Lyme disease To MacCracken, Calvin (New Jersey)

Lyme disease. Lyme disease (Lyme borreliosis) was first identified in 1977 after women of Lyme, Connecticut, reported a cluster of people with arthritis like symptoms in their community. Many of these individuals experienced an expanding bull’s-eye-shaped rash prior to the onset of their symptoms. This manifestation later was identified as erythema chronicum migrans (ECM), a rash caused by a tick bite first described by northern European dermatologists in the early 1900s.

Currently, Lyme disease is the most common tick-borne illness in the United States, with most cases occurring in the mid-Atlantic, northeastern, and north-central regions of the country. Its prevalence is greatest in areas heavily populated with white-tailed deer and field mice, animals that serve as hosts to feeding deer ticks. In New Jersey, between 1992 and 1998, 10,852 cases of Lyme disease were reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These cases account for 12.2 percent of all Lyme disease cases in the United States. New Jersey has the fourth highest reported incidence of Lyme disease in the country, following New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania.

Early symptoms of Lyme disease include the characteristic bull’s-eye rash and nonspecific, flulike symptoms. If recognized within a few weeks after infection, the disease can be successfully treated with antibiotics. If left untreated, it can progress into a debilitating, potentially chronic disorder characterized by numerous symptoms, including aching and swelling joints, chronic fatigue, heart palpitations, tingling sensations, uncontrollable twitching, and cognitive dysfunction. These late-stage manifestations may occur anywhere from months to years after initial infection.


Diagnosis of Lyme disease involves recognition of a characteristic clinical picture and confirmation with blood tests, commonly known as Lyme titers.

Lynch, Rachel (b. 1861; d. Nov. 2,1938). Animal welfare activist. Rachel Lynch was born in New York in 1861. She married real estate mogul Jasper Lynch in 1880; they had three daughters. In Lynx Hall, their castle like home in Lakewood, at First Street and Forest Avenue, Lynch hosted galas and recitals to benefit animals. In 1901 she founded the Ocean County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA). She also served as vice president of the state SPCA. Nicknamed "Old Reliable,” she cracked down on carriage drivers who abused horses and crusaded for humane treatment of all animals. She died at her summer home in Spring Lake.

Lynx Hall, Lakewood, the home of Rachel Lynch, c. 1910.

Lynx Hall, Lakewood, the home of Rachel Lynch, c. 1910.

Lyndhurst. 4.6-square-mile township in Bergen County. First settled by the Dutch in the seventeenth century and part of New Barbadoes Township in the eighteenth century, the settlement was in Lodi Township in 1825 and included in the newly created Hudson County in 1840. It was backin Bergen County as part of Union Township in 1852, and remained there after other sections became separate municipalities. During the 1860s the area became a pleasure ground for the wealthy, with manor houses, hotels, and a racetrack. Originally referred to as South Rutherford, it began developing as a residential and industrial community in 1880 when a New York businessman, WilliamR. Travers, erected dwellings, industrial buildings, and in 1883 a railroad station named Lyndhurst, allegedly for Jay Gould’s Hudson River mansion. The community changed its name to Lyndhurst Township in 1917.

Lyndhurst contains a compact residential district, a large environmentally sensitive area which holds the Hackensack Meadowlands Environment Center, a museum and nature facility on Kingsland Creek, and a newly developed business and commercial zone south of the Meadowlands Sports Complex. In 2000, the population of 19,383 was 90 percent white, largely of Italian ancestry. The median family income in 2000 was $53,375. For complete census figures, see chart, 133.

Maass, Clara Louise (b. June 28, 1876; d. Aug. 24,1901). Nurse. Clara Maass, the daughter of German immigrants, was one of the first students to enter the Newark German Hospital School of Nursing, where she graduated in 1895. In 1898, Maass, a head nurse, became a "contract nurse” with the U.S. Army and served her first contract during the Spanish-American War at field hospitals in Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; and Santiago, Cuba. When insurrection occurred in the Philippines, Maass served troops suffering from tropical diseases at the First Reserve Hospital in Manila. She became interested in yellow fever, the disease to which thousands of Americans succumbed.

Yellow fever had been the scourge of tropical countries for centuries, and after the United States’ conquest of Cuba in the Spanish-American War, Maj. William Gorgas was sent to Havana as chief sanitary officer, charged with wiping out the disease. Gorgas believed that yellow fever was caused by poor sanitation, and carried out a major campaign to clean the city. But by 1900 the situation was so desperate that the U.S. surgeon general established a Yellow Fever Commission, with Maj. Walter Reed as chair, to investigate the cause of the disease.

