The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 1

Author: Robson, Charles, ed; Galaxy Publishing Company, publisher
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy publishing company
Number of Pages: 924

USA > New Jersey > The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century > Part 1

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.

.3.1.1 .9 60)

ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY

n 3 1833 01805 0556 E

GENEALOGY 974.9 B517

Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016

https://archive.org/details/biographicalency00robs_0

UM L. Day tour.

THE

BIOGRAPHICAL

ENCYCLOPÆDIA

NEW JERSEY

THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.

PRINTA

TEREOTYY OTYPERS

PHILADELPHIA: GALAXY PUBLISHING COMPANY. 1877.

Allen County Public Library Ft. Wayne, Indiana .

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1877, by CHARLES ROBSON, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C.

2270351

PREFACE.

CON. RICHARD S. FIELD, in the introduction to his valuable work, "The Pro- vincial Courts of New Jersey ; with Sketches of the Bench and Bar " (published by the New Jersey Historical Society, 1849), writes : "We know more, I suspect, of the early settlers of Massachusetts and Virginia than we do of those who first planted the colony of New Jersey. I am sure we know more of the lawyers and judges of England prior to the American Revolution than we do of those of our own State. We are much more familiar with the personages who graced the Court of Queen Anne, than with those who flourished here at the same time under the rule of her kinsman, Lord Cornbury." And he continues : " I have been astonished, too, to find how few of the names of distinguished Jerseymen are to be met with in the American biographical dictionaries. While they abound with ample notices of second and third-rate men of other sections of the country, those who have been truly eminent among us seldom find a place in them. The truth is, our biographical dictionaries have, for the most part, been written by New England men, and, as it would seem, for New England. We ought to have a biographical dictionary of our own, and it may be worthy of consideration, whether a work of this description should not be undertaken under the auspices of our Historical Society." All this, so true in 1849, has gained added import in the quarter of a century and more that has since then elapsed. Eminent men then living are now dead, and the records of their honorable and useful lives, then bright, are now dim or forgotten. And with such forgetfulness a just appreciation of the events in which they were leaders, the history which they helped to form, is impossible. We see only one side ; we have the facts, but not the motives. The private lives of statesmen constitute a potent factor in the moulding of States. Much of the history of the past is sealed to us because we have no contemporaneous biographical history to give us the needed comprehension of its inner workings. The lacking quantity that Mr. Field so earnestly deprecates, this work is in a measure designed to present. That it is as complete and satisfactory as it should be, the publisher does not claim. He simply offers it as an earnest effort to bring a valuable contribution to the history of a State, full, both in its past and present, of material for the historian.

MAY, 1877.

THE

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

NEW JERSEY.

