USA > New Jersey > Cyclopedia of New Jersey Biography > Part 7
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considerable, its importance is not to be measured by the small number of killed and wounded-indicative, in this case, of the professional ability and tactical skill with which the victory was won. The bat- tle of Port Royal, occurring a little less than seven months after the fall of Fort Sumter, was of surpassing value in its mor- al and political effect, both at home and abroad. It gave us one of the finest har- bors on the Atlantic seaboard, which af- forded an admirable base for future opera- tions by the establishment of coaling sta- tions, shops and supply depots. Du Pont actively followed up his victory; Tybee Is- land was seized, giving a foothold for the reduction of Fort Pulaski by the army; a combined naval and military force destroyed the batteries at Port Royal ferry; the sounds and inland waters of Georgia and the east coast of Florida were occupied; St. Mary's, Fernandina, Jacksonville, and other places were captured, and Fort Clinch and the fort at St. Augustine retaken; fourteen blockading stations were established, all thoroughly effective save that off Charles- ton, where the vessels at command were in- sufficient to cover the circuit of twenty- three miles. In recognition of his services, Du Pont received the thanks of Congress and was appointed rear-admiral to rank from July 16, 1862. Toward the close of the year, several armored vessels were added to his command, mostly of the mon- itor type-one of which destroyed the Con- federate steamer "Nashville," when aground near Fort McAllister, Georgia. Desiring to measure the ironclads against forts com- manding obstructed channels, Admiral Du Pont sent three monitors, supported by six other ships, to engage Fort McAllister, upon which they were unable to make any im- pression on account of the small number of their guns and the slowness of their fire. This satisfied the admiral that their offen- sive power had been overrated, and he re- ported to the Navy Department that what-
ever degree of impenetrability monitors might have, there was no corresponding quality of destructiveness as against forts. On April 7, 1863, Du Pont, taking command of his nine armored vessels, made a resolute attempt to take Charleston. Unable to manoeuvre in the tortuous channel leading to the harbor, which was filled with obstruc- tions and torpedoes, the ironclads were ex- posed to a terrible cross-fire from a hun-
dred guns of the heaviest calibres. His flagship, the "Ironsides," which was lead- ing, steered so badly under the influence of the current that it was twice necessary to drop anchors to bring her head to the prop- er direction, and when within fifteen hun- dred yards or less of Fort Sumter she lay for a considerable time directly over a huge torpedo, which, fortunately for those on board, the electrician at Battery Wagner was unable to explode. Darkness approach- ing, the ships were withdrawn with the in- tention of continuing the engagement on the following day, but when morning came, one of the ironclads having foundered from in- juries received during the engagement (in which she was struck ninety times), and five others being wholly or partially dis- abled (many of them having received over fifty shots), Admiral Du Pont wisely de- termined not to invite a great disaster by a renewal of the attack. The action was fought in pursuance of express instruc- tions from the Navy Department, its prob- able results not having been unforeseen by the admiral who had given it as his opinion that the co-operation of troops was neces- sary to success. Time has confirmed the absolute correctness of Du Pont's judg- ment ; his able successor, with a larger force of armored ships, was no more fortunate, and Charleston only fell upon the approach of Sherman's army. In June the ironclad ram "Atlanta" came out of Savannah, and Du Pont sent two monitors to intercept her, one of which, under Commodore Rogers, succeeded in capturing her after a brief
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engagement. This was the last important incident of Admiral Du Pont's command, from which he was relieved, July 5, 1863.
During the intervals of more than twenty- five years of service at sea, he was almost constantly employed on duties of import- ance, and was conspicuous in the improve- ment and development of the navy. A mem- ber of the board which drew up the plan of reorganization of the Naval Academy, he was one of the officers who afterward re- vised and extended the system then adopt- ed. He served on the lighthouse board, took part in two revisions of the rules and regu- lations for the navy and was a very prom- inent member of the Naval Retiring Board of 1855. He was also the author of vari- ous papers on professional subjects ; among others, one on corporal punishment in the navy, and one on the use of floating bat- teries for coast defense, which has since been republished and is largely quoted from by Sir Howard Douglas in his work on naval gunnery. In 1833 Admiral Du Pont married his cousin, Sophie Madeleine Du Pont, who survived him. He died at Phil- adelphia, Pennsylvania, June 23, 1865. In 1882 Congress enacted that the circle at the intersection of Massachusetts and Connec- ticut avenues in the city of Washington should be called "Du Pont Circle," and by subsequent legislation provided for the erec- tion there of a bronze statue of Rear-Ad- miral Du Pont. This lasting monument to his fame and memory was completed in 1884.
