Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I, Part 5

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

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midnight at his father's house, taken to the court house and tried by court-martial on the following day, and executed as a spy at Io o'clock the Monday following. General Forman was one of the judges who pre- sided at Edward's trial; Captain Joshua Huddy was another of the judges (testi- mony of William Courlies at the court- martial of Lippincott, quoted in "Old Times in Oid Monmouth," page 66). Huddy was taken prisoner at Toms river on April 2, 1782, and was hanged by the Tories on Mid- dletown Heights ten days afterwards, in re- taliation for the death of Philip White, who had been shot in attempting to escape while being conveyed to jail. The reason for selecting Captain Huddy as the victim was his having been concerned in Edward's trial (Ramsey's "American Revolution," quoted in the Journal by R. Lamb, ex-sergeant in the British army). General Forman took the leading part in obtaining evidence (see "Old Times in Old Monmouth") as to the facts of White's death, concerning which false reports had been spread, and laid the matter before Washington by advice of the American Commissioners for the exchange of prisoners, to whom the matter had been first submitted. Redress having been sought at the hands of the British in vain-Lippin- cott, who was court-martialed for having hanged Captain Huddy, pleaded instructions from Governor Franklin and got off on that plea-it was determined to retaliate upon one of the British prisoners. A very youthful officer, Captain Asgill of the Guards (later Sir Charles Asgill), was se- lected by lot. but his family were influen- tial, and his mother having appealed to the French government to intercede in her son's behalf, Congress finally ordered the young man's release.

In concluding the account of General Forman's services in the Revolution, it should be stated that his friend, the Rev. Dr. John Woodhull of Freehold often re- marked that General David Forman was worth more to Monmouth than five hundred

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

men. He was judge of the Court of Com- mon Pleas in Monmouth, and justice of the peace. He was an honorary member of the Society of the Cincinnati in New Jersey from 1783 to 1787, and vice-president of the same 1791-1793.

The list of General David Forman's chil- dren is as follows, the names of those who died before him, six out of eleven, being printed in italics :- I. Joseph. 2. Sarah Marsh. 3. Elisabeth Lee. 4. Ann. 5. David Lee. 6. Augustine (a dau.). 7. Emma. 8. Elisa. 9. Malvina. 10. Rivine. II. Alfred. Sarah M. married her first cousin, Major William Gordon Forman ; Ann married Dr. Jonathan Longstreet ; Emma married Rob- ert Cumming. Miss Malvina Forman, whose sketch of her father's life has been quoted, lived to an advanced age and died in Fauquier county, Virginia. Rivine, the youngest daughter, married James Neilson, son of General John Neilson, and died leav- ing an only daughter, who married the Rev. George Griffin. Mrs. Robert Edmonds, of Fauquier county, Virginia, is a daughter of the last named, and hence a great-grand- daughter of General Forman.

General Forman was possessed of ample means and left a good estate. The tradi- tion is that he used to go to church in Mon- mouth-the old Tennent church-in a car- riage drawn by four horses, and with out- riders. His kindness to his slaves is shown by Major Samuel S. Forman, who relates in his memoirs ("Narrative of a Journey down the Ohio and Mississippi") that when about sixty of the negroes were sent to Natchez in 1789, "General Forman pur. chased some more, who had intermarried with his own, so as not to separate families. They were all well fed and well clothed "

NOTE .- The foregoing is condensed from a narrative by Mr. Charles Forman, of New Orleans, 1902.

FRELINGHUYSEN, Frederick, Lawyer, Soldier, Statesman.

His honored ancestry. distinguished for piety, eloquence and patriotism, traces back,

in direct line, to the Rev. Theodorus Jacob- us Frelinghuysen, who was born in Hol- land and was there educated and ordained to the ministry of the Reformed Dutch Church. In the year 1720, this ancestor emigrated to America, in obedience to a call from the Dutch churches of America to the Classis of Amsterdam. In his min- istry in this country he occupied almost the entire county of Somerset, with parts of Middlesex and Hunterdon, as the field of his missionary labors. He was laborious, devoted and successful. His motto, found inscribed upon a small collection of his ser- mons printed in 1773, was-Laudem non quero; culpam non timeo (I do not ask praise : I fear not blame.) In a successful ministry of more than a quarter of a cen- tury he stamped upon the religious faith and character of the Holland inhabitants of Somerset county an impress which is traceable to the generations of the present day

His undaunted attitude toward the col- onial courts of magistracy regarding the encroachments of the Church of England upon the Reformed Dutch faith and polity was characteristic of the deep spirit of re- ligious freedom with which he was inspir- ed, and which he transmitted to his de- scendants. He had five sons ordained to the ministry and two daughters who mar- ried ministers.

