USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume I > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
McGrath, John, private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863. McNally, James, private, Aug. 30. 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863. Miller, Charles, private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863.
Mullenfels, William, private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863. O'Brien, William, private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863.
Prink, Jacob, private, Sept. 1, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863
164
MIDDLESEX
Rightmire, William H., private, Sept. 2, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863. Rogers, Henry A., private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863.
Seward, George H., private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863.
Seward, John A., Jr., private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863. Shaffer. Philip, private, Aug. 30. 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863.
Smith, Charles, private, Aug. 30, 1862; missing in action at Fredericksburg, Dec. 13, 1862.
Soden, James, private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863.
Stephens, Miller, private, Aug. 29, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863.
Stolt. John, private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863.
Van Nest, Jacob M., private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863.
Voorhees, Peter P., private, Aug. 30, 1862; disch. at Convalescent Camp, Alexan- dria, Va., Feb. 17, 1863, dis.
Roberts, Jonathan R., private, Aug. 30, 1862; disch. for disability in camp, Vir- ginia, Nov. 10, 1862.
Robert, Isaac, private, Aug. 30, 1862; disch. for disability near Washington, D. C., Jan. 3, 1863.
Passell, John V., musician, Aug. 30, 1862; disch. at Portsmouth Grove, R. I., March 8, 1863, dis.
Heenan, Martin, private, Aug. 30, 1862; disch. at Baltimore, Md., March 3, 1863, dis.
White, Lewis A., sergt., Sept. 1. 1862; disch. at Convalescent Camp, Alexan- dria, Va., June 6, 1863, dis.
Warner, Benjamin, private, Aug. 30, 1862; must. out with regt. July 6, 1863.
FIRST REGIMENT CAVALRY.
Company A .- Smith, John, private, March II, 1864; trans. to Co. M.
Clifford, James, private.
Company B .- Page, Charles W., sergt., Aug. 5, 1861; re-enl. Jan. 1, 1864; killed by accident Nov. 3, 1864.
Pomeroy, Christopher F., private, Aug. 7, 1861; disch. at Washington, D. C., May 29, 1862, dis.
Van Derveer, Arnold H., private, Aug. 31, 1861 ; sergt. May 5, 1862; re-enl. Feb. I, 1864; sergt. May 20, 1864; must. out July 24. 1865.
Wilson, William H., private, Aug. 26, 1861; re-enl. Jan. 1, 1864; sergt. Jan. 15, 1864; 2d lieut. Co. G Jan. 30, 1865.
Company H .- Stewart, Alexander, Ist sergt., Aug. 22, 1861; 2d lieut. Co. E May 4, 1862; res. Dec. 22, 1862; pa- roled prisoner.
Marks, Charles W., private, Oct. 4, 1862; in hosp. at Washington May 31, 1865.
Lawrence, James, Jr., sergt., Aug. 21, 1861 ; disch. at Convalescent Camp, Alexan- dria, Va., April 14, 1863.
Bailey, Cornelius.
Cause, Robert B., corp., Aug. 27, 1861; sergt. June 15, 1862; pro. sergt .- maj. Feb. 4, 1863; pro. 2d lieut. Co. G, Aug. 12, 1863; Ist lieut. Co. E, March 29, 1864;
capt. vice Robins, pro. Nov. 1, 1864; must. out July 24, 1865.
Senker, Henry, private, Aug. 21. 1861 ; corp. Aug. 22, 1861; trans. to Vet. Res. Corps. Aug. 1, 1863; disch. therefrom Jan. 30, 1864.
Suydam, Peter H., saddler, Sept. 7, 1861 ; pro. saddler sergt., 3d Batt., Feb. 19, 1862. Shulthise, Jacob; Alston, William; An- drews, Edward; Anderson, Garret T .; Applegate, George; Auld, James M .; Bohn, James ; Bush, John ; Collhip, John ; Christ, Leonard; Corridan, James ; Cochran, John; Cone, Daniel; Ectil, John; Foster, John; Foller, Michael; Gray, D. Eugene; Glenn, William; Hunt, Jonathan; Hart, David; Hinckly, Charles; Hinckle, Theodore; Hudson, William; Hardy, Pyatt; Jackson, Wil- liam; Kelly, Walter; Kohler, John; Labar, Henry B .; Letts, George; Letts, John; Messroll, Jonathan; Mcclellan, James; Mclaughlin, James; Norman, Benjamin; Oaks, John; Oliver, John; Plum, John; Porter, William; Par- dunn, Charles A; Rappleyea, William; Reeder, George; Suydam, Stephen; Snyder, John; Snyder, Stephen; Stev- ens, William; Telus, Charles; Van Note, Peter; Van Heise, Anthony; Van Dervere,
Arnold; Voorhees, Christopher.
