USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 31
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The organization and construction of the Warren railroad in 1853, in the face of strong opposition by the Morris & Essex railroad, evinces the great business capacity and tact of Mr. Blair as a railroad manager. Books of subscription were opened by the commissioners, the requisite amount of stock subscribed for, directors and officers chosen, the survey of the route adopted, and the president authorized to file it in the of- fice of the secretary of state, full power delegated to the president to construct the road and to make contracts or leases for connecting with other roads, and the right of way through important gaps secured, all within the space of two hours. Mr. Blair was chosen president, and the next day but one found him in Trenton filing the survey about one hour in advance of the agents
of the Morris & Essex railroad. The suc- ceeding day saw him on the Delaware se- curing the passes. One day later the en- gineers and agents of the Morris & Essex railroad came to the same place on the same errand. The former had already secured all the passes below the Water Gap. The latter struck for those in and above the Gap on the New Jersey side, and paid ex- orbitant prices for farms, right of way and two river crossings. Their vigilant com- petitor, however, caused the Delaware, Lackawanna & -Western railroad to be con- structed through the Gap on the Pennsyl- vania side, and, crossing the river several miles below, cut them off with their high priced passes and crossings on their hands. A contest in the courts and legislature of New Jersey resulted in sustaining the War- ren road. It would be beyond the scope and limits of a work of this kind to pursue in further detail the various railroad and business enterprises of Mr. Blair, who was one of the railroad magnates of America, and the controlling owner in a large number of wealthy corporations. He was president of the Warren, the Sussex, and the Blairs- town railroads of New Jersey, and a large stockholder in the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad. He was the main stock- holder of ten different railroads in Nebras- ka, Iowa and Wisconsin, comprising about two thousand miles in extent, and was the veritable railroad king of the West. He ob- tained two million acres of land from the government for railroads in that section, and became a director of six land and town lot companies in the West. He was a mem- ber of the first board of directors of the Union Pacific railroad, and a member of the executive and finance committees, and con- structed the first railroad through the State of Iowa to connect with the Union Pacific at Omaha, employing ten thousand men for eight months. He also purchased tlie Green Bay railroad to Winona, some two hundred miles long, for two million dollars. He was a director of the Lackawanna Coal & Iron
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Company ; president of the Belvidere ( New Jersey) National Bank, almost since its or- ganization in 1830, and main stockholder of the First National Bank of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a director in the Scranton Sav- ings Institution, besides being interested in different directions in silver mining and smaller business ventures.
In all his business transactions, though comprising millions of dollars, no one ever questioned the integrity of Mr. Blair, nor successfully challenged his honesty of mo- tive and purpose. He ever manifested great concern for the interests and rights of others, and was the donor of large gifts to private and public institutions. His personal donations were simply enormous, including the sum of about $70,000 to the College of New Jersey at Princeton, of which he was one of the trustees, and $50,000 to Lafay- ette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, includ- ing the endowment of the chair of the presi- dent. The Blair Academy of Blairstown, New Jersey, has cost, including buildings, grounds and endowment, about $500,000, and was donated by Mr. Blair to the pres- bytery of Newton in trust. The various buildings of modern construction and de- sign, are of the handsomest of their kind in the State; are heated throughout by steam, and supplied with pure spring and artesian well water, and have every modern convenience. Provision is made in the en- dowment of the institution for the education of the sons and daughters of ministers of the presbytery free of charge for board and tuition. Mr. Blair's other contributions to the cause of education and religion through- out the country have comprised hundreds of thousands of dollars. He ever assisted liberally in supporting church institutions of various denominations, and in the eighty towns that he laid out in the West more than one hundred churchies have been erect- ed largely through liis liberality.
In politics Mr. Blair was a staunch sup- porter of Republican principles but found little leisure to indulge in office-holding, or
to mingle in the affairs of political life. His sphere was a higher one, ministering alike to the prosperity of the whole people and to the material and commercial growth of the country. He was the candidate of the Republican party for governor of New Jer- sey in 1868. Mr. Blair married, September 20, 1826, Nancy Locke, born November 30, 1804, died October 12, 1888. Her grand- father, Captain Locke, was killed at the battle of Springfield, during the Revolution. Children: I. Emma Elizabeth, married, June 13, 1848, Charles Scribner, founder of the distinguished publishing firm of New York City. 2. Marcus Lawrence, born 1830, died 1874, unmarried. 3. DeWitt Clinton. 4. Aurelia Ann.
