USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 43
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Peter P., born June 2, 1749, died June 2, 1815; married, October 30, 1771, Jane Stoothof. 2. Martin, February 21, 1751, died January 10, 1820; married, October 20, 1773, Sara Stoothof. Wilhelmina, about 1756, died be- fore 1690; married as second wife Guisbert Bogert. 4. David, referred to below.
(VI) David, son of Petrus and Johana (Stoothof) Nevius, was born near Six Mile Run, New Jersey, June 2, 1758, died at Pleas- ant Plains, New Jersey, March 12, 1825. He
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spent his life on a farm of one hundred and fifty acres left him by his father, which ex- tended from the road leading from Middle- bush to Six Mile Run to the Millstone river, being the northerly part of his father's four hundred and fifty acre tract. June 5, 1793, he was commissioned by Governor Howell as lieutenant of Second Company, Fifth Battalion, Third Regiment, of Somerset County Militia, and April 14, 1798, promoted captain. In 1799 he was appointed justice of the peace, but it is doubtful if he qualified; appointed again November 12, 1800, qualified January 6, 1801 ; reappointed 1806-12-17, and probably did not qualify the first and last of these dates. His granddaughter says that he was a "man of rather striking appearance, having a large, broad face, head bald in front, with tufts of hair sticking out above his ears. He was tall of stature." He is probably the David Nevius mentioned as sergeant in Captain Stryker's troop of Somerset County Light Horse, during the revolution. At one time he was the cus- todian of the Six Mile Run church records, and the burning down of his house in 1799 destroyed the minutes of consistory and the first register. He married, November 4, 1781, Elizabeth, born August 2, 1761, died Septem- ber 15, 1831, daughter of John and Antje (de Remere-Stryker ) Schurman. The inscription on her tombstone says she was "endeared as a wife, a mother and a friend, and especially as a believer in Jesus Christ." Her grandfather, John Schurman, was the son of Jacobus Schur- man, who with Hendrik Fisher were the fam- ous co-workers with the Rev. Theodore Jacobus Frelinghuysen. Children : I. Peter Schur- man, born August 23, 1782, died September 27, 1870; married, January 13, 1803, Maria Van Doren. 2. Ann, May 8, 1784, died De- cember 27, 1832; married, 1803, her cousin. Peter Bogart. 3. John Schurman, November 30, 1785, died February 5, 1835; married, about 1809, Lydia Van Dyke. 4. David, re- ferred to below. 5. Wilhelmina, July 4, 1789, died July 16, 1831 ; married, March 17, 1814, Isaac Skillman. 6. James, April 30, 1791, died August 16, 1794. 7. Martin, February 28, 1793, died August 14, 1794. 8. Elizabeth, No- vember 14, 1794, died May, 1800. 9. James Schurman, September 16, 1796, died December 28, 1859; married, May 2, 1820, Catharine Disborough Polhemus, judge of the New Jer- sey supreme court. 10. Margaret, April 3, 1799, died September 16, 1862 ; married, 1823, William Van Dyke. II. Martin, April 15, 1801, died July 30, 1817. 12. Isaac, October
8, 1803, died June 29, 1866; married, October 2, 1822, Sarah Hutchings.
