USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 32
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He was appointed Chancellor by Govern- or George F. Fort, a Democrat, on the ex- piration of Chancellor Halsted's term in 1852, and served for seven years. Then Governor William A. Newell, the first Re- publican governor, was determined to ap- point a Republican, and the Democratic Senate was equally determined that Chan- cellor Williamson should be reappointed, and refused to confirm any of the appoint- ments made by the governor, and the State was without a Chancellor for a year and two months, and until the matter was set- tled by the appointment of Henry W. Green by Governor Olden in 1860. His opinions are reported in three volumes of Stockton and the first of Beasley. Those volumes contain many cases involving ques- tions of equity jurisprudence and practice which are questions of general interest and frequent application, and the cases are often cited and have become a part of the body of our law. Some of the decisions have become leading cases, and the opinions in these early reports have laid a firm founda- tion for our system of equity. It is true that a good many of the Chancellor's opin- ions were reversed. but the proportion was,
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perhaps, not more than usual. The Chan- sellor discussed questions of fact clearly and fully but not at great length, and his discussions of legal principles are based upon an examination of the authorities and an understanding of the principles them- selves. The opinions are strong, clear and to the point, and those that are of perman- ent value are helpful to the students of the questions involved. One of the leading cases is Morris & Essex Railroad Company vs. City of Newark, 2 Stockton, 352, on a mo- tion to dissolve an injunction against tear- ing up the tracks upon which the cars had formerly been drawn by horses throughi Broad street and Park Place in running from the Morris and Essex Station to the bridge at the foot of Centre street. There was a good deal of public excitement at the time the injunction was issued, but this, the Chancellor said, did not make the court falter one moment in the discharge of its duty. The decision was that the charter did not expressly or by implication give the company the right to occupy the streets longitudinally without the consent of the city, and that, although they had been al- lowed to use them for sixteen years, they had acquired no permanent right, and the injunction was dissolved. The rule declar- ed in this case with regard to the use of the streets for railroad purposes is that which has since been adopted with respect to street railways and the rights of the owners of adjacent land. The Chancellor said:
,
"The authority to use a public highway for the purpose of a railroad, retaining the use of such highway for all ordinary purposes, subject only to the inconvenience of the railroad, is not such a taking of private property from the owner of the fee of the adjacent lands as is contemplated by the constitution. The easement of the high- way is in the public, although the fee is techni- cally in the adjacent owner. It is the easement only which is appropriated, and no right or title of the owner is interfered with."
This rule was adopted by Chancellor Green and applied to street railways in
cause of the shrewdness and skill in the Hinchman vs. Paterson Horse Railroad Co., 2 C. F. Green, 75, and has been followed in later cases, where a distinction with re- spect to the mode of use is drawn between steam and horse railroads.
The leading case of Kean vs. Johnson, E. Stockton, 401, relating to the right of stockholders to an injunction against the alienation of the whole property of a cor- poration came before Chancellor William- son, but he referred it to Cortlandt Parker as master, because he himself had been counsel for the Somerville & Easton hail- road Company, one of the defendants.
On the expiration of his term as Chan- cellor, Mr. Williamson resumed his practice at the bar and became counsel for the Cen- tral Railroad of New Jersey, and appears as their counsel in the argument of import- ant cases in the law and equity reports be- ginning with 2 Vroom in 1865. He was also counsel for Francis S. Lathrop, the receiver. from 1877 to 1882, and for his successor, Henry S. Little, and was leading counsel of the company from the end of the re- ceivership until the close of his life. He took part in the organization of the Rari- tan & Delaware Bay Railroad Company. He was one of the trustees for the second mortgage bondholders, and took part in the organization of the Long Branch & Sea Shore Railroad Company and the ac- quisition of the system by the New Jersey Central, and afterwards in the contest and settlement with the Pennsylvania Railroad Company with respect to bridge over the Raritan, and the organization of the New York and Long Branch Railroad Company. He was counsel for the Pennsylvania Rail- road Company in the litigation with the National Railway Company in 1873, and appeared for the respondent on the appeal in Black vs. Delaware and Raritan Canal Co. in 1873, 24 Equity, 455. He was re- tained as counsel in many other important cases in jury trials, as well as in arguments
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before the court. He was persuasive with juries, and was feared as an opponent be- handling of his cases. He was a man of unlimited resources and untiring persis- tency, always courteous in manner, and prevailed in negotiation as well as in argu- ment by the adroitness and the force of his reasoning. As a constitutional lawyer he was learned and able.
