USA > New Jersey > Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I > Part 53
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ground and surrender. They obeyed prompt- ly, but just as Wright and his party ap- proached them, quickly picked them up, and one of the Highlanders struck Wright a vicious blow on the head, nearly fracturing his skull, also wounding the others. The same afternoon a company of the British returned to capture Wright and his com- panions, but Moses Jones, a nephew of Cor- nelius Jones, whose home these soldiers later plundered, had in the meantime taken the three wounded soldiers upon a sled (it being then in November, 1776) and removed them to their homes in the vicinity of Dodd- town.
Some of the prominent features of the old Wright homestead before it was over- hauled by Matthias Soverel in 1840 were the rough timbers in the cellar, hewn upon one side only, supported by posts untouched by any tool except where they were sawed the required length, and the immense open fire- place, eleven feet wide, capable of taking a most generous log which was put in the open fire the last thing before the family retired for the night. Along the chimney crest there was a log fitted in flush with the plas- tering, which measured ten by sixteen in- ches. When the British visited the Wright homestead upon one of their expeditions, they took advantage of the absence of the family, who had fled to the mountain, and made themselves comfortable for several hours. They discovered a flock of nineteen geese which had been driven into the thick woods near the farm, and killed all but one of them, an old gander. The fowls were prepared for broiling, and hung upon large spikes which had been driven into the log in the chimney crest. The family tradition is that it was the bayonets of the marauders instead of spikes that the fowls were hung on. The feast was no doubt keenly en- joyed, for upon leaving they tied a tobacco pouch about the neck of the old gander and placed eighteen pennies therein, all of Eng- lish currency, with the lettering "Georgius Rex" on them. Eleven of these are in pos-
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session of a great-grandson, Herbert F. Soverel, of South Orange. Before finally departing from the place of pillage, the commandant of the detachment showed his literary skill in the following effusion : "Mr. Wright, we bid you good night. It is time for us to wander. We've bought your geese for a penny apiece, and left the pay with the gander."
After the war Mr. Wright continued his farming, but it took him a few years to recover from the devastating effect of the raid of the Hessians. In the autumn of 1784, just as he was once more getting his farm into a profitable condition, he was taken ill, followed by his good wife Betsey and six children. They were affected with a disease similar to dysentery that was epidemic that fall all through the northern part of New Jersey, and there were many victims. Mr. Wright, his wife and two chil- dren, recovered. The other four children succumbed to the disease and were laid away in the old burying-ground at the cor- ner of Main and Scotland streets, Orange. The minister of the Old Meeting House Society, Rev. Jedediah Chapman, who had been a frequent visitor to the stricken house- hold during the illness, with a company of friends, gathered on the sacred old hill of the cemetery and there consigned the little bodies to mother earth. The remaining chil- dren lived to maturity, but the family of Wright has long been extinct. In the old burying-ground are the gravestones of John and Betsey Wright, inscribed as follows :
"In memory of John Wright, who departed this life May 20, 1824, in the seventy-ninth year of his age."
. "Now come, ye object of my earthly care, Direct your steps to the celestial shore. Seek for those things at God's right hand above, And then we'll meet again to part no more."
"In memory of , Elizabeth, wife of John Wright, who departed this life October 4, 1819, in the seventy-first year of her age, having been born in 1748."
"She's gone, she's gone, her spirit fled, Her body numbered with the dead. Our friend is gone beloved and dear
And nature weeps the tender tea ..
Tho' dead she speaks and seems to say Weep for yourselves, not for me. She's only dropped her dying flesh, Her soul we trust, with Christ doth rest."
RUTGERS, Henry,
Early Friend of Rutgers College.