QUINBY, James M.,
Manufacturer, Progressive Citizen.
James Moses Quinby, son of Jothani and Lillias (Smith) Quinby, was born in Orange, New Jersey, October 5, 1804, died in Newark, July 20, 1874. The Quinby family are believed to have come into Eng- land with the Danes, the first of record being in Yorkshire, 1341, by name Hugh de Quarmby. The arms of the family are :
Argent, two bars sable in chief, a Cornish chough proper. Crest : A Cornish chough armed.
The American line of descent is through Thomas Quinby, who landed in Salem, Massachusetts, 1643-46; his son Robert, a ship carpenter, of record in Norfolk coun- ty, Massachusetts ; his son William, one of the founders of Stratford, Connecticut ; his son John, a proprietor of New Castle, Westchester county, New York, and ap- pointed a magistrate by Governor Stuyves- ant, 1662; his son, Josiah; his son Josiah (2), born in 1692; his son Josiah (3), settled in Orange, New Jersey, about 1746, a large land owner and farmer, at what is now Llewellyn Park; his son Moses; his son Jotham, who resided in a stone house on Scotland street, South Orange, tearing down the old house and using the stone for the basement walls of a new residence.
James Moses Quinby, after completing his years of apprenticeship at the carriage- maker's trade with John C. Hedenberg, entered the employ of G. & A. K. Carter, a noted early Newark carriage building firm, and became foreman of their shop, so skilled a workman and so capable a man- ager was he. In 1834 the Carters failed in business, when, to save himself, Mr. Quin- by purchased the plant and continued bus- iness on his own account, later admitting as partners George M. Spencer, his book- keeper, and Isaac Young, his foreman, and establishing the young firm of J. M. Quin- by & Company, now the veteran firm of the same name, J. M. Quinby & Company, although twentieth century invention has largely changed the character of the busi- ness. The Quinby carriage became a local favorite, then business was extended throughout the south, and a local branch factory and repository established at Montgomery, Alabama. For forty years Mr. Quinby manufactured carriages in Newark, his shops and yards located on Broad street, between Mechanic and Fair streets, where the station and freight sheds
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CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY
of the Newark & New York railroad now stand. He continued in successful business until his death in 1874, and it was largely owing to the excellence of the carriages manufactured under his supervision that Newark-made carriages became famous through the United States, their fame also extending to Europe. He was interested in many Newark business enterprises, one being the Newark Savings Institution, of which he was the original manager, and chairman of the funding committee; and another, the New Jersey Fire Insurance Company. He was a devoted churchman, a prominent member of Trinity Protestant Episcopal Church, and for many years a vestryman. Politically he was an old time Whig, and if he had a hobby it was his love for political work and management. He was always present and active at pri- mary elections; was invariably a delegate to important State and County Conven- tions, and was a potent force in making nominations. When the death knell of the old Whig party sounded, he was not one of the mourners, having actively embraced the cause of the first candidate of the new Republican party in 1856, General John C. Fremont. He advocated Republican prin- ciples with all the intensity of his strong nature, and in so doing sacrificed a for- tune, through incurring the bitter enmity of his large army of patrons in the south. This was not an incident of the war, but a proposition put squarely before him to ac- cept or reject. In 1860 several Southern States passed laws requiring Northern men doing business in the South to renounce the avowed anti-slavery principles of the Re- publican party under the penalty of having their property within these States forfeit- ed. Mr. Quinby refused to comply, and this refusal caused him great loss. He was one the fathers of the party in Newark and in New Jersey, and was one of its hon- ored heads for many years. He was one of the first State Senators elected by the party from Essex county, and one of the
first in the State, serving in 1860-62. He had previously, in 1851, been elected Mayor of Newark by the Whigs, serving until 1854, being twice re-elected, the ten- ure of the office being one year, and no salary being attached to the. office. He is further remembered as a member of the old Volunteer Fire Department, in which he took a deep interest. He gave the city a good business administration and retired from office, honored and respected, even by his political foes. He also was a mem- ber of the board of water commissioners. He was a man of pleasing personality, un- assuming and modest, a true soldier of the "common good", aiding whenever and wherever he could to advance the public welfare.
