USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 4
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62
21
CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY
inson was called, and for three years he held his honorable post with a wisdom not less than his courage on the field of battle. The last twelve or fifteen years of his life were spent in retirement on his country estate near Trenton, and here on February 4, 1809, he died, honored and loved by the whole community.
1
PATERSON, William,
Lawyer, Jurist, Governor
William Paterson, whose brilliant name is commemorated in that of the important manufacturing city of Paterson, near the Falls of the Passaic river, was a native of the North of Ireland, born about 1745, and was but two years old when his parents came to America. The family first located at Trenton, then at Princeton, and finally at Raritan (now Somerville), where the father died in 1781.
William Paterson was graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1763. He read law under Richard Stockton, and was admitted to the bar in 1769. He first prac- ticed in Bromley, in Hunterdon county, removing thence to Princeton, where he was associated with his father and brother in a mercantile business. His public career be- gan in 1775, when he was made a delegate in the Provincial Congress; he was its secretary at both of its two sessions, and he was also a member and secretary of the congress which met at Burlington in 1776. The same year, at the organization of the State government, he became attorney gen- eral-a position extremely hazardous, as, being obliged to attend the courts in the various counties, he was at nearly all times liable to capture by British soldiers. He was at the same time a member of the coun- cil. In 1780, while still serving as attorney- general, he was named as a delegate to the Continental Congress. but declined, pleading inability to properly perform the duties of both positions.
On the resoration of peace, he took up
his residence in New Brunswick and re- sumed his law practice." In 1787 he was a member of the convention which met in Philadelphia to frame the Federal Con- stitution. Two plans were presented-one by Paterson, the other by Edmond Ran- dolph, of Virginia; the former plan was favored by the smaller States, the latter by the large States, and the result was a com- promise plan for a government partly fed- eral and partly national. After the ratifica- tion of the constitution, William Paterson and Jonathan Elmer were elected to the United States Senate by the State legisla- ture. Paterson held his seat a single year, being elected governor to succeed Living- ston, deceased. His administration was eminently successful, and he was re-elected with slight opposition.
For six years his leisure time was in- dustriously occupied with important labors committed to him under a law enacted. 111 1792-the codification of all the statutes of Great Britain which prior to the Revolution were in force in New Jersey ; together with those enacted by State legislature before and after the separation from the mother country. The work, when completed, was to be laid before the legislature, but Pater- son requiring so long a time to perform it, the legislature deemed it more convenient that it should act upon the statutes as they came from the hands of Livingston from time to time, rather than wait until com- pletion and pass upon all during a single session. The volume as finally produced has long been recognized as the most com- plete assemblage of statute law produced in any State of the Union. For this monu- mental work, Governor Paterson received the beggarly pittance of $2,500.
While engaged as above narrated, Gov- ernor Paterson was appointed by President Washington as associate justice of the Su- preme Court of the United States, and which office he held the remainder of his life. He sat on many notable cases, among them the trials under treason indictments
22
CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY
of persons engaged in the notorious "whis- key insurrection" in Western Pennsylvania ; and also that of Lyon for violation of the sedition law. His last judicial act was to preside in the United States Circuit Court in New York in April, 1806, on the trials of Ogden and Smith for violation of the neu- trality laws in aiding Miranda to carry on a revolution in some of the South Ameri- can states. As the case progressed, he found himself at disagreement with the as- sociate judge (Talmadge), and he left the bench, his colleague concluding the trial. His health was now visibly declining. and he withdrew from all active concerns, and died September 9, 1806.
Governor and Judge Paterson left a rec- ord of great usefulness and spotless integ- rity. He was an able statesman, an upright judge, and a faithful friend of his country, He was a Presbyterian, and a trustee of Princeton College from 1787 to 1802.
HOWELL, Richard,
Lawyer, Soldier, Governor.
Richard Howell was born (twin with his brother Lewis), in Newark, Newcastle county, Delaware, October 25, 1754, sons of Ebenezer Howell, the father being a son of the founder of the American branch of the family, an emigrant from Wales, who came to this country in 1729 and set- tled in Delaware.
