History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 159

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840

USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 159
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 159

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vetoed the measure. The ordinance was speedily passed over his veto. Then the contract to do the work was awarded, but the mayor refused to give the sanction of the city to that contract, and withheld his

Frederick William Ricord was born Oct. 7th, | signature. The Council then passed an ordinance

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EDUCATION IN NEWARK.

empowering the city treasurer to sign the contract but the mayor vetoed that ordinance. As the rendiest way to bring the mayor to subjection a writ of manda- mus was sought for to compel him to sign the con- tract, but Mayor Ricord fought the application for the writ and defeated it. The case was carried to the Supreme Court and the Court of Errors, in both of which courts Mayor Ricord was victorious, and the city was saved from a debt, the like of which helped to make Elizabeth bankrupt and keeps other cities struggling against lawsuits and high taxation.

Opposition to the wood pavement is the important official episode in his public life that Judge Ricord would prefer to say nothing about, claiming, as he does, that he simply did his duty. It is the episode, however, that the property-owners and taxpayers of Newark should not allow to pass from the memory of men. It might have been supposed that the mayor would have rested his opposition when the Conunon t'ouneil overruled his veto, and that he would have offered no further resistance to the wishes of gouthe- men, many of whom were his personal friends, and who had in party organization placed him so often before the public and advanced and sustained him. But he knew no friends, no party, when the interests of the general public were at stake. In that long and bitter fight good men tremblingly asked themselves whether any man, particularly one not possessed of overmuch of the world's riches, could be found to resist the blandishments and temptation- that would be brought to bear upon the official whose signature only was wanted to place millions of dollars in the hands of contractors. But Mayor Ricord proved him- self equal to the emergency, and won the lasting gratitude of all those of his fellow-citizens who could appreciate the value of his services.

But it is in his study, among his books, by the mid- night lamp, translating from his foreign brothers in literature, that Judge Ricord would best like to be presented to the readers of this sketch. His literary labors have been important in an educational as well as in an asthetie point of view. He has written and published the following works : " An English Gram- mar," D. Appleton & Co .; "History of Rome," A. S. Barnes & Co. ; " Life of Madame De Longueville, from the French of Cousin," D. Appleton & Co .; "The Henriade, from the French of Voltaire," II. W. Derby; "English Songs from Foreign Tongues," Charles Scribner's Sons. He is now engaged in traus- lating from the Latin the Comedies of Terence, aud has in press a volume entithal " More English Songs from Foreign Tongues," which comprises translations from the Latin, Danish, Flemish, German, French, Portuguese and other languages.

Although in his sixty-fourth-year, Judge Ricord is a man of vigorous health. He scarcely knows what sickness is, and has never taken a month's vacation for a period of more than thirty years, and during that time has never been absent from home more than ten

days at a time, and that but twice or thrice. To the writer of this sketch he remarked that his only re- creation is his literary work, and that it he could duily double the time for this kind of amusement he would probably live a hundred and fifty years. Itis unele Philip, in Paris, above alluded to, now eighty- four years of age, seems to be scarcely fifty, and is to- day one of the most active men in his profession.

And yet, notwithstanding his industry in his varied labors and his various attainment», this scholar and obstinate mayor will not trouble the courts with suits-at-law over his wealth. But he will leave to his children what will be better than gold, because gold could not purchase it,-the inheritance of an honor- alle record, and the recollection that in raising his fellows to a higher plane in culture, and setting them a shining example in political life, the State of New Jersey has been bettered by his residence within her borders.

JAMES JAY MATES. Professor James Jay Mapes, was born in New York, May 29, 1806. His father Jonas Mapes, was a major-general in command of the New York State forces in and around New York in the year Is12. His grandfather, James Mapes, born in 1744, at Smithtown, Long Island, near New York, was & farmer. Nearly all his ancestors on his father's side were farmers on Long Island, back to 1640, when Thomas Mapes came from England, and settled at Southold, Suffolk Co., Long Island. In Thompson's "History of Long Island," (1839,) Thomas Mapes is referred to as one of the seven leading colonists. who, in company with Rev. John Young, came from England, ria. New Haven, and founded at Southold the first settlement on Long Island.

