USA > New Jersey > Cyclopedia of New Jersey Biography > Part 14
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Mr. Beasley ran for mayor, and for the Assembly as a Whig, and was defeated. He served as city solicitor and president of the Common Council. On the death of Edward W. Whepley, Mr. Beasley was ap- pointed Chief Justice, March 8, 1864, was reappointed again and again, and held the office until his death. He was forty-nine years of age when he went upon the bench,
and presided there until he was nearly eighty-three. The record of his judicial decisions is contained in twenty-nine vol- umes of the law reports and thirty-seven of the cases in equity. He was a man of commanding ability, and was easily chief among his equals in both the high courts. To use the words of Mr. Justice Collins, in the Supreme Court, on the day of his death: "Presiding over our highest legal tribunal with courtly dignity and matchless skill, he added lustre to the bright record of his distinguished predecessors."
In his administrations of the business of the Supreme Court he promoted prompt- ness and efficiency on the bench and at the bar, insisting upon the observance of the! rules of practice, having always in mind the doing of justice in the particular case. He was courteous to counsel, and patient even with the dullest and the most exasper- ating, maintaining the dignity of the pro- ceedings and deference to the court. In hearing arguments he was quick to grasp' the essentials of the case, and by penetrat -! ing questions brought counsel to the point to which the argument should be directed. In presiding over trials on the Circuit and in the Oyer and Terminer, the Chief Justice was strong and patient, dignified and courte- ous. His charges to the jury were simple and clear and directly to the point, and these were free from the unusual words and the subtlety of reasoning which are found in some of his written opinions. He retained his powers and kept on with his work to the end of his long life, and his? last opinion in the Supreme Court was an- nounced by his associates on the day before his death. There is in the Supreme Court room in Trenton a very fine portrait of Chief Justice Beasley, by J. W. Alexander.
Mercer Beasley married (first) Miss Hig- bie, and (second) Miss Havens, both of Trenton. By his first wife he had three chil- dren-a son, Mercer Beasley Jr., a mem- ber of the bar, and later Prosecutor of the Pleas of Mercer county ; and two daughters.
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one of whom became the wife of the late Edward T. Green, Judge of the United States District Court, and the other the wife of William S. Gummere, a Chief Jus- tice of New Jersey. Chauncey Havens Beasley, of the Essex bar, was a son of his second wife.
PECK, Cyrus,
Financier, Leader in Public Improvements.
For many years a prominent and repre- sentative citizen of Essex county, New Jer- sey, who was closely identified with import- ant financial and other interests of the State, it is particularly appropriate that Cyrus Peck, late of Roseville, should be accorded mention in this work. He was a direct descendant of Henry Peck, who emigrated from England, and arrived at Boston, Mas- sachusetts, in 1637. Later he became one of the founders of the New Haven Colony Cyrus Peck was of the eighth generation of his family in this country.
Aaron Peck, his father, was born in East Orange, New Jersey, March 2, 1798, and died there April 8, 1865. He was a hat manufacturer in Millburn, New Jersey, and was president and principal owner of the Sussex railroad, now a branch of the Del- aware, Lackawanna & Western railroad. He was a member of the Essex County Mi- litia from 1819 to 1825, holding rank as captain of the Fourth District Company, First Battalion, Fifth Regiment. In 1838 Governor William Pennington appointed him a Master in Chancery. He married Miranda Pierson.
