Genealogical and personal memorial of Mercer County, New Jersey, Part 5

Author: Lee, Francis Bazley, 1869-1914
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 698

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Beside his essays on the general assembly of

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1837 and on the elder question of 1844 one of his most notable productions was his reply in 1841 to two prize essays published in England and sanctioned by the National Temperance Society maintaining the duty of total abstinence on grounds that the Scripture condemned all use of intoxicating drinks, and asserting that the wine used in instituting the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was the unfermented juice of the grape. Dr. Maclean's exhaustive and conclusive argu- ment entitled "An examination of the Essays Bacchus and Anti Bacchus" originally published in the Princeton Review, and reprinted in pamph- let form (140 pages) in 1841, in opposition to this doctrine attracted much attention and secured for him a reputation for classical, biblical and patriotic scholarship. While not a total abstainer he approved cordially of temperance, but his mental and moral integrity could not allow him to confuse temperance with total abstinence nor to admit a position in favor of the latter, when alleged to be based entirely on Scripture and on the testimony of antiquity. He proves such a position to be utterly untenable. An interesting and valuable piece of work was an article pub- lished in the "Presbyterian" of October, 1873, entitled "The Harmony of the Gospel Accounts of Christ's Resurrection," defending the cred- ibility of the various accounts of the Resurrec- tion on the basis of the mathematical Theory of Probabilities. Two of his exegetical essays are "On the Words This Day have I begotten Thee" (Presbyterian for 1853) and "Some thoughts on

I Corinthians xv, 35" (Presbyterian 1886) Specimens of his sermon style may be found in his baccalaureates of 1857, 1858, 1859 in a "Sermon preached in the Chapel of the College of New Jersey" in 1846, and a sermon on "Filial Piety" published in 1852 in Dr. John T. Duffield's "Princeton Pulpit."

Beside his college work Dr. Maclean was en- gaged in manifold public enterprises, and no scheme of benevolence, educational advance, or public welfare failed to secure his earnest and active co-operation. Indeed, he had been called the "pastor at large" to the people of Princeton and its vicinity. He was largely instrumental in securing for New Jersey its common school sys- tem, having been one of its earliest and strongest advocates. As early as January, 1828, he had de- livered before the Literary and Philosophical Society of New Jersey a "Lecture on a School System for New Jersey" which, published in

1829, aided considerably in promoting public in- terest in the question and liad large influence in the establishment of the present system. He was secretary of the state board of education, and a life director and for a time president of the Amer- ican Colonization Society, an address of his on the objects of the Society being published in the fifty-fourth annual report of the Society.

Elected a regent of the Smithsonian Institu- tion in 1868, he was one of its most faithful officers. When attending the meetings of the regent, which he did with scrupulous regularity, he was accustomed to make his home with Pro- fessor Joseph Henry, the secretary of the in- stitution, whose intimacy he had enjoyed ever since the beginning of Henry's professorship at Princeton.

Excepting the devastating period of the Revolu- tion, the most critical era in the history of Prince- ton University occurred during the half century that Dr. Maclean was connected with the in- stitution, and it was his energy, his confidence and persistence that alone kept the institution intact. There was a time when its condition was so low that it was seriously thought wiser to close the college and wait for better days. Happily Dr. Maclean was able to combat successfully this feeling of utter discouragement on the part of his colleagues. Owing to unfortunate mistakes in faculty discipline, voted against the judgment of President Carnahan and Dr. Maclean, the num- ber of students had dwindled until in 1829 only seventy were on the rolls. Inasmuch as the col- lege was almost entirely dependent on tuition re- ceipts to meet its current expenses this situation was wellnigh paralyzing. Perceiving that strength in the faculty meant for the college in- crease of reputation, students and funds, Dr. Maclean set about securing the funds that enabled Princeton to call men like Henry Vethake, Joseph Henry, John Torrey, Albert B. Dod and the Alex- anders. The effect on the college was immediate. In 1832 there were one hundred and thirty-nine students; in 1839 there were two hundred and seventy. Partly in recognition of his work and partly to give a wide authority to the executive ability which he had revealed as a subordinate, the trustees in 1829 had made him vice-president of the College.

