History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 124

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 124
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 124

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The next important case in the county was that of the State against Hart Moore, who was indicted for embezzlement as county collector. Charles T. Co- wenhoven was then prosecutor of the pleas ; he was assisted in the prosecution by Woodbridge Strong. Abraham V. Schenck was counsel for the defendant. In this case the important question arose whether the act of the Legislature which extended the time of the prosecution of public officers in the State from two to five years was an ex post facto law. Mr. Schenck took

the ground in this trial that it was an ex post facto law, and that it impaired the vested rights of the defendant under the constitution. Judge E. W. Scudder, of the Supreme Court, who presided at the trial, overruled him on both points. The defendant was convicted under one indictment, but acquitted under the other. He carried the judgment of conviction by writ of error to the Supreme Court. Chief Justice Beasley rendered the opinion, affirming the judgment of the court below. Ile carried this judgment to the Court of Appeals, which reversed the judgments of the lower courts and fully sustained Mr. Schenck. This was one of the most important decisions in the State of New Jersey, and attracted the attention of the leading journals of the country. The case is re- ported in 12 Vroom, 208, June Term, 1880, of the Supreme Court, and in 14 Vroom, 202, March Term, 1881, of the Court of Errors and Appeals. It was a case of national importance, and is so reported in The Central Law Journal, vol. xiii., p. 70, July 29, 1881. Mr. Schenck's argument on the occasion is ! said to have been the ahlest ever made in that court.

A very important and absorbing case in this county after the Hart Moore case was that of the State vs. Rob- ert G. Miller, collector of the city of New Brunswick, indicted for embezzlement. Prosecutor Cowenhoven, assisted by Mercer Beasley, Jr., appeared on behalf of the State, and Abraham V. Schenck, Cortland Parker, and J. Kearney Rice, the present prosecutor, were counsel for the defendant. The case excited great interest on account of the social standing of Mr. Miller, and involving the investigation of the ac- counts of the city finance for a long series of years, made by expert accountants by order of a justice of the Supreme Court under a recent statute of the State. After a protracted trial, in which many in- teresting questions of law were raised and argued with great ability by the respective counsel, the defendant was finally acquitted.

George Richmond, of this bar, was a gentleman of wealth, and had been educated to the law. He was known as "Single-case Richmond," from the fact of his having had one suit; and in this respect he was likened to the celebrated "Single-speech Hamilton."

Littleton Kirkpatrick was a son of Chief Justice Kirkpatrick. He was educated to the bar, and was surrogate of the county of Middlesex from 1831 to 1836. For one term he represented this district in Congress. He married Miss Astley, a wealthy lady of Philadelphia, and having ample means in his pos- session, took the labor of his profession rather easily to attain to much prominence. He was a worthy and highly respected citizen.

John Van Dyke was a member of Congress, 1847- 49.

HON. GARNETT B. ADRAIN .- IIis paternal grand- father, Robert, a native of France, with his two brothers, settled in the north of Ireland, fleeing from religious persecution following the revocation of the

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

Edict of Nantes. They were manufacturers of mathe- matieal instruments in their native country, but turned their attention to teaching for a time after reaching Ire- land. Robert was for a time engaged in sailing a small vessel from Ireland to the neighboring islands. He was a man of fine cultivation, and remarkable for his brilliant wit and versatile powers of conversation. After reaching Ireland he married and reared a family of five children, of whom Robert was eldest, and was horn at Carrickfergus, Ireland, Sept. 30, 1775. He early developed an aptitude for learning that amounted to genius, and his father determined to give him a thorough education and fit him for the ministry. When Robert was fifteen years old his father and mother both died, and with their death his experience as a pupil ended, and his life as a teacher began. He continued teaching until the breaking out of the Irish rebellion in 1798, in which he commanded an Irish company. Mr. Mortimer, an officer of the govern- ment, offered fifty pounds for his capture, and sent out emissaries after him in every direction. Morti- mer was wounded the next day at the battle of Saint- field, and as far as he was concerned the pursuit was ended. Adrain being a genuine independent, opposed some measures in his division of the army, and was wounded by one of his own men, which gave rise to a rumor that he was dead, and all efforts for his cap- ture came to an end. He recovered, and in the dis- guise of a weaver escaped to. America. Arriving in New York he proceeded to Princeton, N. J., and at once obtained a place in the academy there, where he remained for about three years. Ile then became principal of the York County Academy in Pennsyl- vania, where his mathematical talents were brought before the public by his frequent contributions to the Mathematical Correspondent, published in New York, for which he received several prize medals, awarded for the best solutions of problems published in its columns. In 1805 he took charge of the Reading Academy in the same State, and while there declined the offer of the editorship of the Mathematical Corre- spondent and as principal of the mathematical school. Shortly after he commenced the publication of a mathe- matical periodical called the Analyst, which he con- tinned for some three years, which made him exten- sively and favorably known throughout the country as an able mathematician.

