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ـانية
الطيف
Gc 974.901 Es 7b .1 1204167
MI. L.
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
L
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 02232 8121
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/biographicalgene01rico_0
acomboles
BIOGRAPHICAL
AND
IENEALOGICAL H ISTORY
OF THE
CITY OF NEWARK
AND
ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY VI
ILLUSTRATED
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY NEW YORK AND CHICAGO
1898
4
Southern 20.00 (2 VOIS
PREFACE. 1204167
I N offering to subscribers the Biographical and Genealogical History of the City of Newark and Essex County, the publishers feel satisfied that they have been successful in producing a compilation of distinct historical value, and that all specifications set forth in the prospectus have been duly touched. The scope of the work has been such as to demand a large financial expenditure and a most discriminating research, and the result stands in evidence that the object of the publication, as defined in the prospectus, has been fully attained- "to fill up the wide gap in the biographical history of Essex county, and to give to the present and future generations a much deeper source of reliable informa- tion touching this locality."
The editorial direction of the work had been undertaken by the late Frederick W. Ricord, who had designated the lines along which said work should be carried on to completion. Death's hand interposed, and released Judge Ricord from his labors. At the request of the publishers, his daughter, Miss Sophia B. Ricord, consented to continue the editorial work assigned to her distinguished father. Miss Ricord, who had long been associated with her father in this kind of work, was therefore enabled to give her personal supervision in accordance with the plans by him formulated. It is felt that, in a measure, the publication will stand as a memorial tribute to one of the noblest men that has honored and been honored by the state of New Jersey, and it is a source of much gratification to the publishers that they were thus able to secure the co-operation of Judge Ricord, whose name here appears as representing the last editorial work with which he was associated. To Miss Ricord also are due the thanks of the publishers, as well as of all subscribers, and it is believed that the history, in its specific province, can not but meet with the favorable reception which it merits.
INDEX: VOLUME I.
A
Booth, Richard W. 369
Boudinot, Elisha .. 489
Ackerman, Peter D.
578
Allen, Frank B. 366
Boyden, Seth. 57I
Anderson, Henry J
492
Bradley, Joseph P. 477
Andrews, William J. 5.36
Bragaw, David D 296
Breeden, Charles E. 378
Ashby, William S
2II
Brewer, William A., Jr. 123
Austin, Edward. 574
Austin, William E. 183
B
Bacheller, J. Henry 170
Badgley, Alfred S. I30
Baer, Joseph. 412
Baker, Daniel N
389
Baker, Thomas C. 418
Baker, Timothy H.
544
Baldwin, Aaron K.
499
Baldwin, David H
80
Baldwin, George T
580
Baldwin, Milton
484
Baldwin, Noah O.
402
Baldwin, Warren S. 229
Baldwin, William A 230
Ball, Marcus D. 306
Ball, Philander.
154
Ball, Richard H
I54
Ball, William R. 350
Campbell, Ira. 218
Canfield, Cyrus. 288
Canniff, Jonas C. 149
Carhart, Hennell. 396
Carpenter, Daniel H I61
448
Carter, Azariah H
224
Beldon, James M. 506
Chalmers, Thomas A.
533
Benham, Hubert M. I26
Chapman, Henry S.
68
Benson, Henry K.
I38
Church, Edward F.
404
Berg, Charles. 545
Clymer, George E.
374
Coit, Henry L.
187
Birdsall, Robert F
559
Colby, Gardner R. 572
5
Black, Pierre.
524
Bond, Elihu. 344
Collins, William.
383
V
466
Brueckner, George.
453
Bruyere, Walter R.
524
Buchanan, Paul.
450
Budd, Ira.
461
Burgess, Edward G.
354
Burnet, Elijah D
30I
Burnet, James B.
