History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 55

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170

USA > New Jersey > Somerset County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 55
USA > New Jersey > Hunterdon County > History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 55

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THOMAS L. SOUTHARD studied law in the office of James N. Reading, his brother-in-law; was licensed to practice in November, 1838, and two years later removed to Lambertville, N. J., where he practiced his profession. He made a promising commencement, betokening an active and brilliant career, but died suddenly in March, 1843.

· Judge Elmer's Reminiscences.

210

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

Of SAMUEL LEAKE, Judge James N. Reading says, " At an early day there was a lawyer Leake at Flem- ington, of whom the records there or at Trenton must make mention, and of whom I have heard some quaint things. I judge he must have been a man of consid- erable legal attainments." By the court records it is seen that Samuel Leake was licensed as an attorney in 1776, a counselor in 1780, as a sergeant in 1792, and was a legal contemporary with Thomas Potts Johnson, John Frelinghuysen, Mahlon Dickerson, Lucius W. Stockton, George C. Maxwell, and others.

Judge Elmer, in his "Reminiscences," relates that upon the occasion when Governor Bloomfield presided for the first time in the Court of Chancery, he made a short address saying he was a Republican and did not desire to be addressed by the title of "Excel- lency." Mr. Samuel Leake, an old and rather ec- centric lawyer, immediately rose and made him a formal address, with much earnestness and solemnity, saying, "May it please Your Excellency, Your Ex- cellency's predecessors were always addressed by the title 'Your Excellency,' and, if Your Excellency please, the proper title of the Governor of the State was, and is, 'Your Excellency.' I humbly pray, therefore, on my own behalf, and in behalf of the bar generally, that we may be permitted, by Your Ex- cellency's leave; to address Your Excellency, when sitting in the high Court of Chancery, by the ancient title of 'Your Excellency.'" It would seem the Federal lawyers did not give the Governor credit for much sincerity in the wish he expressed about the title; however, he never made objection after Leake's speech.

Judge Charles Ewing studied law with Samuel Leake, who is "more remembered for his peculiarities as unusually precise and methodical in all his busi- ness, but he had, besides, a high reputation for accu- rate legal knowledge, and was undoubtedly a man of the most sterling integrity. Any attempt to depre- ciate him in the hearing of Mr. Ewing was sure to meet a stern rebuke. To the end of his life he always spoke of him in the highest terms of affection and re- spect ; he was too good a judge, and had too many opportunities of knowing well the entire character of Mr. Leake, to leave it doubtful that he was a lawyer of uncommon excellence." Richard Stockton spoke of him as a learned lawyer .*

Mr. Leake was born in Cumberland Co., N. J., Nov. 2, 1747. In his youth he attended the two cele- brated schools of Fagg's Manor and Pequea. He tanght school for a few years in Delaware, then en- tered Princeton College, taking his Bachelor's degree in 1774. He began the study of the law,-first with Richard Howell, afterwards Governor, then with Charles Pettit, of Burlington. He was licensed in 1776. In 1785 he removed to Trenton, where he rose rapidly, soon standing at the head of the bar of IIun-

terdon County. "He paid unnsnal attention to the students of his office, regularly devoting one hour every day to their examination." He was proverhi- ally systematic and precise. He died March 8, 1820, in his seventy-third year. The Supreme Court being in session at the time, the bar not only resolved to attend the funeral, but recommended to their brethren throughout the State to wear the customary badge of mourning and respect. His epitaph is as follows :

"Sacred to the memory of Samuel Leake, Esq., sergeant-at-law. Died March 8, 1820, aged 72. Educated to the har, he attained the highest degree of eminence; distinguished for cander, integrity, zeal for his clients, and profound knowledge of jurisprudence, he fulfilled the duties of his station with singular usefulness, ' without fear and withent re- preach.' Deeply versed in human literature, and devoutly studious of the words of sacred truth, he lived the life of a Christian and died the deatlı of the righteous."

JOHN MANNERS, horn in Hunterdon County, April 8, 1786, was both lawyer and physician. After prac- ticing medicine for some years he determined upon entering the legal profession, and accordingly read law with James N. Porter, of Easton, Pa. He was admitted as an attorney and as counselor in Febru- ary, 1820. Although qualified to practice at the bar of both the State and the United States courts, he does not seem to have been very largely employed in eitlier, and it is probable that he studied law mainly with the view of making it a stepping-stone to political preferment. He was for three years a member of the State Senate for Hunterdon County, and for one year president of that body. Had he lived, he would no doubt have arisen to greater eminence. He died June 24, 1853.+

WILLIAM F. CLEMSON came from Philadelphia to Flemington a young man. He was licensed as an at- torney at the September term (1835), as a counselor in 1838, and located at the county-seat for two or three years, then went to Belvidere, N. J., where he re- mained nntil after the execution of Parks and Carter, whom he was engaged in defending, when he removed with a portion of Parks' family to Ohio.