(VII) David (2), son of David (I) and Elizabeth (Schurman) Nevius, was born at Pleasant Plains, near Six Mile Run, New Jer- sey, August 17, 1787, died near Freehold, New Jersey, October 16, 1843. He was a farmer and resided eight miles north of Freehold on the road to New Brunswick, where he was buried in the First Church yard. His first farm was across the river from the city of New Brunswick; subsequently he resided at Middlebush, where he owned one hundred and sixty acres, and for a time also lived near Bound Brook. In 1830 he removed to a farm near Freehold, where his last child was born. In one of her letters his daughter Catharine P. says, "My father was a man of magnificent physique. He was much beloved by every one. Although not college bred his knowledge was extensive being a great reader. There existed between him and his brother James S. (the next youngest ) an unusually strong brotherly affection, and it was a pleasure to behold them together, as they appeared like lovers. He was a man of sterling qualities and noble traits of character. He was a most liberal Christian man, a most affectionate father and husband. He was the most hospitable and generous man in Monmouth county. His home was ever open to all who needed shelter, and assistance. At meetings of synods presbyteries, etc., the clergy were always his guests and right wel- come he made them. Many noble traits of character endeared him to his relatives and to all with whom he came in contact. I never heard one unkind word escape from his lips." His nephew, William James Nevius, of Eliza- beth, writes of him, "He was very amiable in his disposition ; not so enterprising in his occu- pation as a farmer ; generous in his living as well as hospitable, I often visited him and greatly enjoyed his society. He took great de- light in fine horses, and had a sleek pair of mares at one time which it was enjoyment to drive. Like most of the family he was tall and good proportioned, in excellent health and of uniform temperament. Unlike most of the members of the family he was partially bald." He married, December 7, 1810, his cousin- german Margaret, born March 31, 1787, died January 15, 1865, daughter of James and Elea- nor (Williamson) Schurman. She is recorded as having been "a woman of great amiability." Children : 1. David, born September 11, 181I, died February 13, 1840; unmarried. 2. James Schurman, referred to below. 3. John Schur-
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man, November 24, 1814; living in 1900; mar- ried, November 16, 1843, Harriet Phillips Knox. 4. Ellen Schurman, November 24, 1816; baptized Eleanor; died February 15, 1848; unmarried. 5. Elizabeth, September I, 1818; died 1819. 6. Anna Maria, May 10, 1820, died July 22, 1887; married (first) De- cember 5, 1839, Henry Van Dyke Scudder, of Cranbury, New Jersey, and (second), Sep- tember 20, 1842, Peter Isaac Gijsberti Hoden- pyl, of Grand Rapids. 7. Martin David, July 13, 1822; living 1900; married, December 14, 1847, Deborah Ann Smock. 8. Elizabeth, June 15, 1824, died October 26, 1829. 9. Margaret Schurman, August 15, 1828; living 1900; mar- ried, January 29, 1851, Joseph Greer Peppard. IO. William Schurman, January 6, 1829; living 1900; married, 1862, Mary Stanton Winsor ; enlisted in civil war as private in First New York Cavalry, promoted to captain. II. Cath- arine Polhemus, November 26, 1832; living 1900 ; married (first) November 5, 1851, John Terhune, Jr .; (second) James Charles Cam- eron.
(VIII) James Schurman, son of David (2) and Margaret (Schurman) Nevius, was born near Six Mile Run, New Jersey, April 1, 1813, died near Princeton, New Jersey, April 24, 1876. He was a farmer, "distinguished look- ing man who died suddenly of heart disease while pumping water." He married, Decem- ber 21, 1837, Hannah, daughter of James and Mary (Brown) Bowne; she was born July 16, 1816, died July 6, 1906, in Freehold, almost ninety years of age. Children : I. Mary Stod- dard, born November 7, 1838, died July I, 1840. 2. Henry Martin, referred to below. 3. James Bowne, August 3, 1843; living 1909; married, December 18, 1880, Annie, daughter of Enos P. and Hannah (Sickler) Reeves, a farmer of Princeton, New Jersey; two chil- dren, Carrie, born January 18, 1882, and James Reeves, born September 6, 1886. 4. Margaret Schurman, September 18, 1846; living 1909; married, November 9, 1871, John, son of Dr. John Tennant and Ann (Wyckoff) Woodhull ; children, Stella, born September 31, 1872, died May 2, 1886; Margaretta Nevius, born March 22, 1879 ; Carrie Caroline Vroom, born May 7, 1880, died May 3, 1884. 5. Mary Ann, July IO, 1849; living 1909; unmarried. 6. Julia, De- cember 19, 1851, died 1902; unmarried. 7.
Eleanor H., July 1, 1854, died July 16, 1897 ; unmarried ; librarian of the Freehold Lyceum from 1886 until its close. 8. Frank, November I, 1857, died 1864. 9. Kate Terhune, July 31, 1861 ; living 1909; unmarried.
