History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 75

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 75
USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I > Part 75

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THOMAS NESBITT MCCARTER was born at Morris- town, N. J., January 31, 1824, and is a descendant of John MeCarter, an educated Scotch-Irish Presbyter- ian, who emigrated to America in 1774. The father of Thomas N. was for fifteen years judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Sussex County, N. J., and at the time of his death a commissioner of the Su- preme Court of New Jersey. After a thorough pre- paratory course of instruction at Newton Academy, young Mr. MeCarter entered the junior class of the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, in 1840, and was graduated therefrom in 1842. Hle at once entered, as a student-at-law, the office of Martin Ryerson, Esq., and in 1845 was admitted to the bar. From that time he practiced law in partnership with his preceptor until 1853, when Mr. Ryerson removed to Trenton, and was subsequently appointed a justice of the Su-

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THE BAR OF ESSEX COUNTY.

preme t'ourt of New Jersey. Thus left alone, he con- tinued to practice in Newton until 1865, when he re- moved to Newark, N. J., where he has ever since been highly successful in the business of his profession. In 1868 he became associated in practice with Oscar Keen, Esq., and this partnership continued until 1882. At present he is the senior member of the law firm known as MeCarter, Williamson & Met'arter. As a corporation lawyer, Mr. Mel'arter has always enjoyed a high reputation both in Sussex and in Essex Counties. During his residence in Newton he was a director of and counsel to the Sussex Railroad Company, also for several years a director of and counsel to the Morris Canal and Banking Company. He was coun- sel to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, to the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Com- pany, to the Morris and Essex Railroad Company, to the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Com- pany and other similar corporations. In addition to these professional connections, Mr. MeCarter has been prominently identified with various corporate bodies as a director, among which are the People's Mutual Insurance Company of Newark and the Easton and Amboy Railroad Company. His well-known abilities as a lawyer induced Governor Olden, in 1860, to ten- der to him a seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and in 1866 the offer was re- newed to him by Governor Ward. He declined, how- ever, the honor ou both occasions, preferring to re- main at the bar. He was willing, nevertheless, to accept the position of chancery reporter, tendered to him in 1864 by Chancellor Green, but after issuing two volumes of Reports he was obliged to resign on account of his increasing practice. Prior to the war of the Rebellion Mr. McCarter was a pronounced Democrat, and as such was, in 1861, elected a mem- ber of the General Assembly from Sussex County. The following year he declined a renomination, and subsequently abandoned the Democratic party, be- vanse of its opposition to the War. In 1864 he ad- vocated the re-election of Lincoln, and has since been a ataneh Republican. Twice he has been a candi- date for Presidential elector,-first on the Douglas ticket in 1860, and again on the Hayes and Wheeler ticket in 1876.

1874. On the expiration of his second term of office he resumed the business of his profession, and contin- ued it without any interruption, except for a few months in 1882, when he acted as city auditor. Mr. Moore now confines his attention almost exclusively to the management of estates and to the examination of land titles.

FREDERICK HI. TEESE was born in Newark, N. J., October 21, 1823. After a thorough preparatory training in the classical school of Rev. Dr. Weeks. of that place, he was matriculated at the College of New Jersey, Princeton, in 1840, and was graduated from that institution in 1843. Having fixed upon the law as a profession, he entered the office of the late Hon. Asa Whitehead, an eminent practitioner of Newark, and, under that gentleman's direction, pur- surd his studies during the time required. In 1846 he was admitted as an attorney, and in 1849 as a counselor-at-law. Soon after receiving his license as an attorney he began to practice in his native city, and since that time has been successfully en- gaged in the work of his profession. In Is59 the Democratic party of Essex County, of which he was a pronounced, but not a remarkably active member, fastened upon him as one of their candidates for the General Assembly, and he was triumphantly elected. The next year he was re-elected, and during the second term served as Speaker of the House, winning the highest praise from both political parties for his excellent judgment and impartiality as a presiding officer. In 1864 he was appointed president judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Essex County for the term of five years, and at the expiration of this term was reappointed for another term of five years. In 1872, however, the Newark Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, of Newark, N. J., solicited his acceptance of the office of counsel for that company, but in order to hold this position it became necessary for him to resign his seat upon the bench, and this, after careful consideration, he was induced to do. In 1874 the struggle for power between the two great political parties throughout the Union was, as will be remembered, very bitter, and each party, in order to capture the House of Representatives, put into the field its best men. Judge Teese was at this time quietly occupied in discharging the duties of his re- sponsible office, and utterly indisposed to enter agaiu the political arena, but the pressure upon him was so great that he finally accepted the nomination for Congress, believing it scarcely possible for him or any other person, to defeat the estimable and popular candidate offered by the Republican party. But, un- expected as it was, he was elected, and took his seat in the House of Representatives in the month of

