USA > New Jersey > Hudson County > Jersey City > History of Jersey City, N.J. : a record of its early settlement and corporate progress, sketches of the towns and cities that were absorbed in the growth of the present municipality, its business, finance, manufactures and form of government, with some notice of the men who built the city > Part 29
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In May, 1867, he located in Hudson County and opened a law office at the court house, in what was then the City of Hudson. He was a member and president of the board of education of the City of Hudson from 1868 to 1871, until the three cities of Ber- gen, Jersey City and the City of Hudson - were consolidated. In 1874 he was elected Counsel of the Board of Chosen Freehold- ers of the County of Hudson, which office he held, by annual election, for thirteen L successive years. In 1886 he was appointed by President Cleveland United States At- torney for the District of New Jersey, which office he held one year, and then re- signed to aceept the position of Law Judge of the County of Hudson, to which he was appointed by Gov. Green, to fill the unex- pired term of Chancellor McGill, who held that office at the time of his appointment as chancellor.
In 1888 he was reappointed as Law Judge by ex-Gov. Green for a full term of five years. In January, 1893, he resigned this position and was appointed by Gov. Werts one of the Associate Justices of the Supreme Court for the full term of seven years.
ALEXANDER T. M GILL. ALEXANDER T. McGILL was born in Alleghany City, Pa., in 1843. His father, the Rev. Alexander T. McGill, D. D., LL. D., was then a professor in the Western Theological
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Seminary of that city. In 1854 the subject of this sketch, then a child, removed to Princeton, N. J., his father having been elected to a professorship in the Princeton Theological Semi- nary, which position he occupied until his death in 1889.
Mr. McGill was graduated from that col- lege in 1864, which has since conferred on him the honorary degree of LL. D., and from the Columbia Law School, New York, in 1866, receiving the degree of A. B. He continued the study of law with the late Judge Edward W. Scudder, at Trenton, and was admitted to the bar as an attorney in 1867, and as a counselor in 1870. He remained in Trenton with Judge Scudder until 1868, when he removed to Jersey City. He soon afterwards formed a part- nership with the late Robert Gilchrist, who was then attorney general of New Jersey. In 1876 Mr. MeGill retired from the firm, deciding to practise alone.
In 1874 and 1875 he was Counsel for the City of Bayonne, when he also represented the then first district of Hudson County in the house of assembly. He served on lead- ing committees, and took a very active part in legislation. In 1878 Gov. George B. McClellan appointed Mr. McGill Prose- cutor of the Pleas of Hudson County, suc- ceeding Hon. A. Q. Garretson, who was ROBERT S. HUDSPETH. appointed law judge, and when the latter resigned that office Mr. McGill again suc- ceeded him as Judge, an office he held when he was appointed Chancellor by Gov. Robert S. Green on March 29, 1887. He was unanimously confirmed by the senate the 31st of the same
month. His term expired on May 1, 1894, and he was reappointed by Gov. Werts for a second term.
Mr. McGill has held many minor positions. He is a lawyer of great ability, and has an extended acquaintance all over the East.
ROBERT S. HUDSPETH was born at Coburg, Canada, October 27, 1853. He entered mercantile life at an early age. In 1871 he entered the law office of Thomas Carey in Jersey City, and was ad- mitted in 1874. He entered into partnership with Mr. Carey and continued two years, when he decided to practise alone. In 1889 he was appointed Corpora- tion Attorney of Jersey City, and retained the office until February, 1893, when Gov. Werts appointed him to fill the unexpired term of Judge Lippincott, as Presiding Judge of the Hudson County Court. At the expiration of the term he was reappointed for the full term of five years. In 1886 he was elected to the legislature in an unexpected and compliment- ary manner. Three days before the election it ALBERT HOFFMAN. was discovered that the democratic candidate was ineligible, because he had not lived long enough in the State. Judge Hudspeth was hastily nominated, and on election day
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he had a majority of sixty-seven in a republican district. The following year he was re-elected by a majority of six hundred. He received the caucus nomination for speaker that year, but by the defection of some of the democratic members he was defeated. In 1888 he declined a renomination, but in 1889 he was nominated and elected by a thousand majority, and was chosen speaker. In 1891 Judge Hudspeth was elected senator, to fill the unexpired term of Senator McDonald, who had been elected to Congress. He carried the county by seven thou- sand majority, but declined renomination. Judge Hudspeth has filled all of the public positions to which he has heen called with marked ability. He is a member of the Palma and New Jer- sey clubs, and of a number of political organizations. He was the mainstay of his widowed mother, and in her old age she has seen him rise to the most prominent positions in the State. Judge Hudspeth's wife was the widow of Robert Beggs, a well-known lawyer and journalist.
