History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 96

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 96
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 96

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JAMES S. NEVINS was born in Somerset County in 1786, and graduated at Princeton College in 1816. Having studied law with Frederick Frelinghuysen, he was licensed as an attorney in 1819, admitted as a counselor in 1823, and called to be a sergeant-at-law in 1837, among the last upon whom that honor was conferred in the State.

In 1838, upon the death of Judge Ryerson, he was chosen by the joint meeting a justice of the Supreme Court, and was again appointed by Governor Stratton in 1845, serving on the bench for fourteen years. At the expiration of his second term the politics of the State had changed, and Governor Fort appointed ex- Governor Daniel Haines to fill his place.

He followed his profession at New Brunswick until he was appointed judge, and always resided there until 1852, when he moved to Jersey City, and opened an office there and practiced his profession until the time of his death, which occurred in 1859, in the seventy-third year of his age.

The greater part of Judge Nevins' professional and judicial life was spent in the county of Middlesex, and he only spent the last seven years of his life in Hudson County, and these were the years of his old age. He was highly respected as a lawyer and & judge, and might be regarded as an independent thinker, as his dissenting opinions will show; and, in concluding one of them, he says, "I regret the necessity which constrains me to differ with my brethren on this point ; but, thinking as I do, I would not fulfill my trust were I to yield my opinion before I was convinced."

In the early history of Jersey City there was a great controversy over the dedication of the market grounds at the foot of Washington Street, between Bergen Street and South Street, and lately occupied as a city hospital. The case is reported in Spencer's Reports, 86: Dummer ads. Selectmen of Jersey City. Dummer was represented by such eminent counsel as A. S. Garr and George Wood, and the city was rep- resented by Peter Bentley and ex-Governor I. II. Wil- liamson. The opinion of the court was delivered by Judge Nevins, sustaining the claim of the city, and he was ever atter held in high esteem by the older cit- izens for thus sustaining them in a fierce and well- fought struggle.

Hle engaged in, and was one of the promoters of the Raritan Water-Works, to supply water-power for mill-sites at that place.

While Judge Nevins will be remembered as a judge of fair average ability, he was greatly endeared to the people by his kindly social disposition and his great fund of anecdote. He was always the centre in every social gathering, and he will long be remembered in the State.

LEWIS D. HARDENBERGH, one of the gentlemen who was settled at Hackensack and removed to Jersey City on the formation of Hudson County, was de- scended from one of the oldest and best-known families in New Jersey. His grandfather, Jacob R. Hardenbergh, was the first president of Queen's Col- lege (now Rutgers College), at New Brunswick ; his father was named Jacob R. Hardenbergh, and was an attorney-at-law, admitted to the bar of New Jersey at February term, 1805, and was a man of large influence.

The subject of this sketch was born at New Bruns- wiek in 1803. At the time when he should have received his college education Rutgers College was closed ; he studied law with the celebrated George Wood, and was admitted to the bar as an attorney at May term, 1825, and as a counselor nt November term, 1828.

After practicing a short time in New Jersey he went to Utien, N. Y., and was admitted to the New York bar, and while there Governor Horatio Sey- mour was a student in his office. ITis health broke down in the cold climate of that State, and he re- turned to New Brunswick, and practiced there a short time; then removed to Hackensack, in Bergen County; was appointed prosecutor of the plens of Bergen

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BENCH AND BAR OF HUDSON COUNTY.

County in 1836, and resigned upon coming to Jersey City. He was appointed prosecutor of the pleas of Hudson County in 18je, and held the office for five years. Ifis health failing, he accepted the office of se retary of the Hudson County Mutual Insurance Company, which office he held for many years, and until his death, in the fall of 1857.

The Third Reformel Church, now the Park Re- formed Church of Jersey City, was initiated at the house of Judge Stephen Garretam in April, 182, the gentlemen present bring Stephen Garretson, Thomas Taber, John Smyth, Henry M. Traphagen and Lewis D. Hardenbergh : Mr. Hardenbergh was elected one of the first dearons of the church.

His son, Jacob R. Hardenbergh, who came to the New Jersey har, practice I many years in Jersey City, where he was highly respected, and is now practicing nt Omaha, Neh.

