USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > Biographical and genealogical history of the city of Newark and Essex County, New Jersey, V. 1 > Part 10
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recognition of such men as Chief-Justice Hornblower, Asa Whitehead, Elias Van Arsdale, Governor Pennington, John P. Jackson, Oliver S. Halsted and many other leading lawyers were extended to him. He was soon appointed city attorney, an office bringing him in contact with the in- dustrial classes and securing for him a general interest in the government and business of the city. His early appoint- ment as the retained counsel of the New Jersey Central Railroad Company and the Morris Canal & Banking Company pro- vided a rare field for the development and exhibition of his legal capabilities. Re- quired to appear before courts and juries in different counties, in hotly contested suits at law, meeting as antagonists the strongest counsel in the state and abroad, and in the highest courts of the state, within a few years he stood in the foremost rank of the New Jersey bar. He became not only an eloquent advocate, capable of swaying juries, but an able lawyer, prepar- ing and conducting most important cases with strategic skill and eminent success. A formidable antagonist in any cause, civil or criminal, his practice became lucrative and enviable. It is especially noteworthy that in achieving his eminence at the bar he relied not more upon his eloquence and genius than upon the unwearied diligence with which he studied and toiled.
Patriotism was a strong virtue and an inheritance in Mr. Frelinghuysen and he kept well read in the politics of his state and country. He was frequently called to address large political gatherings. As far back as 1840 he was one of the speakers at the Whig state convention, at Trenton, in the presidential campaign of that mem- orable year. Having acquired eminent
legal distinction, and . with an unbroken line of ancestry standing high in the annals of honorable official positions, his ambition to follow in the same path was a logical sequence. It is recorded that the only instance in which he failed to obtain the appointment he desired was in 1857, when he was a candidate for the attorney-gen- eralship of New Jersey, ex-Senator William L. Dayton, who failed in re-election as United States senator, being the success- ful candidate. But in 1861, Attorney- General Dayton being nominated by Presi- dent Lincoln as minister to France, Gov- ernor Olden, who had in the meantime been elected governor, appointed Mr. Fre- linghuysen to the vacant place. In 1866, when the term of the office of attorney- general expired, Marcus L. Ward, who was then governor, renominated Mr. Freling- huysen for a new term in that office. He filled this office with eminent ability. It was the stormy period of the civil war, and the legislation of that day demanded much special labor, attention and official assist- ance. During this trying period he spent the most of his time at Trenton, in dis- charging the duties of his office and bravely sustaining the governor in defending the Union. The years which covered the war of the Rebellion were pre-eminently an educational period,-one that tested and demanded the profoundest application of the minds of public men to comprehend the principles of civil government and to solve the hard problems that rose out of the attempted secession of states and the question of the rights of freedmen. No one learned more rapidly and thoroughly in this school for making statesmen than did Attorney-General Frelinghuysen, who had already become one of the most popular
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political speakers in his state, being well read in history and the politics of the coun- try and capable of electrifying the masses when he appeared before them.
Thus prepared, upon the death of Will- iam Wright, of Newark, United States senator from New Jersey, in 1866, Gover- nor Ward appointed Mr. Frelinghuysen as Mr. Wright's successor, and he took his seat in the senate in December, 1866. In the winter of 1867 he was elected by the legislature to fill the unexpired term of Mr. Wright, which would end March 4, 1869. At the expiration of his term the legislature of New Jersey was Democratic, but Mr. Frelinghuysen had taken such high rank in the senate and had been so able and eloquent a supporter of President Grant's administration that, in 1870, he was nominated by President Grant, and confirmed by the senate, as minister to England. This honorable position, which the most ambitious public men have so fondly coveted, Mr. Frelinghuysen, singu- larly enough, declined. The reason, which did not appear until after his death, throws a beautiful sidelight upon Mr. Freling- huysen's intense devotion to the purity and simplicity of his home life. It is recorded that he stated in private conversation that he declined "because Mrs. Frelinghuysen was opposed to exposing her children to the influence of court life which the mis- sion would involve," and he yielded to her wish. In 1871, however, there again oc- curred in the senate a vacancy to be filled from New Jersey for a full term, and the legislature was Republican. The public eye was at once directed toward Mr. Fre- linghuysen, and after a spirited struggle in caucus he was elected by the legislature, for a term of six years, from 1871.
