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The Passaic Valley
NEW JERSEY
IN THREE CENTURIES
Biographical and Genealogical Records of the Valley and Vicinity of the Passaic Past and Present & Illustrated
JOHN WHITEHEAD, LL.D., Editor
OF . THE .
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THE . GREAT
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F . NEW JERSEY
MDCCLXXVI
The New Jersey Genealogical Company 136 Liberty Street :: :: New York
THENLA NO PUBLIC LIETARY 255996
PAL IEN FOUNDALKYS. PARTY! .1
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THE WINTHROP PRESS NEW YORK
Let the young generations yet to be Look kindly upon this. Think how your fathers left their native land. -Pastorius.
BIOGRAPHICAL
A BRAHAM COLES, M.D., Ph.D., LL.D., eminent as a poet, scholar, philanthropist, physician, surgeon, was born at Scotch Plains, N. J., December 26, 1813, and died during a visit to California, at the Hotel del Monte, near Monterey, May 3, 1891. Ile was of Scotch and Dutch descent, his ancestors being among the earliest set- tlers of Plymouth and Cape Cod, Mass., New York, and New Jersey. His great-grandfather, William Coles (son of James, Jr., and a grandson of James, Sr., the first of the family of Coles to buy land and settle at the " Scot's Plains," April 23, 1688), married Elizabeth (" Betsey ") Dennis, of Wood- bridge. N. J., a descendant of Thomas Dennis, who came over to Massachusetts with John Winthrop in 1630. James (1744-1812), son of William and Elizabeth (" Betsey " Den- nis) Coles, married Elizabeth Frazer, and their fourth child was Dennis, the father of Abraham. Dennis Coles (1778- 1844) was " a man of rare culture, skilled in mathematics, a lover of polite literature, a member of the State Legislature, a polished speaker, and an accomplished writer." He ac- quired the printer's art with Shepard Kollock, and in 1803 established a newspaper, the Recorder of the Times, at New- burgh, N. Y., which he edited and published for three years with literary and financial success. He married (in 1802) Katrina Van Deurzen, daughter of one of the prominent citizens of Newburgh, and a descendant of the famous Dutch dominio, Everardus Bogardus, and his noted wife, Anneke Jans. At the solicitation of his parents Dennis Coles sold out his Newburgh business, and with his wife returned to Scotch Plains.
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Dr. Abraham Coles was educated by his parents until the age of twelve, when he entered the dry goods store of a rela- tive in New York City, with whom he remained five years. Here he acquired a business education, at the same time devoting his spare time to reading and study. At the age of seventeen he withdrew from the New York business to ac- cept a position as teacher of Latin and mathematics in the academy of Rev. Mr. Bond, at Plainfield, N. J. Subse- quently for six months he studied law in the office of Hon. Joseph C. Hornblower, of Newark, and, although the prac- tice of law was not to prove his chosen vocation, he so ap- plied himself to his studies that he acquired a taste and solid foundation for the knowledge of legal principles which he never lost, 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 meantime consulting his natural tastes and inelina- tions, which drew him strongly toward the practice of medi- cine, he chose the latter profession, and, first attending a course of lectures at the University and the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons in New York City, he entered Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, Pa., from which he was graduated in 1835. The year following he opened an office as physician and surgeon in Newark, N. J. In 1842 he mar- ried Caroline E. Ackerman, daughter of Jonathan C. and Maria S. Ackerman, of New Brunswick, N. J. She died in 1845, leaving one son and one daughter.
Dr. Coles soon won a high position in his profession, be- coming especially distinguished 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 the hospitals and schools of medicine of those two countries. He was in Paris during the stormy days-May and June, 1848-of the dictatorship of General Cavignac and the so-called French Republic that followed, and, as correspondent of the Newark Daily Advertiser, described the bloody scenes of which he was an eye-witness. Returning to Newark, he at once resumed practice. At this time he was regarded as the most accomplished practitioner in Newark, eminent alike for his professional and literary ac-
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BIOGRAPHICAL
quirements. In 1854 he again went abroad, traveling exten- sively, studying the continental languages, and adding largely to his store of medical knowledge by contact, so- cially and in consultation, with the most eminent physi- vians and surgeons of Europe. He also wrote charming letters from Italy, as correspondent again of the Newark Daily Advertiser. At Florence, at the home of the Hon. and Mrs. William B. Kinney, he met Robert and Elizabeth Bar- rett Browning, the Trollopes, and others, and was often at the house and studio of Hiram Powers. After an absence of a little over a year and a half he again returned, resum- ing his professional life at Newark.
