Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Ogden, Mary Depue
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Newark, N.J. : Memorial History Company
Number of Pages: 980

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CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

humor. This was especially shown in his treatment of children, of whom he was ex- ceedingly fond, and who loved him in re- turn with enduring affection. He was never happier than when surrounded by them and ministering to their happiness. He died on the 26th of May, 1871, after a short ill- ness brought on by exposure in his garden, in which lie insisted upon working more than his failing strength would allow. His funeral was largely attended by old and young, who knew well they had lost one of their best friends. Two of his children survived him,-Samuel, who became law- judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Warren county ; and Sarah D., who mar- ried Dr. P. F. Brakeley, long engaged in the practice of medicine at that place. An- other son, John Brown, was also a physi- tian, and died in the practice of his profes- sion at Scranton, Pennsylvania, in 1852; he was cut off suddenly and was taken away from a sphere of great usefulness and distinction.

BARBER, Francis,

Revolutionary Soldier.

Francis Barber was born at Princeton, New Jersey, in 1751. He was graduated from Princeton College in 1767, and two years later accepted the position of prin- cipal of the Elizabethtown (New Jersey) Academy. He joined the revolutionary army in 1776 with the rank of major of ar- tillery, and received promotion first to lieu- tenant-colonel, and later to Assistant In- spector-General, serving under Baron Steuben. He was present at many import- ant battles, including Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown, receiving serious wounds at Monmouth. He was taken to a hospital, and while convalescent succeeded in gaining important information which was exceedingly useful to the pa- triots. In 1779 he was promoted to adju- tant-General, and the following year was appointed by General Washington to levy

stores in New Jersey. The following year, when insurrection broke out in some of the troops, he was sent to subdue the soldiers, accomplishing the task with tact and suc- cess. He was present at several engag- ments in Lafayette's Virginia campaign in 1781, notably at Yorktown, serving effi- ciently throughout the war. He died in Newburg, New York, February 11, 1783.

STEVENS, Robert Livingston,

Engineer, Naval Architect.

Robert Livingston Stevens, son of John and Rachel (Cox) Stevens, was born Oc- tober 18, 1787, at Hoboken, and died there April 20, 1856. He was educated chiefly by private tutors and in his father's labor- atory. Of all his brothers he had perhaps the strongest engineering bias.

When he helped his father to build the first twin-screw boat, he was but seventeen years old, and when he took the "Phoenix" from New York to Philadelphia he was barely twenty-one. At the death of Ful- ton, in 1815, the speed of steamboats was under seven miles an hour. The "Philadel- phia," built by Robert L. Stevens, had a speed of eight miles; and he succeeded in increasing the speed of each successive boat that he built until in 1832 the "North America," the finest vessel of her day, at- tained fifteen miles. For twenty-five years after 1815, Robert Livingston Stevens stood at the head of his profession as a con- structor of steam vessels. In 1821 he or- iginated the form of ferry-boats and ferry- slips now in general use, constructing the slips with spring piling and fenders. In 1818 he invented the cam board cut-off, and applied it to the steamboat "Philadelphia," on the Delaware, this being the first appli- cation of the expansive action of steam to navigation. In 1821 he adopted the work- ing (or walking) beam, and improved it by making it of wrought iron strap with a cast- iron centre ; and in 1829 he adopted the shape now universally used in this coun-

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

try. He invented the split water-wheel in 1826, and in 1831 the balance valve which is now always used on the beam engine. He was the first to place the boilers on the wheel guards over the water; he adopted the Stevens cut-off, and finally left the American working (or walking) beam en- gine in its present form. Beginning with a pressure of two pounds to the square inch, he increased the strength of his boilers until fifty pounds could be safely carried. He made the first marine tubular boiler in 1831. He reduced the vibration of the hull and added greatly to the strength by the overhead truss frame of masts and rods now used.

