Freas Leslie Hess (1896-1959)

From the History of Somerville, New Jersey, 1909-84.

  A standout figure in the history of Somerset County, New Jersey, World War I veteran Freas Leslie Hess served a decade as mayor of Somerville and midway through his terms won a seat in the state assembly. He later was elected by his fellow representatives as speaker of the house for the 1945 session and also served as majority leader. Hess continued his political ascent in 1948, when he was elected to the state senate, and continued in that office until 1951. The son of James Gearhart (1865-1939) and Eleanor Amelia (Stevens) Hess (1866-1937), Freas Leslie Hess was born in Thorndale, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania on March 11, 1896.

  During his youth, Hess was a student in the Sonestown, Pennsylvania school district and graduated from the local high school in 1913. He entered the workforce in the early 1910s when he joined the Garlock Packing Company of Palmyra, New York, and in 1916 took employment with the Johns-Manville Corporation, then located in Manville in Somerset County, New Jersey. He continued affiliation with that company until his death, being superintendent of packings at the time of his passing. 

  Shortly after joining Johns-Manville Freas Hess was called to military duty, enlisting in the U.S. Army. He took rank among the 311th Infantry Reg., 78th Division, with which he would serve in France. Hess later attended Officer's Candidate School while in Europe and was commissioned a second lieutenant. He served until the close of WWI and was discharged in May 1919. Freas L. Hess married Wilhelmina Taylor (1890-1977) in April 1920, to who he was wed until his death. The couple had three children, Freas Leslie Jr. (1921-2001), and twins John Edwin (1929-2018) and Jean Elizabeth (1929-1997).

  Returning to his position at Johns-Manville, Freas Hess was active in the Methodist Episcopal Church and the Y.M.C.A. In the 1920s, and in 1924 chaired the church's Pioneer Club banquet, which saw famed clergyman Samuel Parkes Cadman as a featured speaker. Hess took an active role in the Somerville Male Chorus, serving as its vice-president, and was active in several civic and fraternal groups, including the Somerville Exchange Club, the Harold Halstead VFW Post, the Boy Scouts, the Solomon's Lodge No. 46 of Free and Accepted Masons, and the Keystone Chapter No. 25 of Royal Arch Masons. A devoted baseball fan, Hess is remarked as having played semi-pro baseball during his early life.

   Following his removal to Somerville Freas Hess took an active role in local Republican circles, and made his first foray into politics in 1928 when he was a candidate for the Somerville borough council. He won the election that November and served a three-year term. Towards the end of his term, Hess agreed to serve another year on the council to fill a vacancy, due to the resignation of Robert L. Adams, then mayor-elect of Somerville. Hess was reappointed to the council in January 1932 but refused to be a candidate for renomination that fall.

  In April 1933 Hess announced his candidacy for mayor of Somerville. Hoping to garner the Republican nomination, Hess proved successful, and in the May primary was virtually assured the election, handily defeating his only serious challenger, councilman Fremont Masker. No Democratic candidates entered the mayoral primary, and that November Freas Hess was elected unopposed.

From the Bridgewater Courier-News, April 14, 1933.

   Sworn into office in January 1934, Hess swiftly made appointments to various borough offices, and "pledged an administration that will do its full part in bringing about a complete economic recovery", stating:

"As to the future we feel, that good times are slowly and surely returning, and the time is not that far distant when everyone will have a chance to earn a fair and honest wage. We have learned during the past year or two that in these days of reconstruction, in order to be successful we must first get our house in order, pay our bills, and set up our business on a sound and economical basis. This we can certainly apply to the management of our borough and to this end we as your governing body pledge our best efforts." 

   All told Hess served five consecutive terms as mayor (1934-1944), and during his terms was a member of the administrative board of the New Jersey League of Municipalities, and in 1938 was president of the Somerset County Association of Mayors and Township Committee Chairmen. Midway through his mayoralty Hess was bolstered by his fellow Republicans as a potential candidate for the state assembly. After several months of consideration, Hess threw his hat in the ring in August 1938, remarking:

"To represent Somerset County in the state assembly would be an honor and an opportunity for broader public service. Because such an opportunity appeals to me and with a feeling that it is my duty to accept the call of the many voters who have expressed their confidence in me, I have consented to become a candidate for the Republican nomination." 