Mr. Williamson was engaged in many public affairs political, financial, religious and philanthropic. He was a Democrat by strong conviction. In 1860 he attended the Charleston Convention, and in 1861 he was a delegate to the Peace Congress in Balti- more. He lacked but a few votes of elec- tion to the United States Senate in 1863.
He was a trustee of the State Bank at Elizabeth and a commissioner of the Sink- ing Fund of that city, a director of the Union County Bible Society, and a vestry- man and warden of St. John's Church, Elizabeth, and afterwards a communicant in Trinity Parish. In his personality he has been well described as a man of sterling integrity, broad and liberal, calm and dig- nified in demeanor, of deep learning and lovable disposition. He died December z, 1892, in the eighty-fourth year of his age. His wife was Elizabeth Swan, daughter of the Rev. Frederick Beasley, and sister of Chief Justice Beasley. His son, Benjamin Williamson, born in 1840, and admitted to the bar in 1859, practiced in Elizabeth. He died there in 1900. Mr. Williamson s daughter, Mrs. Chase, married secondly Oscar Keen, who was admitted as attorney in 1868 and as counsellor in 1871, and was associated with Thomas N. McCarter from July 1, 1868, until July 1, 1882, and served as prosecutor of the pleas of Essex county from 1883 to 1888. There is a portrait of Chancellor Williamson in the State House in Trenton, painted while he was still young.
VAN WINKEL, Edgar Simeon,
Lawyer, Journalist, Litterateur.
The first syllable of the Van Winkel name, found so often in early Dutch names of New York, is equivalent in English to "of" or "from," and its use arose from the fact that the present usage of surnames had not been adopted in Holland at the time the Dutch immigrants settled New Amsterdam (New York). An individual was distinguished by adding "from" or "of" to the place of his birth or recent resi- dence. There was also used by the Dutch people the termination "sen" on a name, which signified "son of," and this seems to have been the form employed by the immi- grant of this family. In the feminine this termination was made "se," and so we find the termination indicating parentage. It is spread over a large portion of New Jer- sey and New York and is now found in many remote localities, in many cases borne by men of distinguished ability, and the family has everywhere manifested the Dutch traits of industry and thrift, which have done so much for the development of this region.
The first of whom we have record of a Christian name was Jacob Waling (often written Waligen), a contraction of Waling- sen, meaning son of Waling, who resided in the village of Winkel, in North Holland. The time of his arrival is uncertain. He married, at New Amsterdam, about 1645, Tryntje Jacobs. He is supposed to have arrived at New Netherlands (now New York City) in 1635. After a temporary stop at New Amsterdam he probably con- tinued up the Hudson river to the Dutch settlement of Rensselaerwyck, subsequently called Greenbush, opposite Albany. It seems that Jacob, who was known in that settlement by the name of "Waelingen," returned to New Amsterdam in January,
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1639. He was one of the "twelve men," of the "commonalty of Manhattan, Breuck- elen and Pavonia" (the latter now Jersey City, New Jersey), August 29, 1641, to suggest means to punish the Indians for a murder they liad committed. May 12, 1650, "Jacob Waelingen" was at Renssel- aerwyck with his wife and children. On October I that year he removed to Man- hattan, where his son Jacob was baptized in the Dutch Church "in the Fort" on Oc- tober 16 same year ; and before the end of that year he and his wife were enrolled as members of the Dutch church of New Amsterdam, the first of the kind that was organized in America. In has continued down to the present time, and is now known as the Collegiate Reformed Church. Petrus Stuyvesant, director general, and his coun- cil, issued, October 23, 1654, a patent for twenty-five morgans (about fifty-three acres) of land to "Jacob Walingen van Hoorn." This was situated behind the "Kill van Kol," now known as Bergen Point, New Jersey. Jacob settled on this land soon after, and was driven from his home with the other settlers, by the Indians, in 1655. At this time one hundred Dutch were killed, one hundred and fifty were car- ried into captivity, and over three hundred deprived of their homes, and their grain and cattle destroyed or stolen. On April 17, 1657, "Jacob Walingh" was admitted to the rights of a small burgher, which en- titled him to the freedom of trade, and the privilege of being received into the guilds of Manhattan. He died between that date and August 17 same year. On the latter date his widow married Jacob Stoffelsen, of Middleburgh, the capital of Zeeland. Stoffelsen had lost his first wife, Ides van Voorst, in the spring of 1641. At the time of this marriage, there were living six mi- nor children of Jacob Waling, who were placed under guardians.