and became the centre of a brilliant collection of mathematical talent and culture. All gathered around him, and all did him honor as their rightful leader. His contributions to the literature of mathematical science while in New York and subsequently were voluminous, and marked by a foree and clearness, a profound and exhaustive knowledge, and an elegance of style that won the admiration and commanded the respectful attention of the scientists of the world. Iu 1825 he began editing the " Mathematical Diary," a work superior to anything that had been edited in this country. In 1826 he returned to Rutgers, and after three years accepted a professorship in the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, of which institution he was also vice-provost. He remained there until 1834, when he resigned his position and went to his New Brunswick home. Restive uuder idleness, the habit of teaching was so strong with him that although his wife's health had compelled him to return to New Brunswick, he went to New York and taught in the grammar school connected with Columbia College until within three years of his death, when, yielding to the entreaties of his family and friends, he relin- quished teaching forever. He died Aug. 10, 1843.

Garnett, son of Prof. Robert and Annie (Pollock) Adrain, for many years a lawyer of New Brunswick, was born in the city of New York, Dec. 20, 1815. His preparatory education was received in the Rut- gers College Grammar School, and in 1829 he entered Rutgers College, from which he was graduated in the class of 1833. After his graduation he entered the law-office of his brother, Robert Adrain, who was then a leading lawyer in New Brunswick ; was licensed as an attorney in 1836, and as counselor in 1839. After his admission as an attorney he at once entered upon the practice of his profession in New Brunswick, where he became eminently successful both as an ad- vocate and counselor, and where he remained in con- tinuous practice until his death on Ang. 17, 1878.

He inherited the genius of his father and a good deal of his independence of spirit. ITis star gradu- ally rose with undimmed lustre until about twenty years before his decease, when an affection of the throat led him to be more careful. He was recog- nized by the members of the bar of the State as a legal light of the highest order, and as a forcible, ready, witty, eloquent speaker who had few equals in the State. He was conspicuous as an advocate, never refused to lend his aid to any cause that claimed his services, and known as one of the first criminal law- yers in the State. Mr. Adrain was pleasant to every- body, rich and racy in his conversation, and his soci- ety was highly enjoyable. Upon the opening of the September term of the County Court and Court of Oyer and Terminer after his decease, Mr. A. V. bar, addressed the court, and among other resolutions moved the following, which was passed, and the court

In 1810 he was called to the Professorship of Math- ematics and Natural Philosophy in Queen's (Rutgers) College, at New Brunswick, N. J., and soon after the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred upon him. In 1812 he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society, in the following year of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and subse- quently of several of the philosophical societies of Europe. Besides other duties he edited the third | Schenck, senior member of the Middlesex County edition of "Hutton's Course of Mathematics." In 1813 he was elected to the chair of natural philos- ophy in Columbia College. He accepted the position, adjourned :

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BENCH AND BAR OF MIDDLESEX.

" Resolved, That by the death of Garnett B. Adrain the bar of the county of Middlesex has lost one of its most distinguished members, a gentleman of high literary tastes and acquirements, an able, earnest, aod eloquent advocate, a genial and warm-hearted companion aud friend, and a valuable citizen."

Other addresses were delivered by Judge John F. Hageman, of Princeton, and Judge Scudder, of Tren- ton, then holding court in New Brunswick.

In politics Mr. Adrain was a Democrat of the old school. He was an ardent adherent of Stephen A. Douglas, and concurred with him in the position he took on the Lecompton Compromise issue. In 1856 he was nominated for Congress by the Democrats of the Third District, was elected, and served his term. In 1858 there was a " bolt" from the regular congres- sional convention of Democrats at Somerville, and he was put in nomination by the bolting party and elected. His career in Congress was an active one, and was characterized by great ability and earnest- ness. Among the more noteworthy speeches deliv- ered by him during his terms in the House were one on the "Treasury Note Bill," one on the "Neu- trality Laws," " Against the Admission of Kansas," "Impeachment of Judge Watrous," "Election of Speaker," "Organization of the House," and one on the "State of the Union." After his retirement from Congress he took no active part in politics. He died Aug. 17, 1878. His wife, whom he married Jan. 3, 1838, is a daughter of Joseph C. Griggs, who for many years was one of the leading merchants of New Brunswick. There are four children who survive him, three daughters and one son, Robert, a graduate of Rutgers College in the class of 1873. He studied law with his father, was admitted as an attorney in 1876, as counselor in 1879, and is practicing his pro- fession in New Brunswick.

