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Newspaper Articles:

April 23, 1882 - A Ghastly Mystery on the River

This business began in 1872 as Briant & Woodruff.

In 1880 Enoch W. Woodruff retired from the partnership and began his own business.

From: Industries of NJ 1882

E. B. Woodruff

Undertaker, No 844 Broad Street. For the past ten years Mr. Woodruff has filled one of the most prominent positions in the confidence and patronage of a wide circle of the citizens of Newark as on of her leading undertakers, the duties of which he has discharged with courtesy and efficiency to the utmost satisfaction of his patrons in the most trying hour of affliction. The store and work shop is a brick building 20 x 100 feet in extent, and is fitted up and fully equipped with the necessary implements for the business. An ample stock is carried of everything in the undertaking line, the estimated value of which is $5,000. Embalming and preserving is done, and caskets, coffins, refrigerators, and ice boxes are kept. A large connection has been formed, and the business done is estimated at $30,000 per annum, this being the best test of the high esteem Mr. Woodruff is held in and his popularity in this business. In 1869 to 1872 he was a member of the Board of Freeholders, and Coroner of the County of Essex from 1878 to 1881.

From: Newark and It's Leading Businessmen 1891

E. B. Woodruff

Undertaker, No 846 Broad Street, Newark, N. J. Although good sense forbids there being too much stress put on the thought of death under ordinary circumstances, still it is but the part of common prudence to be prepared to act with promptness and decision in any emergency, and, therefore, we feel that the information that we propose to supply regarding the establishment conducted by Mr. E. B. Woodruff at No. 846 Broad Street, will be neither out of place nor neglected. The establishment in question was founded in 1872, by Messrs. Briant & Woodruff, and continued by these gentlemen until 1880 when Mr. Woodruff assumed the entire control of affairs. He is fully prepared to assume entire control of funerals and to supply everything required at equitable rates. All branches of the undertaking profession are carried on in a strictly first class manner. The premises occupied at the above address are appropriately fitted up for the purposes for which they are used. Three reliable assistants are employed, and every facility is at hand that is necessary to the furnishing undertaking business.

From: Newark, NJ Illustrated 1893

E. B. Woodruff

Among the undertakers of the city of Newark few have risen to a more deserved prominence than Enoch B. Woodruff, whose offices and warerooms are at No. 846 Broad Street. Here at all hours of the day and night he is found ready to respond to the call of those who are so unfortunate as to need the services of an undertaker. An experienced female is always in attendance. For convenience of location the establishment has few equals and no superiors. Enoch B. Woodruff is one of the oldest undertakers in Newark, and is a worthy representative of the calling and a citizen of high standing.

From: Newark Handsomely Illustrated 1894
The Consolidated Illustrating Co.

Enoch B. Woodruff

The dignified profession of the undertaker is represented by none more admirably and fitly than by Mr. E. B. Woodruff of No. 906 Broad Street. This gentleman possesses in an eminent degree the many special qualifications which are imperatively necessary to the proper conduct of this avocation. Mr. Woodruff is a native of Newark, and started in this line in 1872, under the firm name of Briant & Woodruff. Since 1880 he has conducted the business alone. He is a President of the Essex Union County Undertakers' Association, and for nine years served as Coroner and Freeholder. His premises are handsomely fitted up, contain electric lights, are steam heated, richly carpeted, and have every modern convenience. The warerooms are well stocked, the large assortment embracing everything in the line of funeral requisites. These goods are obtained at first hand from the best producing sources, and are supplied at lowest prices. Mr. Woodruff owns two fine hearses and several carriages. He is prepared to take the entire direction of obsequies. Burial plots are secured in any cemetery, hearses and carriages to any required number are supplied, and his services can be secured promptly at any hour of the day or night. Mr. Woodruff also conducts a private boarding stable at No. 291 Halsey Street, where the finest and healthiest accommodations may be had at moderate terms. He is one of our prominent citizens, possessing the confidence and esteem of the community, and is in the most deserved enjoyment of a large and high class patronage.

From: Newark Handsomely Illustrated 1894
The Consolidated Illustrating Co.