Symon, third son and fifth child of Jacobse Walenjse (Jacob Waling) and Tryntje (Jacobs) Van Winkle, was born
in Pavonia, East New Jersey, and baptized in the Dutch Reformed Church at Bergen, August 24, 1653. In 1684 he received grants from the governor-general and the council of East New Jersey of the Acquoc- kanonk Patent, and was one of the first settlers on the land thus granted. In the original patent his name is given as Symon Jacobse, thus designating him as a son of Jacobse Van Winkle. The farm is now covered by Aycrigg avenue and the Boule- vard extension; his house stood on the River Drive, a little to the north of Ay- crigg avenue, and the land was purchased from his descendants in 1812 by Adriar M. Post. Symon Van Winkle had another farm at Weasle (now Clifton), New Jer- sey, and his property was largely increased at the time of liis marriage, as his wife was richly dowered with valuable lands and other possessions. He was married, De- cember 15, 1675, to Annetje Adrianse Sip, in the Dutch Reformed Church at Bergen ( Jersey City), where they both lived at the time, later settling on the farm at Ac- quockanonk, where all their children were born.
Jacob, eldest son of Symon Van Winkle, was born in Acquockanonk, August 9, 1678. He married, April 21, 1701, Jacomentje Mattheuse Van Nieuwkerck (Van New- kirk).
Simeon, eldest son of Jacob Van Winkle, was born about 1725, and was a soldier during the Revolutionary War, serving with the New Jersey militia. He married, . about 1750, Margaretta Geretson.
Simeon, son of Simeon and Margaretta (Geretson) Van Winkle, was born April 4, 1752. He married Annetje Marselis, who was born March 28, 1755, and died April 19, 1809.
Peter, third son of Simeon Van Winkle, was born June 27, 1782, in Bergen, New Jersey, and died in New York City, Janu- ary 14; 1822. For many years he was a successful merchant in the city of New York, a member of the firm of Van Winkle
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& Van Antwerp. He served for some time in the militia, in which he was a commis- sioned officer. He married, October 20, 1805, Phoebe, born in Morristown, New Jersey, November 26, 1782 ; died March 16, 1871, daughter of General Abraham God- win, a soldier of the Revolution, who joined the army of Washington at Morristown as a volunteer, and came out of the struggle a colonel of the Continental army.
Edgar Simeon Van Winkle, third son and child of Peter and Phoebe (Godwin ) Van Winkle, was born August 3, 1810, and died December 9, 1882. On his father's death, the family removed to New Jersey, where he continued his education. He pursued classical studies until he was fourteen at Nassau Hall Academy, the principal of which, Dr. Sythoff, in a letter written to him soon after he left it, said: "I feel gratified to receive from you the pleasing expression of your attachment to Nassau Hall Academy, your Alma Mater, and I can in return say that she will ever be proud to recognize Edgar Van Winkle as one of her choicest sons." This was high praise from such a source for a boy of fourteen. After leaving Nassau Hall he commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. John P. Jackson, an eminent law- yer of Newark, in which he remained until he entered the office of William Slosson, Esq., of New York, with whom he con- tinued until his admission to the bar in 1831. From that time until his last illness, a period of more than fifty years. he was steadily engaged in the practice of his pro- fession with the exception of a part of 1873, in which he visited Europe and saw much of public men and the courts, both in England and on the Continent.
