Weintraub, Joseph (b. Mar. 5, 1908; d. Feb. 6,1977). Chief justice. Joseph Weintraub was raised in Newark, where he attended public schools, and graduated from Cornell University in 1928 and Cornell Law School in 1930. He then practiced law in Newark and served as a special assistant to the New Jersey attorney general. During World War II, he served in the Judge Advocate General’s Department. In i960, he married Rhoda Kirshner Levitt.
After participating in Robert Meyner’s successful gubernatorial campaign in 1953, he married Susan Martha Bayard, with whom he had seven children. Two of his sons, John Ferguson Weir and Julian Alden Weir, became artists.
Robert Walter Weir, The Hudson River from Hoboken, 1878. Oil on panel, 30 x 25 in.
In 1834, Weir became the drawing instructor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. His students included James McNeill Whistler, Robert E. Lee, and Ulysses S. Grant. Although he was one of America’s most prominent history painters, Weir was more important as a teacher. His most famous work, Embarkation of the Pilgrims at Delft, Holland, July 22nd, 1620 (1836-1843), hangs in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.
In 1876, Weir retired from West Point and moved to Hoboken, which inspired his Hudson River from Hoboken (1878). In 1880, Weir moved to New York City, where he died.
Weird N.J. This Bloomfield-based magazine is devoted to cataloging the weird, unusual, and bizarre legends, tales, and myths of New Jersey. Founded as an occasional newsletter in 1989 by Mark Sceurman, who was later joined by Mark Moran as copublisher, Weird N.J. evolved into a biannual underground favorite. In the latter 1990s corporate book retailers began to carry and promote the magazine, leading to its increased recognition and popularity among New Jerseyans. The magazine consists of accounts written by the copub-lishers and the magazine’s readers describing the strange people, peculiar natural features, and "haunted” places they have visited in the state.
Welch, Thomas Bramwell (b. Dec. 31, 1825; d. Dec. 30, 1903). Businessman and dentist. Thomas Welch, the founder of the Welch Grape Juice Company and creator of Welch’s grape juice, was born in England. Before he moved to Vineland in 1865 to practice dentistry, Dr. Welch had been a Methodist preacher and a physician. In Vineland, as an active leader of the local temperance movement, he invented a method of preserving un-fermented wine. At first, local churches used his grape juice for communion but, as demand grew from churches, physicians, and restaurants, it became a national business. In 1896, the Welch Grape Juice Company moved to Watkins, New York.
E. S. Wells Medical Company, Jersey City, used humorous trade cards to advertise their remedies, c. 1882.
Wells, Ephraim S. (b. Feb. 15,1841; d. date unknown). Businessman and manufacturer. E. S. Wells was born in Morgantown, West Virginia, and apprenticed to a druggist. He arrived in Jersey City in 1862 and eventually purchased two drugstores and, later, a manufacturing plant for his preparation "Rough on Rats,” an odorless and tasteless rat poison. Wells advertised "Rough on Rats” and related products extensively and was soon selling them worldwide. E. S. Wells married twice. His first wife, Isabella Lane, died a year after their marriage. His second wife was Susan S. Titus; five children were born to the union.
Wells (Evans), Viola Gertrude (b. Dec. 14,1902; d. Dec. 22,1984). Singer. Raised in Newark, Viola Wells began her career in a 1921 traveling show, where her performance of two songs, "Rhapsody in Song,” and "Rhapsody in Rhythm” earned her the nickname "Miss Rhapsody,” which she would use professionally for the next sixty years. She also married Harold Nicolas in the same year. Wells toured clubs, theaters, taverns, dances, and one-night tent shows in New Jersey and Pennsylvania throughout the 1930s. Her repertoire included blues, show tunes, popular songs, ballads, and gospel songs, sung in a rich, mellow alto. Wells toured the East Coast and the Midwest with the Banjo Bernie Band as a singer and dancer and the black vaudeville circuit with the Harlem Strutters. In more than one location, Wells’s group was the first African American group ever to perform. In Kansas City she emceed and produced shows with her own group, working with the biggest names of the swing era.
