USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, New Jersey, 1664-1920, Volume I > Part 22
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that a flag of surrender would be raised by the enemy, when a tremen- dous explosion of a British magazine took place, throwing a number of stones with great force in every direction, one of which struck General ยท Pike on the breast, inflicting a mortal wound. The American troops soon reformed, and passing their wounded commander were hailed by the words, "Push on, brave fellows, and avenge your general." While General Pike was being carried from the field, the British struck their colors. The brave general, when informed of the surrender, heaved a heavy sigh and smiled, but he lingered only a few hours, his death taking place on the commodore's ship.
Another distinguished citizen of New Jersey who roamed the streets and lanes of New Brunswick in his youthful days was Jonathan Dixon, for thirty-one years a justice of the Supreme Court of his residential State. Born in Liverpool, England, July 6, 1839, his father, Jonathan Dixon, in 1848 came to America and was followed two years later by his family, settling in New Brunswick. Here young Dixon attended Rutgers College, graduated in 1859, took up the study of law, and on his admis- sion to the bar removed to Jersey City. He was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1875, a position he honorably filled until his death at Englewood, New Jersey, May 21, 1906.
For twenty-one years New Brunswick was the residence of the chief of the Supreme Court of the State -- Andrew Kirkpatrick. He was descended from an honorable and noteworthy Scottish lineage, the sec- ond son of David Kirkpatrick, the American progenitor of the family. The future chief justice was born at Mine Brook, New Jersey, February 17, 1756, and in 1775 graduated from the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. His father, who was an ardent Presbyterian, wished him to become a minister, and after his graduation he studied divinity, but his preference was in the direction of the law, and finally he became a student in the office of William Paterson, of New Bruns- wick. He was admitted to the New Jersey bar in 1785, and for a short time practiced in Morristown, but losing his library and office equipment by fire, he returned to New Brunswick, where he became noted for his great native ability, untiring industry, and stern integrity. In January, 1798, he entered upon the office of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, which he held for six years, when he became Chief Justice of that court till 1825. His decisions were marked by extensive learning, great acumen, and power of logical analysis; and his strictly logical mind and great personal dignity, coupled with his other qualities, made him one of the great historical characters of the New Jersey bench. Among his many excellent qualities, he was especially esteemed and admired for his keen sense of justice, his consideration and loyalty. He died in New Brunswick in 1831.
The twenty-eighth governor of New Jersey, George C. Ludlow, was
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born in Milford, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, April 6, 1830. He entered Rutgers College at the age of sixteen, graduating in the class of 1850, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1853, and engaged in prac- tice at New Brunswick. He soon won the confidence and esteem of all who came in contact with him, by his undoubted integrity and devotion to the interests of his clients. An intense Democrat, he took a conspicuous part in politics, but never held office until 1876, when he was elected to the State Senate. Declining a renomination, he became in 1880 the Democratic nominee for the governorship, was elected that year, and came into office January 18, 1881, his term expiring January 21, 1884. He died December 18, 1900.
Woodbridge Strong, a son of Professor Theodore Strong, was born in Clinton, Oneida county, New York, February 21, 1827, his father at that time being professor of mathematics and natural philosophy at Ham- ilton College. Soon after his birth, his father became a member of the faculty of Rutgers College, occupying the same chair, and was one of the most distinguished mathematicians in the country. Young Strong entered Rutgers College in 1847, also commenced the study of law with John Van Dyke, of New Brunswick, afterwards a justice of the Supreme Court. During the gold fever of 1849 he went to California, but returned to New Jersey, where he resumed his studies and was admitted to the bar in 1852. He was judge of the Middlesex County Court of Common Pleas from 1874 to 1879, and again from 1896 to 1906.
RUTGERS COLLEGE FORD DORMITORY-ENGINEERING BUILDING
CHAPTER XIX. INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION.
RUTGERS COLLEGE.