It is not extravagant to say of Mr. Van Winkle that he was a model lawyer. His close attention to his studies and duties was soon rewarded by a large clientage and full practice. Early and always a diligent and untiring student, he became master of the general principles of jurisprudence, and es-
specially familiar with that relating to trusts, wills, real estate and commercial law. Among his leading clients were banks, trust companies, executors, guardians, and other trustees, and large commercial houses. He drew the charters and conducted the organization of several of the large monied corporations of the city and was their standing counsel. Of one of the banks he was counsel for fifty years. Endowed by nature with rare power of concentrated and continuous thought, and with a sedate but active mind and strong good sense, he gave to every case in which he was engaged patient and thorough investigation and thought: and his cool, clear conclusions and judgment had as nearly the certainty of mathematics as pertains to the solution of questions of law. Such was the char- acter of his mind that in every case submit- ted to him he sought for the intrinsic right rather than to discover whether, because of some particular decision, his client's case could possibly, right or wrong, be sustain- ed. If it were not clearly tenable he ad- vised and in most cases secured, reasonable and proper adjustments and settlements. Had it not been, as it was absolutely with him, a matter of principle to take this course, it would have been wise as a mat- ter of policy, for where he did proceed with litigation, there was almost a presumption that the right was on the side he advocated, and courts and juries would feel that it had the sanction of his judgment and convic- tions. In cases thus considered he was very generally successful. As an illustration of this we may mention that he prevailed in nine of the last eleven cases which he argued in the court of appeals. One of his most marked traits was his imperturable cool- ness and self-possession. Though quick and sensitive he was never flurried, and his even balance and judgment were never more conspicuous, as well as prompt, than in emergencies. So, too, in the affairs outside of his profession. Instead of giving the reins to his imagination, the action of his
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mind was always to discover how much he could prune and brush away that was un- real or extrinsic, to reduce the adverse mat- ter to its least dimensions, and then to bring all his strength to its avoidance or removal. Hence his serene and cheer ful life and calm judgment in the important matters con- fided to his care. No man had more fully the respect, confidence and warm personal regard of the courts, his brethren of the bar, and of those whose interests were in- trusted to him. Invariably dignified, he was courteous toward all, and nobody could be otherwise toward him. Such was his personal and professional standing that when Daniel Webster determined to remove to and practice law in New York, Mr. Van Winkle was selected as his associate, and continued in partnership with him during his residence here and until public affairs called him to a different sphere. The high repute of Mr. Van Winkle's office attracted to it as students many young men preparing for the profession, and among its graduates are numbers since distinguished at the Bar, in public life and as men of letters.
Mr. Van Winkle was one of the founders and the first vice-president of the Bar As- sociation, and one of its most valuable mem- bers until his health became impaired. He was for some thirty years one of the man- agers of the House of Refuge for Juvenile Delinquents, and rendered great service in the direction of that important establish- ment. In 1846 he was one of the founders of the Century Club, of which he was a cherished member. He was also one of the first members of the Union League Club, and took the deepest interest in its patriotic purposes and action. What contributed greatly to his suc- cess in his career was the associations he had formed in a literary club which he fre- quented while still a student. The earliest meetings of this club were held in the base- ment of Christ's Church, in Anthony (now Worth) street, at the instance of Thomas Lyell, a son of Rev. Dr. Lyell, the pastor.
As the most conspicuous object in the meet- ing room was a column which upheld the ceiling, to attend a meeting was equivalent to "going to the Column," and the club soon adopted the Column as its name. Mr. Van Winkle was chosen archon, or presiding of- ficer, and so continued to the day of his death. Soon after he became a member of the Column he began, in concert with Dan- iel Seymour, the issue of a newspaper called "The Aspirant," which was continued for some years. It overflowed with racy humer, caustic criticisms and rollicking fun. These papers were afterwards gathered into two volumes, which were consumed in the conflagration of the "Mirror" office. The book which Mr. Van Winkle prepared for his family was confined to his poetic ef- forts, and did not comprise any of his prose writings. This book, which his warm af- fections prepared privately for his immed- iate family in 1876 but which his sterner self-judgment withheld from a larger pub- lic, demonstrates how irresistible the poetic impulse in him was and at the same time how his imperative will controlled any man- ifestations likely to interfere with his pro- fessional success. Although he enriched the newspapers with them occasionally, it was always done under the rigid shield of the anonymous. In the leisure time vouchsafed him just after his admission to the bar he published more or less in the old "New York Mirror." One cannot say that he was a wit in the strictest sense of the term, despite many occasional sparks; but his humor was very lively and keen and, if graver causes had not absorbed the fac- ulties of his mind, it might have expanded into exuberance. These graver causes arose from the growing responsibilities of his profession ; he had apprehended that he might not be able to make his salt in it, but he soon found that instead of wanting it he was more likely to be overwhelmed with business. He was a fluent and pleas- ing speaker, whose eloquence was rather that of forcible statement than of rhetor-
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ical grace. He won juries by the obvious sincerity of his convictions, judges by his real learning and sobriety of judgment, and his clients by a singular uniformity of suc- cess.
