walter S. Nichols and other
members of the Nichols family from 1820-1870.

Biographical Note:

Eugene Vanderpool, the son of Mary and
Oliver J. Hayes Vanderpoel, was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1844.  Eugene
graduated from Princeton College in 1869 and soon after married Eleanor (Ellen)
Banker Tiffany (1846-1900).  The couple had three children: Mary Isabella (b. 1870),
Loraine Eleanor (b. 1872), and Beach Wynant (1874-1875).  The Vanderpools lived
at 22 Washington Street in Newark, New Jersey.

Eugene Vanderpool was the President of the
Newark Gas Light Company from 1869 until 1895.  At the same time he was President
of the Orange Mountain Cable Company and an adviser to the Philadelphia gas
plant. Vanderpool was also a director in the National Newark Banking Company,
Howard Savings Institution and Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company.  He died at
his home from appendicitis on July 12, 1903.

Sources:

Newark Directory, 1895 and 1900.

Vanderpoel Genealogy: Items Personal and
Social (Charles Francis: New York,
1912).

Administrative History:
The Newark Gas Light Company

The Newark Gas Light Company was chartered
on March 25, 1845.  In 1869, Eugene Vanderpool was president of the company
and the directors were: Ira Harrison (1795-1890), Henry
C. Kelsey (1837-1920), George A. Halsey (1827-1894), and Marcus L. Ward (1846-1920).
Vanderpool’s office was at 9 Bank Street in Newark, New Jersey and
the company had property along Market Street, also in Newark.  In 1895, upon
Vanderpool’s retirement, Henry Kelsey became President of the Newark Gas Light
Company.

The company ceased operations sometime
between 1895 and 1900.

Provenance Note:

The source of this collection is unknown.

Scope and Content Note:

The Eugene Vanderpool papers mostly
document the affairs of the Newark Gas Light Company, consisting of
correspondence, State of New Jersey acts and bills, indentures, receipts, and
other financial papers.  The papers date from 1817-1929, have bulk dates of
1880-1903, and measure three linear feet.  The documents have been organized by
record type: correspondence; legal documents; board records; financial documents;
literary and artistic materials; and printed materials.  The correspondence is organized by recipient, then
author, and date.  The other documents are arranged in chronological order.

Series 1: Correspondence, 1831-1895

The majority of the correspondence belongs
to Eugene Vanderpool and discusses the affairs of the Newark Gas Light Company.
A great deal of attention is paid to the merger of the Newark Gas Light
Company and the Orange Gas Light Company in 1895 and to state bills and acts
regarding incorporation.  This series also contains a number of letters addressed
to members of the Nichols family, particularly Walter S. Nichols.  These letters
discuss his life as a student at Princeton College as well as family news.

Series 2: Legal Documents, 1831-1911

Most of the legal documents are indentures
related to the Newark Gas Light Company although there are a number of
indentures pertaining to the Nichols family purchases in Upper Freehold, New
Jersey.  There is also a number of New Jersey bills and acts regarding
incorporation.

Series 3: Newark Gas Light Company Board
Records, 1874-1902

The Newark Gas Light Company Board Records
series mostly consists of board meeting minutes and notes regarding the merger
between the Newark Gas Light Company and the Citizens Gas Light Company of
Newark.

Series 4: Financial Documents, 1873-1903

The financial documents series mostly consists of
gas expenditures and earnings of the Newark Gas Light Company and other New
Jersey gas companies, and calculations for predictions for gas expenditures and
earnings.  There is also a collection of day cards from the Orange Mountain Cable
Company indicating how many tickets were sold for passengers, bicycles, and
horses, and receipts for salary and wages for the employees of the Orange
Mountain Cable Company.

Series 5: Literary and Artistic Materials

This series contains a variety of
documents that include Lydia Lavernia Ward’s obituary, Rev. Dr. John Burr’s
obituary, funeral sermons, and a sketchbook.

Series 6: Printed Materials

The printed materials series includes
university press catalogues, newspaper articles, and a sketchbook.

Related Collections:

Manuscript Group 111, Samuel Hayes
(1776-1839) Daybooks: Hayes was Eugene Vanderpool’s physician

Manuscript Group 686, Franklin Murphy
(1846-1920) Papers: Includes letters from Eugene Vanderpool

Box/Folder List:

Processed by James Lewis, April 2001 as part of the “Farm to City”
project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records
Commission.

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