Rutgers College, originally called Queen's College in honor of Queen Charlotte, was founded by royal charter November 10, 1766, twenty years after the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, had been founded on the one side, and twelve years after King's College, now Columbia University, had been founded on the other side. The Dutch people, members of the Reformed Church from the Netherlands, were not quite willing to devote their zeal for learning and their pride of institutions to either existing college. The movement for a foundation of their own had begun early in the century with the Rev. Theodorus Jacobus Frelinghuysen; it was substantially fostered by his son, the Rev. Theodorus Frelinghuysen; and it came to accomplishment espe- cially through the efforts of the Rev. Jacobus Rutsen Hardenbergh, the Rev. Johannes Leydt, and the elder, Hendrick Fisher. The college apparently did not begin work at once, nor was its location at once determined, nor is there extant any copy of the charter of 1766. In 1770, March 20, the second charter was granted, differing in only slight degree from the first. It was granted by George III. through William Franklin, Governor of the Province of New Jersey. A copy of this charter of 1770, printed in the very year of its granting, is in possession of the college. It is very full and explicit in its provisions. It was so wisely and liberally drawn that very few and slight amendments have seemed necessary or desirable in the one hundred and fifty years since. The occasion of its granting is stated to be a petition from the ministers and elders of the Dutch Reformed churches presented to William Frank- lin, Esq., Governor of the Province of New Jersey, and expressing the need of the churches for an educated ministry and the need of an institu- tion at home to provide the appropriate education. The charter, there- fore grants "that there be a College, called Queen's College, erected in our said Province of New Jersey, for the education of youth in the learned languages, liberal and useful arts and sciences." The words thus expressing the original purpose of the College are so broad and far- reaching that, unchanged, they cover the ideals and activities of the twentieth century college. The charter creates a corporate body of forty-one members, twelve of whom shall be a quorum, and makes such board of trustees self-perpetuating, all its members to be elected by the board itself, except the Governor, Chief-Justice and Attorney-General of the Province (later the State) of New Jersey, who shall always be members ex-officio. The charter appoints by name the original thirty-
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eight other trustees. The Governor, it is provided, shall be president at meetings of the trustees if he is in attendance. Ample powers are given by this admirable charter for all appropriate management of mat- ters of property and instruction, for granting of degrees, and use of the college seal.
In 1781 certain amendments to the charter were ordained by the Legislature of New Jersey. For one thing, an oath of allegiance to the government of New Jersey was substituted for the original oath of alle- giance to the crown. For another thing, an original provision restricting the number of ordained ministers among the trustees to one-third of the whole number was repealed. In 1799, by act of the Legislature of New Jersey, the act of 1781 was repealed, but its provisions in effect were reenacted, together with further amendment that oath to support the Constitution of the United States be required of each trustee on his taking office. In 1825, by act of November 30, the charter was amended by the substitution of the name "Rutgers College" for "Queen's College," and the corporate title was ordained to be "The Trustees of Rutgers College in New Jersey." In 1859 the charter received, by act of the Legislature, a further amendment, providing a more liberal property- holding right than that originally conferred. More recent general laws of the State have made such right entirely unlimited. In 1920 an amendment was adopted removing from the charter any aspect of it which might be regarded as sectarian.
The motto of the College is not contained in the charter. It was adopted at a very early time, however, having been suggested, no doubt, by the Rev. John H. Livingston, who returned from the University of Utrecht in 1770 and became at once a leader in church and college affairs. "Sol Justitiae Illustra Nos" is the motto of the University of Utrecht. The motto of Rutgers (Queen's) College was made "Sol Justitiae et Occidentem Illustra."
1770-1825-The trustees created by the charter, in session at Hacken- sack, May 17, 1771, decided to locate the College at New Brunswick. Hackensack desired the College, and was strongly advocated as the place for it. New Brunswick was chosen apparently because of a some- what larger subscription obtained there, and because of its greater con- venience to an expected constituency among the German churches in Pennsylvania.
College work, it seems, was actually begun in November, 1771, under Frederick Frelinghuysen, a graduate of Princeton, Class of 1770. Soon associated with him and succeeding him was John Taylor. They were called tutors. Both became colonels in the American army, both were trusted counselors of the American leaders, and yet both held steadfast relation to the College during the troubled years of war. While they were absent in the field or in council, late in the decade, John Bogart,
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an earlier graduate of Queen's, maintained the work of instruction. At times the work, driven from New Brunswick by the British occupation, was located at Hillsborough, now Millstone, or at North Branch, now Readington. The students were drilled as a military company, that they might be ready for active service, if called. Probably Dr. Harden- bergh presided in some measure, from the first, over the destinies of the infant College, as he had been forward in its organizing, for the diploma of Simeon De Witt, Class of 1776, bears his name as president.