Charles T. Cowenhoven studied law with A. V. Schenck, and was the first law judge of the Common Pleas, appointed in 1871. He was prosecutor of the pleas from 1877 to 1882.

Robert Adrain was a brother of Garnett B., and son of Dr. Robert Adrain, LL. D.,1 Professor of Mathematics in Rutgers College. He was an able and learned law- yer, but labored under the disadvantage of being deaf in a measure. The case in which he displayed his abilities most signally was that of Rue vs. Rue (re- ported in 1 Zabriskie, 369, January Term, 1848), ar- gued by Robert Adrain and Col. J. W. Scott for the plaintiff, and by R. S. Field and J. S. Green for the defendant. Of Mr. Adrain's argument in this case that eminent jurist, Chief Justice Green, remarked that it was the only argument that had ever changed his first convictions with regard to any case argued before him, a very high and yet justly-deserved con- pliment to Mr. Adrain's great powers as a lawyer.

He was a very courteous man, and exceedingly sensitive upon the subject of his deafness. If a per-

son addressed him a question which he did not dis- tinctly hear or understand he would simply reply, " Yes, yes." This habit at one time led to a laugh- able mistake while Mr. Adrain was surrogate. The administrator of an estate entered the surrogate's office and asked Mr. Adrain, who happened to be alone and otherwise engaged, whether it would be proper for him as an administrator to proceed and sell some lands of the intestate. Mr. Adrain, not fully hearing or comprehending the question, with his accustomed suavity of manner, replied, “ Yes, yes; oh, yes !" The administrator, acting upon this advice, sold the land without an order from the court for that purpose, as required by the laws of New Jersey. The public and the profession were aston- ished at such a result from such a source, and it ended in a general laugh, in which Mr. Adrain him- self joined, when it became understood that Mr. Adrain had answered the question proposed to him without knowing what was asked.

JACOB R. HARDENBERGH was admitted to the bar of Middlesex County in February, 1805. He was a son of Rev. Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, D.D., the principal founder and first President of Queen's (now Rutgers) College. Dr. Hardenbergh was president of the college before the Revolution, and aided in procuring its charter in 1770, while he was pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church at Raritan, now Somer- ville, Somerset Co., N. J. In 1785 the trustees of the college united with the consistories of New Bruns- wick and Six-Mile Run in calling Dr. Hardenbergh to be at once pastor of the two churches and perma- nent president of the college. He accepted, and con- tinued in office, greatly beloved, until his resignation, a few months before his lamented death, in 1790.

The son, Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, was born in Somerville, N. J., and was educated under his father's auspices at Queen's College, now Rutgers. After his admission to the bar he practiced but a short time, the stronger inducements of business leading him into various active enterprises, which he followed with great ability and success. For many years he was president of the Bank of New Brunswick ; founded the Bloomfield Works near Spotswood, where for many years he carried on a saw-mill, grist-mill, powder- mill, and large farm. He was an enterprising and useful citizen, filling many places of trust and respon- sibility, and discharging the duties of all with consci- entious fidelity. He died on the 13th of February, 1841, and his wife died on the 23d, ten days after- wards.

His wife was Mary, daughter of Cornelius Low, of New Brunswick. They had the following-named children, viz .: 1, Cornelius L., mentioned below ; 2, James, married Miss McKnight, and died when a young man at Spotswood ; 3, Rutsen, married Mary, daughter of John Pool, of Raritan Landing (he was at the time of his death, about 1829, cashier of the Bank of New Brunswick, of which his brother, Cor-

1 Dr. Adrian was born at ('arrick-Fergus, Ireland, the home of the ao- cesluis of General Andrew Jackson, Sept. 30, 1775, and died Ang. 10, 1843. 33