CHAPTER XVII. FINALE.
In the words of the immortal Shakespeare, "Grim visaged war had smoothed her wrinkled front," and the veterans of the grand armies of the Republic had returned to their peaceful vocations; the banker to attend to his financial obligations; the lawyer to his clients; the doctor to his patients; the farmer to his agricultural pursuits; the mechanic to engage in the industrial enterprises of the country.
While Grant was hammering at the gates of Richmond, the nine- teenth presidential election was held. Lincoln, the "Great Emancipator," was a candidate for reelection ; associated with him was Andrew John- son, who had been Senator from Tennessee and military governor of that State. Johnson, while he was of southern nativity and a strong adherent of the Democratic party, having supported Breckinridge and Lane in 1860, was, however, a pronounced Unionist. The substituting of another candidate by the Republicans for the New Englander holding the office of Vice-President (Hamlin) for one of southern birth, was to conciliate the Border States, and thereby weaken the geographical lines dividing the combatants. The Democrats placed in nomination General George B. McClellan and George H. Pendleton. The campaign was enlivened by torchlight processions carried on by an organization amongst the Republicans called the "Wide Awakes," and stump orators who harangued the crowds upon the necessity and advisability of Lin- coln's reelection ; while their opponents dwelt on the military exploits of their candidate, whose defeats in his attempts to capture Richmond were not laid to the superiority of the enemy's forces, but to political machinations at the National Capital. Though the Democratic candi- dates received in the electoral college only twenty-one to their Repub- lican opponents' 212 votes, New Jersey, true to her Democratic principles, gave a majority of 7,301 for McClellan and Pendleton, of which Mid- dlesex county contributed seven hundred. This, however, was a distinct gain for the Republicans over the previous State election in 1862, when Joel Parker, the Democratic candidate for governor, received a majority of 14,597. In Middlesex county Amos Robbins, a Democrat, was elected to the Senate, the delegation to the Assembly consisting of one Repub- lican and two Democrats.
The assassination of President Lincoln by a fanatic, and an attempted conspiracy against the lives of other officials, cast a shroud of mourning throughout the land. Johnson, who succeeded to the presidency, antagonized the Republican leaders in his favoritism to the reconstruc- tion of the States that had been in revolt against the Union. The con-
100
MIDDLESEX
vention of that party in 1868 nominated the strongest logical candidate for the presidency, the conqueror of Richmond, General Ulysses S. Grant; his associate on the ticket was Schuyler Colfax. The Democrats turned to the Empire State for their presidential candidate and selected Horatio Seymour, who had been governor during two years of the Civil War. Associated with him was Francis P. Blair, of Missouri, for Vice- President. New Jersey was carried by the Democrats by a decreased majority ; the Middlesex majority was 365. Theodore Frelinghuysen Randolph, a native of New Brunswick, the Democratic nominee for governor, secured a majority of 418 in the county. One Republican and two Democrats were elected to the Assembly. In the Third Congres- sional District, John Taylor Bird, of Flemington, was elected to the Forty-first Congress.
At the time of the reelection of General Grant in 1872, there was in New Jersey a landslide for the Republicans, they receiving a majority of 15,200, which was the largest ever given any presidential candidate up to that time. Every ward in the city of New Brunswick went Repub- lican ; two of the three members of that party were elected to the Assem- bly. The Republican electoral ticket received in Middlesex county a. majority of seven hundred. Amos Clark, Jr., of Elizabeth, a Republican, in the Third District, was elected to the Forty-third Congress.
The Republican majority obtained in 1872 was overcome in 1876 by the Democrats in New Jersey. With victory floating from their ban- ner, they gave Tilden and Hendricks a plurality of 12,445. This was largely due to the reports circulated by the Democrats that Rutherford B. Hayes, the Republican candidate, was a Sunday man and strongly temperance, which caused many of the German residents of the State to vote the Democratic ticket. Middlesex county not only supported the Democratic ticket by a plurality of 570, but elected George C. Ludlow, a resident of New Brunswick, to the Senate, and a full delegation to the Assembly.
