USA > New Jersey > Morris County > A history of Morris County, New Jersey : embracing upwards of two centuries, 1710-1913, Volume II > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71
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பாரிகந்தப்பறை அ சூடே
எட்டுமும் - மரம்
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974.901 Moshi v.2 1242288
MVI. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02248 1896
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historyofmorrisc02pitn
A HISTORY
OF
MORRIS COUNTY
NEW JERSEY
EMBRACING UPWARDS OF TWO CENTURIES
1710-1913
COUN
RIS
W
FLOR
LEX
SEAL
RE T
VOLUME II.
ILLUSTRATED
PUBLISHERS LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING CO. NEW YORK CHICAGO
1914
COPYRIGHT 1914 LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY
1242288
SURRANE TTLE
4
AUGUSTUS W. CUTLER
It seldom falls to the lot of a single individual, even in this country of unparalleled opportunity and wonderful accomplishment, to achieve in the line of public service such a vast and lasting benefit to mankind as is cred- ited to Augustus W. Cutler, of Morristown. During his double term in Congress, extending from December 6, 1875, to March 3, 1879, he introduced the first bill ever presented to that body creating a department of agricul- ture. This measure was referred to the committee on agriculture, by whom it was laid aside without further action. He reintroduced it in the next session, and supported it with a speech that attracted more than ordinary attention at the time, and elicited hearty commendation from the great mass of people who were the most immediately interested in its provisions. This time he met with a little better success. The bill was passed in the house, but when running the gauntlet of the senate it was killed. His effort, how- ever, was not wasted. He had planted good seed in rich soil, and in a suc- ceding session the ripe fruitage appeared in the adoption of his measure.
While his record, both as a state and national legislator, was rounded out with other achievements that have grown in importance with the increase of years, this single measure will remain most conspicuous because of what the department of agriculture has become-one of the most potent executive branches of the national government. Under it are the weather bureau; the bureaus of animal industry, agricultural chemistry, entomology, biological survey, plant industry, and soils ; the agricultural colleges and experiment stations; the office of public roads, and the newly expanded forest service. Fostered by it the farms and farm property in the United States reached a value in 1900 of $20,514,001,838; the domestic exports of farm products were valued at $1,055,000,000 in 1907, when for the first time in the history of the world a country exported agricultural commodities of home produc- tion exceeding one billion dollars in value; and the value of the wealth pro- duced on the farms in 1908 reached the most extraordinary total in the country's history-$7,848,000,000, or four times the value of the productions of the mines. When the creator of the national department of agriculture was drafting the bill which ultimately gave it life, he doubtless foresaw a vast benefit would accrue to the farming community; but no prescience could then gauge the enormous importance which the agricultural industry has now reached under the active and diversified promotion of the depart- ment.
Augustus W. Cutler (baptized William Augustus), lawyer, legislator, and public benefactor, was born in Morristown, Morris county, New Jer- sey, October 22, 1829. On both the paternal and maternal side he was of distinguished and patriotic lineage. He was a son of Joseph Cutler, a brigadier-general of New Jersey cavalry in the War of 1812; a grandson of Abijah Cutler, who achieved distinction in the Revolutionary War; a great-grandson on the maternal side of Silas Condict, a delegate to the Continental Congress in 1781-84, president of the New Jersey committee of safety in the Revolutionary War, and speaker of the New Jersey house of assembly for several years. He was also a direct descendant of John and Priscilla Alden.
His early youth was passed on his father's farm, where he acquired a
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NEW JERSEY
fondness for agricultural and horticultural pursuits and investigations that remained strong with him through life. He attended the Morris Academy and then prepared for Yale College, but was not allowed to complete his college course by reason of ill health. After a course of study in the office of Daniel Haines, subsequently twice governor of New Jersey, and a justice of its Supreme Court, at Hamburg, Sussex county, New Jersey, he was admitted to the bar in 1850, and soon afterward entered into active partici- pation in local and county affairs.
