Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I, Part 3

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

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CLARK, Abraham,

Signer of Declaration of Independence.

Abraham Clark was born near Elizabetli- town, New Jersey, February 25, 1726. He

was reared on the home farm, became a surveyor and real estate agent, and did much office business in drawing deeds and mortgages. He mastered the rudiments of law, and although never admitted to the bar, became a general legal adviser, and with such ability and integrity that he was known as "the poor man's counselor." Under the crown he served as sheriff of Essex county, and clerk of the General As- sembly. When the troubles with Great Britain arose, he became at once a pro- nounced patriot, served on the Committee of Safety, and in 1776 was sent to Con- gress, and signed the Declaration of In- dependence. He continued in Congress un- til 1778, and again from 1780 until the end of the war. His two sons served in the patriot army, were taken prisoners and en- dured the sufferings of confinement in the Jersey Prison Ship. Their hardships and the effects upon the health of the sons made a deep and permanent impression upon the inind of the father. He was one of the most efficient members of the Legislature from 1783 to 1787, and at home he was reputed to be author of all its enactments during that period, without reference to whether or not he had favored them. In 1786 he was sent to the Annapolis Conven- tion, and was later elected to that conven- tion which framed the United States Con- stitution, but is said to have been ill at that time, and probably did not sit with it. He was again a member of Congress dur- ing its last two sessions, 1787-1788; a com- missioner to settle the accounts of New Jer- sey with the new federal government in 1789, and a member of the Second and Third Congresses, 1791-1794. Embittered by loss of property and the suffering en- dured by his sons during the war, early in 1794 he introduced in Congress a resolution for the suspension of all relations with England until every provision of the treaty of 1783 should be carried into effect ; this was passed by the House, but in the Senate

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

was defeated by a small majority. He died from sunstroke, in Rahway, September 15, 1794.

TRENT, William,

Colonist, Founder of Trenton.

William Trent, a native of Scotland, born about 1655, emigrated to America about 1682, landing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ... and settling on a portion of the William Penn estate. As a shipowner he was in- timately associated with Penn, and, a man of excellent judgment and methodical in business, be became a successful merchant. He was an important figure in public life, being a member of the Provincial Council at periods between 1703 and 1721; was a member of the Assembly in 1710, 1715 and 1719, and during his last term served as speaker of the house. In all these various positions he enjoyed an enviable reputation. His great ability is emphasized by the fact that, while not a lawyer, he was called to the bench of the Supreme Court of Penn- sylvania.

His connection with New Jersey history . dates from 1714, when he bought several hundred acres of land upon which the State capital now stands. Seven years later he settled there, and the place came to be known after him-Trent's Town, which was subsequently shortened to Trenton. At that time the settlement was a mere hamlet. containing only three or four houses. Mr. Trent was elected to the Assembly, and in September, 1723, became speaker of the house. In November of the same year he was appointed Chief Justice and took his seat on the bench in the following March, but died suddenly of apoplexy on the fol- lowing December 24th. Governor Burnet, shortly after his appointment, wrote to the Lords of Trade saying : "The present Chief Justice, Mr. William Trent, is universally beloved, as your Lordships may observe by. his being chosen their speaker, and I doubt

not will answer my expectations in execut- ing the office,"

The town, Trent's Town, which as Tren- ton became the capital of New Jersey in 1790, and was laid out by Mr. Trent, did not contain more than three or four houses at the time of his death. The Courts of Hunterdon county were first held in 1719, and the site of the first court house, where now stands the banking house of the Tren- ton Banking Company, was presented to the town by Mr. Trent.

MERCER, Hugh,

Distinguished Revolutionary Soldier.

General Hugh Mercer, for whom the county of Mercer is named, was a member of a distinguished Scottish family which had furnished, particularly to the kirk, men famous in public life. His great-grand- father, John Mercer, was a minister of the church in Kinnellan, Aberdeenshire, from 1650 to 1676, from which pastorate he re- signed a year before his death.

The grandfather of Hugh Mercer was Thomas Mercer, whose son William was educated for the ministry and was in charge of the Manse at Pittsligo, Aberdeenshire. from 1720 to 1748; he married Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Munro, of Foulis, who was killed while commanding the Brit- ish troops at Falkirk in 1746.

