History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 68

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 68
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 68

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It is said that he entered the service as a non-com- missioned offieer in a company of artillery, and that being discovered by General Knox, during an engage- ment, bravely loading and discharging a piece of artillery, with no one to aid him, he was commis- sioned a lieutenant on the field, to take rank from September 12, 1775. It appears that the company of artillery to which he was attached was stationed in the neighborhood of West Point at the time when Arnold's treason was discovered. Of this act Lieut. Pennington speaks with great horror in the jour- nal kept by him at that time, and which is now in possession of the New Jersey Historical Society. It is believed that he was present at the siege of Yorktown, and that he was wounded in same engage- ment. He retired from the service with the rank of captain by brevet. At the close of the war he re- turned to Newark and carried on the business of a hatter, and was subsequently in mercantile business. In 1797 he was elected a member of the General As- sembly, a position which he held for three years. In 1801 he was elected a member of the Council, and was re-elected in 1802. In May of the latter year he was licensed as an attorney, having previously been a student-at-law in the office of Mr. Boudinot. On the 28th of February, 1505, he was chosen by the joint not yet being a counselor, or having practiced suthi- ciently long to become one. In 1806 he was ap-

JOHN LAMBERT, as vice-president of the Council, became, agreeably to the Constitution of the State, Governor and chancellor in 1802, during which year the political parties in the Legislature were so equally divided that no Governor was elected. Mr. Lambert was subsequently a Representative in Congress and a meeting an associate justice of the Supreme Court, member of the Senate of the United States.

AARON OGDEN succeeded General Bloomfield as fiovernor in 1×12, and held the office one year. He pointed reporter of the Supreme Court, and held this

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position until 1813, when he was elected Governor, an office to which he was re-elected in 1814. In 1815 he was appointed judge of the United States District i Court for New Jersey, and remained such until his death, which occurred september 17, 1826.

MAULON DICKERSON was elected Governor and chancellor in 1815, and again in 1816. In 1517 he was chosen United States Fenntor, and again to the same otlive in 1822. In 1829 a majority of the Legis- lature was opposed to him in politics, and Theodore Frelinghuysen was elected Senator for six years. At the expiration of this time Mr. Dickerson was again elected to the Senate. In May 1834, he was appointed minister to Russia, but declined this position at the request of Martin Van Buren who desired his aid in obtaining the Presidency. In June of that year he was appointed by General Jackson Secretary of the Navy. In September 1840, he succeeded Judge Ros- sell, deceased, as judge of the United States District Court for New Jersey. He died October 5, 1×53, aged eighty-two years.

ISAAC H. WILLIAMSON was chosen Governor and chancellor by the joint meeting in 1817, and was re- elected to the same office every year for the twelve succeeding years. In 1831 and 1832 he was a member of the Council, and in 1844 was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and president of that body. He died, however, before the close of the year, at the age of seventy-seven.

GARRET D. WALL is named in the list of chancel- lors of New Jersey for the reason that in 1829 he was elected Governor by the joint meeting. He declined, however, the position, notwithstanding the impor- tunities of his triends, and, of course, did not take the oath of office.

PETER D. VROOM, on the refusal of Gen. Wall to accept the office of Governor, was immediately elected by the joint meeting, and was re-elected in 1830 and 1831. The next year, the political party to which he belonged being in the minority, he was de- feated by Mr. Samuel L. Sonthard; but he was again elected in 1833, 1834 and 1835. In 1836 the office was again offered to him, but he declined it on account of failing health. In 1838 he was elected a member of Congress, but, in consequence of some irregularities in the returns, he did not receive the Governor's con- mission, and was not permitted to vote for a Speaker of the house. On the organization of that body evi- dence was produced showing that he and his colleagues had been fairly elected, and that commis- sions had been, in fact, given to persons not entitled to them. It was this controversy that became known as the " Broad Seal War." In 1544 he was a delegate to the Constitutional t'onvention. On the expiration of the term of Chief Justice Green, in 1853, he received the appointment, and it was confirmed by the Senate, but he declined to accept the office. In the same year he was appointed minister to Prussia, and went to Berlin, where he remained until 1857. He was a

member of the Peace Congre- which assembled in 1.561. In 1962 he was a Presidential elector upon the Pierce ticket, and in 1868 an elector on the seymour and Blair ticket. His death occurred November 1. 1×74.

