USA > New Jersey > Salem County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2 > Part 44
USA > New Jersey > Gloucester County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2 > Part 44
USA > New Jersey > Cumberland County > History of the counties of Gloucester, Salem, and Cumberland New Jersey, with biographical sketches of their prominent citizens, vol. 2 > Part 44
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In October, 15-13, he was elected a member of Con- gress from this district, which office he filled for one term of two years, but was defeated when a candidate for re-election in November, 1844, by James G. Hamp- ton, E-q., al-o of Bridgeton, the district having a large Whig majority. In February, 1850, he was ap- pointed by Governor Haines attorney general of the State, which office be held until Feb. 5, 1852, when he was appointed by Governor Fort one of the asso- ciate justices of the Supreme Court of the State. At the expiration of his teri Governor Newell appointed in his place William S. Clawson, who was a Repub- lican, as was also the Governor. Judge Clawson died June 18, 1851, and such was the high estimation in which Judge Elmer's qualifications for the position were regarded, that in response to the ahnost uni- versal desire of the people of the southern end of the State, which comprised that judicial district, he was again appointed to the position by Governor Olden, who was a Republican, and opposed to the judge in !politie-, ou Aug. 22, 1861. Hle continued on the
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L. Q. C. ELMER.
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GENERAL HISTORY.
Bach until March 15, 16360, and then, with his re- tirement from that position, he also retired from active professional life.
During his term of service he was one of the most distinguished members of the court, and delivered the opinion of that tribunal in a large number of impor- tant cases. Upon questions involving the principles of the common law and of the law of real estate he was especially strong, and his great familiarity with those branches of the law gave him great weight with the other members of the court. On the trial of cases the circuit he was not as ready and quick to decide disputed points of law and practice raised in the course of the trial as are some other julges, his great conscientiousness and fear lest an erroncons decision at the moment might prejudice the case of the party against whom the decision was made some- times causing him to hesitate in deciding such points. But in the decision of questions heard on argument before the Supreme Court, the opportunity afforded by the interval between the hearing of the argument and the pronouncing of the decision to examine care- fully all the authorities and to weigh their force and effect as applied to the case in point, brought out in Wrong relief the eminently judicial qualities of his mind and his rich store of legal knowledge, grounded on the common law, the great bed-rock of ali learning iu the law, and built up and fashionel by his study of the written statutes and of the decisions of other courts.
Ilis long life and early acquaintance with many of the men who were prominent in the affair- of the county during the latter part of the last and the carly part of this century gave him great information con- verning the local history of this county and the genealogies of many of its carly families. All future inquirers into those branches must ever be indebted to him for his labora, In 1863 he published in the Bridgeton Chroniche his " History of the Early Settle- muent and Progress of Cumberland County," to which the writer is indebted for many facts found in this work. This history was afterwards printed in an octavo volume of one hundred and thirty-eight pages. Annexed to it, as the last chapter of twenty pages, is a very clear and valuable account of the " Currency of New Jersey" from the first settlement, no account of which had been previously published. In 1870 and 1871 he prepared for the Historical Society of this State his " Constitution and Government of the Province and State of New Jersey, with Biographical Sketches of the Governors from 1776 to 1815, and Remini-conges of the Bench and Bar," which was priblished by the society in 1872. He also wrote moch besides the above, which, during the later years of his life, consisted largely of contributions to the para of his native city up a local history and sketches of carly residents of this county.
He received the degree of A.M. from the College of New Jersey in 1821, and that of I ... D. Tom the
same institution in 1865. He was one of the trustees of that college for forty years. On the death of his father he succeeded him as a member of the Society of the Cincinnati of this State, and was its president from 1871 to his death. He was converted in 1825. and united with the First Presbyterian Church of this city in 1529, and remained a consistent Chris- tian, placing complete reliance on the atonement of the Saviour, until he was called to meet him beyond the river. He was also for many years president of the Cumberland County Bible Society. During the latter years of his life he was atilicted with cataract, from which he lost the sight of first one eye and then the other, several months before his death, after which his health rapidly declined. He was confined to his bed but a few weeks, and sauk away with little if any pain. He died on Sunday morning, March 11, 1883, aged ninety years, one month, and eight days.
In October, 1881, he married Catherine Hay, whom he left surviving him, together with three daughters, two of whom are married.
Thus passed away one of the most distinguished citizens of this county, and one of the purest and most learned judges that have graced the bench of this State.