AYTON, HON. WILLIAM LEWIS, LL.D., there grew up between them a warm friendship, only inter- rupted by death. Licensed in 1830, Mr. Dayton began practice at Freehold, where his high abilities as a lawyer, his dignity, courtesy and moral worth, soon established him in a fine legal and social position. From the first he was outspoken in his Whig sentiments, and when in 1836 the Whigs determined to earnestly contest Monmouth county, a stronghold of Jacksonism, he was urged to lead the ticket as candidate for the Legislative Council. He consented, and the whole legislative ticket, with him at its head, was elected, and, after years of defeat, the Whigs, by a brilliant victory, regained control of the State. The Legislature met in October, the month of the election, and Mr. Dayton at once took rank among the leaders in a body containing many able and distinguished men. This was the com- mencement of a career which identified him with the history of the State, and made his name a household word within its borders. Placed at the head of the Judiciary Committee, he prepared the law by which the county courts, then greatly degenerated and very inefficient, were raised to a status in which they have since commanded the full confidence of the community. The reform was radical. The courts had been conducted by a large number of the most active and influential politicians in every county in the State. Under the new law they were each to be presided over by a single judge of the Supreme Court. In the face of this great personal influence and interest he succeeded in securing the prompt passage of the measure. That the provisions of the new law might be carried out it became necessary to increase the number of Supreme Court judges from three to five, and the election, under the Constitution, then resting with the Legislature, that body elected him to one of the Lawyer and Statesman, late of Trenton, was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, February 17th, 1807. He sprang from a long line of distin- guished New Jerseymen. His great-grandfather, Jonathan Dayton, settled at Elizabethtown at least as early as 1725, and about the same time his mother's grandfather built, at Baskingridge, Somerset county, the first frame building in that section. On both sides his an- cestors were conspicuous for talents and patriotic services, civil and military. In the war of independence, Elias Day- ton, granduncle of William, was a brigadier-general, while Edward Lewis, his maternal grandfather, was a commissary, and served as such during the whole war. Jonathan Day- ton, son of Elias, occupies a prominent place in history as a member of the convention which framed the Federal Constitution ; as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Fourth Congress, and as a member of the United States Senate. Either during or soon after the war, Robert Dayton, grandfather of William, moved to a farm near Baskingridge, and resided there until his death. He reared a large family, of whom his son Joel, a man of intelligence and probity, succeeded to the farm. By him, in turn, sev- eral sons were left, all of whom enjoyed a liberal education. William, the eldest, in his twelfth year, became a pupil in the academy of the celebrated Dr. Brownlee, then of Bask- ingridge, but afterwards of New York. After due prepara- tion, he entered Nassau Hall, whence he graduated in 1825. Then he entered the office of Hon. Peter D. Vroom, at Somerville, to study law. His preceptor was then the leader of the Jackson party in the State, and in 1829 was by it made Governor. Although the pupil subsequently occupied no less conspicuous a position among the Whigs, new judicial seats. Thereupon he removed from Frcehold

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

to Trenton, which ever after was his home. Although thus carly in life he had been made the recipient of high and unusual honors, he began to consider, after a short service on the bench, whether he was justified, in view of family considerations, in continuing labors so inadequately re- warded as those of a judge in those days, and finally he resigned, having sat on the bench three years, and resumed practice at the bar. He at once became a leader and se- cured a large and very lucrative clientage. In the summer of 1842, on the death of Senator Southard, he was appointed by Governor Pennington to fill the vacancy in the repre- sentation of the State in the United States Senate. He took his seat on July 6th, and when the Legislature mct in the following October he was, by the unanimous Whig vote, elected for Mr. Southard's unexpired term. In 1845 he was again, by the unanimous vote of his party, elected for the full term of six years. Entering the Senate at thirty- five, probably its youngest member, he manifested marked discretion. He seldom spoke, and only on an important question, when he always said something of worth and weight. At all times, however, he worked hard for the passage of measures he deemed good and for the defeat of those he thought bad. In the passage of the tariff of 1842 he hore an active part, and his support was of immense value, inasmuch as a previous tariff bill had been vetoed, and this one only passed the Senate by a majority of one. He also, in secret session, approved the treaty negotiated by Lord Ashburton and Mr. Webster for the settlement of the northeastern houndary question. These actions indi- cate two cardinal features of his public policy : "peace abroad, and the promotion of industry at home." On the opening of the next session the estimation in which he was held was testified by his appointment on the Judiciary Committee, whereon he served until the close of his term, excepting one session. He also served on several other

important committees. During his career in the Senate many important matters came up for discussion, and Judge Dayton occupied a very conspicuous position in all. His first speech, made February 15th, 1843, was a most eloquent and forcible defence of the character and credit of the national government, then suffering much in Europe from the failure of several of the States to pay the interest on their public debts. He demonstrated convincingly that the faith and credit of the national government had been pre- served without a spot, and far more carefully than those of the European governments. The speech was highly com- mended as unanswerable and opportune by the press and the entire country. An advocate of cheap postage, he voted in 1844 for the bill to reduce the then current rates. During this same session he made a firm stand for the independence of Senators as against "instructions " from the Legislaturcs of their respective States. IIe opposed the resolution giving notice to Great Britain of the termi- nation of the joint possession of Oregon, and after Mr. Clay's defeat under the cry of " 54° 40' or fight," Mr.