GEORGE DE GRAW MOORE was born in Caldwell, Essex D'o., N. J. Having received a good prelim- inary education, he entered I'nion College, New York, and was graduated therefrom in 1842. In 1845 he was admitted to the bar, and the following year re- moved to Wisconsin, where he began the practice of his profession. He resided but six years in that State, yet during the last two represented the Second Sen- atorial District in the third and fourth sessions of the State Legislature. He subsequently resided five years | March ensuing. At the expiration of his term Judge in Ohio, and finally returned to Newark, N. J., where he has since remained. In November, 1869, Mr. Moore was elected surrogate of the county of Essex, and was re-elected to the same office in November,

Teese could not be persuaded to accept the offer of a renomination, although the prospect of a successful canvass was far more cheering than ou the former occasion.

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

On the resignation of Lewis C. tirover. Esq., as a director of the Newark Mutual Benefit Life Insur- ance Company he was elected to the vacancy thus made in that Board. He has also, for several years, been a director of the National State Bank of New- ark. N. J. Judge Teese is regarded by the political party to which he belongs as one of its strongest and best men, and it is due simply to his great aversion to public office that he has not filled the highest posi- tions in the State. As a lawyer he enjoys the respect of his professional brethren, as well for his learning as for his many amiable qualities, and as a citizen he is valued for the interest he takes in whatever can promote the public welfare.

JOHN HI. MELKER was born in Newark, N. J., July 2, 1823. He entered Yale College after a thoroughi preparation, and was graduated thence in 1842. His law studies were commenced in the office of Amzi Armstrong, Esq., and continued there until the death of that well-known lawyer, when he entered the office of Algernon S. Hubbell, Esq., with whom he remained until 1844, when he spent several months in traveling through various portions of the United States. Sub- sequently he went to Europe where he passed the winter of 1845, and on his return, in the spring, was admitted to the bar in May, 1846. He began at once the practice of his profession in Newark, N. J., where he still retains his office, though for some years past he has resided in East Orange. His practice has been chiefly confined to the Court of Chancery, and being a special master and examiner of that court, his time is constantly occupied. He has been twice chosen secretary of the State Senate: first in 1864, and again in 1865. In 1877 he received the appoint- ment of associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Essex County, a position which he held for a term of five years. Judge Mecker is well acquainted with the German and French languages, and is a man of excellent general culture.

ANTHONY Q. KEASBEY was born in Salem, N. J., March 1, 1824, and is descended from the earliest set- tlers of Salem County. Ilis great-grandfather was Edward Keasbey, a very active and prominent partie- ipator in public affairs before, as well as after, the war of independence. From 1763 to 1769 he represented ; in the General Assembly the colonies of Salem and Cumberland. In 1775 he was a deputy for Salem to the Provincial Congress, which assembled in Trenton, and attended the session of that Congress held in office.

New Brunswick, at which a State Constitution was adopted. In May 1778, he took his seat in the Council of Safety, of which he had been chosen a member Anthony Keasbey, his son, was clerk of Salem County for many years, and was also a Representative of that county in the General Assembly from 1798 to 1801. Edward {. Keasbey, the father of the subject of this sketch, born in 1793, was a physician not only eminent in his profession, but so versed in every department of human knowledge that he was deemed