SAMUEL L. SONTHARD was elected Governor and chancellor in 1532, deteating, as has been already said, the re-election of Governor Vroom in that year. In 1815 he was appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Court, which office he resigned on being elected to the United States Senate, February 16. 1821. In 1823 he was appointed by President Mon- moe Secretary of the Navy, and continued to hold that office during the administration of President Adams. In 1829 he was appointed Attorney-General. In 1-32 he was elected Governor, but as he held that office but three months, he held only one term of the Court of Chancery. In 1-33 he was returned to the United States Senate. In 1938 he was re-elected for a full term, and in 1841 was elected president of the Senate, and upon the retirement of Vice-President Tyler he filled that office permanently until his death, which occurred June 26, 1x42.

ELIAS P. SEELEY was elected Governor in March 1×33. upon the appointment of Governor Southard to be Senator, and held the office until the ensuing fall, when it was conferred upon Mr. Vroom, as already stated. Ile was, in after years, several times a niem- ber of the Legislature. His death occurred in 1846. at the age of fifty-five years.

PHILEMON DICKERSON, a brother of Mahlon Dick- erson, was chosen Governor and chancellor by the joint meeting, and held the office but one year. In 1841 he was appointed by President Van Buren judge of the I'nited States District Court for New Jersey, in which position he remained until his death, in 1842, at about the age of seventy years.

WILLIAM PENNINGTON, Governor and chancellor from 1837 to 1843, was born in Newark, N. J .. May 4. 1796, and was the son of Governor William Sand- ford Pennington, who is noticed elsewhere in this volume. After receiving a good preparatory educa- tion in the schools of his native place, he entered the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and was thence graduated in 1813. In 1817 he was licensed as an attorney, having pursued the study of law in the office of Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, and in 1820 was made a counselor. Establishing himself in Newark as a practitioner, he soon became favorably known in his profession. In 1828 he was elected a member of the General Assembly, and in 1837 was chosen by the joint meeting Governor and chancellor, and was re-elected every year until 1843, when the political party to which he was opposed came in power. As chancellor he gave great satisfaction, and only one of his decrees was overruled in the Court of Appeals, and that the bar in general indorsed as correct. It was during his administration that the controversy known as the " Broad Seal War" occurred

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

To this allusion has already been made. In this matter he was blamed by his political opponents and sustained by his party friends, while, as a fact, he had no option but to do precisely what he did. On ceas- ing to be Governor he resumed the practice of the law, and soon found his time fully occupied, chiefly in arguing causes before the Supreme Court and in the Court of Errors. Several of these cases became quite celebrated, and are fully reported. On the adoption of the Constitution of 1844 it was generally believed that Mr. Pennington wonkl receive the nomi- nation of chancellor but such was not the case, and

expected nor desired, but the duties of which he dis- charged with signal ability. His death occurred on the 16th of February, 1862, and was hastened, if not produced, by a large dose of morphine, administered through the mistake of an apothecary. He had been for some years au elder of the High Street Presby- terian Church of Newark, and was faithful and earnest in the performance of every religious duty. Soon after his admission as a counselor he married Caroline, daughter of Dr. William Burnet, Jr., a sur- geon in the Continental army, and the son of a sur- geon of the same name, eminent for his services in

he no more held any prominent State office. During the administration of President Fillmore, in 1850, he was offered the Governorship of the Territory of Minnesota, but declined the appointment. In 1858, notwithstanding his protests, he was nominated for Congress and elected. On the assembling of that body in December, 1859, the contest between the South and the North had assumed such a shape that the prospect of organizing the House seemed for a time almost hopeless, but after a bitter struggle of nearly two months Governor Pennington was elected Speaker. It was a position which he had neither

the Revolutionary war. But one of his chiklren now survives him, his youngest son, Captain Edward Pennington, having died in June, 1884, leaving, how- ever, a son bearing the distinguished name of William Pennington.