Polk's administration negotiated a treaty settling the diffi- culty on the very terms recommended by Judge Dayton and his associates-the retention of the mouth of the Co- lumbia river, and a compromise respecting the sterile and comparatively worthless region in the extreme northern part of the Territory. An attack being made during the same session on the tariff act of 1842 with a view to its repeal, he made a very elaborate argument in favor of the protective system, and his effort exerted great weight in the satisfactory conclusion reached. He opposed in 1845 the annexation of Texas, believing it was pressed with sectional motives, and to enable one portion of the Union to domi- nate, against the equities of the Constitution, over another. He again fought for protection in 1846, but Secretary Walker's revenue mcasure, superseding the tariff of 1842, became law by the casting vote of Mr. Dallas. While disapproving the course of the administration in provoking the Mexican war, he voted for all necessary supplies for its prosecution, though lie denounced the proposition to issue letters of marque and reprisal as a resort to a system of legalized piracy, the relic of a barbarous age. Subsequently he strongly supported the ratification of the treaty with Mexico, and defended his course with great power in open Congress, declaring its terms preferable to a prolongation of the war. Upon the much-vexed question of slavery in newly-acquired territory he took the ground laid down in the Wilmot proviso, contending that Congress had the right, and that it was its duty, to prevent the extension of the institution, which existed only by municipal law and could not be carried by the Constitution where it did not pre- viously exist ; while he declared the government had no right to interfere with it in the States. During the excite- ment in the Forty-first Congress respecting the admission of California, and the claims then put forward by the South, he distinguished himself by several speeches, all directed against the extension of slavery in any way, maintaining the right of California to admission independently of any concessions to the slave-holding power, and earnestly op- posing the Fugitive Slave Law. During this same session he opposed the reception of a petition praying Congress to take steps for a dissolution of the Union, on the ground that while there was a constitutional right to petition " for redress of grievances," the document in question preferred no such prayer, but asked for the abolition of the govern- ment itself-prayed Senators to be treasonable. His term expired with the next session, a short and uneventful one, and Judge Dayton returned home to practise his profession. Unknown to himself, he was nominated for the Vice- Presidency by the Republican National Convention at Philadelphia, in June, 1856, by five hundred and twenty- nine out of five hundred and sixty votes. In February, 1857, he was appointed Attorney-General of New Jersey. In the following year he declined re-election to the United States Senate. During the State campaigns of 1858 and 1859 he rendered, by request, material aid to the Opposition