At the suggestion of Robert L. Stevens, president and chief engineer of the road, the board of directors of the Camden & Amboy railroad, shortly after the surveys for the road were completed, authorized Mr. Stevens to obtain the particular kind of rails he advocated, which was an all iron rail, instead of a wooden rail or stone stringer with strap iron, the one then com- monly used. At that time no rolling mill in America could roll T-rails; so, early in October, 1830, Mr. Stevens sailed for Eng- land in order to obtain what he required. During the voyage he whiled away the hours by whittling thin wood into shapes of rail-sections until he finally decided which was best suited to the needs of the new road. Seeing that the Birkenshaw, the best English rail then laid, required an expensive chair to hold it in place, he dis- pensed with the chair by adding the base to the T-rail, designing at the same time the "hook-headed" spike, substantially the railroad spike of to-day; the iron tongue, which has been developed into the fish-bar ; and the bolts and nuts to complete the joint. Eighty years have elapsed since this rail was adopted by the Camden & Amboy com- pany, and with the exception of slight al- terations in the proportions, incident to in- creased weight, no radical change has been made in the "Stevens rail," which is now

in use on every road in America, and noth- ing has yet been found to take the place of the "hooked-headed" railroad spike Robert L. Stevens designed. Mr. Stevens spent a great deal of time while abroad in examin- ing the English locomotives. The Liver- pool & Manchester railway had then been in use for over a year. The "Planet," the "Rocket's" successor, built by the Stephen- sons, had just been tested with satisfactory results, and Mr. Stevens ordered a loco- motive of similar construction from the same manufacturers. This locomotive, called the "John Bull," was put into service in 1831, and is the prototype of those now in general use. It is now preserved in the United States National Museum.

Toward the close of the war of 1812, Robert Livingston Stevens was engaged in making a bomb that could be fired from a cannon instead of from a mortar, in order that it might be applied to naval war fare. He succeeded in producing a successful percussion shell which was adopted by the United States government, which purchased a large quantity, together with the secret of its construction. Mr. Stevens's labors upon armored ships were closely inter- woven with those of his brothers, especial- ly, Edwin Augustus Stevens.

In 1850, Robert L. Stevens designed and built the "Maria," the fastest sailing vessel of her day. It was this yacht that defeated the "America" in New York Harbor, a few months before the latter won the memor- able race on the Solent, when Her Majesty, Queen Victoria, having asked her favorite skipper who was first and second in the race, received for a reply, "The 'America' leads, there is no second." Mr. Richard Fowler Stevens had a picture representing Commodore John C. Stevens assisting on board of the "America," as his guests, Her Majesty and the Prince. The "Maria" was lost at sea in 1869.

Robert Livingston Stevens died unmar- ried. "He will be remembered as the greatest American mechanical engineer of

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

his day, a most intelligent naval architect, to whom the world is indebted for the com- mencement of the mightiest revolution in the methods of modern naval welfare."

STEVENS, Edwin Augustus,

Mechanical and Marine Engineer.

Edwin Augustus Stevens, seventh son of Colonel John and Rachel (Cox) Stevens, was born at Castle Point, Hoboken, New Jersey, July 28, 1795, and died at Paris, France, August 8, 1868.

As a young man he assisted his brother, Robert Livingston Stevens, in his engin- eering work. In 1820, by family agree- ment, he was made trustee of his father's estate in Hoboken, which he managed most successfully. It was during this period that he invented and patented the Stevens plow, which came into extended use and favor. In 1825, with his brothers, Robert Livingston Stevens and John Cox Stevens, he bought up the Union line of steamboats which plied along the coast between New York and New Brunswick, New Jersey, and in connection with the line of stages running from the latter city to Philadel- phia. Of this enterprise Edwin Augustus was also made the manager, and under his able operation it continued until the Cam- den & Amboy railroad superseded the line of stages. In 1830, with his brother, Rob- ert Livingston, he obtained from the legis- lature of the state of New Jersey a charter for that railroad, and so vigorously did he prosecute the work of construction that the road opened for traffic on October 9, 1832, with his brother, Robert Livingston, as president, and he himself as treasurer and manager. As a testimony to the excep- tional executive ability of Edwin Augustus Stevens, it should be mentioned that during the thirty-five years during which the road was under his control it never at any time missed a dividend. During this period also, Mr. Stevens was very conspicuous in aid- ing and advancing the development of rail-

roads and railroad interests of the United States. On his own road he invented and introduced many appliances of all sorts, and the germs of many improvements af- terwards perfected on other roads can be traced back, as, for example, the vestibule car, to Mr. Stevens's inventions for the Camden & Amboy railroad.

