USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Orange > History of the Oranges, in Essex County, N.J., from 1666 to 1806 > Part 22
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As a physician, he achieved great success, his prac- tice embracing a very wide circuit of the surrounding country. It is traditional of him that "he kept many horses and was perpetually on the road." He usually
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went on horseback, and was careful in the selection of horses that were fleet. It is also related of him, that, during the War, he owned one of remarkable speed and beauty. He had declined all offers for its purchase, and a band of refugees lay in wait for him in Centre Street, over which he had passed to visit a patient, intending to shoot him on his return, and thus possess themselves of the coveted steed. Providentially, he returned by the Scotland Road, and thus their designs were thwarted.
Dr. Condit was a man of decided mark in the com- munity, and gave his time and his influence to promote
I. Stryker's Official Register of the Officers and Men of New Jersey in the Revolutionary War, p. 376.
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its welfare. He was, in 1785, one of the founders, as well as a trustee, of the Orange Academy, which, by his exertions, and by those of his associates, became an institution of high standing in East Jersey. He served, both in the Legislature of the State, and in the U. S. Congress, as a representative of his district, for a period of thirty years; in the House from 1799 to 1803, and in the Senate from 1803 to 1817 ; in the House again in 1819-20. This long public service interfered with the practice of his profession, and led him to accept the post of assistant collector of the port of New York, with his office in Jersey City.
For many years before his death he was laid aside from active work by paralysis. This affliction, aggra- vated by the insanity of a son, directed his mind, which had been somewhat sceptical, to the contempla- tion of Scripture truth. He cordially accepted the teachings of its divine Master, and some years before his death enjoyed a Christian's hope, and he died in a Christian's peace.
He built and occupied the mansion on the Valley Road, now standing in the triangle of land formed by said road on the east, and by Fairmount Avenue and Condit Street, now the property of John A. Harden- burg. It has undergone no essential alteration since it was first built. In the latter part of the century he gave to his son, Joseph, some acres, now a part of the Hutton Park, where he built a house as well as a grist- mill, on the mountain stream which runs through it. The remains of the dam were to be seen till within a few years. The mill was abandoned and converted into a house, about 1821. The millstones were trans- ferred to the Day Street grist-mill. He also built a paper-mill on Wigwam Brook, a little north of Lake-
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Dr. John Condit.
side Avenue. It was run for a time, but was aban- doned because of an insufficient water supply.
During most of the years of his active life he was known as Colonel Condit, which has given rise to the tradition that he was commissioned such in the Revo- lutionary War. He was made Colonel of State Mili- tia early in the present century.
As a man of generous impulses, an amiable and loving friend, of prompt and successful measures in the emergencies of professional practice, his memory is still fragrant with the few who now survive him.
The grandfather of Col. Condit was Samuel Condit, who was born in the original home of the family, near the River, on December 6, 1696. When he was about twenty-five years old, he purchased, from the Indian proprietors, a large and fertile tract of land, between the mountains. The locality is still known as "The Pleasant Valley." Here he raised a family of six children, and to each of the five sons he gave a copy of the Bible, and a lot of fifty acres, with a dwelling thereon. He died in 1777. His third child was also named Samuel, and was born on January 13, 1729. It is not strange that this son became a farmer, and settled upon the fifty-acre lot which had been so given to him by his father. Tradition says that he was "a very exemplary man ; truly pious and God-fearing."
Col. Condit married (1) Abigail, daughter of Joseph Halsey. By this union he had Caleb, Silas, Charlotte, wife of Dr. John Ward, Joseph, and a son who died in infancy. He also married (2) Rhoda, sister of his first wife, and by her he had John S., Abigail (Smith), and Jacob. Caleb, John S., and Jacob died without issue. Silas, who became a member of Congress, died Novem- ber 29, 1861, aged 83. Joseph left Orange and removed to Geneva, New York, where he died in 1863.
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Dr. Condit's remains lie in the old graveyard. The following inscription appears upon his tombstone :
Sacred to the Memory of DOCTOR JOHN CONDIT, A patriot Soldier and Surgeon During the Struggles of his Country for freedom. A member of the N. J. Legislature And a Representative and Senator in the Congress of the U. States for thirty years in succession. His honors were awarded him
by grateful constituents for his Sound and vigorous intellect, stern integrity and unswerving patriotism in time of peril and throughout a long life. On the 4th of May 1834, he died in Christian hope, revered respected and beloved by all who knew him, aged 79 years.