From the Bridgewater Courier-News, August 9, 1938.

  In September 1938 Hess defeated Frederick R. Wyckoff in the Republican primary, and that November bested Democrat Harvey S. Smalley Sr. by a "majority of 4,900." He took his seat in January 1939 and during the 1939-41 session was named to the committees on Corporations and Labor Industry, and the joint Sinking Fund Committee. Additionally, he would chair the joint committee on Buildings and Grounds. Hess continued to pull political double duty, serving as mayor of Somerville while an incumbent assemblyman. He was re-elected to the state assembly in 1940, and concluded his decade-long tenure as mayor in January 1944, being succeeded by Howard S. Lyon. 

  Hess's second assembly term saw him continue service on the committees on Corporations, and Labor and Industries. He also sat on the committee on Municipalities and was chairman of the committee on the Revision of the State Constitution. He would win a third term in 1942, and after his fourth assembly win in 1944 was elected by his fellow assemblymen as speaker of the house for the 1945 session. Described by the Bridgewater Courier News as "the quiet gentleman from Somerset County", Hess announced his main goal as speaker was to "put across the program of efficiency and governmental reform initiated last year by Gov. Walter E. Edge." During this term, Hess served as president of the Somerville Republican Municipal League from 1945-46.

  Freas Hess was elected to one further term in the assembly in 1946, and served on the committee on Unemployment Compensation, and chaired the Committee on Military Affairs. In February 1947 he announced his bid for the state senate, hoping to succeed incumbent H. Rivington Pyne, and in June won the Republican nomination. In the days following his win, the Bridgewater Courier noted Hess's familiarity "with the problems of labor and industry in his position of superintendent of packing in the Manville factory of Johnson-Manville."

From the Bridgewater Courier, October 30, 1947.

  The general election in November saw Hess defeat Democratic nominee Anthony Kearns, polling 14,673 votes to 7,305. Sworn in January 1948, early in his tenure Hess introduced Senate Bill 205, which aimed to create the Borough of Raritan in Somerset County. In his last year of service, he chaired the New Jersey Air Pollution Commission, which sought an appropriation of $35,000 for the state health department to combat air pollution. He continued to represent Somerset County in the senate until his defeat for renomination in April 1951, losing the Republican primary to Malcolm Forbes.

  After leaving state government Freas Hess remained a leading citizen in his region, serving as a trustee of the Somerset Hospital, chairman of the Somerset County Officials Association (1938-1955), and until 1954 was director of Somerville Civilian Defense. He would serve as chairman of the Somerville-Raritan Sewage Authority until his death and was a member of the municipality committee of the New Jersey Taxpayer's Association. In May 1955, after three decades of public service to Somerville, Hess was named Man of the Year by the borough Chamber of Commerce and was feted with a reception at the Far Hills Inn in Somerville. 

  The last weeks of Hess's life were marred by ill health, and after a brief illness died at the Somerset Hospital on November 7, 1959, aged 63. Days following his death he was memorialized in the Bridgewater Courier News as having:

"Contributed much time and effort to various civic organizations, municipal and statewide governmental groups. Freas Hess had the ability of assuming responsibility and producing. He long will be remembered for his service to his home town, his state, and his fellow citizens."

  Hess was survived by his wife of nearly forty years, Wilhelmina, and their three children. Following her death in 1977 Wilhelmina Taylor Hess was interred alongside her husband at the New Somerville Cemetery.  

From the Central New Jersey Home News, November 8, 1959.

Sedgwick Rusling Leap (1886-1979)

Portrait from the Bench and Bar of New Jersey,1942.

   Hailing from the same New Jersey county that produced the esteemed A.M.P.V.H. Dickeson, Salem County resident Sedgwick Rusling Leap was a practicing lawyer for many years and also made a name for himself on the New Jersey political scene, serving as a state assemblyman, state senator, and common pleas judge. Born in the borough of Penns Grove on July 16, 1886, Sedgwick R. Leap was the son of John and Julia Ware Leap. 

