People
John Byram, owner of 19th c. Brookside textile mill
and grandson of Ebenezer Byram
Founding Families
Among the most influential families in early Mendham were the Byrams and the Ralstons, building on the foundations already established by earlier settlers. Ebenezer Byram and his wife Hannah, originally from Massachusetts, followed their son Eliab, a Harvard graduate who had arrived in the Roxiticus area to serve as pastor. The elder Byram converted a farmhouse located on a major trade route into the Black Horse Inn and was instrumental in the building of Hilltop Church, around both of which the center of Mendham grew.
John Ralston, a Philadelphia businessman, bought a local grist mill from John Logan. He married Logan’s daughter Margaret and, with his partnership with Hugh Nesbitt, built up an industry of trade and textile manufacturing.
Community & Business Leaders
While many structures of Mendham’s industrial past are long gone, what the owners built and the work they provided shaped the success of the township. They and other citizens were active in local and county government. Religious freedom was an incentive for early settlement and in time religious leaders served congregations of many denominations. Teachers at the neighborhood schools, private homes and academies provided students with basic education and opportunities for intellectual achievement.
Henry Cooper Pitney Family
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