535
Burnet, Samuel H. 522
Burnet, Timothy. 98
Burnet, William. 499
Burns, Edward L 319
Burt, Charles A. 81
Burtt, Aaron F
521
Bush, Edward P. 54
C
Barrett, Halsey M 82
Batty, James W. 518
Beach, Henry O I51
Beck, Charles I. 309
Becker, Ludwig A. 167
Carpenter, Joseph B
Beggs, William F. 307
Berg, Franz. 208
Bishop, Charles R. 362
Coles, Abraham
Coles, J. Ackerman
26
Brower, Robert D. 490
Brown, James M. 160
Brown, Nathaniel.
Brady, Ellis M. 395
Apgar, Jacob W 360
Ackerman, Henry A 5,36
Boutillier, Emanuel F 261
vi
INDEX.
Collinson, Joshua. 3.58
Collyer, William W 553
Condit, Edmund. 330
Condit, John P. 175
Condit, Jotham H.
561
Condit, Oscar H.
575
Conklin, Josiah S.
375
English, Charles W.
79
F
Farley, John J. 388
Faulks, Theodore D 408
Feindt, Henry 337
Feindt, Lewis E. 394
First Presbyterian Church, The. 564
Fish, Henry C. 472
Force, John H. 173
Force, Jonathan
172
Fordyce, Alexander R. 502
Forrest, John
537
Fort, J. Franklin. 66
Foster, Herbert W. 352
Francisco, Richard S. 440
Francisco, William H. 246
Freeman, Charles W. 467
Frelinghuysen, Frederick T. 56
Frey, Albert
192
Frisby, William 300
G
Gaffney, John J 256
Galbraith, John 280
Gardner, William C. 161
Gauch, William 310
Geiger, George J 470
Genung, Silas P 174
Gerhard, Frank J. 272
Gilfort, Robert C. 317
Gilfort, William O 317
Gill, John 204
Goble, Frank 148
Goldsmith, Clarence A. 357
Goodell, Edwin B 290
Gore, John K
578
Gossweiler, Ferdinand 468
Gould, Daniel E. 421
Granniss, Daniel D
I68
Dougherty, Alexander N 488
Drake, Elias W 287
Dryden, John F 90
Durand, Cyrus 392
Durand, Cyrus B 392
Durand, Elias W 234
Durand, James M.
391
Durands, Early
39I
E
Eggers, Augustus F 303
Elsener, John 17I
Ely, John H. 268
Emmons, George 212
Engelhorn, John
253
Connell, John J
259
Cook, Hugh F .315
Cope, George F 283
Cort, Thomas
260
Cort, Thomas, Jr. 260
Corwin, Theodore W
486
Coult, Joseph. II4
Courter, David B. 426
Crane, Alfred J.
386
Crane, Ira S.
82
Crowell Family, The. 555
Cunningham, Peter F
455
D
Dailey, Frank B 289
Daisey, Dennis 1406
Darcy, John S 475
Daum, Henry 577
Day, Lewis E.
513
De Baun, John W 54
Decker, Charles M. 220
Decker, Henry
566
Denman, Abram C. 236
Denman, Isaac R. 3II
Denman, John C.
292
Denman, Thomas
346
Dennis, Laban
519
Dey, Cornelius. 135
Dey, Samuel 134
Diecks. William 4II
Dimond, William 182
Dobbins, Edward
327
Dodd, Amz 106
Dodd, Amzi T.
456
Dodd, Hiram F 391
Doremus, Elias O 194
Doremus, Philip IIO
Dorer, John 314
Dorer, Matthias D 44I
Guenther, Emil E.
474
Guild, Frederick F
334
H
Hagar, John F 108
Hahne, Julius 485
Halsey, Edmund R. 428
Halsey, George A.
115
vii
INDEX.
Halsey, Moses E 152
Halsey, William 493
Hanks, John C. 197
Hannan, John J. 527
Hanson, John C. 207
J
Jacobus, Anthony 427
Joerschke, Herman 352
Johnson, William L 55
Jones, Thomas H. 89
Joy, Edmund L.
