USA > New Jersey > Genealogical and memorial history of the state of New Jersey, Volume IV > Part 53
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Previous to the engagement at Springfield, as commander of the Eastern Battalion of New Jersey militia, Colonel Jacob Ford demon- strated his efficiency in covering Washington's retreat through New Jersey in the "Mud Rounds" of 1776, a service which he accom- plished with honor and success. December 22, Colonel Ford arrived in Morristown with his battalion from Chatham, where he had been vainly watching for another opportunity to try conclusions with the British. December 31st, it was on parade, presumably on the grounds to the south of the Morristown village green, between the present site of the First National Bank and Bank street, and this event, which was proudly witnessed by the assembled patriots, became memorable as the scene of Colonel Ford's last seizure. During the evolu- tion he was seized with delirium, and had to be borne off the field by a couple of soldiers. After this he never rose from his bed. His illness would to-day be called pneumonia, and it was without doubt caused by the exposure and hardships of his recent services in the field. By order of General Washington his body was interred with all the honors of war, Captain Rodney's light infantry acting as escort to the remains. Mrs. Colles says, in
her "Authors and Writers :" "Col. Jacob Ford Jr., the brave and noble, was Washington's right-hand man upon whom he depended, was buried by Washington's orders, and with the honors of war, and the description of the fu- neral cortege is one of the most picturesque pages out of history." Thus, in the midst of exceptional usefulness, and in the full vigor of young manhood (he was but thirty-nine years of age when he died), passed away one of the most promising men ever produced in Morris county, and in view of the brilliancy exhibited by this early martyr to freedom dur- ing his brief public career, it would have been safe to predict for him an almost unlimited achievement as a military officer. A week later his father was laid by his side, and the two tombstones now stand as the monument to two of New Jersey's greatest sons. The inscription on the elder Ford's stone is a simple record of birth and death ; that of the younger Ford, reads as follows: "Sacred to the mem- ory of Colo. Jacob Ford, Jun'r., son of Colo. Jacob Ford, Sen'r. He was born February the 19th, A. D. 1738, and departed this life January the 10th, A. D. 1777, And Being Then In the Service of his Country Was Interred in this place with Military Honors.
"In vain we strive with human skill to avoid the Shaft of Death;
Heav'n's high Decree it must fulfill and we resign our Breath.
The friends who read our Tomb and mourn and weep our Early Fall
Must be lamented in their day and share the fate of all."
Colonel Jacob Ford married, January 27, 1762, Theodosia, daughter of Rev. Timothy and Elizabeth (Sayre) Johnes, who was born September 13, 1741. Her father was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Morris- town for fifty years, and is said to have ad- ministered the Holy Communion to General Washington during the time he had his head- quarters in tliat town. He married (first) Elizabeth Sayre; (second) Keziah Ludlum, and died September 15, 1794. Children of Colo- nel Jacob and Theodosia (Johnes) Ford: I. Timothy, born December 4, 1762; removed to South Carolina. 2. Gabriel, referred to below. 3. Elizabeth, born September 14, 1767; mar- ried Henry William De Saussure. 4. Jacob, born March 15, 1772, died in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1834. 5. Phebe, born June 3, 1777, died June 21, following.