Hugh Mercer, son of Rev. William Mer- cer, was born probably in 1725, as he was baptized in January, 1726. Of his boyhood life little is known. As was the case with many Scottish lads, he entered college when about fifteen years of age, matriculating in the School of Medicine, Marshall College, in 1740, graduating in 1744. Moved by the loyal spirit of his ancestors, he joined the army of Prince Charlie, the "Young Pre- tender," and appears as assistant surgeon upon the ill-starred field of Culloden. In the autumn of 1746 he set sail from Leith, remained a short time in Philadelphia, and

General Hugh Mercer

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

settled at Greencastle, Pennsylvania, now Mercersburg, then upon the frontier of new world civilization. Practicing his pro- fession in the wilds of the "Indian coun- try," Hugh Mercer does not appear prom- inently until the year 1755, when in the Braddock expedition he appears as a captain of militia. Following Braddock's humiliat- ing defeat, Hugh Mercer, although wound- ed, walked many miles through the wilder- ness to his home. Early in the spring of 1756 he was selected as captain of the local militia, having supervision over a wide dis- trict, with McDowell's Ferry (Bridgeport) as headquarters, and acting as physician and surgeon to the garrison. For these and other patriotic services the corporation of Philadelphia presented him a vote of thanks and a medal.

In 1757, Mercer was in command of the militia stationed at Shippensburg, Pennsyl- vania, being appointed major in December, 1757, with command of all provincial forces stationed west of the Susquehanna. In 1758 Major Mercer was in command of a portion of the Forbes expedition against Fort DuQuesne. It was during this period that he met Colonel George Washington, whose military fame had spread beyond the confines of the Great Northern Neck of Virginia. Between the two men a friend- ship was established that led Mercer to re- move from Pennsylvania to Virginia, tak- ing up his residence in Fredericksburg, famed as the home of Washington's mother. There General Mercer attended meetings of Lodge No. 4, Free and Accepted Ma- sons, of which George Washington was a member.

Throughout the period of constitutional agitation preceding the Revolution, Dr. Mercer devoted himself to his practice and to the delights of those social relationships for which Fredericksburg was and is noted. In 1775, -the royal governor, Dunmore, at Williamsburg, transferred a portion of the colonial store of powder from the magazine to the ship "Magdalen." It was this crown-

ing act of executive incompetency to deal with local phases of the general revolution- ary problem that led to the organization of the Whig regiments. On September 12, 1775, Mercer was appointed colonel of minute-men for the counties of Caroline, Stafford, King George and Spottsylvania. Stimulating the spirit of the committees ot safety, and sustaining the enthusiastic but untrained provincials, Mercer wrote to the Virginia Convention : "Hugh Mercer will serve his adopted country in the cause of liberty in any rank or station to which he may be assigned." At this critical juncture three regiments of Virginia provincials were organized, and for the command of the first of these Hugh Mercer was defeated by Patrick Henry by one vote. Subsequently, Mercer was elected colonel of the third, and at Williamsburg drilled the volunteers and levies.

A wider field of duty demanded Mercer's services. In recognition of his popularity and military skill, on June 5, 1776, the rank of brigadier-general in the Continental army was conferred upon the gallant Virginian. Within a few weeks General Washington, returning from Massachusetts to New York, selected General Mercer to take com- mand of the troops engaged in the fortifi- cation of Paulus Hook, now known as the old downtown residence section of Jersey City. Besides discharging his duties there, he was placed in command of the "Flying Camp" of ten thousand men stationed at and near Perth Amboy. Events between the rout of the patriotic army at Brooklyn and the retreat through the Jerseys moved rapidly, nor can the military details of the crossing of the Delaware and the attack upon Trenton be repeated here. Historians have credited General Mercer with suggest- ing the change of Washington's Fabian policy, and of his working out the details of the movement that altered the fate of an empire. This much is sure that upon the Christmas night of 1776 no one of Wash- ington's galaxy of leaders was more trusted