370
Judson, W. A. 365
Harrison, Irving B. 325
Harrison, John 250
K
Kaufmann, Albert 281
Kearns, William 321
Kent, William 423
Harvey, Hayward A 99
Keyler, John D. 347
34I
Kiersted, Robert
267
Heath, Stafford R. W. 487
Hedden, Austin E. 150
Hedden, Clarence E. 136
Hedges, Nathan. 492
Hedges, Samuel M. 464
Heinisch, Henry C. 258
Heinisch, Rochus
I3I
Helbig, Frank W. 462 Hemmer, Frederick 561
Hendry, Hugh C. 521
Herr, Charles F. 380
Hetzel, John G .. 216
Hewlett, Peter V. P. 520
Hill, David F. 558
Hiller, Christopher F 436
Hoffman, Frederick M. 152
Hoffmann, Adolf. 410
Hoffmann, Charles H. 413
Holland, Thomas B. 217
Holmes, Edward H.
67
Holmes, William D
371
Hooper, Enoch W. 398
Hornblower, Joseph C. 502 Hornfeck, H. H. 294 Horton, Elmer E 547
Houston, John C. 19I
Howe, Chester C 359
Howe, Edwin J. 527
Howe, John 482
Howell, Francis K. 409
Hunter, C.
266
Hunter, Charles W. 266
Husk, Frank I44
Husk, James H. I33
Huston, Walter A.
232
Hyer, Jackson 385
.
Lafon, Thomas 494
Laidlaw, Benjamin P. 213
Lane, Isaac 282
Lane, William 282
Lebkuecher, Julius A. II2
LeBoeuf, G.
548
Lee, Joseph
176
Lee, Peter
428
Leek, Walter I 214
Lehlbach, Charles F. J. 497
Leibe, Henry L. 507
Lemond, James K. 550
Lintott, Thomas J
336
Long, Herbert W 403
Luff, William
568
Lum, Frederick H.
375
Lyon, Ernest M.
506
M
Mac Whorter, Alexander
470
Manda, Albert
278
Hardin, John I 440
Harris Family, The. 33I
Harris, Frederick H. 331
Harrison, Alfred J 250
Harrison, C. A.
23I
Harrison, Charles W 322
Harrison, John G.
460
Harrison, Philip H. 127
Harvey, Thomas W. 105
Headley, Will C .. 433
Kingman, Thomas S.
414
Kinney, Thomas T
446
Kinney, William B.
442
Kirkpatrick, Andrew 178
Kissam, Samuel 381
Koegel, Conrad 312
Koller, John
238
Kraeuter, August
247
Krahn, Henry 185
Krause, Henry G.
335
Kridel, Jacob L.
239
Kuebler, William O 299
L
I
Iliff, Elias P 196
Ingerman, John A 177
Harrison, John D. 295
Keyler, John G.
viii
INDEX.
Mandeville, Francis N 295
Pennington, William 493
Manners, Abraham 372
Peoples, William H 312
Marsh, Charles 437
Peterson, Andrew 223
Martin, George S 430
Pier, John H. 55
Matthews, Ambrose M.
139
Pierson, Abraham 563
Matthews, John H.
422
Pierson, Hubert L.
164
Maxfield, John I
I86
Pierson, Joseph C.
108
McArthur, Robert
184
Pinneo, James B
500
Mc Carter, Thomas N.
338
Plum, Stephen H.
226
McCarter, Thomas N., Jr
340
Potter, Jonathan W
162
McCarthy, James A
18I
Powers, Charles W.
315
McDonough, James
393
McGowan, James
245
McGown, John A.
549
McGuirk, James W
203
Preston, John F.
452
Meeker, John D.
349
Melville, Alexander
271
Meyer, Michael 430
Miller, Albert A. 5II
Mitchell, Augustus J
302
Mitchell, Hugh
325
Moffet, James
275
Möller, John
531
Monteith, John
320
Moritz, Thomas
570
Read, Joshua W. 512
Reeve, Edward 279
Reeve, George W 387
Reford, J. Banks.
407
Rehmann, Louis.
228
Reichstetter, John G.
248
Ricord, Frederick W
51
Ricord, Philippe.
545
Robinson, Joseph H
548
Nathan, David B.
