USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 19
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it, in acknowledgment of his wise judgment, and of his zeal and abundant effort in pro- moting the noble purposes for which that body was assembled. He was president of the New Jersey branch of the same society from the time of its formation until his death, some nine years, and he is credited with bringing into its treasury the largest amount ever brought by a single individual at any one time.
Mr. Wallace died May 17, 1819, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. He was father of John Bradford Wallace, of Crawford county, Pennsylvania, a most efficient advo- cate of the internal improvement of that State, and for some time a member of its legislature.
COLFAX, Capt. William,
Commander of Washington's Life-Guard.
Captain William Colfax, who made a most creditable record in both military and civic life, was a native of Connecticut, born July 3, 1756. Of his early life, little is known. It is a matter of tradition that he frequently told members of his family that he took part in the battle of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775. After that date his army service is a matter of record.
The Connecticut records show that he served in a regiment from that State, his pay account dating to 1781. While the American troops were at Valley Forge, Washington, on March 17, 1778, issued an order directing that "one hundred chosen men are to be annexed to the guard of the commander-in-chief, for the purpose of forming a corps to be instructed in the ma- noeuvres necessary to be introduced into the army, and to serve as a model for the execution of them." The provisions for this corps, which came to be known as Wash- ington's Life-Guard, were: The men to be from five feet eight inches to five feet ten inches in height ; from twenty to thirty years of age; of robust constitution and good character. All were American born. The
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motto inscribed upon their standard was, "Conquer or Die."
Of this notable company was Colfax, wlio abundantly demonstrated his worthiness for membership. He was of good military ap- pearance, and his conduct under all circum- stances was that of the true soldier. He was soon appointed a lieutenant, and, when Captain Caleb Gibbs, of Rhode Island, left the service, Colfax was placed in command, and was known as captain commandant, though he was never commissioned beyond his lieutenantcy. He was three times wound- ed. His most serious wound was from a musket ball which passed through his body just above the hip. He was sent to the hospital, when Washington saw him and said, "You are in a deplorable condition : I will give you a furlough that you may go home." However, he remained with the army until it went into winter quarters at Morristown, in the winter of 1779-80, when he went to his home in Connecticut, making the journey on horseback. He soon returned, in good health, and continued in service until the close of the war. His posi- tion gave him a near proximity to Wash- ington at the ceremonies attending the sur- render of Cornwallis at Yorktown, and in his after life the event was one of which he was wont to discourse with great pleasure. Washington held him in high regard, and presented to him a brace of pistols, one of which is now in possession of a descendant. Another descendant has a queu net knitted from linen thread by Lady Washington, and given by her to him. Family records describe him as a man of fine presence, large frame, and well proportioned : dark hair, clean shaven face, massive underjaw, a clear florid complexion, and attractive blue eyes. Until his very late life he wore powdered hair, in a queu, tied with a black ribbon. A miniature painted about the time of the close of the Revolution, for the young wo- man who became his wife, shows a coat of dark blue, scarlet collar and facings ; a buff waistcoat ; a ruffled shirt front ; white collar, and dark cravat.
Soon after the close of the war, Captain Colfax located in Pompton, New Jersey. where he married a young woman he had met there while he was yet in service, and his company was stationed in that neighbor- hood-Hester Schuyler. He was held 11 high esteem by all, and was kept in public life as long as he was able to perform such tasks. By legislative appointment he wa: made justice of the peace and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He represent- ed Bergen county in the Legislature in 1806-07, 1809-10, and in 1811, and in 1808, 1812 and 1813 was a member of the Legis- lative Council. He maintained his interest in military matters to the last. In 1811 he was brigadier-general commanding the Ber- gen Brigade of Infantry, and in the War of 1812 was commander at Sandy Hook. At the elaborate and enthusiastic celebra- tions of Independence Day his presence was deemed indispensable, and he entered into the spirit of the day with great enthusiasm. When Lafayette visited Newark, Captain Colfax was the most conspicuous figure among all the Revolutionary War heroes present.
