USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Newark > Biographical and genealogical history of the city of Newark and Essex County, New Jersey, V. 1 > Part 66
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established a clinic for diseases of the throat and nose, which has since become a promi- nent feature of the hospital work.
He has been attending physician at the Home for Aged Women since the year 1889. To the Essex District Medical So- ciety he was admitted shortly after his re- turn from New York city, and since 1893 has been its reporter. He was received successively into the Essex Medical Union, the Newark Medical Association, the So- ciety for the Relief of Widows and Orphans of Medical Men of New Jersey, the Practi- tioners' Club, the Newark Medical and Surgical Society, and the New Jersey Academy of Medicine. Since 1884 he has been examining physician to the Knights of Honor, and since 1893 to the Knights and Ladies of Honor. He became a mem- ber of the North End Club, of the city of Newark, in 1888. In 1895 he was chosen a vestryman at St. James Episcopal church.
Dr. Corwin has a large practice through- out the city, and is regarded as a specialist of ability in the treatment of diseases of the throat and nose. He has resided in Newark nearly all his life. On the 2d of July, 1891, he was married to Miss Lilian Whiting, of Rochester, New York, by whom he has two daughters.
STAFFORD R. W. HEATH.
One of Newark's most successful and most trusted business men was Stafford R. W. Heath, who was born at Basking Ridge, New Jersey, July 8, 1820. His fa- ther, Daniel Heath, was a farmer, and until the age of fourteen young Stafford lived with his parents and enjoyed the advant- ages for education which were afforded by the common schools of the vicinity. De-
siring earnestly to go to work, and ex- pressing a strong preference for the life of a merchant, he was permitted by his par- ents to go to Newark, New Jersey, where he sought employment and entered, as a clerk, the dry-goods store of David Smith, then the leading merchant of that city. In the preparation for his chosen occupation, he continued a model of good deportment and honesty. On the 4th of March, 1841, finding himself the possessor of several hundred dollars, saved from his wages, he entered into business for himself in part- nership with S. Grover Crowell, a former fellow clerk, under the firm name of Heath & Crowell. This partnership continued for four years, when it was dissolved, Mr. Crowell retiring and Mr. Heath forming a connection with his brother, Daniel R. Heath, under the name of Heath Brothers. The death of Mr. Daniel R. Heath, in 1847, caused another change in the firm name; but the business, under the manage- ment of its sagacious founder, went on prosperously from year to year, and finally became one of the most extensive dry- goods establishments in the city of Newark.
E. Cortland Drake, who as a clerk had been with Mr. Heath from boyhood, be- came associated with him as a partner in 1855, and in 1860 his name, with that of Mr. Heath, formed the firm name, Heath & Drake. Such was the success of Mr. Heath that in 1884 he caused the erection upon Broad street of a spacious edifice for the business purposes of the firm, and in this edifice, known as the "Heath Build- ing," the business is still conducted by the representatives of Messrs. Heath & Drake, both of whom are deceased.
In 1862 the Firemen's Insurance Com- pany, one of the most important institu-
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tions of its kind in New Jersey, elected him as its president, and to the affairs of this company he gave at once his prompt and faithful attention. In fact, he seemed to take more pride in the success of this enter- prise than in that of his own business, which he knew could not be in more trust- worthy hands than those of his partner, Mr. Drake. Under Mr. Heath's management the company became one of the strongest and most successful in the state. Mr. Heath's sagacity, prudence and judgment as a business man brought his services as such into constant demand. He was a director of the Newark City National Bank from 1854 till the close of his life. He was also a director and president of the Newark & Rosendale Cement Company. Of the Peters Manufacturing Company he was also president, and was likewise a director in the New Jersey Mutual Life Insurance Company. From 1854 to the time of his death he was a trustee of Rutgers College and an active member of its finance com- mittee. In 1875 he became president of the Board of Domestic Missions, under the general synod of the Reformed church, and not only held official positions in the Bible, tract and temperance societies, but gave of his time and means for their exten- sion. The various charitable institutions of Newark always enjoyed his sympathy and aid, especially the Orphan Asylum, of which he was for many years one of the board of advisors. He died in Newark, New Jersey, December 2, 1888.
ALEXANDER N. DOUGHERTY, M.D.