Joseph A. Logan

The vocation of an undertaker is essentially a very delicate one, and it is only by long experience as well as natural aptitude that a man is enabled to discharge his duty to the satisfaction of those most directly concerned. One of the oldest undertaking and embalming establishments in the city of Newark, as it is also the most widely known and leading one, is that of Mr. J. A. Logan, whose office and warerooms are desirably located at No. 830 Broad Street. Forty years have elapsed since the business was inaugurated by Messrs. Tolles & Briant, and during all that long period of time the house has been ably maintained in the lead, and has won an enviable name for the enterprising manner in which it has always kept up to the modernized requirements of the times. In 1862 the firm became Lum & Briant, and in 1872 Briant & Woodruff. The latter retired in 1880, and Mr. J. A. Briant admitted as partner his son Charles, under the firm-name of Briant & Son. Five years later the junior partner died, and was replaced by Mr. J. A. Logan as Briant & Logan. Finally, in November, 1891, Mr. J. A. Briant retired from Business, full of years and honor, and Mr. J. A. Logan now conducts the establishment as sole proprietor. He is a practical undertaker and embalmer of large experience and established reputation, and is a graduate of both the Sullivan Embalming School of New York and of Clark's Embalming School of Newark, N. J. The office and warerooms are spacious, neat, and commodious, and a fine assortment is displayed of coffins, caskets, and burial-cases, shrouds, robes, and everything in the line of funeral requisites. Remains are prepared for burial at any hour in the most expeditious manner, and any number of carriages are furnished at short notice. Interment is procured in any cemetery, and funerals are conducted in first-class style, and to the satisfaction of all concerned. Every detail of the undertaking profession is promptly and perfectly attended to at reasonable rates, and the record of this house in the past is of a character to commend it unreservedly to the confidence of all. Mr. Logan was born in Somerset County. He is a director and ex-president of the Protective Building and Loan Association.

From: Newark, The Metropolis of New Jersey At the Dawn of the Twentieth Century
Progress Publishing Co. 1901

Mr. Joseph A. Logan is conducting at No. 830 Broad Street, an undertaking establishment which was among the earliest successful ventures in this line in the city, its founder, Mr. Tolles, who began business in this building about 1846, was succeeded by Stephen Lum and John A. Briant, who did business as Lum & Briant. Some years afterward, when Mr. E. B. Woodruff purchased Mr. Lum's interest, the firm became Briant & Woodruff, and when Mr. Woodruff retired from the firm Mr. Briant's son, Charles, became a partner, the firm name changing to Briant and Son.

After the death of Mr. Briant's son a partnership was formed April 1, 1885, with the present proprietor under the firm name of Briant & Logan, which continued until November 1, 1891, when Mr. Logan by purchase of Mr. Briant's interest, became the sole owner.

Mr. Briant, who died October 22, 1895, at the age of 83 years, was at the time of his retirement from business the oldest active undertaker in the United States, having been in business sixty-five years.

Joseph A. Logan's business experience, prior to his forming the partnership mentioned, had been in lines widely different. Born in Somerset Co., N. J., he was reared on a farm, educated in a country school and had served a three years' apprenticeship in a flouring mill at South Branch in his home county. Coming to Newark in 1863 he had charge of the shipping of goods for a leading clothing manufacturer for half a dozen years, after which he carried on a flour and feed business. Though his early training had prepared him thoroughly for the last named business it was only when he entered on his work as an undertaker that he seemed to be fulfilling the mission for which nature designed him.

Very few people realize the difficulties or responsibilities of an undertaker's work. He must be cool and extremely careful lest he omit or make an error in a single one of the many details necessary at a funeral; and in these respects Mr. Logan has shown remarkable skill in the conducting of over 3,000 funerals, some of them being the largest ever held in this City.

The secret of his success lies in his sympathy, his tenderness, his taste and his tact. Modest and unassuming in manner, Mr. Logan's services are sought for by all classes when the sad time comes that they are needed; many of his patrons being the wealthiest families of Newark and vicinity. He has his own hearses and carriages, using none but rubber-tired vehicles. His standing is of the highest in financial and trade circles, There is probably no man in this city better known in fraternal organizations than Joseph A. Logan, he having been an Odd Fellow thirty years and a Mason eighteen years. He belongs also to the K. of P., Royal Arcanum, Heptasophs; A. O. U. W.; and Uniformed Rank K. of P.