It was in the senate that Mr. Frelinghuy- sen added the choicest laurels to his fame. The senate chamber was admirably adapted to his tastes and qualifications. Versed in the science of law and civil government, possessed of oratorical graces, with keen and skillful dialectic power in debate, of fine presence and dignity of action, con- scious of integrity, nerved with indomit- able courage blended with faultless Chris- tian courtesy, with an inborn patriotism, and spurred on by ancestral prestige, he entered at once into the honors of the sen- ate and became a prominent and leading member of that august body. He was there during the reconstruction period, when every phase of legislation required the profoundest statesmanship, but he was both ready and ripe, diligent, assiduous and watchful and alert to grapple every new and important question that arose. As a member of the judiciary committee, the finance committee, the committee on naval affairs, the committee on claims and on railroads and as chairman of the com- mittee on agriculture he was charged with a varied and often perplexing responsibil- ity.
During his career in the senate he took part in the impeachment trial of President Johnson, and his judicial opinion, filed in the public record of that court, was brief, clear and convincing. He took a promi- nent part in the debate on the Washing- ton treaty, and also in the French arms controversy, and he raised his voice em- phatically against polygamy as engrafted upon the body politic of Utah. The meas- ure to return to Japan the balance of the indemnity fund not used for the payment of American claims, though just and hon- orable, was not carried until after a pro-
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longed struggle, and the success of this measure was due to Senator Frelinghuy- sen's efforts. He introduced the bill to restore a gold currency and he took charge of Mr. Sumner's bill for reconstruction after the Massachusetts statesman had be- come unable to look after it.
It is impossible in a limited sketch to enter into details concerning even Senator Frelinghuysen's more notable speeches, through which he made a brilliant record for himself and his state. He voted and spoke invariably against the inundation of the flood of bills for relief which were founded upon claims of southern loyalists during the war, and which, if carried to their logical consequences, would have swamped the national treasury. He spoke on the supplementary reconstruction bill, in 1868, with great eloquence and force and with a radicalism born of sagacious conservatism. The situation was a critical one. The constitutional amendments formed the background, and the state gov- ernments of the south must be reorganized. The white population refused to reorganize and recognize at the same time the rights guaranteed to the freedman by the consti- tutional amendments. The alternative on the part of congress was to confer on the freedman full citizenship,-the right to vote and to be voted for. Senator Freling- huysen, always cautious and conservative, upon this question became as radical as any senator on the Republican side, and bril- liantly and with rare logic and force, cov- ering in his arguments both the "sover- eignty" of the nation and the constitution- ality of the reconstruction laws, not only kept pace with the advance of public sen- timent but sagaciously stood for a govern-
ment which should be the same in every section.
A change in the political party in control of the state retired Senator Frelinghuysen from the senate at the expiration of his term, March 4, 1877; but he was not left long unemployed in the public service of his country. Upon the tragic death of President Garfield, Vice-President Arthur succeeded to the presidency under embar- rassing circumstances. His own party, irritated and distracted, extended to him meager sympathy. Under these trying circumstances he invited ex-Senator Fre- linghuysen to take the first place in his cabinet, as secretary of state. It would have been difficult for him to place at his right hand a secretary whose education in political science and international law, and whose experience at the bar and in the sen- ate, united with exalted character, so thor- oughly qualified him for that high position as those Mr. Frelinghuysen possessed. The foreign policy of the administration was correspondingly pacific and honorable, con- ciliating but firm. In negotiating inter- national treaties, taking in the scope of the subject matter, anticipating contingencies liable to arise in the far future, adjusting the conflicting interests of industries, reve- nues and commerce of nations, Secretary Frelinghuysen, in labor and responsibility, sustained the heaviest burden of his life. The two treaties that cost the secretary the most exhaustive labor in their general pro- visions were probably the Spanish treaty, which President Arthur submitted for rati- fication near the close of his term, and the great treaty involving the building of the Nicaragua canal. Both failed of ratifica- tion. The preparation and procurement of
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the latter international document will ever remain a monument to Secretary Freling- huysen's skill, industry and statesmanship, standing alike creditable to himself and to the department of state. This survey of the early and political career of the late sec- retary has necessarily been rapid and frag- mentary, but a volume of details would have continued to challenge only respect and admiration.
