History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 95

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830

USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 95
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 95

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1 For a full sketch of Chief Justice Hornblower, we Hench and Bar of Essex County.

" For the address in full, sve Chapter XH. of this county ; ale key Dr Taylor's "Class of Bergen,' and Winfield's "History of Hudson County."

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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

and at th January term, 1856, he was succeeded by Associate Justice Elias B. D. Ogden.

Governor Haines was born in the city of New York in the year 1801, and graduated at the College of New. Jersey in 1820 ; he studied law with the Hon. Thomas C. Person at Newton ; was licensed as an attorney m 1-23, and as counsellor in 1826, and was called to be a sergeant-at-law in 1837.

In 1824 he commenced the practice of the law at Hamburg, a small village in Sussex County, which was always his home, but during the period of his judge- ship he resided mostly in Newark.

He was elected to the Council from Sussex County, and served two ternis, being a member when the "broad seal question " agitated the State and nation ; he took strong grounds with the Democratic party, and through the prominence thus gained he was elected Governor and chancellor in 1843, and was Governor at the time of the adoption of the new Con- stitution, in 1844.

In 1847 he was elected Governor by the Demoerats, | until the time of his death. He resided in Paterson

and held the office three years. In 1852 he was ap- pointed by Governor Fort an associate justice of the Supreme Court, again reappointed, in 1859. by Gov- ernor Newell, and retired from the bench in 1866, after a service of fourteen years, greatly honored and be', ved by all.

In 18-15 he was appointed one of the commissioners in select a site for the State Lunatic Asylum, at Tren- ton, and was a member of the first board of managers. In 1×70 he was appointed by Governor Randolph to the National Prison Reform Congress, and he was also a trustee of the College of New Jersey for many years.

He was a strong advocate of temperance, a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, and led a very de- voted Christian life.

Being located in a farming district, where the ques- tions and disputes to be settled are of minor import- ance, Judge Haines had no very great opportunity to display his powers at the bar, but was always esteemed a sound and able lawyer. As Governor, he brought to the office sterling integrity and a great zeal for the education of the children of the State, and he advo- cated with great carnestness the adoption and per- fection of the common-school system of the State.

As a judge, while he was not regarded as one of the most profound jurists, still his great sense of right and desire to be just led him to examine every case with great care; it was this element of his character that so much endeared him to the bar and people of the State.

Judge Haine- again returned to Hudson County in 1873 as a commissioner appointed by the Supreme " Court to review all unjust street and sewer assessments, and, in connection with Theodore Little, Exq., and Jesse Williams, Esq., reviewed and adjusted a large number of assessments, performing a very valuable service to the city of Jersey City.

He ched Jan. 26, 1877, in the seventy-sixth year of his age.

ELIAS B. D. OGpex a son of Governor Aaron Ogden, was born at Elizabethtown in 1800. He graduated at Princeton College in 1819, was licensed as an attorney in 1824, as a counsellor in 1829, and was made a sergeant-at-law in 1837, being the last lawyer to receive that honorary title in the State of New Jersey. Soon after his admission to the bar he removed to Paterson, where he continued to practice, being prosecutor of the pleas of Passaic County for two terms, and in 1844 member from that county to Con- stitutional Convention, in which he took an active part.

In 1848 he was appointed by Governor Haines an Issoelate justice of the Supreme Court. He was re- appointed by Governor Price in 1858, and again by Governor Dlden In 1x89, and died Fob. 24, 1565, hav- ing held the office over sixteen yours.

Judge Ogden was regularly assigned to the Hudson Circuit in January, 1856, and continued to hold it until 1858, when he removed to the old homestead of his father, at Elizabethtown.

Probably no more fitting sketch can be given of his career at this eircuit than to quote a part of the re- marks of Jacob Weart, Esq., at the bar meeting of Hudson County on the occasion of his death.

Mr. Weart said, "For seventeen long years the deceased, as a judge, has gone in and out before the people of this State, receiving three successive appoint- ments. He had held the office longer than any of his brethren upon the bench at the time. A man so long associated with our jurisprudence could not have failed to leave his imprint upon the same. In commercial and criminal law I think he excelled. Having held the circuits of two of the most import- ant counties in the State for many years,-Essex and Hudson,-he had a wide field for the display of his talent in this direction, and he brought to these branches of the law a very marvelous and quick per- ception ; indeed, it took a wily advocate to cope with and answer his ready suggestions."