quite worthy of a seat upon the bench, and was, ae- cordingly, appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Salem County in 1840. In 1844 he was chosen a Presidential elector, and gave his vote for Henry Clay. Anthony Q. Keasbey, his son, and the subject of this sketch, after receiving a thorough preliminary education, was graduated from Yale College in 1843, and soon after entered, as a student- at-law, the office of Francis L. McCulloch, Esq., in his native town. Subsequently he went to Newark, and continued his studies with Mr. Cortlandt Parker. In October, 1846, he was admitted to the bar, and, re- turning to Salem, entered upon the practice of his profession. In 1852 he removed to Newark, and in 1855 became associated in business with Mr. Parker, his former preceptor. In April, 1861, he received from President Lincoln the appointment of United States attorney for the district of New Jersey, and in April, 1865, was reappointed. It was discovered, however, after the death of Mr. Lincoln, that the commission had not been signed by him, and Mr. Keasbey was therefore appointed by President John- son till the next session of the Senate, when, in 1866, he was regularly commissioned for another term of five years. In 1870 he was reappointed by President Grant, and again in 1874. In 1879 the othee was once more accorded to him, and thus he has held it continuously since 1861-an evidence, surely, of the great confidence reposed in him, both as a man and a lawyer, by the highest personages of the land. In 1876 the partner- ship which had so long existed between Mr. Keasbey and Mr. Parker was dissolved, and Mr. Keasbey asso- ciated with himself his two sons, Edward Q. and George, under the firm-name of A. Q. Kelsbey & Sons.

WILLIAM P. MILLER, son of William W. Miller, elsewhere noticed in this volume, was born in Morris- town, N. J., September 6, 1821, and was graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., in 1843. Ile subsequently studied law, and having been admitted to the bar of l'enusylvania, began to practice at Manch Chunk, in that State. At the end of two years he removed to Newark, N. J., and after passing a short time as a student in the office of Hon. Theo- dore Frelinghuysen was licensed to practice as an attorney in New Jersey in 1846. Since that time he has been a practitioner in Newark. From 1859 to 1864 he was a justice of the peace, and gave his attention almost exclusively to the business of that

LUTHER SPENCER GOBLE was born in Newark, N. J., February 5, 1826, and is the grandson of Luther Goble, and son of Jabez G. Goble, biograph- ical notices of whom may be found elsewhere in this volume. Mr. tioble was educated and prepared for college at the well-known classical school of Rev. Dr. William R. Wecks, in Newark, N. J. Intending to engage in mercantile business, he relinquished a col- legiate course, but subsequently, having determined to pursue the legal profession, began the study of law,

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THE BAR OF ESSEX COUNTY.

and was admitted to the bar of New Jersey in Fch- ruary, 1847. He commenced at once in his native city the practice of his profession, in which he at- tained suecess and an honorable standing. In 1859 he was induced to become the general representative in New Jersey for the Mutual Life Insurance Com- pany of New York, the position held by his respected father at his death. A proper discharge of the duties thus devolved upon him requiring great activity and constant attention, he was reluctantly compelled, in 1863, to retire from his profession, but has always taken a lively interest in whatever appertained to it. and he still retains his relation to, and is recognized as a member of, the bar. Life insurance now received his closest study, and, by constant and undivided ef- forts, he succeeded in establishing a reputation for intelligent knowledge of, and an honest course in, that business. In February, 1-74, he was offered the vice-presidency of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company of Newark, N. J., which he accepted, and which he filled creditably until February, 1876, when the company required a competent per- on as general representative in their office in the city of New York. Mr. Goble was selected and placed in charge, and now that important branch of this great company occupies all his time and attention. With all his multifarious duties Mr. Goble has not neglected to perform such work as has been assigned to him by the public. From 1>68 to 1873 he was a member of the Board of Education of the city of Newark, and in 1872 and 1873 was president of that body. For many years hic was President of the board of trustees of the Frank- lin school, one of the oldot institutions of Newark, and the Newark Library Association receives a great deal of his attention as one of its executive com- mittee and chairman of its committee on buildings.

