History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 123

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224

USA > New Jersey > Middlesex County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 123
USA > New Jersey > Union County > History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men > Part 123

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ANDREW KIRKPATRICK .- His grandfather, Alex- ander Kirkpatrick, was a Scotch Presbyterian, who migrated first to Belfast, Ireland, and after a few years' residence there sailed for America with his family in 1736. He settled in Somerset County, about two miles west of Basking Ridge, and died in 1758. His second son was named David, who soon after the death of his father purchased the homestead of his brother, which, according to the law of that day, had descended to the eldest son.

David Kirkpatrick, as described in the memoir prepared by James Grant Wilson, " was a rigid Pres- byterian of the John Knox school, plain and simple in his habits, of strict integrity and sterling common sense, of great energy and self-reliance. He lived to attain his ninety-first year; educated with a view to his entering the ministry one son at the College of New Jersey ; know of at least six grandsons who were liberally educated, and at his death, in 1814, left a numerous posterity to bless his memory. His wife was Mary McEwan, a native of Argyleshire, who with her family crossed the Atlantic in the ship in which the Kirkpatricks took passage. She died in 1795."

Andrew, the third son of David, was born in Somer- set County, Feb. 17, 1756, and spent his boyhood there. He received the best education the times af- forded, and graduated at Princeton College in 1775, during the presidency of Dr. Witherspoon. He was accustomed to walk to and fro between his father's residence and Princeton, a distance of not less than thirty miles, carrying his homespun and home- made clothing in a small knapsack. His father had ' educated him with a special view to' the ministry in the Presbyterian Church, and after his graduation he commenced a course of theological studies with the Rev. Mr. Kennedy, a celebrated Scotch divine settled at Basking Ridge. A few months' study satisfied him that he ought not to enter the ministry, and he de-

termined to study the law. To do this he was obliged to relinquish any pecuniary support from his father, and to rely upon his own exertions. His mother pre- sented him with all her little hoard of ready money, consisting of a few pieces of gold, as she saw him, with many tears, her handsome son, and the pride of her heart, depart to carve out unaided his own career in the world.

Now in his twenty-first year, he resorted for a sup- port, and to procure resources for his future studies as a lawyer, to the business of teaching. He first became a tutor in the Taliaferro family of Virginia, in which Mr. Sonthard afterwards filled the same place, sub- sequently at Esopus, Ulster Co., N. Y., and then ob- tained the position of classical instructor in Rutgers College Grammar School. While thus engaged in teaching he pursued with diligence in his leisure hours the study of the law. Soon he entered the office of William Paterson, then an eminent counselor, as a regular student, and was licensed as an attorney in 1785, when he had attained the age of twenty-nine. He then took up his residence in Morristown, and succeeded in obtaining a respectable practice. Having the misfortune to lose his small library by fire in 1787, he returned to New Brunswick, where he con- tinued to reside during the remainder of his life.

His practice was soon considerable, a result which has always been attributed to his untiring industry and to his attention to his favorite maxim, that " Whatever is worth doing at all is worth doing well." He was naturally energetic, and capable of great ex- ertions, and his acquirements as a profound lawyer attest the high order of his intellect.

In the year 1792 he married Miss Jane Bayard, the beautiful daughter of Col. John Bayard, of Revolu- tionary memory, a distinguished citizen of Pennsyl- vania, who had removed a few years before to New Brunswick. Andrew Kirkpatrick and Jane Bayard were at the time of their marriage called the hand- somest couple in New Brunswick, and this tradition exists with many still living who knew them at a later period in their lives.

In 1797 he was elected one of the members of As- sembly from Middlesex County, and at the adjourned session in November of that year was appointed by the joint meeting one of the justices of the Supreme Court to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Justice Chetwood. Upon the death of Chief Justice Kinsey in 1803 he was elected by a Demo- cratic joint meeting chief justice, and having been twice afterwards re-elected, he sat as a judge of the Supreme Court twenty-seven years, a longer term than any other judge except Isaac Smith. He was at the bar about twelve years, but spent most of his profes- sional life on the bench. In 1820 he was elected a member of the Legislative Council, the constitution then in force admitting such a union of offices.