The two brothers, Richard and Lewis, grew up together, and were intimately as- sociated until an advanced period in the Revolutionary War. They received their education in Newcastle. Delaware, and when twenty years old removed to Cumber- land county, New Jersey, near Bridgeton, whither the father had preceded them. The young men were intensely patriotic, and were active spirits among those who in the disguise of Indians, in November, 1774, broke open a store house in Greenwich which contained a cargo of tea from the brig "Greyhound," and burned it. The feel-
ing of the times is further discerned in the fact that the owners lodged a complaint, and that, while the royalist judge charged the jury to return a true bill, the charge was of no effect, the jury ignoring the com- plaint. The secret lay in the sympathy of the sheriff, who had taken pains to summon a jury of the same ilk as the accused.
Richard Howell had begun the study of law, but the opening of the Revolution im- pelled him to lay his books aside. He en- listed in a company of light infantry, in which he was chosen a subaltern officer. In December of the same year (1775) he was commissioned captain in Colonel Maxwell's regiment, 2d Line, which entered upon the Canada campaign, and suffered repulse at Quebec. For his gallantry on this occasion and his general officerlike conduct, Howell was promoted to major, and when Colonel Maxwell was made brigadier-general of Jersey troops, Richard Howell was advanc- ed to the position of brigade-major, and with this rank participated in the battle of Brandywine. His brother Lewis was also present, serving as surgeon, was taken pri- soner, escaped, but died from fever some days later, on the eve of the battle of Monmouth, without being able to again see his brother Richard, who was with his com- mand, preparing for the approaching bat- tle. After that battle, Richard Howell re- signed, at the particular desire of Wash- ington, who assigned him to the transaction of certain duties which he could not un- dertake while holding a commission in the army. It has always been the understanding that today such duties would come under the head of secret service.
After the close of the war, in 1779, Rich- ard Howell was admitted to the bar, and for several years he practiced in Cumberland county. Early in 1788 he removed to Tren- ton, and shortly afterward was made clerk of the Supreme Court. He served in the latter position until 1793, when Governo1 Paterson was appointed to a seat in the United States Supreme Court, and Mr.
23
CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY
Howell was chosen by the legislature to fill out the remainder of Paterson's guberna torial term. He acquitted himself so well that he was annually re-elected, with little opposition, until 1801, when the Republi- cans (the Jefferson party) elected Joseph Bloomfield. In 1794, during the "whiskey insurrection," and while he was governor, Howell was assigned by Washington to the command of a body of troops sent into the disaffected territory, but the insurrectionists were overawed before a conflict took place, and the forces were disbanded. After re- tiring from the governor's chair, Governor Howell resumed the practice of law, main- taining his residence in Trenton, where he died, May 5, 1903.
Governor Howell married, in November, 1779, a daughter of Joseph Burr, of Bur- lington county. A son Richard. born in 1794, was a lieutenant of infantry during the War of 1812, and was aide-de-camp to General Pike when he was killed at the blowing-up of Fort George, in Canada. An- other son, William, was a lieutenant of marines ; and another, Franklin, a lieuten ant in the navy, was killed by the explosion ot the great gun "Peacemaker," on board the U. S. frigate "President."
BLOOMFIELD, Joseph,
Lawyer, Soldier, Governor.
Joseph Bloomfield was born in 1755, at Woodbridge, Middlesex county, New Jer- sey, son of Dr. Moses Bloomfield, and a descendant of Thomas Bloomfield, who was a resident of Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1638, afterward removing to New Jersey.
Joseph Bloomfield was educated at a classical school at Deerfield, Cumberland county, New Jersey, under the instruction of Rev. Enoch Green, a famous teacher of that day. He studied law under Cort- landt Skinner, in 1775 was admitted to the bar, and entered upon practice in Bridgton, but his work was speedily interrupted by the war. In February, 1776, he was commis-
sioned captain of the 3rd New Jersey Reg ment, with which he at once marched to Canada. On his departure he was ordered to halt at Perth Amboy and arrest Cort- landt Skinner, who had been his law pre- ceptor, and was a notorious Tory, but Skin- ner had taken alarm and gone aboard a British man-of-war. Having reached Al- bany, the regiment learned of the Continen- tal repulse at Quebec, and was sent to the Mohawk Valley to overawe the Indians. In the following November it was marched to Ticonderoga, and there Captain Bloom- field was appointed judge advocate. He was subsequently promoted to major, and in 1778 resigned his commission.