In the memorable State election in 1877, General George B. McClel- lan, the Democratic candidate for governor, had been a resident of the State since his retirement from the army. New Brunswick gave his Republican opponent, William E. Newell, a majority of 534; the other districts of Middlesex county favored McClellan the second, giving a majority of 170; the third, 210-thus reducing Newell's majority in the county to 154.
In the presidential election of 1880, Middlesex county was still strongly Democratic, the first district, which consisted of New Bruns- wick, gave a majority of 652; the second, 156; the third, 559. James H. Van Cleef, of New Brunswick; Manning Freeman, of Metuchen, and Stephen Martin, of South Amboy, were elected to the Assembly. George C. Ludlow, a resident of New Brunswick, was elected governor by a plurality of 651.
167
FINALE
In the three succeeding presidential elections, Middlesex county loyally supported the Democratic candidate, Grover Cleveland, a son of New Jersey. His majority in the county in 1884 was 171, notwithstand- ing that the Republican candidate for Assembly, John Carson, in one of the districts received a majority of 784, and John Martin, of South Amboy, and Edward S. Savage, of Woodbridge, on the Democratic ticket, were elected by only fifteen majority. In 1888 the county gave a plurality of 1,148 for Cleveland and Thurman; the Assembly delega- tion elected consisted of two Democrats and one Republican.
The election in 1892 was a Democratic landslide, the national ticket receiving an increased plurality. In Middlesex county, three Democratic members of the Assembly were elected ; also, the congressional district elected John T. Dunn, of Elizabeth, a Democrat, to the Ffty-third Con- gress.
The State election in 1895 in New Jersey was a forerunner of the Republican landslide that took place the following year; for the first time in thirty years the Republicans elected their candidate for governor by a plurality of 26,900 votes. The adherence of the western Democrats under the leadership of William Jennings Bryan to the fallacy of free silver with an unlimited coinage at a standard of sixteen to one, coupled with the opposition to the Mckinley tariff bill for the protection of American industries, was to solidify the people of New Jersey and cause the desertion of many Democrats of that State to the Republican party, which advocated hard money and protection to the American wage earner. Although Bryan, whose oratorical achievements at the Demo- cratic convention in 1896 where he delivered his famous "Cross of Gold" speech made him the candidate of the party for President, and during the campaign he delivered political speeches in the State, the Repub- licans were triumphant in New Jersey, giving a plurality of 87,692 for the Mckinley and Hobart electors. To this plurality Middlesex county contributed 3,328. For the first time in the election of members of the Assembly, instead of voting by districts the three candidates were elected by the entire vote of the county. Their pluralities varied from 2,650 to 2,776, and Alexander Charles Letterst, of Menlo Park; Jacob H. Whit- field of New Brunswick, and James Fountain, of Browntown, were the successful candidates.
The next notable natural event that the people of Middlesex county were called upon to take part in was the Spanish-American war. It was on February 16, 1898, that the naval disaster at Havana, Cuba, occurred, resulting in the sinking of the battleship "Maine." Throughout the length and breadth of the land the cry went forth, "Remember the 'Maine'." The country's ultimatum was handed the Spanish govern- ment April 20, 1898, which was immediately followed by the President's call for 125,000 volunteers. Enrollment officers were opened in the
168
MIDDLESEX
State and the quota of New Jersey was soon filled. Then came Dewey's victory at Manila Bay, and an additional call by the President for 75,000 volunteers. Middlesex county readily filled her part of the State's quota, which was dispatched to the regimental camps of the newly created army. While these troops took no part in active warfare, they were decimated by diseases contracted in the southern mobilization camps. The destruction of the Spanish fleet and the surrender of the Spanish army at Santiago virtually closed the war.
In the campaign of 1900, the Republican plurality in Middlesex county was 2,156, the members of the Assembly, State senator and governor on that ticket receiving about the same plurality. The vote of the county in the presidential campaign in 1904 was for the Republican electoral ticket 10,116, to 7,005 cast for the Democratic electors; the Republican Assembly candidates were elected by about the same plu- rality. The presidential election of 1908 was devoid of any great political excitement, and the Republican party maintained its normal majorities. The vote cast for the Republican electors in Middlesex county was 11,261, the Democratic electors receiving 7,941. The same plurality was obtained for members of Congress and members of the Assembly.