The second of the five sons was Rev. John Frelinghuysen, who was educated and ordained in Holland and succeeded to the labors of his father in 1750, having his residence in Somerville. He established a preparatory and divinity school, which be- came the nucleus of a college and from which, through one of his pupils, the Rev. Dr. Hardenburg, was evolved Queen's Col- lege, now Rutgers, of which Dr. Harden- burg became the first president.

The Rev. Jolin Frelinghuysen was a man of brilliant gifts, and was popular and suc- cessful as a preacher. He died suddenly in 1754. leaving a wife, who was the daugh- ter of a wealthy and distinguished East

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CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

India merchant residing at Amsterdam. Her name. was Dinah Van Bergh. She was a very remarkable and highly gifted Christian woman and subsequently, as the wife ot Dr. Hardenburg, was known in all the Dutch churches of Holland and America.

The son of Rev. John Frelinghuysen and Dinah Van Bergh was General Frederick Frelinghuysen, of Revolutionary fame, who was born in Somerville, April 13, 1753. He graduated at Princton in the class of 1770, and was a classmate of President James Madison and S. Stanhope Smith, D. D., LL. D., who later became president of Princeton. He was admitted to the bar of New Jersey, became a member of the Pro- vincial Congress of New Jersey, of the Committee of Safety, and was a member of the Continental Congress in 1775. From this office he resigned two years later and returned to his native town. There is in existence a very interesting letter from Frelinghuysen to Colonel Camp, with ref- erence to his resignation, which explains the matter in a way most creditable to the young man. In this, as reason for surren- dering so honorable a position, he pleads his extreme youth and unfamiliarity with the affairs of state, and urges that some older man better equipped for the work in hand be appointed in his place. Upon his re- turn to Somerville he busied himself with the formation of an artillery corps of which he was chosen captain, and which offered its services to the Continental Congress in the hostilities then on the point of breaking out. Shortly after this, Captain Frelinghuy- sen was promoted to the rank of colonel of militia of New Jersey. and took part credit- ably in the battles of Trenton and Mon- mouth. The war over, Frelinghuysen re- tired temporarily to private life, but was in 1793 elected Senator from New Jersey to the United States Congress. Three years later he resigned because of personal be- reavement and family claims, and retired finally to private life.

He died in 1804, on liis fifty-first birth-

day, highly honored and eulogized. He left three sons, General John Frelinghuy- sen, Theodore Frelinghuysen, and Freder- ick Frelinghuysen,-all men of public dis- tinction and high repute. General John Frelinghuysen was a graduate of Queen's College, was frequently a member of the State Council, and under the old constitu- tion was popular in politics. Military in taste, he commanded a regiment at Sandy Hook in the War of 1812, and in the ab- sence of the chaplain officiated as such him- self. He was for years surrogate of the county of Somerset and held numerous pri- vate and public trusts.

OGDEN, Aaron,

Patriot, Soldier, Governor.

Aaron Ogden was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, December 3, 1756, son of Robert Ogden, and great-grandson of John Ogden, one of the original founders of Elizabethtown.

He was graduated from the College of New Jersey, A. B., 1773, A. M., 1776, and was made assistant instructor in the gram- mar school. He served with the expedition under Lord Stirling that captured the Brit- ish supply-ship, "Blue Mountain Valley," in New York harbor, in the winter of 1775- 76. In 1777 he was commissioned captain in the First New Jersey Regiment, of which his brother Matthias was colonel. He took part in the battle of Brandywine, Septem- ber II, 1777; the battle of Monmouth. June 27, 1778, where he was brigadier-major of the advance corps of General Charles Lee, and assistant aide-de-camp to Lord Stirling : and the battle of Springfield, New Jersey, where his horse was shot under him June 23, 1780. He was among the officers who received the thanks of Congress. In 1779 he was entrusted by Washington with the official account of the trial of Andre. the decision of tlie court, and the letter ad. dressed by André to his commander, which he delivered to the commandant at Paulus

Bawn agden,

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CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

Hook. When communication with Clin- ton was established, the offer of Washing- ton (unofficial and confidential) to Sir Henry Clinton to exchange Major André for Benedict Arnold was proferred, but was declined, Sir Henry saying that his honor would not permit the surrender of Arnold. Aaron Ogden served in Virginia under Lafayette, and was present at the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown.