DR. ISAAC PIERSON.
Dr. Matthias Pierson closed his long and useful life May 9, 1809, at the age of seventy years. His home had been at the Orange Mountain from the day of his birth, through all its eventful scenes to the day of his death. His record is identified with its history. His later years were passed in the quietude of an old age, free from the physical disabilities and annoyances so often attendant upon advancing years. His son,
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Dr. Isaac Pierson.
Dr. Isaac Pierson, succeeded to the arduous duties of his profession, being thirty-nine years of age at the time of his father's death. He had been in practice about seventeen years, and was the only physician at the Orange Mountain. He was born August 15, 1770, pursued his preliminary studies at the Orange Acad- emy, and was graduated from the College of New Jer- sey, at Princeton, in 1789. Among his classmates was the celebrated Doctor David Hosack, with whom he maintained a personal friendship during the remainder of his life. Gov. Mahlon Dickerson, of New Jersey, Ephraim King Wilson and Silas Wood, members of Congress, were also among his classmates. He re- ceived his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons, New York.
Wood's Newark Gazette, January 6, 1796, has the following notice of the young Doctor: "Married 29 Dec. 1795, by Revd Mr. Chapman, Doctor Isaac Pierson to Miss Nancy Crane, daughter of Mr. Aaron Crane of Cranetown." By this marriage union he had ten children; Dr. William, Rev. Albert, Phebe (Condit), Fanny (Jessup), Rev. George, Edward, Aaron, Isaac, Harriett (Collins), Sarah (Terry.)
Like his father before him, Dr. Isaac was identified with public affairs, holding positions of honor and influence. He served as Sheriff of Essex County, and afterwards represented his district in the 20th and 21st
Laac Pierson
Congresses of the United States. He was active in advancing the moral interests of the people, and in promoting the religious interests of the community,
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having made a profession of his faith in Christ in the year 1810.
As a medical man he was highly esteemed, and on all occasions he manifested a strong desire to advance the honor of his profession. He was a Fellow of the Medical Society of New Jersey, and its President in 1827. Being known as a man of good judgment, and as a safe adviser, matters of difference were frequently referred to him, and his decision was generally ac- cepted as final.
He died September 22, 1833, at the age of sixty- three. His eldest son, William Pierson, M.D., also a . Fellow of the Medical Society of New Jersey, and who had been associated with him for thirteen years, succeeded to his practice.
. DR. WILLIAM PIERSON, SENIOR.
The memorial notice which follows, was written by the author of this volume for the Medical Society of New Jersey, in the year 1883 :
Doctor William Pierson, son of Dr. Isaac Pierson, was born in Orange, N. J., December 4, 1796.1 He pursued his early studies in Orange Academy, and in 1816 was graduated from the College of New Jersey with thirty-three others, of whom were John Maclean, (afterwards President of the College,) Charles (after- wards Bishop,) McIlvaine, Judges Nevius and White- head, and his brother, Rev. Albert Pierson, who died nineteen years before him.
I. Dr. Pierson was descended from Thomas Pierson, one of the Asso- ciates from Branford, of the New Haven Colony, who settled Newark in 1666. He was a kinsman, probably a brother, of Rev. Abraham Pierson, who came with the Colony as its minister. Thomas had a son, Samuel, and he a son, Samuel (2d, ) whose gth son was Dr Matthias, who had Dr Isaac, the father of the subject of this sketch.
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Dr. William Pierson, Senior.
That he assiduously availed himself of the privileges of the institution, is illustrated by the fact that, upon graduating, he divided the first honors of the college with his brother, their standing being equal and in their class facile principes.
