History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 125

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 125
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 125

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On a map of Hillsborough township, made in 1685, Dr. Greenland is noted as a purchaser of a lot of land at the mouth of Stony Brook, on the Millstone River. In the court minutes of Middlesex County for 1686 is the following entry : " Hugh Staniland, of Nothing- ham, West Jersey, having formerly accused Doctor Henry Greenland for buying and receiving stolen hogs and marked hogs of the Indians, came into court, and in open court acknowledged that he, the said Hugh Staniland, had falsely and maliciously slandered him, the said Henry Greenland, and de- sired God and the Court to forgive him."

MOSES BLOOMFIELD resided and practiced medi- cine in Woodbridge. He was a son of Joseph and Eunice Bloomfield. Dr. Bloomfield was twice mar- ried,-first to Miss Ogden, of Elizabethtown, and second to the widow of Dr. Samuel Ward, of Com- berland County. His son Joseph, by the first mar- riage, born in 1755, was Governor Bloomfield, of New Jersey, and had a brother Samuel who was a physi- cian.

Dr. Bloomfield was considered one of the best physicians of his day. He was a man of fine appear-

1 Legislative Manual, p. 45.

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

ance and of more than ordinary ability and culture. He was one of the constituent members of the New Jersey Medical Society upon its organization in 1766; was efficient in promoting its welfare, and for many years its secretary. He and Dr. Cochran, of New Brunswick, were the committee of the society to se- cure the passage of an act for the regulation of the practice of medicine in New Jersey, which act was framed by them and adopted by the Legislature in Sep- tember, 1772. During the war of the Revolution he was an active patriot, and was commissioned surgeon United States IIospital, Continental army, May 14, 1777. He became senior surgeon.

In local no less than in public affairs his opinion was highly valued and his services much sought. He was named as one of the trustees in the charter of the Presbyterian Church, 1756, and subsequently one of the trustees of the free school lands of Woodbridge. Being a " good penman," he was usually chosen clerk or secretary of the town-meetings of his town.

The daughters of Dr. Bloomfield were Hannah and Ann; the former married Gen. Giles, of Burlington, N. J .; the latter married Dr. Wall.

In the New Jersey Journal of Aug. 31, 1791, is an obituary notice of the doctor, from which we extract the following :

" He maintained ao eminent character as a scholar, a physician, and & Christian. In the early part of his life be became acquainted with men as well as with books. When the war commenced he took an early and decided part in favor of his country. He served in civil offices of trust and honor. When bia assistance as a physician was called for hy the public ha cheerfully stepped forward, and served with faithfulness and reputation as senior physician and surgeon votil near the close of the war, when he retired to private life of his own accord. Aa a physi- cian he was skillful, attentive, and successful; easy and familiar in his manners and address. He was benevolent and liberal to the poor with- out vetentation, religious without bigotry, never ashamed to owo in any company that he was a Christian, por would he neglect his duty to God or to his fellow-men on any account whatever. His last illness, which lasted more than two years, he bore with an vocommon Christian pa- tience and fortitude. Io his death the State has lost a worthy citizen, and the Presbyterian Church an important member." .

The following inscription is on his tombstone in the graveyard at Woodbridge :

"In memory of Dr. Moses Bloomfield, forty years a physician and gorgeon iu this town, senior physician and surgeon in the Hospital of the United States, representative in the Provincial Congress aud General Assembly. An upright Magistrate, Elder of the Presbyterian Church, etc. Born 4th Dec., 1729, died 14th Ang., 1791, in bis 63d year. Tim. i. 12: 'I know in whom I have believed.' "1

JOHN COCHRAN was the son of James Cochran, a farmer in Pennsylvania, who emigrated from the north of Ireland and purchased lands in the province of Pennsylvania, which as late as 1828 were in the possession of his descendants. The ancestor of James migrated from Paisley, Scotland, to the north of Ire- land in 1570. John was born in Chester County, Pa., Sept. 1, 1730. Being desirous of entering a learned profession, his father sent him to a grammar school in the vicinity of his home, conducted by Dr. Francis

Allison, one of the most correct and faithful gram- marians that ever taught in this country. Having finished his preliminary studies, he commenced the study of medicine under the instruction of Dr. Thomp- son, of Lancaster. About the time when he com- pleted his medical studies, the war of 1758 commenced in America between England and France. As there were at that time no great hospitals in the colonies, Dr. Cochran perceived that the army would be a good school for his improvement in surgery, as well as for the treatment of general disease. He obtained the appointment of surgeon's mate in the hospital depart- ment, and continued in that office during the whole of the war, enjoying the friendship and advice of Dr. Munro and other eminent English physicians. While lying off Oswego in a British vessel during that war, a shot from the French fleet entered the place where he was operating and carried away the operating- table and his instruments. He quitted the service with the reputation of an able and experienced prac- titioner. He then settled in Albany, N. Y., where he married Gertrude, then a widow, the only sister of Gen. Schuyler. In a short time he removed to New Brunswick, N. J., where he continued to practice his profession with great reputation. He was one of the founders of the State Medical Society in 1766, and in November, 1769, was elected president, as successor to Dr. Burnet.