When she returned to Newark in 1938, Wells worked local clubs, often played at New York’s Apollo Theater and filled New York City night spots and theaters singing with major orchestra leaders. She appeared with the Count Basie Orchestra at President Franklin Roosevelt’s Inaugural Ball in Washington, D.C., in 1941 and toured military bases with a USO show. Touring in the States during the 1940s, she shared top billing with Nat King Cole, Art Tatum, Benny Carter, and Coleman Hawkins. "Miss Rhapsody” Wells was beloved by other performers, including Ethel Waters and Pearl Bailey. She "discovered” Bailey and gave her her first chance to sing in public. After the death of her second husband, Melvyn Evans, Wells gave much time to her church, the New Eden Baptist Church, where she sang in the senior choir and directed the junior choir.
In 1965, at age sixty-two, Wells began a new public singing career at clubs, in concert, and in recording in New York and New Jersey. Ten years later, she began the first of seven European tours and became a featured performer at jazz and folk festivals. Wells’s singing career spanned six decades. When she was seventy-nine, after the amputation of her leg due to diabetes, she performed for over a year at a New York City club.
Wenonah. 0.97-square-mile borough in Gloucester County. The residential community of Wenonah got its start when the Mantua Land and Improvement Company purchased land from adjacent Deptford for $150,000. The acquisition was approved by the New Jersey legislature on February 21, 1871. Named for the mother of the title character in Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Song of Hiawatha, the borough was incorporated on March 10,1883. The community was built along the main line of the West Jersey Railroad, and touted its "fine rolling country and the best of water” in a railroad flyer. It was initially promoted as a summer resort for Philadelphians, but its popularity fell with the rise in the automobile in the early twentieth century, which made Atlantic beaches more accessible. Today the borough is a prosperous residential community.
In 2000, the population of 2,317 was 98 percent white. The median household income was $71,625.
Wepner, Chuck (b. Feb. 6, 1939). Boxer. Although born in New York City, Chuck Wepner lived most of his life in Bayonne. A former marine, he fought from 1964 to 1978 and compiled a career record of 35 victories, 14 losses, and 2 no-decisions. The "Bayonne Bleeder,” as local sportswriters nicknamed him, worked full time as a liquor salesman throughout his boxing career. In 1972, he won the New Jersey state heavyweight championship.
Virtually unknown outside of New Jersey, Wepner earned a challenge with the world heavyweight champion, Muhammad Ali, on March 24, 1975, in Cleveland, Ohio. Oddsmakers gave him no chance, but Wepner lasted fifteen rounds before losing by a technical knockout. The match inspired Sylvester Stallone to write the script for his 1976 film Rocky.
Werblin, David Abraham "Sonny” (b. Mar. 17, 1910; d. Nov. 21, 1991). Sports promoter. Born in New York City, Sonny Werblin graduated from Rutgers University in 1931 and went on to have a stellar career as a talent agent and top executive with Music Corporation of America (MCA). In 1963 Werblin and other investors bought the bankrupt New York Titans AFL football team, renamed it the Jets, and built it into a top-ranking team. Werblin was the first chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, the driving force behind the construction of the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford. The Jets moved to the Meadowlands from Shea Stadium in 1984. As an alumnus, Werblin supported the growth of athletes at Rutgers; a university recreation center is named in his honor.
Werts, George Theodore (b. Mar. 24, 1846; d. Jan. 17,1910). Politician, judge, and governor. The son of Peter and Mary (Vanatta) Werts, George T. Werts studied law in Morristown and was admitted to the bar in 1867. He married Emma Runyon on June 27, 1872, and they had two daughters, Mary Evelyn and Harriet F. Stelle. Werts served in municipal government in Morristown, entered the New Jersey legislature in 1886, and became senate president in 1889.
His primary achievement in the legislature was the Werts Ballot Reform Law, which was a major factor in helping him win the governorship. By the 1880s many New Jersey voters and political leaders began to propose election reforms, including a secret ballot. In the 1889 election both Democratic and Republican parties supported election law change, and in 1890, the legislature passed a bill, which was primarily the result of Werts’s efforts. The law did not include the secret ballot, but it improved election procedures. Election officials were appointed; registers of voters were established; and the state printed the ballots. Werts continued his interest in election processes and was an enthusiastic supporter of the open primary system in the early 1900s. A measure that was heavily attacked by the Republicans was the Werts Liquor License Law, which effectively liberalized the sale of liquor.