The life, character, and celebrity of Dr. Coles, eminent as he was as physician and surgeon, are chiefly connected with his literary and scholarly attainments, his published writ- ings, and particularly his religions hymns and translations, which have given him a world-wide reputation. He had early in his professional career been a contributor to vari- ous periodicals, and short isolated poems had appeared from his pen, but it was not until 1847 that he brought out the first of his eighteen translations of " Dies Irae," and made a pronounced impression upon the literary world. This hymn, the composition of a monk, was written originally in the Latin of the thirteenth century. It has not only com- manded the admiration of crities generally, but has exer- cised a powerful intinence upon many eminent characters. Dr. Jolinson could not read the original without bursting into tears. Sir Walter Scott repeated portions of it in his dying moments. It was also upon the lips of the Earl of Roscommon the moment he expired. Goethe introduced portions of it in his " Faust." It has been set to the sub- limest music and forms the subject of Mozart's immortal " Regniem." It has been translated into various languages, but all English versions had hitherto signally failed. The translation of Dr. Coles attracted immediate and wide atten- tion, both in this country and Europe.AIt was set to music in Henry Ward Beecher's "Plymouth Collection of Hymns "; a portion of it was introduced into Mrs. Stowe's " Uncle Tom's Cabin "; and James Russell Lowell gave it a most favorable criticism in the Atlantic Monthly.
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In 1855, on his second European tour, while visiting the Lake District, Westmoreland, England (associated with the memory of Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge, and De Quincy), Dr. Coles wrote his much admired poem entitled " Winde- mere." In 1859 he published his first translation of " Dies Irae," with twelve others which he had made since 1847. This publication received unqualified praise from the critics, including Richard Grant White, the Rev. Drs. James W. Alexander and William R. Williams, William Cullen Bry- ant, and George Ripley, of the Tribune. In 1865 he pub- lished his first translation of the passion hymn, "Stabat Mater Dolorosa," which, like " Dies Irae," has been made the theme of some of the most celebrated musical composi- tions. It was set to music in the sixteenth century by Palestrina, and has inspired the compositions of Haydn, Bellini, Rossini, and others. The prima donna, Clara Louise Kellogg, in Rossini's "Stabat Mater," used Dr. Coles's translation. Dr. Philip Schaff, alluding to some eighty Ger- man and several English translations that had been made up to that time, said : " Dr. Coles has best succeeded in a faithful rendering of the Mater Dolorosa. His admirable English version carefully preserves the measure of the original." In 1866 appeared his " Old Gems in New Set- tings " (3d Ed., 1891), in which many treasured old Latin hymns, including " De Contemptu Mundi " and " Veni Sancti Spiritus," are skillfully and gracefully translated. In the following year he published his translation of " Stabat Mater Speciosa " (2d Ed., 1891).
In 1866, before the centennial meeting of the New Jersey State Medical Society held in Rutgers College, New Bruns- wick, of which he was President, Dr. Coles read his poem entitled " The Microcosm," which was published in the pro- ceedings of the society. This poem was subsequently (in 1881) published in a volume containing "The Microcosm (5th Ed., 1891), National Lyrics, and Miscellaneous Poems," together with three additional versions of " Dies Irae." The volume was favorably criticised in this country and Europe. The Hon. James McCarthy, of England, wrote: " I am sur- prised to see. in looking through your volume, ' The Micro- cosm, and other Poems,' that you have been able to add
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BIOGRAPHICAL
three more versions to those you have already made of that wonderful Latin hymn, . Dies Irae' Certainly it is the most difficult to translate. I like your last version especially." " The idea of the . Microcosm,'" said John G. Whittier, "is novel and daring, but it is worked out with great skill and delicacy." " In lines of easy and flowing verse the author sets forth with a completeness certainly remarkable, and with great power and beauty, the incomparable marvels of structure and function of the human body." The Critic (New York) said, alluding to " The Microcosm ": " Follow- ing it are to be found some of the best devotional and patri- otic poetry that has been written in this country."