Among the physicians and surgeons of Essex county who served during the late Rebellion, and who are now numbered among the dead, none, perhaps, held a
more exalted position, both in his profes- sion and in the army, than the subject of this sketch. Dr. Dougherty was born in the city of Newark, New Jersey, January I, 1822, of highly respected ancestry. His father, a man of ample means, and of more than ordinary intelligence and sagacity, early determined to give him a liberal edu- cation, and to fit him for one of the learned professions. After a thorough preparation he entered Oberlin College, in the state of Ohio, where he was graduated, immedi- ately afterward entering the office of Dr. L. A. Smith, of Newark. Having attended the prescribed course of medical study in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city, he commenced practice in his native city, where he soon distin- guished himself by his discrimination, tact and skill, gaining the confidence of the community as well as the confidence and esteem of his medical brethren. Notwith- standing the large practice which he had already built up, his patriotism was such that he was led to abandon it and to take an humble place in the medical staff of the volunteer service. His skill in every de- partment of his profession was soon recog- nized, and step by step he rose from one position to another until he received the appointment of medical director of the Right Grand Division of the Army of the Potomac, the highest position attained by any officer of the volunteer medical staff. That he was here regarded as among the first in his profession may be inferred from the fact that, on many important occasions, his opinions and counsel were deemed the safest to follow. But for his bravery he was no less distinguished than for his medical skill. Wherever his presence was needed there he went, though it might be
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in the thickest of the fight; and while thus fearlessly engaged in the discharge of duty he was wounded at the battle of Spottsyl- vania. He was made brevet lieutenant colonel in the campaign before Petersburg, and on the cessation of hostilities received the brevet rank of colonel. It was the active service on the field which had for him a charm, and it is not surprising, therefore, that on being offered, at the close of the war, a position of high rank in the public service, he chose to retire to private life and to the practice of his profession. After spending six months as surgeon on the Pacific mail steamers, he returned to New- ark and to his old patients, who gave him a hearty welcome.
Dr. Dougherty was not only an accom- plished physician and a brave soldier, but he was also a man of finely cultivated taste and of rare scholarship. He was at home in all the departments of science and liter- ature, and, moreover, a brilliant writer, whatever might be the theme upon which he brought his thoughts and pen to bear. In general conversation no one could be more entertaining, and in matters of re- ligion or philosophy no one could show more honesty or more careful reflection, or be more earnest in the support of his con- scientious convictions. He labored zeal- ously in the interests of his native city, being among the foremost in every under- taking that promoted its welfare; and the advanced condition of public education in Newark is due to him and other kindred spirits, who, in the early days of its com- mon schools, battled so persistently against ignorance and prejudice. His contribu- tions to the literature of his own profession are numerous and valuable, and the esteem in which he was held by his medical
brethren is shown by the fact that in both the State and County Medical Societies he held the highest offices that could be con- ferred upon him. Dr. Dougherty was a man of apparently robust health, and, in- deed, up to the very hour of his death, con- tinued in the active discharge of his pro- fessional duties. On that unhappy day he had been, as usual, among his patients, al- though suffering under an attack of pneu- monia, as is believed, and returning home at evening threw himself down upon a lounge to take an hour's rest, first, how- ever, writing a prescription for himself, and dispatching a servant with it to a drug- store. When the servant returned she found him dead. This happened on the 28th of November, 1882.
He was married in 1849 to Henrietta Arrowsmith, of Morris county, New Jer- sey, who, with three sons, survives him.
ELISHA BOUDINOT,
a younger brother of Elias Boudinot, was born in Philadelphia in 1742. His ances- tors were French Huguenots, who fled to America soon after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in 1685. He received an excellent education and was learned in the law, although his name does not appear in the published list of attorneys and coun- selors of the supreme court. In 1792, however, he was called to be sergeant at law, the highest degree in the common law, as doctor is in the civil law. Sergeants could not be regularly made, or appointed by rule of the court, but on the recom- mendation of the judges were called up by writ out of chancery, and then sworn. Examiners of students were appointed ex- clusively from the sergeants until 1839,
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since which time no sergeants have been designated.