For more than fifty years the College had little growth, and at times its doors were closed. Yet notable men presided over it and taught in it, and men of later distinction were graduated from it during the period. Dr. Hardenbergh's informal and formal service as president continued until 1790; after him the Rev. William Linn, D. D., was acting president until 1794, and from 1794 to 1810 the Rev. Ira Condict, D. D., served in the same way. Then came the presiding in full office of Dr. John H. Livingston, from 1810 to 1825. A distinguished professor of the early part of the nineteenth century was Robert Adrain, LL. D., the great mathematician. Before the eighteenth century had closed, among the graduates were Peter Kimble, President of the Council of New Jersey ; James Schureman, United States Senator; Simeon De Witt, Chief Geographer of the American Army, Surveyor-General and Chancellor of the State of New York; Jeremiah Smith, member of Congress, Governor of New Hampshire, and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of New Hampshire; Pierre Van Cortlandt, member of Congress ; Samuel Kenne- day Jennings, President of Washington College; John Frelinghuysen, Brigadier-General ; and many clergymen of the Reformed Dutch Church and other denominations. In the early part of the nineteenth century some of the distinguished graduates were Jacob Green, Professor at Princeton; Edward Mundy, successively Lieutenant-Governor, Attor- ney-General, and Justice of the Supreme Court of Michigan ; Charles C. Stratton, Governor of New Jersey; Robert B. Croes, D. D., of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and Samuel Judah, Speaker of the House of Representatives of Indiana, and United States District Attorney.
1825-1850-The name of the College was changed by the trustees from Queen's to Rutgers in 1825, in honor of Colonel Henry Rutgers, "as a mark of their respect for his character and in gratitude for his numerous services rendered the Reformed Church." Colonel Rutgers was a resident of New York City, the first president of the Board of Direction of the Church, and a foremost supporter of all good causes. After the College received his name he followed earlier donations to it "with a gift of $5,000. In the same year (1825) the Rev. Philip Milledoler, D. D., became president ; he served until 1840, when the Honorable A. Bruyn Hasbrouck, LL. D., succeeded him, to serve until 1850. From
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the beginning of this period until the present day Rutgers has never closed its doors. During the period, the second quarter of the nineteenth century, the College naturally had more vigorous growth, gained a larger faculty, added buildings and graduated increased classes. Perhaps most famous among the professors were Theodore Strong, LL. D., the great mathematician, and Alexander McClelland, D. D., the great teacher of languages. The life and service of a college are largely defined by the men it trains, and the list of graduates of this time deserves more rehearsing than space permits. Near the mid-point is the cele- brated class of 1836, including Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, United States Senator and Secretary of State; Joseph P. Bradley, Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States; William A. Newell, member of Congress, Governor of New Jersey, and Governor of Washington ; Henry Waldron, member of Congress; Cortlandt Parker, president of the American Bar Association; George W. Coakley, Professor in the University of New York, and Alexander Brown, the banker. In other classes we find Peter Vredenburgh, Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey ; John Romeyn Brodhead, the historian ; George W. Brown, Chief Justice of the Supreme Bench of Baltimore; Robert H. Pruyn, United States Minister to Japan; Theodoric R. Westbrook, Justice of the Supreme Court of New York; Garnet B. Adrain, John W. Ferdon, William S. Kenyon and Augustus A. Hardenbergh, members of Con- gress ; Charles H. Van Wyck, United States Senator ; George H. Sharpe, Major-General, U. S. A., and Surveyor of Customs, Port of New York, and Henry R. Baldwin, physician. Well known ministers of denomina- tions other than the Reformed Church are in the list in no small num- ber, such as Hugh Hamill, for thirty-six years principal of Lawrence- ville School, and Eugene A. Hoffman, dean of the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church, New York City. Especially note- worthy is the roll of graduates of this time entering the ministry of the Reformed Church-pastors, missionaries, professors. It is a long list; a few names, of most recent memory, perhaps, suggest the part that Rutgers has played in the service and leadership of the "Dutch Church": John Forsyth, Professor at Princeton and Rutgers, Professor and Chaplain at West Point; Talbot W. Chambers, of the Collegiate Church ; David D. Demarest and John De Witt, of the New Brunswick Seminary ; William H. Steele, James A. H. Cornell and Cornelius E. Crispell; William J. R. Taylor and Abraham R. Van Nest, David Cole, Goyn and John V. N. Talmadge, Paul D. Van Cleef, Charles Scott, president of Hope College ; John L. See and J. Romeyn Berry, Ezra W. and Joseph Collier, Samuel D. and Joseph Scudder, T. Romeyn Beck, John Gaston and William H. Ten Eyck. One, the Rev. John F. Mesick, D. D., LL. D., of the class of 1834, died in 1915, at the age of 102, having
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been for some years the oldest living graduate of any college or uni- versity.