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

party, formed by the fusion of the supporters of Fremont and | he accepted." The nomination was at once confirmed by Fillmore, sinking all personal considerations to promote the the Senate, and in due course Mr. Dayton sailed for France and entered upon his duties. These proved to be excep- tionally trying, but they found him at all times equal to their mastery, his eminent abilities being no less marked in his diplomacy abroad than in his statesmanship at home. Many difficult and dangerous crises in our relations with France were safely passed while the interests of our govern- ment in that country were intrusted to his care, owing largely to his wisdom and personal influence. Among them was the threatened war with England on account of the seizure of Mason and Slidell, wherein that country re- ceived the countenance and sympathy of France. Also among them were the many difficult questions arising out of the French invasion of Mexico; the presence in the ports of France of the rebel cruisers, the "Georgia," " Florida " and "Alabama," as well as of the " Rappahannock," which was at last left unarmed in the port of Calais; the building of four clipper ships at Bordeaux and Nantes, and two iron-clad rams at Nantes for the Confederate service, which through the exertions and influence of our Minister were by the French government prohibited from delivery to the Con- federates. The value of the last-mentioned service cannot be over-estimated, for had these vessels been successfully launched upon a career similar to that of the "Alabama," there can be no doubt but that American commerce would have been entirely swept from the ocean. From the testi- mony of French statesmen of the day it is evident that the maintenance of amicable relations between the two govern- ments during Mr. Dayton's term as Minister was largely owing not only to his ability and statesmanship but to his high character and candor of his advice, which always in- spired the trust and confidence of the court to which he was accredited. While discharging this high trust death over- took him quite suddenly. He died at Faris, December Ist, 1864. Funeral services were held in the American Chapel, and in addition to the religious exercises addresses were delivered by Mr. Bigelow, then the American Consul, and subsequently Minister to France, and by Professor Labou- laye, of the French Institute, in which the highest tributes were paid to his worth and public services. success of the great principles upon which both sections were agreed. At this time he earnestly advocated the homestead bill as a phase of protection and encouragement to American labor. In the National Republican Conven- tion of 1860 he was brought forward as a candidate for the nomination for President, and he occupied a very prominent position as such. When Abraham Lincoln began his ad- ministration, in March, 1861, he offered him the position of United States Minister to France. In connection with this offer the following account is given in " Elmer's Rem- iniscences of New Jersey " of an interview with the Presi- dent : "It was well known in Washington that President Lincoln entertained a high opinion of the character, abili- ties and public services of Mr. Dayton, and that if he had been permitted to exercise his own judgment, he would have given him a prominent position in his cabinet. A day or two after the abrupt entrance of the President-elect into Washington, in the month of February, 1861, the Republican delegation in Congress from New Jersey had, by appoint- ment, a formal interview with him at his rooms in Willard's Hotel, to urge upon him a suitable recognition of Mr. Day- ton in the formation of his cabinet. Senator Ten Eyck was made the spokesman of the delegation, and he opened the subject with a somewhat elaborate statement of the worth, talents and party claims of the distinguished Jerseyman. Mr. Lincoln's reply was prompt and characteristically can- did. ' It is not necessary,' he said, ' to speak to me in praise of Mr. Dayton ; I have known him since we served in the different houses of Congress, at the same time, and there is no public man for whose character I have a higher admira- tion. When the telegraphic wires brought to Springfield the news of my election, my first thought was that I would have him associated with me in council, and would make him Secretary of State. But New York is a great State, and Mr. Seward has many friends, and I was compelled by the pressure upon me to give up the thought. I then de- sired to arrange for him some other cabinet position, com- mensurate with his abilities; but Pennsylvania, another great State, you know, was bound to have a place for Mr. Cameron, and I again reluctantly yielded. I then said to myself, Mr. Dayton deserves the best place abroad, and I will send him to the Court of St. James. But New Eng- land pressed her claims for notice, and united upon Mr. Adams, and I was driven from that purpose. I then thought of the French mission, and wondered if that would not suit him. I have put my foot down now, and will not be moved. I shall offer that place to Mr. Dayton, and hope it will prove satisfactory to him and his friends.' The interview here cnded, and although it was generally under- stood that the President was surrounded by influences hostile to Mr. Dayton, and jealous of his recognition and advancement, yet he adhered to his resolution, and offercd to him the mission to France, which, after some hesitation,

ROOM, IION. PETER D., LL.D., Lawyer, Governor and Chancellor of New Jersey for six years, late of Trenton, was born in the township of Hillsborough, Somerset county, New Jersey, December 12th, 1791. Ile was of Dutch extrac- tion. Ilis father, Coloncl Peter D. Vroom, an old and highly respected citizen of Somerville, was born in 1745; lived in New York during early life, and married Elsie Bogert, also of Dutch origin. At the commencement of the Revolutionary war Colonel Vroom was among the