Dr. Maclean had been vice-president so long before he succeeded to the presidency that there was little change of administration when he as- sumed the latter office. It was expected that his

George M. Maclean

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term would be marked by striking development, but circumstances were to militate against him. Together with Professor Matthew B. Hope he had devised a "Plan for the Partial Endowment of the College of New Jersey" (published in 1853), and arrangements had been made to put this plan into operation. But he had been in office scarcely a year when Nassau Hall, the chief build- ing on the campus, was destroyed by fire ( 1855). At great expense it was rebuilt and rearranged to be of greater usefulness. Two years later the financial panic which seized the country necessit- ated the temporary abandonment of the plans for the increase of the endowment. Money was scarce during the following four years of busi- ness depression, and then in 1861 the Civil war broke out. The enrollment at this time was larger than it had ever been during Dr. Carnahan's time, three hundred and fourteen students being in resi- dence, but as one third of them came from the South and immediately left for home, on the opening of hostilities, the enrollment in 1862 fell to two hundred and twenty-one. During the next five years the number remained almost sta- tionary, and when Dr. Maclean resigned the presi- dency in 1868 the college numbered only two hun- dred and sixty-four students. Remarkable prog- ress had, however, been made during the fourteen years of his office. The endowment had grown from $15,000 to $250,000, while gifts amount- ing to another $200,000 had been made and the college library had gained 5,000 volumes. In view of the fact that at three different previous periods efforts had been made to increase the en- dowment and had met with total failure, Dr. Maclean's success was astonishing, especially if the general financial condition of the country during his administration be borne in mind. At the end of the war a great change was coming over the country in regard to the requirements of higher education, and the day of great gifts for such purposes was dawning. Dr. Maclean had spent his life holding the institution together, teaching in practically all the departments at different times, and sacrificing to the general good whatever ambitions he may have had to eminence in any one department ; he had seen the college successfully weather the storm of the Civil war and emerge on a new career of increased endow- ment and wider aim. His strength, however, was exhausted, and he felt that a new hand should hold the reins of government. In 1868 there- fore he resigned. A pension was granted him by

the trustees and he lived in Princeton until his death in 1886. His last public appearance, at the annual Alumni Luncheon in June, 1886, the seventieth anniversary of his graduation, was the occasion of a magnificent ovation. He was too feeble to respond for himself, and his words of greeting and farewell were read to the assembly by a friend and then he slowly withdrew. Two months later he died.

Dr. Maclean's leading trait of character was his kindliness. This was shown not alone in his deeds of philanthropy but also in his relations with undergraduates as the officer of college discipline. Some of his methods miglit seem now to belong to a bygone age; but such modern developments as undergraduate self-government and the honor system were unheard of in his day, and during the earlier years, especially of his connection with the college, its atmosphere was anything but academic. He had the faculty of administering discipline without alienating the culprit. He was the soul of sincerity and a remarkably keen judge of men. His individuality was strongly marked and his personal appearance striking-tall, muscular, with flowing hair, and clean shaven face and he usually wore a long cloak. It was not without reason that he was commonly said to be "the best loved man in America."

GEORGE MACINTOSH MACLEAN, M. D., Ph. D., deceased, who had achieved an en- viable reputation in professional circles, is a de- scendant of an old Scotch family. The ancestry of this family can be traced back to Gillean, the founder of the clan in the thirteenth century.

(I) Rev. Archibald Maclean, great-grand- father of George Macintosh Maclean, was a min- ister of the parish of Kilfinichen, in Scotland, which included the island of Iona. He died March 10, 1755.

(II) John Maclean, son of Rev. Archibald Maclean (I), was a surgeon by profession, both in civil and military service. He was present at the capture of the city of Quebec from the French, and was the third man who succeeded in scaling the famous Heights of Abraham, which were considered an invincible barrier to the con- quest of the city. Upon his retirement from the army he devoted himself to the practice of surgery in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, and resided there until his death. A short time

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before going with the British army to Canada he married Agnes Lang, of Glasgow, April 28, 1756. (III) John Maclean, M. D., son of Dr. Jolin (2) and Agnes (Lang) Maclean, was born in Glasgow, Scotland, March 1, 1771. He was very young when he lost both of his parents, but was fortunate in having for his guardian George Macintosh, Esq., a gentleman who took the great- est interest in his welfare. He was sent to the Glasgow Grammar School, then to the Univer- sity, which he entered before the age of thirteen years. Young Maclean was awarded a number of prizes and premiums in both of these institu- tions. He removed to Edinburgh to attend special lectures, and later prosecuted his studies in chemistry and surgery in Paris and London. He returned to his native city about 1790, and was regarded as having no superior in the de- partment of chemistry in Scotland, and scarcely an equal in the New or French chemistry. He became a member of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons when he was in his twenty-first year and his diploma authorizing him to practice surgery and pharmacy is dated August I, 1791.

