{{short description|American politician}} {{Use American English|date=August 2025}} {{Use mdy dates|date=August 2025}} {{Infobox officeholder |name = Bloomfield H. Minch |image = |caption = |office = Member of the New Jersey Senate from Cumberland County |term_start = 1902 |term_end = 1911 |predecessor = Edward C. Stokes |successor = Isaac T. Nichols |birth_name = Bloomfield Holmes Minch |birth_date = {{Birth date|1864|10|10}} |birth_place = Hopewell Township, Cumberland County, New Jersey |death_date = {{Death date and age|1929|6|24|1864|10|10}} |death_place = Bridgeton, New Jersey |party = Republican }} '''Bloomfield Holmes Minch''' (October 10, 1864 – June 24, 1929) was an American businessman and politician from New Jersey.
== Early life == Minch was born on a farm in Hopewell Township, Cumberland County, New Jersey on October 10, 1864, the son of farmer Francis B. Minch and Elizabeth H. Tice.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/biographiccalrev00biog/page/55/mode/1up?view=theater|title=Biographical Review: This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Cumberland County, New Jersey|publisher=Biographical Review Publishing Company|year=1896|location=Boston, M.A.|pages=55–56|language=en|via=Internet Archive}}</ref>
Minch attended the Hopewell common schools, graduated from the South Jersey Institute in 1883, and finished a course in the Bryant & Stratton's Business College in Philadelphia in May 1884.
==Business career== In November 1884, he formed a partnership with William O. Garrison called Garrison & Minch. The business worked from Bridgeton, dealt with farm implements and agricultural produce, manufactured fertilizer, and employed between fifty and a hundred people. He was an incorporator and treasurer of the Cumberland Construction Company, which Garrison was president of and specialized in building bridges and wharfs. He was also an organizer and incorporator of the Cumberland Trust Company of Bridgeton, and an incorporator and director of the State Mutual Life Insurance Company of Camden and the Real Estate Loan and Trust Company of Camden.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=btUwAQAAMAAJ|title=Biographical, Genealogical and Descriptive History of the First Congressional District of New Jersey|publisher=The Lewis Publishing Company|year=1900|volume=I|pages=580–581|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> He was elected vice-president of the Bridgeton National Bank in 1903, and he served as president of the Bridgeton Gas Light Company, the Cumberland Building and Loan Association,<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oK8-AAAAYAAJ|title=Who's Who in New Jersey|publisher=National Biographic News Service|year=1923|editor-last=Souder|editor-first=H. J.|edition=Cumberland County|location=New York, N.Y.|pages=131, 232–233|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> the Parker Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company, and the North Bridgeton Land Company.<ref name=":02" /> By the time he died, he became president of the Bridgeton National Bank.<ref name=":2" />
==Political career== In 1894, Minch was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly as a Republican, serving as one of the two representatives of Cumberland County. He served in the Assembly in 1895,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=T. F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=m-EGAQAAIAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Nineteenth Session, 1895|publisher=T. F. Fitzgerald|year=1895|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=227|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> 1896,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=T. F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1uEGAQAAIAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Twentieth Session, 1896|publisher=T. F. Fitzgerald|year=1896|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=230|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> and 1897.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=T. F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E-IGAQAAIAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Twenty-First Session, 1897|publisher=T. F. Fitzgerald|year=1897|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=255–256|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1901, he was elected to the New Jersey Senate as a Republican, representing Cumberland County. He served in the Senate in 1902,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=T. F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=POMGAQAAIAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Twenty-Sixth Session, 1902|publisher=T. F. Fitzgerald|year=1902|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=266|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> 1903,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=T. F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h-MGAQAAIAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Twenty-Seventh Session, 1903|publisher=T. F. Fitzgerald|year=1903|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=271|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> 1904,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=T. F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ueMGAQAAIAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Twenty-Eighth Session, 1904|publisher=T. F. Fitzgerald|year=1904|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=268–269|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> 1905,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=Thomas F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wuQGAQAAIAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Session, 1905|publisher=Thomas F. Fitzgerald|year=1905|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=287–288|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> 1906,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=Thomas F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QzpGAQAAMAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Thirtieth Session, 1906|publisher=Thomas F. Fitzgerald|year=1906|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=296–297|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> 1907,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=Thomas F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BuUGAQAAIAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Thirty-First