304
Nichols, Thomas
244
Nicoll, William C. 326
Rowland, Shepard. 78
Rudd, Robert S. 394
Rutherford, John. 483
O
Oakes, David 298
S
Sandford, George F. 519
Sandford, William E 533
Sanford, George B. 125
583
Sattler, Ludwig R. 528
Sayre, William H 364
Schalk, Herman. 458
Schlegel, Robert P 524
Schreitmueller, Henry
249
Searle, Joseph
518
Seibert, Charles L
397
Parsil, Samuel B.
373
Seidler, William F. 199
Seymour, James M 480
Shrump, Fred W. 270
Skinner, Ben M. 193
452
R
Rand, John M 530
Rankin, William, Jr 505
Ransley, John W 285
Rassbach, John 562
Read, Joshua. 486
Morrison, Daniel 277
Müller, John G.
254
Munn, Joseph A
85
Munn, Joseph L.
342
Musler, Christopher 419
N
Nash, Patrick J. 316
Rockwood, Charles G.
146
Rollinson, . H
417
Ober, Michael F. 476
Odell, John T. 188
Ogden, Josiah 569
479
Olmsted, Adelbert H. 202
Otterbein, John 263
P
Parker, Cortlandt 74
Parker Family, The. 74
Parker, James 74
Parsil, Thomas B. 348
Peck, Stephen M. 567
Pennington, Samuel H. 242
Powles, Henry 55I
Pratt, Charles R. 65
Presbyterian Church, The First. 564
Preston, Nicholas 452
Preston, Thomas F.
Noyes, William H. 257
O'Gorman, William
Sargent, James W.
INDEX. ix
Skinner, Isaac V.
535
Van Ness, Judson S 233
Slayback, David H.
129
Vogel, Adolph 465
Slayback, John W
I28
Voigt, Beda. 243
Sleght, Bevier H. 481
Voigt, Karl. 252
Smith, Aaron G. 400
Smith, Edwin.
423
Vreeland, Adrian. 529
Smith, George W
70
Smith, Harry W.
286
Smith, Harvey
195
Smith, Henry W. 400
Smith, William H
200 -
Walsh, Michael. 215
Ward, Aaron. 480
Spear, John
520
Ward, Arthur. 515
Speer, Thomas T
308
Ward, Edwin M. 553
Squier, Charles M.
413
Stager, Lemuel.
I45
Staniar, William.
366
Warren, William H. 550
Stoll, William 35I
Stonaker, Edwin H 437
Watson, William W
159
Stout, Gideon Lee. 368
Weeks, Edward W. 180
Stretch, Joseph. . 28.4
Weeks, William R.
93
Studer, Augustus
509
Weyrauch, George.
439
Sutphen, Theron Y
496
White, William H.
73
Suydam, George H 540
Whitehead, William A 494
Wilcox, Paul.
96
T
Taylor, Joseph W.
71
Taylor, William M.
92
Thum, Frederick W 517
Tillou, Abijah F I22
Tillou, Job B. . 554
Winans, Sidney B.
Wiss, Jacob 581
Woodhouse, James F. 109
504
Townley, Richard. 573
Trabold, Valentin C.
40I
Trautwein, Gottlob
514
Trautwein, John G
435
Treat, Robert.
502
Trusdell, John G. 328
U
Underwood, Charles F
532
V
Van Buskirk, Levi. 190
Van Cleve, J. H. 265
Vanderhoof, George H. I35
Van Horn, James.
538
Van Iderstine, Theodore. 189
Y
Youmans, B. Franklin 5.56
Youmans, Charles
5.56
Youmans, William B. 556
Young, Henry
382
Yudizky, William.
420
Z
Zeh, Charles M.
449
Zoerner, C. G. H.
291
Zulauf, Charle
267
169
Titsworth, Caleb S. 498
Tompkins, John. 157
Tompkins, William 159
Woodhull, Addison W
Woodruff, Philemon. 384
Woodruff, Thomas O.
165
Woodruff, William H. 390
Wrightson, James T.