Mr. Blair died in Blairstown, New Jer- sey, December 2, 1899.
GREEN, Henry Woodhull,
Distinguished Jurist, Legislator.
As a man and as a citizen, Henry W. Green displayed a personal worth and an excellence of character that not only com- manded the respect of those with whom he associated, but won for him the warmest personal admiration and the staunchest friendships. Aside from his professional affairs, he found time for the championship of many progressive public measures, recog- nized the opportunities for reform, ad- vancement and improvement, and labored effectively and earnestly for the general good.
Henry Woodhull Green was born at Law- renceville, Mercer county, New Jersey, Sep- tember 20, 1804, son of Caleb Smith and Elizabeth (Vancleve) Green. He was a descendant of William Green, who some- time prior to 1700 emigrated front Eng- land, settling in Ewing township, and was appointed one of the first judges of Hun- terdon county.
He was graduated from Princeton Col- lege at the age of sixteen, and then studied law with Chiarles Ewing, being admitted to
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the bar in November, 1825. He took up practice at Trenton and became recorder of the city. He represented Mercer coun- ty in the Legislature in 1842, and two years afterwards was a delegate to the Whig Na- tional Convention. Subsequently he was appointed Chancery Reporter, and on No- vember 2, 1846, Chief Justice of the Su- preme Court of New Jersey, which post he held until 1860, when he was succeeded by Hon. Edward W. Whelpley, who was Chief Justice for three years. In 1860 Judge Green became Chancellor of New Jersey, and remained in that office until May, 1866, when he resigned in consequence of failing health. He spent the remainder of his life in study, giving much attention to educa- tional and charitable objects. He was a trustee of Princeton Theological Seminary from 1833 until his death, and from 1860 was also president of the board. Judge Green was the author of two volumes of "Reports of Cases in the Courts in Chan- cery in New Jersey" ( 1842-46). The Col- lege of New Jersey, of which he was also a trustee, gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1850.
Mr. Edward Quinton Keasbey, in his elaborate "Courts and Lawyers of New Jersey," (1912), pays a high tribute to the professional ability and personal worth of Chief Justice Green and in language that is well worth using in this connection. He said: The associates of the Chief Justice were all men of ability and industry, and some of them very learned in the law, but the Chief Justice, through all the fourteen years of his service, was the dominating personality, and the man that exercised the greatest influence on the decision of causes and the development of the law. He came to the bench in the prime of life, at the age of forty-two, full of energy and zeal. He had devoted himself for twenty-seven years to the study and practice of the law, giving all the power of his mind and will to the work of his profession. He had an in- tellect that was easily capable of dealing
with the questions that came before him, and he delighted in using it. Strong and self-reliant, he was conscious of his own powers, and feeling the responsibility of his position, he did not hesitate to exercise it. He took full share and more than his share of the work of the court, and his full share of the responsibility for its decisions. His manner was very dignified and impressive. His tall form and strong frame, his massive head, stern features, and (though one might imagine otherwise), even his long and rath- er shaggy reddish hair, gave him an air of command and judicial dignity. He did not require the sheriff to call at his lodgings with a coach and four, but when he walked from the hotel to the court house he was always preceded and followed by four con- stables carrying their staves of office. In the court room he was strict with witnesses and jurors and required the utmost de- corum. Tardiness on the part of a juror, however important a man he might be in the community, brought down a severe re- buke or incurred the payment of a fine, Vice-Chancellor James Bergen said of him, that upon the bench he was a man of such commanding dignity that one being pres- ent in a court where he presided, would feel that the power and sovereignty of the State were present in their full force, and this impression was strongest on the "judgment days" on which he used to pronounce sen- tence upon all those who had been convict- ed during the term.