1850-1875-In 1850 the Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, LL. D., became president. He was distinguished in the life not only of College, but also of Church and State. He was president of the American Bible Society and he was candidate for Vice-President of the United States with Henry Clay, candidate for President. He served until 1863, and was succeeded by William H. Campbell, D. D., LL. D., who was called from professorship in the Theological Seminary and who served the longest term of any president of the College thus far, nearly twenty years, retiring in 1882. During the third quarter of the nineteenth cen- tury there was still marked progress in the College life and usefulness.
It was natural that at this time, as even more in recent years, the study of science should have peculiar advancement and claim a place nearer to that always accorded the classics. The leader in this scientific development, and at the same time a great friend of the classics, was George H. Cook, Ph. D., LL. D., who was professor from 1853 until his death in 1889, and vice-president of the College from 1864, and who as a man and scientist rendered incalculable service to the State of New Jersey.
The marked event in the College history in this connection is the organizing of the Scientific School and the declaring of the Trustees of Rutgers College, maintaining such school, to be the State College for the Benefit of Agriculture and the Mechanic Arts. This action of the State was based upon the so-called Morrill act of the Congress of the United States, 1862. Perhaps it did not seem at the time or for some years after to be of very great importance to the College. But as the years have passed, and the national and State emphasis has increased, the relation has proved to be a vital and most valuable one, greatly increasing the College's power and field of usefulness, as like relation has been vastly fruitful in every other State of the Union. A Board of Visitors was created, its members to be appointed by the Governor of the State. Among the professors of the time were Dr. Howard Crosby, Dr. David Murray and DeWitt T. Reiley; also Drs. T. Sandford Doolittle and Jacob Cooper, and Edward A. Bowser, whose service extended far beyond the period. More buildings were erected, and the line of graduates was unbroken. There can be only most moderate suggestion of the men who were sent forth: Judge Richard L. Larre- more, Governor George C. Ludlow, Judge Henry W. Bookstaver, Justice Jonathan Dixon, Justice Abram Q. Garretson, Vice-President Garret A. Hobart, various Congressmen, various officers in the Federal army ; Edward G. Janeway, the foremost physician of his time; Edward A: Bowser, the mathematician; Alexander Johnston, professor at Prince- ton ; many ministers, among them Rev. Drs. Joachim Elmendorf, Charles
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I. Shepard, Edward P. Terhune, William Irvin and John B. Thompson ; Edward W. and Samuel E. Appleton, of the Episcopal Church ; Cornelius L. Wells, William R. Duryee, Silas D. and John Scudder, John B. Drury, Egbert Winter, Charles W. Fritts, Francis A. Horton, Charles H. Pool, Judges G. D. W. Vroom, William H. Vrendenburg, and Wil- lard P. Voorhees; George William Hill, foremost scholar of his genera- tion in astronomical mathematics. A large proportion of the graduates of the time are, of course, living, among them Albert S. Cook, head of the Department of English at Yale University ; Ichizo Hattori, Governor of Hiogo Ken, Japan, and vice-president of the University of Tokio; John C. Smock, the geologist; Dr. J. Preston Searle, dean of the New Brunswick Seminary ; and Dr. Graham Taylor, of the Chicago Seminary, besides the many in the pastorate and missionary service of our own and other churches. A remarkable number are in the very successful prac- tice of other professions and in most important legal, commercial and banking relations.