He entered upon the study of medicine with his father, then practising in Orange; attended his first course of lectures in the University of Pennsylvania, and his second in the College of Physicians and Sur- geons in New York. While there he was in the offices
of Dr. David Hosack, an old fellow-student and friend of his father, and of Valentine Mott. With the latter he afterwards maintained a personal intimacy to the time of his old preceptor's death. He was present by invitation at his celebrated operation of ligature of the innominata .·
After completing his course of study, he was licensed to practice by the Medical Society of New Jersey, in 1820. He subsequently received from the same So- ciety the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine. He became a practitioner in his native town in association with his father, and continued his professional work till advancing years and the infirmities of age led to his withdrawal.
Dr. Pierson married Margaret Riker, daughter of Rev. Dr. Hillyer, fourth pastor of the First Presby- terian Church of Orange. She died in 1853. By this union he had six children. Two died in infancy. Ed- ward Dixon died a few months before him, in a mature and honorable manhood; Dr. William, Jr., and two daughters survive.
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History of the Oranges.
The Doctor was devoted to his profession. His prac- tice was large and over a wide district. In his earlier years there was no case in surgery which he hesitated to undertake, and in medical and obstetrical practice he was self-reliant and successful. He kept a record of over two thousand cases of labor, his observations on which he read some years since before the Medical Society of New Jersey. He was loyal to the welfare and honor of his profession. Licensed to practice in 1820, he appears as a delegate to the State Society in 1821. From that date, for nearly sixty years, its rec- cords bear testimony to his fidelity, and to the appre- ciation and respect of his medical associates.
He began earlier in life than he was aware of, to be an instrument for good in medicine. Being born in the same year in which Jenner published his discovery ' of vaccination, his father, who took great interest in the subject and who was desirous of testing its worth, as well as the comparative value of inoculation, vac- cinated the little boy and his brother, and at the same time inoculated two other children of about the same age, and placed the four in the same room. The dis- ease in each ran its specific course to a successful issue, and convinced the father that a perfect protection against small pox had been found in vaccination. He never inoculated afterwards. It may be stated here that the subject of our sketch, when he became a phy- sician, never vaccinated more than once, and always in the arm. He did not believe re-vaccination neces- sary. About ten years before his death he yielded to to the persuasions of his son, and was re-vaccinated, after he had ceased to practice medicine.
As a citizen and a public man, he was judicious in counsel and jealous for the welfare of the people. In 1837-8, he was a member of the Legislature of New
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Dr. William Pierson, Senior.
Jersey. Subsequently he was director of the Board of Freeholders, and from 1846 to 1850, Sheriff of Essex County. He was active in promoting the building of the Morris and Essex Railroad. He was a corporator of the Newark Savings Institution and for many years, Vice-President of the same. He originated and be- came a corporator of the Rosedale Cemetery of Orange in 1840, and nearly to the close of his life was an active trustee. When the Town of Orange was incorporated, he was elected its first Mayor, serving continuously for three years, and for three years thereafter was a mem- ber of the Common Council. These varied responsi- bilities were distinguished in their execution by intel- ligence and a sacred devotion to the public good.
His active professional and public duties left him little time to note his observations as a writer. He read a few papers before the State Medical Society of New Jersey, which are published in its Transactions, notably its Centennial History, and two reports ; one of Obstetrical Practice, the other of cases of Hydro- phobia. His terse, doric style reflects the classic im- press of his early scholarship, and gives evidence that, if he had given himself to the pursuits of literature, he would have acquired distinction.
Dr. Pierson descended from a godly ancestry, and his early training was under religious influences. While he was in college he became a subject of a re- vival of religion which occurred in the institution during his last year. His subsequent life was exem- plary, and his interest in the progress and welfare of the church was uniform and earnest. He did not, however, make a public profession of his faith in Christ till his later years, uniting with the church in 1876, six years before his decease. He then, and ever after, expressed his regret that he had so long deprived
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himself of his privilege by resisting the claims of duty which had pressed themselves upon him ever since his conversion in college. This writer can bear testi- mony to his expressions of trust in the merits of his Saviour, and, as the weight of years bore heavily upon him, a longing to depart and be with Him.
In the early Sabbath dawn of October 1, 1882, with little premonition, and without a struggle, he peace- fully passed into the noon-day light of the Heavenly Rest. His remains were borne to their resting place by the young physicians of Orange, and laid by them in the sepulchre prepared by himself, amid the surround- ings, largely formed by his own taste, in the Rosedale Cemetery, which it had been for so many years his pleasure to adorn and beautify.