(VI) Gabriel H., son of Colonel Jacob Jr. and Theodosia (Johnes) Ford, was born Janu-
Jenny A. Mora
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ary 3, 1765, presumably at Mt. Hope, New Jersey, where his father and grandfather owned large mines and extensive property, and died August 27, 1849. He was seven years of age when his great-grandmother died in his grandfather's house, where he and his father were also living at the time, and it is from his pen that we have the picture of her life and appearance. He graduated from Princeton College in 1784, and then studied law with Hon. Abraham Ogden, one of the leading law- yers of Newark. While thus engaged he and a fellow law student found themselves without middle names, and it was proposed that each should name the other, and he thus received the name of Hogarth, and ever after wrote his name Gabriel H. Ford. He was licensed as an attorney in 1789, and as a counsellor in 1793. When the state of New Jersey was di- vided into judicial districts, a large one com- posed of the counties of Bergen, Essex, Morris and Sussex, was committed to his care as pre- siding judge of its several county courts. The law which made this arrangement was repeal- ed, and Judge Ford was thus legislated out of office. He was then elected associate justice, in the face of a strong opposition, his oppon- ent Mr. McIlvaine, receiving only one vote less. Judge Ford now became one of the most influential justices in the state, and his deci- sions were generally considered to be among the most reliable opinions obtainable. He was extremely conscientious and industrious, a patient listener to arguments, and as me- thodical as ever sat on any bench. He was a gentleman of the old school, courteous and affable to the last degree, precise in manner and speech, and in all his public services and in his charges to juries he was unrivalled, and in the opinion of many to-day has never been excelled. He filled the office of associate jus- tice for three terms and retired in 1842 on ac- count of his increasing years and growing deafness. He was one of the few men whose reputation has never been sullied by even a shadow. Just and impartial as a judge, patient in investigation and sincerely desirous of per- forming his whole duty, he stands at the head of New Jersey's legal fraternity. After his resignation from the bench the New Jersey bar passed a series of resolutions assuring him of their high esteem, and extolling his purity and the independence which had led him to adopt as his maxim "Be just and fear not." The resolutions conclude by declaring him the most efficient and eloquent lawyer that New Jersey had ever had. Judge Ford purchased
the interest of his brother and sisters in the "Washington's Headquarters" home of his father, and made his own home there until his death, when he left it to his son, Henry Au- gustus, who also lived there for his life. After the death of Henry Augustus Ford his heirs turned the title over to four gentlemen who organized the Washington Headquarters Asso- ciation. Another monument to Judge Ford is in the Morris Academy. He married, Janu- ary 26, 1790, at Benjamin Randolph's home in Burlington, Frances, daughter of Gio- vanni Gualdo. She was born May 8, 1767, at Norfolk, Virginia, immediately after the arrival of her parents from London, England, and died in 1853-her father was a nobleman of Vincenza, Italy, who married Frances Comp- ton, widow, of London, England, whose maid- en name was Allen, and whose only child by her first marriage was William Compton; god- son of Gilbert Lloyd Esq., of London. Mr. Gualdo removed from Norfolk to Philadel- phia, where his wife died November 2, 1771, and he December 20, 1772, having confided the two children ( William Compton and Frances Gualdo) to Benjamin Randolph, of Philadel- phia, who in 1773, at the request of Gilbert Lloyd Esq., sent William Compton, then about ten years old, to London, but retained Frances for another time, deeming her too young. The American revolution soon prevented the inter- course between the colonies and the mother country, and Mr. Randolph educated Frances with his own daughter. Children of Gabriel H. and Frances (Gualdo) Ford: I. Anna Elizabeth, born July 21, 1791 ; married, Sep- tember 10, 1818, John Ravenel. 2. Henry Au- gustus, referred to below. 3. Edward Eugene, born November 18, 1795. 4. William Gay, born June 4, 1799. 5. Louis de Saussure, born De- cember 30, 1801. 6. Frances Gualdo, born July 8, 1804. 7. Gabriel, born June 6, 1806.
