USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 10
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In November, 1832, Mr. Hornblower was appointed, by the joint meeting of Council and Assembly, Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, to take the place vacated by the death of Chief-Justice Ewing, and was re-elected in 1839, thus serving in that capacity for fourteen years, retiring in 1846. His decisions during this period were marked by learning, legal acu- men, and high moral principle ; they occupy several volumes of the "New Jersey Law Reports." His well known decision in 1856, that Congress had no right to pass a fugitive slave law, was one which, though reversed, attracted much attention. In 1844 he was one of the most prominent members of the convention called to frame a new constitution for the State; and he strenuously endeavored to obtain the inser-
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tion of a clause putting an end to slavery in the State, but in which, he was unsuc- cessful. After his retirement from the bench he resumed the practice of his pro- fession, but not to any very appreciable ex- tent. During his incumbency as Chief-Jus- tice the College of New Jersey conferred upon him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In 1847 the trustees of that institu- tion appointed him Professor of Law, with the hope that he would remove to Prince- ton and assist in building up a permanent school of law ; but, as no provision had been made for an adequate salary, and as he was unwilling to leave a residence where he had passed so many years, although he ac- cepted the appointment and delivered a course of lectures, there was not sufficient encouragement given him to remain, and he soon after resigned the chair.
Politically he was a Federalist, after- wards became a Whig, and subsequently a Republican; he was a strong anti-slavery man, as evinced by his attempt, as already stated, to insert in the State Constitution a clause abolishing that institution. In 1856 he was chairman of the New Jersey delegation to and vice-president of the Philadelphia Convention which nominated General Fremont for the presidency on the Republican ticket. In 1820 he was one of the presidential electors, and cast his vote for James Monroe, and in 1860 was president of the Electoral College of New Jersey, and cast the vote of that State for Lincoln and Hamlin. Religiously, he was for many years a member of the Presbyter- ian church, and a ruling elder. He was an original member of the American Bible So- ciety ; president of the New Jersey Coloni- zation Society; president of the Society for Promoting Collegiate and Theological Edu- cation in the West; and also president of the New Jersey Historical Society from its inception, besides being connected with many of the religious organizations of the day, contributing largely of his means to their furtherance and support. In private
life he was a gentleman of urbane man- ners, a good conversationalist and an inter- esting companion. He was a thoroughly honest and truthful man, and all with whom he was brought in contact were charmed with his society and his happily expressed sentiments.
When a young man, and just admitted to the bar, he married a granddaughter of Dr. William Burnet, who bore him a large family of children, most of whom survived him. After he had been a widower for some time he married a daughter of Colonel John Kinney, of Morris county, with whom he lived most happily, and who soothed his declining years with the most tender at- tention. He died at his residence in the city of Newark, June 11, 1864, in the eighty- eighth year of his age.
WALL, Garret Dorset,
Soldier, Lawyer, Statesman.
Kon. Garret Dorset Wall was born in 1783, in Middletown township, Monmouth county, New Jersey, and was the fourth child of James Wall; his mother was a Dorset. On his paternal side, he was of Eng- lish lineage, his father being fourth in de- scent from Walter Wall, who emigrated about the middle of the seventeenth century from Great Britain to Massachusetts, where he resided for a short time, removing thence to Long Island, and eventually settling in Monmouth county, New Jersey, in 1657. His father, James Wall, had been an officer in the War for Independence, and was a participant in the celebrated battle of Mon- month, where he personally captured an English officer, who tendered him his sword.