JAMES Giers was born in New York in the year 1759. At an early period of the Revolutionary war he was appointed a lieutenant in the Second, or New York Regiment of Artillery, and continued in service until 1752, in which year he became a student-at-law with Joseph Bloomfield, then resident at Trenton.
In September, 1753, he was licensed a- an attorney, and in due time as counselor, and in isot was made a sergeant-at-law. Shortly after he was licensed he married a sister of Gen. Bloomfield, and took up his residener in his native eity, and was admitted to the bar there.
In 1788 he eame with his family to Bridgeton, where he resided during the remainder of his life. In the ensuing year he was appointed by the Legis- lature in joint meeting elerk of the county, and being twice reappointed, he held that office fifteen years. Being at that time entitled also to practice law, he had quite a large and, for that day, lucrative busi- ness.
Judge Elmer says, " He was a well-read lawyer and safe counselor ; but it cannot be said that he was dis- tinguished as an advocate. He was a small man, pre- eise in Ins dress, and remarkably ereet and graceful. but very slow in his movements and in all he dil. At the circuit- he was one of the most genial and delightful companions. The legal documents he drew were marked by great exactness and precision. About 1805 his friends confidently expected he would be elected one of the justices of the Supreme Court, Al- though a majority of the joint meeting was politically opposed to him ; but the result was that the law an- thorizing three associate justices was repealed."
HAAG WATIS CRASE was born in Essex County, of
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
this State, May 3, 1773, and belonged to the family of ! man year, and graduated in June, 1558, second in rank, delivering the valedietory oration. He studied Ian at Philadelphia in the office of William Ingham, Esy., teaching at the same time, and subsequently, at Bridge- ton, N. J., in the office of John T. Nixon, Esq. He was admitted to the bar in 1801 : was married at l'ort Eliza- beth, Jan. 16, 1865, to Sarah M. Sharp, daughter of the late Jacob T. Sharp, M.D. His five children- -- : Hannah .1., Sarah S., Esther M., Mary E., and Frank- lin I' .- are all living except the first-named, who died in infancy. Mr. Westcott always felt a deep interest in the questions of the day, and very early heid ad- vanced anti-slavery views. He was a thorough-going Republican, but never placed party above principk. Ilis opinions were independent, and the result of I careful and deep thought. that name who were in earlier years among the lead- ing citizens of that county. He graduated at Prince- ton, io the class of 1789, Governor Mabion Dicker-on being one of his classmates. He was admitted as an attorney in 1797, and settled at Salem, but removed from there to Bridgeton about 1805. In October, 1810, he was elected a member of Assembly by the Demo- crats, to which party he belonged, although he -np- ported Harrison for President in 15440. He removed : to Camden in 1519, but returned in the spring of 1823. He was appointed prosecutor of the pleas for this county Oct. 31, 1834, and served one term of five years. Mr. Crane was a highly-educated man, being an accomplished Freuch scholar, but he was of rather an eccentric turn of mind. He had a reputation for great ability, but, owing to his peculiar character- He was a prominent member of the West Presby - terian Church, and held various positions of trust in connection with the organization. isties, combined with the strong opposition he met from the able attorneys who were natives of the county, he was not very successful as a lawyer. Ile . resided here until somewhere about Is50, when he re- | ten years, and was eminently successful. In the full moved to the northern part of the State, where he died in 1856.
JAMES D. WESTCOTT, JR., was the son of James D. and Amer (ltampton) Westcott, a sister of Dr. Isaac HI. Hampton. Hlo was born in Alexandria, Va., May, 1802. He studied Jaw with Governor Elias P. Seeley, and was admitted to the bar in Sep- tember, 1822. Hle married a daughter of John Sib- ley, of Bridgeton, and practiced law in that place until 1829. He removed to Florida, and never returned to t'miberland County.
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JAMIE GILLES HAMPTON was the son of Dr. Isaac H. and Fanny (Giles, Hampton (who was the dauglier of Gen. James Giles), and was born in Bridgeton in IS!4. Hle received a good academic education in Bridgeton, and entered Princeton Col- lege, from which he graduated in IR35. He studied law with Governor Elias P. Seeley, and was admitted to the bar in May, 1839. He commenced practice in his native place, and did considerable business. JIis tastes were strongly political, and the law did not receive the attention it otherwise might have had. He was a genial and courteous mnan, both as a lawyer and politician, and was quite popular among his fellow-citizens. In 1814 he was elected to Con- gress over Hon. Lucin+ Q. C. Eliner, the district being largely Whig. He was re-elected in 1840, and held the office in all from 1845 to 1849. He died Sept. 22, 1861. in the forty-eighth year of his age, only a little over a year after the death of his father.