JAMES D. U'LEAVER was born in Scotch Plains, Union Co., N. J., January 20, 1626. Hle first at- tended the common schools of his native place, and subsequently secured a good academie education at the seminary of Rev. Ezra Fairchild, in Plainfield, N. J. llis law studies were pursued in the office of John Chetwood, Esq., in Newark, N. J., and he was admitted to the bar in July, 1847. Mr. Cleaver was for five years an associate judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Essex County. From 1859 to 1562 he was a member of the Common Council of Newark, and in 1860 President of that body. In 1>64 he was elected a member of the State General Assembly, and was re-elected in the following year. In 1864 and 1865 he was a member of the Board of Education of the city of Newark. With the exception of a few years spent in the West, he has practiced his pro- fession in Newark, where he at present resides.

HORACE N. CONGER was born in Newark, N. J., July 31, 1>17. After receiving a good academic education, he engaged for some years in teaching, and during his leisure hours read law in the office of Cornelius Boice, Es [., of Plainfield, N. J., and subse-

quently in that of Lewis C. Grover, Esq., of Newark. In 1×47 he was admitted to the bar, and immediately began the practice of law in his native place. His preference, however, for a political lite, and the op- portunity which arose, soon after his admission, to la- bor in the anti-slavery cause, induced him to withdraw almost entirely from his profession. He was one of the handful of men who, in 1×4%, laid the foundation of a Free-Svil party, and became a delegate from New Jersey to the Buffalo convention which nominated Van Buren for the Presidency and Adams for the Vice-Presidency of the United States. In 1550 he became the editor of the Newark Daily Mercury, and in this position made a vigorous fight against slavery throughout the ten succeeding years, winning the confidence and respect of all the leaders in that un- popular cause. In 1860 he was a delegate to the National Convention at Chicago, where he advocated the nomination of Mr. Seward for President, but was well pleased with the choice of Mr. Lincoln, whom he afterwards heartily supported. Without solici- tation, Mr. Conger received, in 1×61, the appointment of I'nited States consul at Hong Kong, which was at that time regarded as one of the most important appointments in the East. Accepting the offer, he went with his family to China, where he remained until 1865, when, in consequence of impaired health, he was obliged to tender his resignation, which was accepted, and with the acceptance was transmitted bis appointment by the President as commissioner of emigration of the United States under the law then existing. While thus connected with the State De- partment in Washington he was twice commissioned as acting Assistant Secretary of State during the ill- ness of the Hon. F. W. Seward, resulting from the wounds which he received from the assassin Payne. In 1866. Mr. Conger receiving from Governor Ward the appointment of Secretary of State of New Jersey, resigned his commissionership and repaired to his new post of duty, at Trenton. Here he remained un- til 1870, when the position of vice-president of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance t'ompany, at Newark, N. J., was tendered to him. In this office he remained for three years, when, his health becoming once more impaired by overlabor, he was compelled to resign. Not long afterwards the consulship at Prague, in Bohemia, was offered to him by President Grant, and in that city he spent two years, returning to his native place in 1575. Since that time he has resided in Newark, and now holds the position of adjuster in the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company.

WILLIAM A. RIGHTER was born in Parsippany, Morris Co., N. J., September 1, 1826. With # good preparatory education, he entered Union College, and was graduated therefrom in 1542. Soon after he entered, as a student-at-law, the office of Hon. Joseph C. Hornblower, and in 1848 was admitted to the bar. He began at once the practice of his profession in Newark, N. J., and has been successfully engaged

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HISTORY OF ESSEX COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

therein to the present time. Mr. Righter was in 1876 the Democratie candidate for Congress in the Fifth District, but was defeated by Mr. Thomas B. Peddie by a close vote. In 1877 he was a strong candidate before the Democratic State Convention for the nomi- nation of Governor, and his success on this occasion seemed quite certain until the name of Gen. MeC'lel- lan was presented to that body. In the welfare of the city in which he resides he has always taken an active interest, while he has never manifested any great de- sire for public office. Ile was, however, a member of the Board of Education in 1851. 1853 and 1854, and is at present a member of the newly-constituted Board of Health, as well as a director of the Security Say- ings Institution, recently established.