Mr. Ehner, in his "Reminiscences," from which most of the above has been taken, speaks thus of

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the appearance and character of Chief Justice Kirk- patrick :

" When I first became acquainted with him he had attained the full maturity of his powers, and was cer- tainly the most imposing judge I have ever seen. He was a very handsome man, with a white head of hair, still wearing a cue, but not requiring the powder with which, in accordance with the fashion, he had been accustomed to whiten it at an earlier day. He had a very fair complexion and a remarkably fine voice. He spoke and wrote correct and idiomatic English ; was a learned, and in the law of real estate a pro- foundly learned, lawyer ; a complete master of the ab- struse learning of Coke and the black-letter reporters, but not well versed in modern innovations, which he regarded as blemishes and not as improvements, and did not care to study.

"His opinions, as published in Pennington and Halsted's Reports, upon questions relating to the law of real estate deserve the most careful study of every lawyer aspiring to understand this most difficult branch of the law. They will be found to exhibit a fullness and accuracy of knowledge, a clearness of comprehension, and a justness of rea- soning which seenred him the confidence of the pro- fession, and entitled him to rank among the most eminent of American jurists."

From 1809 until his death he was one of the trus- tees of Princeton College, and seldom failed to attend the meetings of the board. He died in 1831.

LITTLETON KIRKPATRICK, son of Chief Justice Andrew Kirkpatrick and Jane, daughter of Col. John Bayard, of Revolutionary fame. Col. Bayard was a distinguished patriot and soldier, and held a high command during the war in the Pennsylvania line of the Continental army. After the war he was distinguished as a civilian, and held important offices in the State. He was also one of the ruling elders of the Presbyterian Church of New Brunswick, and the first president of the Humane Society of that city, which for more than half a century was a successful agency for the relief of the wants of hundreds of people.

Littleton Kirkpatrick graduated at Princeton Col- lege, and studied law in the city of Washington, D. C. He was admitted both as an attorney and counselor 1 in May, 1821. He was during one term a member of Congress, but he was no seeker of office, nor did he court popularity by the artifices of the politician. Possessing ample means, after he left Congress he withdrew to private life, but not to inactivity. He took a lively interest in several of the institutions of the city of his nativity ; was a trustee of Rutgers College at the time of his death and president of the Library Company ; gave liberally and in a wholly un- ostentatious manner to the poor, while his contribu- tions to particular religious societies, especially to the

Domestic Missionary Society of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, were large and constant. He died at Saratoga Aug. 15, 1859, and his funeral was attended in the Presbyterian Church at New Brunswick on the 17th.

JAMES S. NEVIUS was born in Somerset Connty in 1786, and graduated at Princeton College in 1816. Having studied law with Frederick Frelinghuysen, he was licensed as an attorney in 1819, admitted as a counselor in 1823, and called to be a sergeant-at-law in 1837, among the last upon whom that honor was conferred in the State.

In 1838, upon the death of Judge Ryerson, he was chosen by the joint meeting a justice of the Supreme Court, and was again appointed by the Governor in 1845, serving on the bench fourteen years.

He followed his profession in New Brunswick, where he continued to reside until after the expira- tion of his second term as judge in 1852, when he re- moved to Jersey City, where he died in 1859.

As a judge he was considered able and well informed. His ability was especially displayed in presiding at the circuits and in charging a jury. The characteristics which most endeared him to his per- sonal friends were those of the friend and companion. His impulses were generous, his sympathies easily excited, and he was ready in showing favors to others, often to his own detriment. His unfailing humor and love of anecdote made him the life of the social circle at home and abroad.

CHARLES KINSEY, a son of Chief Justice Kinsey, was associated in practice with Col. J. Warren Scott in New Brunswick prior to 1825. He was a good lawyer, in full practice, but apt to be rather prosy in his arguments. The following anecdote is told of a joke being perpetrated upon him by his partner, Col. Scott. The latter having made his argument left the court while Mr. Kinsey was speaking. It hap- pened that at the next term when he entered the court-room Mr. Kinsey was again on his feet. Scott, going near, lifted up his hands in mock astonishment, and exclaimed in a whisper loud enough to be heard and enjoyed by the court and bar, " What, Charley, at it yet ?"