At the age of twenty-one, he married a Long Island lady, Sophia Furman, two years his junior, daughter of the late Judge Garrett Furman, of Maspeth, Long Island. Much of the professor's success in life, as well as that of his children, is due to the sterling qualities of his wife and life-long companion. Her children always claimed that " no more gentle, loving and faithful wife and mother ever lived." Mr -. Mapes survived her husband nearly twenty years, dying in the beginning of the present year.

In very early youth he evinced a mind of great ar- tivity and invention ; in fact, he may be said to have been born a chemist, having, among other experi- ments, manufactured illuminating gas when but eight years of age, when gas was but little known.

When only seventeen years of age be delivered a full course of lectures in New York on "Military Tactics," varying the interesting exercises on the closing night by the exhibition and explanation of a nunlel machine of his own invention illustrating with figures, etc., the advance of Napoleon on Moscow and the subsequent retreat.

Throughout his life he retained his interest in military matters. There remain with the family a handsome sword and large silver salver, presented to

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

him respectively by his company and regiment in token of their esteem for him as captain and colonel. This regiment was afterwards merged into the New York National Guards (Seventh Regiment.) The professor was thoroughly loyal in sentiment and deed in the late Rebellion. Again we find him on duty with his old comrades of the National Guards during the riots at New York in the carly part of the war.

When about eleven years of age he was a pupil in the classical school of Timothy Clowes. LL. D., at Ilempstead, Long Island, and remained there a few years, during which time he resided in the family of the distinguished William Cobbett. That the com- panionship of Cobbett had an effect towards turning his mind in the direction of agriculture there can be no doubt. Reminiscences of early conversations with his kind old friend were among the most pleasant of his life.

As an analytical chemist Professor Mapes had few superiors. His analysis of beer, made at the request of the Senate of New York, and beer and wines, for the temperance societies, are regarded as standard experiments. Hle was the first manufacturer of epsom salts from the hydrobisilicate of magnesia, and the author of many improvements in distilling, dyeing, tempering steel, color manufacturing, ete. In 1832 he invented a new system of sugar refining, many features of which are still in general use. He subse- quently invented an apparatus for manufacturing sugar from the cane which is now extensively used in many of the Southern States, and the West India Islands. He was the inventor of a plan for the manufacture of sugar from West India molasses, which has long been in use in nearly every State in the Union. He also invented a tanning leather and a centrifugal machine for separating molasses from sugar, and other very valuable processes and machines.

Soon after the organization of the National Academy of Design of New York he was appointed Professor of Chemistry and Natural Philosophy to that institu- tion, in which capacity he delivered, according to the contemporary press, "one of the ablest courses of lectures on the chemistry of colors ever delivered on that subject."

For some two years previous to the time of deliver- ing this course of lectures on colors he had been more or less engaged in improving the quality of pigments for artists. In referring to the lectures and work on colors of Professor Mapes, Professor T. S. Cummings, in his annals of the National Academy, says : "These lec- tures were of the highest advantage to the students, members, and to the profession. Several colors not in use were reproduced, many tested as to permanency. and new ones added. Some of the specimens are with the writer and are exceedingly brilliant and durable."

Professor Mapes himself was an amateur artist of con- siderable merit. We find very favorable criticisms in the art notes of the day, on two of his pictures exhib- ited at the National Academy,-one an oil portrait

and the other a miniature portrait in water-colors. In the notice of this miniature, the writer says : " Here is an individual stealing an hour from his multifarious concerns and producing a picture that would not dis- credit an artist, setting a lesson to the youth of our city that there is time to practice as well as to admire. The specimen before us is a good likeness, much in the style of his master, T. S. Cummings."

Subsequently he was appointed Professor of Chem- istry and Natural Philosophy to the American Insti- tute, and delivered courses of lectures before that institution on natural philosophy, mechanical philos- ophy as applied to the useful arts, and chemistry. In 1844, Professor Mapes was elected president of the Me- chanics' Institute, of New York. He also held the posi- tion of vice-president of the American Institute, with which he has been actively connected for at least twenty-five years. Conversational meetings were originally organized by him, and through his zeal and influence rendered a highly important vehicle of edu- cation in the various arts and sciences. The night- schools, under the same and kindred institutions, were mainly the work of the professor. At this time these schools and conversational meetings afforded to the poorer classes almost the only opportunity for ad- vancement in science, art, and education. It was really the forerunner of the work of such noble insti- tutions as the Cooper Institute, Museum of Art and others.