(IX) Henry Martin, son of James Schur- man and Hannah ( Bowne) Nevius, was born at Freehold, New Jersey, January 30, 1841, and is now living at Red Bank, New Jersey .. For his early education he was sent to the public school and to the Freehold Academy and graduated from the Freehold Institute in 1858. In the following year, 1859, he went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he took a post- graduate course in the high school, and in the spring of 1861 entered the law office of Gen- eral Russell A. Alger. When the civil war began, he enlisted August 12, 1861, as private in Company K, First New York (Lincoln) Cavalry, under Colonel MacReynolds. The regiment was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, and Mr. Nevius, holding the rank of regimental quartermaster-sergeant, resigned December 31, 1862, being promoted for gal- lantry second lieutenant, Seventh Michigan Cavalry, one of the four regiments, namely, the First, Fifth, Sixth and Seventh, which comprised the brigade under General George A. Custer, under whom he served until the winter of 1863-64, when he resigned in order to take position in a regiment then forming at Trenton. The raising of this regiment was abandoned and Mr. Nevius then enlisted as a private in March, 1864, in Company E, Twen- ty-fifth New York Cavalry, where his promo- tion was rapid, and upon the capture of Im- boden with nearly one hundred of Mosby's men he was promoted to first lieutenant, and as such, July 11, 1864, he commanded his com- pany in front of Fort Stevens, about five miles from Washington, as the centre of a small band which resisted the attack of General Early upon the city and led the charge which forced the enemy back. His left arm was shat- tered by a bullet, but he held his men till the crisis was passed and then fell to the ground. That night the president made him a major. In May, 1865, he was discharged, and in the following year was appointed deputy collector of internal revenue for Monmouth county, New Jersey. After this he opened an office in Marlborough as an insurance agent, which he continued until 1868, when he entered the law office of General Charles Haight, with whom he remained until he was admitted to the New Jersey bar as an attorney in February, 1873. and as counsellor in 1876. Between these two latter dates he had his office in Freehold, but shortly before being made counsellor he went to Red Bank where he formed a copartnership with the Hon. John S. Applegate. After four years he set up in his profession for himself
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and continued so until 1888, when he entered into partnership with Edmund Wilson, a for- mer student of his, and this partnership con- tinued until 1896 when he was appointed judge of the circuit court by Governor Griggs, a posi- tion which he held for seven years with the approval and admiration of the entire bar of the state. He is the second "Judge Nevius" to sit upon the bench in New Jersey, and White- head says of him, "His career on the bench has made it manifest that he is a lover of justice. His willingness to preside continuously, his uniform courtesy to the bar, his ability to grasp and state tersely the legal principles involved, have combined to make his court a popular arena for litigation." In 1904 he became prose- cutor of the pleas for Monmouth county, and served as such till October, 1908, when he re- signed in order to accept his election as com- mander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Re- public. A year later, when his official term as commander-in-chief expired, he resumed his private practice as a counsellor-at-law and a special master and examiner in chancery. Mr. Nevius has always been a Republican, and from 1880 until 1890 he was being continually urged to accept nominations both to the assem- bly and the senate and also to go on the stump for his party. In 1887 he was unanimously nominated for the senate, and after declining the nomination three times he was forced to accept, and in a strongly Democratic county, after an exciting canvass, in which he made effective addresses, he was elected by a major- ity of four hundred on the Republican ticket, the county going twenty-five hundred Demo- cratic the previous year, and his own township giving him eight hundred majority. In 1889 his name was proposed as a candidate for gov- ernor, but he retained his senatorship, and when he retired in 1890 it was as president of the senate. It was during his last session that he investigated the Hudson county frauds which resulted in the sending of sixty-eight men to states prison. He also did most effi- cient work speaking throughout the state in behalf of General Harrison in both of his cam- paigns, and in that of 1884 Mr. Nevius made as many as sixty speeches. In 1884 he was elected commander of the department of New Jersey, Grand Army of the Republic, and re- elected in 1885, and he organized Arrowsmith Post, No. 61, of which he was commander until 1885. He always took a deep interest in the Grand Army, and attended all the meetings of that order. After being chosen by the Toledo meeting in 1908 as commander-in-chief, he de-
voted almost the whole of his time to the Grand Army, and made the enviable record of travel- ing in one year nearly forty thousand miles on inspections.
December 27, 1871, he married Matilda Holmes, born October 1, 1846, daughter of William H. and Gertrude (Schenck) Herbert. Child, Kate Terhune, born December 27, 1874; married, March 31, 1897, John Anderson, son of Jervis Ely, of Lambertville, New Jersey, and has Henry Nevius Ely, born January 21, 1903.
John Albert Blair, of Jersey City,
BLAIR a lawyer of high ability and at-/
tainments, traces his ancestry on the paternal side to the noted Blair family of Blair-Athol, Perthshire, Scotland, representa- tives of which came to America as early as 1720, settling in Pennsylvania and New Jer- sey.