(VII) Henry Augustus, son of Gabriel H. and Frances (Gauldo) Ford, was born June 14, 1793, in the house then owned and occu- pied by his father, and known as Washington's Headquarters, Morristown, New Jersey, and died April 22, 1872. He studied law, was ad- mitted to the bar, and was known as an able practitioner, especially in criminal cases. He held the office of prosecutor of the common pleas for terms. During this period his father, Gabriel H. Ford, was on the bench as judge of the New Jersey supreme court, and this deli- cate relation made the position of each most difficult and at times embarrassing, yet each discharged his duties with such entire con-
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scientiousness that no reproach ever came upon either. Henry A. Ford was a prominent mem- ber of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal Church of Morristown, and was a warden from its establishment until his death. It was mainly through his energy and devotion that the old St. Peter's Church edifice was built in 1828, and that the corporation obtained and secured its valuable property upon which stands the costly and imposing church edifice, rectory and other buildings. In politics he was a staunch and hard working Democrat, but would never accept any of the various political offices ten- dered him by his party. He was a member of the electoral college of 1856 when James Buchanan was elected president of the United States. He was a Mason, and of high standing in the order. During the term of office of Henry A. Ford as prosecutor of the common pleas, several murders were committed in Mor- ris county, and the murderers convicted by him; one was that of Antoine LeBlanc, which was the most atrocious known in the county or state, committed at the Sayre house on South street, in Morristown, this man having killed nearly the whole family, for robbery- Mr. Sayre, his wife, three children and a serv- ant girl ; one child happened to be absent, fail- ing to return that night, or she would have met the same fate, as he was waiting for her return. This aroused the greatest excitement ever known in that section. LeBlanc had two or three able lawyers who pleaded long and hard for his life. Judge Gabriel H. Ford, the prosecutor's father, was then on the bench of the supreme court of the state. In those days it was a part of the duty of the jury to fix the place of hanging, and in this case they had great trouble in doing so. On coming into court the morning after the conviction and sen- tence, the judge asked the jury "if they had agreed upon a place of execution ?" The reply was, "We have a place called Punch Bowl Hollow, on the road to Bottle Hill (by which name Madison was then known) but the land- owners there and in that vicinity say it will damn their property forever, and they were bitterly opposed to it." "Well," said Judge Ford, "I have found a place to hang him; bring the rascal down to Washington's Head- quarters and hang him up inmy large hall." That shamed them so that the hanging finally took place on the "Morristown Green" (the Park), before the largest crowd that ever assembled in that vicinity, filling the town and the seven country roads merging into it, for miles out. The body of Antoine LeBlanc was buried in
the jailyard but did not stay there long ; it was dug up, stolen, skinned, and the hide made into pocket books, and the good people thought the finale was a blot upon the community. In addition to other responsible positions in office held by Henry A. Ford, he was a member of the board of managers of the State Lunatic Asylum at Trenton, New Jersey. He was one of the directors of the State's Prison at Tren- ton, New Jersey. He was president of the once prosperous Morris County Bank at Morristown, New Jersey, but resigned as such on account of ill health, some years before that institution went out of business. Like his father, he was a polished gentleman of the old school, courteous and affable to the last degree.
He married, in New Brunswick, New Jer- sey, November 3, 1824, Jane Hosack Millen, born in New York City, February 26, 1804. She was of one of the old New York families, and on her mother's side was the niece of the dis- tinguished D. Alexander E. Hosack. Children of Henry Augustus and Jane Hosack (Mil- len) Ford: I. Louisa Augusta, born October 7, 1825 ; married Judge E. B. Dayton Ogden. 2. Frances Gabriella, born June 9, 1827 ; mar- ried, April 28, 1848, George de Villers Seymour. 3. Henry William, referred to below. 4. Jane Millen, born November 25, 1830; married Judge Frederick Beasley Ogden. 5. Edward Augustus, born October 28, 1832. 6. Millen, born July 4, 1834 ; married Sarah C. Howland. 7. Gualdo, born June 10, 1836. 8. Eliza Hos- ack, born April 12, 1838, married June 5, 1862, Joseph Lovell, son of Dayton I. and Cornelia Charlotte (Wetmore-Ebbett) Canfield. 9. Sophie Minton, born February 19, 1840. 10. Arthur, born July 29, 1841 ; served in the civil war, and died in Andersonville prison. II. William Eugene, referred to below. 12. Emily Hosack, born November 13, 1846, married Hobart (deceased), son of Dayton I. and Cor- nelia Charlotte (Wetmore-Ebbett) Canfield. Of those children the only survivors in April, 1910, were Millen, William Eugene and Emily Hosack Canfield.