Shortly after his arrival in this country, in the spring of 1795, Dr. Maclean settled in Prince- ton, New Jersey, and entered upon the practice of physic and surgery in connection with the leading physician of the place, Dr. Ebenezer Stockton.

October Ist, 1795. Dr. Maclean was chosen professor of chemistry and natural history. In April, 1797, he was appointed to the professor- ship of mathematics and natural philosophy in the college, and was thus obliged to resign his private practice. Dr. Maclean was the first pro- fessor of chemistry in a literary institution in the United States. He tendered his resignation to the college faculty in 1812, and shortly after accepted an invitation to the chair of natural philosophy and chemistry in the College of Will- iam and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia. His death occurred February 17, 1814. His grave is in Princeton cemetery contiguous to those of the college presidents and professors. As a gentle- man, scholar and teacher, Dr. Maclean held an eminent position among his contemporaries. In teaching, his aim was to make his pupils perfectly familiar with what they professed to study, rather than to impart to them a smattering of a great variety of knowledge.

Dr. Maclean married, November 7. 1798. Phoebe Bainbridge, eldest daughter of Absalom

and Mary (Taylor) Bainbridge, and sister of Commodore William Bainbridge, United States navy. Absalom Bainbridge was the fourth son of Edmund and Abigail Bainbridge, of Maiden- head, now Lawrenceville, Mercer county, New Jersey, and a grandson of John Bainbridge, an original settler of the same town. John Bain- bridge was one of the magistrates present when the Court of Common Pleas and Quarter Ses- sions met at Maidenhead on the second Tuesday of June, 1714. He was buried at Lamberton, in 1732. Absalom Bainbridge graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1762 and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. Dr. Bainbridge was elected secretary of the New Jersey Medical Society in 1771, and president of the society in 1773. In 1778 he was surgeon in the New Jersey Volunteers (British service). He became a medical prac- titioner in the city of New York, was one of the earliest members of the New York Medical Society, and he held a high rank in his profes- sion. Mary (Taylor) Bainbridge was the only daughter of John Taylor and Phoebe Heard Taylor, a sister of General Nathaniel Heard, of Middletown, New Jersey. He was grandson of Edward Taylor, of London, who purchased about one thousand acres of land in Middletown, New Jersey, and in 1692 came over and settled there. John Taylor was born in 1715, was one of the judges of His Majesty's court at Monmouth. and received a commission from the King of England, Lord Howe being the bearer, appoint- ing him lord high commissioner of Monmouth county. He was a descendant of a family which settled in England at the time of the Norman invasion. John Taylor died November 23. 1798.

Children of Dr. John and Phoebe ( Bain- bridge) Maclean were: John, who was the tenth president of the college, born March 1, 1800, died August 10, 1886, unmarried. Mary Bain- bridge, born October 23, 1801, died September 9, 1849, unmarried. William Bainbridge, born November 6, 1803. died August 2, 1829, unmar- ried. George Macintosh, born February 19, 1806, died March 8, 1886. Agnes, born Febru- ary 5, 1808, died April 7. 1843, unmarried. Archibald, born February 18, 1810, died No- vember 19, 1894. unmarried.

(IV) George Macintosh Maclean, M. D., Ph. D., third son of Dr. John (3) and Phoebe ( Bain- bridge) Maclean, was born in Princeton, New

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Jersey, February 19, 1806. He early evinced a strong inclination for scientific studies, and be- came a student at Princeton University, from which he was graduated with honors in 1824. After graduating from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city, 1829, he estab- lished himself in the practice of medicine and surgery in Princeton, New Jersey, and in New York city, 1843-46. Subsequently he went west and was professor of chemistry and natural his- tory in Hanover College, Indiana: professor of chemistry in Cincinnati College of Medicine and Surgery ; and taught chemistry in New Albany, Indiana, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Return- ing to Princeton lie retired from active profes- sional work. Dr. Maclean was the president of the Medical Society of Middlesex county. New Jersey, 1837: third vice-president and censor of the Medical Society of the State of New Jer- sey ; and vice-president of the Alumni Associa- tion of Nassau Hall from June, 1880, until his death. He contributed many papers on scien- tific subjects which were regarded with interest by the professional world.