" Dr. Cochran became a zealous Whig when the events occurred which resulted in war between the mother-country and her American culo- nies. After hostilities commenced he was driven from New Brunswick by the British, who burned his honse. His family after this event went to the manor of Livingston, vo the Hudevo River, a daughter of Mrs. Cochran by her first husband having married the lord of the manor. The doctor offered his services in 1776 as a volunteer in the hospital de- partment. Gen. Washington appreciated the value of e physician who joined an enlarged experience to diligence, fidelity, and sound judg- ment, and in the winter of 1777 recommended hier to Congress in the following words: ' 1 would take the liberty of mentioning a gentleman whom I think highly deserving of notice, not only on account of his ability, but for the very great assistance he has offered na in the contas of this winter merely iu the nature of a volunteer. This gentleman is Dr. John Cochran, well known to all the faculty. The place for which he is fitted, and which would be most agreeable tu him, is surgeon-geu- eral of the Middle Department. In this line he served all the last war io the British service, uod has distinguished himself this winter par- ticularly in bis attention to the soiallpox patiente and the wounded.'

" IIe waa accordingly appointed, April 10, 1777, physician and anrgeun- general in the Middle Department. In the month of October, 1781, upon the resignation of Dr. William Shippen, Congress was pleased to commission him director-general of the hospitala of the United States, an appointment that was the more honorable because it was not solicited by him. He was attached to headquarters, to Gen. Washington's stuff. His pay was five dollars a day. When he received his commission from Cougress he was with the army at New Windsor. It was sent to him by Samuel Huntington, president of Congress, by letter, under data of Jan. 18, 1781.

" Upoo the breaking up of the army at Newburg, upon the ratifica- tion of the Treaty of peace, Washington manifested bis friendship and cordial relations with his army surgeon by giving him all his headquar- tera' furniture. One piece only is now left in the family, a anmull tea- table, now in the possession of Ilon. John Cochrane, of New York, the doctor's grandsvo. That cordial relationa were formed early in the war between the commander-in-chief and Dr. C'ochran appears from a letter from the furnier, which is published in Irving'u ' Life of Washington,' vol. iii. page 477, ed. 1861.

"The hiaturian remarke of the letter that ' it is alosost the only in- stance of sportiva writing In all Washington's correspondence.' The

1 Elmer's Reminiscences; Dully'a Woodbridge; Wickes' History of N. J. Med., pp. 150, 161.

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

letter informs the doctor that he has asked Mrs. Cochran And Mrs. Livingston to dine with him on the next day, and says that his table is large enough to hold the ladies, but deeme it more essential to inform him 'how it is covered.' 'Since our arrival at this happy spot we have had a bam, sometimes a shoulder of bacon to grace the head of the table, a piece of roast beef adorna the foot, and a dish of beans or greens, almost imperceptible, decorates the centre. When the cook has a mind to cut a figure, which I presume will be the case to-morrow, we have two beefsteak pies er dishes of crabs in addition, one on each side of the centre dish, dividing the space and reducing the distance between dish and dish to about six feet, which without them would be twelve feet apart. Of late he has had the enprising sagacity to discover that applee will make pies, and it is a question if in the violence of his efforts we do not get one of apples instead of having both of beefsteak. If the ladies can put up with anch entertainment, and will submit to partake of it on plates once tin, now iron (not become so by scouring), I shall be happy to see them.' The dinner party was at headquarters, West Point, 1779.

" It is hardly necessary to observe that Dr. Cochran was indebted very much to his observation and experience while in the Britishi ser- vice for the great improvement he made in the hospital department from the time it was put under his charge. Ile seems to have been providen- tiolly raised up and traloed for his work as no other surgeon in the country was. Nor is it necessary further to observe, and it is to his honor to add, that while others high in the medical staff were disgust- ing the public with mutual charges and criminations, Dr. Cochran always preserved the character of an able physician and an honest and patriotic maD.

