History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 123

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140

USA > New Jersey > Sussex County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 123
USA > New Jersey > Warren County > History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 123

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Sylvester C. Sunth.

November, 1875,

November, 1878.

Davhl Mixsell .. November, 1875.

November, 1880.

Lovi Dewitt Taylor

February, 1876.

February, 1879.

Charles A. Scott

February, 1870.

June, 1879.

John Sheppard

November, 1876. , 1876.

Jacob S. Stewart

February, 1×47.

William A. Stryker

Inne, 1878.

Nicholus Harris.

November, 1878.

S. Pierson Couk

February, 1878.

G. Alla'rt Angle

June, 1879.

Augustus HI. Dellicker.

February, 1870,

Daniel Vliet ..

February, 1879.

Marshall R. Smith

February, 1580.

David Bartron. November, IAM).

Joseph M. Roseberry

November, 1880,

Martin J. Youngblood

.February, 18-1.

III .- FIRST COURTS HIELD IN WARREN.

GENERAL QUARTER SESSIONS OF THE PEACE.

The first Court of General Quarter Sessions of the Peace in and for the county of Warren was held at Belvidere on the second Tuesday in February, 1825; present, Thomas Stewart, Charles Carter, William Mccullough, William Kennedy, Robert Thompson, Job Johnson, and others, justices. Proclamation being made, the court opened in due form of law. The grand jury were duly elected and sworn as follows:

Lambert Bowmao, Henry M. Winter, Jeremy Mackey, John Connelly, George R. King, James Davison, Jr., John S. Maxwell, James Ramsay, Daniel Vliet, Joseph Carter, Henry Miller, William Richey, Caleb H. Valentine, Jacob Day, Ross Crave, Conrad Davison, Jr., George Creve- ling, Abraham Smith, John Stinson, Benjamin T. Hunt, Israel Swayzo.

The first act of the court was the licensing the fol- lowing persons as innkeepers, who were assessed ten dollars each besides the constables' fees : Joseph Bar- ton, William Hibbler, John Carling, John P. Ribble, Elisha Bird, James Anderson, Jr., Joseph Drake, Daniel Van Buskirk, John T. Rarick, John Fine, Jr., John Warne, Jr., Joseph Roseberry.

The following speaks well for the moral status of the county at that period :

" The Grand Jury came into court, and say that they have no present- ments to make or Indictments to offer to the Court, whereupon they were discharged with the thanks of the Court.

" Court adjourned sine die."

INFERIOR COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

The first session of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas in and for the county of Warren was held in Bel- videre, Feb. 8, 1825, by Thomas Stewart, Charles Car- ter, William Mccullough, William Kennedy, Jabez Gwinnup, Robert Thompson, Job Johnson, John Kinney, Jr., and Robert C. Thompson, Esqs., judges. The attorneys present were Saxton and Bartles, Charles and Morris Croxall, Job S. Halsted, Phineas B. Kennedy, E. H. Swayze, William H. Sloan, Charles Lewis, John 1. Wurts, Jacob S. Thomson, Thomas C. Ryerson.

OYER AND TERMINER.

The first Court of Oyer and Terminer and General Jail Delivery for the county was held at Washington, on the first Tuesday in June, 1825, by Hon. Charles Ewing, chief justice of the Supreme Court, assisted

February, 1860. February, 1852. February, 1856. February, 1855. February, 185-1.

February, 1867.

November, 1867. February, Iris. November, 1867. November, 1868.

February, 1870. June, 1871.

November, IST2.

June, 1876.

November, 1578. June, 1879.

As Counselor. May, 1829. Muy, 1830.

September, 1838. February, 1812. May, 1844. October, 1846.

Henry MeMillert ..

February, 1841.

April, 1847. January, 1848.

Georgo M. Robesont

.July, 1x).

Bartlett C. Frust. Martin Wyckoll

November, 1863.

George M. Shipman June, 1873. Henry S. Harris Juno, 1×73.

November, 1879.