In the State election two years later, the Democrats placed at the head of their ticket for governor, Woodrow Wilson. Mr. Wilson was not a native of the State, and though he was a graduate of Princeton College in 1877 his career in the State did not commence until September, 1890, when he entered upon his duties as professor of jurisprudence and political economy in Princeton University. This department of the University was divided in 1895, when he was assigned to the chair of jurisprudence and as the result of a large gift by Cyrus H. McCormick of Chicago two years later he was promoted to the McCormick profes- sorship of jurisprudence and politics. He was elected president of the University in 1902, and resigned both that office and his professorship immediately after his nomination for the office of governor of New Jer- sey. The nomination of Governor Wilson by the Democrats, though it was his first appearance in the political life of the State, was to turn the tide of Republican supremacy. Middlesex county gave the Democratic nominee a plurality of 1,894, and at the same time elected a Democratic congressman in the district and three members of the Assembly.
The election of Governor Wilson by a plurality of 49,056 made him a prominent candidate for the presidential nomination. His State pre- sented his name at the convention held at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1912, and after the taking of a number of ballots he became the party's nom- inee. The Republican party was handicapped by the organization within its ranks of a Progressive party, each of whom nominated a candidate for President, thereby making it a triangular fight for the election. Mid- dlesex county divided its allegiance to the Republican party, casting the
169
FINALE
following vote : Republican, 4,730; Progressive, 5,050; Democratic, 8,177. The split in the Republican ranks caused the election of a Democratic senator and assemblyman. Four years later, when the Democratic nominee for President was reelected, Middlesex county retained her nominal plurality, giving the Democratic electors 11,851 votes to 9,975 cast for the Republican electors. Joseph S. Frelinghuysen, the Repub- lican candidate for United States senator, received in the county a majority, while Thomas J. Scully, a Democrat, was reelected to Con- gress after a recount granted by the Supreme Court. His opponent on the first face of the returns receiving a plurality of fourteen, the recount gave Mr. Scully a plurality of 203. A Republican delegation was elected to the Assembly.
The nation again made a peremptory call to arms in the spring of 1917. The Continental War, better known as the World War, had been raging for over two years, and had reached such a condition of affairs that threatened the peace and happiness of the citizens of the country, and it became evident that the United States must take her place in the defense of the rights of humanity. Middlesex county was thus called upon again to give of her population and wealth for the upholding of those principles which are the foundation and soul of every republic. To every call made upon her citizens, the responses were patriotically and bravely met. Many of her sons made the supreme sacrifice, while others were maimed for life; her citizens responded liberally to the financial aid of the government. The war between the Allies and the Central Powers is of so recent occurrence that it does not become the part at present of local history ; in the township histories, however, will be found a record of the Roll of Honor.
In the State election of 1919, the question of prohibition was the paramount issue, the political parties becoming known as "wet" or "dry." The governor elected was Edward I. Edwards, on a Democratic "wet" platform, though the Republicans carried Middlesex county by a plurality of 376. The Democrats, however, elected one of the members of the Assembly, who beat the lowest candidate for that office on the Republican ticket by two hundred plurality.
In the radical wave that swept over the political landscape in 1920, the immediate cause in which was woman suffrage and the high cost of living, Middlesex county was not backward in doing her part. For member of Congress she gave the Republican candidate 23,380 votes, while his Democratic opponent received 13,714. With this as an exam- ple, it is needless to say that State, district and county were carried by overwhelming pluralities for the Republican candidates.
-
VIEWS ON DELAWARE AND RARITAN CANAL
CHAPTER XVIII. VISITORS, NATIVES AND RESIDENTS.