In 1842, Robert Livingston Stevens ap- plied forced draft to his steamboat, the "North America," and its use immediately became general. In the same year Edwin Augustus Stevens patented his airtight fire- room for the use of the forced draft and applied it to many vessels. Nowadays this double invention of the Stevens brothers is in use in all the great navies of the world. Towards the close of the last war with England, Robert Livingston Stevens began experimenting with the object of making a bomb that could be fired from a cannon instead of a mortar, and so could be made of practical use to naval warfare. The re- sult of these experiments was the first per- cussion shell. In 1814 Edwin Augustus, under his father's direction, had experi- mented in the effects of shot against in- clined iron plating; and in 1841, when the boundary dispute between the United States and England had directed the atten- tion of the public to the condition of the naval defences of the country, he made an- other series of experiments which he and his brothers laid before the government. As a result of this, President Tyler appointed a commission of army and navy officers to superintend, at Sandy Hook, the experi- ments of the Stevens brothers on the ap- plication of iron to war vessels as a protec- tion against shot. After many trials against iron targets, this commission reported that iron four and one-half inches thick resisted effectually the force of a sixty-eight pound shot fired at it from a distance of thirty yards with battering charges. April 14, 1842, therefore, Congress passed an act au- thorizing the secretary of the navy to make a contract with the Stevens brothers for

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

the construction of an iron-clad vessel. The dry-dock for this vessel was begun immed- iately and was finished within a year, and the vessel itself was planned and its con- struction begun, when, in the latter part of the year 1843, a change in the contract was made. because Commodore Robert Field Stockton, had constructed a wrought iron cannon having a bore of ten inches, which threw a round shot that could pierce a four and one-half inch target. This was the be- ginning of more experiments and improve- ments, and as each increase of gun-power at home or abroad demanded increased thickness of armor for defence, there was a consequent increasing of the tonnage of the vessel being made by the Stevenses, and there followed necessarily a season of interminable interruptions and delays and of changes in the specifications and the contract ; and for many years the vessel lay a familiar figure in its basin at Hoboken, and was never finished. This vessel was the first iron-clad ever projected, and pre- ceded by more than ten years the small constructions of the kind which were used by the French at Kilburn in 1854. Robert Livingston Stevens, who had signed the contract with the United States govern- ment for this vessel, bequeathed it at his death in 1854 to Edwin Augustus, and the latter at the beginning of the Civil War, presented the government with a plan for completing it, and at the same time gave to the War Department a small ves- sel called the "Naugatuck," by means of which he demonstrated the feasibility of his plans. This small vessel the govern- ment accepted, and it later formed one of the fleet which attacked the "Merrimac." It was a twin-screw vessel, capable of be- ing immersed three feet below her load line, so as to be nearly invisible, while it could be raised again in eight minutes by the simple expedient of pumping out again the water taken in for purposes of im- mersion ; and it could also be turned on its centre end for end, in one and one-quarter

minutes. It was thus the forerunner of the modern subinarine. The government, how- ever, refused to appropriate the money needed to carry on the plans proposed by Mr. Edwin Augustus Stevens, and at his death he left the vessei to the state of New Jersey, together with a gift of $1,000,000 to be used for its completion. When the State had spent this money in a vain en- deavor to do this, it sold the vessel and it was broken up. Edwin Augustus Stevens was the founder of the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, to which he be- queathed a large plot of land. For the building of the institute he left an addi- tional $150,000. and for the endowment of it $500,000 more. His widow, who sur- vived him nearly fifty years, and his child- ren as well, have added largely to these gifts.

Edwin Augustus Stevens married, in 1836, Mary, daughter of Rev. Thomas Pic- ton, of Princeton, New Jersey.

STEWART, Charles,

Distinguished Naval Officer.

Commodore Charles Stewart was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, July 28, 1778, the son of poor Irish parents. His father dying in 1780, he was brought up by his mother, and at the age of thirteen entered the merchant service as a cabin boy. At twenty he had risen to the command of a vessel in the Indian trade, but, the navy being organized in that year, he received a midshipman's commission and held that rank for a short time.