ALBERT HOFFMAN was born in Prussia. His parents removed to Hoboken in 1849 when he was a small child. He attended school in the log school-house at Tenth and Garden streets, then at Dr. Feltner's Classical School and graduated at St. Matthew's Lutheran Academy in New York. His parents intended him for a mercantile career, but his preference was for journalism and politics. He wrote for New York papers until 1876, when he became editor of The Hudson County Democrat, a paper that had been carried on for years in Hoboken by Hon. A. O. Evans. He retained this position ten years. He acquired a reputation as a translator from English to German. He was Court Interpreter in 1867, and became the official interpreter when the posi- tion was created. He was also official interpreter for the State, translating the laws and official documents for publication in German. He resigned the position of Court Interpreter when Gov. Green appointed hiin one of the Judges of the Common Pleas Court in 1889. He was one of the State prison inspectors by appointment of Gov. Abbett in 1886. He was reappointed in 1894 by Gov. Werts, and still fills the position of Judge. He has achieved prominence as a po- litical speaker, first having attracted attention in a debate with Brick Pomeroyat Union Hill in 1867, when he was declared the victor. Since then he has spoken in all parts of the State, both in English and German. During the Greeley campaign he spoke in California, Indiana and Illinois, and during the three campaigns for Cleveland he spoke in New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. With Carl Schurz and Gen. Sigel, he was selected to speak at the meeting held in New York to celebrate the democratic victory. Judge Hoffman is now about fifty years of age and unmarried.
JAMES S. NEVINS was born in Somerset County in 1786, graduated at Princeton, 1816, read law with Frederick Frelinghuysen, and admitted to the bar in 1819. He was appointed an Asso- ciate Justice of the Supreme Court in 1845, and served fourteen years. He moved to Jersey City and practised until 1859, when he died. One of the most interesting cases in the history of Jersey City which was decided by Judge Nevins was the suit over the market plot at the foot of Washington Street, Jersey City. His opinion was in favor of the city, and is recorded in Spencer's Reports, 86.
SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD was born at Basking Ridge, Somerset County, June 9, 1787. He gradu- ated at Princeton in 1804. He was admitted in 1811, after teaching school a number of years. He was Prosecutor in Hunterdon in 1815, and a member of the assembly the same year. In the fall of that year he was appointed an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1821 he was appointed United States Senator. In 1823 he resigned to become Secretary of the Navy. He held the position until 1829. He was appointed Attorney-General of New Jersey, when he resigned from the Cabinet. He was governor of the State in 1832, resigning to take a place in the United States Senate. He was president of the senate after from May 31, 1841, until he died, June 26, 1842. He was president of the Morris Canal Company, and lived in Jersey City from 1838.
WILLIAM CULLEN MORRIS was born at Middlebrook, Somerset County, February 27, 1789, educated at the Somerville Academy, read law with John Frelinghuysen, and was admitted to the bar in 1818. 11e practised law at Belvidere thirty-one years before removing to Jersey City. He accepted a custom-house position in 1849, and four years later resumed his practice. lle was appointed a Lay Judge in Hudson in 1861, and held the position until he died, May 17, 1870. He was Prosecutor in Warren County twenty-five years before removing to Jersey City. Among
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his children were Dr. Theodore F. Morris, of Jersey City ; Wm. C. Morris, who was cashier of the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company, and Mrs. J. G. Shipman.
MATTHIAS OGDEN, a son of Gov. Aaron Ogden, was born in Elizabethtown in 1792. He graduated at Princeton in 1810, was admitted in 1814, became a counselor in 1818, and died in July, 1860. He practised in Jersey City from 1840 until 1848.
AARON OGDEN was born in Elizabethtown in 1756, graduated at Princeton in 1773, and served as an officer in the Revolutionary War. He was admitted to the bar in 1784. In 1801 he was elected to the United States Senate. In 1812 he was elected governor of New Jersey. In 1824 he became president of the Society of the Cincinnati, and held that office fifteen years. He settled in Jersey City in 1829. He was appointed deputy-collector for Jersey City, and held the office until he died, in 1839.
JOSEPH FITZ RANDOLPH.