Cyrus Peck was born in East Orange, New Jersey, November 1, 1829, and died at his home in Roseville, May 6, 1907. On the completion of his education, which was a liberal one, he entered the wholesale boot and shoe house of J. H. Ransom & Com- pany, of New York, remaining with them six years. On the organization of the New Jersey Express Company, about 1854, Mr. Peck became its treasurer. (This company
was later merged with the Adams Express Company). In 1857 he entered the Conti- nental Insurance Company, of New York, with which he was connected for more than forty years, occupying successively the of- fices of secretary, second vice-president, vice-president and treasurer. He was one of the organizers of the City Trust Company of Newark in 1901, and was in office as its president until the time of his death. For a considerable time he had been vice-president of the Newark Board of Trade, and his services in this connection were highly appreciated and of inestimable value. Mr. Peck became a resident of Rose- ville, now known as the Eleventh Ward of Newark in 1854, and in 1857, when the ward was created, he was elected its first representative in the Board of Education, and served two successive terms in this of- fice. In 1892 he was one of the leading spirits in the Citizen's Committee which se- cured in 1894 the passage of the legislation resulting in the establishment of the Park System of Essex county. In 1897 he joined with other heirs of Aaron Peck in present- ing to Essex county a valuable tract of land, now a part of the middle division of the Branch Brook Park. In the same year the Hon. David A. Depue, justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, appointed Mr. Peck as the first president of the Essex County Park Board, an office he held twelve years. He was one of the incorporators of the Roseville Presbyterian Church in 1853, serving as president of the board of trustees until 1883, and from that time until his death as elder. His connections with other organizations were: Vice-president of the Newark Board of Trade, as mentioned above; member of the New England So- ciety of Orange, New Jersey; trustee of the New Jersey Historical Society, and a life member of this body; trustee of the Washington Headquarters Associa- tion of New Jersey, at Morristown; mem- ber of the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution ; member and treas-
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urer of the Committee of Presbyterial Church Extension in the Presbytery of Newark.
Mr. Peck on January 27, 1853, mar- jied Mary Picton Halsey, daughter of Rev. John Taylor Halsey, one of the most prom- inent educators of his time; granddaughter of Captain Luther Halsey, of the Revolu- tionary forces, and a descendant of Thomas Halsey, one of the founders of Southamp- ton, Long Island, in 1640. Their children were: Helen Oakley, Edward Halsey, Wil- liam Halsey, Edith Mary and Cyrus Cur- tis, who died in infancy. The life of Mr. Peck was a quiet, modest and un- assuming one. His prominence was due to the possession of those ster- ling qualities which everywhere com- mand respect-honesty in business affairs, justice in public life, an unfailing courtesy in social circles, and a record that must ever be a source of pride and satisfaction to his descendants. Entirely free from ostenta- tion, without self-seeking, he was a true American citizen, loyal to his country, his church and his friends.
On the 24th of May, 1914, a memorial window of great beauty entitled "Easter Morn" was dedicated in the Roseville Pres- byterian Church to the memory of Mr. and Mrs. Peck, who were charter members of this church. It was designed and executed by the Tiffany Studios of New York, after the famous picture of Axel Ender in the Parish Church at Molde, Norway.
WHITEHEAD, John,
Lawyer, Litterateur.
John Whitehead was not a native of New Jersey, but that State was the scene of all his activities. Born in Jersey, Licking county, Ohio, September 6, 1819, he was in early life deprived by death of a father's care, and his boyhood years were passed in the home of his uncle, Hon. Asa Whitehead, a leading member of the bar, practicing in Newark. After receiving a thorough acad-
emical education, he became a law student bl in the office of his uncle, and was admitted to the bar in September, 1840. He at once engaged in practice, in association with his uncle, remaining until 1843, when he open- ed an office for himself. In 1856 he was appointed a United States Commissioner for the District of New Jersey, and in this capacity it became his duty to investigate complaints of the violation of Federal statutes, and his patience and breadth off legal knowledge made him a most admir- able committing magistrate.
During his long practice, Mr. Whitehead never sought political or other honors out- side his profession, the only temptation to which he yielded being the indulgence of his literary tastes. He had a strong sym- pathy for the colored race, although never a pronounced abolitionist, and took great interest in furthering efforts to obtain their freedom. His lectures on history and philo- logy evinced deep research and great fa- miliarity with those subjects, and he made valuable contributions to the legal litera- ture of the State. His "Judicial and Civil History of New Jersey" ( 1897) was a most! valuable work, and has a lasting value. The cause of education always found in him an earnest advocate. He was a member of the Public School Committee of Newark as early as 1845, its early meetings being held in his private office. In 1851, after the legislature had enlarged its powers as the Board of Education, its meetings were still held at the same place, Mr. Whitehead being secretary and treasurer until 1855. The people of Clinton township, of which he then became a resident, immediately availed themselves of his devotion to the cause of education, by selecting him for their school superintendent, which position he held for four years. He was for a long time secretary of the State Society of Teachers and Friends of Education, and in its interest spent much of his leisure time visiting different parts of the State, endeav- oring to arouse the people to a realization of
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the importance of furnishing their children with better educational advantages. He was also a prominent member of the American Association for the Advancement of Educa- tion, composed of the most distinguished educators and men of learning in the coun- try. When it was decreed by an Act of the Legislature that school examiners should be appointed in the different counties of the State, Mr. Whitehead was selected for Es- sex county, holding that office until the act was repealed.