Charles A. Lott

February, 1880.

November, 1825.

492

WARREN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

by Thomas Stewart, Robert Thompson, John John- son, William Kennedy, and Charles Carter, Esqs. The grand jury empaneled consisted of

Abraham Bidleman, Lefford Hanghawout, John Clarke, Jonathan Robins, Samuel S. Williamson, Robert D. Stewart, Isaac Shipman, James Egbert, Adam Runkle, Jacob Taylor, Jesse Barber, Jr., Isaac Hughes, Thomas Scureman, Thomas Barton, David Reid, Joseph Anderson, Wil- liam Thompson, Kitchen Hartpence, Samuel Carhart, Abner Parke, Matthew Lowry, Elias Mushback.

No causes were tried at this term. Several persons were indicted and held for trial at the November term, 1825. This term was held at Belvidere by Jus- tice William Russell, of the Supreme Court, and the same justices of the peace mentioned, with the addi- tion of William McCullough and Job Johnson, Esqs. One indictment for burglary was tried,-the jury bringing in a verdict of "Not guilty,"-several cases of assault and battery were handed over to the Court of General Quarter Sessions, and one case of " mis- demeanor" was sent to the Supreme Court.

Gabriel H. Ford held the sessions of Oyer and Ter- miner for the June term, 1826, at Hope, in Hope township. His associates were Robert Thompson, Charles Carter, Job Johnson, and John Summers, Esqs. The names of no attorneys are given in the records of these initial courts except that of William C. Morris, prosecutor.

The first term of the circuit was held June 4, 1838. Hon. Joseph C. Hornblower, justice of the Supreme Court, presided. The attorneys were Martin Ryer- son, William C. Morris, John M. Sherrerd, Jacob W. Miller, William L. Dayton.

IV .- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

JOHN PATERSON BRYAN MAXWELL was born at Flemington, in Hunterdon County, Sept. 3, 1804. His father was Hon. George C. Maxwell, who represented this State in Congress for several terms. He gradu- ated at Nassau Hall in 1823; studied law with Hon. Joseph C. Hornblower, chief justice, at Newark ; was admitted as attorney at May term, 1827 ; as counselor at May term, 1830. Sept. 11, 1834, he was married to Sarah Browne, of Philadelphia, but, losing his wife October 17th in the same year, he never remarried, and remained an inmate of the family of his brother- in-law Judge William P. Robeson. In 1836 he was elected to the Congress of the United States on the Whig ticket; was renominated on the same ticket in 1838, the term of the "Broad Seal" controversy, but was not awarded his seat, and was again elected in 1840.

Soon after his admission to the bar he opened a law- office in Belvidere, in the house of John Nichol, nearly opposite the Warren House, now occupied by his widow; afterwards he built the office now occu- pied by S. Sherrerd, on Greenwich Street. About the time of his election to Congress he became the editor of the Belvidere Apollo, and published it from the office on Front Street now occupied by Esquire

De Witt. He continued to hold a more or less inti- mate relation with that paper until his death.

As a lawyer he was exceedingly well read and an excellent counselor, but his retiring habits and long- continued official absence from home prevented him from ever establishing a very extensive practice. As a member of Congress, though no speechmaker, he was a particularly efficient committee-man, and one of the most useful men ever sent from this State.

In 1836 he joined the Presbyterian Church at Bel- videre, and was ever after one of its most liberal supporters and faithful and consistent members.

He died Nov. 14, 1845, and is buried at Belvidere, in the cemetery donated to the Presbyterian Church by Judge Robeson and himself, by the side of his wife, who was the first to be laid there.

JOHN MAXWELL SHERRERD was born Sept. 6, 1794, at Pleasant Valley, on the Pohatcong Creek, a short distance below the village of Washington, the place where his grandfather had settled on his emi- gration to this country. He was the son of Samuel Sherrerd and Ann Maxwell, both natives of this county.