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

nelius L., was president) ; 4, Lewis D., married Ellen Jersey, and a member of Congress, now in his third term in that body. Mr. Hardenbergh died July 17, 1860, in New Brunswick. Voorhees, of Middlebush, N. J. (he was a lawyer in New Brunswick, admitted May term, 1825, and as counselor in 1828, and in later years was secretary of the Hudson County Insurance Company, in which office he died) ; 5, Frederick, married Emeline, daughter of Gen. James Morgan, of South Amboy, who was a member of Congress about 1828; 6, John, died in infancy ; 7, Theodore, studied medicine with Dr. Charles Smith, and was house physician of the New York City Dispensary for more than twenty-five years, and died in New Brunswick, April 19, 1877 ; 8, Catherine, died unmarried, aged seventy-nine; 9, 1834. He studied law with Judge James S. Nevius, Maria, died single at the age of twenty-five; 10, Jo- anna, married Rev. Ransford Walls, of Conajo- harie, N. Y.

CORNELIUS LOW HARDENBERGH was born in New Brunswick July 4, 1790. He was the eldest son of Jacob Rutsen and Mary (Low) Hardenbergh, and was prepared for college at the Somerville Academy, entered Princeton, and studied there about a year, when he entered Rutgers, and graduated in the class of 1810. After studying law with his father, he was admitted to the bar at the September term, 1812, and became a counselor in September, 1815. He was called to be a sergeant-at-law in 1828.

He was a lawyer of superior abilities, excelling before a jury in criminal causes, and was an ambi- tious and indefatigable student, so much so, indeed, that he injured his eyes, becoming partially blind in 1836 ; by surgical skill one of his eyes was restored, but he was again attacked in 1843, and after seeking relief in vain for three or four years his blindness became permanent. He did sometimes afterwards plead causes when retained through the preference , and urgency of personal friends. But his career as a lawyer, otherwise brilliant and promising, may be said to have ended with the loss of his sight. Be- sides his professional work he was engaged in busi- ness, and to some extent in politics. He followed his father as president of the Bank of New Bruns- wick, bought his father's works near Spotswood in 1836, and carried them on for a number of years ; he was a member of the Legislature in 1835, and mayor of the city of New Brunswick in 1837.

Mr. Hardenbergh was married four times :

First, to Catharine, daughter of James Richmond, of New Brunswick, by whom he had one son, James R., now living in California.

Second, to Helen Mary, daughter of John Crook, of Poughkeepsie, N. Y. One son was born of this union : J. Rutsen Hardenbergh, of New Brunswick.

JOHN C. ELMENDORF was born on the old Elmen- dorf homestead, near Somerville, Somerset Co., N. J., on March 6, 1814. His father, William Crook Elmen- dorf, was of German extraction, and came from Eso- pus, now Kingston, N. Y., where his ancestors in this country first settled. His mother was Maria, daugh- ter of Peter Du Mont, of Huguenot ancestry. Mr. Elmendorf received his preliminary education in his native county, and graduated at Rutgers College in was admitted as an attorney in November, 1837, and as a counselor in September, 1841. After his admis- sion he commeneed practice in Flemington, N. J., where he remained about two years, and in 1839 re- moved to New Brunswick, which has since been the place of his residence.

In 1847, Mr. Elmendorf received the appointment of prosecutor of the pleas for Middlesex County. After serving a full term of five years he was re- appointed in 1852, and served another full term, being succeeded in 1857 by George A. Vroom, who served one term, np to 1862, when Mr. Elmendorf was again appointed, and finished bis third term as prosecutor in 1867. On the 14th of May of the same year he was appointed a register in bank- ruptcy, which office he still holds.

In October, 1857, he was united in marriage to Maria Louisa Frelinghuysen, daughter of Hon. Fred- erick Frelinghuysen, father of the present Secretary of the United States. They have one son, John Ed- ward Elmendorf, a graduate of Rutgers College in the class of 1878, and a member of the bar, having been admitted as an attorney in February, 1882, after having studied with his father and also in the office of Abraham V. Schenck, Esq.

WOODBRIDGE STRONG was born in Clinton, Oneida Co., N. Y., in 1827, and came to New Brunswick with his parents when quite young. He graduated at Rut- gers College in 1849, studied law with John Van Dyke, and has practiced his profession in New Bruns- wick ever since, except during 1849 and 1850, when he was in California and Oregon, and five years dur- ing which he was law judge of the Common Pleas, 1876-81.

Judge Strong has two sons in the profession who are his law partners ; their names will be found in list of members of the bar.