In 1892 Democratic governor Leon Abbett appointed Werts to the New Jersey Supreme Court in an effort to prevent him from competing for the U.S. Senate nomination sought by Abbett. Later that year, Werts was nominated for governor. He ran for office while retaining his judicial seat, and, therefore, other than writing an acceptance message, left his campaign entirely to the Democratic party.
Werts’s term as governor was relatively stormy. Werts clashed with the Democratic-controlled legislature over racetrack gambling, but was unable to rally popular support against the bill. Another controversy developed when Catholic Church leaders tried to gain state funds to support parochial schools. This effort died in the legislature, but the conflict blended into the racetrack issue because both issues stemmed from tensions between the old and new ethnic and religious groups in New Jersey. These conflicts helped the Republicans win majorities in both houses of the New Jersey legislature in 1893. Among the issues that then emerged was the naturalization of aliens. Werts vetoed the Storrs Naturalization Bill that prevented aliens from becoming citizens thirty days prior to a general election, but the second year the bill was introduced, his veto was overridden by the legislature. Werts did not run for another term in 1895. The Democrats were soundly beaten at all levels, marking the end of a long period of Democratic dominance in New Jersey government.
Werts seems to have been more a lawyer than a modern political leader and was, perhaps, not too sorry to return to his legal practice. He seems to have been concerned primarily with administering state government in an economical fashion and did little in the way of actively developing and pursuing a legislative program.
Westampton. 11.04-square-mile township in Burlington County. Quakers settled this region of southern New Jersey. Westampton was formed as an independent municipality from parts of Northampton Township in 1850. The township was expanded in 1854 by addition of a portion of Pemberton Township, but in 1880 part of its acreage was released to neighboring Eastampton Township. In 1956, when builder William Levitt announced his plans for a major suburban community in Willingboro, the historic Quaker settlement of Rancocas—with its Friends school and eighteenth-century meeting architecture—broke away from neighboring Willingboro and joined Westampton. Located within the township is the African American village of Timbuctoo, once a key stop on the Underground Railroad. The former site of Rancocas State Forest along Ran-cocas Creek is now a Powhatan Renape reservation, with several American Indian festivals annually. Local metal-alloying furnace-maker Inductotherm is owned by township resident Henry Rowan, whose $100 million gift to the former Glassboro State College resulted in its renaming in his honor. Sunnyside Farms, owned by the Winner family, is the state’s largest surviving dairy operation. Since 1990, major retail "power centers” have been built along county Route 541 near the New Jersey Turnpike interchange, and residential growth has sprouted.
The 2000 population of 7,217 was 71 percent white and 21 percent black. The median household income was $63,973.
West Amwell. 21.6-square-mile township, the most southerly in Hunterdon County. On April 6, 1846, West Amwell Township was created by referendum from Amwell. West Amwell is bounded on the north by Delaware Township, south by Mercer County, east by East Amwell, and west by the Delaware River. In 1849 a portion of the township was set off as Lambertville City, the only city in Hunterdon County. With little business activity and no town center, West Amwell remains a rural agricultural community. The Old York Road, of colonial fame, traverses the township. There is one school that serves students in grades kindergarten through six. South Hunterdon Regional High School, a grades seven-to-twelve school that serves several south Hunterdon communities, is also located in West Amwell township.
The 2000 population of 2,383 was 98 percent white. The median household income was $73,380.
West Caldwell. 5.05-square-miie township in the northwestern part of Essex County. Separated from Caldwell Township in 1904, West Caldwell incorporated as a borough, with Caleb Crane as its first mayor. The community has a long history as a farming and resort location, once providing dairy, produce, and respite for city dwellers from Newark, Paterson, and New York. Today it has developed commercial and industrial sections. The West Essex Industrial Park, dating from the early 1970s, and other sites are home to more than fifteen major U.S. and international companies, including Phelps Dodge, Ricoh, Sharp, Grainger, ADP, and Toyota.