1875-1900-As the last quarter of the nineteenth century began, Dr. Campbell was still serving as president. At his retiring in 1882, Merrill E. Gates, Ph. D., LL. D., succeeded him and served until 1890. In 1891 Austin Scott, Ph. D., LL. D., became president, and his service in the office continued until 1906. Steady growth marked the period, a developing of the corps of instruction and of the students in attend- ance.
A marked feature of the time was the new emphasis by College, State and Nation on the State relation to the College. The national govern- ment entered upon a much larger and more generous scheme of educa- tional work through such State institutions. Great State universities and colleges were springing up, and the State of New Jersey entered into new and enlarged cooperation with its College. The College itself seemed to come to new and clearer and higher conception of the duty and opportunity given it by the relation existing. Among the professors there were: Dr. Cook, until his death in 1889; Dr. Doolittle, until his death in 1893; Dr. Cooper, whose service continued into the twentieth century. until his death in 1904; Dr. Bowser, whose active service also continued until 1904, and emeritus relation until his recent death ; Dr. Carl Meyer, from 1869, until his death in 1901 ; Francis A. Wilber, from 1879, until his death in 1891; Dr. George W. Atherton, whose service was from 1869 to 1882, and Dr. Peter T. Austen, from 1877 to 1890. The graduates of this period are to-day widely scattered in the various pro- fessions and industries of our own and other lands. Naturally, out of the increased study of science, characteristic of the time and of colleges and universities in general, the number of those in scientific and indus- trial vocations has especially increased. While, therefore, we find
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among the graduates of these recent years men in political life like Foster M. Voorhees, some time Governor of New Jersey, and M. Linn Bruce, some time Lieutenant-Governor and later Justice of the Supreme Court of New York, and men in the ministry such as Rev. Drs. Paul F. Sutphen, of Cleveland; William R. Taylor, of Rochester; William P. Merrill and Henry E. Cobb, of New York; William I. Chamberlain, of New Brunswick, and Professors John H. Gillespie and John H. Raven, of the New Brunswick Seminary, and a host of our pastors and mis- sionaries, and physicians and lawyers in distinguished practice, the leaders of great enterprises in the scientific and business world are conspicuous, as Leonor F. Loree, president of the Delaware & Hudson Company, and Charles L. Edgar, president of the Edison and other light- ing companies of Boston. Men in educational work also are in emphatic evidence, as the late Egbert LeFevre, LL. D., dean of the Medical School of New York University ; the late Edward B. Voorhees, D. Sc., director of New Jersey Experimental Stations ; John E. Hill, C. E., pro- fessor of Civil Engineering in Brown University ; J. Livingston R. Mor- gan, Ph. D., professor of Physical Chemistry in Columbia University ; Frank R. Van Horn, Ph. D., professor of Geology in Case School of Applied Science, and many others.
1900-1920-In the twentieth century thus far, Rutgers has had great advancement. Dr. Scott continued as president until 1906, though on leave of absence during 1905-6, and the Rev. W. H. S. Demarest, D. D., LL. D., called from professorship in the New Brunswick Seminary, has been president since 1906, the first graduate of the College in that office. During the twenty years the campus has been extended and the College farm greatly enlarged, seven new buildings have been built, the course of instruction has been broadened and strengthened, the faculty has been enlarged, the number of undergraduates has increased to nearly 700. Short courses in agriculture have been established; a summer session is maintained, and extension courses are widely given. An affiliated college for women was founded in 1918.
The buildings now are: Old Queen's College, whose cornerstone was laid in 1809; the Alumni and Faculty House (formerly the Presi- dent's House), built in 1841-42; Van Nest Hall (1845), accommodating the English and Oratory, the Y. M. C. A. and the Philoclean Society ; Daniel S. Schanck Observatory (1865); Geological Hall (1871), with its museum and departments of Geology and Physics; Kirkpatrick Chapel (1873), with also the Fine Arts room and president's office ; New Jersey Hall (1889), with the Experiment Station and Departments of Agriculture, Botany and Biology ; Winants Hall (1890), the dormitory ; Robert F. Ballantine Gymnasium (1894) ; the Ceramics Building (1902) ; Ralph Voorhees Library (1903); the Short Course Building (1906) ;
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the Engineering Building (1908-9); the Chemistry Building (1910) ; and the Entomology Building (1911) ; the Agricultural Building (1914) ; the John Howard Ford Dormitory (1914).
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