Ile practiced his profession at Bridgeton for over vigor of his manhood he was suddenly taken ill, and after a short sickness, died on March 29, 1875.
CHARLES P. WOODRUFF was the eldest son of E. Collin and Ruth S. Woodruff, and grandson of Daniel M. Woodruff, clerk of this county from 1842 to 1852. He was born March 5; IS51. He commenced the study of law with James J. Reeves, Esq., and also at- tended the law school at Albany, N. Y., from which he graduated in the spring of 1876. At the Novem- ber term, 1876, of the Supreme Court he passed a creditalle examination, and was licensed as an attor- ney. He began the active practice of law at )Jill- ville, in this county, the same month, where he met with success and was gradually establishing himself in a substantial practice. He soon obtained the con- fidence of the citizens of that place, and in March, 1878, was elected city solicitor. Without having the benefit of a liberal education, he was an intelligent and diligent student, thoroughly upright and honest in all his purposes, and industrious beyond his strength. His constitution was not robust, and in less than & year after he settled in Millville he was taken with hemorrhages, which caused him to leave his busines for some weeks, but recovering somewhat from that attack, he returned to his office, but was again takes in the same manner in the spring of 1878, and after trying in vain the medical skill of l'hiladelphia, he returned to his father's residence to spend the few remaining werks of his life, where he died June 32, 1878, aged twenty-seven years.
FRANKLIN FISK WESTCOTT was born on his father's Hos. ELEAS DOUGHTY .- Elias Doughty, the grand- father of the subject of this biographical sketch, re- sided in Atlantic, formerly Gloucester County, from which he cemoved to Cumberland County, and settled ucar Bridgton as a farmer. He married Mary Bab- cock, and Lad children, -Jaish, Enoch, John, Rich- arl, Elias, Miriam, Sarah, and Mary. Enoch was farın, one mile from Fairton, Cumberland Co., N. J., Dec. 30, 1838. His parents were Ephraim and Anna Elmer Westeott. After his father's death, in 1548, the family removed to Cedarville. There he received the greater part of his preparation for college from Rev. J. A. Annin, pa-tor of the " Brick Church." JIe entered Princeton College in the middle of the fresh- . both in Burlington County, Feb. 16, 1798, and spent
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GENERAL HISTORY.
I- youth in Atlantic County, from which he at a der date removed to Cumberland County. His cradle was that of an iron moulder, which he pursued at the .Eina Furnace, in the first-named county, and inter at the Cumberland Furnace, in Cumberland County. He was also employed at the Gloucester l'urnace, and subsequently removed to Millville, where he resided until his death. He married Dec. 16, 1819, Benlah, daughter of George and Sarah Tay- boor, horn in Burlington County, Nov. 1, 1801. Their children are Elias; Sarah P., born in 1823; Thomas. m 1821; Elizabeth, in 1826; Harriet, in 1828; John MeNiel, in 1831; George, in 1534; Benjamin, in 1835; Enoch (who sacrificed his life during the late war), in 1839; and Mary, in 1842. Mr. Doughty married
a second time in 1849, Rebecca Gray, to whom was i ment New Jersey Volunteers. He was commissioned born a son, Richard B., in 1850. Mr. Doughty died / second lieutenant of the same company Aug. 14, 1862, Nov. 8, 1862, in his sixty-fourth year, and his wife l'eb. 6, 1845, in her forty-fourth year. Their son Elias was born Nov. 19, 1821, in Gloucester County, and when seven years of age removed to Millville. He was inured to labor from early youth, and found little respite from toil in the furnace, other than the winter months afforded, when the simple rudiments of an English education were acquired. Having learned the trade of moulder, he pursued it vigorously for twelve years, and on leaving the furnace pur- chased the stage-line running from Philadelphia to Millville, which he successfully conducted for fifteen year -.
lle married May 27, 1843, Miss Harriet M. C., daughter of Daniel and Lydia Tice, of Millville. Their children are John F. (deceased), Beulah, El- bridge G., and Daniel W. Mrs. Doughty died April -1, 1858, and be married Oct. 29, 1873, Mrs. Elmira 11. Lord, daughter of Col. Michael Hays, of Burling- t., N. J. In June, 1866, Judge Doughty removed lo Vineland, as agent of the West Jersey Railroad, and has since made it his residence. He has been an active worker in the ranks of the Democracy and the recipient of many honors. He has served as free- holder of Landis township, and was in 1857 elected member of the State Legislature, when he was ap- pointed to the Committees on Corporations, Passed Lidl-, and Insane Asylums. He is now serving his , advocate on the staff of Maj .- Gen. John Gibbon, com- fourth term as associate judge of the Cumberland Younty Court. He is also a member of the Masonie fraternity, and associated with Checinah Lodge, No. ". of Millville. Judge Doughty was educated in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which Li, parents were members, as also the first and 14:rent Mrs. Doughty.