Garret Dorset Wall was barely nine years old when his father died, leaving a widow and six children, with but slender means of support. At this juncture his father's brother, Dr. John G. Wall, of Woodbridge, received young Wall into his own family. and he resided with this uncle until the
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latter's death, in 1798. He received a fair education, including instruction in the Greek and Latin languages, until he attained his fifteenth year, the period of his uncle's death, when he removed to Trenton, and at that early age became a student-at-law in the office of General Jonathan Rhea, who at that time was clerk of the Supreme Court of the State. His pecuniary means were very limited, but his preceptor gave him employment in the office, which yielded his principal means of support. He was a care- ful student, and acquainted himself not only with the principles of the common law, but gave particular attention to those bearing upon real estate, the laws of inheritance, and titles. In addition to these, he famili- arized himself with the practice of the court in whose office he was an employee ; so that, in after years, his opinions on all matters relating to that practice carried great weight by reason of his thorough knowledge of the subject in question. On arriving at the age of twenty-one years, he was duly examined and licensed as an attorney, and at once commenced the practice of his profession at Trenton, and by his urbane manners, as well as his extensive reading, gradually at- tained a remunerative line of practice. At first, however, owing either to extreme dif- fidence or a seeming want of confidence in himself, he experienced great difficulty in conducting his pleadings; and, even after overcoming in a measure a hesitating mode of speaking, he never entirely eradicated it. In 1807 he was advanced to the grade of counsellor-at-law, which largely in- creased his emoluments. He continued dil- igently engaged in his profession until 1812, when he was elected clerk of the Supreme Court for the term of five years. This position was doubly important, as it served not only to largely increase his income, but also as a means of introducing him to a widely extended practice. He failed, how- ever, to be re-elected, and returned to the practice of his profession.
During his term of service as clerk of the
court, the war of 1812 with Great Britain transpired; and he, being imbued with a large share of military and patriotic feel- ing, and also inheriting the same from his father, volunteered his services in a com- pany of uniformed militia in which he had been for some years a lieutenant. As cap- tain of the Phoenix Infantry Corps, he was detailed, in connection with other troops, to aid in the protection of the city of New York. He cven contemplated resigning his office of clerk of the Supreme Court to ac- cept a position on Colonel Ogden's staff, had that officer accepted the position of major-general.
In 1820 he was advanced to the rank of sergeant-at-law, which title enabled him to still further enlarge his growing practice. In 1822 he was elected on a "Union" ticket, a member of the lower branch of the State Legislature, to represent Hunterdon county in that body. He opposed with great earn- estness the indiscriminate exercise, which the legislature then possessed, of granting divorces ; and succeeded for a time in ar- resting this species of personal legislation. Up to this time he had been a zealous, earnest member of the Federalist party; but at length from conviction he became a pronounced Democrat, or "Republican," as they were sometimes termed in those days, and was among the earliest supporters of General Jackson for the presidency in 1824. In 1827 he succeeded in securing the nom- ination, on the Democratic ticket, for mem- ber of Assembly for Hunterdon county, the office he had held five years previously, not- withstanding the fact that the leaders of that party were strongly opposed to him; but he appealed to the masses, who placed him in nomination and elected him at the polls. He at once took the front rank among the Democracy, and two years later he was elected by the Legislature to the position of Governor of the State, which, however, he declined. In the same year, without any solicitation on his part, he was nominated by President Jackson to be
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United States District Attorney for New Jersey, which official station he held for several years, discharging its duties with energy and ability. In 1834 he was elected by the State Legislature a member of the United States Senate, where he served diir- ing the last two years of Jackson's second term, and the entire four years of Van Buren's administration, and to whose policy and tenets he gave an unhesitating support. He was noticeable in his condenination of the measures put forth in favor of rechar- tering the United States Bank, and one of the most effective speeches he ever deliver- ed while a Senator, was in opposition to the advocates for a continuance of that fiscal institution.