(VIII) Henry William, son of Henry Au- gustus and Jane Hosack (Millen) Ford, was born in Morristown, New Jersey, January 20, 1829. He entered the National Bank of the Republic, corner of Broadway and Wall street, New York, about the year 1847, as teller, and finally rose to the presidency of that institution. He was warden for many years of St. Peter's Church, Morristown, New Jersey, and was di- rector of several institutions in New York. He married Emily Louisa, daughter of Augustus
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Henry Ward. Their son, Henry Ward Ford, is now (1910) president of the First National Bank, Morristown, and was formerly secretary of the Windsor Trust Company in New York, which position he resigned on taking the for- mer.
(VIII) William Eugene, son of Henry Au- gustus and Jane Hosack (Millen) Ford, was born November 30, 1844, in Morristown, New Jersey, at the family home at the corner of South and DeHart streets, and is yet living in that city. He was educated at private schools and at the Morristown Academy. He became a clerk in the Bank of the Republic in New York City, where he remained ten years, rising to the position of note teller. Finding that the confine- ment of this work was injurious to his health, he resigned and became a member of one of the exchanges, where he was on the floor for many years and until he retired from active business, but retaining his membership to the present time (1910). Mr. Ford, like his an- cestors before him, has always been a Demo- crat, but has never been active in politics. He is a communicant of St. Peter's Church, Morristown. While living at Allenhurst, where he still owns a summer residence, he was instrumental in founding the Episcopal Church, St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, the deed for which was vested in his name as trustee, and was treasurer, in which capacity he acted until it became thoroughly established. The church is now in a flourishing condition, and it is said that had it not been for Mr. Ford the church edifice would not have been built, as he not only assumed responsibility but also gave liberally both of time and money until the work was successfully accomplished. Mr. Ford married Caro Hooker Robertson, daughter of Colonel Morgan and Antoinette (Van Wag- enen) Robertson.
Mr. Ford still owns the famous mirror that hung in Washington's bedroom when he winter- ed at Morristown, and which has been made the subject of the following charming lines by a daughter-in-law of Judge Gabriel H. Ford :
POEM
On an Old Mirror, used by Washington, at his Headquarters, the Ford Mansion, in Morristown, New Jersey, 1778-1780.
Old Mirror, speak, and tell us whence
Thou camest, and then, who brought thee hence. Did dear old England give thee birth? Or merry France, the land of mirth? In vain another should we seek At all like thee-thou thing antique. Of the old Mansion thou seems't part; Indeed, to me, its very heart;
For in thy face, though dimmed with age, I read my country's brightest page. Five generations all have passed, And yet, Old Mirror, thou dost last; The young, the old, the good, the bad, The gay, the gifted, and the sad, Are gone; their hopes, their sighs, their fears Are buried deep with smiles and tears. Then speak, old Mirror; thou hast seen Full many a noble form, I ween;
Full many a soldier, tall and brave, Now lying in a nameless grave; Full many a fairy form and bright,
Have flitted by when hearts were light;
Full many a bride-whose short life seemed
Too happy to be even dreamed; Full many a lord and titled dame, Bearing full many an honored name; And tell us, Mirror, how they dressed, Those stately dames, when in their best? If robes and sacques the damsels wore, And sweeping skirts in days of yore? But tell us, too, for we must hear Of him whom all the world revere. Thou sawest him when the times so dark Had made upon his brow their mark, Those fearful times, those dreary days, When all seemed but a tangled maze, His noble army, worn with toils, Giving their life-blood to the soils, Disease and famine brooding o'er, His Country's foe e'en at his door; But ever saw him noble, brave, Seeking her freedom or his grave. His was the heart that never quailed; His was the arm that never failed! Old Mirror! thou hast seen what we Would barter all most dear to see; The great, the good, the noblest one Our own Immortal Washington! Well may we gaze-for ne'er again Old Mirror, shall we see such men; And when we, too, have lived our day, Like those before us passed away, Still, valued Mirror, mayest thou last To tell our children of the past; Still thy dimmed face, thy tarnished frame, . Thy honored house and time proclaim; And ne'er may sacrilegious hand, While Freedom claims it as her land; One stone or pebble rashly throw To lay thee, honored Mirror, low. -T. F.