He received his preparatory education at Basking Ridge, in Somerset County, at a school of some note in those days, of which Rev. Dr. Finley was master. From this school he entered the College of New Jer- sey, and graduated from Nassau Hall in 1812. He commenced his legal studies with his uncle, Hon. George Maxwell, then a member of Congress, residing at Flemingtou, in Hunterdon County, but, his uncle dying during his clerkship, he continued there in the office of Hon. Charles Ewing, afterwards chief justice of New Jersey, at Trenton.

He was admitted as an attorney at November term, 1816, and immediately afterwards formed a copartner- ship in the practice of law with another uncle, William Maxwell, at Flemington. This connection was of short continuance, for in 1818 he formed another partnership, this time for life. May 19th in this year he was married to Sarah Browne, of Philadelphia, and returned to Pleasant Valley, where his father had provided him with a dwelling for his family and an office for his practice. His wife died in 1844, leaving him a widower for more than a quarter of a century.

On the erection of the new county of Warren he was appointed the first surrogate, and in 1826 he removed to Belvidere, where he resided until his death. While attending carefully to the duties of his office, he did not neglect the practice of his profession, but contin- ued to give it close attention in the courts other than those of which he was the recording officer.

At that time communication with the State capital was not as convenient as it is now, and most of the business of the Supreme Court was transacted by the lawyers residing at Trenton. In consequence of this arrangement, he did not apply for admission as coun- selor until 1831, and was admitted as such in the February term of that year.

David A. Difence

493

BENCH AND BAR OF WARREN COUNTY.

During his entire life he continued in the active practice of his profession, and was for a number of years the leading member of the bar in the county, being engaged in almost every case that came up for trial. He was noted for sharpness in examining wit- nesses and for attention to the interests of his clients, often at the cost of lively encounters with his adver- saries.

He died May 26, 1871, and is buried at Belvidere. He was beloved and respected by all who knew him.

SAMUEL SHERRERD is the son of John MI. Sher- rerd and Sarah Browne. He was born April 25, "after the main body of the tribe were exiled the few 1819, his parents then residing at Pleasant Valley, who fondly lingered until the outbreak of 1755, when now in Washington township. He removed with they were hunted like wild beasts of the forest, ever them to Belvidere in 1826; graduated at Princeton in found a generous welcome at his door. Robert Read- ing Depue, of Stroudsburg, is the sole surviving rep- resentative of this branch of the family in the Mini- sink."* 1836; studied law with Judge Henry D. Maxwell at Easton, Pa., and was admitted to the bar there in 1842.

After engaging in other business in Virginia and Pennsylvania, he practiced law for several years at Scranton, l'a., and returned to Belvidere in 1868. - In 1873 he was admitted as an attorney in New Jersey ; in 1874 was appointed as president judge of the Com- mon Pleas of Warren County for the unexpired term of Hon. James M. Robeson, who had resigned that office. Hle is residing at Belvidere and engaged in practice, though, having for so long a time been occu- pied with other matters, he has not sought or attained any large share of professional business.

CALEB H. VALENTINE .- Among the most promi- nent men in the legal profession at an carly day ranked Judge Caleb H. Valentine. He was eminently a self-made man, and, although he had few of the advantages of the present day, his decisions are quoted in many of the statutes of the State. He never read law with an attorney, but purchased books and pursued his studies at home. He served as jus- tice of the peace for many years, and was appointed judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was also a judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals. Among his notable decisions was one on the ownership of riparian lands. He held that the State owned them, and was opposed by all the judges on the bench. The case was finally carried to the Supreme Court of the United States, where Judge Valentine's opinion was sustained. He was a member of the State Legisla- ture in 1821-24, a State senator in 1827-30. He died in 1861, aged seventy-four.

HON, DAVID AYRES DEPUE .- " Nicholas Depue was a Huguenot French Protestant of the period of the religious wars in that country, who, with many others, tled from France to Holland in the year 1685, when Louis XIV. exposed them to papal vengeance by revoking the Edict of Nantes.