As in public so in private life Secretary Frelinghuysen was a model man. At home he was the center of the affections of his family; in the church, which was his supreme delight, he was a pillar; on the platform of religious associations, at Sun- day-school and Bible-society anniversaries, he was from early manhood a familiar, pop- ular and eloquent speaker. At the time of his death he was president of the American Bible Society. The religious element in his character was positive and of a high type. A close student of the Bible, repos- ing in the orthodox faith of his fathers, he was yet free from cant and narrowness and preserved throughout his public, as in his private career, the pre-eminent Christian character.
The broader fields of his activity did not preclude his interest in and sympathy with the lesser and more local institutions. Schools, public libraries, young men's asso- ciations received his sympathy and assist- ance, and in higher education he was ever mindful of his alma mater, serving on her board of trustees for thirty-four years, from 1851. He seldom addressed literary socie- ties, a notable exception being an oration before the literary societies of Princeton College in 1862, followed by the conferring upon him by that institution of the honor- ary degree of Doctor of Laws.
On the 4th of March, 1885, upon the in- auguration of a new administration, Mr. Frelinghuysen surrendered his seat in the cabinet to his successor, Secretary Bayard. Laden with honors, he took with him the gratitude of his countrymen for his distin- guished services. Apparently he had en- joyed uniform good health, but the re- moval of his public official burdens revealed his bodily waste and weakness. He went from the cabinet to his home in Newark and to his dying bed. He was too ill to receive the congratulations and welcome of his fellow citizens, who had thronged his home to greet his return. He fell into a comatose state, and in that condition the eminent statesman lay for several weeks, self-conscious, but almost dead to the world. Day after day, for many weeks, expressions of sympathy and anxiety were telegraphed from all parts of the country, and the metropolitan press announced, by hourly bulletins, the reports of his attend- ing physicians. The end came. He died on the 20th of May, 1885, sixty-eight years of age, leaving a wife, three sons,-Fred- erick, George Griswold and Theodore,- and three daughters,-Miss Tille, Miss Lucy and Mrs. John Davis.
Public expressions of sorrow and sym- pathy were numerous and eulogistic. The press, local, metropolitan and over the country, gave unwonted space to obituary, historical and editorial notices of the sad event and of the eminent public citizen. The Historical Society, then in session at Newark, not only expressed in elaborate resolutions their appreciation of his pub- lic services and their admiration of his high character, but attended the funeral in a body. The Newark bar did likewise. Secretary Bayard, of the department of
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state at Washington, the governor of New Jersey and the mayor of Newark all issued official proclamations announcing his death, and, besides paying high tribute to his memory, personally attended his fu- neral. Resolutions of sympathy and eulogy were adopted by the trustees of Rutgers College, by the church of which he was a member, by the American Bible Society, of which he was president, by other local Bible societies and also by numerous other public bodies .- religious, benevolent, po- litical and financial,-expressing their love and reverence for his life, character and services.
The obsequies were held in the North Reformed church, in Newark, on the after- noon of the 23d of May. Brief services were held at the house, previous to the gathering at the church, at which only the family, immediate relatives and intimate friends were assembled. Among those present were: Ex-President Arthur, Sen- ator Sewell, the Russian, French, Brazilian and Mexican ministers; Rev. Dr. Camp- bell, ex-president of Rutgers College; Comptroller Anderson: Mayor Haynes; Frederick H. Potts; Colonel McMichael Marshall, of the District of Columbia, who represented the president; Judge Joel Parker and the distinguished bearers. The church was filled with the prominent men of state,-officials and private citizens, members and ex-members of the diplo- matic corps, bringing tributes of sorrow and praise to his memory .- a vast assem- blage of the great and good, mourning his death with sincerest grief. At the con- clusion of the services, in the silence of the city, with its flags drooping in sympathy with a population in mourning, his mortal remains were solemnly carried by distin-
guished men to the tomb prepared for the body, in Mt. Pleasant cemetery, and were there left buried in flowers.