He had large knowledge of civil engineering, and is said to have been the first person who ever opened an office in New York as a consulting engineer. On the profits of this profession he lived for nearly twelve years, devoting his spare time to his studies. His success as a student of natural history was very great, and some of his articles attracting attention, he was made a permanent member of the New York Lyceum of Natural History, and of the National Institute, Washington, D. C., and honorary member of the Scientific Institute of Brussels, Royal Society of St. Petersburg, Geographical Society of Paris, Artists' Fund Society of Philadelphia, and of many of the horticultural and agricultural societies of Europe and America ; while one of our Stateuniversities (Wil- liams College, Massachusetts) conferred on him the degree of LL.D. He had begun as early as 1842 to attract some attention as a chemist, particularly by his analysis in a report to the New York State Senate of beer and wines, above referred to, but still more by his able papers on scientific subjects published in the American Repertory of Arts, Sciences and Manufactures, of which he was the founder and editor. The four volumes edited by him are to-day frequently quoted as a standard authority of the current progress of practical seience, including the origin of daguer- reotyping, electrotyping, and applied electricity,

Shortly after changing his residence to Newark Pro- fessor Mapes organized the Franklin Institute in that city, and was its first lecturer.

EDUCATION IN NEWARK

As an expert he stood alone. In many important patent cases he was often subjected to the most merci- less cross-questioning from the ablest lawyers of the day, but his self-possession never failed him. A sturdy mastery of his position rendered him virtually unassailable.

Ile was one of the first men in the country to advo- cate a Department of Agriculture in the general government, the head of which should be a cabinet officer, holling equal rank with the other secretaries of departments, He was one of the founders of the National Agricultural Society, and made a telling speech at their first meeting. held in Washington in December, 1855. He was one of the early promoters of County and State Agricultural Societies, and flelivered very able addresses before many of them.

As a consulting agriculturist he was without an equal, and innumerable are the proofs of the sound- ness and utility of his advice throughout every section of the country. About the year 1846, under many discouragements from the hostility of farmers to "book-farming," he commenced lecturing in New Jersey, and in the course of a few years delivered one hundred and fifty lectures.

ITis manifold professional occupations and numer- ous editorials in The Working Farmer, which he founded and continued to edit till two years previous to his death, though employing the principal portion of his time, did not interfere with his lectures before the Farmers' Club and elsewhere, or prechide his writing occasionally for other publications, including foreign journals and encyclopædias.

In July, 1851, he became associate editor of the -Journal of Agriculture, an able semi-monthly paper started in Boston under the editorial charge of W. S. King. Esq., of Manton, R. I. Many of his articles contributed to this journal will be found in Vols. III. and IV. of The Working Farmer. As a writer, he was distinguished for terseness, united with rare simplicity of style, and he was still more remarkable for his conversational powers.

Professor Mapes was a man of great simplicity of character and firmness of purpose, and remarkable far- sightedness in biding his time when abused for certain opinions which he advanced and which, in the main, he lived to see generally adopted by his cotemporaries.

In New Jersey, whither Professor Mapes removed in 1847, he is best known as a farmer and a teacher of science as applied to agriculture. During the last twenty years of his life his energies were directed chiefly to this work, and with what success may be seen by the following tributes from those who knew him best.

Extracts from resolutions of the State Agricultural Society of New Jersey, and the Proceedings of the American Institute Farmers' Club, showing their estimate of Professor Mapes' services in the cause of agriculture.