" In criminal matters he was the terror of rogues and evil-doers, and did much to preserve the peace and good order of our county. Having a high Christian character, he looked to the elevation of society and the public morals, and had a deep and lasting reverence for the sanctity of the Sabbath, and we would all do well if we should strive to emu- late his noble example in this direction. As a publie patriot he loved his country, he loved good government, he cherished a respect for the laws, and during the trying hours of the republic he stood by his govern- ment; he stood by the flag under which his father reared him; he despised traitors and their sympa- thizers, and looked confidently for the overthrow of the Rebellion and the restoration of the Union."

"But, alas! he has gone to meet that great Judge who cannot orr. Let us quietly submit him to the

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silence of the tomb; over his grave let us frew flowers, which will lift their incense to Heaven, and theu our last duty will be to hold him and his be- reaved family in grateful remembrance."

JOSEPH DORSETT BEDLE was born at Matawan, Monmouth to., N. J., Jan. 5, 1831. He comes of an old American family on both sides, his mater- nal ancestors having emigrated to this country from Bermuda more than a century and a half ago. His father, Thomas J. Belle, whose immediate ancestors were Jerseymen, was a merchant, a justice of the peace for upwards of twenty-five years, and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Mon- mouth. His mother, Hannah Dorsett, descended from a family that was among the early settlers of the above county. Their son, Joseph D., obtained his early educational training in the academy at Mat- awan, then known as Middletown Point. He at an early age manifested a predilection for the legal pro- fession, and began his study of the law under the very able direction of Hon. W. L. Dayton, at Trenton, in 1848.

During this period of four years he attended the regular course of lectures at the law school at Ballston Spa, N. Y. One winter he passed in the office of Thompson & Weeks, at Poughkeepsie, N. Y., and in the spring of 1552 he was admitted to the bar of New York State as an attorney and counselor. Returning to New Jersey, he passed a short time in the office of Hon. Henry S. Little, at Matawan, and was admitted to the bar of that State in January, 1853.

He began the practice of his profession at Mat- awan, and in the spring of 1855 made Frechold, in the same county, his residence. Here he soon made his presence felt and won a place among the leaders of the bar. A large, valuable and lucrative practice fell to him, when he was offered by tiovernor Parker a seat upon the Supreme beuch of the State. A high sense of the dignity of this position and of his duty to the community influenced him to accept this appointment, his commission bearing date March 23, 1865. His term expiring in 1572, he was reappointed by Governor Parker, this reappointment doing honor both to the Governor and the recipient. On accept- ing the first appointment he had made Jersey City his residence, that he might be at a convenient distance from all parts of his district, which comprised the counties of Hudson, Passaic and Bergen. Just prior to the close of his first term, in 1871, he was promi- nently named as a candidate for Governor, though he himself took no steps to secure the nomination, rather discouraging the movement in his favor. Notwith- standing this fact, his name was again brought for- ward in 1874, and an unanimous nomination tendered him by the Democratic State Convention. He ae- cepted this nomination only at the persistent and earnest appeal of the party, declaring that as he had been nominated without any effort on his part, so he

must be elected, if at all. This course he was con- strained to adopt, not from any lack of disposition to serve the political organization with which be affili- ated, or unwillingness to assume the dignity and re- sponsibility of adoumstering the government of his State, but simply from a high sense of the impropriety of any action having a political bearing by one hold- ing judicial office. This high-minded determination was appreciated by the people, who elected him by one of the largest votes ever east for Governor in the State, though opposed by a candidate of great personal popularity. Most unmistakably was he called to his honorable post by the popular voier, whose expecta- tions were in no sense disappointed. Hi- administra- tion from the first was marked by ability, prudence and a patriotism inspired by desire for the public welfare. By his statesman-like views and noble aims he firmly intrenched himself in the respect and regard of the community. Governor Bedle, on the ter- mination of his official career, resumed the practice of his profession, and has since been identified with many important causes, being still engaged in active practice.

The College of New Jersey, at Princeton, in 1575 conferred upon him the degree of LL. 11.

Governor Bedle was in 1961 married to Althea, daughter of Hon. Bennington F. Randolph, of Free- hold. N. J. Their children are Bennington Randolph, Joseph Dorsett, Thomas Francis, Althea Randolph, Randolph and Mary (deceased).