JOHN C. ELMENDORF, a native of Somerset County, admitted to the bar in 1837, came as a young man to Flemington to find a field for legal sway, but after a few months' residence removed from the place. He became a counselor-at-law in 1841. He has been a register in bankruptcy since 1867. For fifteen years he was public prosecutor for Middlesex, and for twenty-two years (1854-76) treasurer of Rutgers Col- lege. He married Maria L. Frelinghuysen. He is now practicing at New Brunswick, N. J.

JOHN H. WAKEFIELD, licensed as an attorney in September, 1843, and as counselor in 1857, practiced for several years very acceptably at the Hunterdon bar, but removed to Boston, where he had a brother of distinction, and took quite a distinguished stand himself, but only lived a few years after taking up his residence there.

+ See also sketch of Dr. Manners, with " Medical Profession," in this work.

* Judge Elmer's Reminiscences of New Jersey, 133, 327, 403,

JOHN N. VOORHEES.

211

THE BENCH AND BAR OF HUNTERDON COUNTY.

COL. PETER I. CLARK, one of the most prominent and highly-esteemed members of the bar of this county, was born in the city of New Brunswick in 1790. He was the second son of the Rev. Joseph Clark, D.D. He graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1809. Hle afterwards taught a female sem- inary in his native city. He studied law there, and removed to Flemington about 1815. He held very many positions of trust in the community in which he lived, and his integrity as well as his talents were fully tested in his incumbency of responsible stations. " Able, faithful, and scrupulously honest" is the uni- versal verdict. He took considerable interest in mar- tial affairs, and as early as 1828 was major of the Fourth Regiment, Hunterdon brigade of militia ; subsequently he was raised to the grade of a colonel. He was a member of the State Convention of 1828, which instructed its nominees for electors to cast their votes for Andrew Jackson and John C. Calhoun. He took a prominent part in politics, was a warm friend of the Bible cause, and one of the first members of the County Bible Society. He was its president from 1846 to 1849. Ile was a devoted Christian, becoming a member of the Presbyterian Church in 1842, and an elder about thirteen years later. "His noble, com- manding presence, frank and genial countenance, rich, musical voice, courteous dignity, and suavity of manner" come readily to the remembrance of all who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. He died in 1863.

GEORGE A. ALLEN, of Flemington, was born at Westport, Conn., descended from a family of English origin, who were among the early settlers of Con- neeticut. After receiving a good preparatory educa- tion, George commenced teaching school, being thus employed at Milford, Conn., and later at Flemington, N. J. At the latter place he entered the office of Judge James N. Reading (now of Morris, Ill.), and so thoroughly prosecuted his studies as to be admitted to the bar in May, 1844. In January, 1848, he was li- censed as a counselor-at-law. In 1850 he married Mary, daughter of Charles Bonnell, of Flemington. In 1856 he, with others, founded the Hunterdon Re- publican, was long one of its editors und proprietors. In 1861, upon the first call for troops, he enlisted as a private in the Third New Jersey Volunteer Infantry Regiment, being subsequently promoted to a cap- tainey. On the expiration of his term of service he returned to Flemington and resumed his legal prac- tice. " As a Chancery lawyer he enjoyed a reputation second to none in the State. Ile prepared his cases with the utmost care, . . . and in arguing a case ar- ranged the facts and circumstances in the most forcible and logical manner, never allowing judge or jury to lose sight of the main points. . . . His undoubted probity and his unswerving devotion to the interests of his clients placed him at the head of the profession in this section of the State."* His eldest son, William

D. Allen, was admitted to practice at the bar in 1875, and his second son, Charles W., after graduating at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of the City of New York, and taking a course at the Medical Uni- versity in Vienna, Austria, received the appointment of assistant port physician at Boston, which position he now holds. Alexander B. is engaged in the drug business in Flemington, and Edward B., the youngest, is now at school.

JOHN N. VOORHEES was born at Round Valley, Hunterdon Co., March 4, 1835. He is a son of the late Judge Peter E. Voorhees. He was prepared for college at the grammar-school of Rutger's, New Bruns- wick, and entered that college in 1850, graduating in 1854. He immediately entered the law-office of HIon. Alexander Wurts, at Flemington, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1857.