But tears and flowers and funereal cere- monies are the expressions of the first sense of loss. The memory of the good and great survives in the heart and takes enduring form in the tribute paid by sur- viving and after generations. On the 9th day of August, 1894, in the same city of Newark, was unveiled the statue erected to the memory of Frederick T. Freling- huysen by a union of private citizens and the municipal government of the city of his home. The statue is a bronze, was the work of the Hartford sculptor, Karl Ger- hardt, and was the gift of the citizens of Newark. It is colossal in size, standing nine feet high, and represents the subject addressing an audience,- an attitude so familiar to the people of the city. The pedestal is of granite, twelve feet high, on a broad extending base of the French style, and was the gift of the city through the common council and the board of works, and is a rare specimen of the archi- tectural skill of A. Wallace Brown, of Newark.
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The imposing ceremonies were partici- pated in by the governor of New Jersey, Hon. George T. Werts, and his staff; the orator of the day, ex-Chancellor Runyon, ambassador of the United States to the court of Berlin; the mayor of the city. Ju- lius A. Lebkuescher; the special committee of the board of trade; the bar of Essex county ; the common council of the city of Newark; the board of works and the board of trade of the city of Newark and the First Essex Troop, National Guard, who led the procession to the ground. The presentation address was made by Am-
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bassador Runyon and included a sketch of the life and services of him to whom the statue was erected. Thus fittingly and enduringly does the distinguished citizen, the brilliant lawyer and the eminent Chris- tian statesman live before the eye of the rising generations as well as in the hearts and memory of a grateful people.
CHARLES R. PRATT,
resident manager of the Sprague Electric Company, Bloomfield, New Jersey, is a gentleman whose inventive genius and marked business ability have brought him to the front. In this connection we are pleased to make special reference to Mr. Pratt and the company with which he is connected.
The Sprague Electric Elevator Com- pany's industry was established in Bloom- field, New Jersey, in 1893, having been re- moved from New York city, where it was first founded upon a small scale and where it grew so rapidly that it soon demanded larger quarters. The plant is constructed of iron and steel, the dimensions being 100 X 375 feet, with an L, 60 x 150 feet; Monitor roof and gallery, upon which is lo- cated the smaller machinery. The center walls are brick. Themachinery is ponderous and heavy, is run night and day, and during the busy season no less than three hundred and fifty men are employed. Everything in the way of machinery in connection with the plant is of the latest and best, their large output is shipped to many of the large cities throughout the country, and the Sprague-Pratt electric elevator is being placed in the newest and finest buildings.
This electric elevator is the invention of Mr. Pratt. . The first one was placed by
him in a Boston building in 1889, as a test; it proved satisfactory in every respect, and soon brought him notoriety. Mr Sprague, seeing its utility, invested his own means in its manufacture, associated others with him, and thus formed the company which they incorporated under the name of the Sprague Elevator Company, of which Mr. Pratt became resident manager.
The company has now been reorganized, under the title of the Sprague Electric Company, which is capitalized for five mil- lion dollars. The scope of the enterprise has been extended very materially and now includes all branches of general-electric and railroad work in addition to continuing its extensive operations in the manufacture of electric elevators. Mr. Pratt is resident manager of the reorganized company, as he was of its predecessor.
Charles R. Pratt is a native of Boston, Massachusetts. He was born in 1860 and is the eldest son of John C. Pratt. In Bos- ton he received his education, completing a course of study in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and on leaving school he was employed by the Whittier Machine Company, of Boston, where he learned the trade of machinist and where he remained for five years. After this he opened an office of his own in that city and devoted his time chiefly to inventions, and experiments on machinery. Then for three years he was assistant superintendent of the Boston Sugar Refining Company. His next engagement was as New England agent for the firm of Ottis Brothers & Company, of New York city, the largest elevator concern of the world, and re- mained with this firm one year, in that time acquiring a thorough knowledge of the ele- vator business in all its departments. It
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was after this that he experimented upon his own invention and brought it to com- pletion. In 1892 he became interested with Mr. F. J. Sprague and other capital- ists in the business above referred to, and has since been its manager.