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

than was Mercer, and no one shared greater fruits of victory. Upon the recrossing of the Delaware, it was at General Mercer's headquarters on the night of January 2, 1777, that the plan to break camp and leave the camp fires burning upon the south bank of the Assunpink creek was formulated. Thence it was that General Mercer went to his doom. The story of the surprise at Princeton on the morning of the 3rd ; of the clash upon the frost covered ground be- tween Mercer's men and the British regi- ments ; of the fight about the Clark house ; of the peril of Washington ; and of Mer- cer's leaping from his horse and rallying his men-have often been told. Infuriated by the turn of the fortunes of war, Generai Mercer, while in the very act of leading his men to victory, was attacked by several British soldiers. Repeatedly stabbed, he was beaten upon the head with the butt ends of muskets, and, refusing to surrender, was left for dead. The retreating British soon gave place to the Continental soldiers, who tenderly carried their general into the Clark house, where he was nursed by the devoted Quaker women of that family. By his side, in attendance, were Dr. Benjamin Rush, ot Philadelphia : Dr. Archibald Alexander, of Virginia, and Major George Lewis, nephew of General Washington. Lingering in agony for nine days, General Hugh Mercer died in the arms of Major Lewis.

The death of Mercer created a profound impression throughout the nation. His body was removed to Philadelphia under mili- tary escort, was exposed in state, and it is said thirty thousand people attended the funeral. It was upon the south side of Christ Church, Philadelphia, that his body, interred with military and civic honors, was placed beneath a slab upon which was cut : "In memory of Gen'l Hugh Mercer, who fell at Princeton, January 3rd, 1777." Mov- ed by a sense of patriotic duty, Congress, upon April 9. 1777, directed that monu- ments be erected to the honor of General Mercer at Fredericksburg, and of General

Warren at Boston. Upon the 28th of June, 1902, one hundred and twenty-five years thereafter, the Fredericksburg monument was erected, bearing upon its face the in- scription ordered to be placed by the resolu- tion of 1777. With that singular perversity that seems to afflict mankind, a succeeding generation refused to permit General Mer- cer's bones to remain undisturbed. The St. Andrew's Society removed his body to Laurel Hill Cemetery, then upon the edge of the city of Philadelphia, and November 26, 1840, dedicated a monument to his mem- ory. Of this society General Mercer was a member, and the monument was properly inscribed.

Besides the name of one of New Jersey's twenty-one counties, there are in the State of New Jersey two memorials to Mercer. One is the old fort at Red Bank, Gloucester county, where at Fort Mercer, in 1778, a gallant defense of Philadelphia was made by General Greene and the navy upon the Delaware. The other memorial is in Prince- ton, and consists of a bronze tablet unveiled October 1, 1897, the gift of Mercer Engine Company, No. 3.

ALEXANDER, William,

(Lord Stirling), Patriot, Soldier.

William Alexander, better known as Lord Stirling, was born in New York City, in 1726. His father, James Alexander, a Scotsman, on account of his adherence to the Pretender, came to America when his cause had failed, and rose to eminence as a lawyer ; he also enjoyed political promi- nence, serving as Attorney General and as Secretary of the Province of New York. He married the widow of David Provost, of New York. Their son,

William Alexander received a thorough education, and was given to mercantile pursuits. He engaged in the provision business in New York City, and his business abilities brought him appoint- ment as a commissary in the French and

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LORD STERLING

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

Indian War. He subsequently became aide- de-camp and secretary to General Shirley, and when that officer was brought to trial for alleged neglect of duty, Alexander went to England to testify in his behalf, and while there published a pamphlet entitled "The Conduct of Major General Shirley, briefly stated." During his stay in Great Britain he also prosecuted before the House of Lords his claim to the earldom of Stirl- ing, but this was disallowed.

Returning to America, in 1761 he at- tained a position of prominence in New York, becoming Surveyor General and a member of the Provincial Congress. When the Revolution began he was residing in Baskingridge, New Jersey, and at once en- tered into the patriot cause with marked en- thusiam. In October, 1775, he was ap- appointed colonel of the East New Jersey Battalion, and with this command, in Janu- ary following, he surprised and captured the British transport "Blue Mountain Val- ley," off Sandy Hook, and conveyed it to Perth Amboy. This exploit bringing him the thanks of Congress and promotion to brigadier-general. When General Lee left New York in March, the command of the troops left behind devolved upon General Alexander until the arrival of General Thompson. His conduct during this brief period was marked with great decision ; he continued Lee's policy in repression of Toryism, stopped all communication be- tween the inhabitants of Staten Island and Long Island, and constructed barracks for soon expected troops. In May he per- formed a work which had an enduring value-the ultimate institution of the West Point Military Academy. Sent by Wash- ington to inspect the Highland fortifica- tions, he recommended the construction of a redoubt at West Point, "not only for the preservation of Fort Constitution, but for its own importance." In August he com- manded a force of fifteen hundred men de- tached by General Putnam to oppose the