He returned to New Jersey upon the close of the war, and successfully practiced law. He was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Eleventh United States Infantry, January 8, 1799, and served as deputy quar- termaster-general of the United States army from February 26 to June 5, 1800. He was elected to the United States Sen- ate, September 28, 1801, to fill the unexpir- ed term of James Schureman, resigned, February 6, and continued in office until March 4, 1803. He was a boundary com- missioner, 1806. He succeeded Joseph Bloomfield as Governor of New Jersey by choice of the legislature, October 29, 1812, serving 1812-13. He refused the commis- sion of major-general in the United States army in 1812. In 1813 he became inter- ested in steamboating, and undertook the establishment of steamboat traffic between Elizabethtown and New York. This brought him into antagonism with Robert Fulton and the Livingstons, who had obtained ex- clusive rights to navigate the waters of New York State by steam for a term of years. As Ogden enjoyed similar rights in New Jersey waters, the result was a litiga- tion in which Ogden was defeated, losing his entire fortune as a result. He remov- ed to Jersey City, New Jersey, in 1829, where he occupied a position in the custom house. He was a charter member of the New Jersey branch of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783, was its president 1824- 29, and president-general, 1829-39. He was a trustee of the College of New Jersey, 1817-39, and the honorary degree of LL. D.

was conferred on him by that institution in 1816.

He married, in October, 1787, Elizabeth, daughter of John Chetwood. He died in Jersey City, New Jersey, April 19, 1839.

PENNINGTON, William Sandford,

Soldier, Jurist, Governor.

William Sandford Pennington was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1757, son of Samuel and Mary (Sandford) Pennington, grandson of Judah Pennington, and great- grandson of Ephraim Pennington, who was of New Haven, Connecticut, 1643, and re- moved in 1667 to New Jersey, being one of the original settlers of the town of Newark.

But little is known concerning the youth of Governor Pennington beyond the fact that he was apprenticed to a maternal uncle. after whom he was named. The uncle was a firm royalist, while the nephew was an ardent revolutionist, and the latter, whose indentures were cancelled on that account, at once entered the patriot army. He first served in the New Jersey artillery as a non-commissioned officer, and attracted the attention of General Knox by his industri- ous work in loading and firing a fieldpiece, while entirely unsupported, and the General at once commissioned him a lieutenant of artillery, to take effect from September 12, 1778. It appears from his private journal that he was present at the execution of Major André, October 2, 1780. According to the same authority he was ordered with a detachment of troops, January 25, 1781, to assist in putting down a mutiny of Penn- sylvania and New Jersey troops at Morris- town, New Jersey. He was present at the siege of Yorktown, where he was wounded, and he was a captain when he left the army at the close of the war.

For a short time after returning from field service, he was engaged in business as a hatter, and in other pursuits, but was soon called to public life. In 1797 he was

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

elected to the General Assembly, and for three years was a member of that body. In 1801 he was elected to the Council, and re-elected the following year. Meantime he had studied law under Mr. Boudinot, and he was admitted to the bar in 1802. About this same time he was recognized as a leader in the Republican (Democratic) party, and he maintained his prestige as such during the remainder of his life. Not- withstanding his party fealty, he regarded John Quincy Adams as the true party suc- cessor of Presidents Jefferson and Madison.

In February, 1804, and before he could be appointed a counselor-at-law, he was elected an associate justice of the Supreme Court, and in 1806 was chosen reporter of the same. The latter office he acceptably filled until 1813, when he was elected gov- ernor, to succeed Governor Ogden, and was re-elected in 1814. In 1815 he was nomi- nated by President Madison as judge of the United States District Court for New Jersey, and was at once confirmed by the Senate, succeeding Robert Morris, deceas- ed, and he held this position until his death, September 17, 1826. He was esteemed as a good citizen, a faithful friend, and a just and unswerving jurist.