Among them were two brothers, Samuel and John Blair, both of whom were educated at the famous Log College on the Neshaminy under the celebrated William Tennent, and be- came distinguished as ministers of the Presby- terian church. The Rev. Samuel Blair was called to Fagg's Manor, in Chester county, Pennsylvania, 1739, where in conjunction with his pastoral work, he conducted a school that was among the most noteworthy of the early Presbyterian academies. His son, also the Rev. Samuel Blair, was pastor of the old South Church in Boston before the revolu- tion. He became chaplain of the Pennsyl- vania battalion of riflemen that participated in the siege of Boston. He was offered the presi- dency of the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) but declined in favor of Dr. Witherspoon. The Rev. John Blair was ordained pastor of Big Spring, Middle Spring and Rocky Spring, in the Cumberland Valley, 1742, but resigned in consequence of the frequent Indian incursions on the frontier ( 1755-57) and succeeded his brother at Fagg's Manor. In 1767 he became professor of divin- ity and moral philosophy at Princeton, and was acting president of the college until the acces- sion of Dr. Witherspoon in 1769. He died at Wallkill, in the New York Highlands, 1771. While one branch of the family was thus de- voting its energies to the work of the ministry and the dissemination of knowledge, another was moulding the commerce which has since developed into one of the mainstays of the state of New Jersey. In the latter part of the eighteenth century Samuel Blair, great-great- grandfather of John Albert Blair, was sent by
She A Main
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a Philadelphia firm to take charge of the iron industry at Oxford Furnace, Warren county, New Jersey. William Blair, grandfather of John Albert Blair, was a resident of Knowlton township, Warren county, New Jersey; he married Rachel Brands, and their son, John H. Blair, married Mary Angle, and were the parents of John Albert Blair.
John Albert Blair was born near Blairs- town, New Jersey, July 8, 1842. He attended the public schools of that town, and this knowl- edge was supplemented by attendance at the Blairstown Presbyterian Academy, and Col- lege of New Jersey at Princeton, from which he was graduated in 1866 with honors. Later he became a law student in the office of Hon. Jehiel G. Shipman, at Belvidere, New Jersey. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar as an attorney at the June term, 1869, and as a coun- selor in June, 1872. He located in Jersey City, New Jersey, in January, 1870, and there form- ed a partnership with Stephen B. Ransom, an old and distinguished lawyer in that city. On the passage of the law creating district courts in Jersey City, in 1877, Governor Joseph D. Bedle appointed Mr. Blair and Hon. Benning- ton F. Randolph as the first judges to fill the positions thus provided for. In May, 1885, he was appointed corporation counsel for the city of Jersey City, continuing in that office until 1889, when he tendered his resignation. He was named again for the same office in 1894, which he accepted, and served until April I, 1898, when he resigned to accept the ap- pointment of judge of the court of common pleas, general quarter sessions, and orphans' court of the county of Hudson, being named for the bench by Governor Griggs just before the latter became attorney-general of the Unitde States in the cabinet of President Mc- Kinley. Since that time Judge Blair has con- tinued to preside over the courts referred to adding new laurels to those already won. He is a staunch adherent of Republican principles, and although active in the councils of his party has never sought public office, preferring to devote his energies to his professional career. He attends the services of the First Presby- terian Church of Jersey City, and is a leading member of the Palma Club and the Union League Club of Jersey City, having been one of the organizers of the latter and president of the same for a number of years. He is the owner of a large and remarkably fine library, containing many noted volumes on various sub- jects, and in the perusal of these books Judge Blair finds recreation and pleasure.
Judge Blair is a close student, and being endowed by nature with strong personal force and full of magnetic power, he has drawn around him a large company of close friends. As a jurist he possesses those qualities of mind and that keen intelligence which are essential to the duties of the position ; fair and impartial in his decisions, learned in his legal interpreta- tions, and upright as a man, he reflects honor upon the bench that he adorns. As a judge he is equally prominent, his opinions being models in their way, and on appeal were gen- erally upheld by the highest tribunals. As a citizen he is actively identified with his adopted city and county, and is an important factor in every movement which has for its object the welfare and development of the community.
The Buzby family has been nu- BUZBY merous in New Jersey for many generations, and they have been of the sect of Friends or Quakers. They were among the Quaker families who were the earli- est settlers of Rancocas, along the creek of the same name, some of whom (according to tradi- tion) lived in caves at first. They have inter- married with some of the most prominent Quakers in the state, and have always been held in the highest respect by their associates.
(I) Amos Buzby lived at or near Rancocas, and was married twice, his second wife being Rebecca Matlack, by whom he had children : William, John, George, Robert C., Hannah, Mordica and Richard.