434
Williams, Abram P. 153
Williams, Chauncey G. I66
Williams, George N
28.2
Williams, J. Edgar. 546
Williams, William N I2I
Williams, William S. 563
Symonds, George W. 516
W
Waldron, Edward M. 241
Wallace, William C. 274
Snyder, Henry C.
119
Ward, John F. 508
Ward, Leslie D 210
Watkins, William. 425
Voorhees, Abram 459
X
INDEX.
INDEX OF PORTRAITS : VOLUME I.
B
Bacheller, J. Henry 170
Badgley, Alfred S. I30
Baker, Thomas C. 418
Baldwin, Noah O
402
Baldwin, Warren S
229
K
Kinney, Thomas T
446
Kinney, William B.
442
178
Ball, Richard H.
I56
Barrett, Halsey M.
82
Beck, Charles I.
309
Beldon, James M
506
Benson, Henry K.
138
Bishop, Charles R.
362
Maxfield, John F.
I86
McCarter, Thomas N., Sr.
3.38
Moritz, Thomas
570
Brown, Nathaniel.
466
Buchanan Paul ..
450
Burgess, Edward G.
354
Burnet, Samuel H.
522
Burnet, Timothy
98
C
Campbell, Ira. 218
Coles, Abraham Frontispiece
Coles, J. Ackerman 26
Condit, Edmund.
330
Coult, Joseph.
II4
Courter, David B
426
Crane, Alfred J.
386
D
Denman, Thomas.
346
Dodd, Amzi.
I06
Doremus, Elias O 194
Dorer, John.
Dryden, John F.
314
90
Durand, Elias W
234
F
Fort, J. Franklin.
66
Frelinghuysen, Frederick T
56
Frey, Albert.
192
G
Goodell, Edwin B
290
Gore, John K.
578
H
Harrison, Charles W
322
Harrison, John 250
Heinisch, Henry
258
Hoffmann, Adolf
410
Howe, John.
482
Hunter, C. H. 266
J
Joy, Edmund L
370
Baldwin, William A
230
Ball, Marcus D.
306
Ball, Philander
I54
Kirkpatrick, Andrew.
L
Lane, Isaac
282
Lane, William
282
M
Breeden, Charles E.
378
Brower, Robert D.
490
O
Oakes, David.
298
Olmsted, Adelbert H.
202
P
Parker, Cortlandt.
76
Parker, James
74
Pennington, Samuel H. 242
Plum, Stephen H.
226
Potter, Jonathan W 162
R
Rand, John M
530
Rassbach, John.
562
Ricord, Frederick W.
I
Rockwood, Charles G.
146
Rudd, Robert S
394
S
Schalk, Herman
458
T
Tillou, Abijah F
I22
Tillou, Job B. 554
Titsworth, Caleb
498
Trautwein, Gottlob
514
V
Van Horn, James
5.38
W
Wallace, William C.
274
Ward, Leslie D.
210
Williams, J. Edgar.
546
Wrightson, James T.
434
.
Forth Rience.
INTRODUCTORY.
Out of the depths of his mature wisdom Carlyle wrote: "History is the essence of innumerable biographies." Farther than this what propriety can there be in advanc- ing reasons for the compilation of such a work as the one at hand? Essex county, now venerable with age and honors, has sustained within her confines men who have been prominent in the history of the state and nation from the early colonial epoch. Her annals teem with the records of strong and noble manhood and womanhood, and, as Sumner said, "The true grandeur of na- tions is in those qualities which constitute the true greatness of the individual." The final causes which shape the fortunes of individual men and the destinies of states are often the same. They are usually re- mote and obscure; their influence wholly unexpected until declared by results. When they inspire men to the exercise of courage, self-denial, enterprise, industry, and call into play the higher moral elements; lead men to risk all upon conviction, faith,-such causes lead to the planting of great states, great nations, great peoples. That nation is greatest which produces the greatest and most manly men, and the intrinsic safety depends not so much upon methods and measures as upon that true manhood from whose deep sources all that is precious and permanent in life must at last proceed.