Judge Green married (first) Emily Au- gusta, daughter of Chief Justice Charles Ewing, and (second) upon her death, her sister, Susan Mary. Judge Green died in Trenton, New Jersey, December 19, 1876.
VAIL. Alfred,
Electrician and Inventor.
Alfred Vail was born in Morristown, New Jersey, September 25, 1807. His fath- er. Stephen Vail, was a manufacturer, and the owner of extensive Speedwell iron
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works, near Morristown, New Jersey, where the engine of the "Savannah," the first steamship that braved the dangers of the Atlantic ( 1819), was built. The elder Vail also, at the request of his son, contributed generously of his means to the development of the telegraph, as will be seen later on.
At the age of seventeen, young Vail, hav- ing completed his studies at the Morris- town. Academy, went into the Speedwell iron works, and although he had early evinced a fondness for the natural sciences, he contented himself with the duties of his position until he reached his majority. He then determined to prepare himself for the ministry of the Presbyterian church. At the age of twenty-five he entered the Uni- versity of the City of New York, where he was graduated in 1836. His health becom- ing impaired, he labored for a time under much uncertainty as to his future course. Samuel F. B. Morse, already known in connection with the telegraph, had come to the university in 1835 as professor of the literature of the fine arts, and about this time (1837) Professor Leonard D. Gale, occupying the chair of chemistry, invited him to exhibit his apparatus for the benefit of the students. On Saturday, September 2, 1837, the exhibition took place in some rooms overlooking Washington park. Vail was asked to attend, and saw the apparatus for the first time. The exhibition produced a singular effect upon his mind. With his inherited taste for mechanics, as well as the knowledge of construction gained by his ap- prenticeship in his father's works, he saw a great future for the crude mechanism used by Morse in giving and recording signals. Morse had no money-Vail's father had. The young man's mind was fascinated with the field of achievement which he saw might open before him. It was estimated that $2,000 would be required to secure the pat- ent and construct the required apparatus. It was stipulated that Alfred Vail should construct and exhibit before a committee of Congress the telegraph instrument, and
in consideration receive a fourth interest in all the rights of the invention. A room in one of the shops at Speedwell was ap- propriated to the work, and, as secrecy was necessary, it was kept under lock and key. A mechanic who could readily comprehend new ideas and was possessed of judgment and discretion, was needed and found in the person of William Baxter, an employee in the works. For several months Vail and Baxter occupied the locked shop, sharing each other's confidences, and experiencing alternate emotions of elation and depression as the work progressed. Vail's brain be- gan to work at high pressure, and evolved new ideas every day. Morse had devised a series of ten numbered leaden types, which were to be operated in giving the signals, but which necessitated the use of a dic- tionary by which the numbers could be translated into words. It was not satisfac- tory to Vail, and he constructed an entirely new instrument involving a lever or "point" on a radically different principle, which, when tested, produced dots and dashes. A new field was suggested. He saw in the new characters the elements of an alpha- betical code that would cover every word in the language without the aid of a diction- ary. He studied the problem out. He found that the letter "e" was the most fre- quently used, and he accordingly assigned it the shortest symbol, a single point (.). He visited a printing office, and from the problem, as worked out in the compositor's case, devised the famous dot-and-dash al- phabet, misnamed the "Morse." The elder Vail had become discouraged, and showed so marked a discomfort for more than six weeks that the son avoided him. At last the machine was in working order, and Baxter, on the 6th of January, 1838, hat- less and coatless, rushed to the residence of Judge Vail and announced the good news that the machine was completed. The judge went to see the result. He was incredulous. His son was at one end of the three miles of wire stretched around the room, Morse
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at the other. After a short explanation he wrote on a piece of paper, "A patient waiter is no loser ;" then said, "If you can send this, and Mr. Morse can read it at the other end, I shall be convinced." It was done, and his delight knew no bounds. The ma- chine was taken to Washington, and caused not only wonder, but excitement. Vail con- tinued his experiments, and in a room in the sixth story of the "New York Obser- ver" building devised the lever and roller. When the line between Washington and Baltimore was completed, Vail was stationed at the Baltimore end and received the fa- mous message, "What hath God wrought?" as sent by Professor Morse on May 24, 1844. It is worthy of note that the original recording receiver on which that message was taken, is now in the custody of the Na- tional Museum at Washington. The similar instrument used by Morse at Washington was unfortunately destroyed. It is a re- markable fact that not a single feature of the original invention of Morse, as formu- lated in his caveat, and repeated in his orig- inal patent, is to be found in Vail's appa- ratus.