In 1854 Mr. Cutler became a member of the board of education of Mor- ristown, in which he served for twenty-one years consecutively, and of which he was president for several years. In 1856 he was chosen prosecu- tor of the pleas, and he filled this office with signal ability for five years. Originally an old-time Whig, when that party was dissolved he allied him- self with the Democratic party, and in 1871 was its successful candidate for the New Jersey State senate, where he served until 1874. During this period he was also a member of the State Constitutional Convention (1873). Mr. Cutler's service to his native State extended over many years, and com- prised a number of reforms of enduring value. Of all the compliments paid him during his active life he was probably proudest of being acknowledged as the father of the free-school system of New Jersey. As early as 1861 he had drawn up the original free-school bill, and in 1864 he had initiated a memorable contest against the railroads of the State to secure the con- trol of the riparian lands and the application of the proceeds of their sales and rentals to the promotion of free schools. He won this contest, and during the first year of the operation of the law the State free school fund received over $1,000,000 from this source. He also introduced and vigor- ously supported the bill making women eligible to the office of school trus- tee, introduced the general railroad act (1874), and was ever alert in pro- moting the interests of the colored race.
Mr. Cutler was first elected a representative in Congress in 1874, when he received a majority of seven votes over William Walter Phelps, a widely popular Republican opponent, later a member of Congress and American minister to Germany. In 1876 he was reelected by a majority of about 1,400, and in 1878 he was renominated for a third term, but declined to accept. What has been assumed as his most beneficial service in Congress has been detailed in the introduction of this sketch. Not only in Congress, but throughout the remainder of his life he was an earnest advocate of what- ever measures would conduce to the welfare of the great farming com- munity, and in his private life he applied much of his time to practical demonstrations on several farms he had acquired. He was most truly a representative of the people of his congressional district. He gave up his law practice in order to familiarize himself with the conditions and needs of his constituents, and he personally studied their interests in mills, factories, mines and other industrial centers. In Congress, too, his old-time fervor for free schools again manifested itself, when he introduced and urged with characteristic enthusiasm a bill to appropriate the proceeds of sales of public lands to the different states and territories, according to their population, for the benefit of free schools.
Next to the farmer and free school his most active zeal was shown in safe-guarding the interests of the soldier of the Civil War. Under the original enlistment act a soldier was entitled to a pension from the date of his disability ; but Congress, in considering appropriations for pensions, reck- oned from the time of granting the pensions, thus leaving a considerable gap unprovided for. Unable to secure from the pension office a statement of
Yours truly Willard W. Brutos C
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MORRIS COUNTY
the amount necessary to cover this gap, the committee on appropriations failed to make an enlarged appropriation. In this emergency Mr. Cutler introduced a bill to appropriate $100,000,000, "or as much thereof as shall be necessary to meet this deficiency and to carry into effect the provisions of the bill." This was the first bill ever introduced into Congress so worded, now a com- mon practice. The appropriation committee adopted it, and so remedied an injustice to the soldier.
In 1895 Mr. Cutler made an open canvass for the gubernatorial nom- ination, for which his name had been mentioned several times. The prize, however, went to Chancellor Alexander T. McGill, and in the political land- slide of that year the entire Democratic ticket was lost. In the following year Mr. Cutler supported the presidential ticket for Bryan and Sewall, and was again a candidate for Congress, but in the latter contest he was defeated by Mahlon Pitney, who had carried the district two years before. This closed his public career. In December, 1896, he underwent a surgical operation, from which he died at his home on January 1, 1897. Mr. Cut- ler, happily, lived to see his most cherished public measures enacted into permanent laws. Every cause designed to advance the welfare of humanity found in him a staunch supporter. Integrity and love of truth, courage in defending the right and great tenacity of purpose, together with unfal- tering faithfulness in his performance of duty, were the dominating fea- tures of his character, and account for the success of his many public under- takings.
In 1854 Mr. Cutler married Julia R. Walker, of Albany, New York, a lineal descendant of Peregrine White, the first American child born in New England after the landing of the Mayflower Pilgrims. Three sons were born of this union: Willard Walker, of whom sketch follows; Condict Walker, who adopted the profession of medicine, and Frederick Walker, who entered the ministry of the Presbyterian church.
WILLARD WALKER CUTLER
Prominent in professional circles of Morristown, esteemed in every rela- tion of life, and actively identified with public affairs, is Willard W. Cut- ler, whose birth occurred in Morristown, New Jersey, November 3, 1856, son of the late Hon. Augustus W. and Julia R. (Walker) Cutler.