STOCKTON, Richard,

Lawyer, Statesman.

Richard Stockton, lawyer and statesman, was one of those men who seem to have been selected by fate for an honorable and eminent career. His very name to one of his ability was an heritage of worth, for to the newly born nation the names of those who had signed her bold and splendid decla- ration to the world were the very symbols of her pride, the objects upon which it was her boast to shower the best and highest honors within her gift.

Richard Stockton, son of Richard Stock- ton (signer of the Declaration of Inde- pendence ), and Annis ( Boudinot ) Stock- ton, was born in Princeton, April 17, 1764,

and early in his youth began to show signs of an unusual precocity. His record dur- ing the period of his education amply bore out this first impression, and he completed his classical studies and graduated from Princeton College before he was seventeen years of age. He then took up the study of law in the office of his uncle, Elisha Boudinot, in Newark, and was admitted to the bar in 1784, when just twenty years old. Owing probably to his extreme youth, his practice took soine little time to build up, and his progress before the bar was some- what slow at first. After a short time, however, he established himself in the opin- ion of his fellow barristers, and his unusual abilities carried him forward until he be- came deservedly the acknowledged leader of the bar in his State. His practice also became the largest in New Jersey, and his was the most important and most talked-of name in that region. He was one of the very few lawyers of the State who prac- ticed before the Supreme Court of the United States, there being at that time but little litigation carried from New Jersey to that tribunal. Stockton, indeed, combined in his person most of the requisites of the perfect lawyer. He was a profound stu- dent, a clear thinker, and most eloquent of address. Possessing great powers of in- vective and retort, and a master in the use of sarcasm, he was one of the most effec- tive court lawyers of his time, and his ad- dresses to jurors were recognized as models of logical construction and persuasive elo- quence. They had rarely been equalled, it was claimed, and yet by a piece of singu- lar misfortune, scarcely a record of them has been preserved. One fine specimen, indeed, has come down to us through the accident of its being appended to the report of a commission which the State legislature ordered printed in 1828. This is an argu- ment in favor of New Jersey's claim to the waters of the Hudson, and well bears out the reputation claimed for its author.

Stockton was a boy of twelve when the

you 02. B. Florian

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

Revolution began, but his mature life fell upon times scarcely less critical in the his- tory of his country. His career as a states- man, for which by nature and talents he was eminently fitted, was undoubtedly much curtailed by the fact that his politics were at that time out of favor. He was a Fed- eralist of the Hamiltonian school, an ar- dent believer in the centralization of the powers of government, while for the time being the beliefs and influence of Jefferson were in the ascendant. In spite of this, however, he was elected United States Sen- ator from New Jersey in 1796 to fill the place left vacant by the retirement of Sen- ator Frelinghuysen, and held his seat until 1799, when he lost it to a Democrat. In 1813, during the war with Great Britain, he regained his seat in the Senate tem- porarily, and took a most active part in the proceedings, proving himself a worthy con- frère of Webster, Calhoun and Clay. But while he thus, by virtue of his unusual gifts, won himself an honorable if transient place in the government, it is probable that his work of greatest value was performed through the medium of his private law prac- tice. It was at about this time, or from 1818 until his death in 1828, that his lead- ership of the New Jersey bar was undisput- ed, and that he made many of those elo- quent addresses which won him such well merited honor. His professional abilities commanded such respect that when Judge Pennington died, in 1826, it was the general expectation that he would succeed that dis- tinguished jurist on the United States Dis- trict Court bench; but the administration deemed his appointment unadvisable on ac- count of his pronounced Federalistic views. Mr. Stockton took a lively and continuous interest in his alma mater, Princeton Col- lege, and from 1791 was one of its trustees. He received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Rutgers College and Union College. He died in Princeton, March 7, 1828.

Personally, Stockton typified all that we think of when we speak of a lawyer of the

old school. Of a most imposing presence, with manners the most polished, a bearing so elegant that he won for himself in later life and among the junior members of the bar the sobriquet of "the old dude," he was nevertheless a. most courteous and affable gentleman, easy of approach and of demu- cratic instincts, combining thus within him- self those qualities, the possession of which by so many of its earlier members, has given to the traditions of the American bar their dignity and worth.

STOCKTON, Robert Field,

Distinguished Naval Officer.