He married Phoebe Ayres, daughter of Richard and Hannah (Hays) Sweazy, a de- scendant of Samuel Sweazy, of Southold, Long Island, and Roxbury, Massachusetts, born March 29, 1689, died May II, 1759. Children of James M. Quinby : I. Annie Emeline, deceased, married, in 1865, Nel- son Wright, and had children, Albert Wa- terman, deceased, Louisa Elise, married Arthur H. Mackie, and has children, Eliz- abeth Quinby, and Nelson Wright Mackie. 2. Marie Antoinette, born in Park Place, Newark, in 1846, and died there after a long illness, March 7, 1909. She was a graduate of Saint Mary's School, Burling- ton, New Jersey, beautiful in person, with a cultured mind, and was a leader in soci- ety until her retirement through ill health. Intense patriotism was her ruling passion, and with all her powers of mind even at personal sacrifice, she aided many a good cause. She inherited her father's wise executive ability, and using her in- fluence for good, she accomplished much for the betterment of those she aimed to help. Not only did she work through local channels, but at the time of the war with Spain, she exerted herself per- sonally, leading with others in outfitting the hospital ship "Solace", also spending
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days and nights at the railroad station assisting the returning soldiers who .through sickness or wounds needed aid. She was the organizer of section II, Army and Navy Relief Society, and its only pres- ident. In 1892 she was appointed by the State authorities to represent New Jersey in the interest of women at the World's Fair ; was for many years a member of the board of managers of the Colonial Dames; was a member of Trent Chapter, Daugh- ters of the American Revolution; was founder of the Woman's Branch of the New Jersey Historical Society, and presi- dent from its organization, devoting a great deal of time to its upbuilding. While this was her more conspicuous work, she did a great of benevolent work privately, and was also manager on the boards of several charitable organizations. Her life was a full and beautiful one, bringing the sweet reward of duty well performed, and the society of many kindred spirits, who knew her intimately and most truly loved and revered her. Her influence was most blessed, and the inspiration of her life is yet felt among those she cheered, encour- aged and led in good works during her years on earth, all too short, yet wonder- fully fruitful and helpful to others.
3. James Milnor, the only son of James M. Quinby to arrive at years of manhood, married Mary V. Casey. 4. Ida, married Wallace McIlvaine Scudder. Other chil- dren, deceased, are: Eliza Sweazy, mar- ried Charles Borcherling; Morris, died young ; Walden, died young ; Florence, died young.
STEPHENS, John Lloyd,
Noted Traveler and Author.
This noted man was a native of New Jersey, born in Shrewsbury, November 28, 1805. He graduated from Columbia Col- lege at the age of seventeen, studied law in Litchfield, Connecticut, and in New York City, and entered upon practice in the lat-
ter place. He took considerable interest in politics, and gained some fame as a Tam- many Hall campaign orator. In 1834 he went abroad, and was absent for two years, traveling through the southern and eastern parts of Europe, writing under engagement for "Hoffman's Monthly Magazine," his papers meeting with such favor that they were subsequently expanded into four volumes-"Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia, Petrae and the Holy Land" (1837), and "In Greece, Turkey, Russia and Po- land" (1838), and both of which were wide- ly circulated in Great Britain as well as in the United States.
In 1839 President Van Buren sent him on a semi-confidential commission to Central America, which was barren of results, the country being amid all the confusion of civil war and an overthrow of the existing gov- ernment. However, he improved his op- portunities, and in company with F. Catherwood, an English artist, visited the ruins of Cpan, Palenque, Axmal, etc., making notes and drawings of the remains of former empires of which little was then known. 'These ex- plorations resulted in his most important work, "Incidents of Travel in Central Amer- ica, Chiapas and Yucatan," in two volumes, published in 1841. In company with Mr. Catherwood, whose illustrations added much to the value of that work, and with more ample equipment for archaeological re- search, he made another survey of substan- tially the same ground, and in 1843 issued a two volume work entitled "Incidents of Travel in Yucatan." These works were most opportune, and he gained and long held the distinction of making the best and most ample contribution to the American knowledge of antiquities in those regions.