Mr. Whitehead removed in 1861 to Mor- ristown, which was thereafter his place of residence until his death. There, after years of unflagging zeal and patient labor, he had the satisfaction of seeing the Mor- ristown Library opened to the public, on August 14, 1876-an institution which at once entered upon a constant development, to the great advantage of the community. With indomitable perseverance he watched over its growth, advancing its interests in countless ways, and all of its thousands of books collected during his administration, were selected under his immediate supervi- sion. His enthusiasm in this work was unbounded. It would doubtless have been the great sorrow of his life had he lived to witness the burning of the Library (Feb- ruary 23, 1914), and the total loss of its more than thirty thousand volumes and its great collection of historical papers and records reaching back to the colonial and revolutionary periods. The pecuniary loss was large (about $75,000 covered measur- ably well by insurance), but the value of the papers and records is not to be measur- ed in terms of monetary value. Mr. White- head was president of the Library corpor- ation at the time of his death.
In 1891 Mr. Whitehead was chosen pres- ident of the New Jersey Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, founded in 1889, an outgrowth of the patriotic senti- ment engendered by the centennial celebra- tion of the inauguration of Washington as the chief executive of the nation. During
the successive years that he held that posi- tion Mr. Whitehead's genial social quali- ties and enthusiastic patriotism were largely instrumental in increasing the membership of the society. In 1893 he was elected one of the vice-presidents of the national so- ciety. He was an elder of the First Pres- byterian Church, of Morristown, and gave much service in teaching in the Sunday school. He was familiarly called "Judge," through his long and active service as a United States Commissioner. He died February 14, 1905.
Mr. Whitehead married, in 1843, Kath- arine A., daughter of David Mills; she was a beautiful and accomplished woman. They left one daughter, Katharine A. Whitehead.
At a meeting of the directors of The Morristown Library and Lyceum, held February 17, 1905, a minute, prepared by Alfred Mills Esq., and reported by Messrs. Alfred Mills, John E. Taylor and Henry C. Pitney Jr., committee, was adopted and re- corded, and from which the following ex- tracts are taken :
He established his office in Newark, and con- tinued the practice of law there up to the time of his death. He won an enviable position in his profession, being a learned lawyer, a wise coun- selor and an earnest advocate. He was very fond of general literature, and was an historian by in- stinct. New Jersey is much indebted to him for the valuable historical and biographical books which he has written and published. A clear and graceful writer, he wrote and published many meritorious articles and letters upon subjects of interest to all intelligent citizens. To the ad- vancement of public education he gave much time and work. He loved books, as we all know. A good library was an elysium to him.
In 1861, Mr. Whitehead removed his family residence from Newark to Morristown and bc- came one of the best known and highly esteemed citizens of this place. Hc soon became much in- terestcd in the work of starting a public library in Morristown. He drew an act for the incorpor- ation of "The Morristown Library and Lyccum," which was passed by the legislature of our State and approved on the 6th of March, 1866. The preamble of the charter refers to the fact that an association had been formed in Morristown, "hav-
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ing in view the establishment of a public library, with rooms for reading and other literary pur- poses, and the erection or purchase of a suitable edifice for the objects of such association, so as to promote the education of the young and other persons who may desire to be benefitted thereby, in science, literature and the arts." In the first section of the charter, Mr. Whitehead is named as one of the commissioners to receive subscriptions to the capital stock of said association. This pro- ject was a novel one in Morristown. Mr. White- head was most earnest and persistent in his ef- forts to arouse public interest in and popular de- mand for such an institution. By writing and publishing articles in the newspapers, by addresses at such meetings at which a subject of this nature could be properly considered, and by personal ap- peals to individuals, he succeeded in arousing the interest of our community in the proposed insti- tution. He did far more than all others put to- gether in bringing about this result. Mr. White- head was foremost in the strenuous and persistent efforts that resulted in the erection and comple- tion of our building on South Street, and in its opening for public use in the month of August, 1878.