(IX) Francis Gualdo, son of William Eu- gene and Caro H. ( Robertson) Ford, was born in Morristown, New Jersey, August 2, 1875, and is now living in New York City, where he is engaged in the real estate business. He is a graduate of the Columbia University Law School, class of 1909.
Christian George Heller, pro-
HELLER genitor of a large family of children who during the last more than half century have been prominently identified with the industrial and business his- tory of Northern New Jersey, was editor and
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proprietor of a newspaper in Bensheim, Ger- many, where the later years of his life were spent. He was born in Hesse Darmstadt, Germany, November 13, 1800, and died in Bensheim, 1846. He was a man of education, and good business qualities, successful in a fair degree. and was much respected in the locali- ties in which the scene of his life was laid. In 1827 Mr. Heller married Elizabeth Boll, who was born in Hesse Darmstadt, and died in Newark, New Jersey, having come to this country in 1853 in company with her youngest son and three of her daughters. She was a daughter of William and Margaret Boll, of Hesse Darmstadt. Christian George and Eliz- abeth (Boll) Heller had nine children : I. Died in infancy. 2. Dorette, born in Darmstadt, 1831; married Rudolph Gelpke; settled in Newark, New Jersey. 3. Antonia, born in Bensheim, 1833; married Theodore Fuchs; settled in Chicago, died 1877. 4. Frederick, born 1835 (q. v.). 5. Elise (Elizabeth), born in Bensheim, 1836; married Louis Sharring- hausen ; settled in Newark, New Jersey ; died 1878. 6. Augusta, born in Bensheim, 1837; married and lives in San Francisco, California. 8. August, born in Bensheim, 1840; enlisted in Eighth New York Infantry for service in civil war, and was killed in battle at Cross Keys. 9 Lena, born about 1843, died at age of eleven years.
(II) Frederick, fourth child and eldest son of Christian George and Elizabeth (Boll) Heller, was born in Bensheim, Germany, Feb- ruary, 1834, died 1889. He was the first of the Heller family who came to this country. Previous to his father's death he had asked his consent to come to America, but his request was not granted, but after the death of his father the young man set out alone and landed in New York in 1848. He stayed in different eastern cities until 1852, when he went to the California gold fields by wagon, leaving the caravan at Salt Lake City, going on with a companion to Yreka. He spent twelve years in California and Idaho in making hydraulic mining and assaying, also making a prospect- ing trip to Mexico. In 1866 returned to New York, and in 1868 went to Germany on a pleasure trip with the intention of starting in some manufacturing venture with Henry Merz on his return. On this trip his attention was drawn to the then new manufacture of ultra- marine, and after having returned to Germany for information, the Heller & Merz Company started a factory in Newark, in 1869, for man- ufacturing ultramarine. In 1871 the present
factory was built on the then outskirts of New- ark, New Jersey, and later enlarged to include the manufacturing of analine dyes. He mar- ried Annie Josephine Traud, 1875 (born in New York City, died 1907) and had three children: Frederick, born in Newark, 1876, died 1893; 2. Edgar W., born in Newark, 1879; 3. Annchen K., born in Newark, 1882; married Charles B. Ward (see Ward).