After his senatorial term expired, he re- turned to Burlington, which town had been his home since 1828, and recommenced his professional duties, which he pursued until stricken by disease. From this attack he partially recovered, and engaged in some important cases. He earnestly advocated the measures which culminated in the as- sembling of a Constitutional Convention in 1844, and manifested a great interest in the adoption of the new constitution which it had framed. Although not a member of the body which prepared it, yet he was able to aid the members by his counsel and advice while they were progressing in their work. In 1848 he was made a member of the Court of Errors and. Appeals, and in that high tribunal his great learning and research enabled him to reach an impartial conclusion on various legal questions sub- mitted to that body of learned jurists. He occupied this position until a second attack of disease ended fatally. He was, as al- ready remarked, a counsellor of the highest ability and learning ; while, as a pleader, he entered into the case as if he were the client, not the attorney ; and some of his arguments before the jury or court were of the highest eloquence. As a partisan he was remarkably free from party bitterness ; and never allowed his friendships to be
sundered, though his political belief mig: . condemn the measures advocated by i .: most intimate and valued associate. H !- was an earnest advocate of the cause .: education, and took a lively interest in ti .~ establishment of Burlington College, a :: was an active member of the board of trus. tees of that institution. He was eminent !; distinguished for his hospitality, and for hi- willingness to advise all those who sough .: his counsel, although reaping no pecuniary benefit from it. In fact, he was deemed, by those who knew him best, as entirely too liberal in this respect. He was proud of his native State, and of the leading part she took in the Revolutionary War ; moreover. as said above, he inherited a taste for mili- tary duties, as was evinced by his connec- tion with a volunteer company which dated back to the days of '76. In personal appear- ance he looked the soldier, and when, in after days, he acquired the title of General. from having held the position of Quarter- master-General of the State, his very step seemed to indicate that he was born to command.
He was twice married; his first wife, to whom he was united shortly after being ad- mitted to the bar, was a daughter of his pre- ceptor, General Jonathan Rhea. His sec- ond marriage took place in the autumn of 1828. He died in November, 1850.
DRAKE, Daniel, M. D.,
Medical Teacher and Author.
Daniel Drake was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, October 20, 1785, of poor and poor- ly educated parents, who in 1788 emigrated thence to Mason county, Kentucky. There he remained until December, 1800, when. with such meagre education as he had ob- tained in about six months' attendance on country schools, where only reading, writ- ing, and ciphering as far as the rule of three were attempted to be taught, he was at the age of fifteen sent to study medicine at Cin- cinnati, Ohio, a village containing less than
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four hundred inhabitants, and in the midst of a wilderness. There he resided during his after life. He was the first medical stu- dent ever there, and the first medical di- ploma ever bestowed upon a citizen of Cin- cinnati was that received by him from the University of Pennsylvania in 1816.
In 1817-18 Dr. Drake was a professor in the first medical school established in the valley of the Mississippi-the Medical De- partment of Transylvania University, Lex- ington, Kentucky. In 1818-19 he obtained from the legislature of Ohio the charter of the Medical College of Ohio, and in 1821 he obtained from that body a grant of ȘI0,- 000 for the establishment of a hospital in Cincinnati. The Medical College of Ohio was opened in 1820. From that time until his death he was, with partial intermis- sions, a professor in medical schools-in the two above named, and also in Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in the Cin- cinnati Medical College, and in the Univer- sity of Louisville. As a teacher of medi- cine his reputation was national; as a prac- titioner it was commensurate with the Mis- sissippi Valley.
In 1810 he published "Notices Concern- ing Cincinnati," the first descriptive and statistical work written in regard to that place and followed in 1815 by the "Picture of Cincinnati," a remarkable work of or- iginal observation and research, which was much valued and sought for. In 1827 and for some subsequent years, he edited the "Western Medical and Physical Journal," published at Cincinnati. In that year he establislied an eye and ear infirmary, be- lieved to be the first of its kind in the Mis- sissippi Valley. In 1832 he published a vol- ume of practical essays on "Medical Educa- tion and the Medical Profession in the United States." In 1850 he published that great work for which he had for thirty years been preparing, "A Systematic Trea- tise, Historical, Etiological, and Practical, on the Principal Diseases of the Interior Valley of North America, as they appear in
the Caucasian, African, Indian, and Esqui- moux Varieties of its Population," a work that probably has no equal as a great collec- tion of facts bearing on the etiological con- dition and the diseases of a newly settled country. He died November 5, 1852.
GREEN, James S.,
Lawyer, Man of Enterprise.