JOSEPH FITZ RANDOLPH Was born in New York City, March 14, 1803. His family re- moved to Piscataway, Middlesex County, when he was a child. He was admitted to the bar in 1825 and became a counselor in 1828. He was Prosecutor of Monmouth, and was elected to Congress in 1828 and re-elected twice. He served in the XX., XXI. and XXII. Congresses, and declined another term. In 1845 he was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court and served seven years. In 1854 he was one of the commissioners to revise the constitution of the State. He lived at Freehold, New Brunswick and Trenton until 1865, when he removed to Jersey City. He was a member of the First Pres- byterian Church in Jersey City, and was liked by all who knew him.
ABRAHAM O. ZABRISKIE was born at Greenbush, opposite Albany, N. Y., June 10, 1807. His father was a Reformed church minister and removed to Millstone, Somerset County, in 1811. Abraham was graduated at Princeton in 1825, and read law with James S. Green at Princeton. He was admitted in 1828 and became a
counselor in 1831. He practised law at Newark and Hackensack until 1849, when he removed to Jersey City. During his residence in Bergen County he was Surrogate for ten years from 1838, and was appointed Prosecutor in 1842 and reappointed in 1847, but resigned. He was Law Reporter of the Supreme Court from 1847 to 1855. Ile was senator from Hudson in 1851 to 1853, and was appointed Chancellor in 1866 and filled the office until 1873. He was president of the commission to revise the State constitution, and died at Truckee, Col., June 27, 1873, during a recess of the commission. He was one of the most notable members of the New Jersey bar.
STEPHEN BILLINGS RANSOM was born in Salem, New London County, Conn., October 12, 1814. He taught school in a number of places. He read law in the office of William Thompson at Somerville, and was admitted to the bar in 1844, becoming a counselor in 1847. He prae- tised at New Germantown and Somerville until 1854, when he moved to Jersey City. In 1869 he organized the prohibition party in New Jersey and was one of its active supporters, being the nominee of that party for governor in 1880. He was a laborions, painstaking lawyer, and had a large practice. It was said that no lawyer's name in the State appeared more fre- quently on the court calendars.
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HISTORY OF JERSEY CITY.
EDGAR BANKS WAKEMAN was born at Monticello, Sullivan County, N. Y., April 17, 1816. He taught school for a number of years, and was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar in 1840. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1843, and became counselor in 1845. He was city clerk of Jersey City from 1845 to 1848; alderman for three years, and Corporation Attorney three years. He was the republican candidate for Congress in 1864, and ent Gen. Wright's ma- jority from an average of 4,000 to 700. He was an elector on the Fremont and Dayton ticket in 1856. He had a large practice, and invested heavily in real estate. The shrinkage in values in 1873 practically ruined him financially.
ISAAC WILLIAMSON SCUDDER was born at Elizabeth in 1816. He was admitted in 1838, and became counselor in 1844. He removed to Jersey City about the time the new county of Hudson was created. He was appointed Prosecutor in 1845, holding the position ten years. He was a member of the first police commission of Jersey City, and was elected to Congress in 1872, serving in the XLIII. Congress. He was counsel for the Associates of the Jersey Company, the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company and the Pennsylvania Railroad Com- pany. He was not married. He left a large fortune when he died, September 10, 1881.
BENNINGTON F. RANDOLPH was born at Belvidere, December 13, 1817. He graduated at Lafayette College, read law with W. C. Morris at Belvidere, and with J. F. Randolph at Free- hold ; was admitted to the bar in 1839, and became counselor in 1842. He practised in Ocean and Monmouth until 1861, when he removed to Jersey City. Hewas at one time a law partner with Judge J. F. Randolph, and later with J. F. Randolph, Jr. He was admitted to the New York bar, and was a member of the firm of Alexander & Green. In 1868 he was appointed Law Judge of Hudson County and held the office five years. In 1877 he was appointed Judge of the District Court of Jersey City and served two full terms. In 1859, was one of the organ- izers of the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, and was one of the trustees until he died. He was a director of the Freehold Bank, of the First National Bank of Jersey City, of the Mercantile Trust Company and the Mercantile Safe Deposit Company of New York. He was a riparian commissioner and a member of the State board of education, a di- rector of the Theological Seminary at Princeton, a trustee of the Presbyterian board of church extension, and an elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Jersey City. He was one of the organizer's of the New Jersey Southern Railroad, its counsel and for a time its treasurer. He was a member of the Jersey City board of education, and a trustee of the State Normal School. In 1861 he was one of the organizers of the Nicaragua route to California.