"Suon after peace was declared he removed with his family to New York, where be returned to the duties of his profession io the quiet of civil life. Upon the adoption of the new constitution his friend, Presi- dent Washington, ' retaining,' to use his own words, 'a cheerful recollec- tion of his past services,' nominated him to the office of commissioner of loans for the State of New York. He hield this office till a stroke of paral- yeis disabled him in the diecharge of its duties. He therefore resigned and retired to Schenectady, N. Y. ... Dr. Cochran died at Schenectady, April 6, 1807, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. . . . His remains were removed to Palatine, Montgomery Co., N. Y., by his sons, where his wife died in March, 1813, in the righty-ninth year of her age, and where she was buried by the side of her husband. When the doctor's sone af- terwarde removed to Utica they caused the remains of their parents to be removed thither. There they now repose in Forest Hill Cemetery.

" Dr. Cochran had three sons,-John (who was killed when quite young by the kick of a horse), James, and Walter Livingston. James married (1) Elenor Barclay, of Philadelphia, and (2) Catherine V. R., youngest daughter of Gen. Philip Schuyler; he died at Oswego, N. Y., at an ad- vanced age. They had no surviving isene. Walter L. married Cornelia W., only daughter of Peter Smith, of Peterboro', and sister of the late Gerrit Smith. He died in the city of New York, Aug. 13, 1857, aged eighty-six, leaving sons and daughters, of whom the eldest is Hon. John Cochran, of New York.

" A notice of the doctor, with a portrait, was published in the Amer- ican Historical Record of July, 1874."1

EDWARD CARROLL .- Little has been recorded of the life of this physician, except what is engraved on his monumental stone in the Episcopal churchyard at New Brunswick, to wit :

" In memory of Edward Carroll, M.D., who departed this life 1840, Æ. 73. Formerly of the Island of Jamaica, but for many years a reputed inhabitant of this town. He was a physician alike eminent for the Christian graces and virtues that Adorned his life, And for the medical skill and science that ranked him high in his profession. The loveliness and purity of his character seenred to him the esteem of all and the friendship of many."2

Dr. Carroll did not practice after removing to New Brunswick. He had been a practitioner in Kingston, island of Jamaica, and had become wealthy. He came to New York, looking for a place to settle and enjoy leisure for the rest of his life. In that

city he married a Miss Crawford, who was the aunt of the widow of the late Commodore Cornelius Van- derbilt. It is said that she afterwards married an actor named Ball, who was an adventurer and soon squandered her property. Dr. Carroll became totally blind after his removal to New Brunswick. He died without issue.

HENRY DRAKE .- Born in New Brunswick in 1773. His father was James Drake, the proprietor and keeper of the Indian Queen Hotel of that place. As New Brunswick was on the route of travel between New York and Philadelphia, this hotel was noted as a resting-place for travelers. John Adams, Jefferson, Burr, and other distinguished men sought the comforts of the hostlery. The elder Wallack, while traveling in his own carriage, met with an accident while crossing the Raritan bridge, by which his leg was fractured. He became an inmate of this house during his enforced confinement. The New Jersey Medical Society when it met at New Brunswick frequently met "at the house of James Drake." The son studied medicine, and was reputed as a man of some talent and skill in his profession. He, however, abandoned practice and assumed the management of the hotel, becoming its proprietor. He died Dec. 24, 1817, aged forty-four, and his remains are buried in Christ churchyard.3

LEWIS DUNHAM was a son of Col. Azariah Dun- ham, grandson of Rev. Jonathan Dunham, of Piscat- away, and great-grandson of Edmond Dunham, who was the first white child born in Middlesex County. His father, Azariah, was an active Revolutionary patriot, a surveyor by occupation, and an honored public servant in every capacity of trust from the local town committee to the Provincial and Conti- nental Congress.

Dr. Dunham was born in New Brunswick in 1754, and died Aug. 26, 1821. He commenced practice in New Brunswick, and continued it till the breaking out of the war. He was commissioned surgeon. Third Battalion, First Establishment, Feb. 21, 1776 ; surgeon, Third Battalion, Second Establishment, Nov. 28, 1776; surgeon, Third Regiment, resigned. He became a member of the State Medical Society in 1783, and was constant in his attendance upon its meetings. He was elected president in 1791, and again in 1816. Upon retiring from the chair the first time he read a dissertation on the beneficial effects of bathing. His character is set forth in the monumental inscription over his remains in the Pres- byterian churchyard of New Brunswick :

"HERE LIES THE REMAINS OP DR. LEWIS DUNIIAM, WHO DIED AUGUST 26, 1821, AGED 65.