CHAPTER XIV.
A FEW NOTABLE MEN.
BETHUEL PIERSON.
THOMAS PIERSON -supposed to have been a brother of the Rev. Abraham, who came to New- ark in 1666-was the ancestor of the family in the Oranges. He was an original Associate, and was pos- sessed of a good estate. He had a son, Samuel, who was three years old in 1666. About the year 1685, he came to the Mountain, and settled at South Orange.
He and his sons were carpenters. It is traditional that they were the chief builders of the first meeting- house of the Mountain Society. He died in 1730, leav- ing three sons, namely, Joseph, Samuel and James. Joseph and Samuel remained at the Mountain. James abandoned New Jersey, and settled on Lake Cham- plain.
Bethuel Pierson, the subject of our sketch, was the fourth child of Joseph. He was born in 1721, and died at the age of seventy years. His life was one of
Bothwel Respon
great activity. The responsibilities to which he was called, in matters both civil and ecclesiastical, illus-
20
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trate the confidence reposed in him by the people. In 1761, he was one of the agents appointed by the Town of Newark to allot and divide the parsonage lands be- tween the three societies, or congregations, known as the First Presbyterian Society, the Church of Eng- land, and the Mountain Society. 1
In 1772, the poor of the town were farmed out to him, as the lowest bidder, at £148, 10s; and, in the next year, at £157.2 That he was possessed of a good estate may be inferred from his liberal contributions for the building of our second meeting-house and the Parsonage. In 1762, he was elected an Elder in the Mountain Society, and all his subsequent life bore testimony to his fidelity to his ordination vows.
He was distinguished for his patriotism during the Revolution, and was among the tried men of the Town- ship in sustaining the cause of his country. In 1774, he was made one of the Committee of Observation. In May, 1775, he was elected by the freeholders to rep- resent the county in the Provincial Congress, being associated with men of such prominence as Isaac Og- den, Philip Van Cortland and Isaac Camp.
When the discord of war gave place to the hum of peaceful industry, we find the name of Bethuel Pierson connected with all the best enterprises of the Town, civil, moral and religious. He was a model citizen, and his works do follow him.
He first married Elizabeth Riggs, after whose de- cease, he married Widow - Taylor .. He had one son, Dr. Cyrus, born in 1756, and two daughters, Rhoda and Mary. He died in 1791.
I. Newark Town Records, p. 145.
2. Ib., pp. 153, 154.
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Thomas Williams.
THOMAS WILLIAMS
Was a son of Matthew (2), who was the second son of the primitive Matthew Williams. Captain Thomas was born in 1740. When the War began, he was thirty-six years old. His homestead was on Washing- ton Street, the same which was occupied by, and still belongs to the estate of, his grandson, Judge Jesse Williams, who died in 1885.
Thomas was an earnest patriot, and was commission- ed as captain of a company of local militia in Colonel Van Cortland's regiment. He was known throughout Thomas willing the War, and ever after, as "Captain Tom."1 Wash- ington confided in his loy- alty, and on more than one occasion, when passing through this region, visited him at his house. The Captain was a leading man in his own neighborhood, but we infer that he confined himself to it; his name does not appear anywhere in the municipal affairs of the township at large.
He was well known to the Tories, but escaped seri- ous injury to himself or his property. One day, a party of about forty Hessian soldiers came to his house. The Captain was in the yard. His visitors threatened to shave one-half of his head. When about to proceed to the operation, they were attracted by some barrels of cider standing near at hand. Having drank all they wanted, (which was not a little,) they took their leave, going across the fields towards the highway, now Main Street. At a convenient spot, in the rear of the meeting-house, and on the site of our
I. The note, on page 173, which refers the title of Captain Williams to his having had command of the Parish Sloop, was an error. It may be seen, on page 233, that he held the title in December, 1784, at the parish meeting when it was determined to build a boat.
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present Music Hall, they lay down among the trees and slept off the effects of their potations.