march of General Grant on Brooklyn, and which was marked by some desultory skirm- ishing. As a brigade commander he began the battle of Long Island, and, being the first to discover that the enemy had turned the American flank, he briskly attacked Cornwallis, but suffered repulse, his brigade being badly cut up, and he himself taken prisoner ; he had, however, performed an important work in facilitating the retreat of the American army and making possible its escape to New York, and ultimately to New Jersey. Being exchanged and rejoin- ing the army, he was promoted to major- general in February, 1777. After experi- encing a reverse at Metuchen, June 24 fol- lowing, he fought under Washington at Brandywine and Germantown, being in command of the reserves at the latter place. In 1778 he commanded a division under Washington at the battle of Monmouth, dis- tinguishing himself by the admirable way in which he handled a light artillery bat- tery. In the following year, with twenty- five hundred men, he undertook to attack the British station on Staten Island; this was unsuccessful, and was his last import- ant service during the war; he was after- wards stationed at Albany, remaining until the cessation of hostilities. He did an ex- cellent service for Washington in discover- ing to him the duplicity of Conway and Gates, having happened to hear of it through Wilkinson.

General Alexander was the first president of King's (now Columbia) College. He was ardently devoted to the study of as- tronomy, and published an account of the comet of June and July, 1770. He married, in 1761, a daughter of Philip Livingston. He died in Albany, New York, January 15, 1783. In 1847 his grandson, William Alex- ander Duer, published a "Life of William Alexander, Earl of Stirling," in the Col- lections of the New Jersey Historical So- ciety.

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

BOUDINOT, Elias,

Patriot, Eminent Citizen.

This distinguished man was a native of Pennsylvania, born in Philadelphia, May 2, 1740. He came from French Huguenot ancestors who emigrated to America shortly after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

After receiving a classical education he entered upon the study of law in the office of the elder Richard Stockton, of New Jer- sey. In due course of time he was admit- ted to the bar, and his professional equip- ment, practical qualities, agreeable manners and fluency as a speaker early opened his way to a lucrative practice. He had the further advantages of his marriage with a sister of his law preceptor and also of the marriage of Mr. Stockton with the sis- ter of Mr. Boudinot. However, the events of the Revolution disturbed law administra- tion, and afforded opportunity to Mr. Boud- inot to devote himself mainly to the cause nearest his heart-the cause of American independence-in association with his broth- er Elisha, with his wife's family relations, the Stocktons. In 1777 he was appointed Commissary General of Prisoners, a post for which he was peculiarly fitted by reason of his humanity and sympathetic disposi- tion, an inflexible sense of justice, and full knowledge of the treatment administered to patriot prisoners by the British. In the same year he was made a member of the Continental Congress, in 1782 became presi- dent of that body, and in 1783 gave his signature to the treaty of peace with Great Britain. There was yet useful work for him, and to which he devoted his best abili- ties. With many of the most intelligent men of that day, he had fully appreciated the inadequacy of the then existing gov- ernmental methods. Besides. he was on terms of intimate personal friendship with Alexander Hamilton, and he was intent upon exerting his efforts in behalf of a more efficient system of government. From the first attempt to improve upon the Ar-