He attended the Morristown Academy and high school, after which he pursued a two years' course at Rutgers College. He studied for the profes- sion of law under guidance of his father, and was admitted as an attorney at the November term of the Supreme Court, 1878, and as a counsellor at the same term, 1881. Subsequently he became a special master and exam- iner in chancery and a supreme court commissioner. He at once estab- lished an office for active practice of his profession in Morristown, and has continued to the present time, during which time he has gained prominence as an able lawyer and advocate. In December, 1882, he was appointed by Governor Ludlow prosecutor of the pleas of Morris county to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of George W. Forsyth, and during this service was connected with many important cases which had more than a local interest. Many of them, notably the murder trial of James Treglown, gained considerable renown. In January, 1883, he was reappointed and confirmed for a full term of five years and he held the office, by appoint- ment of Governor Green, in 1888, and of Governor Werts in 1893, until the spring of 1893, when he resigned to accept the position of law judge of Morris county, to which he was appointed by Governor Werts for a term
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NEW JERSEY
of five years. In addition to these he served as counsel of Morris township, being the incumbent of this office for many years. He was instrumental in the organization of the Morristown Trust Company and the Morris County Mortgage and Realty Company, in both of which he held the office of vice- president for a number of years. He is a member and trustee of the South Street Presbyterian Church of Morristown, and was president of the Young Men's Christian Association of Morristown for several years. Mr. Cutler is a member of both State and Morris County Bar Associations, and has served as president of the latter; a member of F. and A. M., Cincinnati Lodge, No. 3; Morristown Chapter; Morristown Commandery. This brief resumé of Mr. Cutler's many spheres of activity and usefulness proves the broadness of his mental vision, and whether considered as a lawyer, public official, business man, or churchman, he is found to be true to himself and true to his fellows.
Mr. Cutler married, December 4, 1879, Mary B., daughter of John J. Hinchman, of Brooklyn, New York. Six children: I. Millard W., Jr., mining engineer; resides in Morristown; has been engaged on a contract in Sonora, Mexico, as representative of several companies, as mining expert ; graduate of Princeton College and Columbia School of Mines. 2. Genevieve W., wife of Charles M. Marsh, of Washington, D. C. 3. Julia H., wife of John H. Salter Jr., of Glen Ridge, New Jersey, one child, Julia. 4. Ethel, wife of Leon Freeman, of Morristown, New Jersey, one child, a daughter. 5. Edith, at home. 6. Ralph H., preparing for Princeton Col- lege.
CHARLES D. PLATT
This is one of the oldest families in the country, the immigrant ancestor having been Richard Platt. His history and that of his descendants is given in "The Platt Lineage."
Richard Platt came to this country in 1638 and landed at New Haven. He had eighty-four acres of land in and around New Haven, including por- tions of what is now the best part of the Elm City, on the south side of Chapel street. It did not occur to him that real estate in this part of New Haven would be of any particular value in 1914, so he threw in his lot with sixty-five others who set out to found a church and a township nine miles west of New Haven. This settlement received the name of Milford, and is still a quiet New England village, where the Platts have continued to serve as deacons in the church that "Deacon" Richard helped found. Among the coping stones of the memorial bridge built over the Wapawaug river at Milford is one stone that bears the name "Deacon Richard Platt, obit 1684. Mary his wife." We do not know very much about this deacon Richard, except that in his will he left to one heir a legacy "towards bring- ing up his son to be a scholar," and also left by will a Bible to each of his nineteen grand-children. If we may judge from the family names that succeeded Richard we may infer that these Bibles were read, for the family tree bears on its branches such names as Epenetus, Jonas, Jeremiah, Zepha- niah, Nathaniel, Daniel, Uriah, Levi, David, James, Zophar, Ebenezer ; while Phebe, Ruth, Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth, Rebecca grace the feminine line. Later generations departed somewhat from this Biblical system of nomenclature and introduced such names as William Pitt, Isaac Watts, and Dorothea. Old family letters bear indications of the Puritan strain, and traces of the Puritan conscience still linger in his remoter descendants, who inherit none of his real estate.
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MORRIS COUNTY
The subject of this sketch is Charles Davis Platt, of Dover, New Jersey. He traces his line through Epenetus, Epenetus (2d), Zophar, Ebenezer, Isaac Watts, Ebenezer. This is known as "The Younger Huntington Branch," from Huntington, Long Island, headed by Dr. Zophar Platt, physician, (1705-1792). Ebenezer Platt (1754-1839), was the third son of Dr. Zophar. In 1794 he was appointed first judge of Suffolk county. In 1799 he removed to New York City, and was in the customs house many years.