JOSEPH F. RANDOLPH, late an associate justice of the Supreme Court, was born in New York City, March 14, 1893, the son of Robert F. Randolph, a physician, who afterwards settled at Piscataway, in the county of Middlesex, where Judge Randolph's early life was spent. He was descended from a long line of God-fearing men, dated back to the Pilgrims and the "Mayflower." His early education was under his father's tuition and at the schools of his neighbor- hund. He studied law and was admitted to the bar nt May term, 1825, as attorney, and at May term, 1×28, as counselor, and opened his office at Frechold, and was soon after appointed prosecutor of the pleas for Monmouth County. At that time the members of Congress were elected on a general State ticket, and Judge Randolph had become so widely and favorably known throughout the State that, at the early age of thirty-one years, he was placed on the Whig ticket, and elected to Congress in 1834. He was afterwards twice re-elected, serving until 1841, and declining a fourth renomination. He was a member of Congress during the great broad seal controversy of ISE; he was the only member from New Jersey who retained his sent.

In February, 1845, he was appointed by Governor Stratton an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and served a term of seven years, highly esteemed by his brethren on the bench, and greatly respected by the people of the State, and always regarded as a painstaking, upright and impartial judge

In 1854 he was one of the commissioners appointed to revise the laws of the State. Parts of their work, especially the acts for reorganization of the courts and the Practice Act of 1855 still remain on the statute book.

On the dissolution of the oldl Whig party Judge Randolph followed the fortunes of Fillmore and of Bell and Everett, and afterwards he joined the Demo- «ratie party, and acted with them until the time of his death. He was a member of the Peace Conter- ence held in Washington, in Isol, to see if the diffi-

culties between the North and the South could not be adjusted without a resort to arms. He was a Sey- mour and Blair elector in 1868.

Judge Randolph resided at Frechold until 1841. When he retired from Congress he removed to New Brunswick, and opened a law-office there, and practiced at that place until he was appointed a justice of the Supreme Court, and removed to Trenton in 18Mi, and continued to reside there until 1865, when he removed to Jersey City, and took up the practice of the law there, and continued to reside in Jersey City until the tinie of his death, which occurred March 19, 1873, when he was seventy years and five days old.

Judge Randolph was an out and out Jerseyman; he loved the State and the people thereof, and was greatly honored and respected by them. When a vacancy oreurred upon the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States he called upon the writer of this sketch, and said, " Let us make an effort to seat a Jerseyman in the place." Ile and I immedi- ately called a meeting of the bar of Hudson County in favor of Joseph 1. Bradley. The meeting passed suitable resolutions, which were printed and sent to President Grant, and Judge Bradley was finally ap- pointed, and Judge Randolph did not relax his efforts in that direction until it was accomplished.

Judge Randolph's great strength was in his frien 1- ships; he made friends and retained them; he was a noble and generous-hearted man, without any decep- tion or guile in his composition. Kindness was the ruling passion of his life. He was diligent in business: this, united with a high Christian character and a faithful attendance on the services of the First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City, where he was a member, greatly endeared him to our people, and he died lamented by a large circle of friends here and elsewhere.

ABRAHAM O. ZABRISKIE, late chancellor of the State of New Jersey, was born at Greenbush, opposite Albany, N. Y., on June 10, 1507. ITis father was Rev. John Zabriskie, who was settled as pastor over the Reformed Church at Millstone, Somerset Co., N. J., in ISHI, and he took up his residence there and continued to reside there until the time of his death, greatly respected for his Christian character and zealous work.

As Mr. Zabriskie was brought into this State at four years of age, and resided here during his whole life-time, he can fairly be claimed as a Jerseyman. After receiving an academic education he entered the junior class at Princeton College in 1923, and graduated with the highest honors in 1525. He im- mediately commenced the study of the law with James S. Green, Esq., of Princeton, and was licensed at November term, 1825, as an attorney, and at November term, 1831, as a counselor. Ho settled first at Newark, but removed to Hackensack in 1$30, and took up the practice of the law there, and continued at that place until 1849, when he removed to Jersey City, where he

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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

continued to reside until the time of his death, which occurred at Truckve, C'al., June 27, 1873, in the sixty- seventh year of his age. After his term of office as chancellor had expired he was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the State Constitution, and was made president of the commission, and during an adjournment of the same had gone to visit the State of California, and was on his way home to assume his duties as president when death overtook him.