GEORGE F. TUTTLE, one of the numerous descend- ants of William and Elizabeth Tuttle, who came from England in 1635, and settled in New Haven, was born at Montelair, N. J., December 11, 1823. With a good | he began the practice of his profession in his native

academic education, he entered, as a student-at-law, the othee of the late John P. Jackson, Sr., Esq., and in 1847 was admitted to the bar. Immediately after being licensed he became associated with his precep- tor in practice, and in this connection remained with him for several years. On the establishment of the District Courts of the city of Newark, in 1873, the first judges of the same were, in accordance with the act, appointed by the judges of the Supreme Court. Mr. Tuttle was thus selected as judge of the First District court, and held this position for the term of five years. Prior to its expiration Judge Tuttle was appointed by Chancellor Runyon one of the commissioners to examine into the management and condition of the Newark Savings Institution, which had been recently compelled to stop payment. He entered, with his fellow-commissioners, upon this work December 13, 1877, and on the 25th of May following a full state- ment of the affairs of this institution was presented. In a similar examination of the Dime Savings Insti- tution he subsequently took a prominent part. His abilities as a mathematician are well known and highly appreciated. In the study of the abstruse sciences he finds his recreation, and it is hoped that he will find profit in one of its results which was patented in Jan- uary last, and which consists in a combination scale for the measurement and laying off upon paper of distances too small to be measured by the eye with- out the use of a powerful microscope. With gradua- tions not finer than 75 to the inch, it is possible to lay off distances as fine as 100, 120, 150, 200 and 300 to the inch. The principle is also applicable to the metrie system, and by reason of its extreme simplicity will doubtless prove valuable and popular.

EDWARD H. WRIGHT was admitted as an attorney- at-law in January, 1850. Ile is a resident of Newark, but has never engaged in the practice of law.

GEORGE M. ROBESON was born at Oxford Furnace, N. J., in 1829. He was graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1829, and soon after became a stu- ,

dent-at-law in the office of Chief Justice Hornblower, in Newark, N. J. Having been admitted to the bar in 1850, he practiced his profession in that city until his removal to Camden, N. J., where in 1858, he was appointed prosecutor of the pleas by Governor Newell. In 1867, Governor Ward tendered him the nomination of Attorney-General of the State, and the Senate con- firming the nomination, he entered upon, and dis- charged the duties of the office until 1869, when he was appointed Secretary of the Navy, a position which he held until 1877.

WILLIAM SILAS WHITEHEAD, son of IIon. Asa Whitehead, was born in Newark, N. J., March 3, 1829. After completing his preliminary studies, he entered the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and was graduated thence in 1847. He became a student-at- law in the office of his father, and in July, 1850, was admitted to the bar. Soon after receiving his license

city. In 1872 he associated himself in business with Albert P. Condit, Esq., a partnership which still con- tinnes. In 1859 he was elected surrogate of Essex County, and held this office for the term of five years. Mr. Whitehead has been for a long period prominently connected with the Masonic fraternity, and for several years was Grand Master of the State of New Jersey.

JOHN LAURIS BLAKE was born in Boston, Mass., March 25, 1831. With a good classical education, he entered upon the study of law after his removal to New Jersey, and was admitted to the bar at the June term, 1852. He began at once the practice of his profession in Orange, Essex Co., N. J., where he has met with great success, and is still residing. In 1879 and 1880 he represented his Congressional district in the United States House of Representatives, and, although strongly urged to accept the nomination for another term, felt constrained to decline, on account of professional business, with which his absence from home so seriously interfered. Brown University. Rhode Island, by conferring upon Mr. Blake the hon- orary degree of A.M., recognized in him a man of culture and scholarly tastes.

ALBERT PIERSON CONDIT was born in Orange, Essex Co., N. I., December 10, 1829. In 1850 he was graduated from Yale College, and in 1853 was admitted to the bar. He began the practice of law in Newark, N. J., soon after receiving his license, and since 1872 has been associated in business with William Silas Whitehead, Esq. In 1866 Mr. t'ondit was elected a member of the General Assembly from his native county, and served one term. On the death of Charles R. Waugh, clerk of Essex County, in September, 1867, Mr. Condit was appointed by the Governor to fill the vacancy thus occasioned, and held the office until November following. Mr. Condit occupies a prominent place among the well- established lawyers of Newark, and has an extensive and Inerative practice.

WILLIAM B. GUILD, JR., son of Hon. William B.

James W. Field

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. I, Part 75

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