COL .. WILLIAM ELMER POTTER .- The brief genea- lozical review of the Potter family given elsewhere na wlers repetition here unnecessary. Col. William E. Potter, the youngest son of James Boyd and Jane Birron Potter, was born June 19, 1840. in Bridgeton. Hli- youth was not especially eventful, and devoted to study, first at the public school of the First Ward
of the city, and later at the Harmony Academy. pre- sided over by Joseph P. Sherman, where he remained nutil 1854. He then became a pupil at the West Jersey Academy during its first session, under the tutorship of Professors Snyder and Stevenson, but in October of 1857, having determined upon the law as a profession, entered the office of Hon. John T. Nixon. He remained until September, 1859, and the same month became a student of the law school of Harvard University. From this school he graduated in January, 1861, with the degree of LL.B., and in September of the same year entered the junior class of Princeton College. Uuder the spur of patriotic ardor he abandoned his collegiate studies, and in July of the following year enlisted in Company K, Twelfth Regi-
and mustered into the service of the United States as such Sept. 4, 1562. He was promoted to a first lieutenancy of the same company and regiment Ang. 6, 1863, and to the captainey of Company G Feb. 4, 18G.J. Capt. Potter became brevet major United States Volunteers for meritorious services, May 1, 1865, by promotion of the President of the United States, and was, in 18GG, commisioned aide-de-camp to Governor Marens L. Ward, of New Jersey, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, upon whose staff he served for three years. To review Col. Potter's mili- tary experience, he was detailed as ordnance officer of the Third Division, Second Army Corps, and acted as such in the campaigns of Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, on the staff of Maj .- Gen. William H. French, and with Brig. Gen. Alexander Hays. Ile served in that capacity until Oct. 1, 1863, and was then appointed judge-advocate of the division on the staff of Gen. Ilays, continuing thus until he rejoined his regiment and took command of his company. Ile was wounded at the battle of the Wilderness, on the 6th of May, 1861, and reported again for duty at Cold Harbor, Va., June 1th of the same year. On the 1st of July, 1554, he was detailed as aide-de-camp to Col. Thomas A. Smyth, commanding Third Bri- gade of the Second Division of the Second Army Corps. Ou the 1st of August, 1864, he was made judge-
manding the Second Division, Second Army Corps, and served thu- until Jan. 15, 1865, when he was de- tailed as aid to Maj .- Gen. John Gibbon, commanding the Twenty-fourth Army Corps, Army of the James, and acting judge-advocate of the corps. He remained on duty in the latter capacity until mustered out of service, June 1, 1865. During this period Col. Potter was present in the following engagements: Chancel- lorsville, Getty-burg, Auburn, Bristow Station, Black :- burn's Ford, Locust Grove, campaign of Mine Run, Morton's Ford, Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Petersburg, Deep Bottom, Crater, Deep Bottom (second engage- ment), Reams' Station, Boydton Road, assault and capture of Petersburg, Rice's Station, and Appomat-
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HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY.
tox Court-House. By an order from headquarters. Twenty-fourth Army Corps, in company with five uther officers. he was detailed to deliver the colors surrendered by Gen. Lee's army, seventy-six in number, to Hon. Elwin MI. Stanton, of the War Department, at Washington, which ceremony oe- curred on May 1, 1865. He was the only New Jersey officer present on this occasion.