There is no name more intimately con- nected with the history of New Jersey than that of Stockton, no family which has con- tributeG more eminent men than the Stock- tons, to her courts, her councils and her armies. It is rare indeed that in unbroken sequence, three generations, father, son and grandson, should so distinguish themselves as to be counted among the leading citizens of the State and occupy some of the highest offices of trust within their community. Richard Stockton, one of the staunchest op- ponents of the pre-revolutionary tyranny of the British governors, member of the Con- tinental Congress and Signer of the im- mortal Declaration of Independence, was the first of this illustrious trio, and Richard Stockton, the younger, jurist and statesman, was the second.

Robert Field Stockton, the third of the group, was born in Princeton in 1796 and began his education there. While he was a student in the College of New Jersey, the War of 1812 broke out with Great Britain, and Stockton, who had a decided bent for things military, left the college and enlisted in the navy as midshipman. His first cruise was made in the frigate "Presi- dent," under the command of Commodore Rodgers, and while on this vessel he took part in a number of engagements with so much gallantry that he was mentioned in

CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

the despatches which his commander sent to headquarters. He had not long to wait for recognition, but was commissioned as lieutenant in December, 1814. Tlie war with Great Britain did not last long, but shortly afterwards the Algerine trouble came to a head and a fleet was despatched to the Mediterranean. With them sailed the "Guerriere," to which Stockton had been assigned. He was shortly transferred to the "Spitfire," as first lieutenant. In this position he distinguished himself by an act of bravery which drew the attention of all to him. Aided by but a single boat's crew, he surprised, boarded and captured an Al- gerine man-of-war. He was now trans- ferred to the flag ship "Washington," and shortly after given his first command, the sloop-of-war "Erie," and returned to Amer- ica in 1821. Not long after this he was appointed to aid the American Coloniza- tion Society in their efforts to secure terri- tory for their proposed colony. This, after many delays, he was able to effect and the natives ceded a large tract, which became the Republic of Liberia. This business set- tled, he continued on the African coast for a time, capturing slavers, with which those waters swarmed. During his efforts to break up the nefarious traffic, he captured a Portugese privateer which he fitted with a prize crew and sent back to America. This incident was the cause of a long liti- gation between the two countries in the admiralty courts. It was finally concluded with a verdict exonerating Stockton of wrong doing, but the privateer was return ed to Portugal. From the African coast Stockton proceeded to the West Indies, where lie engaged in much the same kind of work, routing out the pirates and buccan- eers of those waters. He finally returned to America, where he was granted a long furlough.

Stockton was greatly interested in the ap- plication of steam power to naval vessels and he strongly opposed the construction of warships with paddle-wheel propellers,

noting that their disablement by the enemy would be a comparatively easy matter. He therefore drew plans for a vessel which should be propelled by screws and liave her engines below the water line. As usual in the case of all improvements, the authori- ties on the subject advanced all sorts of rea- sons against the practicability of the plan, and it was only after long efforts that Stockton persuaded the naval authorities to consider the construction of an experi- inental vessel. At length he did succeed and the vessel was immediately a success.

Upon the outbreak of the Mexican War, Commodore Stockton was ordered to Paci- fic waters with his fleet. Here he soon per- seived what a great advantage to the Unit- ed States would be the occupation of the western coast of Mexico. He therefore upon his own initiative sailed thither and, landing with about six hundred marines and sailors, seized the territory and set up a provisional government. At the same time General Kearny had also been in the neighborhood and himself had set up a pro- visional government. Out of this simple state of affairs there grew a most un- fortunate controversy between the navy and army, involving the old dispute over the question of authority. A court-martial was appointed which finally decided the matter.

In 1849 Stockton resigned his commis- sion and returned to his native State, where, in 1851, he was elected by the State legis- lature to the United States Senate, where he remained until 1853, when he resigned. Illustrative of his humane instincts, is the fact that while Senator he introduced a bill into Congress abolishiing flogging as a pun- ishment in the navy. He also strongly op- posed the petition of Kossuth to Congress for America to intervene between Austria and Hungary in the latter's struggle for freedom. In 1856 Stockton's many friends began. an agitation in favor of presenting his name for the presidency, but the at- tempt was abortive and he retired entirely into private life. He suffered financial re-

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Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I, Part 5

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