Henry Rutgers was born in New York City, October 7, 1745. After completing his preparatory education in the common schools in the vicinity of his home, he be- came a student at Columbia College, from which institution he was graduated in 1766. He then entered the ranks in the army of the Revolution, held the rank of captain at the battle of White Plains, and subsequently attained the rank of colonel of the New York militia as a reward for his bravery and patriotism. During the occupation of the city of New York by the British from 1776 to 1783, his house was used as a bar- rack and hospital. Colonel Rutgers was elected to the legislature in 1784, and became his own successor by frequent re-elections, thus testifying to the faithful and conscien- tious work performed by him in the inter- ests of his constituents. He was the owner of large tracts of land, extending from Chat- ham Square to the East river, and in other parts of the city, and gave portions gener- ously for streets. schools, churches, chari- table buildings, etc., thus being one of the great philanthropists of his day. He also contributed freely toward defensive works, and was the presiding officer at a mass meet- ing, June 24, 1812, to prepare against an expected attack of the British. In civil life he was from 1802 to 1826 one of the regents of the State University.
In 1825, at the time of the election of Dr. Milledoler to the presidency of Queen's Col- lege, at New Brunswick, New Jersey, the college was at a very low ebb, both in schol- arly standing and in finances as well. Colonel Rutgers became interested and determined to remedy the evil. The name of "Queen's" was not consistent with his patriot ideas, and it was changed to "Rut-
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gers" on December 5, 1825, the college receiving from him a contribution of $5,000, a sum regarded at that time as most munifi- cent. Colonel Rutgers never married, but adopted as his son and heir, William Bed- low Crosby, a relative. Mr. Rutgers died in New York City, February 17, 1830.
NEILSON, Colonel John,
Friend of Washington and Lafayette.
The Neilson family of New Jersey is originally of Scotch origin, although the founders of the family came to this country from Ireland. These founders were James Neilson, who is believed to have arrived in Perth Amboy in 1716, and his brother, John Neilson, a doctor, who married Miss Coeje- man, of Raritan, New Jersey, in March, 1741. William Neilson, son of another brother, and founder of the New York branch of the family, arrived in that city about 1753. James Nielson was in New Brunswick before 1730, as he was one of the patentees for the charter obtained De- cember 30, 1730, and letters for Somerset county were left at his house, the nearest post office being at Perth Amboy. He was a partner of Richard Gibb in the shipping and mercantile business in 1756, and was one of the first trustees of Princeton Col- lege ; alderman in New Brunswick, 1748; and a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, 1749, and again in 1768 and 1770. He was also a member of the Revolutionary Com- mittee of Correspondence. He bought what is now the old Carpender homestead, in 1770, and the mill property. and the pond and water rights at Westons, in 1772. He left no children, but adopted his brother's son John as his own, and left him his heir by his will. The "New Jersey Gazette," vol. vi, No. 273, March 19, 1783, con- tains the following obituary :
"New Brunswick, March 12, 1783. On Tues- day the 4th departed this life James Neilson Esq., in the 83d year of his age. He had been an extensive trader for many years in this part
of the country, and was universally esteemed for his candour and integrity in that profession. Just and upright in all his dealings to such a degree that envy itself never had an opportunity to detract from his merit, few men in public em- ployment have supported so unblemished a char- acter for such a length of time as he did. Though far advanced in life at the commence- ment of this unhappy war, his idea of the in- justice aimed at his country was clear and un- veiled. He was exceeded by no character in patriotism. He was a true friend to religion, which he always discovered in a liberal contri- bution to its support. In private he lived like a Christian, in the daily practice of the duties of religion. *
* * By his death the church and state have lost a valuable friend, and the par- ticular community he belonged to a useful mem- ber of society."
James Neilson established the family in New Brunswick, and his brother John's son, Colonel John Neilson, maintained its high standing. The relationship between this branch of the family and that established in New York by William Neilson, nephew of James and cousin of Colonel Jolin, was for a long while a mooted question ; but it has at length been settled by two letters in pos- session of Mr. James Neilson, of "Wood- lawn," New Brunswick, one of them from William H. Neilson, of New York, to James Neilson, of New Brunswick, December II, 1871, and the other from Abraham Lott to Colonel John Neilson, March 8, 1783. In the first letter William H. Neilson says:
"My grandfather came to this country about 1753. He came to join his uncle John Neilson. M. D., who had settled here several years earlier. William was then an orphan lad of about eighteen years of age. I believe his father at the time of his death was an officer in the Brit- ish army. Very soon after settling in this coun- try, William engaged in business. His name ap- pears in the (New York) Directory of 1786 as a merchant of 40 Dock street, and is the only name of Neilson in the book. He married Su- san Hude, of New Brunswick, New Jersey, with whom he lived about thirty years, and by whom he had two sons and three daughters. Soon af- ter her death he again married. His second wife survived liim several years; she was widow of Colonel (William) Duer and daughter of Gen- eral (William) Alexander called Lord Stirling.
