USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 29
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On leaving the chancellorship, Mr. Hal- sted returned to Newark and resumed prac- tice. In his later years much of his time was occupied with studies in philology and theology. In 1866 he published "Theology of the Bible; itself the Teacher of its own interpretation ; five versions of the Old Testament and four of the New, compared with the originals." In 1875, at the age of eighty-three, he published a translation of the Book of Job. He died August 29, 1877, aged eighty-five years. He was a man of medium height, and to those who saw him in his later years he gave the impression of dignity and kindliness of manner.
HOBART, Garret Augustus,
Vice-President of the United States.
To gain distinction as a financier, as a lawyer or as a statesman, is usually consid- ered a sufficient achievement for any one man, but in the case of the late Garret Au- gustus Hobart, we find these three charac- ters developed to a high grade of excel- lence. He was descended from a family who came to America in 1635, many of his ancestors having been in professional work, and one of them giving its name to the town of Hingham, Massachusetts. His pa- rents were Addison W. and Sophia ( Van- deveer ) Hobart, the former a merchant, and at one time a school teacher.
Garret Augustus Hobart was born in Long Branch, New Jersey, June 3, 1844, and died at Paterson, New Jersey, Novem- ber 21, 1899, while in office as the twenty- fourth Vice-President of the United States of America. His elementary education was acquired in the district schools of Mon- mouth county, New Jersey, and he then studied at the Classical School of William W. Woodhull in Freehold, New Jersey, and the Classical School of James W. Scher- merhorn at Matawan, New Jersey. We next find him entering the sophomore class at Rutgers College in 1863, and he was grad- uated from this institution as salutatorian and winner of the prize in mathematics. He taught school in Marlboro, New Jersey, for three months.
He commenced reading law in the office of Socrates Tuttle, who later became his father-in-law, and was admitted to the bar of New Jersey in June, 1866. In June, 1871, he became counsellor-at-law, and in 1872, he was appointed master in chan- cery. While he was an excellent lawyer in general practice, he made a specialty of cor- poration law, and was connected with a number of. corporations as their special counsel.
The public offices held by Mr. Hobart
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were numerous and important ones. In 1865 he was appointed clerk for the grand jury; in 1871 he was counsel for the city of Paterson; in 1872, counsel to the Board of Chosen Freeholders of Passaic county, New Jersey ; 1873-74-75, he was a repre- sentative in the State Assembly, being chos- en speaker for 1874; he was State Senator, 1878-82, and president of the Senate dur- ing the last two years. He was chairman of the Republican State Committee, 1880- 1891 and the New Jersey member of the Republican National Committee, 1884-1896.
"There can be no question that Mr. Ho- bart had a strong desire to become a United States Senator. But strong as was this de- sire, he would not attempt to gratify his ambition by defrauding another of his de- served honor, nor was he willing to gratify his honorable ambition by ignoble methods. When in 1883 a successor was to be elected to the late Senator John R. McPherson, the Democrats had on joint ballot in the Legis- lature a small majority. There was, how- ever, disaffection in their ranks, and five of the Democratic members approached Mr. Hobart with an offer to vote for him. These votes would have secured his election. But honor was stronger than ambition in his mind. He informed them that if they did not vote with their party he would release enough Republican votes to make the re- election of Mr. McPherson sure."
He was delegate-at-large for New Jersey in the Republican National Conventions of 1876 and 1880, and declined the nomina- tion for Governor in 1892 and 1895. At the Republican National Convention of 1896 he was nominated for Vice-President of the United States, was elected, and took the oath of office March 4, 1897. While hold- ing this office he became the confidential ad- viser of President Mckinley, and his loss was keenly felt.