MANNING M. KNAPP is the sixth Justice of the Supreme Court regularly assigned to the Hudson ('ir- cuit. He is still holding the court, and has done so since January, 1575.

The following sketch is taken from the " History of Bergen and Passaic Counties :"

"The subject of this sketch, although a resident in Hackensack for many years, is not a native of Bergen County. He was born at Newton, in the county of Sussex, in this State, on the 7th of June. 1575. He studied law at Newton, in the office of the late Col. Robert Hamilton, and was admitted as an attorney at the July term of the Supreme Court in the year 1546. In the winter of that year he removed to Hackensack, where he has since resided, practicing in his profes- sion down to the time of his appointment on the Supreme Court bench. In January, 150, he was hi- censed as a counselor. The late Chancellor Za- briskie, having about this time removed from Hacken- sack to Jersey City, vacated the office of prosecutor of the pleas of Bergen. Chief Justice Green, who then presided at the Bergen Circuit, appointed Mr. Knapp to prosecute for the State until the otlice should be filled by executive action. Acting under this appointment until February, IS1, he was then given the office by Governor Fort, and held it under that and subsequent appointments, until February, 1861. When appointed prosecutor he was acquiring, and soon was engaged in, an netive practice in the civil

1052

HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

courts. This he retained during all the time that he remained at the bar.

"Upon the election of Judge Bedle to the office of Governor of the state, a vacancy was created on the Supreme bench, and Governor Bedle nominated Mr. Knapp to be his successor. Upon confirmation by the Senate, Mr. Knapp entered upon the duties of the office, taking up the work which Judge Bedle had laid down, and after serving one term was reap- pointel by Governor Ludlow in 1882.

" The judicial district presided over by Judge Bedte embraced the counties of Hudson. Bergen and Pas- saie. The work in it was extremely onerous for one judge. In consequence of this, the Legislature, in 1875, divided the district, and set off Hudson County as an entire one. To this new district Judge Knapp was assigned by the Supreme Court, and has since presided at that circuit. The large population of Hudson County necessarily presents a heavy work in the court-, and renders the district, although com- prising that county alone, not a light one in its judi- cial administration.

" Judge Knapp has always held to the political views of the Democratic party, but he has never held, or manifested any desire to hold, political office. ITis aspirations seem not to have gone beyond or outside of success in his professional career."

In 1850 he was married to Anna Mattison, a daugh- ter of Capt. Joseph Mattison, of the navy. She was born in Woodbridge, Middlesex Co., in this State. They have two children, a son and daughter, the issue of the marriage. The elder, Anna M. (wife of Wal- ter V. Clark), resides in Hackensack. The younger, Joseph M. Knapp, is temporarily in Colorado. He, it is understood, is preparing for admission to the bar of this State.

AARON OGDEN, a son of Robert Ogden, was born at Elizabethtown in the year 1756, graduated at Princeton College in 1773, before he had attained the age of seventeen; he then engaged as an assistant teacher in a grammar school, which he continued until he entered the army, in 1777. Ogden was appointed a lieutenant and paymaster in the First Regiment, and continued in service to the termination of the war as aide-de-camp, captain and brigade- major and inspector. He rendered very valuable services to his country during the Revolutionary war, and was a great favorite of Washington and Lafayette.

When dismissed from the army with the other officers at Newburgh, in 1783, Maj. Ogden returnd to Elizabethtown, and took up the study of the law with his brother Robert, and was licensed as an attorney in 1784, and as counselor in 1794, and practiced his profession at Elizabethtown, and was clerk of the county of Essex In 1801 the Legislature elected him to fill the unexpired term of James Schureman in the Senate of the United States, and he served from Feb. 26, 1801, to March 8, 1803, and was a dis- tinguished and useful member of that body.

In 1812, Aaron Ogden was elected frovernor of the State of New Jersey, and by virtue of his office also became chancellor of the State, and held the other for one year. While he held the office of Governor, President Madison nominated him as a major-general, with the purpose, as it was understood, of giving him the command of the forces operating against Canada, and his nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Senate; but he declined to accept, as he thought he could be of more service as Governor of the State. Hle was one of the commissioners to settle the boundaries betwen the States of New York and New Jersey in 1807, 1827 and 1833. He was elected a trustee of Princeton College in 1803, and held the office at the time of his death, and received from the college the degree of L.L.D., in 1517.

