History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 98

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 98
USA > New Jersey > Essex County > History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II > Part 98

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BENCH AND BAR OF HUDSON COUNTY.

for many years an earnest worker in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and has many devoted friends.

EDGAR BANKS WAKEMAN is descended from parents who came from Fairfield County tonn. He was born April 17, 1816, at Monticello, Sullivan to., in the State of New York. He received his early education in an old log school-house in the northern part of the State of New York, and finished it by teaching in the States of Massachusetts and Connecticut. He was admitted to practice as an attorney in the State of Pennsylvania in the year 1840, and to the bar in the State of New Jersey as an attorney at February term, 1843, and as counselor at February term, 1855. He was clerk of Jersey City from 1845 to INts ; he was an alderman in Jersey City for three years, and also hold the position of corporation attorney for three years. He was a candidate for Congress on the Republican ticket in 1864, in the district composed of the county of Hudson and city of Newark, against Elwin R. V. Wright, who was on the Democratic ticket, and was defeated by a majority of seven hun- dred, against a former Democratie majority of four thousand. He was an elector, in 1856, on the F're- mont and Dayton ticket, and was an ardent Free-Soiler in 1848, and sustained Van Buren and Adams ; was also a strong Republican, and still acts with that party.

Mr. Wakeman in the prime and vigor of his man- hood had a large practice, and wielded a strong in- fluence in Jersey City. He amassed what he considered was an ample fortune, mostly in real estate specula- tions, and retired from practice ; but his fortune was mostly in vacant lands, and when the revulsion came which followed the financial panic of 1873 and the re- resumption of specie payments, lands depreciated in value so greatly that Mr. Wakeman's property was swept away, and he was too far advanced in life to again enter his profession with much success and regain his lost position.

STEPHEN BILLINGS RANSOM was born in the town of Salem, New London Co., Conn., on 12th day of October, 1814. His boyhood was spent in working on his father's farm and attending the common school of the neigborhood until the age of seventeen, when he engaged in school-teaching winters and continued to work on the farm summers, until he reached the age of twenty-one years. During this time he managed to attend an academy in an adjoin- ing town for a couple of terms, where he commenced the study of the sciences and classics, which he pursued afterwards while engaged in teaching. In the fall of 1835 he left his native State, and went to the State of Virginia, with a view of engaging in teaching there. Not being able to find employment as a teacher readily, he spent the following winter in traveling through the States of Virginia und Maryland, spend- ing some two months of the time in the city of Wash- ington, examining the public buildings and listening to the debates in Congress. Andrew Jackson then

occupied the Presidential chair, and on the floor of the Senate were such men as Daniel Webster, Henry t'lay, John C. C'alhoun, Thomas II. Benton, Garret D. Wall, Thomas Corwin and James Buchanan. In the fall of 1836 he came to the State of New Jersey, and engaged in teaching at Mendham, in the county of Morris, in the old academy. He remained there two years, and then went to Belvidere, in the county of Warren, where he taught for two years. Here he commenced the study of law with Hon. Phineas B. Kenney, a prominent lawyer of Belvidere, who was then county clerk. At Mendham he cast his first vote, in 1838, for the Democratic candidates for t'on- press, who were declared by the canvassers not elected, but were afterwards seated by Congress, being known as the "Broad Seal " question. From Belvidere he went to Hope, in Warren County, where he taught the village school one year. In 1941 he removed to New Germantown, in the county of Hunterdon, where he taught the school there for six months, when he finally bid adieu to a teacher's life, and entered his name in the office of t'ol. William Thompson, of Somerville, as a law student, with whom he finished his legal course, and on the 5th day of September, 1844, was admitted to the bar of New Jersey as an attorney, and as counselor at October term, 1847. He commenced practice at New Germantown, and at the same time engaged in land surveying. In the spring of 1848 he removed to Somerville, in the county of Somerset, where he continued the practice of his profession until 1854, when he removed his office to Jersey City, and two years later took up his abode there, where he has since resided. Politically, he remained with the Democratic party until 1848, when he joined the Free-Soil party, and supported Martin Van Bu- ren for the Presidency against Mr. C'ass.