GEORGE WOOD, of New Brunswick, had a very high reputation at the bar. He was born in Burling- ton County, graduated at Princeton in 1808, studied law with Richard Stockton, and was admitted to the bar in 1812. He immediately settled at New Bruns- wick in the practice of his profession, and it was not long before he rivaled his master, to whom in some respects he was superior. His intellect was of the highest order, entitling him to rank with Mr. Web- ster. Ilis power of analogical reasoning was very striking; the most difficult subject seemed to arrange itself in his mind in its true proportions. He had the faculty attributed to Lord Mansfield, of so stating a question as to make the mere statement a sufficient argument. He generally spoke from mere short

1 This was unusual, though it is shown by the record to be a fact.

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memoranda in pencil, and was so accurate in the use of language that what he said would when written down prove entirely correct.

It has been said that Mr. Wood was probably the : 1850. ablest man New Jersey has produced. His repu- tation, however, is mostly connected with the New York bar, for after a few years' practice here he re- moved to the city of New York, where he took rank among the leaders, and was the equal, if not the su- perior, of the best of them. Until his death in 1860 he was engaged in the most important causes, not only in New York but in other States. He was among the few eminent lawyers of the country who held no office. Upon the death of Judge Thomson in 1845 he was strongly recommended to President Tyler to take his place on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, and there can be no doubt he would have adorned the station.1 His political edu- cation was as a Federalist ; but he was not addicted to politics, and in later years was quite conservative.

JOSEPH WARREN SCOTT was a son of Dr. Moses Scott, of New Brunswick, whose memoir is given in the history of the medical profession in this work. He was the grandson of John Scott, who came to this country from Scotland at an early period, and was an elder in the old Neshaminy Presbyterian Church, in Bucks County, Pa. He removed to New Brunswick before the war of the Revolution, where his family was reared, and where he spent the remainder of his life as an eminent physician, and was prominent in ecclesiastical and civil matters in the town.

His son, Joseph Warren, was born in 1779, gradu- ated at Princeton in 1795, before he had attained the age of seventeen, studied medicine for a short time with his father, then studied theology ; but he soon abandoned the design of being either a physician or a minister, and determined to become a lawyer. He studied law with Gen. Frelinghuysen, and was ad- mitted as an attorney in 1801, as counselor in 1804, and was made a sergeant-at-law in 1816. He married soon after being admitted as a counselor. He attained to a large practice, was several times voted for as attor- ney-general and as judge of the Supreme Court, but declined every office except that of Presidential elec- tor in 1824 (when he voted for Gen. Jackson) and prosecutor of the pleas for the county of Middlesex. He was profoundly learned in the law and apt in tracing principles to their sources ; had a wonderfully retentive memory, and was often truly eloquent.

When John Van Dyke was prosecutor of the pleas for Middlesex County an indictment was found against John B. Berrian for perjury on purely technical grounds. He was convicted and fined one thousand dollars. The conviction was removed to the Supreme Court, and thence to the Court of Errors and Appeals, where the judgment of the Oyer and Terminer was reversed, through the efforts and legal acumen of Col.

Scott. The case is reported in the Supreme Court in 2 Zabriskie, 9, January Term, 1849, and in the Court of Errors and Appeals, 2 Zabriskie, 679, January Term,

The last time he appeared in court was as counsel for Donnelly (2 Dutch, 463) on his trial for murder in 1857, when he was nearly eighty years old. He had practically given up his profession nearly twenty years before this. He died in May, 1871. Rev. Mr. Jewett, in the address delivered at his funeral, said,-

" He was an accomplished scholar, well versed in the Latin classica, and accustomed frequently to correspond with his friends in the Latin language, even to the last year of his life. . . . Ile was a fine belles-lettres acholur, and had the ' pen of a ready writer.' He was well versed in English literature, and familiar with the old poeta.

" We stand to-day by the side of one who looked upon and was familiar with the forms of generals, statesmen, and theologians, men whose numes are sacred to America and the world. We stand by the coffin of one who served in the war of 1812; of Que who stood hy the bedside of the dying Hamilton (that brightest intellectual star in the galaxy of pa- triots) ; of one who heard, Amongst divine men great in the history of the American church, Witherspoon, Samuel Stanhope Smith, John M. Mason, Livingston, and Bishop Hoburt. Not A few of the great men of the church and in the State were his warm personal friends."