John C. Pratt, the father of our subject, was for many years president of the Og- densburg & Lake Champlain Railroad. He died in 1887. His wife was before her marriage Miss Mary A. Richardson, she being the daughter of a ship-owner in Bos- ton.
HON. JOHN FRANKLIN FORT.
The progenitor of the Fort family in New Jersey was Roger Fort, who probably came from England, with his wife Anne, about the year 1696, and settled in Burlington county, New Jersey. The family is said to be of Welsh origin, and this ancestor spelled the name Fforte. To him and his wife were born the following children : John, Joseph, Marmaduke, Roger, Joan, Edith and Esther.
The children of Marmaduke Fort were : John, Anne, William, Elizabeth and Thomas. John, the eldest son, rendered valiant service in the New Jersey state mi- litia during the war of the Revolution. He married Margaret Heisler, and their seven children were: Gusannah, Mary, Deborah, Margaret, Andrew, John and Daniel.
Andrew Fort married Nancy Platt and their children were: George Franklin, who was born on the 30th of June, 1809, and was honored with the office of governor of New Jersey; Margaret, Sarah Ann, Mary, John, Jacob Platt, Susan, Andrew Heisler, Daniel Adams and Caroline.
Of this family Andrew Heisler Fort was
united in marriage to Miss Hannah A. Brown and they had four children, of whom John Franklin, the subject of this review, was the only son, and was born in Pember- ton, Burlington county, New Jersey, on the 20th of March, 1852. His literary edu- cational discipline was received at Mount Holly Institute and Pennington Seminary. While attending the former he began to study law under the instructions of a lead- ing lawyer of Mount Holly, completing his labors in that direction at the Albany Law School, in 1872, and receiving from that institution the degree of Bachelor of Law; and the following year he was admitted to the bar in New Jersey. In 1873-4 Mr. Fort was appointed journal clerk of the New Jersey general assembly, and in the latter year he located in Newark, where he entered upon the active practice of his pro- fession. In 1878 Governor McClellan appointed him judge of the first district court of the city of Newark for a term of five years, and to this position Governor Ludlow reappointed him in 1883. In March, 1886, Judge Fort resigned his office in order to resume his general practice, which gave him more liberal opportunities and proved more remunerative.
The political career of Judge Fort was inaugurated early in his life, for he was not yet of age when, during the Greeley cam- paign, he made the then remarkable record of twenty-seven speeches. In 1884 he was a delegate-at-large, from New Jersey, to the Republican national convention held at Chicago; he was chairman of the Repub- lican state convention which nominated General Grubb for governor in 1889; and held a similar position in the convention of 1895, which nominated John W. Griggs for governor.
J. FRANKLIN FORT.
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Judge Fort was appointed by the gover- nor of New Jersey a member of the con- stitutional commission created by the legis- lature of 1894, and was an active partici- pant in the movement then begun to sim- plify and reorganize the courts of the state. In 1895 he was also appointed by Governor Werts, for a term of five years, one of the three commissioners to confer with a sim- ilar commission from every state in the Union in an endeavor to bring about a uni- form system of laws in the several states, regarding insurance, insolvency, wills, mar- riage and divorce, assignments, oaths, the law of negotiable instruments, the exempli- fication of the public records and questions of a like nature.
In 1896 the judge was a delegate to the Republican national convention, held in St. Louis, and was there chairman of the cre- dentials committee and presented the name of Hon. Garret A. Hobart for vice-presi- dent. On December 1, 1896, Governor Griggs appointed Judge Fort president judge of the court of common pleas of Essex county, an incumbency he is at pres- ent filling with a high degree of executive ability.
Judge Fort is recognized throughout the county as a powerful advocate, a man of superior intellectuality, and a clear-headed jurist of abundant learning. His rise in the legal profession has been a rapid one, which circumstance is a logical result of applied industry and integrity of purpose, combined with rare natural endowments. Personally, the Judge is of a prepossessing appearance, and his genial nature and so- ciable disposition have gained for him a distinct popularity and a large circle of warm friends, who accord to him both their respect and esteem.
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