In 1869 he took an active part in organizing the National Prohibition party, and has since that time been a prominent supporter of that organization, having been the nominee of that party for Governor of New Jersey in 1880. He is still actively engaged in that organization, and attended the National Con- vention of that party as a delegate to nominate can- didates for President and Vice-President in 1884.

Mr. Ransom, from the time he opened his office in Somerville to the present time, has had a very large and extensive litigated practice. He has never had an office business ; his work has been that of an advo- cate, and his practice had been very extensive in the various counties, in the Court of Chancery, Supreme Court, Court of Errors and Appeals, and in the United States Distriet and t'ireuit Courts.

The Law and t'hancery reports will show that but few men in New Jersey have argued more causes in the higher courts for the last forty years than he. MIr. Ransom has been a laborions and painstaking lawyer, a man of great industry, who prepared his causes with care, and presented them to the court after thorough investigation of the law and the facts.

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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY

He is now engaged in the contest over the will of the late Elisha Ruckman, involving a very large estate, and although he is now seventy years of age, he performs as much work every day as he did when he commenced his practice.

He has led an active and useful life, and been an earnest worker in the Methodist Church.

JOHN LINN, son of Andrew Linn, was born at Harmonyvale, in Hardyston township, Sussex ('o., N. J., May 15, 1821. He received an academic edu- cation, and entered the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and graduated there in the class of 1841. He then entered the law-office of Daniel Haines, at Hamburgh, and read law under him until he was elected Governor of the state, when he entered the office of ex-Governor William Pennington, at Newark, anel remained there until he was licensed as an attor- ney at November term, 1844. He took his counselor's license at October term, 1848. Upon being admitted as an attorney he opened his office at Deckertowu, in the county of Sussex, and practicedl there until the spring of 1850, when he went to Wisconsin, with the idea of settling there, was admitted to practice in all the courts of that State, but only remained for six months, and returned to New Jersey, and opened his office at Newton, in Sussex County, in the fall of 1850.

There he became a rival of the Hon. Thomas N. McCarter, now of Newark, and one of the leading lawyers of the State. Mr. Linn and Mr. McCarter were two of the leading lawyers of Sussex County, and by their practice in the higher courts at Trenton became widely known throughout the State as two very able lawyers. Mr. McCarter removed to Newark about 1866, and in 1867 Mr. Linn, removed to the city of New York, and opened a law-office there, and re- mained two or three years, and then removed to Jersey City.

I quote a paragraph from the "Sussex and Warren History " in relation to him, -

" Mr. Linn was for many years one of the leading members of the Sussex bar, being well up in his pro- fession, a good speaker and an able advocate and at- torney; he is also a sound and safe counselor. A member of the present (Sussex) bar says: 'Mr. Linn stood very high while he lived in Newton, both as a lawyer and a man. He was a member of the Presby- terian Church, a man of very dignified appearance and manners, and at one time was one of the reform commissioners of the State of New Jersey.' He was a candidate for member of Congress from the Fourth District against Andrew J. Rogers, in 1862. While here he was engaged in most of the important litiga- tions of Sussex County."

The fame of Mr. Linn followed him to Hudson County. He formed a partnership with Joseph C. Potts, Esq., which lasted for some years, and he then took as a partner Robert (. Babbitt, Esq., who had been a student in his office; he is now without a

partner. Immediately upon his coming to Jersey City, Mr. Linn entered upon a large and lucrative practice. He has been engaged in many of the most important causes arising in the county of Hud- son, and in many others which have originated in the northern part of the State.

Being himself interested in iron-mining, he has heen much consulted in mining interests, also in rail- road litigation, and he has lately carried some very im- portant causes in the United States Courts and the highest courts of the State. He is a student of liter- ature, a hard law-student, well versed in all the principles of the law, and being a good debater and able advocate, he holds a high position at the New Jersey bar.

GEORGE W. CASSEDY is a son of Col. Samuel Cassedy, and was born in Jersey City, July 5, 1824, was educa- ted in the schools of New York City, and prepared for college there, and entered Columbia College, and graduated at that institution of learning ; studied law in the office of his father, and was admitted to the bar at the July term, 1845, and has resided in Jersey City ever since.

Ile was appointed city clerk of Jersey City in 1850, and held the office until 1865, when he was elected county clerk of Hudson County, which embraeed also the office of register of deeds and mortgages.