DANIEL HAINES, the last Governor and chancel- lor elected under the Constitution of 1776, received his appointment as such in 1843, and held the office until the election of his successor, Governor Stratton, under the t'onstitution of 1844. He declined to be a candidate at this time, but in 1847 he was elected for a term of three years by the people. In Novem-

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ber, 1852, he was reappointed an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and in November, 1859, was reappointed to the same office, thus serving fourteen years upon the bench. Although a stanch Demo- erat, and an opponent of Abraham Lincoln prior to the war, as soon as the Southern States seceded, and the flag on Fort Sumter was fired upon, he declared himself a supporter of the Union, and lahored energetically to furnish men and means to put down the Rebellion. In 1865 he was made a commissioner to select a site for a "Home for Disabled Soldiers," and in the same year he was appointed one of the trustees of the State "Reform School for Juvenile Delinquents," at Jamesburg. In 1870 he was one of the commissioners appointed by tovernor Randolph to the National Prison Reform Congress held at ('in- cinnati. Judge laines was educated as a Presbyter- ian, and was a prominent and active member of that church. To him were referred the legal questions that arose when its two branches sought to reunite, after a long and profitless separation. Of the Bible Society, and of other associations of a religious or benevolent character, he was a valuable member, and his activity in every good work continued to the latest moments of his life. He died January 26, 1877.

Chancellors and Vice- Chancellors Under the Constitution of 1844-OLIVER S. HALSTED, the first chancellor of New Jersey appointed under the C'onstitution of 1844, was born at Elizabeth, N. J., in 1792, and, after receiving a good preparatory education, entered the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, whence he was graduated in 1810, receiv- ing, in course, his degree of A.M. In 1814 he was admitted to the bar, and settling in Newark, continued the practice of his profession until near the close of his life, with the exception of the seven years when he held the office of chancellor.

In 1836, Mr. Ilalsted was recorder of the city of Newark, and in 1840 he held the office of mayor. In 1827 he was a member of the General Assembly. In 1834 he was a member of the State Council, and was at one time surrogate of the county of Essex.

On the expiration of the gubernatorial term of Daniel Haines, who was the last Governor and chancellor under the Constitution of 1776, Mr. Halsted received from Governor Stratton the nomi- nation for chancellor and the same was confirmed by the Senate, February 5, 1845. He held his office until 1852, when he resumed the practice of his profession. Chancellor Halsted was a man of much learning, and in his later years a great student of the Bible. In 1875, two years before his death, and at the age of eighty three, he published "The Book called Job," being a literal translation from the llebrew. It is accompanied with copious notes, which show a vast amount of study and research. He was also the author of a work entitled "The Theology of the Bible." Chancellor Halsted died August 29, 1877.

BENJAMIN WILLIAMSON, son of Governor Isaac HI. Williamson, was appointed chancellor on the expiration of Mr. Halsted's term, in 1852, and held the office until 1859. lle had already served for several years as prosecutor of the pleas for Essex County, which, at that time, included what is now Union County. In 1860 he was a delegate-at- large from the State to the Democratic Convention at Charleston, and in 1861 was one of the delegates to represent New Jersey at the Peace Congress which met in Washington. After retiring from the office of chancellor he resumed his law practice in Elizabeth, N. J., where he still resides.

During a period of one year and about one month immediately following the expiration of Chancellor Williamson's term, the Court of Chancery remained closed, in consequence of a refusal on the part of the Senate to confirm the nominations for that office made by Governor Ohlen.

IlENRY W. GREEN, as has been already said, in speaking of the chief justices, of whom he was one, received the appointment of chancellor in 1861. On account of ill health he resigned a short time prior to the expiration of his term.

ABRAHAM O. ZABRISKIE was appointed chancellor May 1, 1866, and served a full term of seven years. For ten years he was surrogate of Bergen County, and was afterwards prosecutor of the pleas for the same. From 1851 to 1853 inclusive, he was a member of the State Senate, and at various times held offices of honor and trust. His death occurred June 27, 1873.