Mr. Zabriskie resided in Bergen County for nine- teen years, and was the most conspicuons man of the county, both as a lawyer and civilian. In politics he was a Whig, was appointed surrogate in 1838, reappointed in 1843, and held the office for ten years. In 1842 he was appointed prosecutor of the pleas of the county of Bergen. He was reappointed by Governor Stratton, and resigned the office when he removed to Jersey City, in 1849. He was appointed law reporter by the Supreme Court at January term, 1847, and hell the othee until February term, 1855. He was, there- fore, surrogate, prosecutor of the pleas and law re- porter at the same time, and was also engaged as counsel in all the important civil suits that originated in Bergen County

After his removal to Jersey City he went immedi- ately into a large and lucrative practice, was engaged in most all the important trials in Hudson County, and tried many causes in the counties of Bergen, Pas- saic and Essex. He became identified in our local interests, and accepted positions of trust in banks and railroads, and took his full share of the responsible duties belonging to the private citizen.

He was appointed chancellor by Governor Ward, and entered upon the duties of his office May 1, 1866, and continued to perform them until the expiration of his office, May I, 1873, when he was surrecded by Chancellor Theodore Runyon.

Chancellor Zabriskie brought to the high office of chancellor great industry, a very ripe experience at the bar, and a very extensive knowledge of the law, for he had always been a great student, and his pub- lished opinions will be his most lasting monuments, and will certainly perpetuate his fame.

It would be useless to cite cases where he lind delivered learned and able opinions showing great research ; but a reference to three reported ensex will fully illustrate this statement,-Stevens 28. The l'aterson and Newark Rallroad Company (5 Vroom's r. 532), when he delivered in the Court of Errors and Appeals a dissenting opinion on the question of riparian right»; Fidler rs. Higgins and others (6 C. E. Groen's r. 188), In this case the chancellor held that, under the sixth section of the statute of descent, lands descended by the rules of the common law, and not by the civil law, and the opinion is fullof leurn- ing and research, but the doctrine was overruled by the Court of Appeals, and the civil law doctrine established ; Black vs. The Delaware and Raritan

Canal Company and others (7 C. E. Green's r. 150), involving the question of the leasing of the railroads of the joint companies to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the chancellor sustained the lease in an opinion covering thirty-seven pages.

The short space which can be afforded in this chapter to so distinguished a citizen as Mr. Zabriskie will not suffice to do full justice to his memory. At the time of his death the bar of Hudson County prepared and published a memorial volume, contain- ing the addresses of many members of the bar on that occasion, and an address by Hon. Isaac W. Sendder, and the funeral sermon by Rev. W. H. Campbell, EL .. D., president of Rutgers College.

A few extracts from these addresses will properly show his full character.

Judge Bedle, presiding at the bar meeting,-among other things, said,

" Chancellor Zabriskie was a most remarkable man, both in physical appearance and in intrinsic mental strength. Those who saw him for the first time knew at once that he was no ordinary man, and those who were familiar with him, and especially those who experienced the weight of his power as a professional antagonist, well understood that it was great and formidable. He was a thoroughly read lawyer, and while at the bar excelled in the science of the com- mon law. this mind was eminently practical, and could easily adapt itself to the plainest comprehen- sion. In this was one of the secrets of his success as an advocate. He was fertile in analogies, and used the plainest facts and principles of every-day life with wonderful facility to illustrate his arguments. In this he had no equal at the bar. That quality was always Felt before a jury, and frequently was danger- onsly effective against an adversary before educated minds. Though possessing that faculty in so high a degree, he was always profound and learned in a purely legal argument. His research was careful, and courts were always aided by the results of his labor and reflection. I heard an eminent judge, who for years adorned the bench of the Court of Errors and Appeals of this State, and whose just judgment of men all will concede, say that Mr. Zabriskie had no superior in strength before that Court.