In 1846 Mr. Stephens was a member of the New York Constitutional Convention. In the following year he was active in the organization of the first ocean steam navi- gation company, in which he held an of- ficial position; and he was a passenger to
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Bremen in the first vessel of the line. The gold discoveries in California pointed to the necessity for a railroad across the Isthmus of Panama; he entered into this project with his accustomed enthusiasm, became vice-president and then president of the projecting company, and after personally surveying the route, visited Bogota and negotiated a contract with the New Gran- ada government, completing all these ar- rangements within the year 1849. During the following two years he was constantly engaged in superintending the work of con- struction, but fell victim to the insidious malaria of the Panama region, contracting the disease which caused his death, in New York, October 10, 1852, thus ending all too soon a life of phenomenal activity and em- inent success. His memory is preserved in a monument erected at the highest point reached by the Panama railroad.
ROEBLING, John A.,
Distinguished Civil Engineer.
John A. Roebling was one of the world's most famous civil engineers of his day, par- ticularly famous as a projector and builder of wire bridges, and whose principal monu- ments are the great suspension bridges at Niagara Falls, and that over the East river, connecting the cities of New York and Brooklyn.
Mr. Roebling was a native of Prussia, born in the city of Mulhausen, province of Thuringia, July 12, 1806. He received a thorough academical education, and then entered the Royal Polytechnic School in Berlin, from which he was graduated as a civil engineer. It is a noteworthy fact that during his student days he devoted much of his attention to the construction of suspen- sion bridges, and made his investigations and theories the subject of his graduating thesis, a paper which attracted much attention, and no little adverse criticism on account of his venturing upon what was then con- sidered an impracticable innovation. In
compliance with the stern requirements of the Prussian government, he served upon public works for three years following his graduation.
He came to the United States at the age of twenty-five, and located near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At this time engineering ef- fort was largely devoted to the improve- ment of inland transportation by means of a system of canals and slack-water naviga- tion on the rivers. Mr. Roebling directed his attention to this subject, and he began his labors on the Beaver river, a tributary of the Ohio. He subsequently became inter- ested in a project for navigable water con- nection between the Ohio river and Lake Erie, but the project was abandoned be- cause of the competition set in operation by the extensive building of railroads then begun. For a time Mr. Roebling was en- gaged in the service of the State of Penn- sylvania in the location of a feeder for the Pennsylvania canal in the upper Allegheny river, and he was subsequently occupied surveying and locating the route of the Pennsylvania Central railway from Harris- burg across the mountains to Pittsburgh.
It was about this time that Mr. Roeb- ling began to give his attention particularly to that department of engineering which soon made his name famous throughout the world. As early as 1844-1845 he had suc- cessfully constructed an aqueduct across the Allegheny river, on the principle of a suspension bridge with wire cables, encoun- tering from its beginning to its completion and successful inauguration the determined opposition and contemptuous opprobrium of the engineering profession. During his res- idence in Pittsburgh he engaged in the man- ufacture of iron and steel wire, and there developed his wonderful knowledge of the nature and capabilities of wire which proved so important a factor in enabling him to work a revolution in bridge construction. His success in the aqueduct project instilled confidence, and to him was committed the construction of the suspension bridge over
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the Monongahela river at Pittsburgh, and he followed its successful completion with the building of four of the suspended aque- ducts for the Delaware canal. He then (in 1851) began the building of the great rail- road bridge over the Niagara river, and which at the time of its completion at- tracted the admiration and astonishment of the engineering talent of Europe as well as of America, as the longest suspension bridge in the world. This he followed equally suc- cessfully with the suspension bridge over the Allegheny river at Pittsburgh, and that over the Ohio river at Cincinnati, the lat- ter, with a span of nearly two hundred feet greater length than that of the Niagara river bridge, marking another great advance step in the science of bridge building. The excellence of the Ohio river structure im- pressed upon engineers throughout the country the conviction that the problem of bridge construction had been solved and had much to do in pointing to Mr. Roebling as the chief engineer of the great Brooklyn-New York bridge.