(II) George, son of Amos and Rebecca ( Matlack) Buzby, married Esther, daughter of Joseph and Hannah ( Maxwell) Haines ; chil- dren: William, died at age of twelve years; Mark Haines; Hannah Maxwell, died at age of twenty-three years; Martha, died at age of nine years; Sarah, died unmarried, at age of thirty-two years; Mary Lippincot, born May 8, 1839, is unmarried ; Joseph, died in infancy ; Rebecca, died at age of seven years. George Buzby was born near Rancocas, and for many years worked at harness making at Burlington ; later he removed to Masonville and purchased a farm, where he spent the last forty years of his life.
(III) Mark Haines, second son of George and Esther ( Haines ) Buzby, was born in 1828, in Burlington, New Jersey. He married Sarah, daughter of Job and Agnes (Mullin) Darnell, of Five Points, Burlington county, New Jer- sey, born in 1836, and died in 1905. Chil- dren : Georgianna, born 1857, and Walter J. (IV) Walter J., only son of Mark Haines
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and Sarah (Darnell) Buzby, was born October. 6, 1865, at Masonville, New Jersey. He at- tended the public schools of his native town and then took a course at the Friends' West Town Boarding School in Pennsylvania. After spending some time on his father's farm he removed to Philadelphia, where he was em- ployed as a boy in the well-known grocery firm of Mitchell, Fletcher & Company, and through various promotions became junior member of the firm. He spent fifteen years successfully in the business, and in 1898 be- came connected with the Hotel Chalfonte, At- lantic City, where he remained two years. In 1900 he became proprietor of the well-known Hotel Dennis. He has enlarged the building and made many improvements, and under his able management the hotel now has the reputa- tion of being one of the best hotels on the boardwalk, and has a capacity of six hundred guests. It is one of the largest on the coast, and is open the year around. Mr. Buzby is enterprising and progressive in his business methods, and has met with more than ordinary success.
Mr. Buzby has interests outside his hotel; he is a director of the Second National Bank of Atlantic City, and of the Atlantic City Fire Insurance Company, and president of the At- lantic City Board of Trade. In politics he is a Republican, and was elected to the city coun- cil in 1905 and re-elected in 1909 for a three year term ; since entering that body he has been chairman of the street committee. He is a director of the Young Men's Christian Asso- ciation of Atlantic City, and a member of the Business Men's League. He is also a director of the Eastern Fire Insurance Company. In religious views he follows the precepts of his forefathers, and is a devout member of the Quaker sect.
Mr. Buzby married, May 19, 1892, Emily Wills, daughter of George B. and Susan W. Borton, formerly of Rancocas, New Jersey ; children: John Howard, born October 12, 1903, and George Haines, April 22, 1906.
NEWMAN John Newman, former mayor of the city of Bayonne, New Jersey, and late president of the Mechanics' Trust Company, the leading financial institution of that city, was born in England, February 12, 1831, died at his resi- dence on Avenue C, Bayonne, November 2, 1901. He was the son of George and Eliza- beth Newman, and grandson of George New- man.
John Newman was reared under christian influence, and his education somewhat limited, was acquired in the parish schools of his native town. At the age of seventeen years, impelled by a strong desire to seek his fortune, he, with the consent of his father, emigrated to the United States and after a long sailing voyage arrived in New York in the early part of 1848, with no other friends than those gained during the voyage. On his arrival in New York he sought out an old-time friend of his father's family, Henry Robinson, who at that time was a prosperous merchant at No. 70 William street, and a member of the wholesale dry goods firm of Robinson & Parsons. Here the young man began life in the commercial world, like many others at the beginning with a deter- mination to succeed. He soon found favor with his employers, and by his strict attention to the business in all its details and his probity rose to positions of greater responsibility and remuneration, his employers realizing that in their young employee was the making of a thorough, reliable factor in their business. He remained with the firm until the civil war when, like many other firms, they became embarrassed owing to the closing of the southern markets. With the careful savings acquired by much self-denial, Mr. Newman began to look about in other fields of enterprise and shortly after- ward engaged in the lighterage and packet trade with John S. Conklin, a fellow clerk in the house of Robinson & Parsons, with head- quarters at No. 87 Broad street ; the firm oper- ated three transportation freight boats from the New York docks to various destinations in and about New York. After a partnership of seven years, Mr. Newman sold his interests and entered into the fire and marine insurance business with A. G. Brown under the firm name of Newman & Brown, at No. 105 Broad street, which in later years was transferred to No. 35 South William street. During the period of the firm's success Mr. Brown was re- moved by death, Mr. Newman continuing the business up to his death in his own name. Henry Byron Newman, a nephew, was ad- mitted to partnership, the business being con- tinued under his very able management.
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