His son, Isaac Watts Platt (1788-1858), graduated from Princeton Col- lege and Seminary and became a Presbyterian minister. In 1818 he set out under the auspices of the Young Men's Missionary Society of New York City and made a missionary tour on horseback through the southern states to Mobile, in "Alabama Territory," as it was then called. His manuscript account of this trip is in the possession of his grandson, Charles D. Platt. On his return from this journey he received a call to the Presbyterian church at Charlton, near Saratoga, New York. He entered upon this charge in May, 1820, bringing with him his bride. It was Anna McClure, daughter of Captain James McClure, of Philadelphia, whom he asked to share the for- tunes and misfortunes of a country parson. Through her a Cincinnati certifi-
cate has descended to her grandson. It bears witness to the fact that Captain McClure was an officer in the American army "at the period of its disso- lution." It is dated October 31, 1785. Another old parchment proclaims the fact that James McClure is a regular registered Free Mason of Lodge No. 2, of the Province of Pennsylvania, dated August 16, 1777. It is made out in Latin, French and English. Bibles, old parchments, old letters, old books-such is the heritage left by these ancestors-and a good name.
The successive pastorates of Rev. Isaac W. Platt were as follows :- Charlton, New York, 1820-25 ; Athens, Pennsylvania, 1825-1831 ; Bath, New York, 1831-1844; West Farms, New York (now the Bronx), 1847- 1858. The children of Rev. I. W. Platt and Anna McClure were: Ebenezer (1823-1878) ; James McClure (1826-1884) ; Joseph Sloan, died in youth ; Alexander, died in youth; Elizabeth ( 1828-1904).
Rev. James McClure Platt, D. D., served as pastor in Zanesville, Ohio; in Leetsdale, Pennsylvania, and in Bath, New York. His son, William Alexander Platt, journalist, served for many years on The Mail and Express, New York City, and later became editor of The Colorado Springs Gazette, Colorado; he is now living at Denver, Colorado; he has two sons-Wil- liam Wallis, a lawyer of Alamosa, Colorado, and James McClure, mining engineer, now engaged in silver mining at Zacualpan, Mexico. Elizabeth Platt, daughter of Rev. I. W. Platt, lived for many years with her brother, Rev. James M. Platt, and spent the latter part of her life in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Ebenezer Platt, son of Rev. I. W. Platt, came to New York City as a young man. He was for a time connected with the Ocean Bank of that city. He resided in Elizabeth, New Jersey, after his marriage in 1855 to Anna Matilda Davis, daughter of Dr. Charles Davis, a leading physician of that town.
In Dr. Davis we find a scion of an old colonial family of Bloomfield, New Jersey. He was the son of Deacon Joseph Bruen Davis and Anna (Crane) Davis, of Bloomfield. He attended Princeton College and after graduating taught school in Newton, New Jersey, (1817), and in Gettys- burg, Pennsylvania, (1818-1819). At the same time he studied medicine with the local doctor to prepare himself for his profession. He completed his medical studies in New York City and began the practice of his profes- sion in Elizabeth, New Jersey. In 1825 he married Mary Wilson, daughter
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NEW JERSEY
of a prominent merchant of that town. Their children were Anna Matilda and Mary Augusta. The latter married Benjamin Haines, Jr., of Elizabeth. The former married Ebenezer Platt. After the death of Mary Wilson, Dr. Davis married Caroline Gildersleeve, daughter of Rev. Cyrus Gildersleeve, of Bloomfield, New Jersey. Dr. Davis served for many years as physician in Elizabeth. When his health failed he bought a farm ( for his sons) at Phillipsburg, New Jersey, and later removed to Easton, Pennsylvania, where he died in 1865. He was family physician to General Winfield Scott, when General Scott was living at his home on Scott Place, Elizabeth. The children of Caroline Gildersleeve removed with Dr. Davis to Phillipsburg and Easton, where their descendants may still be found.
The children of Ebenezer Platt and Anna M. Davis are: Charles Davis, Anna McClure, William Clifford, and Luther Davis.