Such a result may not consciously be con- templated by the individuals instrumental in the production of a great nation. Pur- suing each his personal good by exalted means, they work out this as a logical re- sult. They have wrought on the lines of the greatest good.
Ceaselessly to and fro flies the deft shuttle which weaves the web of human des- tiny, and into the vast mosaic fabric enter the individuality, the effort, the accomplish- ment of each man, be his station that most lowly, or one of majesty, pomp and power. Within the textile folds may be traced the line of each individuality, be it the one that lends the beautiful sheen of honest worth and honest endeavor, or one that, dark and zigzag, finds its way through warp and woof, marring the composite beauty by its blackened threads, ever in evi- dence of the shadowed and unprolific life. Into the great aggregate each individuality is merged, and yet the essence of each is never lost, be the angle of its influence wide- spreading and grateful, or narrow and bane- ful. In his efforts he who essays biography finds much of profit and much of alluring fascination when he would follow ont, in even a cursory way, the tracings of a life history, seeking to find the keynote of each respective personality. These efforts and their resulting transmission can not fail of
1
2
INTRODUCTORY.
value in an objective way, for in each case may the lesson of life be conned, "line upon line; precept upon precept."
Whether the elements of success in life are innate attributes of the individual, or whether they are quickened by a process of circumstantial development, it is impossi- ble to clearly determine. Yet the study of a successful life is none the less interest- ing and profitable by reason of the ex- istence of this same uncertainty. So much in excess of those of successes are the records of failures or semi-failures that one is constrained to attempt an analysis in either case and to determine the method of causation in an approximate way. The march of improvement and progress is accelerated day by day, and each succes- sive moment seems to demand of men a broader intelligence and a greater discern- ment than did the preceding. Successful men must be live men in this age, bristling with activity, and the lessons of biography may be far-reaching to an extent not super- ficially evident. A man's reputation is the property of the world. The laws of nature have forbidden isolation. Every human being either submits to the controlling in- fluence of others, or, as a master, wields a power for good or evil on the masses of mankind. There can be no impropriety in justly scanning the acts of any man as they affect his public, social and business rela- tions. If he be honest and successful in his chosen field of endeavor, investigation will brighten his fame and point the path along which others may follow with like success. Not alone are those worthy of biographic honors who have moved along the loftier planes of action, but to an equal extent are those deserving who are of the . rank and file of the world's workers, for
they are not less the conservators of public prosperity and material advancement.
Longfellow wrote, "We judge ourselves by what we feel capable of doing, while others judge us by what we have already done." If this golden sentence of the New England bard were uniformly applied, many a man who is now looking down with haughty stare upon the noble toilers on land and sea, sneering at the omission of the aspirate, the cut of his neighbor's coat or the humbleness of his dwelling, would be voluntarily doing penance in sackcloth and ashes, at the end of which he would handle a spade or, with pen in hand, burn the midnight oil in his study, in the en- deavor to widen the bounds of liberty or to accelerate the material and spiritual progress of his race. The humble and lowly often stand representative of the truest nobility of character, the deepest patriotism. and the most exalted purpose, and through all the gradations of life recog- nition should be had of the true values and then should full appreciation be mani- fested.
In the Biographical and Genealogical History of the City of Newark and Essex County the editorial staff, as well as the publishers, have fully realized the magni- tude of the task set them. The work is purely biographical in its province, and in the collation of material for the same there has been a constant aim to use a wise discrimination in regard to the selection of subjects, and yet to exclude none worthy of representation within its pages. Those who have been prominent factors in the public, social and industrial makeup of the county in the past have been given due recognition as far as it has been possible to secure the requisite data. Names
3
INTRODUCTORY.
worthy of perpetuation here have in sev- eral instances been omitted, either on ac- count of the apathetic interest of those con- cerned or the inability to secure the in- formation demanded. Yet, in both the contemporary narrative and the memoirs of those who have passed on to "that undis- covered country from whose bourne no traveler returns," it is believed that there has been such utilization of material as to more than fulfill all stipulations and prom- ises made at the inception of the under- taking.