At the beginning of the French war he became junior lieutenant on board the frig- ate "United States," with Decalm and Somers as fellow officers, and by the end of the cruise he had risen to be first lieuten- ant. In July. 1800. he received command of a small schooner, the "Experiment," with which he captured the "Deux Amis," near the West Indies, and the "Diana" a little later : and in the next December rescued a

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

shipwrecked company of sixty women and children from Santa Domingo. In 1803 he assumed command of the "Siren," a cruiser which formed a part of Commodore Preble's squadron, and took part in all the actions of the Tripolitan War. He was in- cluded in the vote of thanks offered to Congress by Preble's officers in 1805. He was promoted to the rank of captain April 22, 1806. He was engaged on land and in the merchant service until 1813, when he was given command of the "Constellation," to do service in the war against England. On board that vessel he was blockaded by the British fleet, but escaped. In 1814 he became captain of the famous "Constitu- tion," which was afterwards given the soubriquet of "Old Ironsides." With it he ran the blockade at Boston, and, sailing to the West Indies, captured a small British schooner and engaged in some unimportant skirmishes. On his return he skillfully es- caped from the two frigates which pursued his ship off the Massachusetts coast, and, again eluding the British blockades, entered VROOM, Peter D., Boston harbor, from which he passed again in December. He then cruised to Portugal, and from there to the Madeira Islands, in the vicinity of which the "Constitution" en- gaged in an open sea fight with a large sloop-of-war, the "Levant" and a small frigate, the "Cyane," and after fifty min- utes made prizes of both. The "Levant" was afterwards recaptured, but he suc- ceeded in bringing the "Cyane" into port at New York. There both commander and vessel were received with intense enthusi- asm by the people, the good luck of "Old Ironsides" passing into a proverb. She had seven times run blockades, had captured three frigates, a sloop-of-war, and numer- ous merchant ships, and had dealt great destruction to the enemy, while escaping herself with never more than nine killed in a single engagement, and without ever los- ing her commanding officer. Captain Stew- art was awarded a gold medal and the thanks of Congress, and his officers re- years and honors in 1831.

ceived silver medals. Stewart went in 1817 to Europe as commodore in the line-of-b. tle ship "Franklin," receiving many marks of honor from foreign powers. He com- manded the Mediterranean squadron until 1820, and the Pacific squadron from 1820 to 1824. He was commissioner of the United States Navy from 1830 to 1832, and in 1838-1841, 1846 and 1854-1861 was in command of the Philadelphia Navy Yard. In 1842-43 he commanded the Howe squad- ron. He received the rank of senior com- modore in 1856, and that of rear-admiral in 1862.

After 1861 he lived in retirement at his country seat, "Old Ironsides," Bordentown, New Jersey, where he died November 6, 1869. He was the last survivor of the fa- mous captains of the war of 1812. His daughter, Delia Tudor, married Charles Henry Parnell, and was the mother of the Irish home rule leader, Charles Stewart Parnell.

Lawyer, Jurist, Governor.

Hon Peter D. Vroom, LL.D., late of Trenton, was born in the township of Hills- borough, Somerset county, New Jersey, December 12, 1791. He was of Dutch ex- traction. His father, Colonel Peter D. Vroom, an old and highly respected citizen of Somerville, was born in 1745, lived in New York during early life, and married Elsie Bogert, also of Dutch origin. At the commencement of the Revolutionary War, Colonel Vroom was among the first to raise a military company, and served throughout the struggle, fighting his way up to the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He held various county offices, such as clerk of the pleas, sheriff, and justice of the peace, and served a long term in the Assembly and in the Council. An honored elder in the Dutch Reformed Church, he lived to see his son Governor of the State, and died full of

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CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

Peter D. Vroom received his preparatory education at Somerville Academy, and be- came a student in Columbia College, New York, in 1806, graduating two years subse- quently. Having a taste for law, he read with George McDonald, of Somerville ; was licensed as attorney in May, 1813, and as counsellor in 1816; twelve years later he was called to be a sergeant. He began prac- tice at Schooley's Mountain, Morris county, but after eighteen years removed to Hack -- ettstown, where he remained two years, then transferring his office to Flemington. In these places he enjoyed a fair practice and laid the foundation of his subsequent repu- tation. During his residence at Flemington he married Miss Dumont, a daughter of Colonel Dumont, of Somerset county, whose sister was the wife of Frederick Fre- linghuysen. In 1820 he made another re- moval, returning to his native county and opening his office in Somerville, where he lived for more than twenty years.