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

first to raise a military company; he served throughout the struggle, fighting his way up to the rank of Lieutenant- Colonel. He held various county offices, such as clerk of the pleas, sheriff, and justice of the peace, and served for a long term in the Assembly and in the Council. An hon- ored elder in the Dutch Reformed Church, he lived to see his son Governor of the State, and died full of years and honor in 1831. His son, Peter D., received his preparatory education at Somerville Academy, and became a student in Columbia College, New York, in 1806, graduating two years subsequently. Having a taste for law, he read with George McDonald, of Somerville; was licensed as attorney in May, 1813, and as counsellor in 1816; twelve years later he was called to be a sergeant. He began practice at Schooley's Mountain, in Morris county, but after eighteen months removed to Hacketstown, where, however, he re- mained but two years, transferring his office to Flemington. In these places he enjoyed a fair practice and laid the foundation of his subsequent reputation. During his resi- dence at Flemington lie married Miss Dumont, a daughter of Colonel Dumont, of Somerset county, whose sister was the wife of Frederick Frelinghuysen. In 1820 he made another removal, returning to his native county and open- ing his office in Somerville, where he lived for more than twenty years. Politically a Federalist, he did not partici- pate actively in political movements until 1824, when he became an ardent supporter of General Jackson, being especially attracted to that statesman by his famous letter to President Monroe deprecating partisanship in the selection of a national cabinet. During the years 1826, 1827 and 1829 he served as a member of the Assembly from Somerset county, and in the last-named year he was elected Governor. At that time the Governor was also Chancellor and Ordi- nary. He was re-elected in the two succeeding years, but in 1832 was defeated by Mr. Southard. In 1833, 1834 and 1835 he was again elected, but in 1836 declined renomina- tion on account of impaired health. His decisions in the Court of Chancery during these years tended to establish securely the character imparted to the court by his prede- cessor, Chancellor Williamson, and stand, for the most part, unquestioned to the present day. After retiring from the gubernatorial chair he resumed practice at Somerville, but in 1837 he was absent for several months in Mississippi, having been appointed by President Van Buren one of three commissioners to adjust land reserve claims under the Choc- taw Indian treaty. In 1838 he became a candidate for Congress, and was elected, but owing to irregularities in some of the returns failed to receive the Governor's com- mission. The matter was long and bitterly contested, and eventually a decision was rendered in his favor, Congress going behind the broad seal of the State and ascertaining that Mr. Vroom had received a clear majority. This contest is known as the "broad seal war." At the expiration of his Congressional term he made Trenton his home, and his first wife having died, he about this time married a daughter

of General Wall. When, in 1844, a convention assembled to revise the State constitution, he sat as a delegate from his native county ; served as Chairman of the Committee on the Legislative Department, and labored conspicuously throughout the work of revision. In 1848 he was asso- ciated with Henry W. Green, Stacy G. Potts and William L. Dayton in bringing the statutes into conformity with the new constitution, and in consolidating the numerous supple- ments. Chief-Justice Green's term expiring, Mr. Vroom was nominated by Governor Fort as his successor, and the Senate promptly confirmed the nomination, but he declined. In 1853 he accepted the mission to the Court of Prussia, and resided in Berlin until 1857, when he was recalled, at his own request, and returned to the practice of his profession. A difficult question with which he was called upon to deal while in Prussia was the claim of Prussian subjects, who after naturalization as American citizens had returned to their native country, to protection against the military law of Prussia. Our government refused protection, on the ground that if such citizens returned voluntarily to the juris- diction of the country whose laws they had broken prior to naturalization as Americans they must suffer the conse- quences of their unlawful acts. To convince those who had fallen under punishment and looked to him for relief of the justice of this principle was no easy matter, but Mr. Vroom managed this difficult task with great judgment and success. In 1860 he was placed upon the electoral ticket by the Breckinridge and Lane party, but was defeated. While earnestly opposed to the measures of the northern abolitionists, he was just as strongly opposed to the secession

doctrines of the Southern extremists. In the Peace Con- ference, which met at Washington on February 4th, 1861, he was one of the nine representatives from New Jersey, and was a member of the committee, composed of one representative from each State, to which were referred the various propositions for the restoration of harmony and preservation of the Union. This committee, after many long and protracted sessions, at which Mr. Vroom was a punctual, faithful and active attendant, reported on Feb- ruary 15th, but only failure resulted. The causes of this failure were thus stated by him in an address to the voters of New Jersey, published in 1862: " Radical politicians everywhere opposed the adjustment. The Union men in the border States were earnest in their entreaties. They foresaw and foretold with almost prophetic distinctness what would be the results of a failure. The Crittenden resolu- tions ; the propositions of the Peace Convention, either, if agreed to by Congress, might have saved the country. But secessionists in the South opposed them. The radicals of the North and East opposed them. The great Republican party, everywhere, with some honorable exceptions, were unwilling to abandon their platform. They insisted it should be carried out to the letter, no matter what might be the consequences. Some assured the people that there was no danger; that everything would be quieted in thirty

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 1

Author: Robson, Charles, ed; Galaxy Publishing Company, publisher Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy publishing company Number of Pages: 924

Author: Robson, Charles, ed; Galaxy Publishing Company, publisher
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy publishing company
Number of Pages: 924