As a man of business, Mr. Hobart had shown a remarkable degree of executive ability. He was a director of the First Na- tional Bank and the Paterson Savings In- Corbin family migrated from England in
stitution, both of Paterson, New Jersey ; president of the Passaic Water Company and the Acquackanonk Water Company ; and actively interested in various railroad companies, street railway companies, etc. He was a member of Fall City Lodge, No. 82, Free and Accepted Masons; of the Law- yere', Republican and Union League clubs, of New York City; and the Hamilton Club, Paterson. Mr. Hobart married in Pater- son, July 21, 1869, Jennie, a daughter of Socrates and Jane (Winters) Tuttle. They had children : - Fannie Beckwith, born No- vember 30, 1871, died at Lake Como, Italy, in June, 1895: Elizabeth Tuttle, born Sep- tember 10, 1875; Garret Augustus, born August 31, 1884; and Katherine Grey, born October 28, 1886. Mr. Hobart was pos- sessed of rare natural endowments and a character above reproach. He was an ora- tor of ability, and his direct and lucid state- ments of the cases entrusted to him, aided by his thorough master of the details, al- most always meant success .. He was a strong man, rather than a superficially bril- liant one, and his solid and valuable quali- ties won him the respect of all. His death was deeply and sincerely deplored by every thinking man and woman in the United States, and the entire country suffered an irreparable loss. In the highest circles of the political, financial, legal worlds, as well as in private life, his name was reverenced as being borne by one who could be trust- ed to the utmost in every direction.
CORBIN, Charles Lyon,
Lawyer, Author, Financier.
Charles Lyon Corbin, son of Eli Lyon and Abigail Taintor Corbin, died August 12, 1911, was born January 22, 1846, on the farm of his father and grandfather, in the town of McDonough, Chenango conn- ty, New York. His parents were both of Connecticut Puritan stock. The progeni- tor of the New England branch of the
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1637. He soon settled in Woodstock, Con- necticut, where the family remained about two hundred years. The Taintors came to America about 1640 and settled at Colches- ter, Connecticut, on lands still remaining in that family. Every name in the genealogy in both families from that day to this brought in by marriage is a New England name, such as Davis, Lyon, Eastman, Rath- bone, Foote, Skinner, Smith, Child, etc. At Oxford stands a Memorial Library given in memory of Eli Lyon and Abigail Taint- or Corbin by their four children-Charles L. Corbin, Frank T. Corbin, William H. Corbin and Lillian C. Payson.
Mr. Corbin, after his district and "se- lect" schooling, was educated in the Ox- ford Academy, and in Washington, D. C., where he was in school at the outbreak of the Civil War. At the time when commu- nication with Baltimore was cut off and great disturbance throughout Maryland ex- isted, he, a boy of fifteen, piloted a family of aunts and cousins' by a round-about course, amid much excitement and no little danger, to his home in New York State. He was graduated at Hamilton College with high classical honor in the class of 1866. Among his fellows there were Elihu Root ; the late Rev. Dr. Amory H. Bradford, of Montclair ; the Rev. Dr. James H. Ecob ; and other brilliant scholars. In 1907 he received from Hamilton the degree of Doc- tor of Laws.
the firm of Collins & Corbin, which was joined in 1881 by William H. Corbin and has continued ever since, except for six years while Mr. Collins was Justice of the Supreme Court.
His ability at the bar was not at once recognized, but his industry was so unflag- ging that his business soon began to in- crease rapidly. After the first years of practice he was simply overwhelmed with professional work to the end of his days, being retained and appearing in many of the most important cases argued in the New Jersey courts for the past thirty years. He labored with infinite patience under the bur- den of ill-health during the greater part of that time. In 1882 he left his office for several months, wandering over the hills of his birth-place in search of health. Dur- ing that time he realized the seriousness of his condition and anticipated dissolution fearlessly and even curiously.
Mr. Corbin was also associated with a number of financial and business enter- prises. He was one of the founders of the New Jersey Title Guarantee and Trust Company of Jersey City of which he was a director, and, at the time of his deatlı, chairman of the executive committee. He was president of the Metuchen National Bank from its inception, and of the Me- tuchen Building and Loan Association. He was a director of and actively interested in several water companies.