Prior to 1837, the invention of the differ- ent features of the "electro-magnetic" tele- graph was the work of Professor Morse and Professor Henry, the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. From 1837 to 1844 it was a combination of the inventions of Morse, Henry and Vail, but the work of Morse fell gradually into desuetude, while Vail's conception of an alphabet, based on time and space, has remained unchanged for half a century. Not only is it used in electric telegraphy, but for signaling by flashes of light, both on land and sea; it is also sounded on whistles and bells for giv- ing information at a distance, whether in darkness or fog, and its field of usefulness is steadily enlarging. Mr. Vail, when asked why he did not seek for a public recogni- tion of his brain work, replied, with char- acteristic modesty, that he "wished to pre- serve the peaceful unity of the invention,"
and because he could not, according to his contract with Mr. Morse, have got a pat- ent for his own invention. The names of Henry, Morse and Vail must remain linked together as the power that gave to the world the electric telegraph.
Mr. Vail published but one work, the "American Electro-Magnetic Telegraph" (1845). He was married, July 23, 1839, to Jane Elizabeth, daughter of James Cum- mings, an old New York merchant. Mrs. Vail's grandfather was John Nugent, an English official of the Island of Trinidad and other West India Islands. She died at Morristown, June 10, 1852, and in Decem- ber, 1855, he married Amanda O., a descendant of General Eno, of Revolution- ary fame. Mr. Vail died at Morristown, New Jersey, January 19, 1859, at the com- paratively early age of fifty-one.
DAYTON, William Lewis, Lawyer, Statesman, Diplomat.
William Lewis Dayton was born on a farm in Somerset county, New Jersey, February 17, 1807. He was a member of a family long prominent in that part of the State, while a relative, Jonathan Dayton, had made a place for himself in the national history as a member of the convention which framed the Federal Constitution, and as a United States Senator.
William L. Dayton's great-grandfather had settled in Elizabethtown sometime prior to 1725 it is believed, and about the same time his mother's family came to Basking Ridge, New Jersey. Both sides of the house were distinguished for patriotism and public spirit at a time when these qualities were not rare. To Joel Dayton descended the old Dayton farm, upon which he prospered, providing for his sons the best possible educations in that time and place. Wil- liam Lewis, the eldest son, studied with the well-known teacher, Dr. Brownlee, of Basking Ridge, and later entered Nassau Hall, from which he graduated with the
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class of 1825, when eightcen years of agc. Having chosen law for his profession, he read his subject in the office of Peter D. Vroom, at that time the leader of the Demo- cratic party in the State, and later governor of New Jersey. With this eminent lawyer Dayton formed a strong friendship which continued throughout their lives, despite emphatic political differences. Dayton was admitted to the bar in 1830, and at once began practice in Freehold. His unusual powers were not long in displaying them- selvcs. Possessed of a natural dignity and a highly developed moral sense, his keen, alert mind and forceful personality soon placed him among the leaders of the bar and attracted a large clientele. Dayton was an ardent Whig in politics, but his party had long been out of power in the State. In 1836 a vigorous campaign was started, very largely at the call of Dayton, to win once more the State for the Whig party. In this campaign Dayton headed the ticket for the Legislative Council, and was carried into a sweeping popular victory. Once in the legislature, he assumed a commanding position, and was appointed chairman of the judiciary committee, and in this posi- tion framed a law which greatly improved the conduct of the county courts. This law required such courts to be presided over, each by a judge of the Supreme Court, and it rendered necessary the creation of two more judges of that court, bringing the total number from three to five. Dayton him- self was chosen to fill one of the new jus- ticeships, and thereupon removed to Tren- ton, which he made his permanent home. After three years of service, Dayton con- cluded that in justice to his family he would give up his honorary duties and return to his far more lucrative private practice. He was not allowed this retirement long, how- ever, for in 1842 Governor Pennington, of New Jersey, appointed him to tlic United States Senate to fill the place left vacant by the death of Senator Southard. Senator Dayton took up his new duties at the age of