"Few men have ever shown greater energy of character wisely and uniformly directed in all the relations of life. Truly a patriot during the whole war of Independence, he was to his country & devoted gon.

1 Wickes' Hist. N. J. Med., pp. 204-10.

: Ibid., p. 238.

* History of New Jersey, p. 238.

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HISTORY OF UNION AND MIDDLESEX COUNTIES, NEW JERSEY.

In peace he resumed his profession in this his native place, and during a practice of more than forty years he was indefatigable beyond ex- pression. He was teoder and skillful, to multitudes the blessed instru- ment of restored health. As a friend and a relative he knew no change. Affectionate und ardent in social life, siocere and independent in his principles, he early acquired and always retained the highest confidence of his fellow-citizene. He crowned a life of usefulness with a walk and example so Christian; he died so calm and collected, so full of hope and of humble trust in the Blood of the Atonement as to leave to all the consoling belief, 'The spark that animated him from Deity given, now heams a glorions star in Heaven.'"

JACOB DUNHAM, brother of Dr. Lewis Dunham, was born in New Brunswick, Sept. 29, 1767, and died Aug. 7, 1832. When nineteen or twenty years old he attended lectures at Philadelphia, where he was a classmate of Dr. William P. Dewees, with whom he remained a life-long friend and correspondent. The latter always sent him "authors' copies" of his works as they were published.

The doctor had an extensive practice in New Brunswick and the adjacent country, extending to Bound Brook on the north, to Six-Mile Run and Ber- rien's tavern (Rocky Hill) on the west, to Millstone (Dunham's Corner), Washington, Old Bridge, and Cross-Roads on the south, and to Piscataway, Wood- bridge, and Metuchen on the east. His tombstone, in the churchyard of Christ Church, New Brunswick, bears the following inscription :

"IN MEMORY OF JACOB DUNHAM, M.D.,

WAO DEPARTED THIS LIFE AUGUST 7TH, 1832, AGED 65 YEARS."

MELANCTHON FREEMAN practiced in Metuchen, and attained considerable reputation as a medical man. He was a native of Piscataway township, born in 1746, and died in 1806, aged sixty years. Dr. Freeman's remains were buried in Metuchen. He had a son and a grandson, each bearing his name, who were physicians. Dr. Freeman was commis- sioned "surgeon of State troops, Col. Forman's bat- talion, Heard's brigade, June 21, 1776."

HARRIS .- Two physicians of this name are men- tioned in Middlesex County : one " Dr. Harris" among the members of the First Presbyterian Church of New Brunswick, 1786, and Dr. Isaac Harris, of Piscataway township. The latter was born in 174], and was edu- cated in East Jersey. He married Margaret Pierson, of either Morris or Essex County, and had four chil- dren, two of whom studied law, and the third, Isaac, became a physician, and practiced at Woodstown, Salem Co., until his death, April 16, 1811. A son Samuel by a second marriage practiced medicine in Camden for twenty or thirty years previous to his death, which occurred in 1830.

Dr. Isaac Harris resided and practiced in the early part of his professional career near Quibbletown, Piscataway township, where he owned an elegant residence and farm, which were purchased by the father of Lewis Stille, and afterwards occupied by the

latter. Dr. Harris, while residing and practicing here, was one of the first movers for the formation of a medical society, and was the sixth signer of the "instruments of association." He possessed a good medical library, and had the reputation of a promi- nent man in his profession.

In 1771 he removed to Pittsgrove, Salem Co., where he died in 1808, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. In the war of 1776 he was commissioned a surgeon in Gen. Newcomb's brigade, State troops.

ADAM HAY was a physician in Woodbridge as early as 1737. At least he resided in the town, for in that year his name is found attached to a subscription for raising a fund for inclosing the ground and plastering the church of St. Peter, Amboy, of which he was a ves- tryman in 1739. In his will, dated Nov. 12, 1739, he is styled " Adam Hay, Doctor of Physick." Admitted to probate June 3-5, 1741.1

JOHN JOHNSTONE .- We find in Dr. Wickes' " His- tory of New Jersey Medicine" the following sketch of Dr. John Johnstone and his son, Lewis Johnstone, physicians at Perth Amboy :

" The head of the Amboy family, supposed to be a son of Juhu of Ochil- tree, was of the company of emigrants on board the ill-fated ' Henry and Francie' thiet arrived in December, 1685. He was a druggist iu Edin- burgh, 'at the sign of the Unicorn' He is said by Woodrow to have been married to Eupham, daughter of George Scot, before embarkation, but the family tradition has been that they were married on the voyage or soon after their arrival, An old record, the correctness of which there is no reason to question, confirms the latter supposition by giving a8 the date of their marringe April 18, 1686.

