• Founders of the CNJ?

  • Discussion of the CNJ (aka the Jersey Central) and predecessors Elizabethtown and Somerville, and Somerville and Easton, for the period 1831 to its inclusion in ConRail in 1976. The historical society site is here: http://www.jcrhs.org/
Discussion of the CNJ (aka the Jersey Central) and predecessors Elizabethtown and Somerville, and Somerville and Easton, for the period 1831 to its inclusion in ConRail in 1976. The historical society site is here: http://www.jcrhs.org/

Moderator: CAR_FLOATER

  by D Alex
 
I'm trying to find information of the founders of the CNJ. Family history has it that my great (x3) grandfather was a banker, and was a founding board member of the CNJ. If there is a definitive history of the founding of the CNJ out there, please let me know.
  by R&DB
 
I don't have the 1849 board, but here's the 1853 board:

John T Johnston (also President)
John C Green
William E Dodge
William S Wetmore
Benjamin Williamson
John O Sterns
George Vail
Fredrick t Frelinghuysen
M D Maxwell

Hope that helps.
  by kilroy
 
The JCRHS has no CNJ records so we won't be of any help.

May I suggest the CNJ group on Yahoo.
  by R&DB
 
I recently found a piece of information that may be of some help.
The original charter (1831) was the Elizabethtown and Somerville Railroad. It went bankrupt in 1846 and was sold to John Stearns ad Coffin Colket for $125,000! They rechartered it as the Elizabethtown and Somerville Railroad of 1846. The following year the Somerville and Easton Railroad Company was formed. In 1849 the 2 railroads merged to form the Central Railroad of New Lersey. The president of the new company was 28 year old John T Johnston.He remained president until 1876,
  by CLamb
 
The Internet Archives (archive.org) has scanned many years of the CNJ annual report.