After teaching for a year as principal of He was an excellent farmer, and took great pride in cultivating the fifty acres on which he lived, and this was his recreation. But that pleasure was suddenly cut off thir- teen years before his death when he met with an accident in Bermuda which pre- vented him from walking without crutches. the Schoharie Academy. he began the study of law at Norwich, New York, under Isaac S. Newton, one of the famous lawyers of Central New York: later removed to New York, entered the Columbia Law School, and also read under the late Jacob R. Har- denburgh and Washington B. Williams, in Mr. Corbin was a remarkable reader. From childhood, reading was a passion with him, and such was the tenacity of his mem- ory that it seemed he could, after a little reflection, recall and locate anything he had ever read. He read with great rapidi- Jersey City. He was admitted to the bar of New York in 1869, and licensed as at- torney in New Jersey in 1871, and imme- diately began the practice of law in Jer- sey City. In July, 1875, he entered into partnership with Gilbert Collins, forming ty, and yet critically. Critic he was by na-
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ture, with the power of keen insight and quick discrimination. He was not talka- live. to most people he appeared reticent, but this was the effect of natural diffi- dence, which he never lost. Of himself he apparently never thought. It was impos- -sible for him to push himself forward, or endeavor to enlist influence in his own be- half. But in the pursuit of his duty as a lawyer, or in any other enterprise he was fearless and unshrinking. He hated shams and pretences with a holy hatred, and no one could more quickly and mercilessly ex- pose them than he. The critic appeared in nearly every brief he drew. His arguments were clear, compact and expressed in the most accurate English. Not a superfluous word was allowed to stand-nothing re- dundant, nothing unrelated to the discus- sions. He availed himself of stenographers in much of his professional work, and dic- tated quickly and tersely, yet his briefs were written with his own hand, and revised again and again with great painstaking. When he was through with them they read like classics.
He was exceedingly public spirited and found time to write much and to speak on current topics. His lecture to the Kent Club in 1882 was widely circulated and published, and aroused the whole State to the need of reform in railroad taxation. Two years later, as counsel for the Sen- ate committee (with Vice Chancellor Ste- vens), he drew the Railroad Tax Law of 1884, every clause of which has stood the fires of fiercest litigation. He prepared and published an American edition of "Benja- min on Sales," a two volume work, with copious notes and additions. He revised and published two editions, with full notes of cases and comments, of the Rules of all the New Jersey Courts. He revised and consolidated the tax laws of our State, and reduced them to a brief, clear and effective system, which was adopted in 1903. He reduced our railroad legislation to order and simplicity, and his work appears in the
Act of 1903, concerning Railroads. He swept away the hundreds (possibly thou- sands) of laws relating to condemnation proceedings -- confusing, conflicting, and a source of much delay, vexation and litiga- tion -- and produced the plain simple con- denmation law of 1900, which answers every purpose of condemnation for State, county, municipalities and corporations. These are a part only of things he did in revision of the laws. And this for the most part was as a "voluntary reviser" designated by the Governor, but serving without pay.
He was highly respected by his neigh- bors in Metuchen, where he lived for many years, and there is no better test of a man's character. In matters affecting the wel- fare of the community he took a leading part. and his advice was often sought and gladly and freely given in local affairs. He was president of the Metuchen Club for many years, and donated a valuable and beautiful tract of land to the borough for a park, and in many ways contributed to the improvement of the village. He will be sadly missed and long remembered by the bench and bar. by the people of the State, and by his neighbors and friends. The fol- lowing are a few tributes from members of the bar of the State of New Jersey :
Mr. Richard V. Lindabury says: "At the bar we all recognized him as our lead- er, and he led by sheer force of intellect. No friend or client could induce him to take the wrong side of a question."
Hon. William D. Edwards says of him : "For upwards of thirty-five years he did an incredible amount of labor in his chosen profession, for Charles Corbin was no specialist, but an all around lawyer, a sound adviser, a skillful planner, a concise drafts- man, a learned pleader, an admirable brief maker, and a keen barrister."
Mr. Charles E. Hendrickson says: "I believe he was the most respected member of the bar that ever practiced in this State."
The New Jersey Bar Association says of Mr. Corbin, and also of his brother Wil-
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liam H. Corbin, who had worked together since 1881: "They were noble, useful, earnest men, worthy to be placed in the front ranks of the greatest names of the New Jersey bar, fitting examples of great ability, devoted to the betterment of their fellowmen.'
Mr. Corbin's ideal is embodied in the mottoes suggested by him which appear on the facade of the Hudson county court house :
"To delay justice is to deny justice."
"Justice seeks no praise, fears no blame."
"Law follows precedent. If you stand well, stand still."