In 1874 Dr. Coles published " The Evangel" (pp. 400, 2d Ed., 1891). " The purpose of this volume," said George Rip- ley in the Tribune, " would be usually regarded beyond the scope of poetie composition. It aims to reproduce the scenes of the Gospel history in verse, with a strict adherence to the sacred narrative, and no greater degree of imagina- tive coloring than would serve to present the facts in the most impressive light." Referring to the measure in which the author had justified the boldness of his attempt, he adds: " The oriental cast of his mind allures him to the haunts of sacred song, and produces a vital communion with the spirit of Hebrew poetry. Had he lived in the days of Isaiah or Jeremiah he might have been one of the bards who sought inspiration at ' Siloa's brook that flowed fast by the oracle of God.'" Whittier said of him, in connection with this volume: " Dr. Coles is a born hymn writer. No man living or dead has so rendered the text and the spirit of the old and wonderful Latin hymns. He has also written some of the sweetest of Christian hymns. His 'All the Days' and 'Ever with Thee' are immortal songs. It is better to have written them than the stateliest of epics." In 1884 the Appletons issued Dr. Coles's poem, " The Light of the World," as a single volume, and also bound together with a second edition of " The Evangel " under the general title, "The Life of our Lord in Verse, being a complete har- monized exposition of the four Gospels." In this work the author not only sustained his high devotional standard, the grace and elegance of his verse, but coupled with them in
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his notes a vast fund of expository knowledge. The work attracted wide attention in Europe, and was favorably criticised by Right Hon. John Bright and Right Hon. Will- iam E. Gladstone. In his disquisition on the Miracle at Cana he maintains that Christ's character justifies the be- lief that the gallons of wine He created answered to the wine of Nature ( Must-mustum vinum, defined in the stand- ard dictionaries, " New Wine-the expressed juice of the grape, sweet and unfermented "), not to the wine of Art, which is less a making than an unmaking, alcohol being unmade sugar, which men brand poison. He affirms that Christ, the Divine Physician, knowing the subtle nature of the poison, led no one into temptation. In 1888 appeared another volume entitled " A new Rendering of the Hebrew Psalms into English Verse, with notes critical, historical, and biographical, including an historical sketch of the French, English, and Scotch metrical versions." The work at once received unqualified praise and a wide reading, eliciting special commendation from prominent critics both in America and Europe.
During his travels abroad Dr. Coles had been greatly im- pressed with the private and public parks of Europe, and as early as 1862 he inaugurated a unique project of landscape gardening upon seventeen acres of his ancestral farm at Scotch Plains, N. J., converting it into a park of rare and enchanting beauty. It was adorned with native groves, every attainable choice variety of tree and shrub, with im- ported statuary garden and lawn effects. It was named " Deerhurst," from its herd of native deer. Here he had his library and study, built of brick, stone, and foreign and native woods, memorable alike for its architectural beauty, its " easy-chair," its works of art, and as the rendezvous of distinguished guests. Here the doctor spent the last thirty years of his life with his son and daughter as constant asso- ciates, the latter gracefully presiding over their father's es- tablishment, among literary and professional friends who recognized in him not only the eminent physician, the scholar of wide literary culture, proficient in Greek, Latin, lIebrew, Sanscrit, and the modern languages, but above all the poet of international reputation.
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BIOGRAPHICAL
While on a visit with his son and daughter to California Dr. Coles died suddenly, May 3, 1891, from heart complica- tion, resulting from an attack of la grippe. At the time of his decease his life and works were extensively commented upon by the press, secular and religious. Innumerable dis- patches and letters of condolence were received from dis- tinguished authors throughout the literary work, from the Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C., from distin- guished members of the bar, from the chief names among the clergy, and from distinguished personages abroad. The funeral services were held in Newark, N .J., the private services at the home of his married life on Market Street, and the public services in the Peddie Memorial Church. An address by Rev. Charles F. Deems, D.D., of New York, was preceded by the singing of Dr. Coles's hymns, " Ever with Thee " and " All the Days." An address by George Dana Boardman, D.D., was followed by the singing of Dr. Coles's translation of St. Bernard's hymn, "JJesu Dulcis Me- moria."
The New Jersey Historical Society attended in a body. The pallbearers were Vice-Chancellor Abram V. Van Fleet, Judge (now Chief Justice) David A. Depue, ex-Chan- cellor Theodore Runyon, Hon. Amzi Dodd, Hon. Thomas N. MeCarter, Hon. Cortlandt Parker, Hon. A. Q. Keasbey, Hon. Frederick W. Ricord, Noah Brooks, Alexander H. Ritchie, L. Spencer Goble, William Rankin, J. W. Schoch, Edmund C. Stedman, Dr. Ezra M. Hunt, Dr. A. W. Rogers, Dr. S. HI. Pennington, Dr. B. L. Dodd, and Dr. J. C. Young.