He died September 9, 1838, aged eighty- two years and two months, having preserved his faculties to the very last. He was `buried with full military honors. Near his old home was erected a marble shaft inscrib- ed: "General William Colfax, Captain of Washington's Life-Guard." He left six children : George Washington, who mar- ried Eliza Colfax ; Lucy, married Henry P. Berry ; Schuyler, married Hannah Delame- ter Stryker, and they became parents of Vice-President Schuyler Colfax; Elizabeth, married James L. Baldwin: William W., married Hester Mandeville: and Maria, married Abraham Williams.
WARE, Rev. Thomas,
Remarkable Itinerant Preacher.
The career of Thomas Ware is among the most remarkable in human experience. Inn- bued with skepticism, it is remarkable that
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not only was he not confirmed in his con- his "Memoir of Rev. Thomas Ware," the victions amid the necessarily unpropitious preface to which contained his assurance that "the writer has neither capacity nor disposition to employ his pen merely for the purpose of amusing his fellowmen; but, having been called by Providence, influences of army life, but that he there embraced that religion which he had pre- viously contemned, and came to be one of the most effective intinerant preachers the country has ever known.
he may without ostentation perform the humble task of recording some things which passed under his observation ;" and express- ed. the hope (which has been abundantly realized), that "Methodism may equal the highest expectations of its early friends and advocates, as an instrument of spread- ing evangelical holiness through these lands. From this "Memoir" the present narrative is condensed.
A grandson of an Englishman who was a captain in the British army, he was born in Greenwich, New Jersey, December 19, 1758. In his sixteenth year he went to Salem to live with an uncle, an irreligious man, whose influence was pernicious. In 1776, at the age of eighteen, he joined the American forces at Perth Amboy. Volun- teers being called for to reinforce Washi- ington on Long Island, young Ware was first to step forward, and in recognition of his spirit, he was made color bearer. His further military service seems to have been inconspicuous, and he soon left the service. About this time his mind reverted to re- ligion, but he was rather the more confirm- ed in his skepticism, and endeavoring to convince himself that revealed religion was a myth. He now happened to listen to an itinerant preacher, a Mr. Pedicord. Greatly affected by what he heard, he left the meet- ing to go to his room, where he fell upon his knees and determined, after a severe mental struggle, to make a new departure. He became an industrious reader of the New Testament, and soon made a profes- sion of faith, and joined the Methodists at Mount Holly. The brethren were deeply affected by his conversion and his evident sincerity and at once enjoined upon him the preaching of the word, as a duty to which he was called. This he refused, although he took a leading part in meetings as an exhorter, until the renowned Bishop As- bury, who had a good account of him, call- el him into a personal conference and suc- ceeded in having him accept an appoint- ment as an itinerant preacher on the Dover circuit, which then had but one minister to supply the wants of a large and scattered people. His after life he wrote at length in
When he entered the ministry, there were but eighty-three intinerant preachers in all America. He was sent to the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and had charge of the entire peninsula, making his labors most arduous, on account of the many and long journey- ings to the widely separated settlements. What is now the Methodist church in Amer- ica had then no organization, and it was not until 1784 that such was effected. It was now that Asbury (not yet a bishop), sent an appeal to Wesley, in England, to aid him in the formation of a coherent body. Accordingly, Wesley sent over Dr. Coke, whom he made "superintendent," and pro- viding him with forms of ordination for deacons, elders and superintendents. To carry these purposes into effect, a confer- ence was held in Baltimore, on Christmas Day, 1784. Of this the "Memoir" says: "I have often said it was the most solemn convocation I ever saw ; I might have said it was sublime." The question being raised as to a title, Ware says, "I thought to my- self, I shall be satisfied that we be denom- inated the Methodist Church, and so whis- pered to a brother sitting near me, but one proposed that we should adopt the title of Methodist Episcopal Church, and the motion was carried without a dissenting voice." Mr. Ware returned to his labors in Mary- land, which were abundantly successful un-
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til illness overtook him, and he was obliged to rest for a time. He afterward had charge of the Salem (New Jersey) circuit, and later visited Long Island, and villages on the Hudson river. In 1787 he was sent to East Tennessee. In 1789 he was visit- ed by Bishop Asbury, and the two journey- ed into North Carolina. Ware was then stationed there and in Virginia for two years, in 1791 was appointed to Wilmington, Delaware, and the next year to Staten Is- land. Afterward he was given the Albany District, embracing a portion of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. In 1796 he was given charge of the Phila- delphia District, extending from Wilming- ton, Delaware, to Lake Seneca, New York. In 1803 he was sent to the Jersey District, in which he continued four years, then la- boring for two years in Philadelphia. In 1808 age and infirmities had so worn upon him that he took a supernumerary relation. In 1812 he was made one of the book agents, in which office he remained four years, in 1816 being appointed to Long Is- land and laboring until 1825, closing forty years active service as an effective traveling preacher. During all this period he was a member of nearly every district and general conference, and had taken an active part in founding and developing the elaborate system which made the Methodist Church the most effective missionary body of those times in the United States.