James S. Green, son of Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green, was born in Philadelphia, on July 22, 1792. He graduated at Dickinson Col- lege in 1811, and studied law with Hon. George Wood. He was licensed as an at- torney in 1817, was admitted as counsellor in 1821, and received the rank of sergeant in 1834. He soon acquired a large practice in the courts of the State, and was the re- porter from 1831 to 1836 of the "Decisions of the Supreme Court," published under his name. He represented Somerset county for several terms in the first branch of the Legislature, then known as the Council, be- ing first elected in 1829, and as such was c.r officio a member of the Court of Ap- peals. On the accession to office of Presi- dent Jackson, he appointed Mr. Green United States District Attorney, which position he filled by successive appoint- ments until the election of President Harri- son. He was nominated by President Tyler as Secretary of the Treasury, but, with others, failed of confirmation in the opposi- tion Senate. Under the old constitution the Legislature in joint meeting had the appoint- ment of Governor, who was also Chancel- lor, and Mr. Green was the candidate of the Democratic party for the position, but was defeated by Governor Pennington.
Mr. Green was one of the first directors of the Delaware & Raritan Canal Company, which position he occupied until his death, being also treasurer of the Joint Railroad and Canal Companies. He was a trustee of Princeton College from 1828 to the time of his death, and had been treasurer of the Theological Seminary at that place for
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many years. He was Professor of the Law Department of the college from 1847 to 1855. His death occurred on November 8, 1862. At the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company, held in Princeton, May II, 1863, the Hon. Robert F. Stockton in his report, made the following allusion to the loss the corporation had sustained by the death of Mr. Green :
"About half a century ago Mr. Green com- menced his career at Princeton as an attorney- at-law. To great suavity of manner he added industry, accuracy and precision, a sound judg- ment and talents eminently practical and et- ficient. His deportment was always correct, and neither pleasure nor vice impaired his character for steadiness and attention to business. He fre- quently represented the people in the Legislature. As a legislator he became known throughout the State, and the 'Statute Book of New Jersey' bears witness to his wisdom and sagacity. The cause of common school education had no more meritorious advocate than Mr. Green. In progress of time he took rank with the first men of our State in directing public opinion. He was among the first and most efficient friends of internal improvements in New Jersey, in constructing that noble system of public works, which without im- posing on the people the burden of a State debt, has developed the resources of New Jersey and conferred on her advantages which no other State in the Union possesses. As a politician he was firm, though conciliatory and kind to hi: opponents. For many years there was no one in the party to which he belonged who enjoyed more completely the public confidence. From the origin of our Joint Companies to the day of his death Mr. Green was an influential member enjoying the implicit confidence of all connected with them, and holding in them high and re- sponsible positions. His fidelity. industry and sagacity, as a member of our great corporations, will be always gratefully remembered by all of us who survive him. Distinguished as Mr. Green was, as our true, faithful friend, a politician, a legislator and a statesman, it may be perhaps from his labors of love as a philanthropist and a Christian that his memory will be held dear by a large and distinguished circle of friends. I will not attempt at this time to enumerate and record all the important services of Mr. Green as a public benefactor. I hope some one more com- petent to such a task will perform it. because such a history, while it would do but justice to
the dead, might be of benefit to the living. his friends will fondly remember the alar, with which he went forward to aid every C .. .: by which human suffering could be amelior .... or religion and public virtue promoted. When .... it was to restore by colonization the emancipa .. African to his ancestral home, to send the :::: sionary to herald the glad tidings of salvation . pagan nations, to spread abroad the Bible to .. destitute people, to build up and foster the S. day School, Mr. Green was ever ready to t .. . the advance, to marshal organizations, or to r struct the public mind and direct it to the c: . couragement and support of any benevolent en. terprise. We care not how bright may be ti- fame of other Christians, whether priest or la, man, nor how distinguished their piety, no nan.c is more worthy of commendation for a long life of gratuitous and arduous labor in the cause o: humanity than that of our deceased friend, James S. Green."
SHERRERD, John Maxwell,
Lawyer, Philanthropist.