To illustrate how his life connects the past with the present it may be mentioned that he graduated at Princeton in 1795, under Dr. Witherspoon, and that in 1868 he attended the inauguration of Dr. McCosh. Thus, with his associate, Judge Herring, then the two oldest living graduates of Nassau Hall, the link was supplied between two distinguished men invited from Scotland to preside over this institution. On this occasion he received the honorary degree of LL.D.

He also remembered having seen Gen. Washington in his childhood. When he was a little boy, playing in front of his father's house, a gentleman called and asked him,-

" Is Dr. Scott at home ?"

" No, sir."

"Mrs. Scott?"

" Yes, sir."

" Please go in and tell your mother that Gen. Washington would like to see her."

"The boy," as he said, " gazed at him eagerly, much impressed with the idea that he was only a man, and much like other men of imposing presence." 2

Joseph Warren Scott was received as a member of the New Jersey Society of the Cincinnati, as the representative of his father, Surgeon Moses Scott, in 1825. In 1832 he was chosen assistant treasurer of the general society, and in 1838 the treasurer-general. In 1840 he became the vice-president of the State society, and from 1844 until his death was president. He died at the age of nearly ninety-three years.

Important Trials .- The first trial held in the pres- ent court-house of Middlesex County was that of the State against Peter Robinson, who was indicted for the murder of Abraham Suydam, at that time presi- dent of the Farmers' and Mechanics' Bank of New

1 Elmer'a Reminiscences, pp. 417-18.

2 Ibid., p. 475.

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Brunswick. The case attracted great attention on account of the standing of Mr. Suydam and the pe- culiar circumstances of the murder. George P. Mol- leson was at that time attorney-general, and John Van Dyke was prosecutor of the pleas for the county of Middlesex. They conducted the prosecution on the part of the State, and the prisoner was defended by David Graham, the celebrated criminal lawyer of New York, and Edward Wood, a brother of George Wood, who was then practicing law in New Bruns- wick. Chief Justice Hornblower presided at the trial. Robinson was convicted and executed.

Molleson was a very brilliant speaker, but not pro- foundly versed in the law. Van Dyke was a very strong and able advocate, especially forcible in the presentation of his facts before a jury. He was the law partner of Abraham V. Schenck, Esq., from 1847 to 1855. He removed from New Brunswick to Tren- ton, and was afterwards appointed by Governor Newell associate justice of the Supreme Court. After the expiration of his term of office he removed to Min- nesota and died there.

Several amusing incidents occurred during this trial, among them the following: David Graham moved to quash the indictment on the ground that it did not specify the degree of murder charged in it. He cited a large number of authorities, and many of them cases in the courts of the Southern States. His mo- tion was overruled, and Chief Justice Hornblower remarked that he did not think it necessary to go south of Mason and Dixon's line in order to ascer- tain the law to settle the degrees of murder in the State of New Jersey. The retort was a most happy one in its effect, and reassuring to the New Jersey judges and lawyers present.

While proceeding to impanel the jury in the case Graham was very zealous in challenging jurors for cause, fully realizing that there was a strong prejudice in the community against his client. The stereotyped questions, whether they had formed or expressed an opinion upon the subject, and whether they had read the newspaper accounts of the murder, were put to juror after juror as they were successively called to the bar, until finally the chief justice, becoming im- patient, asked one stolid looking juror whether he believed everything he read in the newspaper. He replied, " Yes, pretty much everything." The chief justice then asked him if he believed in the publica- tions respecting the " moon hoax," referring to certain alleged discoveries made in the moon by Sir William Herschel which were then current in the newspapers. The reply was, " Yes, of course." The chief justice, with an air of most profound disgust, amidst the uni- versal laughter of bench and bar, decided that the juror must suffer the penalty of his extreme credu- lity by standing aside.

Another incident was this: In summing up the case to the jury Attorney-General Molleson, in quite an impassioned appeal, attempting to quote the words

from Scripture, " Whoso sheddeth man's blood by man shall his blood be shed," got lost in the passage and was compelled to refer to the Bible to find his way out. The embarrassment and perplexity of the moment was mortifying to the attorney-general, but it was amusing to the lawyers and spectators. The incident was a standing joke at the bar for many years after.

The next most celebrated trial in the county was of the case of the State vs. John Fox. . The latter had been indicted for the murder of John Henry, son of Alderman Henry, of the city of New York. The place where the murder was committed still bears the name of Fox's Gully, just below the city of New Brunswick. George A. Vroom, then prosecutor of the pleas for Middlesex County, prosecuted the case, as- sisted by John Van Dyke. Fox was defended by Henry V. Speer and Abraham V. Schenck.