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She was commonly called Lady Kitty. By this second marriage he had no children. He died about the year 1820. P. S .- I remember a tra- dition which I heard in my youth, and which I believe to be true, that the first Neilson who settled in Ireland was the grandfather of my grandfather and the great-grandfather of the father of John Neilson, M. D. (that is of John Neilson, M. D., of New York, Colonel John Neilson's son). He came to Scotland in the army of William of Orange, and was an officer in the city of Londonderry during the siege by the forces of James II. in 1689."
In the second letter, Abraham Lott writes four days after the death of James, the brother of John Neilson, M. D., the founder of the New Jersey branch, "Mr. Ten Broeck says Mr. W. N. (William Neilson) was present when his uncle died." This last extract is contemporary evidence from one who ought to know, since Abraham Lott had married the sister of the wife of John Neilson, M. D., the founder.
John Neilson, M. D., of Raritan, founder of the New Jersey branch of the family, was born in Belfast, Ireland, and died in New Brunswick, New Jersey, March 19, 1745. He married, March 9, 1741, Joanna, daughter of Andreas and Gertrude (Staats) Coejeman, who was baptized November 9, 1718, and died January 26, 1786.
Colonel John Neilson, son of Dr. John and Joanna (Coejeman) Neilson, was born at Raritan Landing, March II, 1745, and died at New Brunswick, March 3. 1833. At the outbreak of the Revolution he was in the shipping business with his uncle. James Neil- son, at New Brunswick, their vessel trad- ing with Belfast, Lisbon, Madeira and the West Indies. James Neilson, then seventy- five years old, was a member of the com- mittee of correspondence, and officially re- ceived and despatched the messenger who brought the news of the battle of Lexing- ton. His nephew John made a stirring speech, the notes of which are extant, rais- ed a company, was appointed captain, and served under General Heard on Long Is- land. August 31, 1775, he was promoted colonel of Middlesex county minute-men,
and was commissioned by the Provincial Congress of New Jersey. Early in 1776, although strongly urged to accept, he de- clined a seat in the Continental Congress which considered the Declaration of Inde- pendence. A copy of this, when adopted, Congress sent to Colonel Neilson, as being the one most likely from his patriotism and influence to secure it a favorable reception, and although violent opposition was appre- hended, he succeeded in obtaining for it a strongly favorable reception, when he read it at a public meeting in the streets of New Brunswick. August 1, 1776, he was ap- pointed colonel of the Second Regiment, Middlesex county militia, and during Sep- tember and October following commanded it on the lines in Bergen and Essex counties. In December he retired with the army under Washington to the Delaware, and December 31, 1776, was ordered, together with Colonel Frelinghuysen, Lieutenant-Colonel Taylor and Major Van Emburg, to proceed into New Jersey and reorganize the militia of the State. February 21, 1777, he was pro- moted brigadier-general of militia. During this winter, the British being in winter quar- ters in New Brunswick, Lord Howe made Colonel Neilson's house (still in possession of his grandchildren) his headquarters. September to November, 1777, Colonel Neil- son served at Elizabethtown, and during June and July, 1778, in Monmouth county, a part of the time under General Dickinson, and again, holding a separate command. November 6, 1778, the Assembly and Coun- cil of New Jersey elected him delegate, with Witherspoon, Scudder, Frelinghuysen, and Fell, to the continental congress, but he did not take his seat. In January and February, 1778, with John Cleves Symmes and Moore Furman, he met delegates from the middle and eastern States at New Haven, on rec- ommendation of Congress, to devise means to arrest the currency depreciation. Dur- ing the spring and summer of 1779 he com- manded the militia at Elizabethtown and Newark, and September 20, 1780, was ap-
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pointed deputy quartermaster-general, con- tinuing as such until the close of the war. June 18, 1782, with William Houston and James Ewing, he was chosen commissioner to settle the remaining account of deprecia- tion in the money value of the pay of the New Jersey line. After the war, General Washington never passed through New Brunswick without calling upon Colonel Neilson, and, when the British were at that place, Mrs. Neilson was at Morristown, where her seat at table was always between General and Mrs. Washington. Lafayette presented Colonel Neilson with a sword, and visited him when he returned to America in 1824. At the close of the war he succeeded to the property and shipping business of his uncle, James Neilson. In 1787 he was chosen delegate to the constitutional conven- tion which framed the Constitution of the United States, but he did not take his seat ; and he was the last survivor of the forty members of the New Jersey State Conven- tion which ratified the adoption of the con- stitution. In 1790 and 1791 he was one of the commissioners appointed to build bridges over the Hackensack, Passaic and Raritan rivers. In 1800 and 1801 he was a member of the State Assembly. He was an elder in the New Brunswick Presby- terian Church, clerk of the session fifty years, and president of the board of trustees. He was a member of the board of trustees of Rutgers College from 1782 until his death in 1833, and acted for a time as president of the board.