The bays and rivers of the Atlantic coast of New Jersey in the early part of the eighteenth century were visited by the buccaneers that infested the ocean. The harbor of Amboy and the Raritan river were amongst their places of rendezvous. Famous amongst this gentry was Captain William Kidd, a Scotchman by birth. He entered the merchant marine service in his youth and distinguished himself as a privateersman against the French in the West Indies. He became actively engaged against the pirates that infested the waters near New York, out of which port he sailed. A company was formed in England to suppress piracy, and amongst its shareholders were King William III., the Earl of Bellemont (afterwards governor of Massachusetts and New York), and Robert Livingston, of New York, and other men of wealth and influence. The "Adventure Galley," a ship of 287 tonnage, was purchased, and Kidd was appointed commander. Of the booty obtained from privateering. the King was to receive one-tenth, the balance to be divided amongst the other shareholders. The "Adventure Galley" arrived at New York July 4, 1696, and was well provisioned ; its crew numbered one hundred and fifty-four. The ship sailed for Madagascar, the chief rendezvous of the pirates who infested the India seas. A year passed, rumors reached England that Kidd had turned pirate, and the royal shareholder and his associates perceiving the necessity of taking action, orders were issued to the colonial governors to arrest their erstwhile piratical partner. In the spring of 1699, Kidd appeared in the West Indies in a vessel loaded with treasure. Leaving this ship in the bay on the coast of Hayti, he sailed in a sloop with forty men, his objective point being Boston, where the Earl of Bellemont was then located as governor of Massachusetts. On arriving off the coast of Rhode Island, he sent his legal representa- tive to inquire how his partner would receive him. Bellemont's answer was such that Kidd proceeded to Boston, where he was arrested, sent to England, tried on the charge of piracy and murder, and was executed May 24, 1721, protesting his innocence. It is an admitted fact that his trial was grossly unfair, and that he was made a scapegoat to shield the sins of men in higher walks of life. Bellemont received the treasure hid by Kidd on Gardiner Island, also that which was on the sloop, which aggregated over $70,000, but there is no evidence to show what distri- bution he made of the plunder secured by piracy. There is little doubt that considerable treasure was buried by Kidd on the shores of Long Island after his return from his piratical expeditions, but that Amboy or part of the Raritan river were favored is scarcely possible. Still, the
172
MIDDLESEX
residents of that section of the country have made various searches for the hidden gold, though no attempt has resulted in obtaining the least portion of the filthy lucre. A boulder at Perth Amboy known as "the big rock" was overturned, but expectations were not realized. Numerous pits were dug in what was known as the "Cedars," and even the Episco- pal church-yard was invaded by a digging expedition, but no financial gains were obtained. Kidd and his buried treasures have long since been forgotten, and the reign of the pirates along the New Jersey Atlantic coast came to an inglorious end about 1725.
It was in the vicinity of Cranbury that the devoted and pious evan- gelist, David Brainerd, in 1745 labored to make religious converts of the Indians. This self-sacrificing champion of the works and teachings of his Divine Master was at this time in the twenty-seventh year of his age. He had been expelled in 1743 from Yale College for disobeying orders, refusing to acknowledge his error in attending prohibited meet- ings of those who were attached to the preaching of Whitefield and Ten- nent. He at that time resolved to become a missionary amongst the Indians, and commenced his theological studies. His first labors were amongst the Stockbridge Indians in the vicinity of Kinderhook, New York. Here, though he was feeble in body and often ill, he lived in a wigwam, sleeping on straw, his food being boiled corn, hastypudding and soup.
Of this itinerancy in Middlesex county we quote extracts from his journal. It was in the afternoon of August 8, 1745. He preached to the Indians, their number being sixty-five men, women and children. The public discourse was from Luke xiv: 16-23; and after the sermon, followed by personal solicitations on the part of the missionary, both the old and the young bowed in mercy and rejoiced in Christ Jesus. The following day another public meeting was held, the evangelist's text being the parable of the sower, his concluding remarks were a few words spoken from Matthew xi:29. The shades of night were falling when the services ended, and there was a deep agitation amongst the Indians; some of them seemed to be in great distress to find and secure an inter- est in the great Redeemer ; almost every one was praying and crying, and on every side was heard Guttummau kalummeh, Guttummau kalummeh, i. e. "Have mercy upon me, have mercy upon me!" The assiduous duties of the young missionary caused his health to suffer, compelling him in the summer of 1747 to leave his chosen field of work. He lingered until the autumn of that year, being then only twenty-nine years of age, his spirit passing from earth October 9, 1747.
It was on the heights surrounding New Brunswick that Washington's first meeting with Hamilton took place. In the retreat of the American army through Jersey after the disastrous battle of Long Island, Washington's intentions were to make a stand against the enemy at New
173
VISITORS, NATIVES AND RESIDENTS
Brunswick, but his rapidly dissolving army was not strong enough to risk an engagement. On the Heights of New Brunswick, near the pas- sage of the Raritan river, Hamilton, then a captain of artillery, with his fieldpieces effectually checked the advance of the enemy, thus giving Washington several hours start of the pursuing British army. From the river bank the commander-in-chief's attention was attracted by the courage and skill displayed by the young officer of artillery. He ordered his aide-de-camp to ascertain who the officer was, and at the first call to the army to bring him to headquarters. In the interview that ensued, Washington quickly discovered in the young patriot and warrior those qualities of head and heart that gained him renown in his after life.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.