Dr. Maclean was an elder in Duane Street, (now Fifth Avenue) church, New York, and in the First Presbyterian church of Princeton. Rev. H. G. Hinsdale wrote: "As a christian man he always seemed to me unselfish and un- assuming, the soul of courtesy and honor, ortho- dox in his beliefs, frank and courageous in the avowal of his opinions, and earnest in the en- deavor to live in accordance with the Word of God and to fulfill the obligations of his high calling. As a church officer he was diligent and exact, intensely loyal to his church, an intelligent and competent member of her judicatories, and deeply interested in her progress at home and abroad. In short our deceased brother belonged to a class of men-would that it were a larger class-who are more anxious to be than to seem, and who so cordially busy themselves with well- doing in the service and for the honor of the Lord Christ as to be little disturbed by the ambition of pre-eminence among men." Dr. Maclean died March 8. 1886, and his remains were interred in Princeton.

Dr. Maclean married (first) Catharine O. Smith, July 2, 1836. They had one child, John. born August 1. 1837. Mrs. Dr. Maclean died June 15, 1840. Jolen graduated from College of New Jersey, 1858, and Princeton Theological Seminary, 1870. He married Mary Louise Sisty.

who died July 6, 1867; he died July 27, 1870. Their only child, Phoebe, was brought up by her guardian, Mrs. P. A. Olden, and married Fritz Schultze. Dr. Maclean married (second), November 10, 1847, Jane V. D. H. Van Winkle, who died June 24, 1849. Dr. Maclean married (third). April 3, 1856, Caroline MI. Williams (nee Fitch). They had four daughters-Mary Agnes, Louisa B., Caroline Fitch and Susan Bainbridge. Susan Bainbridge died in infancy, December 19, 1865. Caroline MI. Williams was the widow of Rev. Mason D. Williams, of Louis- ville, Kentucky, and daughter of Mason Cogs- well and Anna M. ( Paxton) Fitch. Mr. Fitch was a lawyer and president of the First Bank of New Albany. Indiana. Rev. Ebenezer Fitch, grandfather of Mrs. Maclean, was the first presi- dent of Williams College, Williamstown, Massa- chusetts, to which he went from Yale College where he had been a tutor. Mrs. Maclean had two children by her first husband: 1. Anna M. Williams, married Henry E. Hale, a graduate of Princeton University, now a horticulturist, having a large estate on Mercer street. Mrs. Hale died in 1898. Their living children are : Henry E., Jr., M. D., demonstrator in anatomy in the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York city : married Frances M. Ward, of Chicago. Anna W., married Rev. George H. Bucher. pastor of the Presbyterian church at Pennington. Titus. A. B., now (1907) engaged in business (irrigation) in the state of Washington, an 1 Mary Otis. 2. Rev. Mason Fitch Williams. M .. D., now residing in Muskogee, Indian Territory. married Mrs. Mary (Worcester ) Mason, and !.. Is one living son. Leonard W., Ph. D., instructor in Harvard Medical College, who married Martha R., daughter of Professor Benjamin Franklin Clarke, of Brown University.

ANDREW L. ROWLAND, one of the oldest and most highly respected citizens of Princeton, Mercer county, New Jersey, whose death oc- curred on June 9, 1903, was a descendant of two very old American families. His paternal an- cestors settled in New Jersey a number of gen- erations previous to his own, and his maternal an- cestors were among the early Dutch settlers of Long Island.

James Rowland, grandfather of Andrew L. Rowland, was born in Wales, August 18, 1755. The published tradition that the family is of French origin is explained by the fact that Pem-

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brokeshire, the ancestral home of the Rowlands. was, under Henery, the Norman King, planted with a Flemish colony. At the time of the revolt of the American Colonies, James Rowland was a sea captain and ship owner, with New Bruns- wick, New Jersey, as his adopted home. At that place, just prior to the Revolutionary war, he mar- ried Letty Guest, who was born there on January 12, 1756, and thus became a member of an in- tensely patriotic American family. Letty Guest was a sister of Captain Moses Guest, who, on October 25. 1779, in resisting a British raid from Staten Island upon New Brunswick, captured Lieutenant-Colonel Simcoe, of the Queen's Rang- ers. During the war James Rowland assisted the Revolutionists in numerous maritime expeditions. He died October 4, 1805, and his wife September 23, 1821. His children were: Elizabeth, Will- iam, James, Charles, Letty, Sarah, Richard, John and Susannah.