"Soon after this date, Mr. Depue emigrated with others to America, lived a short time at Esopus (now As he grew ohler, however, he felt less inclination for the rough and tumble of professional life, and de- voted his attention more to office business. He had carly taken a decided stand in religious matters, and as he advanced in life he became more and more de- voted to benevolent and Christian enterprises. HIe preferred the quiet of his own family and the pleasures of social intercourse to the turmoils of polities, and Kingston), Ulster Co., N. Y., and came to the Mini- sink in 1725, where he purchased a large portion of the land in which the present town of Shawnee is situated, of the Minsi Indians, in 1727, and likewise the two large islands in the Delaware,-Shawano and Manwałamink. Ile also purchased the same prop- erty of William Allen in 1733. Few communities can lay claim to a family of greater worth and re- never held office except as surrogate; for the same , spectability, and fewer still can witness a reputation reason, he never sought or held a judicial appoint- ment.

such as this family possessed, and maintained untar- nished for five successive generations,

" For nearly half a century Mr. Depue and other members of his family continned in undisturbed friendship with the Indians of the Minisink, and

The progenitor of the Depue family from whom the subject of this sketch traces his descent-a branch of the same family that settled at Esopus-was Ben- jamin Depue, who was born at Esopus (now Kingston), Ulster Co., N. Y., in 1727; removed and settled at Lower Mount Bethel, Northampton Co., Pa., in 1765; was commissary during the Revolutionary war, and died at Mount Bethel in 1811. Ilis wife was Catherine, daughter of Col. Abraham Van Campen, who was appointed a judge of the Court of Common Pleas of the county of Sussex, N. J., in 1761, and for many years honorably filled that position.

Abraham, the son of Benjamin Depue, resided at Mount Bethel, where he reared a family of eleven children. One daughter, Susan, is the mother of Abraham Depue Hazen, third assistant postmaster- general, and one son, the father of our subject, is Maj. Benjamin Depue, born Sept. 1, 1796, who is a resident of Belvidere, N. J., where he settled with his family in 1840. He married Elizabeth, daughter of Moses Ayres, of Mount Bethel, a woman of rare qual- ities, to whose early training and influence Judge Depue attributes much of his success in life.

David Ayres Depue was born at Mount Bethel on the 27th of October, 1826. After a thorough prepara- tory course at the school of the Rev. John Vander- veer, D.D., at Easton, Pa., he entered Princeton Col-

. The Delaware Water Gap: Its Scones, Its Legends and Early llis- tory. Rly L. W. Bronihead.

494

WARREN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

lege in 1843, from which he graduated in the class of 1846. Immediately after his graduation he began the study of law in the office of John M. Sherrerd, Esq., at Belvidere, Warren Co., was admitted to the bar as an attorney in 1849, and began the practice of law at Belvidere, where, by his familiarity with the law, his perseverance and ability, he soon won a place in the front rank of the profession. In 1866 he was ap- pointed a justice of the Supreme Court of New Jer- sey by Governor Marcus L. Ward, and upon the ex- piration of his term, in 1873, was reappointed for a second term by Governor Joel Parker, and was again reappointed for a third term in 1880 by Governor George B. McClellan. In 1874 he received the degree of LL.D. from Rutgers College, New Jersey. The same year he was, by the appointment of the Legis- lature, associated with Chief-Justice Beasley and Cortland Parker, Esq., in the revision of the laws of New Jersey. In 1880, Princeton College, his Alma Mater, also conferred upon him the degreee of LL.D. His circuit at first embraced the counties of Essex and Union, but the great increase of population and of judicial labor in the circuit occasioned a division of the cireuit, and now Essex County is by itself a judicial district. The judge, on his appointment to the bench, removed from Belvidere to Newark, in the county of Essex, where he now resides.