Mr. Corbin was twice married, first to Elizabeth Brewster, eighth in direct descent from Elder William Brewster, of the "May- flower," thus preserving the New England tradition of the family. They had children : Abby Brewster Cushman, and Ralph Brews- ter Corbin, the former of whom survives him. He married (second) Sarah Cary, of Binghamton, New York, also of an old New England family.
CORBIN, William Horace,
Distinguished Lawyer, Jurist and Author.
The name of the late William Horace Corbin was known as that of a jurist of marked ability and distinction. Although he was a man of most pronounced views in political matters, and an independent think- er along many lines, he never allowed these to bias his judgment. His profound and wide attainments, the clarity and keen- ness of his mind, combined with a char- acter of the most uncompromising integ- rity, won him the respect and confidence of the bar and of private citizens. He might also fitly have been denominated a business man with an unusually expert knowledge of the law, for he was connect- ed with many business enterprises while actively engaged in legal practice.
William Horace Corbin died September 25, 1912, was born July 12, 1851, in the
town of McDonough, Chenango county, New York. His ancestry is stated in the biography of his distinguished brother, Charles Lyon Corbin, which appears in this work on a preceding page.
Mr. Corbin, after attending the district school at McDonough, went to Washing- ton, D. C., where he attended school for a year or more during the Civil War. At this time the capital was full of troops, the movements of which Mr. Corbin delighted to recall in later years. He then went to Oxford Academy, at Oxford, New York, where he won a scholarship in Cornell University. Before entering the Univer- sity, and at the age of seventeen, he taught for a year at the district school at Guil- ford, New York, which had a bad reputa- tion, the scholars having succeeded in driv- ing away several former teachers. After some exciting experiences, however, and with the use of more or less physical force, Mr. Corbin succeeded in subduing the school and completed his year as teacher most successfully and with the affection and good will of the students. In later years Mr. Corbin used to enjoy greatly relating the movements of the troops in Washing- ton at the time of the war, and how he in- curred the displeasure of the Rebel boys on account of his being a Yankee; and also his experiences as teacher at Guilford, par- ticularly the method employed of boarding out the teacher by auction to the lowest bidder in the district.
In the fall of 1869. Mr. Corbin entered Cornell University. He did not wait for graduation, but entered Columbia College Law School. where he studied under Pro- fessor Dwight and graduated in 1872, and was then admitted to the bar in the State of New York. He had taken up his resi- dence in Elizabeth, in this State, and con- tinued to reside there until his death. He was admitted as an attorney in this State in 1874, and became a counsellor in 1877. He entered the law office of William l'. Douglass, then city attorney of Jersey City.
قى أحمد معر الي
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in 1870, and in 1874 became managing clerk for Hon. William Brinkerhoff, where he re- mained until 1880, when he began the prac- tice of law on his own account. In 1881 he joined the firm of Collins & Corbin in Jersey City, of which firm his brother was a member. Except for a period (1897 to 1903) when Mr. Collins was on the Supreme bench and the firm was Corbin & Corbin, that firm has subsisted since 1875 and still continues, though with the irreparable loss of the two brothers, the name of Corbin being preserved through the representation of Mr. Clement K. Corbin, son of the sub- ject of this sketch, among the junior part- ners.
William H. Corbin early developed great legal aptitude and industry. As early as 1882 he compiled and published "Corbin's Forms," a collection of greatly simplified legal precedents of procedure under the common law and the New Jer- sey statutes. This book has been out of print many years, but has al- ways been recognized as an authority, and today commands a high premium when- ever a copy is offered for sale. As prac- titioner and advocate and as a business ad- viser, Mr. Corbin won great distinction. With respect to matters of water supply and distribution, railroad law, finance and taxation, and affairs of corporations, he held an eminence almost unique. He was one of the commissioners who prepared the Revision of the Corporation Act in 1896, of which act he had published a manual with annotations since 1881, with new edi- tions at frequent intervals, the last being published in 1908. In 1905 the degree of Doctor of Laws was conferred on Mr. Cor- bin by Rutgers College.