About 1813 he engaged in the running of a steam- boat between Elizabethtown and New York City, which brought him in contact with Thomas Gibbons and brought about the steambout war, the State of New York and New Jersey having each granted the exclusive use of the waters of each State to certain individuals to navigate their waters exclusively ; the monopoly was sustained by the courts of New York, but in the celebrated case of Gibbons vs. Ogden, in the Supreme Court of the United States, that court declared the laws unconstitutional. In this contro- versy Ogden lost his fortune.

In 1824 he succeeded Gen. Bloomfield as president of the Society of the Cincinnati, and continued to be its president until the time of his death.

In 1829 he took up his residence in Jersey City, where he was to some extent provided for, not only by his pension as an oldl soldier, but by an net of Con- gress creating a custom-house offee at Jersey City, which he held during the remainder of his life. He died in Jersey City in 1839, at the age of eighty-three years.

SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD, known as "New Jersey's favorite son," is entitled to n short space in this chap- ter, from the fact that he was a resident of Jersey City at the time of his death, having been elected president of the Morris Canal and Banking Company in 1538; he took up his residence in fersey City at that time.

A full sketch of his life is to be found in Elmer's " Reminiscences of New Jersey," and also in the his- tories of the counties of Hunterdon and Somerset, and Mercer and Burlington.

He was born at Baskingridge, Somerset Co., June 9, 1787, was a pupil in the celebrated school of Rev. Robert Finley, and in September, 1802, he entered the junior class at Princeton, and graduated in 1804, at the age of seventeen. Hle went to Virginia ns n teacher of the classics, and was admitted to the har there in 1809; was admitted to the bar here in 1811, and commenced practice at Flemington, and was ap- pointed prosecutor of the pleas for Hunterdon t'ounty ; in 1815 he was elected to the Legislature, and shortly after taking his seat, on Oct. 31, 1815, he was ap-

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BENCH AND BAR OF HUDSON COUNTY.

pointed an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and removed to Trenton. When appointed judge he was only twenty-eight years old. He was appointed law reporter, and published two volumes of reports. Jan. 26, 1821, he was appointed by the tiovernor to fill the unexpired term of J. J. Wilson in the United States Senate, and was elected by the Legislature for the full term, from March 4, 1821, and having been appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Monroe, Sept. It, 1:23, he resigned his sent in the Senate, and took it seat in the Cabinet, which he held through the ad- ministrations of President Monroc and President John Q. Adams, until 1829. After retiring from the navy he resumed his practice at Trenton, and on Feb. 20 1×20, was appointed Attorney General of the State.

He was appointed Governor and chancellor in 1832, but he only held one term of the Court of Chancery, being elected United States Senator for the term con- menving March 4, 1833, he resignel the office of Governor. He, therefore, in less than a year, held the offices of Attorney-General, Governor and chan- cellor and United States Senator, from which he derived the title of "favorite son." In 1839 he was again elected to the I'nited States Senate for the full term of six years. t)n March 11, 1841, he was elected president pro tempore of the Senate, and upon the retirement of Vice-President Tyler he was elected president of the Senate, May 31, 1841, and held that position at the time of his death, which occurred at Fredericksburg, June 26, 1842.

Hle was elected one of the electors and voted for President Monroe in 1820. He was appointed a trustee of Princeton College in 1822, and the Univer- sity of Pennsylvania conferred upon him the degree of LL. D. in 1832.

It is not probable that any other such record can be produced in the State of New Jersey.

MATHIAS OGDEN was a member of the distin- guished Ogden family of New Jersey, and a son of Governor Aaron Ogden, and was born at Elizabeth- town in 1792. He received an academic education and entered the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and graduated there in the class of 1810. He studied law, and was admitted as an attorney-at-law at No- vember term, 1814, and as counselor-at-law at Frh ruary term, 1818, and died in July, 1860, in the sixty- eighth year of his age.

He practiced law in Jersey City from the formation of the county, in 1540 to 1848, and is spoken of as a sound and able lawyer.

SAMUEL CASSEDY was really the first lawyer to settle in the territory now known as Hudson County who did any considerable amount of business, al- though he succeeded James Williams, who had settled here before him ; Mr. Williams' business must have been small, as he was here but a short time, and the population was very sparse.