His political and official life began with his return from the army. In 1778 he was made clerk of the Assembly, and about the same time register of the Admiralty Court, which position he held several years. In 1794, as brigadier-general of militia, he aid- ed in the suppression of the whiskey rebel- lion in Pennsylvania. In 1792, as a New Jersey presidential elector, he voted for Washington and Adams for president and vice-president respectively, but came to be an opponent of Adams, and was for that reason debarred as an elector in 1796. He came to be friendly with Jefferson, the lead- er of the Republicans (Democrats), and was elected governor of New Jersey, suc- ceeding Howell. At the succeeding election he and Stockton were the opposing candi- dates ; repeated ballotings resulted in a tie, and the office of governor was vacant for a year, and its duties being performed by the vice-president of the Council. In 1803 he was re-elected, and each succeeding year until 1812, when, on the breaking out of the war with Great Britain, President Madison commissioned him a brigadier-general in the army. Early in 1813 his brigade reach- ed Sacketts Harbor, but General Bloomfield was soon transferred to the command of a military district with headquarters at Phila- delphia, and where he remained until the restoration of peace. Returning home, he
24
CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY
resumed his law practice. In 1816 as a Democrat he was elected to Congress and was returned for a second term. He was chairman of the committee on Revolution- ary Pensions, and introduced and procured the enactment of bills granting pensions to Revolutionary war soldiers and their wid- ows. While serving as governor, he was ex officio president of the board of trustees of Princeton College; in 1819 he was elect- ed a trustee, and served as such until the close of his life. He was for many years an active member and president of the New Jersey Society for the Abolition of Slavery -a unique organization not to be con- founded with the ordinary "abolition" so- ciety. It was for the purpose of protecting slaves from abuse, and to aid them in obtaining their liberty through strictly legal means.
Governor Bloomfield married, about 1779, Mary, daughter of Dr. William McIlvaine. of Burlington; she died in 1808, and he married a second time, his wife surviving him. He died in Burlington, October 3. 1825. His tombstone is inscribed: "A Soldier of the Revolution; late Governor of New Jersey."
FORMAN, General David,
Distinguished Revolutionary Soldier.
General David Forman's family Bible contains the record of his birth, probably copied from his father's Bible: "Sunday November the 3d 1745 three o'Clock in the Morning was Born our Son. David." In the "Monmouth Democrat" during the seventies appeared an article en- titled "Incidents in the Life of General David Forman," compiled by Miss Anna M. Woodhull. In it is contained a sketch written by Miss Malvina Forman, which is as follows :
"My dear father was born in New Jersey, Nov. 3, 1745. His parents were Joseph Forman and Elizabeth Lee. His father was a wealthy ship- ping merchant of New York, afterwards retired
from business, and settled on one of his farms in Monmouth Co., N. J. My father was educat- ed at Princeton College; my mother was born in Maryland, Dec. 3, 1751. On the 28th of Febru- ary, 1767, my father was married to Miss Ann Marsh (daughter of Thomas Marsh, Esq., of Md.) by the Rev. William Tennent. In con- sequence of my grandmother's death [Mrs. Thomas Marsh], my parents were married in Princeton, at the house of Ezekiel Forman, Esq., the elder brother of my father, who married my mother's elder and only sister. I think my father left Monmouth, where he resided during the Revolution, on the 5th of February, 1794, and removed to Chestertown, Md. Gen. Forman left his own house in Chestertown, Sept. 10, 1796, in order to attend to a large landed estate which he owned at Natchez, Miss. On the 19th of March, 1797, while at Natchez, he had a stroke of apoplexy, and for three days continued in a state of perfect insensibility. This terminated in apoplexy [paralysis?] by which his left side was deprived of all power of motion. In this situation he continued till Aug. 12, when finding his health and strength considerably improved, he went to New Orleans to take passage home. Finding a vessel bound for New York he sailed on Aug. 20. His anxiety once more to embrace his family appeared to give supernatural strength both to mind and body. Fondly cherishing the hope of having his wishes gratified, he was proceeding homeward, when the vessel was taken by a British privateer, and sent into New Provi- dence [Bahama Islands]. As soon as the vessel was taken General Forman abandoned the hope of again meeting his family, thinking from his then very feeble and debilitated state, he should be unable to bear the fatigue of so long and circuit- ous a route. This anxiety and disappointment proved too much for his languid frame, and on the 12th of September, 1797, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, he surrendered his life into the hands of Him who gave it, in the prime of his man- hood, aged 52."