Among the manuscripts in the library of the New Jersey Historical Society, is an original record of a "court martial held at Newark Mountain, July 7, 1780, at the house of Samuel Munn, [now the Park House, ] for the trial of several soldiers in Col. Philip Van Cortland's Regiment; Essex County Militia, belonging to Capt. Thomas Williams' Company, for disobeying orders and not turning out on their proper tour of duty, on the 20th of June last, and on the alarm of the 23d of June, and for desertion."
The court was composed of Captains Josiah Pier- son, President, Thomas Williams, Isaac Gillam and Henry Joralemon ; Lieutenants Henry Squire and John Edwards; and Ensigns Remington Parcel, Thomas Baldwin and Ralf Post. The court found the ac- cused guilty of all the charges against them, and unan- imously agreed to fine them in the several sums affixed to their names: Jonathan Williams, £500; Charles Crane, £200; and Joseph Tomkins, £3, 15, 0.
Exemplary punishment, it would seem, until we re- member that the fines were to be paid in continental money, of which, in that year, eight thousand nine hundred dollars were equivalent to one hundred dol- lars in silver.
BENJAMIN WILLIAMS
Was a cousin of Captain Thomas; being the eldest son of Amos, the brother of Thomas' father. Benjamin and Thomas were of nearly the same age. Both were of good wordly estate. The former was a loyalist, and became a refugee within the enemy's lines.
The Tory element was not made up of any single class or condition of men. Some of them were arrant
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Benjamin Williams.
cowards, in abject fear of tlie 35,000 soldiers of the well-appointed army of Great Britain. Others, and perhaps the largest class, were made up of those who, in every community and in every period, have not achieved worldly success, who are envious of their more prosperous neighbors, or who believe that the world owes them a living, whether it come by fraud or by fidelity to the right. It was this class which caused such apprehension, and such havoc in New Jersey, in the last month of 1776. But, the third and the best class was composed of those who were honestly un- settled in their minds, as to the measures required to secure a redress of political grievances, and the future
Benjamin Wilharry
peace and prosperity of the American Colonies. They were unwilling to meet the momentous issue by a declaration of Independence of the mother country. When hostilities were actually begun, and a large British army had been landed on Long Island and Staten Island, there were many of these over-cautious people in New York, and not a few in New Jersey, who left their homes and joined that army, or placed themselves under its protection.
The subject of our notice belonged to this last men- tioned class. He was a man of standing and influence in his neighborhood. It would appear that he was something of a leader there, as he acquired the sobri- quet of "Governor Ben," and retained it to the end of his long life.
In December, 1776, he received protection from His Majesty's Commissioner in Newark, and, on February 27, 1777, two months thereafter, he took the oath of
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allegiance to the King, at New York, and became a member of the Royal Militia. 1
The Legislature of New Jersey, recognizing that many who had thus exiled themselves from their homes might desire to return, passed an act on June 5, 1777, granting a "free and general pardon for all offenders who desired to return to their allegiance and adhere to their country's cause, by taking the oath pre- scribed, before the fifth of Angust next ensuing, before a Judge of the Supreme Court, or Court of Common Pleas, or justice of the peace." By the earnest solic- itation of Capt. Thomas Williams, whose regard and friendship for his cousin had not been lessened by this diversity of political sentiment, "Governor Ben" was persuaded to save his property from confiscation. He then owned considerable land, and had gone to much expense in improving it. Attended by Captain Thomas Williams and Stephen Harrison, Esq., he went before Judge John Peck, of the Essex Court of Common Pleas, and, as the last hours of the last day limited by the statute were closing, he took the oath of abjuration of kingly authority, as well as the oath of allegiance to the new government.2 This latter oath he kept according to the letter thereof, but his sympathy with the cause of Independence was not cordial. To the end of his life, he cherished a love for the mother country and its institutions. When he was in New York he was treated well and with respect, and he had access to the books in the officers' quarters. Among them was a work on Episcopacy, written by one of the
I. From old documents preserved by the family.
2. The oath was as follows : "I, A. B., do sincerely profess and swear (or affirm) that I do, and will, bear faith and allegiance to the government established in this State under the authority of the people. So help me God."
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non-juring bishops. The reading of this book drew his attention to the ecclesiastical polity and religious faith of the Church of England, which he quickly adopted and to which he ever after gave his adherence. How faithful and efficient it was, will appear later in the progress of this history.
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