NJPH - New Jersey Postal History Society

HEZEKIAH B. SMITH’S INDUSTRIAL VILLAGE ~ Doug D’Avino
Smith (Figure 3) was subsequently elected to the
New Jersey Senate in 1882 and, in spite of the scandal, he
remained a major political figure statewide until his death
in 1887 at the age of 71.
An interesting side note is that a decade-long
dispute developed over control of Smith’s will, as well as
his remains. Perhaps as a result, he was interred in an iron
coffin, encased in concrete, in a Mount Holly, N.J.
cemetery. He remains there today, buried next to Agnes,
despite attempts by his family to exhume the body and
bury him in Vermont.
Smith’s oldest son, Elton, finally gained control of
operations of the factory (shown in Figure 1) in 1897,
which continued in business until the mid-1960’s, nearly a
century after its founding. Figure 4 shows an H. B. Smith
Machine Company business reply card.
Image courtesy of the Smithville Conservancy
Fig. 3: H. B. Smith in 1886 at age 70.
Eayre Oliphant Lippincott of Pemberton, NJ, had been manager of Smith’s boarding
house since 1885, as well as a political ally and member of the Company’s Board. On July 3,
1895, the New Jersey Mirror announced that “Eayre Lippincott had his finger badly mashed in
the hay rake ... while at his farm.” Three weeks later, the same newspaper announced that
“Eayre Lippincott has been appointed Postmaster in William S. Kelley’s place.” Perhaps,
following his accident, he needed a new job. In any event, without further announcement, the
appointment was rescinded the following year and Kelley reclaimed the post. Kelley would
remain the Smithville postmaster for 37 years.
Two other individuals, Charles G. Hatcher and Robert Clyde, served as Postmaster from
Kelley’s death in 1916 until 1922. Hatcher occupied the Postmaster’s house, shown in Figure 5.
Clyde served as acting postmaster for only six weeks and was never confirmed in the job. Edith
Vaughn then served as postmaster from April 7 through July 1, 1922.
In 1922, the U.S. Post Office Department announced that they would fingerprint and
photograph over 320,000 workers, from the “office of the Postmaster General himself down to
the humblest weekend assistant ...” Edith Vaughn was a small woman, and they couldn’t easily
take her fingerprints. It’s likely that handling the rough canvas mail bags contributed to the
difficulty fingerprinting her.
In January, 1923, Alfred Johansen, who managed the Company Store, was appointed
postmaster. The post office was relocated into the H. B. Smith Machine Company Store, shown
in Figure 6 and Figure 7, on River Street when Johansen became postmaster. Figure 8 shows a
Company cover postmarked in 1924. Sometime during 1929 or 1930, Johansen was suspected of
embezzling funds and was fired following an investigation by Federal officials. When the
Federal investigators asked if anyone was available to replace Johansen as postmaster, Vaughn’s
name came up based on her earlier service.
NJPH 200
Vol. 39/No. 4
Nov 2011 Whole No. 184