For the period of upwards of thirty years Judge Depue has pursued not only the practice, but also the science, of the law, and has won distinction as a judge in a State prolific in able jurists. Possessing in an eminent degree a judicial mind, he brings to his decisions and opinions rare knowledge and under- standing united with the greatest care and clearness of statement. As a dispenser of justice he stands equally high, and is aecounted the soul of judicial honor and purity. The fact that his second and third reappointments to his judicial position were made by Democratic executives-he being a Republican in politics-attests the excellence of his record as a judge.

In private life Judge Depue is distinguished for the same modesty and uprightness which characterize him in the performance of his official duties. Blended in his character is a keen appreciation of humor, and over all he wears the graceful and fitting garment of a courteous affability. His first wife was Mary Van Allen, a daughter of John Stuart, a native of Scot- land, who came to America and settled in Warren County in 1811, and was the first cashier of the Bel- videre Bank, which position he retained from the or- ganization of the bank until he resigned, in 1854.

Of this union Judge Depue has one child living, Eliza Stuart Depue. For his second wife he married Delia A., daughter of Oliver E. Slocum, Esq., of West Granville, Mass. The children of this union arc Sherrerd, Mary Stuart, and Frances Adelia.

JOSEPH VLIET was born in Franklin township, Warren Co., N. J., Feb. 16, 1818. He was the son of

Daniel Vliet, and a grandson of Garrett Vliet, major- general of New Jersey militia, and whose division performed escort duty on the occasion of the visit of Gen. Lafayette to Trenton, in 1825. The family was among the early settlers of the Musconetcong valley, and several of his ancestors participated in the war of the Revolution. He received his early education in the schools at home, and in 1845 entered the law-of- fice of Hon. A. G. Richey, where he commenced his preparation for the bar, to which he was admitted as an attorney Jan. 3, 1850, and in 1852 was appointed a master in Chancery. He was licensed as a eoun- selor in 1855, which entitled him to practice in the Supreme Courts. The same year he was appointed by Governor Price prosecutor of the pleas for Warren County, and held the position for the usual term of five years. After an interval of five years, during which time the position was filled by James M. Ko- beson, he was again appointed, in 1865, by Governor Randolph, and again, in 1870, by Governor Parker, and a fourth time, in 1875, by Governor Bedle. Dur- ing the long period that he filled the position of pros- ecutor of pleas he tried over twenty cases of homicide, noticeable among which was that of Rev. Jacob Har- den, convicted and executed for the murder of his wife. In this case he was assisted by James M. Ro- beson and the late Hon. William L. Dayton, attorney- general of the State. During his long service the great variety of criminal business of which he had charge was ably managed, and there is probably not an instance where an indictment of his preparing was quashed through a detect in the bill. After receiving his license as attorney, in 1850, he practiced his pro- fession for one year at Asbury, and then removed to Washington, where he resided until his death, which occurred Jan. 7, 1879.

Mr. Vliet was attorney for the First National Bank of Washington from the time of its organization, in 1864, until his decease, and was counsel for the Morris and Essex Railroad Company in Warren County during its construction, and until it was merged into the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad. In February, 1877, he was appointed law-judge of Warren County, which office he held at the time of his death. As a lawyer he ranked among the first in the county, and was highly estcemed by the members of the profession for his integrity of purpose in all causes over which he had control. As a citizen he was generous, charitable, sociable, and gentlemanly. Politically, he was a Democrat, although too deeply engrossed in and devoted to his profession to be an office-holder or an office-seeker, outside of his profes- sional appointments.

Mr. Vliet was well read in and conversant with local and national legislation, and always interested in all questions in any way affecting changes in the laws of his country. He was a promoter of all worthy objects in the vicinity where he resided, and always stood ready to fulfill the full duty of the citi-

495

BENCH AND BAR OF WARREN COUNTY.

zen. He was twiee married. His first wife was Chris- tiana, daughter of Jacob Creveling, of Bloomsbury, N. J., who died in 1872, leaving one son, Daniel, who studied law with his father, was admitted to the bar in February, 1879, and is now practicing law in Washington, occupying the office formerly occupied by his father, and one daughter, Anna t'. In 1874 he married Martha Voorhees Losey, of Pittsburgh, l'a. Mr. Vliet died Jan. 7, 1879.