The commission learned that yellow fever was spread by mosquitoes. They also learned that an attack of yellow fever, if survived, conferred immunity upon its victim. Major Gorgas believed that inoculation might be the best measure against the spread of the disease, and chose Las Animas Hospital in Havana as the site of the test program. Clara Maass volunteered to be bitten so as to cause immunity, but doctors thought the case she contracted too mild to prove the theory. She again volunteered to be bitten by an infected mosquito, and developed a fatal case of yellow fever. When she died at age twenty-five, the New York Journal ran her story on the front page, and the New York Times published an editorial about her. A few years later, Major Gorgas testified, "While [Maass's] case was not directly connected with the experimentation of the army board, it had much more effect in the city of Havana in convincing the physicians and the people generally that yellow fever was conveyed by the mosquito than did the army board.” Inoculation was abandoned and a drive established to destroy the mosquitoes. Clara Maass’s body was returned to New Jersey and buried with military honors. Newark German Hospital was renamed Clara Maass Memorial Hospital (now the Clara Maass Medical Center) in 1918, and Maass is honored in the Nursing Hall of Fame.

McAllister, Robert (b. June 1, 1813; d. Feb. 23, 1891). Soldier and railroad contractor. Robert McAllister was born in Juniata County, Pennsylvania, and was a successful railroad contractor in Oxford Furnace, New Jersey, when the Civil War began in 1861. He was named lieutenant colonel of the First New Jersey Infantry, and became colonel of the Eleventh New Jersey in July 1862. McAllister led his regiment well in the next two years, suffering wounds at Gettysburg and the Wilderness. He was promoted to brigade command in June 1864, and won brevet (honorary) promotions to brigadier general, and then major general of volunteers. After the war he returned to the railroad business in northeastern Pennsylvania, and died in retirement at his home in Belvidere, New Jersey. His letters are a valuable primary source on the experiences of a Civil War officer.

McAlpin, David Hunter III (b. May 21,1897; d. June 1,1989). Investment banker and philanthropist. Born in Mount Pleasant, New York, David Hunter McAlpin III was the son of Emma Rockefeller. He grew up in Tarrytown, New York; Morristown; and New York City (at McAlpin Hotel). After the Lake Placid and Hill schools, he attended Princeton University (in-terruptedby naval service, 1917-1918), graduating Phi Beta Kappa, Class of 1920. He obtained an M.A. in economics a year later. Following Harvard Law School, he joined Clark, Dodge, and Company, where over the next thirty years he helped pioneer mutual equity funds.

McAlpin settled in Princeton in the early 1930s, where he became a force in conservation and gaining acceptance of photography as an art form. He founded the Conservation Foundation and Stony Brook Millstone Watershed Association, and encouraged Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, and other photographers. From 1942 to 1945, he was commander, U.S. Naval Reserve, in charge of renegotiation of all naval ship construction and repair contracts. McAlpin developed the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, and, endowed the first U.S. chair in the history of photography at Princeton University, where he also served as a trustee for forty-four years. At Princeton, he helped supervise Firestone Library’s construction, and expanded the Art Museum.

MacArthur, Robert Helmer (b. Apr. 7, 1930; d. Nov. 1, 1972). Ecologist and biogeog-rapher. Robert Helmer MacArthur was born in Canada, the youngest son of John Wood and Olive (Turner) MacArthur. He graduated from Marlboro College in 1951 and married Elizabeth Bayles Whittemore in 1952; they had four children. In his doctoral thesis under G. Evelyn Hutchinson at Yale University, MacArthur investigated the foraging relationships among five species of warblers, including the Cape May warbler, in New England forests. He continued to make several important contributions to the field of population biology. In 1965, he moved from the biology department at the University of Pennsylvania to Princeton University, where he remained until his death. MacArthur is considered a pioneer in the field of evolutionary ecology.

McCarroll, Ernest Mae (b. Nov. 29, 1898; d. 1990). Physician. A graduate of Women’s Medical College in Philadelphia (1925) and an intern at Kansas City General Hospital No. 2, Ernest Mae McCarroll was one of the nation’s earliest African American woman physicians. She practiced in Newark between 1929 and 1973, working in the venereal disease division of the health department, and serving as assistant epidemiologist of the Newark Board of Health. McCarroll earned an advanced degree in public health from the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons (1939). In 1946, she became the first African American appointed to the medical staff at Newark City Hospital. McCarroll was called the "first lady” of the National Medical Association, the professional organization for black physicians.

McCarter and English. McCarter and English was founded in Newton in 1844 by Thomas Nesbitt McCarter. In 1865 McCarter relocated to Newark, then one of the nation’s largest industrial centers. McCarter’s son, Robert H. McCarter, joined the firm as a law clerk in 1879. In 1906, Conover English became a partner and the name of the firm subsequently became McCarter and English. McCarter and English has represented a range of well-known clients, including Thomas Edison and the Edison Companies in the 1920s, Mrs. Hall in the Hall-Mills murder case ("The Minister and the Choir Singer”), Annie Oakley, and the Sac and Fox Iowa Indians. In 2002, the firm consisted of 165 lawyers plus a support staff of 350, with offices in Newark, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Cherry Hill, Baltimore, and Hartford.