After admission, Mr. Voorhees at once commenced the practice of his profession at White House, Ilun- terdon Co., where he remained till 1871, when he removed to Flemington and became a law-partner of Hon. Jolin T. Bird, in the firm of Bird & Voorhees. The following year Chester Van Syekel was admitted as a partner, and the firm became Bird, Voorhees & Van Syckel, and so continued till the senior partner retired, in 1873. The firm of Voorhees & Van Syrkel practiced about one year, when they dissolved, and Mr. Voorhees associated with him his former student, George H. Large, who still remains in this relation.

These firms have controlled a large and profitable practice, and among their clients have been several important railroad corporations. Mr. Voorhees has been connected with a number of criminal cases, no- ticeable among which are the Patenburg rioters and Brenan murder cases, the successful management of which has given him a high reputation as an advocate.

He was appointed by Governor Randolph prose- cutor of the pleas for Hunterdon County, a position he resigned after holding the appointment one year.

He is in polities a Democrat, and has rendered his party good service as a speaker at mass-meetings and other gatherings. He is, however, no politician, nor has he ever sought or held any office of a political character, his large and increasing legal business leaving him little time to devote to other matters,

Mr. Voorhees has been twice married: first, Dec. 8, 1857, to Ellen, daughter of John K. Large, of White House, N. J. She died Aug. 23, 1863. He married for his second wife Hannah MI., sister of the above, Sept. 26, 1865. He has a son and a daughter by the first marriage.

RICHARD S. Krut, of Flemington, was born near that place Aug. 2.4, 1839, and is the son of Leonard P'. Kuhl, a prominent citizen and farmer of the county. He graduated at Lawrenceville in 1860, and the fol- lowing year entered the law-office of B. Van Eyckel, now one of the New Jersey Supreme Court judges. He remained under his preceptorship four years, when he was admitted to the bar as an attorney-at-

* Biographical Encyclopedia of New Jersey, pp. 64, 65.

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HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

law, February, 1864. He at once commenced the practice of his profession in Flemington ; was admit- ted to practice as a counselor in February, 1867. " His progress in his profession was rapid, and he soon took rank as one of the leading lawyers of the county. He is a fine and effective speaker. He was one of the counsel for the defense in the case of the Patenburg rioters,-a case which attracted much at- tention a few years since. For a long time he was secretary of the Hunterdon County Agricultural So- ciety. He has always been prominent in every move- ment of his town, social, moral, or financial."*

JOHN T. BIRD is a native of Bethlehem township, this county, born Aug. 16, 1829. He attended the public schools of his neighborhood and a classical academy at Hackettstown, N. J. He studied for the bar with the Hon. A. G. Richey, of Asbury, and was admitted during the November term of 1855. He practiced for three years at Bloomsbury, N. J. In 1862 he was licensed as a counselor, and the following year appointed by Governor Parker prosecutor of the pleas of Hunterdon County, which office he held five years. After seven years' residence at Clinton he removed to Flemington, in 1865. In 1868 he was elected, and in 1872 re-elected, to Congress by the Democratie party. In Congress he took an active part. His speeches were printed, and gave evidence of a thorough understanding of the subjects under con- sideration. His speech on the civil service, in 1872, was considered by the opposition as the ablest that had been delivered in Congress upon that question. At the close of his second term he resumed the prac- tice of law at Flemington. He is an earnest and working Democrat, a member of the Presbyterian Church, is interested in Sabbath-school work, and was for one term president of the County Bible Society. As a lawyer he is engaged upon most of the leading cases coming before the Hunterdon County courts. He was married in 1854 to Annie, daughter of Thomas Hilton, of Bloomsbury, Hunterdon Co. In the Demo- cratie conventions of 1877 and 1880 he was a promi- nent candidate for the nomination for Governor. He was engaged as one of the counsel in the case of the Patenburg rioters, and also assisted in the prosecu- tion of Brennan, charged with the murder of his wife, at High Bridge, both being cases of note not only in this county, but exciting much interest throughout the State.

JACOB WEART was born June 8, 1829, in Hopewell township, then in Hunterdon County. The birth- place of Mr. Weart was adjacent to the line between Hunterdon and Somerset, and his father afterwards extended his farm by the purchase of lands in Som- erset which were annexed thereto. He resided with his father until the spring of 1848, when he went to Clinton, Hunterdon Co., to study law with Dr. John Manners, who was both a lawyer and a physician.