Colonel Neilson married, December 31, 1768, Catharine (Schuyler ) Voorhees, born December 25, 1753, died August 2, 1816. Children: 1. Joanna, born July 30, 1771 ; died March 17, 1773. 2. John. 3. Joanna, born January 26, 1777 ; died December 26, 1781. 4. Gertrude. 5. Catharine. 6 James. 7. Joanna, born June 7, 1786; died October 31, 1858, unmarried. 8. Abraham Schuy- ler, born November 20, 1788; died March 8, 1791. 9. Samuel Staats, born September 17, 1790; died October 14, 1810. 10. Abra-
ham Schuyler. 11. Cornelia Lott, born No- vember 19, 1794; died February 4, 1797.
LIVINGSTON, John Henry,
Clergyman, Educator.
John Henry Livingston was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, May 30, 1746, the son of Henry and Sarah (Conklin) Livingston.
He was graduated from Yale College in 1762, and began the study of law, but im- paired health led to its discontinuance. Re- covering his health, he determined to study for the ministry, and in May, 1766, sailed for Holland and entered the University of Utrecht. In 1767 he received his doc- torate from the university, on examination ; was ordained by the classis of Amsterdam, June 5, 1769, made Doctor of Theology by the University of Utrecht in May, 1770, and returned to New York in the follow- ing September, having been invited to be- come one of the pastors of the Reformed Dutch church in New York. While in Hol- land he procured the independence of the American churches from the Dutch classis, and within two years from the time of his return had succeeded in reconciling the Coetus and Conferentic parties, into which the church had been divided. Arriving in New York in September, 1770, he at once entered on the active duties of his pastorate, occupying the pulpit of the North Dutch church at the corner of Fulton and William streets, and remained pastor until New York was occupied by the British in September, 1776, when he removed to Livingston Manor, preaching at Kingston, New York, in 1776, at Albany in 1776-79, at Lithgow in 1779-81, and at Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1781-83. After the evacuation of New York by the British in 1783, he returned to his pastorate, the only survivor of the band of clergy belonging to the old Dutch church seven years before. He performed the work which formerly required the services of all, for a year, when he received the
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appointment of Professor of Theology from the general synod on the recommenda- tion of the theological faculty of Utrecht. In 1795 a regular seminary was opened in Flat- bush, Long Island, but for lack of proper support was obliged to be closed. He then returned to New York, and in 1807 was elected Professor of Theology and presi- dent of Queen's College, New Brunswick. New Jersey, whither he removed in 1810. filling the two offices until his death.
Mr. Livingston was an ardent patriot. and frequently officiated as chaplain during the sessions of the Provincial Congress. He was vice-president of the first missionary society in New York, having for its object the welfare of the American Indians, and was also one of the regents of the Univer- sity of the State of New York in 1784-87. In addition to several sermons and ad- dresses, he published : "Funeral Service : or, Meditations Adapted to Funeral Ad- dresses" (New York, 1812) ; "A Disserta- tion on the Marriage of a Man with his Sister-in-law" (1816), and in 1787 was chairman of a committee to compile a selec- tion of psalms for use in public worship. So important was the work performed by him in laying the foundations of church and college that he was styled "The father of the Dutch Reformed church in America." He died in New Brunswick, New Jersey, January 20, 1825.