Session, 1907|publisher=Thomas F. Fitzgerald|year=1907|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=297–298|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> 1908,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=Thomas F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mjM0AQAAMAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred Thirty-Second Session, 1908|publisher=Thomas F. Fitzgerald|year=1908|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=301–302|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> 1909,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=Thomas F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TOUGAQAAIAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Thirty-Third Session, 1909|publisher=Thomas F. Fitzgerald|year=1909|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=319–320|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> and 1910. He was President of the Senate in 1907.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=Thomas F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WjM0AQAAMAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Thirty-Fourth Session, 1910|publisher=Thomas F. Fitzgerald|year=1910|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=312|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref>
Interested in conservation, in 1902 he pioneered and championed legislation that led to the creation of the conservation boards which conserved the state's timber lands and water sheds. He wrote the legislation that provided the fire lines for the protection of timber lands along the railroad tracks. As Chairman of the Committee on Corporations for years, he shaped corporation legislation and provided the unique charter acts for second class cities with population under 20,000, which was the foundation for the Commission form of government that came from the Walsh Act.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cNgDAAAAYAAJ|title=Scannell's New Jersey's First Citizens|publisher=J. J. Scannell|year=1917|editor-last=Sackett|editor-first=William E.|volume=I|location=Paterson, N.J.|pages=363–365|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref>
Minch nominated Edward C. Stokes for governor in the 1904 State Republican Convention.<ref name=":0" /> He was a delegate to the 1904 Republican National Convention<ref>{{Cite book|last=Blumenberg|first=M. W.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=05q2VWok0TcC|title=Official Proceedings of the Thirteenth Republican National Convention Held in the City of Chicago, June 21, 22, 23, 1904|publisher=Harrison & Smith Co.|year=1904|location=Minneapolis, M.N.|pages=96|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> and an alternate delegate to the 1916 Republican National Convention.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Hart|first=George L.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bi4GFJJT6AYC|title=Official Report of the Proceedings of the Sixteenth Republican National Convention Held in Chicago, Illinois, June 7, 8, 9 and 10, 1916|publisher=The Tenny Press|year=1916|location=New York, N.Y.|pages=54|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref> In 1910, he was nominated and confirmed a member of the State Board of Equalization of Taxes for a five-year term. His term on the Board expired in 1915.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Fitzgerald|first=Thomas F.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-UGAQAAIAAJ|title=Manual of the Legislature of New Jersey, One Hundred and Thirty-Ninth Session, 1915|publisher=Thomas F. Fitzgerald|year=1915|location=Trenton, N.J.|pages=421|language=en|via=Google Books}}</ref>
During World War I, he served as U.S. fuel administrator for Cumberland and Salem Counties and was a leader in several Liberty Loan campaigns.<ref name=":1" /> When he died, he was a member of the State Board of Conservation and Development.<ref name=":3" />
==Personal life and death== Minch was master of the local Freemason lodge, high priest of the local Royal Arch Masonry, and a member of the Knights Templar, the Scottish Rite, the Shriners, the Odd Fellows, the Elks, the Union League of Philadelphia, the Seaview Golf Club,<ref name=":1" /> and the Junior Order of United American Mechanics. He attended the First Presbyterian Church. In 1886, he married Mary E. Rebeau of Camden. Their children were Robert F. and Aleta E. Mary died in 1896.<ref name=":4" /> In 1906, Minch married Marion Kenney of Somerville.<ref name=":02" />
Minch died at home while at dinner from heart disease on June 24, 1929.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news|date=26 June 1929|title=Bloomfield H. Minch Dies While at Dinner|volume=LXXVIII|page=25|work=The New York Times|issue=26086|location=New York, N.Y.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1929/06/26/95971158.pdf}}</ref> He was buried in the Broad Street Church Cemetery in Bridgeton.<ref name=":2">{{Cite news|date=26 June 1929|title=Bloomfield Minch Dies; Ex-Head of N.J. Senate|volume=54|page=3|work=The Morning Post|issue=127|location=Camden, N.J.|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/447448873/|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
== External links ==
* ''[https://politicalgraveyard.com/bio/millsap-minehart.html#717.43.92 The Political Graveyard]''
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title = President of the New Jersey Senate | years = 1907 | before = William J. Bradley | after = Thomas J. Hillery }} {{s-end}}{{Presidents of the New Jersey Senate}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Minch, Bloomfield H.}} Category:1864 births Category:1929 deaths Category:People from Bridgeton, New Jersey Category:19th-century American businesspeople Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:Businesspeople from Cumberland County, New Jersey Category:American bank presidents Category:People from Hopewell Township, Cumberland County, New Jersey Category:Politicians from Cumberland County, New Jersey Category:Republican Party members of the New Jersey General Assembly Category:Presidents of the New Jersey Senate Category:Republican Party New Jersey state senators Category:American Freemasons Category:American Presbyterians Category:20th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature Category:19th-century members of the New Jersey Legislature Category:Bankers from New Jersey