In 1849 he opened an office at New Germantown and commenced practicing in the justice's court, still con- tinuing his legal studies. In the latter part of 1850 he entered the office of the late Ezra Darby, of Eliza- beth ; he also studied with John J. Chetwood, com- pleting his legal reading with Chief Justice Mercer Beasley, of Trenton, in 1852, when he removed to Jer- sey City, where he has since resided.

Mr. Weart was licensed as an attorney and solicitor June term, 1852, and as a counselor-at-law June term, 1855. From March, 1867, until April, 1871, he was internal revenue collector for the Fifth District of New Jersey; during his incumbency he collected and paid into the Treasury nearly ten million dollars. He conceived the idea of erecting a monument to the memory of John Hart, one of the signers of the Dec- laration of Independence from New Jersey, and drew the act appropriating the money by the State,-the first appropriation ever made by the State of New Jersey to commemorate the memory of any of her dead. On the dedication of the monument, at Hope- well, July 4, 1865, Mr. Weart made the opening ad- dress, and Governor Joel Parker delivered the oration and eulogy.t

Both as a lawyer and an advocate, as a writer and an orator, Mr. Weart reflects credit not only upon the county of his nativity, Hunterdon, but upon the home of his adoption, Hudson County.

EDMUND PERRY was born at Basking Ridge, Som- erset Co., Oct. 4, 1825. He was sixth among the sons of Samuel Perry, three of whom were members of the bar of New Jersey and one a physician. Edmund at an early age taught school for a time at Clarksville, in this county ; he afterwards studied law at Asbury with Hon. A. G. Richey, now of Trenton, and further prosecuted his legal studies at New Brunswick. He was admitted to the bar in October, 1848, and began practice at New Hampton, from whence he removed to Flemington. For a time he was editor and pub- lisher of the Hunterdon Democrat, a journal estab- lished at the last-named place. In 1859 he was elected to the State Senate, and in 1861 chosen by that body as its president, which honorable station he filled with dignity and in a manner that gained him much praise. As president of the Senate he officially received President Lincoln when he passed through Trenton, en route to Washington, previous to his first inauguration. Mr. Perry was chairman of the judi- ciary committee for two years. He was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1866, and served five years. He was a prominent member of the Democratic party, and his acquaintance was ex- tensive throughout the State; during many years he was the intimate and esteemed friend of the Stock- tons, Chancellor Williamson, and others of the old leaders of the party.

¡ Mr. Weart's address at Hopewell at the "Centennial Celebration," July 4, 1876, was published in various newspapers and in "Flowers' Family Magazino," vol. i. p. 251.

* Biographical Encyclopedia of New Jersey, p. 149.

E. T. Confling

213

THE BENCHE AND BAR OF HUNTERDON COUNTY.

Mr. Perry had ever a warm and true heart for his friends, manifesting an untiring devotion to their in- terest and an earnest zeal for their preferment or honor. He gave much attention to politics, was a zealous partisan, and was considered one of the shrewdest politicians of this section. He died, after a short illness, Nov. 2, 1878,* and left a widow and three children,-two sons (both members of the bar) and a daughter. Samuel E. Perry is now practicing law in Lambertville, and Belmont Perry is prosecutor of the pleas at Woodbury, N. J. For many years Mr. Perry was more or less prominently connected with public affairs, and enjoyed the commanding in- fluence of a leader. July 15, 1848, he married Eliza- beth A., daughter of John T. White and Charlotte L. Woodbridge, of Hartford, Conn.

EDWARD PAYSON CONKLING was born in Boonton, Morris Co., N. J., Aug. 10, 1847. 1Tis grandfather on his father's side, Thomas Wheeler Conkling, was for many years principal of one of the public schools in the city of New York, and was subsequently a mer- chant and farmer on Long Island, where he died at an advanced age. His father, Rev. Cornelius S. Conkling, was born in the city of New York, and eame to New Jersey as a clergyman, settling at Boon- ton, Morris Co., where he preached several years; he afterwards settled in West Milford, Passaic Co., and after preaching there a few years removed to Mount Pleasant, Hunterdon Co., for which he was elected county superintendent of public schools in 1872, and held the office seven years, when he removed to Stock- ton, N. J., where he now resides. He married Cla- rissa C. Mowbray, and had three children, of whom Edward Payson Conkling is the only survivor.

The subject of this notice received the rudiments of his education at the common schools of Mount Pleasant, and at a private school taught in that vil- lage by his father. He was prepared for college at the academy in Carversville, Bueks Co., Pa., and en- ' tered the sophomore class at Lafayette College, Eas- ton, Pa., where he graduated in 1869. Subsequent to graduation he taught one winter in the Susquehanna Collegiate Institute, at Towanda, Pa., and then com- menced the study of law with the late George A. Allen, of Flemington. He was admitted to the bar in 1872, and for two years practiced in partnership at Flemington with Ilon. John T. Bird. lle then opened an office for himself in Flemington, where he has continued in practice ever since.