JACOB RYNIER WORTENDYKE was born at Pascack, Bergen County, November 27, 1818. He was graduated at Rutgers in 1839, and taught school for a number of years. He read law with Judge Knapp and Chancellor Zabriskie and was admitted to the bar in 1853, becoming coun- selor in 1859. In 1856 he was elected a member of Congress. He was an alderman in Jersey City, president of the water commissioners, a riparian commissioner and a trustee of Rutgers College. He was a member of the General Synods of 1860 and 1866. He was counsel to the Hudson County board of freeholders, and was president of the Fifth Ward Savings Bank. 1fc died in Jersey City, November 7, 1868.
GEORGE W. CASSEDY was born in Jersey City, July 5, 1824. He studied at Columbia Col- lege, read law in the office of his father, Colonel Samuel Cassedy, and was admitted to the bar in 1845. He was appointed city clerk of Jersey City in 1850 and held the office until 1865. when he was elected county clerk. In 1870 he resumed the practice of law and is still engaged in his profession.
JOHN LYNN was born in Harmonyvale, Sussex County, May 15, 1821. He graduated at Princeton in 1841. He read law in Gov. Pennington's office and was admitted to the bar in 1844, becoming a counselor in 1848. He practised at Newton and Deckertown. He remained there until 1867, when he removed to Jersey City. He became known all over the State before his removal to Jersey City. He was for several years in partnership with Joseph C. Potts, and later with R. O. Babbitt, but for a dozen or more years has practised alone. Ile is considered a safe counselor and is an expert in all that pertains to mining law or operation. He was a candidate for Congress in the fourth district in 1862, but was not elected.
JOHN DUNN LITTLE was born at Port Richmond, Staten Island, October 19. 1824 He studied law with Chancellor Williamson, was admitted in 1847 and became counselor in Inss
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He was the first lawyer to settle in Hoboken. He was city clerk of Hoboken, Prosecutor of the Pleas for Hudson County from 1855 to 1860, and was a member of assembly in 1853. He died February 19. 1861.
JOHN P. VROOM was a son of ex-Gov. Peter D. Vroom. He was born in Somerville, edu- cated at Rutgers, admitted as an attorney in 1852 and as counselor in 1857. He practised in Jersey City from 1856 until 1863, when he died. He was appointed Law Reporter for the Supreme Court in 1862 and began the series of Vroom Reports which have been held in the family for three generations.
RICHARD D. MCCLELLAND was born at New Brunswick in 1824, his father being a profes- sor in Rutgers. During early life Richard followed the sea for seven years and had a mate's license when he left it to study law in the office of E. R. V. Wright and later with Thomas W. James. In 1849 he went to California and was not admitted until 1851. He became a coun- selor in 1854. He was appointed Corporation Counsel in 1854, and retained the position until his death, August 23, 1868. He was Prosecutor of the Pleas and an alderman in Hudson City, holding the three offices at the same time. He was a good municipal lawyer.
JAMES HARVEY LYONS was born at St. Mary's Isle Parish, Dumfrieshire, Scotland, in Octo- ber, 1825. He was educated at Salem, N. Y., and admitted to the New York bar. Later he was admitted in New Jersey, at the February term, 1856, and as counselor in 1859. He was Prosecutor for Hudson County, and died at Hoboken, November 24, 1874, from injuries received by being thrown from his carriage.
GARRICK M. OLMSTEAD was born at Montrose, Susquehanna County, Pa., December 8, 1830. He graduated at Lafayette College, and read law in the office of A. H. Reeder, afterwards territorial governor of Kansas. He read law in the offices of E. R. V. Wright, and J. D. Miller, and was admitted in 1856, becoming a counselor in 1868. He died May 7, 1881.
ROBERT GILCHRIST was born in Jersey City, August 21, 1825. He read law in the offices of John Annin and I. W. Scudder, and was admitted to the bar in 1847, becoming counselor in due time. He formed a partnership with Mr. Seudder, and continued it until 1857. In 1857 he was elected to the legislature. In 1861 he became captain of Company F, Second N. J. Militia, and went to the front. In 1866 he was the democratic candidate for Congress, but was defeated. In 1869 he was appointed Attorney-General of the State, holding the office six years. He had a large practice and was highly esteemed.
BENJAMIN WILLIAMSON, son of Gov. I. H. Williamson, was born at Elizabeth. He graduated at Princeton in 1827, was admitted in 1830, and became a counselor in 1833. He was counsel for the Central Railroad of N. J. for a generation. He was Prosecutor of the Pleas in Essex for a number of years, and was appointed Chancellor in 1852. He returned to practice in 1859, and had his office in Jersey City from that time until he died. He was regarded as one of the best lawyers of his time. He never accepted political office, though he failed to be a United States Senator by a few votes in 1864. He was a member of the Peace Congress which met at Washington in 1861. He held many positions of honor and trust, and died much regretted.