The school district is shared with Caldwell Borough. More than 2,300 students are educated in four elementary schools, Grover Cleveland Middle School, and James Caldwell High School. West Caldwell is home to the West Essex Campus of Essex County College, and a unit of the county vocational schools. The township boasts a number of eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century homes, relics of the earlier agricultural period.
In 2000 the mostly residential community had a population of 11,233 that was 94 percent white. The median household income was $83,396.
West Deptford. 15.9-square-mile township in Gloucester County. The Dutch West India Company sent the first European immigrants to the eastern shore of the Delaware, within the limits of this township, in the year 1621. The settlements they made were scattered, and not until about 1725 did a small English colony, led by Richard Wood, formerly of Lancashire, England, take permanent hold on the banks of what is now known as Woodbury Creek. The early occupants were farmers who valued the rich agricultural land nourished by tidal marshes. West Deptford officially was designated as a township in 1871, when it split off from Deptford Township. Industries for the rural township were farming, fishing, and lumber.
During the twentieth century, larger industries moved in including Coe and Richman, the largest phosphate works in the country (1880); the Vacuum Oil Company (1916); Dobb’s Drain-Tile and Brick Works (1869); H. A. Dehart Wagon Factory (1884); and Hang-sterfer Laboratories (1935), among others. At the beginning of the twenty-first century nearly four hundred businesses were within its boundaries. The township embarked on the River Winds project, to build community centers and senior housing on the banks of the Delaware.
In 2000, the population of 19,368 was 92 percent white. The median household income was $50,583 according to the 2000 census.
Westfield. 6.73-square-mile town in Union County. In 1700, seventeen thousand acres of wild back country beyond the Rahway River and below First Watchung Mountain were surveyed. This tract, called the Clinker Lot Division, came to be known as the "west fields,” in the forest-clearing period of 17001740. It was the genesis of what became the Westfield Ward of Elizabeth Borough (1740), the township of Westfield (January 27, 1794), and the town of Westfield (March 4,1903).
Westfield hosted a Patriot outpost during the American Revolution. About seventy Continental Army soldiers are buried in the Presbyterian Church cemetery. Westfield was a productive farm community until 1850, when the railroad arrived. In 1864 the Central Railroad of New Jersey introduced direct service to the Jersey City ferries, increasing commuter growth in communities like Westfield. By the turn of the twentieth century, agriculture meant orchards, dairies, and truck farms producing fresh produce for nearby cities. In 1869 Sam Harris filed Westfield’s first major subdivision plan for the triangular area between the railroad, West Broad Street, and Scotch Plains Avenue. Months later, John S. Irving came over from Liberty Corner to start
West Cape May. 1.2-square-mile borough in Cape May County. The borough was once a part of Lower Township and was referred to on early maps as Eldredge. West Cape May was incorporated in 1884.
During excavation work in 1926 on an old farm, developers uncovered burial mounds, skeletons, artifacts, and relics that confirmed the earliest residents of the peninsula were Lenape Indians. The first European settlers in the West Cape May area were probably whalers from the bay side of the peninsula. A gold-beating business was established about 1880 that employed eight to ten "beaters," men who pounded inch or half-inch strips of gold into wafer-thin sheets. Approximately fifty local women carefully cut the thin sheets into squares, to be sold as gold leaf for edging Bible pages, printing, and other decorative arts. Settled before Cape Island and Sea Grove, West Cape May never enjoyed the same popularity with early visitors. Today the town is a quiet residential community.
The 2000 population of 1,095 was 84 percent white and 15 percent black. The median household income was $37,500.
Westfield High School Class of 1912.
The 2000 population of 29,644 was 90 percent white. The median household income was $98,390. For complete census figures, see chart, 138.
Westinghouse Electric Corporation. Inventor and entrepreneur George Westinghouse organized the Pittsburgh-based Westinghouse Electric Corporation (WEC) in 1886. Westinghouse had created earlier companies to manufacture a new type of railroad braking system and subsequent inventions involving industrial equipment for gas utilities. The new company initially manufactured generators for electric utilities, but WEC (and major competitor General Electric Corporation) soon diversified into other types of electrical equipment and consumer appliances. WEC had a large manufacturing plant located in Newark and was one of New Jersey’s largest industrial employers during the early twentieth century.