McCarter Theatre. McCarter Theatre Center for the Performing Arts was originally built as a home for the Princeton University Triangle Club with funds from Thomas N. McCarter, class of 1888. The theater opened February 21, 1930, with a performance of The Golden Dog. One of its stars was Joshua Logan, a junior, and a sophomore named James Stewart was in the chorus. The theater has often been a pre-Broadway showcase: Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart’s You Cant Take It With You, and William Inge’s Bus Stop (starring Kim Stanley and Elaine Stritch) were premiered there.

Though not built as a concert hall, as early as 1932 it presented the Philadelphia Orchestra, followed over the years by great musicians and dancers including Jascha Heifetz and Ruth St. Denis.

Noted director Milton Lyon was hired in i960 as consultant to the Faculty Advisory Committee and in time was appointed the first executive producer of the McCarter Theatre Company. He, in turn, hired the Association of Performing Artists under the artistic direction of Ellis Rabb for the theater’s inaugural season (1960-1961) producing its own plays. In 1973, Princeton University transferred its direct operation of McCarter to the McCarter Theatre Company, a producing theater under Milton Lyon and his successors—most notably Arthur Lithgow, Michael Kahn, Nagle Jackson, and Emily Mann.

McCarthyism. The Cold War anxieties that swept the United States in the late 1940s and 1950s were felt deeply in New Jersey. The fall of Eastern Europe to communism, the spy trials of Alger Hiss and the Rosenbergs, the successful testing of an atomic bomb by the Soviet Union, North Korea’s invasion of South Korea, the explosive charges of Republican senator Joseph R. McCarthy regarding treason in the federal government—all added fuel to the fire.

New Jersey was the site of major Cold War struggles. In i953, for example, Senator McCarthy began his investigation of "communist subversion” at Fort Monmouth, headquarters of the Army Signal Corps, charging that Soviet agents had penetrated the base and stolen highly classified information. In response, the army suspended forty-two scientists, engineers, and technicians who worked there. Some observers believed that anti-Semitism among the security force at Fort Monmouth played a role in these developments. Although Jews composed only a quarter of the civilian workforce, thirty-nine of the forty-two suspended employees were Jewish.

In the end, the charges proved groundless, and almost all of the suspended workers were reinstated. But the damage done to Fort Monmouth was substantial. The victims of McCarthy’s investigation were among the most valuable engineers on the base. Fifteen were section chiefs, fourteen worked in radar, and ten were contributing directly to the North American defense against air attack. Most of them left the Signal Corps in disgust.

Other New Jersey military bases played a role in the Army-McCarthy hearings. A special Senate committee examined conditions at Fort Dix, where McCarthy staff member G. David Schine had been sent for basic training. The committee also looked into alleged security lapses at Camp Kilmer, where an officer accused of communist sympathies had been given an honorable discharge.

Cold War anxieties had repercussions beyond the allegations of Senator McCarthy. In i952 a group calling itself the Englewood Anti-Communist League prevented the distinguished African American educator Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune from speaking at a local junior high school on the grounds that she had once belonged to a number of "communist front” organizations (she spoke at a local black church instead). Two years later, Congressman Clifford Case was forced to suspend his senatorial election campaign briefly to confront charges that his sister belonged to several pro-communist groups. "Smear me if you can. Leave my sister alone,” said Case, who went on to win a narrow victory.

One of the worst Cold War abuses occurred at Rutgers University in the academic year i952-53. Two faculty members were dismissed—and two more resigned—after taking the Fifth Amendment when questioned about their communist affiliations by U.S. congressional committees. Over strong objections from Rutgers faculty and students, President Lewis Webster Jones asserted that the four men had an obligation to speak frankly "on matters of such deep public concern.” Although the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled that a teacher could not be fired for exercising a constitutional right before a committee of Congress, the four were not reinstated. As former Rutgers professor Richard P. McCormick notes, "It was a nightmarish period, one unlike any the University had ever experienced, and it raised enduring questions about the limits of freedom in America.”

McClellan, George B. (b. Dec. 3,1826; d. Oct. 29, 1885). Soldier, governor, politician, engineer, and railroad official. Born in Philadelphia, George B. McClellan graduated from West Point in i846 and served with distinction in the Mexican War. He quit the army in i857 to work on various railroad projects. In July i86i, during the Civil War, McClellan assumed command of the defeated Army of the Potomac. He whipped this army into shape by training recruits, improving morale, and securing supplies. Ever cautious, McClellan neither lost a great battle nor won a decisive victory. He exaggerated enemy strength and delayed offensives. He could not and would not fight in earnest. In September i862 at Antietam, ignoring orders, he did not commit his units to deliver simultaneous blows to rout the rebel army and cut off its escape; thus he squandered pivotal opportunities to shorten the war. In November i862 Lincoln fired the dawdling, insubordinate, and unsuccessful McClellan.