Mr. Boudinot began the practice of law in Newark, New Jersey, which was his residence during the greater part of his life. He acquired a high reputation as a lawyer, and was universally esteemed for his many excellent qualities. In 1798 an act was passed increasing the number of justices of the supreme court from three to four, and Mr. Boudinot was elected to the new seat, which he occupied for. seven years. On retiring from the bench, being well advanced in life, he undertook no more arduous labor. On the 12th of October, 1819, he died at his residence in Newark, in his seventy-seventh year.
COLONEL ROBERT D. BROWER
comes of a family whose ancestral history is one of long, close and honorable iden- tification with this section of the country. The founder of the family in America, in all probability, was Nicholas Brower, the great-grandfather of our subject, who mar- ried Miss Mary Burdsill, of Holland ances- try; and his son, Samuel Brower, was a native of New York, born in 1784. He was a publisher of the General News of Washington in 1812, and he died on the 26th of March, 1830. The father of our subject, Colonel George W. Brower, was born in America's metropolis, on February 29, 1812, and wedded Miss Jane E. Carl, a daughter of Samuel and Catherine (Cock- fair) Carl, and a native of West Bloom- field, now Montclair. Representatives of the name were noted for their bravery dur- ing the war of the Revolution.
Colonel George W. Brower was a man of considerable influence and prominence
in the community in which he made his home. He belonged to the St. John's Lodge of Masons. In his early life he fol- lowed the milling business and later trav- eled extensively through the west, trading with the Indians. He endured many hard- ships and braved many dangers, for it was a period when Indian outbreaks were nu- merous, but possessing the natural cour- age and fearlessness of his people, he con- tinued his labors in the west and thereby accumulated a comfortable competency. In his youth he had pursued a college course, which, added to his naturally strong mind, made him a very cultured gentleman of wide general information. In his political views he was a Democrat. He held a membership in the Baptist church, but his wife belonged to the Methodist church. His death occurred in St. Louis, Missouri, on the 6th of March, 1844.
Robert D. Brower, whose name intro- duces this review, is one of the native sons of New Jersey, his birth having occurred in Bloomfield in 1835. He attended the dis- trict school and worked on the home farm until fifteen years of age, and in 1852 shipped before the mast. For many years his life was that of a sailor, during which time he visited various ports of the world, gaining of the different countries and their people a knowledge that can be acquired only by travel. For a short time he left the sea and gave his attention to mining in California, after which he enlisted in the famous California Rangers, taking part in the Indian war then in progress. He was several times wounded, but was ever a fear- less, loyal soldier, true to the cause which he espoused. Returning to San Fran- cisco, he resumed his old life as a sailor, be- coming a second officer on a ship bound .
ROBERT D. BROWER.
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for China. He was later master on the schooner Hetherbell, which sailed from Shanghai to Ning-Po, carrying merchan- dise and opium. This was at the time very hazardous, as there were then no com- mercial relations between the two countries and the Chinese pirates threatened their vessel at many points. While in Japan Mr. Brower mastered the Japanese language, and is still able to speak it fluently.
At the outbreak of the Rebellion Mr. Brower offered his services to his country, enlisting on the Ist of September, 1862, as a member of the Twenty-second New Jer- sey Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered in at Trenton under Colonel Fornet and Lieutenant Colonel Alex. Douglass. He served throughout the war with distinction and participated in a number of very im- portant engagements, including the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Fearless in the discharge of his duties, he faithfully followed the old flag on many a southern battle-field, and is deserving of the gratitude of a nation for his services in its behalf.
After the war Mr. Brower traveled ex- tensively in the west, in the Wisconsin lum- ber districts and in the Pennsylvania oil fields. Returning to New Jersey, he en- gaged in the hotel business and soon after entered upon his long railroad career as ticket agent at Watsessing, on the Newark & Bloomfield branch of the Morris & Es- sex Railroad. This was on the 15th of May, 1868, and Mr. Brower remained in that position until 1875, when he resigned and accepted a post with the Greenwood Lake Railroad Company, with which he served in various capacities until 1877. The following year he returned to the Mor- ris & Essex Railroad in the capacity of
ticket agent at Roseville, where he re- mained until 1881, when he was transferred to East Orange and placed in charge of the old station, continuing there for three years, in which time he opened the new station at that point. In 1884 he was compelled, on account of ill health, to re- sign his position, and was transferred by the company to a place where his duty was the charge of the gates at Green Crossing, near Short Hills, New Jersey. His time was thus occupied until 1886, when he ac- cepted the office of night ticket agent at the Broad street station, in Newark, but after four months he was compelled to re- sign on account of his impaired eyesight. He then returned to his charge of the gates, where he remained until 1889, when he was appointed agent at the Maplewood station, in which capacity he is now serving in a most creditable and satisfactory man- ner. He is a pleasant, genial gentleman, well fitted by nature to deal with the pub- lic, and his uniform courtesy and thought- fulness make him a favorite with the trav- eling public.