Dr. Coles's works are found in nearly all the publie libra- ries of Europe and this country. " His style," says a promi- nent critic, " has individuality as much as that of Samuel Johnson or Thomas Carlyle. One certainly sees how thoughts sublime tind expression in terse and stately sen- tences, and how words are chosen such as come out of the depth of inspiration and genius." " Dr. Coles's researches," says Edmund Clarence Stedman, " made so lovingly and conscientiously in the special field of his poetie scholarship, have given him a distinct and most enviable position among American authors. The ' tone ' of all his works is perfect." Noah Brooks, LL.D., author and editor, said : " Dr. Coles,
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although playful and even mirthful in some phases of his disposition, was never trivial, and most of his work which he has left to us is an indication of the seriousness, even solemnity, with which he regarded human existence, its necessities, its responsibilities, and its future. He had no time to devote any part of his commanding talents to dainti- ness or superficialities. . Christ and His Cross are all my theme' was evidently his maxim in life. His poetry was suffused with love and admiration of Christ's character and attributes, and he never saw man without beholding in him the image of the Master."
In addition to his published works Dr. Coles left at his death in manuscript translations of the whole of Bernard of Clairvaux's " Address to the Various Members of Christ's Body Hanging on the Cross "; the whole of Hildebert's " Address to the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity "; selections from the Greek and Latin classics; and various writings on literary, medical, and scientific subjects.
His " Passion Hymn," modeled on verses of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, addressed to the seven members of Christ's body on the cross, left unpublished, is as follows :
Dear Jesus, hail ! stoop from Thy height, My Health, my Glory, my Delight ! Stoop from Thy Cross, and 'mid Thy pain Speak peace unto my soul again ! Low at Thy bleeding feet I fall, And on Thy boundless mercy call.
Hail, God and Man ! the sinner's Ilope ! On Thee my streaming eyes I ope.
What majesty and meanness meet ! llow pours the blood from hands and feet !
O, matchless Grace! blood freely spilt, To wash away the stains of guilt.
Hail, suffering Lord! by nails upborne, The object of men's hate and scorn. O, might I elimh, Love so endears, And kiss and bathe each wound with tears!
Monrn and rejoice that I must owe My life to such a cost of woe!
llow meek that Head, at whose dread nod All shakes beneath the throne of God! How helpless seem these pierced Hands, By which the whole creation stands!
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BIOGRAPHICAL
For joy of love the Godhead came, Endured the cross, despised the shame.
Hail, Son of God! who me to save, Took on the fashion of a slave. One drop of blood on me let fall, My Substitute, my Life, my All ! That Heaven and Earth may witness be
Its power to save by saving me!
The honorary titles of Dr. Coles were: A.M. from Rutgers College, New Jersey; Ph. D. from the University of Lewis- burg, Pennsylvania; and LL.D., conferred in 1871, by the College of New Jersey, at Princeton. An heroic-size bronze bust of Dr. Abraham Coles by John Quincy Adams Ward was formally unveiled in Washington Park, Newark, N. J., .July 5, 1897. The foundation of the pedestal consists of a bowlder weighing abont seven tons, brought from Ply- mouth. Mass., near the landing place of the Pilgrim Fathers. On this is built up the rest of the pedestal of stones quarried in Palestine, from Bethlehem, Nazareth, Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives, the four corner posts of its Massachusetts granite enclosure being lava blocks from the Sea of Galilee.
JONATHAN ACKERMAN COLES, A.B., AM., M.D., only son of Abraham and Caroline E. (Ackerman) Coles, was born in Newark, N. J., May 6, 1843, in the building No. 222 Market Street, purchased by his father in 1842, and ren- dered historie by reason of its having, by its brick construc- tion, stopped the spread of the great tire in 1836. He was prepared for college at the school of Forest and Quackenbos in New York City, where he was awarded the prizes for proficiency in rhetoric and German. In 1860 he entered the freshman class of Columbia College, New York. In his senior year, by the unanimous decision of Professor Charles Davies, Professor Murray Nairne, and Professor William G. Peck, he received the " Philolexian Prize for Best Es- say." He was graduated in 1864, and in 1867 received the degree of A.M.