Richard Rowland, son of James and Letty (Guest) Rowland, was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, on September 30, 1789. He mar- ried Elizabeth Cruser, a direct descendant of Garret Dircksen Croesen, of Weinschoten, Cron- ingen, Holland, who emigrated to America in the early part of the seventeenth century, and set- tled at Cujanes, now ( 1906) Gowanus, Brooklyn, New York. He died March 13, 1831, and was buried in the churchyard of the First Reformed Dutch Church in New Brunswick. At the time of his death he was a manufacturer of hats on Burnett street, where the business is still ( 1906) carried on by the son of his successor. His wife, Elizabeth (Cruser) Rowland, was a daughter of Alexander Lucas and Ann (Groom) Cruser, and was born at Mapleton, afterward called Cruser's Mills, September 27. 1795. She died in Virginia, May 16, 1869, and was buried in the Westover churchyard. His children were: Will- iam, Alexander Cruser, James, Andrew Linant Richard Spencer, Elizabeth and Cornelius Cruser. William, James and Richard Spencer learned the miller's trade from their uncle, Cornelius Cruser, at Mapleton, and settled at Palmetto Mills, Westover, Charles City county, Virginia. The other members of the family became residents of Princeton.

Andrew L. Rowland, son of Richard and Eliz- abeth (Cruser) Rowland, was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, September 28, 1822. Upon the death of his father, in 1831, he re- moved with his mother to Scudder's or Cruser's

Mills, near Princeton. He enjoyed the ad- vantages of a good education, and at a suitable age was apprenticed to Job G. Olden, in Prince- ton. Upon the termination of his apprenticeship, in about the year 1842, he started in business for himself in a small building on the site of the present store at No. 66 Nassau street. This was leased property. Five years later he rented another store at the northeast corner of Wither- spoon and Nassau streets which he sold out in 1850. He then devoted all his time and attention for several years to the operation of the mills on the family plantation, in Charles City county, Virginia. Upon his return to Princeton, he re- sumed business operations at his former location at Witherspoon and Nassau streets. He and his brother, Alexander Cruser, erected the large building at No. 66 Nassau street in 1857, and he was engaged in business at that location until his death. He was the owner of a large amount of real estate in Princeton, and extensive tracts of farm land in Princeton township, most of which is now in the possession of his widow and children. Mr. Rowland unit- ed with the Second Presbyterian Church of Princeton, May 23, 1853, and at the time of his death was the oldest member with one exception, on the rolls. Closely identified with the interests of the institution, for many years he served as a member of the board of trustees. Mr. Rowland, with Mrs. David Brown and Martin Voorhees, constituted the building committee which had charge of the erection of the present church edifice. Mr. Rowland was a member of the draft committee of the second draft during the Civil war and was chairman of the Princeton township committee, upon the third draft ; and rendered very efficient service in these offices. He was a man of kindly dis- position, and always ready to assist those in need of help in a practical manner. Having many friends in all classes of society, his death was sincerely deplored. The funeral services were held in the church he so dearly loved, and were conducted by Rev. Lewis M. Mudge, D. D., of Downington, who had been Mr. Rowland's pastor for many years, and Rev. Mr. Hubbard. He was buried in the family plot in the Princeton cemetery.

Andrew Rowland married, April 16, 1860, Eliz- abeth Hutchinson Andrews, daughter of John S. and Margaret (Hutchinson) Andrews, and they had four children : Cornelius, Alexander

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Spencer, Lillian Cruser, and Frederick Andrews. Cornelius Rowland died in infancy.

Alexander Spencer Rowland, son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Andrews) Rowland, was born September 30, 1863. He was graduated from the University of Princeton in 1884, as a Fellow in Experimental Science, with the degree of Master of Science, and later received the degree of Master of Arts from that institution. For a number of years after graduation he was an in- structor in mathematics at the Princeton Prepara- tory School. Later he studied law, and in 1897 received the degree of Bachelor of Laws from the New York Law School. He is now ( 1906) a member of the law firm of Reeves, Todd & Swain, at No. 55 Liberty street, Manhattan, New York City. He maintains his father's reputation as a patriotic Princeton man, and is the secretary and treasurer of the Class of '84 Memorial Fund Committee, which has undertaken to reproduce at Princeton the famous Magdalen Tower of Oxford, England. He is a member of the Prince- ton Club of New York, and of the Nassau Club of Princeton, and also a member of the Second Presbyterian Church of Princeton. On July 24. 1895. he married Anna Stoneman, daughter of Matthew G. and Rebecca (Carson) Stoneman, of Twillingate, Newfoundland. Their two children are Virginia, born October 13, 1904, and Garret Stoneman, born January 6, 1906.

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Genealogical and personal memorial of Mercer County, New Jersey, Part 5

Author: Lee, Francis Bazley, 1869-1914 Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 698

Author: Lee, Francis Bazley, 1869-1914
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York : Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 698