He succeeded, in the office of president, Mr. William L. King, who died in 1897, and was most efficient in selecting and securing the large and valuable library which we now have. We shall greatly miss him and his intelligent and efficient work.
RICORD, Frederick William,
Educator, Litterateur, Public Official.
Frederick William Ricord, son of Jean Baptiste Ricord and Elizabeth (Stryker) Ricord, was born in Guadeloupe, West Indies, October 7, 1819, and died in New- ark, New Jersey, August 13, 1897.
He represented several lines of descent, including the Holland Dutch of his mater- nal grandfather, whose family settled in New Amsterdam in 1652, where Jan Stry- ker, of Ruiven, the first bearer of the name to come to America, was a man of no little importance, and later was the founder of a Dutch colony on Long Island, the modern name of which is Flatbush. Jan Stryker was its first chief magistrate and served as such for twenty years. This family was one both ancient and honorable in Holland.
Of its pedigree, fourteen descents are given in Holland down to 1791. Of the French line of Mr. Ricord's ancestry, it may be said to include Huguenot and Girondist blood, the French Revolution being chiefly responsible for his emigration to America, his grandfather Ricord having fled to this country in 1793 to escape, with his young wife and little children, the horrors of that terrible era.
Jean Baptiste, father of Mr. Ricord, bore the family title of Madianna, which belong- ed to him as the eldest son. He graduated from the College of Physicians and Sur- geons of New York, and practiced medicine in this country and in his home in the West Indies. He was the author of several valuable scientific works.
Mrs. Elizabeth Ricord, wife of Dr. Ricord, was a pioneer in the higher educa- tion of women, the friend and associate of Mary Lyman, Emma Willard and other early educators. Bereft of husband and left with four sons to educate, she returned from the West Indies to the United States to give to her boys the advantages of a Christian land and civilization. In that day it was not customary for women to face the world as now may be done, without call for special effort and courage. Delicate- ly reared, the daughter of a clergyman (Rev. Peter Stryker), accustomed through- out married life abroad to the dependent life of a large slaveholder, Mrs. Ricord came to America to fight her way, with an entire change of environment. At once she decided upon the life of a teacher as that which, while supporting herself, would also be helpful to others. To this end she opened a school in Woodbridge, New Jer- sey. where her youngest son died. As her worldly means increased, she was enabled to realize in larger degree the idea which had long been uppermost in her mind in relation to her labors as a teacher-that of establishing a school where young women might have educational advantages greater than any afforded by the schools of her
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girlhood. To this end she opened in Geneva, New York, in 1829, her seminary for young women, in which institution an education was made possible for women that was equal to the higher schools for young men. She was eminently successful in her undertaking; her seminary took first rank, and its pupils were numbered by hundreds during the many years of its existence.
As an immediate result of her undertak- ing, Mrs. Ricord was enabled to send her three remaining sons through college, and give two of them professional training, one as a lawyer, the other as a physician.
Frederick William, the youngest son, entered Hobart College and matriculated at Rutgers College, completed a law course, and was admitted to the bar of the State of New York. He did not follow the law, how- ever, but, having married, located in New- ark, New Jersey, and occupied his time with literary pursuits, as a writer for magazines and newspapers, and finally as an author. As a public officer he was above bribe or corruption ; jealous in his adherence to right, no man could make of him a tool. Through his action hundreds of thousands of dollars were saved to the city and to its inhabitants as individuals. As State Superintendent of Public Schools, he did much to systematize the educational affairs of the common- wealth. During the seventeen years of his connection with the Board of Education of Newark he also performed invaluable work. Although offered chairs in many well known colleges and universities, he preferred to remain in the city of his choice, and accepted none of the proffered posi- tions, although he was not insensible to the honors within his reach. Nor would he ever accept a seat in the Legislature of his State or that of the nation, though both were offered to him.
From boyhood, Mr. Ricord belonged to the church of his Holland ancestors, but was for the last forty years of his life a
Presbyterian. For many years he was su- perintendent of one of the first Sunday schools for colored children in the city.