Charles Davis Platt, their oldest son, was born in Elizabeth, New Jer- sey, March 18, 1856. His earliest schooling was received from his mother, at home. At the age of eight he entered the private school of Miss Eliza and Miss Caroline Mitchell, on Scott place. At the age of twelve he entered the school of Rev. John F. Pingry, on Mechanic street, Elizabeth. He wishes to bear testimony to the excellence of the instruction that he received at these two schools. It was thorough and scholarly and the personal influ- ence of the teachers was kindly and ennobling. It is due to such teachers that their work and their worth should be cherished with grateful apprecia- tion. From the home school to the distant college was a great step in expe- rience and in education. Williams College was then small in numbers, but was manned by a group of able and experienced professors, eminent among whom was the venerable ex-President Mark Hopkins, then still teaching in his department of moral philosophy. In the faculty were men of notable personality-President Chadbourne, Professors Bascom, Perry, Dodd, Griffin, Fernald, Remsen, Tenney, Gilson, Safford, Pratt, and Raymond.
After graduating in 1877, a call from Dr. Pingry to assist him in the home school at Elizabeth started Mr. Platt upon the career of a teacher, in which he has continued for thirty-seven years. For six years he taught Greek, Latin and other subjects in the Pingry school. In 1883 he became principal of Morris Academy, then a small private school where boys were prepared for college. In February, 1901, he became principal of the Wal- ling ford High School, Wallingford, Connecticut. In 1903 he came to the Dover High School, of which he is now principal ( 1914) and teacher of German.
1914-By Charles D. Platt
Schoolmaster have I been for thirty years, And seven to boot. I yet may count two score Years in the work, should Time allot three more. Now that the cycle's close so swiftly nears, I pause and face the issue. What appears Foremost amid the memories that throng My brooding heart? What could inspire a song Of joy, prevailing o'er the moment's tears?
What but an inkling that these youthful hearts That I long sought to fill with learning's dust- These frolicsome boys and merry-making girls, By all-unstudied, yet resistless arts, Turning the tables on a sage nonplussed, Have stolen his heart, and filled it full-with pearls.
At this point we quote from a friend who has known Mr. Platt intimately for twenty-five years :
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MORRIS COUNTY
The career of a teacher is peculiarly unfortunate, inasmuch as any formulation of its products is impossible. The architect and the mason erect themselves in brick and stone; the artist leaves his picture or his song; the lawyer has his famous case in the literature of legalism; but where can you find the record of the teacher's life? The school teacher is dealing with material that is in constant flux-that quickly receives impressions, and as quickly erases them. Human nature, as it comes into the hands of the teacher, is in its most unconventional form, and it is almost inevitable that whatever he writes upon it will be obscured, if not obliterated, by darker lines that later forces shall stamp over or through his. The schoolmaster has to wait till his pupil shall say-"My teacher did this for me," and very likely by that time the teacher is dead !
The only way in which any fair or approximate judgment can be formed of a teacher's value in the community is from a knowledge of the man himself, the ideals he has cherished, the principles by which his character and actions have been shaped. The writer of this article is fortunate in having from Mr. Platt's own pen a statement of the spirit in which, from the beginning of his career, his work has been done, and the ends after which he has aspired. He writes: "Some of the elements that entered into my own training, and that I like to pass on to others, if I can, are: first, intelli- gence-interlego-the ability to discriminate between the true and the false; secondly, a vitalizing sentiment or sympathetic relation and response to the noble, the refined, the true; thirdly, the courage of conviction, the ability to be independent, when you see a reason for being so; fourthly, conscientiousness, the intent to do the right as you see it; fifthly, the cultivation of the religious or spiritual life-the desire to walk with God; sixthly, doing one's work because one loves it and not simply under the sense of obligation or duty."
Any one who knows anything about Mr. Platt's outward or inward life, his daily doing of his tasks, the seriousness with which he has always taken his calling, will recognize these rules and principles as those by which he has always shaped his own character and career. Indeed, the man as he is is really drawn for us in his own words. Few men have put such sincerity and devotion into their tasks, have faced them so conscientiously, have done them from motives so lofty, as he has. However commonplace the work of the teacher must often appear to us, it has always to him had the quality of being divinely imposed. Mr. Platt is a strange blending of the Mystic and the Puritan. He has the Puritan conscience and the Mystic's relation to religion-which is never theological, but the growing consciousness of the enlarging vision of God. His religion is a life-something coming from above, that crowns. completes, and coordinates existence. With such a make-up, one is not surprised to find that Mr. Platt is and always has been more than a schoolmaster. He has saved himself from becoming a mere professional drudge by keeping the windows of his soul open toward other human interests. He has been a lover of nature, a student of history, philosophy and poetry; but of these only as they have interpreted and enlarged his vision of life.
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