General David Forman's services in the Revolutionary War were important, and have never been adequately recounted. In June, 1776, a brigade of New Jersey militia was sent to reinforce Washington's army at New York. Joseph Reed was chosen briga- dier-general but declined the office, where- upon Colonel Nathaniel Heard, who com- manded the Monmouth and Middlesex bat- talion, became brigadier, and David For-
25
CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY
man, who was lieutenant-colonel under Heard, succeeded to the colonelcy. The term of service of these troops was limited to December 1, 1776. After the disastrous battle of Long Island and the subsequent operations, General Washington detached Colonel Forman's battalion and sent it to suppress a Tory rising in Monmouth, No- vember 24, 1776.
Congress having authorized in December, 1776, the raising of sixteen regiments at large from the States, the command of one of them was offered by Washington to David Forman in January, 1777. General Stryker states in his published Roster that "Forman's regiment,"-though it contained some Jerseymen, was recruited principally from Maryland, and was never completely organized. Such part as was organized, however, undoubtedly was in service, and some time in 1778 or 1779 it was distributed among other commands. Heitman's "Offi- cers' Register" gives July 1, 1778, as the date of its disbandment, and says that of- fiers and men were transferred mainly to the New Jersey line. But the date given by Heitman is hardly consistent with the date of a return of December. 1778, show- ing but 68 men from New Jersey in the regiment, mentioned in General Stryker's Roster. General Stryker says also that Gen- eral David Forman of the militia resigned to accept the command of a regiment organ- ized under the auspices of Congress. In this statement General Stryker is undoubt- edly in error, for on March 5, 1777, David Forman was chosen brigadier-general in the New Jersey militia : therefore he did not become general in the New Jersey forces until after he had accepted the Continental colonelcy.
In the summer of 1777 General Forman was engaged in watching and reporting to Congress the movements of Lord Howe's fleet as it conveyed the British troops from New York to the Delaware river. Some time before the battle of Germantown, Gen- eral Forman joined Washington's army
with his brigade of New Jersey militia. Together with Smallwood's Maryland di- vision, he was ordered to advance down the old York road and attack the enemy's right flank. The guides misdirected the troops, so that they reached the objective point too late, and the flanking movement failed as did most of the American movements on that day, and the battle of Germantown, though perhaps not a defeat, was not a victory for the Americans. The battle was fought October 4, 1777. A number of Gen- eral Forman's relations and connections were engaged in the battle, many of them belonging to his brigade. After the battle of Germantown, General Forman marched his brigade home, by Washington's order, and came back with other troops which he had collected-some of his Continental regi- ment and some mounted militia.
Early in November, 1777, David Forman resigned his commission as general in con- sequence of a difference with the New Jer- sey Assembly. Up to that date he had apparently held the Continental colonelcy and the New Jersey generalship simultane- ously, it being a common practice at the time for the same person to hold several offices. The cause of his resignation is explained in a letter to Washington writ- ten at Princeton on November 7, 1777. It seems the Assembly wished to investigate the election of himself and other gentlemen (probably the election as brigadier-general at the session of the previous spring is re- referred to) and General Forman very nat- urally wished to be present when the pro- posed investigation was to be held. At the same time he was equally desirous of at- tending to his military duties. Though he told them this, and asked that the matter be postponed for a few days until the militia were assembled and put in some order, the request was denied, and he was confronted with the alternative of having the investigation conducted behind his back or of resigning. He chose the latter. The matter is not fully explained in the letter,
26
CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY
and he tells Washington that he will ex- plain fully and that the step will meet Washington's approval. Governor Living- ston tried to persuade General Forman to withdraw his resignation, but he persisted in resigning.