On the 16th of January, 1861, Mr. Brower was united in marriage to Miss Maria G. Craft, a daughter of Charles Craft, a native of New York city and a de- scendant of Huguenot ancestry. Of their union have been born the following : Jen- nie C., wife of Fred Clark, a resident of Orange; Charles D., who is traveling in Alaska; William L., who married Miss Helen Swansen and is living in East Or- ange; John, who married Miss Nettie Mandeville; and Alfred C., who wedded Miss Ida Brown.
Mr. Brower is a prominent and influ- ential citizen of Maplewood, and has been honored by his fellow townsmen by election
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to the office of justice of the peace on dif- ferent occasions, while he was for two years chosen county committeeman. He is a stanch advocate of Republican princi- ples and does all in his power to promote the cause of the party. He is a valued member of various fraternities and social organizations, belongs to Century Lodge, No. 100, A. F. & A. M., of South Orange; Olive Branch Lodge, No. 51, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Bloomfield; Roseville Council, No. 5, Chosen Friends, of Newark; and is chief ordnance officer of the state of New Jersey, Grand Army of the Republic, was a delegate two terms to the national encampment, has acted as delegate for seven years to the state en- campment, of which he is a permanent member, and the department has honored him with the title of colonel.
HENRY JAY ANDERSON, M. D.,
was born in New York city, April 20, 1854. He traces his ancestry, on the paternal side, to Captain Isaac Anderson, who came to Port Chester, New York, where he set- tled in 1665. Coming to Newark with his parents, when five years of age, he at- tended the public schools of the city, and afterward entered the high school, where he graduated in 1870. Subsequently he became a student in the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and later began the study of medicine in the Homeopathic Medical College of New York, where he was graduated in the class of 1875.
Since he was five years old he has made his home in Newark, except the first year after becoming a physician, when he re- sided in Brooklyn. Dr. Anderson was married August 10, 1887, to Miss Estellas
C. Duerr, daughter of William Henry and Harriet (Evans) Duerr, of Newark. They have had four children, three of whom are alive: Jeannette, born September 8, 1888; Marguerite, born October 4, 1891; and Henry J., Jr., born May 15, 1895.
Dr. Anderson occupies a prominent posi- tion in professional, social and political circles. He was elected school commis- sioner of the first ward in 1889, re-elected in 1891, from the fourth ward, and in 1895 was chosen president of the board of edu- cation. He has been the physician in charge of the Newark Orphan Asylum since 1888. Since 1876 he has been on the staff of the Old Ladies' Home. Of the New Jersey Homeopathic State Medical Society he is a member, and was its presi- dent in 1889 and 1890. While residing in Brooklyn he was the resident physician to the Brooklyn Maternity Hospital. He is a member of the Republican Club of New- ark, and stands high in the conservative councils of his party. As member and president of the board of education, he made an admirable and efficient official. Dr. Anderson has been for many years physician of the Newark Orphan Asylum.
NATHAN HEDGES,
one of Newark's early and distinguished teachers, was born in Madison, New Jer- sey, in 1792. In 1820 he first made his appearance in Newark, and for fifty years thereafter continued to teach with a success that is seldom equaled, having had in many instances, as his pupils, the grandchildren of those to whom he had imparted the first rudiments of learning. As a teacher he enjoyed a high reputation, and as a dis- ciplinarian he had no superior. Most of
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the men of Newark who were in active business forty years ago had been his pupils, and doubtless held him in awe to the latest moment of his life. Mr. Hedges died January 21, 1875.