THEODORE RUNYON, the present chancellor of New Jersey, was born at Somerville, Somerset Co., N. J., October 25, 1822. Vincent Rognion, from whom he descended, was a Huguenot, who, at an early period in the history of New Jersey, settled, with many other French refugees, in Middlesex County. The subject of this sketch resided during his early life, for a short time in Bound Brook, N. J., and then in New York City, in which latter place he obtained his first rudiments ot learning. In Plainfield, N. J., he subsequently ac- quired a thorough preparatory education, and finally entering Yale College, was graduated therefrom in 1842, as A.B., receiving afterwards, in course, the degree of A.M. Beginning at once the study of law in the office of Asa Whitehead, Esq., at Newark, he was, in 1846, admitted to the bar as an attorney, and three years afterwards was called as counselor. With his characteristic promptness he opened an office in Newark as soon as he had received his license as un attorney, and continued to practice his profession in that city until his appointment as chancellor. In 1853 he was chosen city attorney, which office he held until 1856, when he was made eity counsel. After serving eight years in this position, he was, in 1864, elected Mayor for the term of two years. In 1856 he was appointed by Governor Price one of the com- missiouers to revise and codify the militia laws of the

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

State, and the following year was appointed brigadier- | Ten years after, during the incumbency of Chancellor general of the Newark Brigade. Soon after this he was appointed brigadier-general of the Rifle Corps of the State, and subsequently major-general of the National Guards. In 1860 he was chosen one of the Presidential electors of the State, and in the Electoral College cast his vote for Stephen A. Douglas, one of the four can- didates for the office of President.

On the breaking out of the Rebellion Gen. Run- yon offered his services in behalf of the Union, and being accepted by Governor Olden, was placed in command, April 27, 1861, of the first full brigade that was sent from New Jersey to the seat of war. On the 6th of May following he arrived with his troops at Washington, where great aların had been produced by a threatened invasion of the enemy. Ilis appearance restored quiet and his subsequent services as the guard- ian and protector of the Capitol City elicited the thanks of President Lincoln in the presence of his cabinet. The State Legislature also acknowledged his gallantry and wisdom as a military leader by a vote of thanks, and by requesting the Governor to confer upon him the brevet rank of major-general of the militia of the State, in recognition of his meritorious services in the field.

the city of Newark, and held that office during the years 1864 and 1865. In the month of August of the latter year, receiving from his party the nomination for Governor, he declined a renomination for mayor. But as nominee for Governor he was defeated by llon. Marcus L. Ward, the candidate of the Republican party, which at that time had acquired the ascendency throughout the State. In April, 1873, he was ap- pointed a member of the commission to prepare amendments to the Constitution of the State, and soon afterwards his nomination by Governor Parker for the office of chancellor was confirmed by the Senate. The Court of Chancery, from the earliest period of American history, was always unpopular, not only in New Jersey, but in other States, especially in colonial times, for the reason, no doubt, that it conferred such large discretionary power upon a single man, setting aside the cherished practice of trial by jury. So great was the prejudice against it in New York that our first chancellor, Rob't Hunter, who was at the time chancellor of that province, did, for several years, lit- tle or no business in it in that State, and it is said that even in New Jersey he did not hold this court until 1xIs, the last year of his incumbency. Hostility to the Court of Chancery did not continue so long, nor was it ever so great, in New Jersey as in some other States, and although for many years its business was comparatively small, it had so much increased in 1871 that it became necessary to appoint a vice-chancellor.

Runyon, the work began again to be so heavy that it beeame necessary to appoint a second vice-chancellor. It would thus seem that New Jersey has been favored with a line of chancellors whose wisdom and integ- rity have not only overcome the strong prejudice that once existed against it, but have given to it a most exalted character. On the expiration of Chancellor Runyon's first term, in 1880, he was re-appointed for another term, which does not expire until 1887. That he has given abundant evidence of his wisdom and learning may be drawn from the fact that the degree LL. D. has been conferred upon him thrice,-in 1867 by Wesleyan University ; in 1875 by Rutgers College, New Jersey ; and in 1882 by Yale College, his _1/ma Mater.