As city clerk and county clerk, Mr. Cassedy was very efficient and painstaking, and his offices were models of accuracy, every paper and book being kept in the neatest manner, and ull regulated with a system which was admirable. When he retired from office, in 1870, he took up the practice of the law, and is still engaged in it.

ROBERT GILCHRIST.1 was born in Jersey City, Aug. 21, 1825, and has always resided there. His early education was obtained at the private school kept by Mr. Russell, and afterwards by Mr. William L. Dickinson in Jersey City, except three years spent at Crane's Academy, at Caldwell, Essex Co. His classical studies at school wore limited, consisting, a8 he inforins us, of "a little Latin and no (rrcek." Soon after leaving school, and about 1843, he entered the law-oflice of the late Joseph Annin, and at once be- eame a close student both of law and literature, and formed the habits of unremitting application which he has ever since maintained. He completed his law studies with the late Isaac W. Scudder, and at the term of April, 1847, was admitted to the bar. He immediately became a partner in the law practice of Mr. Scudder, who was then one of our leading law- yers, which connection continued till 1857.

Mr. Gilchrist was elected to the Legislature of 1857, aş a member of Assembly. At the breaking out of the civil war he joined the three months' men in response to President Lincoln's proclamation, and proceeded to Alexandria as captain of Company F

1 Dy W. B. Williams, Esq.

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BENCH AND BAR OF HUDSON COUNTY.

(Montgomery Guard), Second Regiment of New Jersey Volunteers. At the time of the battle of Bull Run he was with his regiment, which formed part of the brigade under command of Gen. Theodore Runyon, then stationed at Alexandria. During the war Mr. Gilchrist was a stanch and active supporter of the government. In 1866 he ran on the Democratic ticket for Congress against George Halsey, but was alefeated. In June, 1569, he was appointed by Governor Randolph as Attorney-General of the State, and in Jannary, 1870, was reapjuunted for a full term of five years, during which some of the most important ques- tions of local and State interest were agitated, inelnd- ing riparian rights and corporate franchises, on which subjects he watched and advocated the public inter- esty with great industry and success.

Since 1875 he has remained in Jersey City engaged in private practice, and has been concerned in the most important controversies in our courts.

JOHN DUNN LITTELL was horn at Port Richmond, Staten Island, Oct. 19, 1824. He was the son of Judge Richard D. Littell, who was an associate judge of Richmond County, N. Y., for many years.

Ile studied law with es-Chancellor Williamson, at Elizabeth, and was admitted to the bar as an attorney at the July term, 1847, and as a counselor at the February term, 1855. Ile commenced the practice of the law at Hoboken, and was the first lawyer to settle there. He was city clerk of Hoboken, was appointed prosecutor of the pleas for Hudson County by Governor Price in 1855, and served onr term of five years ; he had previously served for two terms in the House of Assembly, and was instrumental in establishing the First Reformed Dutch Church of Hoboken, and died at Ilibernia Fla., Feb. 19. 1661, where he had gone to restore his health, im- paired by long-continuel professional duties. Ile left a widow and three children, one of them being Bloomfield Littell, a member of the bar of the city of New York

No more fitting tribute can be given to his memory than to make a few extracts from the published addresses made by the members of the bar on the occasion of his death.

Jacob Weart, the chairman of the committee on , resolutions, said,-

" It is to he said of our departed brother that In his professional pursnits he had a high moral tone of character ; he was eminently entitled to our confidence and respect, and we loved him and were endeared to him for his excellent social qualities.

" Mr. President, he brought to his profesion a fair legal mind, accompanied with great patience and industry, and I think it can be said of him that there was no man at the bar who was more industrious in bringing out the facts of a case than he.

" As public prosecutor of the county for five years, and his term having closed less than a year ago, 1 think it can be said of him that his labors were of

great value to the court and county at large Hle was a faithful prosecutor ; in season and out of season he was always found at his post of duty, and no public business ever failed for want of bis attention ; and while he was very watchful and w alous for the public good, he had a just regard for the rights of the criminal caught in the meshes of the law, and, I think, it cannot be said that he ever prosecuted through malice, hatred or revenge, and as a public prosecutor he is entitled to our grateful remembrance, and that the court, the bar and the community at large have sustained a great los.

