Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1921-10-21
death of !.
FithianTatem
Well-Known Lawyer, Banker
and Business Man Had
Large Interests in Q
Wildwood

wv III WOOo
J. Fithian Tatem, aged So years, a
man of varied interests in Wildwood
and elsewhere, died in the Hahne-
mann hospital in Philadelphia at n
o'clock Wednesday afternoon, October
10, 1921, following an operation. His
wife and five children were with him
when the end came. The last time
Mr.. Tatem was in Wildwood was about
a month ago, and he complained then
of not feeling well. His home was at
35 Grove street, Haddonfield, where
the funeral will be held on Saturday
afternoon. Mr.. Tatem was born in
Haddonfield On August 20, 1859. After
graduating at the H~addonfield high
school he studied in the University of
Pennsylvania and in the Harvard Law
School, graduating at both colleges.
He commenced the practice of law in
Camden and Philadelphia. At the time
of his death his Philadelphia law Of
flee was in the Stephen Girard build
ing. In 1898, during the var with
Spain, Mr.. Tatem volunteered with the
United States Naval Reserves and was
in action off Santiago. 1t was about
1900 that Mr.. Tatem first came to
wildwood. He came in company with
his father-in-law, Henry d. Moore, and
the late Frederick Sutton. They
bought the electric light plant here
and also the trolley system, which the
same interests have operated ever
since. Until Mr.. Sutton lost his life
on the Titanic in mid-ocean in 1912,
the two men used to come to Wildwood
together frequently to look after their
business interests here. After Mr.. SUIT
toms death the management of the
various enterprises fell upon Mr..
Tatem, including the electric light
plant, the trolley and the North Wild
wood Land Company interests, and as
solicitor and director of the Marine
National Bank he vas the legal adj
wiser of that institution. During all
these years he had an able assistant
in the electric light and trolley man
agement in the person of e. T. Nye,
WIZ ndO UOCA a 1COAOOLb III
for several years. Mr.. Tatem and his
father-in-law also had large interests
in Ocean City which were of the same
nature as those at Wildwood. These
interests compelled him to do a lot
of travelling and at various times in
the past few years he stated to the
writer how unpleasant it was for him
to be obliged to be away from home
at nights. In his home town of Had
donfield he did not mingle very much
with the people, but he was devoted to
his family, and it was very distasteful
to him to be obliged to be away from
them at night. When the Marine Ma
tional Bank was started in Wildwood
in 1902, Mr.. Tatem was elected a di-
rector and solicitor and continued so
until his death. He was also n of
it's largest individual stockholders.
He was also a director and solicitor
of both of the Ocean City banks,
and at one time of the Ceilings
wood National Bank as well. Mr..
Tatem was an able business man
and a valued adviser in all of
these banks. His fellow directors in
the Marine National Bank had a high
regard for him and it was a pleasure
to sit with him around the directors
table. He always had a fund of in
formation, was possessed of a keen
intellect and a memory for details that
was wonderful. He was a member of
the Haddonfeld Board of Education
for several years, serving on the
board with Elwood r. Austin, who was
a resident of Haddonfield before coming |
to Wildwood. For several years he
has been solicitor for the City of North
Wildwood, in which municipality Mr..
Tatem's company had large holdings
of land. During his lifetime he made
family generally went to Maine for
their summer vacations, where they
would rough it in the wild woods of
northern Maine. Before the great
world war broke out he had two of
his children in school in Ger
many. Mr., Tatem is survived by a
widow, two sons and three daugh-
tiers. One son is in college. The
deceased was a member of the Pres
byterian church in Haddonfeld, a
trustee and for years superintendent
of its Sunday-school. He was also
a director Of the Pennington Seminary.