"On the 28th of July, 1685, in consideration of certain acts promotive of the advantage aod interest of East Jersey, the proprietore in England granted five hundred acres of land to George Scot, on condition that he should reside in the Province with his family. In January, 1685-86, his daughter petitioned the proprietors to have the same confirmed to her, and on January 13th, following, her husband, Dr. Johnstone, was put in possession of the tract in Monmouth County. The doctor estab- lighed himself first io New York. It is not koown when he first re- moved to Amboy. It must have been before 1707, as in that year he is mentioned as 'of the Jersies,' being the bail of the Rev. Francie Ma- kemie, when arrested under the persecutions of Corubory. For several years prior to that he spent much of his time on a plantation in Moo- mouth County, named in his patent . Scotschesterburg.' In 1709 and the following year he was a member of the Provincial Asseuildy of New Jersey, but was still occasionally styled as of New York. He soon after removed there, and was mayor from 1714 to 1718. In 1720 he was a member of Governor Burnet'e Council for that Province. About that time he removed to New Jersey and permanently resided there, but was oot superseded in the Council till 1723.2

" A few stones remained until recently on the banks of the Raritau designating the site of the doctor's mansion. It was not entirely de- stroyed until after the Revolution. It was a double two-story brick house, with a large harn and other outhonses, and attached thereto was a spacious garden, a well-chosen collection of fruit-trees and a fine or- chard, of which a few aged trese marked the site in 1856.

" In his profession he was skilltul, and availed higiself of the oppor- tunities it gave to exhibit his goodness of heart, his charity, and his es- timalde character. On his death the following obituary appeared in the Philadelphia Weekly Mercury :

' ' Perth Amboy, Sept. 19, 1732. On the 7th inet., died here in the 7let year of his age, Dr. John Johnstone, very much lamented by all who knew him, nad to the luexpressible loss of the poor, who were always his particular care.' "

James Alexander, writing to the doctor's friend, Governor Hunter, Sept. 20, 1732, says,-

1 History of New Jersey Medicine, pp. 278-79.

2 Valentine's Manual.

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THE MEDICAL PROFESSION IN MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

" Dr. Johnstone died the 7th of this month, being spent with age and fatigue in going about to serve those who wanted his assistance. I believe his family is left in tolerable good circumstances. I drew his will for him a few years before he died, when, although he was worn almost quite away, he retained his good sense and spirit, and so I am Informed he did to the last.

" He represented the people of Middlesex County aod of Amboy thirteen years in the General Assembly of the Province, and for ten of them held the office of Speaker. He was one of the commissioners for settling the boundary between New York and New Jersey,1 and at dif- ferent tinies held other offices with credit to himself. He had several children, a full record of whom is given in ' Whitehead's Contribution to East Jersey History,' from which this eketcb of Dr. Johnstone is obtained."

" LEWIS JOHNSTONE, sixth son of Dr. John John- stone, was born in October, 1704. He resided in Amboy, in the house then standing near the site of the present mansion of Mr. Paterson, to which it gave place in 1795. He adopted the profession of his father, and was much respected as a man and a phy- sician. His education was principally received at Leyden, in Holland, then the resort of all who sought the highest scholarship. After his return to this country he kept up a literary correspondence with several eminent men of Europe. Some interesting letters to him from Grovonius, the botanist, written in 1735-39, are in the possession of Wm. A. White- head, Esq., extracts from which he has given in his ' Contributions,' etc.

" That he held a high place in the respect and con- fidence of his associates in the profession appears in the fact that in 1767, one year after the organization of the New Jersey Medical Society, it was resolved to appoint a committee ' to wait upon Dr. Johnstone and invite him to join the Society.' The committee subsequently reported that they had waited upon him, and that ' the doctor declined to become a mem- ber, yet assured the committee that he highly ap- proved of the institution of the society, that he would countenance the same at all times, particularly that he would use his whole interest with the Legislative body of this Province whenever requested, in order to obtain a law, etc., for the countenance, honor, and advancement of the Society.'

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History of Union and Middlesex Counties, New Jersey with Biographical Sketches of many of their Pioneers and Prominent Men, Part 125

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