" NEW JER-11 STATI AGRI LTURAI NO IFTY " Trentou, & J., Janvers, 1mm

" At the Annual Meeting of the New Jersey State Sarl ultural a loty. held in Trente a. Jan. 17 1066, the following' row lotions war unanl-

" Tlust the Dow Jones State Sert ultural Sally having heard with drep regret the soul Intelligens it the death of I't foot Jadies J

" Bearded, That in the doors I a whose name has been a long and eminently conten ted with the Cause of bilen e and Agriculture, we de- Jours a public loss common alike to State and Nation

" Rendre L That as a wk nititle and rate thuental farmer an lustructure und earnest writer on the wuldje f uf the cultivation of the anl, no man has contributed more or accomplished greater servi - w the caum of agt1- · ulture than Profitent Mapa

" Beaded, That ne cherish the remembrance of his virtues, his joyous oud lilerul spirit, and kind and gentle ma hers, as displayed in all the relations uf hte, und tinler t Fin afflicted funnily our heartfelt sympathy In their great murrow

"ILMAMA OF THE SMIHRAN INMRITE,

" New York, Feb. 6, 1866

" At a meeting . [ the American Institute regularly convened, on Mon- day : vening, Jan. 22, 1866, Profe wir Samw | | Tilman, with appropri ote remarka, offered the following pressible att remilutions, which w re

. " Resolved, That in the death of Prufenmer JAMES J. Mamma, Prufeast of Natural Philosophy as applied to themistry in the Ameri an Institute for the lunt twenty-five years, and an eth Jeot latwifer in ite agricultural branch, this Institution has been bereft of the volualle weistanre of one [removing un natural endowment, who, by the production of his pen, by numerous and Important experiments on puls, continued through a long w.rles of years, and by his Invention of farming imple- miento, greatly advanced the interests of Agriculture and Horticulture, and justly earned the title of benefactor of his race "

The following extract is from an article in Pen and Plow, March, 1871, written by the editor, J. Payne Lowe, who was formerly connected with Professor Mapes in his editorial duties :

"THE FATHER OF ENLIGHTENED AMERICAN AGRICULTURE.

" It in now anie year since Prufemor Jaune J. Mlapins routed from his lolwors on the earth, which he loved with the affection of a child and thu sull which su genially holda his ashre boo-day is, in our upini on, more in- debited to his life-long studie, sprach and offerta, than to those ( any other American agriculturint

" Mapes was the pioneer of enlightened Americao agriculture, aod la its future history he will always hold h's place. It alli never cease to bo true that he was the Arst American who -t bis countrymen to thinking and studying earnestly alwut the caparitirs of their wil Here his chief glory lies. It was for long yours his darling the me, in a thou- sand addrewww and articles, in daily estivermatina and cornupondenco with farmers from all orctions, in helping to form and build up tha American Institute, and Farmers 'Juba, and Agricultural sowieties ; in Inspiring young men with a love for wil-culture and in opening to them head, heart, hume, and puree, -there were among the charmnag pursuits of his noblo hfe.

" IIn was pro-eminently a thinking man. Ho thought more than he read, and he thought much on any subject before be read in it at all. If he happened to fall on a good author, he would read a sentence and what the bank, and allow his own thought In have full away Ona flash from Nature, or a volume, was enough to art him on fire

" No man was there beloved by friends or family Living without tentation ur ambition for wealth, his hiof dome tic happinom was in seeing hbs chil Iren grow up happy and enlightened.

" All through life Majs' archety was wright for by great and cultured inen, who were drawn to him by the magnetism of his heart and gentun and the exuberant wealth of his Information and sympathy."

A former student under Professor Mapes, Col. George E. Waring, now of Newport, R. I., dedicated his work, " Elements of Agriculture," to Professor James J. Mapes, the " pioneer of American agriculture."

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Horace Greeley well says,-

" Few men have delivered more addresses at agricultural fairs, or done mure lasting good by them. Wo honor him that he never sbrauk from declaring the truth that our average agriculture is rude to the verge of barbarism, and that treble the labor now devoted to each arable acre would produce quadruple our present crops. Deep plowing, draining und heavy manuring had no abler or more eurnest champion than James J. Mapes. Certainly American agriculture owes as much to him as to any man who lives er has ever lived."

In view of the large consumption at the present time in the United States of commercial fertilizers, amounting to about one hundred thousand tons an- nually in a single State, it is interesting to recall the fact that Professor Mapes was the originator in this country of superphosphates, and was the first to pre- pare an artificial fertilizer.