Vice-Chancellors .- AMzt DoDD, son of Dr. Joseph Smith Dodd, and nephew of Amzi Dodd, Esq., both of whom are elsewhere noticed, was born in Bloom- field, N. J., March 2, 1823. He is a lineal descendant of Daniel Dod, an English Puritan, who emigrated to America about the year 1646, and, in company with other emigrants, helped to form a settlement at Sagus (now known as the city of Lynn), a thriving seaport on Massachusetts Bay. This, his earliest American His term having expired, Gen. Runyon returned with his command to New Jersey, and immediately resumed the practice of his profession ; but his recent achievements pointing him out as a man worthy of a progenitor, died prior to 1665, leaving four sons all in their minority, the eldest of whom was, after his father, named Daniel. While yet under age he joined the colony of Rev. Abraham Pierson, who founded leadership, he was elected, in October, 1863, mayor of | the town of Newark in 1666, and to him a home lot was assigned in the neighborhood of what was for so many years known as the "Stone Bridge." He was a good mathematician, a surveyor by profession, and in 1692 a member of the colonial General Assembly. His son, John, and grandson, John, and great-grandson, John, were all, in a direct line, ancestors of Dr Joseph Smith Dodd, father of Amzi Dodd, and in their times were all men of mark.

Mr. Amzi Dodd, the subject of this sketeh, after receiving a good preparatory education, entered the junior class of the College of New Jersey, at Prinee- ton, in May, 1839, and was graduated from this insti- tution in September, 1841, with the highest honors. Very soon thereafter he went to Virginia, where he taught school until 1845, and then returning to New- ark, began the study of law. Having been admitted to the bar in 1848, he formed a connection with IIon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, the present Secretary of State, in his law business, and in this connection remained until 1850. In this year he was appointed clerk of the Common Council of the city of Newark, an office which he hehl until 1853 when he resigned it.

In the Fremont and Dayton campaign of 1856, Mr. Dodd, who was a strong Free-Soil man, was nomi- nated as the Republican candidate for Congress in the Fifth District, which was composed of Essex and IFund- son Counties. He was defeated, however, by Jacob R. Wortendyke. During all this time he continued in

Inizi Dodd

das J : Q. Bradley

BENCH AND BAR OF ESSEX COUNTY.

the practice of his profession, year by year increas- ing his reputation as a faithful attorney and a judi- cious counselor until 1871, when he received the ap- pointment of vice-chancellor of New Jersey. In the delicate and important work thus assigned to him he was engaged until 1875, when he resigned ; but to the same duties he was again called in ISS1. At the close of this year Mr. Lewis C. firover, president of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, of Newark, N. J., resigned his office, and Mr. Dodd, who had been the mathematician of the company since 1863, and who was well acquainted with ite vast and complicated business, was strongly urged to ac- cept the vacant position. This he was induced to do, and from the office of vice-chancellor now, a second time, retired.

Besides there weighty offices, Mr. Dodd has at various times been charged with others, important, it is true, but the responsibilities of which did not rest so licavily upon himself alone. In 1863 he represented the connty of Essex in the State Legislature. In 1872 he was appointed one of the special justices of the Court of Errors and Appeals of the State of New Jer- sey, which office he held until 1882, when he resigned it. In 1875 he was appointed one of the Riparian Commissioners, and in this position still remains. The professional demands which he has been called upon to meet have been rather upon his judgment as a man of great legal attainment and profound know- ledge of business as conducted in all the pursuits of life, than upon his abilities as an advocate. That he has not risen to eminence in the forum is doubtless due entirely to circumstances. The writer reeals, as will, perhaps, many of the older citizens of Newark his maiden speech made many years ago in the First Presbyterian Church at a celebration of our national anniversary. The panegyrie upon Washington, hack- neyed as was the theme, fell from his tongue deep into every heart, and for weeks and months the young orator's name was upon every lip. Absorbed in the business of his profession, Mr. Dodd has found but little leisure to loiter in the field of letters. He has however, occasionally greeted his old class-mates at Princeton in an anniversary oration, and in early life he always responded cheerfully to the calls made upon him as a lecturer before lyceums and institutions of learning. Mr. Dodd is at present residing at Bloon- field, his native place.

ABRAHAM VAN FLEET was, in 1875, appointed by Chancellor Runyon and commissioned by Governor Bedle vice-chancellor of the State of New Jersey for five years. On the expiration of this term he was, in 1880, reappointed, and is still in office. He is a native of Hunterdou County, N. J., where he was successfully engaged in the practice of law when called to the office of vice-chancellor.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 68

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