Mr. Cassedy was born at Hackensack, June 22, 1790, and was one of three brothers, all of whom were dis-

tingui-hed men in their day. George t'assody was a distinguished member of the Hackensack bar, an able lawyer, and served several years in Congress, elected on a general State ticket. John Cassedy was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, represented Bergen County in the State Council and Hudson County in the State Senate, and was a meneer of the Constitu- tional Convention from Bergen County in 1844 ; he was also the chief organizer of the Bo bon County Bank and the Bank of Jersey City

Samuel Cassidy was educated at the schools in Hackensack, and removed to Kentucky, and was ad- mitted to the bar of that State as an attorney and counselor Ang. 20, 18H4 ; he removed to Jersey t'ity and was admitted as an attorney at May term, 1816, and as counselor at September term, 1833 ; Epon being licensed as an attorney, in 1816, he succeeded to the business of James Williams, and continued to practice in Jersey City until his death, which occurred Aug. 30, 1862, in the seventy-second year of his age.

On Dec. 23, 1831, Mr. C'assedy was placed upon tiovernor Vroom's staff as his deputy adjutant- general for the Second Division of the militia of New Jersey, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He also served in the war of 1812 as a volunteer. He was also prosecutor of the pleas for Bergen County.

He devoted his efforts mainly to office practice, and in the vigor of his manhood had a large clientage.

WILLIAM COLLIN MORRIS was descended from Revolutionary stock. His grandfather, Maj. James Morris, was fatally wounded at the battle of German- town, and died January 7, 1777. He had his com- mission on his person, and it was stained with his blood. Judge Morris took great prid> in exhibiting this commission. His father, Jonath : Ford Morris, was a physician, and practiced at Beand Brook, later at Somerville, where he died. He was a popular physician, successful surgeon, philanthropie citizen and a forcible writer. Judge Morris was born at Mid- dlebrook, Somerset Co., Feb. 27. 1789. He was edu- cated at the classical academy at Somerville, N. J., entered the law office of John Frelinghuysen, and also read a short time with George Mc Donald, and was admitted to the bar at November term, IS18, and en- tered upon the practice of the law at Belvidere, and continued in practice there for thirty-one year-, when he removed to Jersey City, and took a position in the custom-house in the city of New York, which he held for four years, when he retired to an office practice in Jersey City, and in 1861 was appointed by Governor Olden a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and served for nearly a year, and was regularly elected to the office by the joint meeting of 1863, and took his seat on the bench April 1, 1863, and died May 17, 1870, aged eighty-one years.

Judge Morris held the office of prosecutor of the pleas for the county of Warren for twenty-five years, being five successive terms, and the great service which he rendered the State was his prosecution of what

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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

were known throughout the State as the Warren mur- der trials. These trials were probably the most cele- brated of any in the criminal history of the State. Joseph C'arter, Jr., Abner Park and Peter W. Park were severally indicted and tried for the murder of John Castner, Maria Castner, his wife, Mary MI. Castner, daughter of John and Marie Castner, and John B. Park, brother of Peter W. Park. These trials lasted for a period of about two years; several judges of the Supreme Court sat at the various trials, and the per- sons convicted were convicted entirely upon circum- -tantial evidence, and these convictions were mainly due to the great industry and high moral character of Judge Morris, who abandoned his civil business to prosecute these murderers, and at the close of the long triais he found his civil business in the hands of other persons, and he took a position in the custom-house. His loss of practice was a meagre reward for the long and valuable services which he rendered to the county, the prosecutor being then paid by fees, and the fee was fifteen dollars for the trial and conviction of a murderer. The people of Warren County, through their Board of Chosen Freeholders, never made any adequate recompense to Judge Morris for these two years of service.

Judge Morris was un earnest, active Christian, and was in the eldership of the church almost constantly from 1828 until his death, a period of over forty years. He married a daughter of \djt .- Gen. Stryker, by whom he had several children, which he brought up to be very useful and valuable citizens. Dr. Theodore F. Morris, of Jersey City, who has devoted so much of his time to the education of the children of Jersey ('ity, in the Board of Education; William C. Morris, Jr., cashier of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company; Francis B. Morris, superintendent of the coal trans- portation of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, are his sons; and a daughter married J. G. Shipman, Esq., a leading lawyer in West New Jersey.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 95

Author: Shaw, William H Publication date: 1884 Publisher: [United States :] Number of Pages: 830

Author: Shaw, William H
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: [United States :]
Number of Pages: 830