"As a chancellor, he served the State with faith- fulness, and promptly, ably and satisfactorily per- formed the duties of his office. His judicial record will always be regarded as a very valuable part of our jurisprudence,

" As preskling ollleer of the Court of Errors and Appeals, he was dignified, yet genial, and In the labors and conferences of that court I have been some of the most striking evidences of his learning and fertility of thought,"

Jacob Weurt, among other things, snid : "I was a great admirer of his profound learning aml ability Ho a lawyer ; and his famous a counsellor and advo- cute had become a household word to the bur and

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BENCH AND BAR OF HUDSON COUNTY.

people of the State, as will be seen by a short refer- Chancelor Runyon, in adjourning the court out of ence to our political history. respect to his memory, among other things, wald, -

" In the year 1859, His Excellency Willtam A. Newell selected Mr. Zabriskie ns his Arst cholry for chancellor, and nominated him to the Senate nad the Senate being politienlly opposed to the Governor, declined to confirm the nomination, and the memer- able struggle was entered Into which luft the State for a year without a chancellor.

" At the manning election His Excellegy t harles S. Olden was elected Governor, but the Pennte resmine politically opposed to him. I remember to have visited Governor Ohlen at Princeton to present the name of Mr. Zabriskle for the office of chancellor, and after the Legislature convened Governar Olden advised me that he would noi Inate Mr. Zabriskin An chancellor, provided he could be confirmat, but if he could not be confirmed, he thought the interests of the State required that his name should not be sent In, but another nomination made, and he gave Mr. Za- briskla's friends tina to ere If the confirmation could be secured ; but the memory of the struggle of the year previous was too fresh and bitter to allow of his confirmation, When His Excellency Marcus L. Ward was elected, in 1865, and it became known that the office of chancellor would become vacant, the bar of the State generally looked to Mr. Zabriskie am the coming mas, and he was accordingly nominated und confirme l. I mention these facts to show what a strong hold he had upon the public confidi nee, huy- Ing been the first choice for the office of chancellor of three Republican Governors.

"Our chairman (Judge Bedle) having spoken of him as a chancellor, I desire to call attention to a few other remarkable traits of his character. Mr. Zabris- kie was a lawyer, and not a politician, yet he tunk a duep interest in all of the affairs of state, atul the er owning net of his life was his of post ion and delical of the extension of the monopoly grants of tlo. tam- den and Amlmy Railroad Company

"I attended the great public meeting at Park Hall in this etty, where he was the chief public speaker, and his power and elmpence on that occasion was sy great that he fairly thrilled his audience, as it were, by an electric shock. He repeated his speech before a vinnmittee of the Legislature at Trenton, und the ex- tension of the monopoly was dead. Great as Mr Enbrinkle's services were in the two highest courts of the State, where he presided, in my judgment they fall infinitely short of his great struggle for the rights of the people of the State in his successful effort to defent the extension of the monopoly privileges, and the result Is that to-day we have a free railroad law ; without his aid we would most likely still have re undned under the monopoly power, and would have wo continned until 1889."

At the time of his death the thurt of Errors and Appeals was in session at Trenton. Attorney General Gilchrist aunoyneed the death to the court, and

" Ills long connection with this court as its presid- Ing afferr, bin long and intimate connection with its Immatures before he came to its bench, his identifica- tlon with the udniln'atratton of justice un lawyer and judge for nearly half n ventory, render enloglum un- HerCesary among theas whh when he has been us- sorinted. Hin name Is added to those of whone record New Jersey is proud. Much as the prices her history and its nas x'intes, the valor und patriotism of her sons in field and deck ; proud as she is of the character other people, of her resour es and the enterprise of her citizens; she reckon- among her brightest jewels the lives of ou hus he. the men who have given her her great character for justice, for law and order. To speak their names would be to utter the house hold words of her fireaides. The docs need was a consummate lawyer, a just, patient and impartial judge, a citizen always on the side of the right as God gave him to see the right, conservative in his views, firm and psi- tive in his convictions, an honor to the state and as- tion. When he left us his eye was nest alim por his natural force abated ; he looked forward, as well he might, to future use ful Iber for the Plate after that vacation, which he intended should be but fine a few days, but which that in this Providence has made eternal. His life was full of high and honorable ex- ample, of duty conscientiously discharged and it's labor well and diligently done."

He served a term of three years in the State Penale, Trom Hudson County, before he was made chancel- lor, and had the degree of 1.1.11. conferred upen

BENJAMIN WILLIAMSON is descended frion one of the most distinguished familjes in the State of New Jersey, Ining a son of Isaac H. Williamson, Choernor and chancellor of the State from 1x17 to 182g, an } during his time one of the ublest lawyers at the Far of the Flate.