"But I do not wish to speak alone of him as a member of the bar, but as a Christian man and an officer of the church ; and, as I said of him before he was zealous and arduous, 'in season and out of season,' in the performance of his duties to the church, and the Christian community have met with a sad loss, and while we mourn his early departure from our midst, we have great consolation in the belief that he has entered a better and brighter world than this."

Jacob R. Wortendyke " rose to second the motion for the adoption of the resolutions just offered. Hle could heartily concur with what had already been so well expressed concerning the professional fidelity and the moral and social excellence of our Inmented and departed friend.

" It is true, that to many of us it had some time ago seemed, in his case, the citadel of life was being en- dangered by the approaches of an insidious disease, and we had learned that recently his sickness had taken a more alarming phase ; yet it seems difficult to realize the event that has just been announced, that Mr. Littell is no more on earth, so tenacious are we of the things we value in life."

Mr. Wortendyke said " that he had seen much of his departed friend, engaged in the prosecution of his professional duties at this har, and could hear testi- mony that thore duties sermed to be always performed with zonl, fidelity and industry. But he (Mr. Worten- dyke) had the additionnl satisfaction of having hind the privilege of seeing much of Mr. Littell, speelally during the past year, In other relations and In the prosecution and discharge of other duties bealdes those of a member of the legal profession. Mr. Littell was, and has long been identified with the Church of the Redeemer, and highly prized his dotles, privl- leges, obligations and enjoyments in this sphere of his useful life. He often spoke of and manin ted his great interest in these things. And it Is now, in the midst of our andness on this decision, a source of great consolation and thankfulness that while he felt, as he has long done, the ravages that disease was making upon his constitution, he could cherish and enjoy the Christlan's hope. "

FREDERICK BEASLEY OGGIEN, a son of Elias B. D. Ogden, late a justice of the Supreme Court, was born at Paterson, July 20, 1827. received an academic edu-

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HISTORY OF HUDSON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

cation, and entered the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and graulated there in the class of [1847; studied law, and was admitted to the bar at July term, 1×50, as an attorney, and as a counselor at February term, 1854.

lle opened his office in Hoboken in December, 1853, and soon became one of the leading lawyers of that city, and has participated in many of the most important trials which have arisen there. He is a good and reliable office lawyer, and rauks fairly as an advocate, and has argued many important cases in all the higher courts of the State.

In politics he is a Democrat, and has served as mayor of Hoboken, and is now a judge of the Dis- triet Court of Hoboken, which position he has hebl for several years, and is an upright judge.

GEORGE M. ROBESON was born at Oxford Terrace, N. J., in 1829; received an academic education ; was graduated at Princeton College in 1847 ; studied law with the late Chief Justice Hornblower at New- ark; was admitted to the bar in 1860; commenced the practice of the law in Jersey City, where he re- mained only for a short time, and then opened an office at Newark, and afterwards at Camden : was ap- pointed prosecutor of the pleas of Camden County in 1858; was appointed Attorney-General of New Jersey in 1-67, and served until he resigned, June 22, 1869. to accept the position of Secretary of the Navy ten- dered him by President Grant, which office he held until the expiration of President Grant's second term, March 4, 1877, when he again resumed the practice of the law at l'amden, and was elected to the Forty-Sixth Congress and was re-elected to the Forty- Seventh Congress as a Republican.

In Congress he was one of the leaders of the House and very able in debate.

Attorney-General Robeson is a very forcible and able stump speaker, and a great favorite in Hud- son County, and in every important political contest is sent for to address one of the large mass-meetings of the Republican party there. He is now in private lite, engaged in the practice of his profession, and has recently been employed in some of the heaviest railroad litigation in the State.

RICHARD D. MCCLELLAND was born in New Bruns- wick in 1824. Ile was a son of Rev. Dr. MeClelland, one of the professors in Rutgers College, at that place, a man greatly distinguished for his learning and piety.

study of the law again, and was admitted as attorney at November term, 1×51, and as a counselor at No- vember term, 1854.