JEMIEL G. SHIPMAN, son of David Shipman, of Hope, Warren Co., N. J., was born near Belvidere. The family is of Norman descent, its founder having been knighted by Henry III. of England (A.D. 1258), and granted the following coat of arms: Gules on a bend argent, betwixt six etoiles, or three pellets ; crest, a leopard se jant ar., spotted sa., resting his dexter paw on a ship's rudder az .; motto, "Non sibi sed orbi." The family seat was at Sarington, in Nottinghamshire.

In 1635, Edward Shipman, a refugee from religious persecution, came to America in company with Hugh Peters, John Davenport, and Theodore Fenwick, and settled at Saybrook, Conn. From him the American branches of the family are descended.

J. G. Shipman's grandfather was one of the first set- tlers of Morristown, N. J., assisting in the creetion of the first house built there. Three of his uncles served with credit throughout the Revolutionary war, and another relative, James Shipman, died aboard the okl "Jersey" prison-ship in Wallabout Bay. He graduated

at I'nion College in the class of 1842, which included also Clarkson N. Potter and William A. Beach, of the New York bar, entering soon after his graduation the law-office of William C. Morris, of Belvidere, remain- ing there until admitted to the bar, in 1844. On his admission he immediately began practice, his first cause having been the celebrated Carter and Park murder case, in which he was retained by the State, the opening of the prosecution falling to him. In the performance of this part he displayed such ability and thoroughiness in argument, and such taet and skill in management, as at once to attract the attention of the bar and the public, introducing him to a practice which, nurtured by the qualities that planted it, has grown to be one of the largest and most lucrative in the State. He has been engaged in a number of im- portant criminal cases, among which may be men- tioned the celebrated case of the Rev. J. S. Harden, convicted and hung for wife-murder, and that of the Frenchman, Peter Cucle, of Morristown, N. J. He practices extensively in all the courts of the State and of the United States, in one of the former of which he argued successfully, in 1861, a case of exceptional importance, involving the right of the State to tax the traffic in coal passing through it from another State. The high quality of his professional character may be inferred from the fact that he is counsel for the Pela- ware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad, the Morris Canal, the Belvidere National Bank, the Phillipsburg

496

WARREN COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.

National Bank, and other corporations. Few lawyers in the State manage so great a number of really im- portant cases as he, particularly in railroad litigation and Chancery practice. He is remarkable for what may be called the faculty of logical construction, en- abling him with surprising ease to master and unfold all the intricacies of a case from the simple develop- ments of the trial as it proceeds. This faculty-rare in all but the greatest lawyers, and not always pos- sessed by them-is in itself sufficient to stamp him as one of the foremost members of the profession. He is perhaps one of the ablest lawyers in the State, taken in all departments of the law.

Mr. Shipman is a pronounced and prominent Re- publican, and was for a long time a member of the Republican State Executive Committee. He is held in great esteem by his party. He has never sought office, but office may be said to have sought him. His political friends have frequently urged him to stand for the highest places in the State, particularly that of Governor, which, however, he has declined. As a po- litical speaker he is extremely effective. He is a mem- ber of the Presbyterian Church, of which he has been a ruling elder for over twenty years, and during most of this period superintendent or assistant superintend- eut of the Sabbath-school, and at all times a consistent and liberal supporter of church and school alike. He married, in 1845, a daughter of W. C. Morris, Esq., of Belvidere. His son, George M., is a member of the New Jersey bar, and since 1873 has been his law-part- ner, the firm being J. G. Shipman & Son. For one year, 1868, Mercer Beasly, Jr., son of Chief Justice Beasly, was his partner.

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History of Sussex and Warren counties, New Jersey, with Illustration and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 123

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford) Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck Number of Pages: 1140

Author: Snell, James P; Clayton, W. W. (W. Woodford)
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Peck
Number of Pages: 1140