MAJOR WILLIAM HALSEY
was born in 1770, near the Short Hills, Es- sex county, was admitted to the bar in 1794, and in his profession he displayed very decided talents, being especially able in the management of criminal defenses. After he retired from the active practice of his profession, he was appointed judge of the Essex county court of common pleas. Except that office and the mayoralty of the infant city, Judge Halsey never held any official position. During his long life, however, he performed more than a full share of unrequited labor as a citizen. He was greatly esteemed by the people for his genial, benevolent qualities, as well as for his talents at the bar and on the bench. He died suddenly, August 16, 1843.
WILLIAM PENNINGTON,
governor and chancellor from 1837 to 1843, was born in Newark, New Jersey, May 4, 1796, and was the son of Governor William Sandford Pennington, who is no- ticed elsewhere in this volume. After re- ceiving a good preparatory education in the schools of his native place, he entered the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and was thence graduated in 1813. In 1817 he was licensed as an attorney, having pursued the study of law in the office of Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, and in 1820 was made a counselor.
Establishing himself in Newark as a
practitioner, he soon became favorably known in his profession. In 1828 he was elected a member of the general assembly, and in 1837 was chosen by the joint meet- ing, governor and chancellor, and was re- elected every year until 1843, when the political party to which he was opposed came in power. As chancellor he gave great satisfaction, and only one of his de- crees was overruled in the court of appeals, and that the bar in general indorsed as cor- rect. It was during his administration that the controversy known as the "Broad Seal War" occurred. In this matter he was blamed by his political opponents and sustained by his party friends, while, as a fact, he had no option but to do precisely what he did.
On ceasing to be governor he resumed the practice of the law and soon found his time fully occupied, chiefly in arguing causes before the supreme court and in the court of errors. Several of these cases be- came quite celebrated, and are fully re- ported. On the adoption of the constitu- tion of 1844 it was generally believed that Mr. Pennington would receive the nomina- tion of chancellor, but such was not the case, and he no more held any prominent state office. During the administration of President Fillmore, in 1850, he was offered the governorship of the territory of Minne- sota, but declined the appointment. In 1858, notwithstanding his protests, he was nominated for congress and elected. On the assembling of that body in December, 1859, the contest between the south and the north had assumed such a shape that the prospect of organizing the house seemed for a time almost hopeless, but after a bitter struggle of nearly two months Governor Pennington was elected speaker.
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It was a position which he had neither expected nor desired, but the duties of which he discharged with signal ability.
His death occurred on the 16th of Feb- ruary, 1862. He had been for some years an elder of the High Street Presbyterian church of Newark, and was faithful and earnest in the performance of every re- ligious duty. Soon after his admission as a counselor he married Caroline, daughter of Dr. William Burnet, Jr., a surgeon in the Continental army, and the son of a surgeon of the same name, eminent for his services in the Revolutionary war. But one of his children now survives him, his youngest son, Captain Edward Pennington, having died in June, 1884, leaving, however, a son bearing the distinguished name of William Pennington.
THOMAS LAFON, M. D.,
was born near Petersburg, Virginia, De- cember 17, 1801. Losing his father at an early age, he was thrown to some extent upon his own resources, but by dint of great industry and perseverance succeeded in acquiring a very good education. This being accomplished, he resorted to teach- ing and to surveying in order to obtain a profession, and such was his success that he entered, as a student, Transylvania Med- ical College, and there received the degree of M. D. About this time he became the possessor, by inheritance, of a number of slaves, and going to the newly opened state of Missouri, with a view to finding a proper place for settlement, he fell under strong religious influences and was converted. His first act in this new state of mind was to set free his slaves, and his second was to offer his services to the American Mis-
sionary Association as a missionary phy- sician. He was immediately sent to the Sandwich islands, where he remained sev- eral years, but on account of the failing health of his wife was obliged to return to his native land. Before, however, resum- ing the practice of medicine, he went to Philadelphia, where he attended a course of lectures at Jefferson Medical College, and now, after practicing eighteen years as an allopathic physician, resolved to become a homeopathist. With this determination he went to Paterson, New Jersey, but at the expiration of six months removed to Newark, this state. This was in 1846, and from that year until the day of his death Dr. Lafon continued the practice of his profession in the latter city. His practice became very extensive and very lucrative, and his attention thereto was unremitting; in fact, he met his death at the house of a patient, to whom he was administering, and at whose bedside he was smitten down with apoplexy, March 20, 1876.
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