John Maxwell Sherrerd was born at Mansfield, now in the county of Warren, but then a portion of old Sussex, New Jersey, September 6, 1794. He was the son of Samuel Sherrerd and Ann Maxwell, his wife, and grandson of John Sherrerd, who emigrated to this country from the city of London in the early part of the last century. He settled at the old homestead, about one and a half miles from Washington, on the line of the Morris & Essex railroad, where lie built a mill and carried on milling, store- keeping and farming, during his life. He was succeeded in business by his son, who reared a large family, eight daughters and two sons, all but one of whom were, at liis death, married and settled within thirty miles of his home.
Jolin Maxwell Sherrerd was the eldest son, and his education was carefully looked after by his mother, who was a woman of strong mind and considerable culture. He prepared for college at Baskingridge, under the care of Dr. Finley, and graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1812. Soon afterward he commenced the study of law
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in the office of his uncle, Hon. George Max- well, who, dying during his studentship, appointed him guardian of his children !. On the death of his uncle, he entered the office of Hon. Charles Ewing, afterwards Chief Justice of the State, at Trenton, where he was a fellow student with Hon. Garret D. Wall. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney in November, 1816, and as a counsellor in February, 1831. Immedi- ately on his admission as an attorney, he commenced the practice of law at Flem- ington, New Jersey, in connection with an- other uncle, William Maxwell. Esq .. and in 1818 he returned to his old home at Mansfield, and practiced principally in the old county of Sussex. In 1825 the county of Warren was erected out of a portion of Sussex, and he, being appointed the first surrogate of the new county, removed to Belvidere, the county seat, in 1826. After this time he constantly resided there, and was ever fully identified with the prosper- ity of the place. During not less than forty years he was the leader of the bar in the northern part of the State, and continued in active practice until the time of his death. In his earlier days he was an earn- est advocate, exceedingly sharp and some- what testy in his manner of conducting causes, and especially in the cross-examina- tion of unwilling witnesses, but during the latter portion of his life he shunned adverse litigation and the excitement of the court- room as much as possible. He possessed a remarkable facility of reproducing in writing the exact words of a witness, and was much employed in the business of Master in Chancery, where this faculty came in play.
Being descended from decidedly Presby- terian stock, he early in life connected himself with that church, and while still a law student at Trenton was sent to Phila- delphia as one of a committee from the First Presbyterian Church to examine into the working of the Sunday school system then just established there. The result of
that visit was the organization of a school in connection with the church at Trenton, which is supposed to have been the first one organized in the State of New Jersey. From that time until his death he was an earnest worker in the cause, and at his grave the children of the Sunday school in Belvidere, of which he was then and had been for a long time the superintendent, paid a touch- ing tribute to his memory by covering his coffin, when lowered to its last resting place, with bouquets of white flowers. As he had early consecrated himself to a nobler service than that belonging to this world, he cared more for the honor of his Mas- ter's kingdom than for earthly honors and distinctions, and consequently never took an active part in party politics nor sought for office. He was, however, at all times decided in his political faith, and was not afraid, at suitable times, to make known his views. An original Jeffersonian Democrat, he became a supporter of John Quincy Adams, was an old-line Whig, and after- wards a Republican. He was ordained an elder in the old Oxford Church, one of the first of the organizations of the Presby- terian order in the county, and in 1834 re- moved his church connection to a new church then first organized under the pas- torate of Rev. I. N. Candee, D.D., in which he remained as ruling elder until his death. At the organization of this church a plan of systematic benevolence was adopted · under the joint management of Dr. Candee and Mr. Sherrerd, which was probably the first scheme of the kind ever worked, al- though now so popular in the churches. He was an earnest and active Christian, ever ready for any good word or work, though entirely unobtrusive in manner and action. He was married, in 1818, to Sarah Brown, of Philadelphia, and though he survived her for more than a quarter of a century, he never formed another matrimonial con- nection. In his manner and all his social intercourse he was at all times remarkable for his geniality, sprightliness and good
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