In 1864, the divided Democrats adopted a peace platform and nominated General McClellan for president. As a proponent of states’ rights who rejected secession, McClellan prepared to ride a wave of war weariness into the White House. Democrats blamed Lincoln for sabotaging McClellan’s command, then unfairly firing him. Republicans charged that copperheads would use McClellan to gain power, stop the war, retain slavery, and accept disunion. McClellan attempted to ride both the peace horse and the war horse. Lincoln’s advice to the electorate not to change horses in midstream resonated. After the Union capture of Atlanta, McClellan repudiated the dovish Democratic platform, but buoyed by military successes, Lincoln won the election.

In 1877 shrewd New Jersey Democratic kingmakers, maneuvering to defeat a rival for the gubernatorial nomination, sprung upon death, McComb married Rebecca Rockwell in 1821.

Reception for Gen. George McClellan following his inauguration as governor, January 15,1878.  

Reception for Gen. George McClellan following his inauguration as governor, January 15,1878.

McCord, George Herbert (b. Aug. 1, 1848; d. Apr. 6,1909). Artist, art critic, and instructor. George Herbert McCord, a well-known landscape and marine artist, was born in New York and studied in Europe. After being elected an associate of the National Academy in 1880, he established a studio in Morristown in 1883. There he painted and gave art instruction, returning to New York City in the mid-i890s. His early work reflected the style of the Hudson River school; later works have a more romantic quality, often depicting landscapes at sunset, twilight, and in snow. He frequently painted scenes of Morris County, as well as New England, Canada, Florida, and the West.

McClellan stumbled as governor. Legislators rejected major proposals of blue-ribbon commissions to reform taxation and city governance. For his part, McClellan shunned regulation of railroads and corporations, restriction of their political influence, and the abolition of gerrymandering. He did reduce expenditures, champion vocational education, and improve militia readiness. The great expectations of his governorship, however, were not fulfilled. The Newark Advertiser found McClellan "responsible for no noteworthy legislation or other action.”

McClellan’s politicking also backfired. Ostentatiously championing nonpartisan appointees, he managed to infuriate both Republican and Democratic politicians. Sparking speculation about his Democratic presidential candidacy in 1880, he overstressed national affairs in his inaugural address and a Thanksgiving message. His grandstand play for conservative northern and southern support failed. Recognizing his presidential bid wasn’t catching fire, McClellan quit the race in spring 1880. When Democrat Grover Cleveland was elected president in 1884, McClellan was considered for army secretary, but a New Jersey U.S. senator, a Democratic factional foe, blocked his appointment.

McClellan’s prima donna temperament made him unfit to command an army undertaking an offensive, lead a nation fighting a civil war, or govern a state needing reform. The root of his controversial career was his active-passive personality. One failure followed another as a result. The New York Times observed: "He was always ‘going to’ do something great. But he never did.”

McComb, John, Jr. (b. Oct. 17, 1763; d. May 25, 1853). Architect. Son of Mary and John McComb, Sr., an architect-builder, John McComb, Jr., became his father’s assistant in 1783, and began his career in 1790 designing churches, dwellings, and public buildings in the Adamesque style, mostly in New York City. McComb and Joseph Mangin won the design competition for New York City Hall in 1802, and McComb served as the superintending architect. McComb designed Old Queens, Rutgers University (1809-1811) and the first Alexander Hall, Princeton University (1815-1817). He married Elizabeth Glean in 1792 and fathered two children. After Elizabeth’s

MacCracken, Calvin (b. Nov. 25, 1919; d. Nov. 10, 1999). Inventor, inventor’s advocate, and author. The grandson of a New York University chancellor and the son of a Vassar College president, Calvin MacCracken grew up, he would say later, in aworld of ideas. He earned an astronomy degree at age twenty from Princeton University, and took a summer job with Thomas Edison’s inventor son, Theodore, who convinced him of the worthiness of a life spent in the pursuit of innovation.

MacCracken earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1941. He went to work for General Electric, earning his first patents during World War II for work on the design of the then-secret jet engine. In 1947, he founded his own company, Jet Heet, later called Calmac Manufacturing, an Englewood-based firm that developsenergy efficient products and exports products around the world.

In his long career, MacCracken did pioneering work in the field of energy conservation, inventing energy-saving devices that became industry standards. Among his inventions was a thermal-energy storage system that is used to air-condition large buildings. But he is best known for inventing the Roll-O-Grill, the hot dog cooker common to snack bars and sports stadiums. A charter inductee of the New Jersey Inventor’s Hall of Fame, he considered himself an advocate for inventors. He spoke at conventions and wrote The Inventor’s Handbook.

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