   Young Sedgwick attended schools local to Penns Grove and went on to study at the West Jersey Academy at Bridgeton. He would further his education at the Wharton School in Philadelphia and graduated with his Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1910. Following his graduation Leap spent one further year of study in the law office of Judge Maja Leon Berry (profiled here in October 2014) and in 1911 was admitted to the New Jersey bar.

  From 1911 to 1913 Leap practiced law in Camden with a partner, William Darnell. Leap would later leave that firm and operate a solo practice for three years, and in 1916 joined the firm of Leap, Sharpless, and Way as a senior partner. Leap was also a veteran of the First World War, serving in the U.S. Army. In January 1921 he married Bridgeton, New Jersey native Mary Dennis, with whom he would have one daughter, Mary Jane (born 1923).

  Active in Republican Party circles in Salem County, Sedgwick Leap represented that county in the New Jersey State Assembly from 1927-1929 and in 1930 began a six-year stint in the New Jersey State Senate, during which time he gave:

"His aid and support to many measures which he has deemed vital to the upbuilding of the state and has just as earnestly opposed those which he believed to be inimical to the welfare of the Commonwealth."

   In his last year in the state senate, Sedgwick Leap became Judge of the Salem County Court of Common Pleas, serving on the bench until 1941. In May of the following year he was reappointed as judge, an office he would continue to hold well into the 1950s.  A member of the Salem County, New Jersey State, and American Bar Associations, Sedgwick Leap was a longstanding parishioner in the Methodist Church and for a time served as a member of the board of managers of the Vineland, New Jersey Soldiers Home. 
   Little else could be found on the life of S. Rusling Leap, except notice of his death in New Jersey in November 1979 at age 93. A burial location for both Leap and his family remains unknown at the time of this writing.

S. Rusling Leap, 1886-1979.

Providence Ludlam (1819-1868)

    This obscure political figure is Providence Ludlam, a 19th-century resident of Cumberland County, New Jersey who gained distinction in his state's senate. Very little information could be found on this oddly named man, including his exact date of birth, his parents, or his education. Most of the following information was found in the Historic Days In Cumberland, 1855-1865, published in 1907. This particular book yielded pertinent facts on Ludlam's political career and also contained the rare portrait of him shown above. Although no explanation is given as to why Ludlam was bestowed with his unique first name, it is mentioned in the above work that he did have a nickname--"Provie"!
   As mentioned earlier, Ludlam's early life is almost totally unknown. A listing for a Providence Ludlam on the Rootsweb genealogical site gives his year of birth as 1819, in Bridgeton, New Jersey. "Previous to 1836 he was involved in agricultural pursuits", and he married in May 1841 to Ms. Anna Coe in Salem County and it is unknown at the time of this writing if any children were born to them.
  Research has shown that Ludlam's first attempt at public office was in 1856 as a candidate for the New Jersey State Assembly. He was defeated by the Democratic candidate and in the following year was elected to the office of Cumberland County clerk. The Historic Days In Cumberland gives note that during his tenure as clerk, Ludlam "exercised a large influence in political affairs", and that he served until 1862.
  Through the succeeding years, the name of Providence Ludlam grew to be a prominent one in New Jersey political circles, and it is mentioned that he was the "leader of the Republican Party in Cumberland County" and was "perhaps the most popular man of his day in Southern New Jersey". In 1860 he served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in Illinois that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency, and two years later won election to the New Jersey State Senate, "by a large majority."
   Ludlam served continuously in the Senate from 1863 to 1868 and in the latter year died in office on January 20th at age 48. A New Jersey Senate journal notes that Ludlam was "seized with pains in his breast and around the heart" and was dead within half an hour of experiencing these symptoms. His funeral was attended by many members of the legislature," amid the greatest public demonstration of sympathy in crowded streets ever given any citizen in Cumberland County." In addition to this large outpouring of public grief, Ludlam's wife Anna is recorded as dying a few months after her husband in August 1868. Both were interred at the Old Broad Street Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Bridgeton. He was subsequently memorialized in the Historical Days of Cumberland County as:

"A born leader, a man of fine personal appearance, with agreeable manners. Everybody liked " Provie" and he lived to become great power not only in the county but in the State. "

 This Ludlam death notice appeared in the New York Times a few days after his sudden death.