Mr. Mcclelland, when licensed, opened his office in Jersey City, and immediately entered into a large practice, and was appointed corporation attorney of Jersey l'ity, May 16, 1854, which office he held tour- teen years, and until the time of his death, which oc- curred Aug. 23, 1868. Three years before his death he was appointed corporation counsel of Hudson C'ity. In 1868 he was appointed by Governor Parker prosecutor of the pleas of Iludson County, and at the time of his death held these three offices; and the bar of Hudson County, the mayor and aldermen of Jersey City and of the city of Hudson assembled and cach passed appropriate resolutions to his memory ; Judge Joseph D. Bedle, in ordering the bar resolu- tions entered upon the minutes of the court, said : "Mr. McClelland and myself came in contact officially at the time I came to this county, and in all my intercourse with him I always found him to be frank and candid, honest in his purpose and having a great deal of legal ability. The court, and all the members of the court, desire to say that these resolutions were but a just tribute of his memory, and that no one could know him as well as the court knew him with- out seeing that he was an honest and efficient prose- eutor."

Mr. MeClelland was well read in that branch of the law governing municipal corporations. He took special charge of the assessments in Jersey City, and during the fourteen years while he was corporation attorney not a single assessment for street or sewer improvements was set aside.

He was a Democrat in politics, but held office under both Democratie and Republican administrations of the city government, for the reason that his services were too valuable to the city to be dispensed with, and no more fitting tribute can be made to his mem- ory than the announcement of this fact.

Ile married Miss Helen C'rindell, and left her as his widow, and four children, and a large circle of friends to mourn his loss.

JACOB WEART,1 third son of Spencer Stout Weart and Sarah (Garrison), his wife, was born at Hopewell, Mercer Co., N. J., June 8, 1829. A full sketch of the genealogy of the Weart family will be found in the " History of Mercer and Burlington Counties." Mr. Weart was educatedat the common school, and at the age of nineteen years began the study of the law with Ilon. John Mannen, afterwards president of the Senate, at ('linton, N. J. His legal studies were finished with Mercer Beasley, Esq., at present chief the bar as an attorney at the June term, 1852, and was made counselor at June term, 1855. At the term at which he was admitted as counselor Mr. Weart

Richard in his early life possessed a roving disposi- tion, and to avoid rigid parental restraint, left home and went to sea, which he followed for seven years, rising to the position of mate. Upon his return he took up the study of the law with Gen. E. R. V. | justice of the Supreme Court, and he was admitted to Wright and Thomas W. James, who were then part- ners and had an otlice in the Darcy building. Upon the discovery of gold in California, young McClelland left his Blackstone and went to the gold diggings; but failing to make his fortune, he returned and took up the 1 Sketch by Hon. John A. Blair.

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BENCH AND BAR OF HUDSON COUNTY.

argued the case of Den. Ex Dem. Bockover vs. Post, reported in 1 Dutcher, 285.

In the case of Durant vs. Banta, reported in 3 Dutcher, 624, Mr. Weart succeeded in establishing the important principle that " where a note is fairly exe- ented, and without uaury between the parties, the payee may aell it at any rate of discount he chooses. and the purchaser will have a right to recover the full amount of the note of any party legally liable upon it," overruling a contrary doctrine establi hed by the case of F'reeman vs. Brittin (2 Harr, 191), and which had been the law of this State for twenty years. This case and the case of Watkins es. Kirkpatrick (2 Dutcher, 84), also argued by Mr. Weart, are regarded as having largely fixed and determined the law of can- mereial paper in this State.

During the Legislature of 1866 an aet passed the House of Assembly regulating the police government of Jersey City. The bill wns engrossed, signed by the Speaker, went to the Senate, where it was amended, returned to the House, where the Senate amendments were coneurred in ; but by some oversight the amend- ments failed to get incorporated in the bill. So the bill, signed by the Speaker of the House and the Presi- dent of the Senate, went to the Governor, who also signed it, but as it had originally passed the House without the amendments, in Mr. Weart's opinion, the law as it was signed was legal and enforceable, and that no investigation could go behind the signatures of the proper offices to the law. Legal proceedings, based on this opinion, were thereupon instituted to carry the law into effect, and the court, in the case of the State. Pangborn et al. vs. Young (3 Vroom, 29), sustained Mr. Weart's view of the case. The political feeling which entered into this case made it one of a good deal of local interest. This was the beginning of the Police Commission in Jersey City.

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History of Essex and Hudson counties, New Jersey, Vol. II, Part 98

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