In this case the question of the right to challenge jurors for cause arose, and the case was carried by writ of error to the Supreme Court by defendant's counsel, where the principle involved was ably and elaborately argued, and was finally settled by the decision of the Supreme Court in this case. The case is reported in 1 Dutcher, 566, June Term, 1856.

Mr. Speer had the reputation of being a very able and astute lawyer; he was engaged in many import- ant suits in Middlesex County ; was elected to the State Senate, of which body he became president, and shortly afterwards died. He was a bachelor, having never been married.

Charles M. Herbert was prosecutor in the next criminal case of importance in the county, viz. : that of the State vs. Bridget Durgan, indicted for the mur- der of Mrs. Coriell, wife of Dr. Coriell, of New Mar- ket. He was assisted in the prosecution by George M. Robeson, then attorney-general. The counsel for the defense were Garnett B. Adrain and William H. Leupp, Judge Vredenburgh, of the Supreme Court, presiding. He also presided at the trial of the case of the State vs. Fox, above referred to, and the case of the State vs. Donnelly, a celebrated murder case in Monmonth County. It has been professionally said of Judge Vredenburgh that his charges to juries in criminal cases were more dreaded by counsel for the defense than the arguments of their opponents. Bridget Durgan was convicted and executed.

Charles Morgan Herbert, the prosecutor, was quite a brilliant young lawyer, but he died just as he was about gaining a reputation in the profession.

The next case of importance tried in this county was that of the State vs. Michael Sullivan, indicted for the murder of Daniel Talmage, a farmer of Pis- cataway township. The murder was committed under circumstances of great atrocity. The trial was very interesting because the evidence was purely circum- stantial. Abraham V. Schenck, being prosecutor of the pleas, condneted the prosecution. Sullivan was defended by Garnett B. Adrain and Charles T. Co-

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wenhooven, who succeeded Mr. Schenck in the office of prosecutor of the pleas. The manner in which Mr. Schenck handled the purely circumstantial details of this case and presented them in his argument to the jury gained him great credit for sagacity, good judg- ment, skill, and ability as a lawyer. Sullivan was convicted and executed.

Mr. Schenck was prosecutor of the pleas for Mid- dlesex County from the December term, 1871, when he was appointed to fill a portion of the unexpired term of .Mr. Herbert, till February, 1877, when his own full term expired. During that time, although he prosecuted persons charged with various degrees of crime, not one of his indictments was ever quashed nor one of his convictions reversed or carried to a higher court for review.

Abraham V. Schenck was born in New Brunswick in 1821, his ancestors having settled in that place be- fore the Revolutionary war. He is the son of Ifenry H. Schenck and Eva, daughter of Martinus Voorhees and Maria Van Campen, of Newburgh, N. Y. It ap- pears from the Schenck genealogy that this family are lineally descended, through Hendrick Schenck, of Millstone, N. J., from Peter Schenck, brother of the celebrated Sir Martin Schenck, mentioned by Motley in his "History of the Netherlands." From Hen- drick Schenck, on the mother's side, are descended the Frelinghuysens, the Van Deveres, and the Mer- cers. Henry H. Schenck was long a resident of New Brunswick, one of its active business men, a liberal supporter of the First Reformed Church, a member of its consistory through five different terms, and one of its elders at the time of his death, in 1851.

Abraham V. Schenck was educated at New Bruns- wick, studied law with Henry V. Speer, was admitted to the bar in 1843, and soon entered into active prac- tice. For nearly forty years he has been a member of this bar, and has taken part in some of the most im- portant causes in the county. Among these may be mentioned the case of the chosen freehoklers of Middlesex County rs. the receiver of the State Bank at New Brunswick. In this case the question of the prerogative right of the State of New Jersey to pri- ority of payment was raised and finally decided against such right of the State. It was argued by Attorney-General Stockton for the State, and by Mr. Schenck for the receiver. The case is reported in 2 Stewart, 268, February Term, 1878, in the Court of Errors and Appeals.

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 123

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed. Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts Number of Pages: 1224

Author: W. Woodford Clayton, Ed.
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia: Everts
Number of Pages: 1224