(III) Edgar W., second child of Frederick and Annie Josephine (Traud) Heller, was born in Newark, New Jersey, August 6, 1879, graduated from Newark Academy in 1897, and from Yale College; 1900. He is president of the Heller & Merz Company, manufactur- ers of ultramarine and aniline dyes, and treas- urer of the Alexander Traud Company, Founders and Machinists. Mr. Heller is a firm Republican, but not active in politics ; a member of the Essex Club, Essex County Country Club, and Yale Club of New York. He married, in Newark, 1903, Sara E. Gaddis, daughter of Elisha Bird and Mary (Camp- bell) Gaddis, of Newark, (see Gaddis). Mr. and Mrs. Heller have three children: Edgar W. Jr., born in Elberon, New Jersey, July 4, 1904; Elizabeth, born in Newark, September 22, 1906; Frederick, born December 27, 1909.
GADDIS The ancestor of the Gaddis family in this country was An- drew Gaddis, who was born December 18, 1779, in county Armagh, Ire- land, and died December 16, 1836, in North Branch, on the Raritan, Somerset county, New Jersey. By occupation he was a farmer and contractor. He married, in 1806, Margaret, daughter of Jacob and Tunche (Van Dyck) Bergen; (see Bergen). Children: I. Ann, born August 7, 1807, died November 16, 1822. 2. Jacob Bergen, born November 9, 1810, died 1886 ; married, March 8, 1831, Eliza C., daugh- ter of Judge Outcault, of New Brunswick; was president and superintendent of New Jersey Lighterage Company, Jersey City. 3. James Bergen, baptized June 6, 1811. 4. John Van Dike, born August 26, 1816, died Decem- ber 1, 1863; married Julia, daughter of Rev. Abraham D. Wilson, of Fairview, Illinois, where he practiced medicine until his health failed, when he removed to Jacksonville, Illi- nois, where he died. 5. David A., referred to below. 6. Catharine Ann ("Kitty"), born Oc- tober 31, 1818; married Samuel, son of Henry Sloan, of Bedminster, Somerset county, New Jersey. 7. Matthew Bergen, born July 1, 1821, died March 6, 1822.
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(II) David A., son of Andrew and Marga- ret (Bergen) Gaddis, was born in North Branch, Somerset county, New Jersey, April 7, 1817, and died in Newark, New Jersey, De- cember 29, 1896. He became freight agent of the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company, and lived at Newark, New Jersey. He married, October 22, 1836, Sarah E., daughter of Elisha E. Bird, of Flemington, who was a descendant of the Lee family which emigrated from Ireland more than two hun- dred years ago. Children : Robert B. ; Elisha Bird, referred to below.
(III) Elisha Bird, son of David A. and Sarah E. (Bird) Gaddis, was born in Fleming- ton, New Jersey, January 9, 1845, and died in Newark, New Jersey, November 26, 1903. For the greater part of his life, although his home was in Flemington, he was one of the greatest merchants and financiers and leading men of Newark, and it has been said of him that although he began the struggle for existence with the advantages of a comfortable home and as good an education as his day and cir- cumstances permitted, he nevertheless owes all he accomplished and the wealth he acquired entirely to his own brain, energy and perse- verance, and to his determination, formed while yet in early boyhood, to make a name and place for himself in the world. For his early education he was sent to the schools of Flemington, and graduated from the Newark high school at the age of sixteen. He then entered the office of his father, who was freight agent for the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company in New York City, where he proved himself to be a bright, care- ful, active and efficient young man, who soon mastered all the details of the branch of railroad traffic in which he was employed, and gained the commendation of his superiors. After the Pennsylvania Railroad Company had leased the New Jersey corporation, Mr. Gaddis was appointed to take charge of the Pennsylvania railroad's freight business in Newark, and held this position until January I, 1873, when he resigned in order to engage in commercial life. He applied his savings to purchasing the interest of John E. Voorhees, who was then in partnership with Elias Ack- erson Wilkinson, and by this transaction the firm of Wilkinson & Voorhees was succeeded by that of Wilkinson, Gaddis & Company. Mr. Gaddis proved to be a most capable business man, enterprising, alert, and sound in his methods, and undoubtedly made all the better merchant, especially in the management of a
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