During the fifty-four years of his resi- dence in Newark, Mr. Ricord occupied the various positions and offices of librarian of the Newark Library Association, president of the Board of Education, State Superin- tendent of Public Schools, sheriff of Essex county, mayor of the city of Newark, judge of various courts, and librarian and treas- urer of the New Jersey Historical Society. He was a member and master of St. John's Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and connected with many literary and educa- tional bodies both in his own and other States. He was the author of many works, and translator of many more. His "Youths' Grammar" and "History of Rome" were for many years leading textbooks in the schools of the land. He was emphatically a linguist, being master of fourteen langu- ages and dialects, and during his long life of literary work was editor of various mag- azines, papers and historical and biogra- phical works. His political life was with- out stain. In his social life he was known and loved as a man of pure life and noble thought, of warm heart and courteous bear- ing, a man to whom the pomps and vanities of life had little value, and the approval of his conscience was his best reward. He was a tireless worker and a man of rare simplic- ity of character. Of the possessions and treasures of a long life, none were so dear to this man of unworldly thought, as the friendships he made and held as the best gifts of the God he worshipped.
Mr. Ricord married, in 1843, Sophia, daughter of William Bradley, whose family represented one of the best of New Eng- land. Upon her mother's side she was a descendant of Governor William Bradford, of the Plymouth colony, and also of Gov- ernor John Webster, of the Connecticut Colony.
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STOCKTON, John P.,
Lawyer, Diplomat, Statesman.
John Potter Stockton, lawyer and states- man, was a member of the family of that name which need yield to none in its claim upon the gratitude of New Jersey, or in the record of the services it has rendered to the State which has so long been its home. Richard Stockton, the elder, the ardent patriot, the staunch opponent of British oppression in colonial days and final- ly Signer of the immortal Declaration, was his great-grandfather, nor were the inter- mediate generations less distinguished. His grandfather was the eminent jurist and statesman, Richard Stockton, the younger, whose career and personality has done so much for the traditions of the New Jersey bar; and his father, Robert Field Stockton, the gallant commodore and prudent states- man. John P. Stockton thus represented the fourth generation in direct descent which contributed to the fair name of New Jersey, and the third which served her in the senatorial capacity.
John P. Stockton was born in Princeton, New Jersey, in the old Stockton home, Au- gust 2, 1826. After a superior preparatory course he became a student at Princeton College, from which he was graduated in 1843. Adopting the law, he passed through the usual preparation, and was admitted to the bar in 1846, and three years later he was called to the bar as a counsellor. He very speedily attained a high position in his profession, and in connection therewith re- ceived some high trusts, being appointed a member of the commission for the Revision of the Laws of New Jersey, and subsequent- ly reporter to the Court of Chancery, and during his occupancy of this office he pub- lished the three valuable volumes of "Equi- ty Reports," which bear his name. He was engaged in a number of the leading cases then before the courts, and was counsel for the Pennsylvania Railroad Company in the long and intricate litigation rendered
necessary by assaults upon the privileges acquired by it from the corporations known as the United Railroads of New Jersey. This litigation absorbed an extraordinary attention, and forms the greatest railroad war in the annals of the State. Politically a Democrat, inheriting his principles from a long line of ancestors, he took an active and conspicuous part in politics. In 1858: President Buchanan appointed him minister to Rome, and he removed to that city, where he remained until 1861, when he was recalled at his own request. In 1865 he was elected to the United States Senate for the term ending in 1871. A contest, however, arose, and after he had occupied the seat for rather more than a year, his- election was declared by the Senate to have been informal. He was accordingly un- seated, and thereupon returned home to prosecute his profession. In 1868 he was. again elected to the United States Senate, as the successor of Hon. Frederick T. Frel- inghuysen, and took his seat on March 4, 1869, and on the expiration of his term, in March, 1875, he resumed the active practice of his profession. During his term as Sen- ator he served on the Senate committees on foreign affairs, navy, appropriation, patents. and public buildings. In 1877 he was made Attorney-General of New Jersey, an office he held until 1892. A Democrat in politics, he was a delegate to every national conven- tion of his party from 1864 until his death. In 1882 Princeton College conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. Toward the end of his life he retired somewhat from public life, and his death occurred January 22, 1900, in New York City.
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