After graduation he began the study of medicine and
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surgery in the office of his father, in Newark, and after matriculating at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York City, entered as a student of medicine the office of Professor T. Gaillard Thomas. At the annual com- mencement of the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in 1867, he received from Professor Alonzo Clark the Harzen prize for the best written report of clinical instruction given during the year in the medical and surgical wards of the
New York Hospital. He was graduated with honor in 1868, and after serving in the New York, Bellevue, and Charity Hospitals, opened an office in the City of New York, becoming a member of the New York Academy of Medicine and the New York County Medical Society. The years 1877 and 1878 he spent for the most part in Europe attending lec- tures and clinics at the Universities of London, Edinburgh, Paris, Heidelberg, Berlin, and Vienna. While at Edinburgh he was the guest of Professor Simpson. At Paris he was the guest of his father's friend and college classmate, Dr. J. Marion Sims. At Munich, Bavaria, in company with Dr. Sims, he attended the meetings of the International Medical Congress, and, by invitation, there participated in the hon- ors bestowed upon this distinguished American surgeon, whose excellent bronze statue now adorns Bryant Park in the City of New York. After visiting the North Cape, Rus- sia, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, Italy, and Spain he returned home and became associated with his father in the practice of his profession, which he has continued in Newark and Scotch Plains to the present time.
In 1891 Dr. Coles was elected President of the Union County Medical Society of New Jersey. He has filled other offices of public and private trust. He is a Fellow of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, a member of the New York Historical Society, a life member and trustee of the New Jersey Historical Society, a member of the Washi- ington Association of Morristown, etc. He is a permanent delegate to the New Jersey State Medical Society, and a member of the American Medical Association. He has con- tributed to the press and published articles on medical and educational subjects, and edited some new editions of his father's works.
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BIOGRAPHICAL
Ou Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1895, with appro- priate ceremonies, there was unveiled in Lincoln Park, New- ark, N. J., a gift from Dr. J. A. Coles consisting of a life- size group in bronze representing au incident at the close of the Indian war of 1764, told by Parkman and others. This magnificent work of art was executed at Rome, Italy, by the distinguished American sculptor, C. B. Ives. Mayor
Lebkuecher, of Newark, in accepting the gift, said: " It gives me much pleasure to accept for the first time in the history of the city a gift from one of its private citizens which shall be for many generations a civic monument of beauty and a source of pride to the residents of Newark. As a memorial it will recall the valuable services rendered in the interests of science and education by the donor's dis- tinguished father, the late Dr. Abraham Coles." In com- pliance with a recommendation of the Rt. Bov. John Wil- Hams, D.D., LL. D., Chancellor of Trinity College and Bishop of Connectient, the last stanzas of the National hymns, " Columbia the Land of the Free " and " My Native Land," by Dr. Abraham Coles, were inscribed on the marble pedes- tal of the bronze.
In 1877 Dr. J. A. Coles gave to the people of New Jersey the famous painting (figures life-size) in the main hall of the State House, Trenton, known as " The Good Samari- tan," the joint work of Daniel Huntington and Paul Dela- roche. Individually and as executor of his father's estate he has also given many choice and rare works of art to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and to Columbia, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, and other universities and insti- tutions of learning throughout the United States. Recently, by a donation of shares of stock belonging to his father's estate, he secured to the New Jersey Historical Society the control and possession of the beautiful stone building built by the Newark Library Association on West Park Street and now ocenpied by the Historical Society.
Since their father's death Dr. J. A. Coles and his sister, Emilie S. Coles (a successful writer of prose and verse), have retained the ownership of the homestead buildings in Newark and the family residence and grounds at Scotch Plains, the doctor occupying offices in the former, but mak-
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ing his home at " Deerhurst," Miss Coles, as in former years, presiding over the domestic arrangements thereof. Here are still to be found statuary and paintings by the best ar- tists, native and foreign, including the large oil painting (from the Paris Salon, France), "Pharaoh Pursuing the Israelites at the Crossing of the Red Sea," regarded as the masterpiece of Frederic A. Bridgman.
WILLIAM BURNET KINNEY was lineally descended from Sir Thomas Kinney, an English baronet, who was knighted on account of his scientific attainments, especially in mineralogy. Some years prior to the Revolution Sir Thomas visited America for the purpose of examining the mineral resources of New Jersey, to which the attention of the people of England had been called by the letters of Gov- ernor Burnet and the reports of the " Lords Commissioners of Trade and Planta- tions." Finding in Mor- ris County, which then ineluded Sussex, a wide field for operations, he resolved to make New Jersey his home, and settled permanently near Morristown, where he died April 3, 1793. His son, Colonel Abra- ham Kinney, and his wife, Hannah, daughter of Dr. William Burnet, eminent as a scientist, soldier, statesman, and jurist, were the parents of William B. Kinney. Dr. William Burnet, Jr., WILLIAM B. KINNEY. brother of Hannah Bnr- net Kinney, had several daughters, of whom Mary married Chief Justice Joseph C. Hornblower and Caroline married Governor William Pen-
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