Col. Potter, during his military career, displayed galantry and judgment, which won for him the highest encomiums from his superior officer -. In the oficial report of the battle of Chancelorsville he is spoken of as "indefatigable, brave, and zealous; his department was never better served," and the same report of the Gettysburg engagement pronounces him "indefatigable in the discharge of his duties." That Johnson Reeves was born Oct. 16, 1799, and mar- ried Elizabeth, daughter of Mark and Abigail Harri- Riley, whose birth occurred March 17, 1800. Their children are Rev. Henry Reeves, late pastor of churches in Belvidere and Gloucester City, N. J., principal of Woodland Female Seminary, Philadel- phia, and the Chambersburg Female Seminary, he won the regard and affection of his brigade and division commanders is evinced in letter- recommend- ing him for promotion. Maj .- Gen. Winfield S. Han. cock pronounces him "a valuable officer and desery- ing consideration." Gen. Thomas A. Smyth, in a letter to Governor Parker, says, " It affords me much pleasure to recommend to your Excellency the name . Chambersburg, Pa., before and during the war, sub-
of Capt. W. E. Potter, Twelfth Regiment New Jer- sey Volunteers, judge-advocate, etc. lle is a gallant ollieer, a strict disciplinarian, and as an executive officer he has very few if any equals. Ilis assiduous attention to his duty has called furth the highest en- comiums from his superior officers." This letter is cordially indorsed by Maj .- Gen. John Gibbon. Maj .- Gen. William H. French speaks of him as a "young officer full of energy, capacity, and a proper amount of military ambition, with a fine por-onal character. Ilis conduct in the field and in the presence of the enemy displayed all the qualities required to constitute a commander of soldiers." Col. Potter received from Princeton College his degree of A.B. in 1863, and of A.M. in 1566. Ile was admitted as an attorney-at- law in 1865, and as a counselor in 1869. Having begun practice in Bridgeton, he in ISTO formed a copartnership with J. Boyd Nixon, with whom he has since continued his professional labors, and attained a prominent position at the har of South Jersey. He was a delegate to the Republican National Conven- tion at Chicago in 1868, as also to the convention hield at Cincinnati in 1876, and an elector on the Gar- field ticket in 1SS0. Ile was elected an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati of New Jer-
sey, July 4, 1874, and president of the New Jersey more free from all falschood and deceit we have Union Officers' Association for 1680. The colonel was on the 27th of May, 1569, married to Alice, daughter of the late Alfred Eddy, D.D., of Niles, Mich. Their children are Alfred E., James Boyd, David, Alice, and Francis Delavan.
JAMES J. REEVES,-The Reeves family are of Eng- lish extraction, its earliest representatives in America having settled in New England, and emigrated thence to New Jersey as members of the Penwick colony. In the direct line of descent was Deacon John Reeves,
great-great-grandfather of the subject of this 1 ;.. graphical sketch, who was born abort 1,25, and m .... ried Mabel, daughter of Dr. James Johnson, a d :.. tinguished physician of his time, who came fto .. Connecticut to Cumberland County, N. J., and why ... extensive practice embraced a circuit of over fifty miles. Their son, Johnson Reeves (the 1st), married! Zeriah, daughter of John Berriman, whose son, John Reeves, was born Sept. 6, 1778, and married, Dec. 25. 1798, to Martha Reeves, daughter of Samuel and Mary Reeves. The birth of Martha Reeves occurred JJuur 6, 1779. Their children were Johnson ; Sammel. de. ceased ; Mary, who died in infancy ; Joseph ; Martha. deceased : Joel B .; Mary, widow of the late Samuel L. Fithian ; and Ephraim, who died in infancy.
sequently editor of Our Monthly, the Young Folla Vairs, and other literary publications, and now prins- cipal of Joy Hall Seminary, Bridgeton ; Harriet S., wife of Charles S. Fithian ; Ruth R., wife of Robert Du Bois; John, assistant cashier of the Girard Na- tional Bank of Philadelphia; Martha P., widow of Alexander 1. Robison ; Francis B., of the firm of Reeve-, Parvin & Co., Philadelphia; James J., and a daughter, Martha (the 1st), who died in infancy.
Mr. Johnson Reeves was at one time largely iden- tified with the mercantile interests of Bridgeton, and also engaged in ship-building, but during the latter period ofhis life he was in the employ of the Cumberland] Nail and Iron Company. His influence in the com- munity was healthful, while his benevolent instinct-, his warm, sympathetic nature, and his sterling char- aeter left a pleasant memory among all his colem- poraries. A clearer conception of his character i- afforded in a brief extract from a memorial discour-e delivered on the occasion of his death by his pastor, the late Rev. S. Beach Jones, D.D. : "Those who knew him longest and knew him best were those who mos! trusted, honored, and loved him. He was clothel with the righteousness of the strictest truthfulne- and the most rigid integrity. A man more guilele --.
never known. His tongue was a faithful index to his heart, and a more lonest heart never beat in human bosom. To a rare degree he sought the honor of God and not his own, and for this very reason God honored him by giving him such honot among men as none who seek their own honor alone can ever attain. He was honored in men's heart- because he was a man of rigid veracity, sterling honesty, and unfeigned piety. He is lamented not because he has vacated a high office, but because he
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