JAMES M. CHAPMAN, son of Rev. James Chap- man, was born at Perth Amboy, N. J., Dec. 15, 1822, and was educated at Perth Amboy and at Paterson. He read law with Judge Elias B. D. Ogden, and im- mediately after his admission to the bar he became the law partner of Walter Rutherford, with whom he remained for about four years, and nearly to the time

Third, to Mary Hude, daughter of John G. Warren, of New York. Seven children were the fruit of this marriage, of whom three sons are living. Warren Hardenbergh, one of the sons, is a member of the present bar of the county of Middlesex, in active and successful practice; A. Augustus Hardenbergh, of that gentleman's death. Mr. Chapman subse- another son, president of Hudson County Bank at quently opened a law-office in Wall Street, New

Well Chapman

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

York, where he has continued the practice of his pro- fession since. He was instrumental in building the branch railroad from Rahway to Perth Amboy, and has been a director since its construction. He la- bored earnestly to get the connection now being made with the Camden and Amboy Road for twenty years. Mr. Chapman served as mayor of Perth Amboy for 1869-70. He married, April 23, 1851, Louisa, young- est daughter of Robert Stockton Johnson, a promi- nent iron merchant of Philadelphia, and grand- daughter of Thomas Johnson, once a leading lawyer of Hunterdon County. He has one son and five daughters. He resided in Jersey City from the time of his marriage until 1865, when he settled on the homestead at Perth Amboy with his brother, Joseph E., who was formerly a merchant in New York.

The history of his father is in the history of St. Peter's Church, Perth Amboy.

GEORGE CRAIG LUDLOW, Governor of New Jersey, was born at Milford, Hunterdon Co., N. J., April 6, 1830. His father was Cornelins Ludlow, and his grandfather, Gen. Benjamin Ludlow, of Long Hill, Morris Co., a leading Democrat of his time. At the age of five years his parents removed to New Brunswick, where he has since resided. He entered Rutgers College, and graduated therefrom in his twentieth year in 1850, and soon afterwards com- menced the study of law in the office of W. H. Leupp, in New Brunswick. He also studied in the office of Robert Van Arsdale, of Newark. In 1853 he was admitted as an attorney, and immediately commenced the practice of his profession in New Brunswick. In due time he was called to the bar as counselor, and earned for himself the reputation of being a sound and caretul lawyer. He was selected as counsel for the city of New Brunswick, and acted in the same capacity for several corporations and many of the citizens of his county. He was a member of the board of chosen freeholders of Middlesex County, and for a number of years was president of the board of education of the city of New Brunswick. In 1876 he was elected senator from Middlesex County ; in the second year of his term, 1878, he was chosen president of the Senate, which office he filled with ability and impartiality. He was nominated at the Democratic State Convention in 1880 for Governor, and after a closely-contested canvass was elected by a plurality of six hundred and fifty-one votes.1

CHAPTER LXIX.

THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

Early Physicians .- Probably the earliest physi- cian who practiced in Middlesex County was the sub- ject of the following sketch :

HENRY GREENLAND was one of the early settlers of Piscataway. His name appears in the annals of that town as one of those for whom lands were sur- veyed. He was styled "doctor" in 1678, and subse- quently "captain," by which title he is designated in some disorderly proceedings in 1681, for which the General Assembly declared him incapable of holding any office, an act, however, disallowed by the propri- etaries. He was probably the person alluded to in the following extract from Coffin's " History of New- bury, Massachusetts," pp. 64, 66, 67: "1662, Doctor Henry Greenland and his wife came to Newbury. He appears to have been a man of good education, but passionate, unprincipled, and grossly immoral. He of course soon became involved in difficulties with his neighbors, and caused great excitement among : the sober citizens of the town, who had not been ac- customed to such specimens of immorality as he had displayed before them." In March, for some gross offense against good morals, the court sentenced him to be imprisoned till the next sessions of the court, then to be whipped or pay a fine of thirty pounds, and be bound to good behavior. One of the witnesses in his behalf testified that " he had been a soldier, and was a gentleman, and they must have their liber- ties." Another asserted that as he was "a great man," it would be best not to make an uprore, but to let him go away privately." In September following (1664) he was convicted, with one other, of an assault, for which he was again fined and bound to keep the peace. He appealed to the General Court, but his sentence was confirmed, and he was ordered to " de- part the jurisdiction, and not to practice physick or surgery." From 1666 to 1672 he resided at Kittery, and it is probable that soon after this he became a resident of New Jersey.

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 124

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