Middlesex County NJ Archives Biographies.....Charles D. DESHLER, 1818 - 1909
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 9, 2008, 11:14 pm

Author: Mary Depue Ogden, Editor  (1917)

DESHLER, Charles D.,
Journalist, Antiquarian, Author.

  The late Charles Dunham Deshler, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, was of the
sixth generation of the Deshler family and of the eighth generation of the
Dunham family in America, his ancestral lines being as follows:

  (I) Johann Deshler, born in Germany, came to America in 1730. (II) Adam
Deshler, lived near Allentown, Pennsylvania, purchased, in 1742, from Frederick
Newhard, two hundred and three and one-half acres, on which he built in 1760 the
stone dwelling called Fort Deshler (still standing); furnished the provincial
troops with supplies in the French and Indian war; married Apollonia _____.
(III) David Deshler, born at Egypt, Pennsylvania. 1733, died at Bienj's Bridge,
Pennsylvania, December, 1796; built in Germantown, 1772-73, the famous dwelling
(afterward the residence of the Morris family) known as the Morris-Deshler
house, which at one time was the headquarters of the British General Howe, and
in 1793, during the yellow fever scourge, was occupied by President Washington
as the executive mansion; married Susanna _____. (IV) John Adam Deshler, born
1766, died 1820; married Deborah Wagener. (V) George Wagener Deshler, born in
Allentown, Pennsylvania, September 17,1793, died 1836; lived in Easton,
Pennsylvania; prothonotary of Northampton county, Pennsylvania; editor for some
time of the Belvidere (New Jersey) "Apollo;" married, May 4, 1818, Catharine
Lawson Dunham. (VI) Charles Dunham Deshler, see forward.

  (I) Deacon John Dunham, born in England in 1589, came to New England in the
ship "James" in 1630, and died in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1669; married
Abigail _____. (II) Benajah Dunham, born 1640, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, died
December 24, 16S0, in Piscataway. New Jersey; married, October 25, 1660,
Elizabeth Tilson. (III) Rev. Edmund Dunham, born in Piscataway township,
Middlesex county, New Jersey, July 25, 1661, died March 7, 1734; married, July
15, 1681, Mary Bonham (born October 4, 1661, died 1742). (IV) Rev. Jonathan
Dunham, of Piscataway, born August 16, 1694, died March 10, 1777; married August
15, 1714, Jane Pyatt. (V) Colonel Azariah Dunham, born in Piscataway, New
Jersey, 1719, died January 22, 1790; noted land surveyor; active in the
Revolutionary War, being a member of the committee of correspondence; married
Mary Ford, of Morristown, who was born September 22, 1734, in the old Ford house
at that place, afterward Washington's headquarters. (VI) Dr. Jacob Dunham, of
New Brunswick, born September 30, 1767, died August 23, 1832; married Elizabeth
Lawson. (VII) Catharine Lawson Dunham, born July 14, 1791, died March 26, 1875;
married, May 4, 1818, George Wagener Deshler. (VIII) Charles Dunham Deshler.

  (VI) Charles Dunham Deshler, eldest child and only son of George Wagener and
Catharine Lawson (Dunham) Deshler, was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, March 1,
1819. When about four years old he was sent to New Brunswick, New Jersey, to
make his home with his grandfather, Dr. Jacob Dunham, who then resided on Peace
street at the foot of Church, in a house which is still standing, though
remodeled. He was educated in private schools and at the Rutgers Preparatory
School, where he was graduated in 1832 at the age of thirteen. After his
grandfather's death in the latter year, he was apprenticed as clerk to Richard
S. McDonald in the drug business in New Brunswick. Succeeding Mr. McDonald, he
conducted the business under the firm styles of Deshler & Carter, Deshler &
Boggs, and finally C. D. Deshler. During this period he took an active and
prominent part in organizing the New Brunswick gas works, savings institution,
and circulating library, as also the New Brunswick public school system, of
which he has always been regarded as the founder.

  Moving to Jersey City, Mr. Deshler became editor of the "American Standard,"
resigning that position to accept the editorship of the Newark "Daily
Advertiser," and conducted these papers with marked ability during a portion of
the Civil War. Appointed by Governor Joel Parker commissioner for the sick and
wounded Jersey troops, he spent considerable time in the South caring for the
wants and interests of the New Jersey and other troops in the various hospitals.
In 1865 he went to the oil regions of Pennsylvania, occupying the position of
treasurer of the Farmers' railroad, which ran from Petroleum Center to Oil City.
He resigned that place to become secretary of the International Life Insurance
Company of Jersey City, and later was engaged in business interests and literary
work in New York City, where he was at various times editor of the "Christian
Intelligencer," secretary of the United States Dairy Company, secretary of the
Harney Peak Tin Mining, Milling and Manufacturing Company and book reviewer for
the publishing house of Harper Brothers.

  Reestablishing his residence in New Brunswick, Mr. Deshler was until his death
a prominent and highly esteemed citizen of that community. He was lay judge of
the Middlesex county court of common pleas, postmaster of New Brunswick
(appointed by President Cleveland), and agent for the Mutual Life Insurance
Company. For many years he was vestryman of Christ (Episcopal) Church.
Throughout his very long life he was strongly interested in public affairs, and
he was associated on intimate terms with many of the most distinguished
political leaders. Originally an ardent Whig (his first vote being cast for
Harrison and Tyler in 1840), he later became a member of the so-called Know
Nothing party, and finally of the Democratic organization. By appointment from
Governor McClellan he served as one of the commissioners for the Blind and
Feeble-minded, having charge of the erection of buildings, etc. At the
centennial of the New Jersey State Legislature he delivered, by the invitation
of that body, one of the addresses. A man of accomplished literary ability, for
a portion of his life (as we have seen) a professional writer and editor, and at
all times occupied more or less with literary studies and composition, no
account of his career would be adequate without a somewhat particular allusion
to this phase of it. His reading was most extensive, his tastes inclining
especially to the study of English literature, of which he had a scholarly
knowledge, and upon which he wrote and published valuable critical essays and
other contributions. He was the author of "Selections from the Poetical Works of
Geoffry Chaucer" (Putnam, 1848) and "Afternoons with the Poets" (Harper, 1879).
He also devoted much attention to historical researches, and in this connection
published many sketches and addresses. The George W. Deshler Memorial Library of
the New Brunswick high school was given by him in memory of a son. Mr. Deshler
died at his residence in New Brunswick, May 10, 1909, in his ninety-first year.

  He married, May 30, 1841, Mary Moore Holcombe, born October 10, 1824, in New
Brunswick, died September 7, 1893, daughter of Theophilus Moore and Catherine
Neilson (Farmer) Holcombe. The Holcombes in this line were an older Quaker
family, originally of Lambertville, New Jersey. Children: 1. Edward Boggs. 2.
George Wagener, graduate of West Point Military Academy, and afterward first
lieutenant of Company A, First Artillery, United States Army; died of yellow
fever at Fort Barrancas, Florida, July 28, 1875. 3. Monroe Holcombe (deceased).
4. James. 5. Kate. 6. Theophi-lus Holcombe (deceased). 7. Mary Holcombe. 8.
Elizabeth Dunham (deceased). 9. Charles. 10. Frederick. 11. Edith.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

MEMORIAL CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF MARY DEPUE OGDEN

VOLUME III
MEMORIAL HISTORY COMPANY NEWARK,  NEW JERSEY
1917


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