CHARLES HARDENBURG WINFIELD was born in Deer Park, Orange County, N. Y., November 8, 1829, and graduated at Rutgers in 1852. He studied law with Chancellor Zabriskie, and was admitted to the bar in 1855. counselor in 1860. He was senator from Hudson in 1865-68. He was appointed Prosecutor for Hudson County by Gov. Ludlow in 1883, and still fills the position. He has been very successful in his practice, and his name is associated with many celebrated cases. He has been one of the best political speakers of his party in the country for many years, and is known everywhere for his stump speeches. His literary work will be his most enduring monument. In 1872 be published "\ History of Land Titles in Hudson County," and in 1874 a " History of Hudson County." In 1882, a book entitled " Adjudged Words and Phrases," that became a standard at once. In 1892 he published a monograph on the Founding of Jersey City. These books were produced during the leisure hours of a busy life and are the result of much patient research. Mr. Winfield was educated originally for the ministry, and a portion of the expense was borne by the Reformed church. He discovered a taste for law, and decided to make a change before he was ordained. One of the items read in the financial statement at the meeting of Classis, is the sum refunded by him after he decided to change.
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It is a notable fact that it stands alone. Mr. Winfield is an art connoisseur, and his collection of paintings and bric-a-brac is one of the largest in the county.
GEORGE M. ROBESON was born at Oxford, N. J., in 1829, graduated at Princeton in 1847. read law with Chief Justice Hornblower, and was admitted to the bar in 1850 and began prac- tice in Jersey City. He moved to Camden, and was Prosecutor there in 1858. He became Attorney-General of the State in 1867. He resigned to become Secretary of the Navy in 1869. He held this position until March 4, 1877. He was elected to Congress, and served from 1879 to 1883. He is now a resident of Trenton.
FREDERICK BEASLEY OGDEN, son of Judge Ogden, of the Supreme Court, was born at Paterson, July 20, 1827, graduated at Princeton in 1847, admitted to the bar in 1850, and as counselor in 1854. He was mayor of Hoboken and Judge of the District Court.
WASHINGTON B. WILLIAMS was born in Jersey City, Angust 18, 1832. He received his carly education at Mr. Wm. L. Dickinson's Lyceum School, in Grand Street, and later at a private classical school in New York City. He began the study of law in 1848 under the late Peter Bentley and was admitted to the bar in November, 1853. He continued for some time in charge of Mr. Bentley's office while the great case of Gough vs. Bell was in progress, in which Mir. Bentley was the "power behind the throne." Mr. Williams devoted many weeks to the important questions of real estate law and riparian rights in- volved in that cause, and to preparing for its future prosecution in the United States courts. This and other lines of work in which he was engaged under Mr. Bentley and Mr. Scudder, who were close friends and associates in many important equity causes, directed his practice to the branches of real estate, equity and corporation law, which he has ever since pursued.
For some years past, especially before the in- crease in the number of vice-chancellors, he was much occupied in hearing equity cases as Advisory Master, and among other matters had occasion to pass upon over 600 divorce cases, and prepared some interesting statistics on that subject.
Among the canses conducted by him as counsel were the series of suits in the winding-up of the unfortunate Mechanics and Laborers Savings Bank and the City Bank, in which were developed very important and far-reaching principles of law as to the duties and liabilities of directors of such institutions.
WASHINGTON B. WILLIAMS.
Mr. Williams joined the republican party at its inception in 1856 and rendered active and efficient service in the Fremont campaign and in others during and since the Civil War. He has traveled much in this country and in Europe, with special reference to literary and his- torical research, and possesses one of the most extensive historical and classical libraries in the State.
His paternal ancestors were of the Williams family of Rhode Island, but removed to New York about one hundred years ago. His mother's family were also of Welsh descent and hanl resided for several generations in New York.
In 1858 Mr. Williams married a daughter of the late John W. Van Den Bergh, of Virginia. and their only child, a daughter, is now the wife of Mr. G. J. Edwords, of the New Jersey hur. his present law partner.
CHARLES H. VOORHEES was born at Spring Valley, Bergen County, March 13. 1833. It graduated at Rutgers in 1853, was admitted as attorney in 1856, and counselor in IN59 was one of the incorporators of the First National Bank of Jersey City in 1864, and Was ifs counsel until 1876. He was for several years trustee of the Burlington College, member of the
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