On January 1, 1778, General Forman sent to Washington a memorial applying for a contract to supply the army with salt. He and his partners had invested £10,000 in the works which were situated at Barnegat. He was authorized to de- tain sixty men, two subalterns and a cap- tain, out of the detachment of his regiment then in Monmouth, to guard the works, but late in March of 1778, the guard was with- drawn, as the Council of State opposed the continuance of the guard, which was sent to join Colonel Shreve's regiment. It may be noted here that at the time of Sullivan's expedition against the Indians in the follow- ing year, the 11th Company of "Spencer's regiment" was formerly part of "For- man's." Precisely when General Forman gave up his Continental regiment the pres- ent writer has not ascertained.
At the battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778, General David Forman was present, though apparently holding no military com- mand. (Mr. F. D. Stone writes in Win- sor's History, vol. 6: "The Jersey militia had turned out in a spirited manner, and under Dickinson and Forman were doing all in their power to retard Clinton's advance. They destroyed the bridges as they retired from Haddonfield to Mount Holly, and filled up the wells so that the enemy could not obtain water.") He was directed to accompany General Charles Lee, who com- manded the advance, and among Washing- ton's papers is a dispatch from General For- man written by Lee's direction at a quarter past six on the morning of the battle. We may suppose from this that General For- man acted as a kind of special aide-de-camp to Lee. From a paper drawn up after the battle by General Forman, in which he criticized Lee's dispositions, and from his
testimony at the Lee court martial (printed in the New York Historical Society publica- tions), it appears that the two officers got on badly together. General Forman offered Lee his advice as to certain military move- ments, which advice was not heeded. As we know, when Washington arrived on the field, he was very indignant at the turn af- fairs had taken and called Lee sharply to task. Besides the court-martial, the matter resulted in a duel between General Lee and Colonel John Laurens of Washington's staff.
From June, 1780, till late in 1782, Gen- ernal Forman rendered very important ser- vice in giving reports of the movements of the British ships near New York. There were months during that period when no reports were made, but when important movements were on foot, General Forman would send dispatches to Washington four or five times a montlı. In June, 1780, he had established posts for upwards of fifty miles along the New Jersey coast, so that it was impossible for any number of ships to be off the coast without his being im- mediately informed of it. It seems strange that while performing these duties he held the title of general by courtesy only, but if he ever was re-chosen general after re- signing in 1777, the writer has not dis- covered it.
Not only was General Forman ready at all hours to forward news, but also to mount his horse and ride out to some high point to make observations personally. The zeal and fidelity of his work can be appreci- ated only by an examination of his letters to Washington (eventually to be printed by the Colonial Dames in their series of letters to Washington). The letters are full of the most minute details as to the move- ments and positions of ships in the waters adjacent to New York.
In the preceding July, when the arrival of DeGrasse was expected, some militia cavalrymen were taken into pay and sta- tioned at such distances that dispatches
27
1
CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY
could travel from Monmouth to headquar- ters at Dobbs Ferry in twelve or fifteen hours. After the army started south the letters were directed to be sent to a desig- nated officer who reforwarded them to Washington. The express-riders were taken off toward the close of 1781, but beginning in August, 1782, and for some months thereafter, General Forman sent informa- tion by Washington's request as to the enemy's naval strength.
Besides sending information to Washing- ton, General Forman took a leading part in the troubled history of Monmouth county of the period. He was very active against the Tories and refugees, and the despera- does known as Pine Robbers. By the Tories he was much hated, and was called by them "Devil David." As to the charge of undue severity often brought against Gen- eral Forman, it is difficult to judge with- out a complete examination of the evidence. Certainly the pillaging and burning raids of the Tories invited severe repression. As to the sobriquet "Black David," it is said that it properly belongs to General Forman's cousin, who had the same name and be- came sheriff, and was of swarthy complex- ion. The two are often confused by wri- ters. They were intimate friends.
The celebrated Huddy affair and the events leading up to it should be mentioned on account of General Forman's connec- tion with it. We learn from General Stryker that early in the war, Colonel George Taylor of Middletown "refused to qualify and deserted." He was to have been colonel in the militia, but instead be- came active on the Tory side. Barber & Howe's "New Jersey Historical Collections" tell us that a young man named Stephen Edwards, at a date not specified except that it was in the latter part of the war, left his home at Shrewsbury and joined the Loyalists at New York. He was sent by Colonel Taylor to Monmouth with written instructions to ascertain the force of the Americans. He was arrested Saturday at
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.