In the compilation recourse has been had to divers authorities, including various his- tories and historical collections, and im- plying an almost endless array of papers and documents, public, private, social and ecclesiastical. That so much matter could be gathered from so many original sources and then sifted and assimilated for the pro- duction of a single work without incurring a modicum of errors and inaccuracies, would be too much to expect of any corps of writers, no matter how able they might
be as statisticians or skilled as compilers of such works. It is, nevertheless, believed that no inaccuracies of a serious nature can be found to impair the historical value of the volumes, and it is further believed that the results will supply the demand which called forth the efforts of the publishers and the editorial corps.
To other and specific histories has been left the task of touching the general history of the county and the city of Newark, for the function of this work is aside from this and is definite in its scope, so that a re- capitulation would be out of harmony with the compilation. However, the incidental references made to those who have been the important actors in the public and civic history of the county will serve to indicate the generic phases and will shadow forth much to those who can "read between the lines." In conclusion we can not do better than to quote another of Carlyle's terse aphorisms: "There is no heroic poem in the world but is at bottom a biography,- the life of a man."
BIOGRAPHICAL AND GENEALOGICAL HISTORY.
ABRAHAM COLES,
the widely known poet, scholar, philan- thropist, and eminent physician and sur- geon, was born in the old homestead of his family, at Scotch Plains, New Jersey, December 26, 1813, and died, dur- ing a visit to California, at the Hotel del Monte, near Monterey, May 3, 1891. He was of Scotch and Dutch descent, his an- cestors being among the earliest settlers of New York and New Jersey. His great- grandfather, William Coles, had, with his wife, established himself, in early colonial days, at Scotch Plains, and there Dr. Coles' grandfather, James Coles, was born in 1744. The latter married, in 1768, Eliza- beth Frazee. Their son, Dennis, the father of Dr. Coles, was born at Scotch Plains, in 1778, and died there in 1844. He was "a man of great culture, skilled in mathemat- ics, a lover of polite literature, a polished speaker, a member of the state legislature, a charming reader, and an accomplished writer." He acquired the printers' art, with Shepard Kollock, and in 1803 estab- lished at Newburgh, New York, a newspa- per, the Recorder of the Times, which he
conducted for three years,-a literary and financial success, which, also, under an- other name, it continued to be as late as 1876. He married, in 1802, Katrina Van Deurzen, daughter of one of the prominent citizens of Newburgh, and a descendant of the famous Dutch dominie, Everardus Bo- gardus, and his noted wife, Anneke Jans. At the solicitation of his parents, Dennis Coles sold out his Newburgh business (1806) and with his wife returned to Scotch Plains, where his son was born, as stated above.
Dr. Abraham Coles was educated by his parents until the age of twelve, when he entered the dry-goods store of a relative in New York city, with whom he remained five years. Here he acquired a thorough business education, while at the same time devoting his spare time to reading and study. At the age of seventeen he with- drew from this business to accept a posi- tion as teacher of Latin and mathematics in the academy of the Rev. Lewis Bond, at Plainfield, New Jersey. Subsequently, for six months, he studied law in the office of Hon. Joseph C. Hornblower, of Newark, and although the law was not to prove his
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ESSEX COUNTY.
chosen vocation, he, during this time, ac- his profession, becoming especially distin- guished in surgical cases, to which he was frequently called in consultation. In 1848 he went abroad, visiting England and France and making a special study of their hospitals and schools of medicine. He was in Paris during the stormy days-May and June, 1848-of the dictatorship of General Cavignac and the so-called French quired a taste and solid foundation for legal study, which he never abandoned and which in after years was invaluable to him in his association with eminent jurists. After reading Blackstone's and Kent's Commentaries with care, and in the mean- time consulting his natural tastes and in- clinations, which drew him strongly toward medicine, he chose the latter, and, . republic that followed, and, as correspond- first attending a course of lectures at the ent of the Newark Daily Advertiser, de-
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