GRIFFITH, William,
Lawyer, Jurist, Author.
Hon. William Griffith was born in 1766, at Bound Brook, Somerset county, New Jersey, son of Dr. John Griffith, of that place. He entered the office of the late Hon. Elisha Boudinot, at Newark, where he pur- sued his legal studies. In conjunction with Josiah Ogden Hoffman, afterwards a dis- tinguished lawyer of New York, Gabriel H. Ford, Alexander C. McWhorter and Rich- ard Stockton, who were all law students in
the same town, he founded the "Institutio Legalis," a species of moot court, which subsequently existed for many years, an j served to prepare them and their successors, in a great measure, for the active duties of their profession. Mr. Griffith was licensed as an attorney in 1778; in 1781 as a counsellor ; in 1798 as a sergeant-at-law. He fixed his residence at Burlington, and in a short time his practice became a very lucra- tive one, and he enjoyed a deservedly high reputation as an advocate. He was exceed- ingly well versed in the common law which governs real estate, and he made himself acquainted with most of the land titles of New Jersey.
At the close of President Adams' ad- ministration and after the election of Presi- dent Jefferson, an Act of Congress was pass- ed creating six new circuit courts, each hav- ing its own justice and two associate jus- tices. On the very last day, or rather night, of the outgoing administration, the Senate acted on the nominations made by the Presi- dent, and as the entire number were con- firmed by the Senate, about midnight of March 3, 1801, these judges, thus con- firmed, enjoyed the sobriquet of "Midnight Judges." For the Third Circuit, consist- ing of the States of Pennsylvania. New Jersey and Delaware, there were selected the late Chief-Justice Tilghman, of Pennsyl- vania, as chief justice of the new circuit; Richard Bassett, of Delaware, and William Griffith, of New Jersey. The court thus constituted held two terms, one in May and the other in October, 1801. But these ap- pointments were very unpopular, as they were made in the last hour of an outgoing administration, when the succeeding one was of directly opposite doctrines, and so. when Congress assembled, in December, 1801, one of its first acts was to repeal the courts thus established, and cast adrift the judges so nominated and confirmed. Judge Bassett, however, vigorously protested against these retaliatory measures, but noth- ing resulted from it. although the course
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thus adopted by the majority was against the Constitution of the United States, which provides that the judges shall hold office during good behavior. Of course there was no alternative but to accept the situation, and Judge Griffith returned to his practice at the bar, but did not long continue therein, as he had become a speculator in the sale of lands. At a later date he became a mem- ber of the Legislature, and while in that body was the author of the act "to secure to creditors an equal and just division of the estates of debtors who convey to assignees for the benefit of creditors," which was passed in February, 1820. In the early part of the year 1826 he was appointed clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States, but he only filled that important sta- tion a few months.
He was one of the few attorneys and counsellors-at-law in New Jersey who ever became an author. In 1796 he published a "Treatise on the Jurisdiction and Proceed- ings of Justices of the Peace," with an ap- pendix containing advice to executors, etc. It was regarded as a most valuable work, and several editions were issued. He also published a series of "Essays," in which he showed the defects of the State Constitu- tion, and advocated a change, which, how- ever, was not effected until a fourth of a century after his death. In 1820 he became engaged in the publication of the "Annual Register of the United States," which was designed to include not only the officers, but also the laws and regulations of each of the States of the Union, and these to be cor- rected year by year in supplements issued for the purpose. By way of an introduction he began to collate the "Historical Notes of the American Colonies and Revolution, from 1754 to 1775," but never lived to complete it.