The subject of this sketch was born at Eliashe hi- town, and graduated at the Coll ge of New Jersey in 1827 ; was admitted as an attorney at November term, INw, waj was made cougarlor at November term. 1×18, and practiced his profession at Elizabeth, aal carly took high rank as a lawyer and won much dis- tinction us a lender in the Hemberatia pains, and became identified as counsel with the Cont 1 Ruil- road of New Jersey.

Ile was for several years prosecutor of the plas for Foxx County, and was appointed chancellor by this- ernor Fort, and she eeded t'hancellor Oliver s. Hal- sterlin la5g.

Under Chancellor Williams m's administration the Court of t'hanvery grew to be a popular court to the suitors of the State, and all matters that could be litigate in that court gravitated there, and the court under his administration gained so much strength that its power has continued to grow, and its juris-

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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

dietio: to expand. so that it now controls and sertles | than by quoting from the "History of Union and Middlesex Counties" the following :

a large part of the disputes arising in the State.

When Chancellor Williamson eame into otlice he at once became the friend of all the young lawyers, by breaking down the barrier that no attorney could be commissioned as a master and examiner until he had obtained his counselor's commission ; the writer of this sket .h obtained from Chancellor Williamson a commission as master and examiner in Chancery iu less than two months after he received his license as attorney, and this commission was of great service to the receiver and of much benefit to the publie, as a large part of the testimony of the Court of Chancery taken in Judson Couuty was taken under this com- mission during the first years after it was granted, and the same can be said of many other masters and examiners commissioned by Chancellor Williamson as soon as they were admitted as attorneys; when he went out of office the old rule was again established, and the progress of young men struggling for a foot- hold in the profession greatly retarded.

Chancellor Williamson may be regarded as an origi- nal thinker, and while he paid due respect to established forms and precedents, still he advanced the principles of the law in his court to meet the progress of the age and the necessities of the times, and if a new question arose owing to the new modes of doing business, he formulated a new rule in the Court of Equity to meet the eases, and it was the advancing principles which he instilled into the court, and which have been continued by his successors in office, and especially so by Chancellor Runyon, that has made the Court of Chancery so deservedly popular that it has withstood all constitutional changes, while the Courts of Chancery in most of the States have been abolished, and equity powers given to courts of law.

When Chancellor Williamson retired from office, in 1859, he opened his otlice in Jersey City, and has con- tinned it there ever since, and has for the last twenty- five years been a member of the Iludson bar, al- though he has always continued his residence at Elizabeth. When he retired from office he went immediately into a large practice, and drew his client- age from all over the State of New Jersey and largely from the States of New York and Pennsylvania; so much so that he has been engaged in almost all of the great litigation which has arisen in the State on one side or the other, and to enumerate these causes would be almost equivalent to making a digest of our reports.

Some lawyers are distinguished for their ability in the matter of the law of a case, and others in their ability to handle the facts of a cause with skill; but Chancellor Williamson unites these two great quali- ties more successfully than any other lawyer at our bar, and has for many years ranked as one of the very leading lawyers of the State, and is still engaged in the most important causes.

This sketch cannot be more appropriately closed

" While he has avoided public office outside the line of his professional service, he has on more than one occasion been prominently urged by friends as I'nited States Senator, and they only failed of his election by a few votes in 1863 or 1864.

"In 1860 he was a delegate-at-large from the State to the Democratic Convention at t'harleston, and in 1861 was appointed one of the delegates to represent New Jersey in the Peace Congress which met at Washington, composed of delegates from every State, and which was called in the hope and for the purpose of averting, if possible, the impending conflict be- tween the two sections of the country. Mr. William- son has been all his life identified with the interests of church, of education and the development of the resources of the State. He has for years served as an officer of the church of St. John's Episcopal parish, and of the Union County Bible Society, as trustee of the State Normal School, as director and counsel for the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey, of the State Bank of Elizabeth, and as director and trustee of the New Jersey Southern Railroad Com- pany, as commissioner of the sinking fund of Eliza- beth, and in other positions of trust, both public and private. He still lives at Elizabeth, on the place formerly the residence of his father."

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 96

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