Mr. Corbin's activities were not limited to the law. He was a member of the Eliz- abeth Board of Education for several years. About 1888 he was elected to the Elizabeth City Council, and served for three years in that body. He was chairman of the special railroad committee appointed to secure the
elevation of the railroad tracks through the city, and on the accomplishment of that un- dertaking resigned his membership. He was a life-long Republican, and in 1884 was elected by that party as a member of Assembly from the Second District of Union county, and was twice re-elected, during the third year being leader of his party in the House. He was largely re- sponsible for the successful legislation un- der which the taxation of railroads on a basis much more favorable to the State than in former years was secured; and he was able, after one of the most vigorous speeches ever delivered in the Assembly on the subject, to secure the passage of an act authorizing the State to condemn the prop- erty of the railroad companies refusing to surrender their tax exemptions. It was through his efforts that greater simplicity in legislation was attained, and it was due to him that the policy of an annual appro- priation bill was adopted, superseding the tax methods theretofore in vogue.
In May, 1886, Mr. Corbin was appointed by Governor Abbett a member of the com- mission for erecting memorials to the New Jersey troops on the battlefield at Gettys- burg. He took the greatest interest in this work, and could give as graphic an account of the battle as if he had been present. Indeed, he was very familiar with all the battles of the War of the Rebellion, and his sympathies were very strong with the Union in that conflict. This was due to a certain extent to the fact that while a boy he lived in Washington in war time, and saw the movement of troops through and from the city, and heard the distant can- nonading of one of the actions of Virginia.
When the election frauds in Hudson county were under investigation, in 1890, Mr. Corbin represented the legislative com- mittee at the hearing which extended over several months and resulted in a conviction of many offenders. Five years later, when the State House investigation was in prog- ress, Mr. Corbin was chosen as chief coun-
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sel for the Senate committee. At the close of the investigation, on a report to the Legislature drafted largely by Mr. Corbin, a special session was convened for the enact- ment of laws based on the recommendations of the committee. The last forty-one chap- ters of the laws of 1895 are largely from his pen, and have saved the State millions of dollars in the last eighteen years. The change made with respect to the printing of the pamphlet laws alone has saved the State annually over one hundred thousand ol- lars. Mr. Corbin was also counsel in 1906 during the investigation of charges against certain senators. During this same year Mr. Corbin was also counsel to the select committee of the New Jersey Senate ap- pointed to inquire into the business of life insurance companies within the State. He was prominent in the movement to abolish race track gambling, being one of those commissioned to speak throughout the State for the Anti-Gambling League.
Mr. Corbin was one of the founders of the New Jersey Title Guarantee and Trust Company, always a member of its board of directors, and for eight years prior to his death its president. He was a director of the First National Bank of Jersey City, vice-president of the Joseph Dixon Cruci- ble Company, and director and actively en- gaged in the development of several water companies. These arduous labors, in addi- tion to his increasing law practice, were too great for even his seemingly inexhaustible vigor, and ultimately led to the breaking down of his health.
Mr. Corbin was a devoutly religious man, being an elder in the Westminister Presby terian Church of Elizabeth; and, in spite of the exactions of his professional and business labors, found time to take an ac- tive part in church and denominational ser- vice. He was for many years a member of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions. In private life, Mr. Corbin was a very ge- nial, lovable man. He was an excellent raconteur, and had a wonderful power of
mimicry. He was a domestic man, fond of children and leaves a record of a clean, honorable and exemplary life.
In 1878 Mr. Corbin married Clementine, daughter of the late Elijah Kellogg, of Elizabeth, who survives him. He leaves two sons, Clement K. Corbin, above named, and Horace K. Corbin, who is an engineer- ing contractor.
The following tribute from Mr. Frank Bergen, an intimate friend of many years standing, written for the "Elizabeth Daily Journal" the week Mr. Corbin died, com- pletely expresses the feelings of his inti- mates :
"On Wednesday morning of this week Wil- liam H. Corbin passed away. He came of old New England stock and possessed the finest traits of his forefathers. He was cast in a royal mould and his mind was worthy of his form and moving. For many years he resided in Eliza- beth, and was an ideal citizen-public spirited, faithful in all things, and charitable. Modesty protected him from notoriety, but merit and abil- ity earned for him the most precious variety of reputation. It was my good fortune to be near enough to observe him closely in some of his arduous labors in public office and in private life. and so I learned perhaps more than others know of the sterling qualities of his mind and heart. He lived a brave and blameless life, which his de- votion to duty wore away while he was still in the youth of age, and now he sleeps in the gentlest memory of all who knew him well."
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