ticles of Confederation, he was a warm ad- vocate of Hamilton's views, and culminating in the adoption of the National Constitu- tion. This, indeed, was not as broad or as strong as he had hoped for and labored tor, but he gave it his earnest support when he discovered that a stronger measure was be- yond the possibility of acceptance. He was elected to the first Congress of the United States under the new constitution, and was re-elected. However, while serving in that office he had built a handsome residence in Philadelphia. This change of residence made him ineligible as a congressman from New Jersey, and in 1796 President Wash- ington appointed him Director of the Mint, an office which he held until 1805. Wash- ington held him in high esteem for his ability and integrity, and the same apprecia- tion was manifested by President Jefferson, and Mr. Boudinot was among the very few of Washington's appointees whom Jeffer- son manifested no disposition to remove. But Mr. Boudinot decided upon returning to private life; he was in advanced years. and had been in public life for three de- cades : besides, he had been deeply affected by the death of his accomplished son-in- law, Mr. Bradford, in the very bloom of life, and with brilliant prospects before him. He therefore determined to take up his permanent residence in Burlington, which presented many attractions, being then dis- tinguished as the home of many of the foremost men of the day-the Rev. Dr. Wharton, William Griffith, William Coxe, Joseph McIlvaine, Joseph Bloomfield, Josh- ua M. Wallace; Lawrence, the naval hero; Fenimore Cooper, the litterateur; and others. He there built a noble mansion, laying out the surrounding ten acres of ground in the most elaborate ornamental gardening work, and in this elegant home, with his wife and daughter. he devoted himself to literary and benevolent pursuits, meanwhile dispensing a generous hospital- ity to hosts of friends.

Mr. Boudinot was an active member of

ارض بالقليمية

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

the board of trustees of Princeton College from 1772, and he endowed that institu- tion with a cabinet of natural history. In 1812 he was a member of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mis- sions. In 1816 he was made the first presi- dent of the American Bible Society, a body in which he took a deep interest, and to which he contributed at one time $10,000 a princely gift for those days. Both he and his wife were reared in the Presbyterian faith, but, there being no church of that denomination in Burlington, they attended St. Mary's Protestant Episcopal, with which they devoutly communed, and which Mr. Boudinot liberally supported. He died October 24, 1821, and his remains, with those of his family, rest in the graveyard of the church before named.

DICKINSON Philemon,

Soldier, U. S. Senator.

Among those adventurous spirits whose enterprise induced them to seek homes in the New World, still given up wholly to im- penetrable wilderness, were the Dickerson brothers, young Englishmen, who follow- ing in the train of the early explorers, came to Massachusetts in 1638 and were admit- ted as freemen of Salem by that hardy community in 1641. They and their de- scendants were admirable representatives of the sturdy British stock which trained by the stern conditions of life in the new con- tinent, produced so many of the great and good men whose foresight and wisdom have given to the United States the proud position she holds among nations. Still lured in his search for fortune by the prom- ise of new lands, Philemon Dickerson, one of the brothers, left the Massachusetts col- ony and settled in 1672 on Long Island.

It was after this, his great-grandfather, that General Philemon Dickinson (as the name had come to be spelled), soldier and statesman, was called, and with the name he seemed to imbibe all of his forbear's

courage and enterprise. When only about five years of age, his family, including his father and three uncles, had removed from Long Island and settled in Morris county, New Jersey, and it is from these brothers that the Dickerson and Dickinson families of that State are descended. General Dick- inson's birth was in 1740, and he may be said to have fairly grown up with the Revo- lution. When still a youth he began to take a vital interest in the questions which were even then stirring men's hearts and minds, and he soon became known as one who deeply sympathized with the cause of the oppressed colonies, and was willing to risk all he possessed in the conflict which threat- ened. During the time of preparation for the coming struggle, when the minds of all were oppressed by doubt and apprehension, he was one of the strong men who never flinched in their determination to face what- ever peril and loss should be involved in the war for freedom and human rights. He was active in the effort to properly organize and train the militia of New Jer- sey, and the beginning of hostilities found him an officer of the same. He was soon raised to the rank of brigadier-general, and at the head of his men took part in several important engagements. Among these were Trenton and Monmouth, in both of which battles Dickinson and his detachment be- haved in creditable fashion, and in the lat- ter actually opened the engagement by tak- ing part in the first preliminary skirmish of the day.

At the close of the war, in which he had risked not only his life but family fortune, Dickinson returned to the retirement of pri- vate life for a time, but later was called upon by an appreciative community to rep- resent it in the United States Senate, from 1790 to 1793. He was the third man so chosen from his State, those preceding him being William Paterson, the great jurist, and Jonathan Elmer. It was to fill the vacancy left by the former, who had been elected Governor of New Jersey, that Dick-

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Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I, Part 3

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