Noble Rhinesmith and his wife, Lillie MacGregor Rhinesmith, are pictured when he served as chairman of the Township Committee. He was a committee member from 1940 to 1957. (Photo courtesy of Ann Genader)
Some ancestors of the Rhinesmith family, one of the earliest families to come to the United States from Germany, settled in a section that is now Morsetown Road in West Milford.
Barney Rhinesmith moved from the mining area along the Hudson River to New Amsterdam (New York) before he settled in New Milford in the late 1700s.
Many of his contemporaries worked in Peter Hasenclever’s ironworks but Rhinesmith had other ideas. He concentrated on building and operating a grist mill. He also planted an apple orchard on Morsetown Road that was known to exist until the mid-1900s.
He married Abagail Bugsby in 1820. Their son, John, was born soon afterward.
After growing up on his parents’ land, John Rhinesmith farmed and raised cattle on family property on Morsetown Road. Reports say his peach and plum orchard thrived until the late 1800s.
He became a minister at the Methodist Episcopal Church and married Martha Bailey in 1840. Their two sons were Charles, born in 1842, and Barney, born in 1852.
Official weather reports show that winters in the 1800s usually were extremely cold with deep snow on the ground throughout most of the winter. John Rhinesmith and his horse often struggled to travel through deep snowdrifts to reach the Vreeland Store on the present Macopin Road to get supplies for his home.
The Upper Macopin Post Office was in the building too. There was a Lower Macopin Post Office on Echo Lake Road at the corner of Macopin Road. The City of Newark Watershed acquired this land known to oldtimers as Baxter’s Corner. There was a general store there that housed the Lower Macopin Post Office (later called Echo Lake Post Office).
The building was moved to Macopin Road and still exists today as a private home. The late Bob Kochka remembered when there was a dirt road from his family homestead on Sawmill Road across a now-wooded area that he walked across to get to Baxter’s store. One of the things he remembered was going to the store as a boy for oil to light lamps in the home of his parents, George and Ethel Tintle Kochka. This was long before electricity was available.
Township postmaster
Charles Rhinesmith became postmaster of the township post offices. He was also the township clerk for the 1891 elections.
Along with farming a large amount of family property, he and his family often provided a lodging place for travelers and tourists.
Charles married Hannah Huyler in 1862. They raised 10 children, one of whom was adopted. One of their children was Noble, born in 1882.
Brown’s Hotel at Greenwood Lake was a popular place for locals to gather in the early times. Noble met Lillie McGregor there and they were married in 1906. They had three children, Elsie, Noble Jr. and David.
Noble was a farmer before he started work as a township Road Department employee and later became a department foreman. Still later, he became a watchman and supervisor at the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission.
He ran for public office and voters elected him to serve on the Township Committee from 1940 to 1957. He was chosen committee chairman by Bob Little and Chester Pulis, his colleagues. Little and Pulis took turns as committee chairman, the equivalent of a mayor today. There were three committeemen elected by voters. Originally, there was a five-member Township Committee.
During the 1920s and ’30s, Noble and his sons hunted wildcats near Boardsville, a small community that was south of Hewitt and no longer exists. They collected $2 bounties for the animal skins. At that time, the Montclair and Greenwood Lake Railroad traveled through Boardsville on the way to the Sterling Forest railroad station.
Land sold in 1961
In May 1961, the Rhinesmith family owned 310 acres of land, including a beaver pond. That year, Noble sold much of the property to the Kitchell family. Later land sales left the Rhinesmith family with just one acre of land on Morsetown Road. The Rhinesmith homestead still stands there.
Noble was well-respected by people in West Milford and surrounding towns. When he died in 1964, township flags flew at half-mast for 15 days.
Noble Rhinesmith Jr. and his wife, Ann, had two sons, Noble III, a lieutenant in the West Milford Police Department, and James, an English teacher in Connecticut.
Noble attended the one-room schoolhouse on Westbrook Road. In the 1920s, Pulis, driving a truck, took Noble Jr. and other students from Macopin to Butler High School. Noble Jr.’s first car was a 1937 Chevrolet that he kept in the horse barn.
Warren David Kitchell Sr. built the Kitchell Lake Community on land that the Rhinesmiths had owned for many years. His wife was the late Lucy Daneski Kitchell. Their children were Warren David Kitchell Jr., Edward Kitchell, Ellen Planten, Lucy Storm and Valeria Decker.
Edward and his wife, Catherine (McKernan), were very active in the West Milford community. He was a veteran of World War II, serving in the Navy as a Seabee. He was elected to serve on the West Milford Board of Education and was elected board president by the members.
He worked in the family construction business, and Edward and Catherine were active members at St. Joseph Church, Echo Lake. All 10 of their children were students at St. Joseph Parochial School.
After her children were grown, Catherine attended William Paterson University, earned a degree in nursing and later a master’s in psychology. She became a Veterans Hospital nurse, then was a school nurse for the Paterson and West Milford school districts.
Warren David Kitchell Jr. worked at Bell Labs on many defense and communications projects as a master toolmaker. Some of these projects included the transatlantic telephone line, the White Alice DEW Line, the Polaris submarine and underwater photography.