Politically a Federalist, he did not partic- ipate actively in political movements until 1824, when he became an ardent supporter of General Jackson, being especially at- tracted to that statesman by his fa- mous letter to President Monroe deprecat- ing partisanship in the selection of a nation- al cabinet. During the years 1826, 1827 and 1829 he served as a member of the Assembly from Somerset county, and in the last named year he was elected Governor. At that time the Governor was also Chancellor and Ordinary. He was re-elected in the two succeeeding years, but in 1832 was defeat- ed by Mr. Southard. In 1833, 1834 and 1835 he was again elected, but in 1836 de- clined renomination on account of impair- ed health. His decisions in the Court of Chancery during these years tended to es- tablish securely the character imparted to the court by his predecessor, Chancellor Williamson, and, for most part, stand un- questioned to the present day. After re- tiring from the gubernatorial chair he re- sumed practice at Somerville, but in 1837

he was absent for several months in Miss- issippi, having been appointed by President Van Buren one of three commissioners to adjust land reserve claims under the Choctow Indian treaty. In 1838 he became a candidate for Congress, and was elected, but owing to irregularities in some of the re- turns failed to receive the Governor's com- mission. The matter was long and bitter- ly contested, and eventually a decision was rendered in his favor, Congress going be- hind the broad seal of the State and ascer- taining that Mr. Vroom had received a clear majority. This contest is known as the "broad seal war". At the expiration of his congressional term he made Trenton his home, and, his first wife having died, he about this time married a daughter of Gen- eral Wall. When, in 1844, a convention as- sembied to revise the State constitution, he sat as a delegate from his native county, served as chairman of the committee on the legislative department, and labored conspic- uously throughout the work of revision. In 1848 he was associated with Henry W. Green, Stacy G. Potts and William L. Day- ton in bringing the statutes into conformity with the new constitution, and in consoli- dating the numerous supplements. Chief Justice Green's term expiring, Mr. Vroom was nominated by Governor Fort as his suc- cessor, and the Senate promptly confirmed the nomination, but he declined.

In 1853 he accepted the mission to the Court of Prussia, and resided in Berlin un- til 1857, when he was recalled at his own request, and returned to the practice of his profession. A difficult question with which he was called upon to deal while in Prussia was the claim of the Prussian subjects, who, after naturalization as American citi- zens, had returned to their native country, to protection against the military law of Prussia. Our government refused protec- tion, on the ground that if such citizens re- turned voluntarily to the jurisdiction of the country whose laws they had broken prior to naturalization as Americans, they must

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

suffer the consequences of their unlawful acts. To convince those who had fallen un- der punishment and looked to him for relief of the justice of this principle was no easy matter, but Mr. Vroom managed this dif- ficult task with great judgment and success. In 1860 he was placed upon the electoral ticket by the Breckinridge and Lane party, but was defeated. While earnestly opposed to the measures of the northern abolition- ists, he was just as strongly opposed to the secession doctrines of the southern extrem- ists. In the Peace Conference which met at Washington on February 4th, 1861, he was one of the nine representatives from New Jersey, and was a member of the commit- tee composed of one representative from each State, to which were referred the var- ious propositions for the restoration of har- mony and preservation of the Union. This committee, after many long and protracted sessions, at which Mr. Vroom was a punc- tual, faithful and active attendant, reported on February 15th, but only failure resulted. The causes of this failure were thus stated by him to in a address to the voters of New Jersey, published in 1862:

"Radical politicians everywhere opposed the adjustment. The Union men in the border States were earnest in their entreaties. They foresaw and foretold with almost prophetic dis- tinctness what would be the results of a failure. The Crittenden resolutions; the propositions of the Peace Convention, either, if agreed to by Congress, might have saved the country. But secessionists in the South opposed them. The radicals of the North and East opposed them. The great Republican party, everywhere, with some honorable exceptions. were unwilling to abandon their platform. They insisted it should be carried out to the letter, no matter what might be the consequences. Some assured the people that there was no danger; that everything would be quieted in thirty days, or a few weeks; others did not hesitate to say that blood-letting would be of service to the nation."

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Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Ogden, Mary Depue Publication date: 1921 Publisher: Newark, N.J. : Memorial History Company Number of Pages: 980

Author: Ogden, Mary Depue
Publication date: 1921
Publisher: Newark, N.J. : Memorial History Company
Number of Pages: 980