Our People of the Century
Research Revealed Rich Human Tapestry: Cover Story
At first, they were only named -- faceless names void of personality, accomplishment, ideals.
They found their way into the newsroom by scores of different avenues.
A handful arrived on Daily Journal coupons run in the paper and many more on returned forms we sent to more than 100 organizations.
Scores more surfaced from our meanderings through historical societies, libraries and newspaper archives. Phone calls and conversations supplied the rest -- all 244 of them.
A common thread wove the names together.
Those who responded thought the people behind the names had made a difference here in Greater Cumberland County.
But still, to us, they were just names.
We read and questioned, poked and prodded.
The names came to life. And our difficulties began.
Every one seemed worthy of people-of-the-century status. In a million different ways, they helped to shape our community.
They touched lives. Their footprints would forever mark South Jersey soil.
We read with delight the story from Beverly Bakley about her grandparents, David and Lila Denelsbeck.
Lila came to Vineland on the orphan train. She learned to cook, clean and care for others by working in a boarding house on Seventh Street where she met David, who delivered ice by horse and buggy to the rooming house.
They married in 1906, and David went to work at Rubinoff Feed Mill and Jersey Package, known as the basket factory.
Lila used her skills to cook a hot meal, complete with dessert, every day for the factory workers. She turned her front room into a dining gall and charged a small fee for a home-cooked noon meal.
Later, she taught boys at The Training School to set a proper table and make their beds.
Both David and Lila are gone now, but they are remembered. Thanks to a granddaughter who didn't forget.
Like so many during the 20th century, Lila made a difference in her little corner of the world.
Others made an impact on a broader scale. Their names appear in our community newspapers time and again. Their stories are local legends: Dan Fenton. Diane and Perry Barse. Loren Riggens Jr. Abraham Brotman. Tommy Rodriguez. Thomas Lane IV. Bruno Melini. Les Kotok.
So many names, so many people -- both living and dead.
We dug deeper into our sources and the lives inside our ever-growing list of names. Sources often differed.
Especially dates and spellings. During the century, Tradesmens Bank was spelled Tradesman's, Tradesmen's and Trademens. Ads at the turn of the century use the Tradesmens spelling, and so then did we.
In some instances, the story varied.
In 1920, Leverett Newcomb donated money and land to build a hospital in Vineland. How much money varied among publications. Most said $110,000; a few said $226,000. Researcher and librarian Doug Fuhrmann relentlessly pursued the truth, always coming up with one figure or another.
Finally, about ten sources later, Newcomb's obituary unraveled the mystery. Newcomb promised $110,000, and later increased it to about $225,000. One line in one story settled the conflict.
Time sculpts its own history, especially if it is local. Details are embellished. Dates are forgotten or poorly remembered. Spellings, well, spellings are hard enough in real time.
But, the basics are there -- if less than precise.
Our names not only had faces, they smiled and shared secrets like old friends. Our holy smokes and oh wows shattered the silence of libraries and newsrooms as we unearthed a snippet here or a morsel there.
Millville's Class of 1913 was one of those -- three famous alums in a class of 46 souls. They were boyhood buddies who pulled their share of pranks considered one would some day head the Methodist Church.
Then, local historian Fola Bevan told us her mother would have made it 47 had she not dropped out to marry Fola's dad.
A Bridgeton judge presided over the Lindbergh trial. The late actor Edward G. Robinson married the daughter of the Millville architect who designed, among many area buildings, Arthur Goldhaft's house.
The deeper we probed, the more difficult our job became.
For every name on our list, we discovered 100 more who had indeed made a difference.
Together the people of Greater Cumberland fashioned a community. They came in waves of immigration -- the first in every group helping newcomers settle in.
They built schools and libraries, parks and churches, industries and hospitals. They helped each other and contributed to the greater good according to their individual means. They are too numerous to include in this presentation.
Our people of the century represent a century of people.
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