thirty-five, being probably the youngest member of that august body, but at once took an active part in the deliberations, and was soon appointed on the judiciary com- mittee. He was a strong protectionist, and supported the high tariff bill of 1842. He strongly opposed the Mexican War, but when that conflict was begun, he supported the administration cheerfully, and voted for all necessary supplies for its successful prosecution. It was at about this time that the first mutterings of the approaching civil conflict began to be heard and the question of slavery to raise its sinister head. Day- ton was strongly opposed to the extension of slavery, but contended that the Federal government had no right to interfere with the slaves within their own territory. In 1856 he was nominated for vice-president by the Republicans, and the following year became Attorney-General of New Jersey. In the next Republican presidential con- vention there was considerable talk of nom- inating Dayton for President, and it is claimed that Lincoln intended to offer him a cabinet position and would have done so but for the pressure brought to bear upon him by the political powers in the great States, such as New York and Pennsyl- vania, and which he was unable to resist. Hc did offer him the position of Minister to France, and this, after much hesitation, Dayton accepted. In the unfamiliar duties of his new office, Dayton distinguished him- sclf not less than he had at home, and it was admitted by the French diplomats that it was due in no small measure to the frank and open character of Dayton's diplomacy that many critical episodes between the two countrics were passed so safcly. Among other services he rendered his country In this troublous time was that of persuading the French government to forbid the de- livcry to the Confederacy of a number of war vessels built for it in France, and thus practically saving American commerce. It was during the continuance of this office that the death of Mr. Dayton occurred sud-
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lenly in Paris, December 1, 1864.
Mr. Dayton's career was one of those that slied an extra lustre upon the glory of 1 .:. State, and his death left a gap in the ranks of his country's servants not easily filled.
WILLIAMSON, Benjamin, Distinguished Jurist.
To those of our day who knew Chan- cellor Williamson at the bar, courteous and kindly in manner and strenuous and persuasive in the argument of cases when more than eighty years of age, it seemed as if his career had begun with the Chan- cellorship and had been completed at the bar. He had finished his work as Chan- cellor before the Civil War began, and was in active practice until his death in Decem- ber, 1892. He was distinguished as an ad- vocate and as counsel in affairs of large im- portance, and his services as Chancellor were not even a memory, but were brought to mind only by the title by which he was always known.
The son of Chancellor Isaac H. William- son and Anne Crosdale (Jouet), he was born at Elizabethtown, May 16, 1809. He was graduated at Princeton in 1827, and admitted as an attorney at the November term, 1830, and as counsellor in the same term of 1833. He made his home in Eliza- bethtown during all his long life, and built a large and stately house there on the plot where his father had lived, the site of the present post office. Since his death the house has been removed to another part of the same plot, and has been altered to suit the needs of the club house of the society of Elks. The dome over the hall has been preserved. Mr. Williamson began and con- tinued his practice in his native town, and he had also an office in Jersey City, with F. A. S. Man, and an office in New York in later life while he was counsel for the Central Railroad Company. He served as Prosecutor of the Pleas of Essex county
from 1848 until he was appointed Chan- cellor in 1852. He achieved a reputation at the bar in those younger days, and his name appears occasionally in Halsted's Equity Reports, and in Harrison and Za- briskie at law. He was counsel in Gough vs. Bell in 1847, and in Hale vs. Lawrence, in 1849-an unusual case arising out of the great fire in New York in 1837. He was the counsel that challenged the jurisdiction of the Court of Errors to hear an appeal from the Prerogative Court in Harris vs. Vanderveer's Executor in 1869, and against him were Vroom, Wurts, Bradley, Shipmai. and Parker. He was counsel for the Som- erville & Easton Railroad Company, which afterwards became the Central Railroad Company of New Jersey, and appeared in all their cases in 2 Halsted's Chancery and I and 2 Zabriskie.
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