He was at an early date a member of the Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, and when his father died he, as the executor, refused to allow the slaves to be sold, but took them into his own service,
and in 1806 formally liberated them. When the War of 1812 was in progress he em- barked in the business of manufacturing both cotton and woolen goods, but, having no experience in that line of business, lost all his fortune, besides being involved far beyond his means, and indeed he was en- tirely unable to free himself from these in- cumbrances during the remainder of his life. He died June 7, 1826.
MACCULLOCH, George P.,
Originator of the Morris Canal.
This remarkable man, who may well be named with the foremost of New Jersey's public benefactors, was born in Bombay, India, in December, 1775, the son of a Scotchman who was an officer in the East India service.
Losing both his parents in his childhood, he was taken under the care of an aunt in Edinburgh, Scotland, who afforded him every educational advantage. He attended the great university in that city, having among his tutors the eminent Professor John Playfair, in mathematics ; and in Latin the famous Dr. Adams, whose Latin Gram- mar was first authority in its line until within a very few years. After leaving ,the university, young Macculloch went to London, where after a time he became the head of a house with large trade relations in the East Indies, having for his partner Francis Law, a grandson of John Law, the noted financier, and brother of James A. Bernard Law, Count de Lauriston, favorite aide-de-camp of Napoleon. Soon after the subsidence of the turmoil occasioned by the revolution in France, Macculloch visited that country and during a year's stay in Paris he was in daily contact with some of the most eminent men of affairs, to whom he had constant access by reason of his intimacy with the Count de Lauriston and his fluency in speech, he having ready command of the French, German, Spanish and Italian tongues. The advantages he
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derived from these associations were by no means only social ; his attainments and his carriage bespoke his fitness for large re- sponsibilities, and he was commissioned by leading London merchants and financiers to conduct some important negotiations in Hoi- land and elsewhere, during the period of Napoleon's wars. As evidencing his great fitness for such a mission, it is narrated that, where it was necessary, he passed for a German, without a suspicion of his true nationality. Later he passed several months in Madrid, representing the directors of the East India Company. He was now in posi- tion to enter upon a most promising career, mercantile or diplomatic, but, more of a scholar and artist than of the combative traits of character demanded in the then unsettled conditions of Europe, he determin- ed upon coming to the United States, as affording a field for comfortable domestic- ity and reasonable employment in peaceful pursuits.
In 1806 he came to this country, bring- ing with him his wife and two children, settling in Morristown, where he built the house which was his home the remainder of his life. Soon after his coming, he lost a large amount of his wealth, and necessity took him into a pursuit for which he was abundantly qualified by both training and natural disposition, that of teaching. He es- tablished an academy, which for some fifteen years he conducted with signal success, and many of the most eminent men of the county who as lads came under his instruction, re- membered and spoke of him in after years with gratitude and a degree of appreciation almost amounting to reverence. But his monumental work, and that which brought vast advantages to a large region, pecuniary and otherwise, was the fatherhood of the Morris canal, which at once gave an impetus to all branches of industry, and primarily to iron mining and manu facture. This work was of his own projection, and he was the chief leader of a number of men of public spirit and ability, to carry it on to success. The
history of this important undertaking is hereinafter synoptized from an elaborate narrative which Mr. Macculloch himself penned, at the request of the then president of the Morris Canal Company, Mr. Cad- wallader D. Colden :