In England raw bones had been dissolved in sul- phuric acid and made into superphosphate, as the result of recent teachings of Baron Vou Liebig, of Germany, but it was in 1852 that Professor Mapes gave the recipe for the preparation of "improved superphosphate of lime," made from charred bone (refuse from sugar refiners) dissolved in sulphuric acid, to which was added sulphate of ammonia and Peruvian guano, the Peruvian guano being also sub- jected to treatment with acid for the purpose of " fix- ing" the otherwise volatile ammonia and also of rendering the phosphoric acid more soluble. For several years previous to this date (1852) Professor Mapes had prepared superphosphate and treated Peru- vian guano for his own use on his farm. After long and vexatious delays at the Patent Office in Washing- ton, he succeeded, in 1859, in gaining the recognition of his rights, and in receiving a patent establishing his claims, but he never pressed his patent nor at- tempted to prevent the manufacture by others.

One of the most attractive features of the social life of the professor, as all who knew him can well remember, was his unusual fund of genial good-humor, joined with a talent for anecdote and power of mim- iery and dialect seldom excelled. He stood unequaled as a story-teller and dinner companion. Few wits of the day could rival him, and his company was sought for on all occasions at the clubs and among his hosts of friends. While his wit was keen, it was always kindly used,-always for pleasure and never to cause pain. llis good-heartedness was a prominent trait. Many are the young men who, thirsting for knowledge and advancement in science and art, found a life-long friend in the professor.

In addition to his own large family, he found room in his heart and home to take two for adoption, and lavished upon them almost a father's love and led them to high positions in their career. No appeal was ever made to him in vain, even when the peti- tioner had no claim other than that of misfortune. Professor Mapes was eminently social in his tastes, -very fond of society in its best sense and in hearty sympathy with all current advanced thoughts of the day. He was a member of many social clubs and

societies, including the Shakespeare C'lub (New York), the New York Club, St. Nicholas Society, Old Sketch Club and others.

The writer of the biography of his daughter, Mary Mapes Dodge, in "Our Famous Women," refers to hiu in the following terms :

" Professor Mapes was not only a scholar of dis- tinction, an eminent scientist and au inventor, but a man of wide social accomplishments, a brilliant talker and a famous wit. In his household the children heard high affairs discussed in a high way. Men of science, poets, painters, musicians, statesmen, journalists were familiar friends. The talk was of scientific achievement, of music, painting aud the drama, of great philanthropic and benevolent move- ments all over the world, of projected laws and the reasons for them."

Professor Mapes died Jan. 10, 1866, at his residence in New York, of "fatty degeneration of the heart." He was, with the exception of this local and fatal disease, in good general health and in the full pos- session of his mental and physical powers. He had for many years been a great sufferer from tic-doulou- reux, an affection of the dolorie nerve. At his death he was not quite sixty years of age, and but for the fatal malady might have been expected to have lived even to the ripe old age attained by his mother, who died several years later, also in good general health and perfectly sound mental condition, closing a life of rare beauty at the age of ninety-two years.

Professor Mapes can be said to have " died in har- ness," for the fatal termination of his malady was doubtless hastened by his exertions when attending, as expert, an important patent case in Boston, where he was obliged to frequently mount high, long stairs. His over-present humor did not desert him, for he remarked, when puffing from unusual effort of climb- ing the stairs, "It does seem to be a pity that when the United States own so much land they should be obliged to build a court-room so high up in the air."

Of the children of Professor Mapes, four are living, three daughters-Mary Mapes Dodge, the writer, and the editor of the St. Nicholas magazine; Sophy Mapes Tolles, the artist ; Catherine T. Bunnell, residing in San Francisco-and one son, Charles V. Mapes, familiar to the farmers of New Jersey as the originator of the " Mapes Complete Manures," and for his con- tributions to the annual reports of the New Jersey State Board of Agriculture.

CHAPTER L.

NEWARK'S NOTED CELEBRATIONS.

The Nation's Birthday-The Settlement of Newark-Decoration Day.

Pioneer Fourth of July Celebrations .- What was probably the first celebration in Newark of

NEWARK'S NOTED CELEBRATIONS

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 159

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 840

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 840