Mr. Conkling is a Democrat and one of the rising lawyers of his county, having attained a good prac- tice in all the courts of the State. He has taken some active part in politics, but with a view of securing the election of others rather than office for himself. llis talents and energies have been chiefly devoted to the interests of his profession.

Mr. Conkling married Miss N. Jennie Kee, daugh- ter of John Kee, of Flemington, in 1872, and has three children, all sons.

AUGUSTUS E. SANDERSON, of Lebanon, was born in Littleton, Mass., Feb. 15, 1832. Educated at the Appleton Seminary, Mount Vernon, N. II., in 1854 he removed to Lebanon, N. J., and commenced the study of law with M. D. Trefren. He was licensed as an attorney in 1858, and made a counselor in 1863. Immediately after his admission to the bar he com- menced the practice of law at Lebanon. For several years he was township superintendent of schools; in 1870 he was elected a member of the Assembly, and again in 1871. During both sessions he served on the judiciary committee. lle also introduced the first free school bill, which, as supplemented by the Run- yon bill, is at present the existing school law of the State. Ile has the respect of his fellow-townsmen as well as of the members of the legal fraternity. IIe was married, in 1856, to Mary A. Groendyke, of Lebanon.

EDWARD R. BULLOCK, of Flemington, was born in Falls township, Bucks Co., Pa., Oct. 17, 1818; his parents were descended from English Quakers. At the age of sixteen Edward was apprenticed to a marble-cutter in Trenton, N. J., with whom he stayed five years, and afterwards worked at the same busi- ness until 1842, when he went to Lafayette College, Easton, Pa., but remained only one year, again re- suming his trade. In 1847 he came to Flemington, and set up the marble-cutting business on his own account. At the age of thirty-five (1853) he read law with A. V. Van Fleet, now vice-chancellor; he was admitted to the bar in June, 1857, and licensed as a counselor June, 1866. In 1868 he was appointed prosecutor of pleas for Hunterdon County, and held the office until 1871. In 1870 he was made United States commissioner. "His advancement in the pro- fession, like his preparation for it, has been gradual, but thorough and sure. The qualities, indeed, that shaped his earlier career, so checkered and eventful as to have been almost romantic, could hardly fail to inspire the admiration and trust of his fellow-citizens, and in the long run to assure his solid triumph." llo was married in 1844 to Janet Pollock, of Easton, l'a. His eldest son, James I., a captain in the Fifteenth New Jersey Volunteers, was lost with the steamer "General Lyon," and his only surviving son, John A., is a member of the Hunterdon bar.

PETER VREDENBURGH" was a native of Hunter- don County, being born at Readington in 1805. He was the son of Dr. Peter Vredenburgh, of Somerville; graduated at Rutgers in 1826; studied law; was li- censed as an attorney in 1829, and afterwards prac- ticed and resided in Monmouth County. He was a distinguished lawyer, and had high official honors

. IlIs remains were conveyed to Newark, N. J., by a special tralu gon- orously provided by the Contral Railroad Company, and there interred la the oldl family-plat in the River View Cemetery.

+ llis con, Maj. Peter Vredenburgh, Jr., was killed at the battle of Winchester, Va.

214

HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

conferred upon him, one of which was the position of associate justice of the Supreme Court, which he held for fourteen years. He died in 1873.

NATHANIEL W. VOORHEES, although a native of Somerset (born at Mine Brook, June 29, 1829), has spent the latter half of his life in Hunterdon. After his graduation from Rutgers, in 1847, he read law with the Hon. Richard S. Field, of Princeton. Ad- mitted to the bar in 1852, four years later he removed to Clinton, Hunterdon Co., where he served for sev- eral years as cashier of a banking company, and later accepted the cashiership of the First National Bank of Clinton, which position he still retains. In 1873, a vacancy occurring on the bench of the Common Pleas Court, he was appointed judge, and filled the position so acceptably that he was tendered the ap- pointment for the succeeding and full term; this, how- ever, he declined, as he has refused other proffered official honors. But Mr. Voorhees was named in 1875 as a candidate for secretary of the State Senate, and by that body was elected. He was re-elected the suc- ceeding year. His wife is Naomi, daughter of Samuel Leigh, of Clinton; they were married in 1854.

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History of Hunterdon and Somerset counties, New Jersey : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 55

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885 Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1170

Author: Snell, James P; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1170