Mr. Masculloch had visited Long Pond (now known as the beautiful Lake Hopat- cong), then simply a resort for sportsmen, but recognized as an advantageous seat for forges and mills, but unutilized to any de- gree for want of transportation facilities. He was then president of the Morris Coun- ty Agricultural Society, and was particular- ly interested along industrial lines, and it occurred to him that the great lake could be made a reservoir for a canal to com- municate with the Delaware and Hudson rivers. The natural obstacles to be over- come seemed, even to men of progressive ideas, to be insuperable; but Mr. Maccul- loch gradually overcame their doubts, by personal conversation and a series of essays penned by himself for the local newspapers. He familiarized himself with the probable routes to be followed, calling to his aid men capable of forming a true judgment upon the matter. It became evident that an elaborate survey must be made by thorough- ly equipped civil engineers, and it was equally apparent that this would involve an expense not to be incurred by private per- sons. He and those favorable to the plan, now agreed upon a plan for asking legisla- tive aid, and as an imperative beginning undertook the election of assemblymen who would be favorable to the grant to be asked, and "this was effected (in the words of Mr. Macculloch) in the teeth of much opposi- tion, ridicule and suspicion." In the winter of 1822 a legislative grant of $2000 for survey expenses was procured. Mr. Mac- culloch and Mr. Renwick, of New York, a capable civil engineer, had already traversed a possible route, at their own expense. In 1823 Mr. Macculloch went to Albany, en- listed the favorable aid of Governor Clin- ton, and by that means obtained from the
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New York Legislature permission for the New York engineers to aid in the work of survey ; and later he procured, through the War Department of the United States, the aid of General Bernard and Colonel Totten, of the United States Engineer Corps-all "constituting a weight of authority sufficient to overpower cavil, ignorance and hostility. A great part of 1823 was spent by Mr. Macculloch in collecting topographical and statistical information, and in reconnoiter- ing the various routes, and in the latter respect he expresses his obligations to the inliabitants, whose suggestions he always found of practical benefit. He was now president of the Canal Commission, and in his report stated that the object had been to have the canal adopted as a State enter- prise, but that this had proved impracticable through local interests and jealousies, "and a laudable dread of public debt ;" and that the only remaining expedient was to or- ganize a company clothed with privileges and banking powers, sufficient to attract subscriptions. A charter was drafted, pro- viding that a certain number of the direc- tors should be residents of the counties traversed by the canal, and Mr. Macculloch and others were made such officers. Subse- quently, and in the absence of Mr. Mac- culloch, the charter was changed to such a degree as to admit of unwholesome specula- tion, and when the work was completed it had cost about $2,000,000, while a respon- sible contractor had offered to do it for $850,000. Mr. Macculloch suffered con- siderable loss, and many were absolutely ruined.
Mr. Macculloch was appointed a member of the Board of Visitors to the West Point Military Academy in 1830, and he was re- appointed in 1842. He died in June, 1858, leaving two children-Francis L. Maccul- loch, of Salem; and a daughter, who be- came the wife of United States Senator Jacob W. Miller, of Morristown.
DICKERSON, Mahlon,
Secretary of Navy, Governor.
Mahlon Dickerson was born in Hanover, New Jersey, April 17, 1770. He was a de- scendant of Philemon Dickerson, an emi- grant from England, who settled in Salem, Massachusetts, but in 1672 removed to Southold, Long Island. His grandchildren removed to New Jersey about 1745, and from them the Dickersons and Dickinsons (as the name variously appears) are de- scended.
The son of one of these was Jonathan Dickerson, of whose son, Mahlon Dickerson, the early life is not known. He studied at Princeton College, from which he was grad- ated in 1789, and was licensed as an attor- ney in 1793. The outbreak of the Whiskey Insurrection in the following year took him into Pennsylvania as a volunteer. After- ward he studied law for a time in the office of James Milnor, of Philadelphia, and was admitted to the bar of Pennsylvania in 1797. He was something of a writer, and contributed to the "Aurora" newspaper, which was edited by William Duane. In 1799 Dickerson was chosen a member of the Common Council of Philadelphia, and in 1802 was appointed by President Jeffer- son a Commissioner of Bankruptcy. In 1805 he was made Adjutant-General, and in 1808 resigned that office to become recor- der of the city.
Dickerson's father having died, leaving a valuable property in Morris county, New Jersey, his son Mahlon went there to re- side. This was in 1810, and in 1812 he was elected a member of the State Assembly from that county. In the following year he was made a Justice of the Supreme Court. In 1815 he was chosen Governor without opposition, and again in 1816. In 1817 he was made Senator, and re-elected six years later, being succeeded in 1829 by Theodore Frelinghuysen. He was, however, elected to
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