Mr. Van Winkle was a power not only in the Column, but in other organizations. He was a leading member of the Historical Association and a patron of those noble or- ganizations for charity which reflect honor upon human nature. His religious feelings were profound and earnest, and they were expressed in an habitual attendance on the church to which he belonged. His learning was not alone that of the law. He was a belles-lettres scholar of large attainments, versed in the Latin, French and English classics, and enthusiast in Shakespearean lore, and familiar with modern literature generally. He dearly loved nature, and was never happier than amid the rural scenes that surrounded his pleasant and hospitable country home at Litchfield, where he passed his summer vacations, sur- rounded by his loving and beloved family and a few chosen friends, under the elms that shaded his house, or among the hills and dales, or in his boat on the beautiful lake.
In December, 1878, his health gave way and was never fully restored, although he was able until the year preceding his death to participate in the business of his office. His mind continued clear and to the end he warmly prized and delighted in the so- ciety of his friends. The long period of his indisposition was one of rest and of the quiet "contemplation" which he always de- sired might precede his death.
At a meeting of the Bar Association of the City of New York. Hon. William M. Evarts announced the death of Edgar S. Van Winkle. At an adjourned meeting, held February 13, 1883, a memorial of Mr. Van Winkle, prepared by his friend, the Hon. Benjamin D. Silliman, was presented by the executive committee to the Asso- ciation, and adopted that day. A memorial
paper, prepared by Parke Goodwin, was read before the Columnn, in January, 1883.
Mr. Van Winkle married, November 1I, 1835, Hannah Starr Beach, of Litchfield, born January 7, 1816, and died March 29, 1888. Children: Mary Du Bois, born No- vember 3, 1836; Hannah Louisa, Novem- ber 24, 1837, died October 15, 1860; Eliza- beth Starr, June 5, 1840, died May 29, 1904: Edgar Beach.
McCOSH, James,
Clergyman, Educator, Author.
James McCosh, eleventh president of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton Uni- versity, belonged to an old and highly re- spected family in Ayrshire, Scotland, whose earliest recorded ancestor, Jasper McCosh, died at Straiton in Ayrshire, in 1727. A descendant in the third genera- tion from Jasper McCosh was Andrew, who married Jean, daughter of James Car- son, a large farmer on Loch Doon, and died on his estate at Carskeoch, July 9, 1820. This property is situated on the Doon in Ayrshire, about twelve miles from Ayr. Andrew and Jean (Carson ) McCosh had six daughters and one son, James, born April 1, 1811.
James McCosh studied at the University of Glasgow, continued his theological edu- cation at Edinburgh, was licensed to preach in 1834, and the following year accepted his first charge at Arbroath, removing to Bre- chin in 1838, where until 1843 he was min- ister of the Established Church. On the dis- ruption, he resigned his charge, formed a Free Church congregation, and labored thus until 1851, when he was appointed Professor of Logic and Metaphysics at Queen's College. Belfast. It was from this chair that he was called to the presidency of Princeton in 1868. For twenty years he occupied the latter position until in 1888, when he resigned. he had placed the college on a University basis. He died at Prince- ton. November 16, 1894.
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At the age of thirteen he had been sent to Glasgow, where after a year in a prepara- tory class he entered the University in 1825. Four years later, attracted by the reputation of Thomas Chalmers and David Welsh in Theology and of Sir William Hamilton in Philosophy, he left Glasgow and entered Edinburgh University, joining the crowd of eager students under these professors. He completed his academic education at Edinburgh, and in 1834 pre- sented a dissertation on "Stoic Philosophy" for which he was granted the Master of Arts degree. Lincensed that spring, he preached wherever opportunity offered. Then for a while he acted as tutor in the family of a Mr. Graham, of Meiklewood, near Stirling. At the end of 1835 he was called to his first regular pastorate at the Abbey Chapel of Arbroath in Forfarshire. Two years later he declined a call to the pulpit of the historic Old Greyfriars at Edinburgh. In 1838 he accepted an ap- pointment to Brechin, and here labored un- til the disruption took place. In this move- ment McCosh had a leading part in form- ing as it were a nucleus of ministers who discussed the dangers that threatened the Scottish church through appointment of ministers by the Crown, regardless of the preferences of congregations, an unavoid- able development of the patronage system. A pamphlet published by Dr. McCosh at Brechin, entitled "Recollections of the Dis- ruption in Brechin," shows the successive steps of the movement and clearly outlines his attitude. In 1843, when disruption from the Established Church became inevit- able, he surrendered his living at Brechin ; but he was able to form a Free congrega- tion, and continued in pastoral work. He also organized Free churches elsewhere, raising funds, and securing pastors. For fire years longer he remained at Brechin, by which time the Free Church seemed to be on a firm basis and he was able to turn his attention to authorship.
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