The building of a bridge over the East river to connect Brooklyn with New York, had been suggested shortly after Mr. Roeb- ling had built his first bridge at Pittsburgh, but did not pass the stage of discussion in the newspapers, and for years the project had passed out of sight. Its resurrection was in all probability due to Mr. Roebling more than to any other. It is a well au- thenticated fact that in February, 1853, he had an unpleasant experience on a ferry boat in the ice-choked East river, which caused him to take a personal interest in the necessity for a bridge, and he published a letter setting forth the feasibility of such an undertaking. However, it was difficult to make a beginning, and eleven years were to pass before a legislative commission was appointed (in 1864) to examine into and report upon the expediency and practicabil- ity of a bridge, and a building company was not organized until 1867. On May 23d of that year, and one month after the passage
of the act of incorporation, Mr. Roebling was appointed engineer. He completed his report of survey, plans and estimates, on September Ist following. The incorpora- tors, after a careful examination, expressed entire confidence in Mr. Roebling's judg- ment, experience and ability; yet, in view of uncertainty and opposition on the part of various elements of the public, deemed it advisable to call in a board of consulting engineers, composed of Horatio G. Allen, of New York; Alfred W. Craven, engineer of the Croton Aqueduct; H. B. Latrobe, builder and chief engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and chief engineer of the Reading railroad; James P. Kirkwood, W. J. McAlpine, John J. Serrell, and Col- onel Julius W. Adams. This board devoted nearly five months to an exhaustive study of Mr. Roebling's plans, and at the close of their labors reported favorably upon them in every respect. Meantime, in order to safeguard marine interests under the pro- visions of existing Acts of Congress, the War Department appointed a commission of United States Engineers-Major Gen- eral Horatio G. Wright, Major General John Newton and Major Wright-to ascertain whether or not the proposed bridge would be a menace to navigation. The commis- sion carefully viewed the bridges at Pitts- burgh, Niagara, Cincinnati, and elsewhere, critically examined Mr. Roebling's plans, and in its report gave cordial and apprecia- tive endorsement and approval, except in a single particular-recommending that the height of the central span be 135 feet above the middle of the river, instead of 130 feet, as proposed. No man could have had ampler appreciation than came to Mr. Roeb- ling from these two boards of exacting scientists-the incorporators' committee and the government commission.
It is reasonable to believe, in view of the magnitude of his labors and his advanced age, that Mr. Roebling expected the Brook- lyn bridge to be the crowning achievement of his long and useful career. And, in
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larger way, such it was, though he was not destined to witness much more than its be- ginning. In the summer in which the work on the bridge was begun (1869), while en- gaged in determining the location of the bridge tower on the Brooklyn side of East river, he experienced an accident which re- sulted in his death. A ferry boat entering its slip dislodged the timbers upon which he was standing, in such manner as to catch and crush his foot, and sixteen days later he died, lockjaw having set in. His un- timely loss was severely felt, and the tri- butes to his memory were fervent and sin- cere, from press and pulpit, from municipal and scientific bodies, and from the general public. The mechanical bent of his mind was such that exactness was his cardinal principle, and he was most exacting in all professional matters, toward himself as well as towards his colaborers. At the same time he was of kindly and benevolent disposi- tion, and in his family and social relations he was most lovable. He held to the loftiest ideals of personal and civic life, and during the Civil War was one of the staunchest upholders of the Union cause.
ZABRISKIE, Hon. Abraham O., Lawyer, Jurist, Legislator.
Hon. Abraham O. Zabriskie, LL.D., was born June 10, 1807, in the then village of Greenbush, opposite Albany, in the State of New York. When he was four years old his parents removed to Millstone, New Jer- sey. There he received a thorough academ- ical education, and subsequently matricu- lated at Nassau Hall, Princeton, becoming a member of the junior class when only sixteen years of age, and graduating two years later, with the class of 1825. In the same year he commenced the study of law in the office of James S. Green, of Prince- ton, and was licensed as an attorney in No- vember, 1828, being admitted as counsel- lor-at-law in 1831.
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