ARMSTRONG, George,
Early Temperance Advocate.
George Armstrong, son of Nathan and Euphemia Armstrong, was born in 1749, and died in 1829. He was active in business but he took special interest in all matters relating to the moral and religious welfare of the community, laboring earnestly and faithfully during a long life to promote the growth and extend the influence of the church.
He was prominent in local affairs. He was the clerk of Hardwick township. Sussex
county, for twenty-two consecutive years. 1779-1801, and the assessor for thirty-one years beginning in 1782: he was also tax collector and a taker of the census. He was clerk of the board of justices and freehold- ers of Sussex county ; he was also appointed tax collector for the county in 1791, and served five years. He was a member of the State Legislature ; on his return from Tren- ton, he brought with him a set of silver tea- spoons, and he was welcomed home by a new daughter ; his great-great-grandchil- dren are now allowed to use those spoons on special occasions.
George Armstrong's homestead was a busy place. The fields were kept in a high state of cultivation. Fruit trees of every kind were planted, the best varieties of each being sought out : and grafting was taught to the boys as a fine art. His house, which stood on a terrace and overlooked a broad meadow, was furnished with spinning wheels and a loom. The garden, wagon house, corn crib, barn and stackyard, were on the left; on the right stood the milk house and the tenant house, and just beyond these were the apple bins and cider presses and tanks, and a distillery forty feet long. Out on the meadow was the tannery, the vats being arranged in parallel rows witli wells at convenient distances ; and close-by stood the bark-house and the bark grinder with its circular horse-path. In those days the making of brandy was not regarded as at all reprehensible ; but when the move- ment in favor of moderation spread over the country in 1825, George Armstrong was one of the very first men in the community to advocate the cause of temperance: and as the first fruits of this moral awakening. he destroyed his stills and stopped making liquor. Hides and skins were tanned on shares ; and sometimes he employed skilled workmen to manufacture his share of the leather at once into boots, shoes and harness. for which articles there was a ready sale.
George Armstrong was a buyer and reader of good books. Judging from the
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dates of purchase as entered under his name on the fly-leaves, it seems to have been his custom to place upon the shelves of his bookcase every year some well-bound vol- umes. Most of these books treated of mor- ality and religion, such as the evidences of Christianity, the works of Edwards and of Witherspoon, and sermons by other Prince- ton divines. The library he thus accumu- lated did honor to his mind and character. He was for more than thirty-six years a ruling elder in the Yellow Frame Presby- terian Church; and in the religious affairs of the community he stood at the front; when the church was without a pastor, as was often the case, the spiritual oversight of' the shepherdless flock depended largely on George Armstrong.
He married Sarah Hunt, daughter of Lieutenant Richard Hunt, and had Rachel, the wife of John Locke; Richard; John, born 1788, died 1873 ; Elizabeth, the wife of John O. Rice ; Sarah, the wife of Japhet B. Chedister ; and David Hunt.
John Armstrong, brother of George Arm- strong, born 1749, died 1836, was a man of influence. His long life was filled with a wide range of business activities. He took up surveying in early life and did much work of that kind until his own sons re- lieved him. In 1776 he was assessor of Hardwick township; the next two years he was town clerk ; then he was freeholder ; and after that he was the tax collector of Sussex county for eight years.
During the Revolutionary War he was lieutenant in Captain Aaron Hankinson's company, Second Regiment of Sussex militia (see papers of the New Jersey Pro- vincial Congress, document No. 126). He became judge of the Court of Common Pleas in February, 1801, and retired from the bench in 1831, at the age of eighty-two, having served thirty consecutive years.
He was a farmer, who possessed the am- bition and ability to develop new enterprises. At Paulina, a half mile above Blairstown, he bought a tract of land lying on both sides
of the Paulinskill. On the south bank of the stream he erected a grist mill, which for two generations was one of the best mill properties in that section of the country, and which has recently been remodeled into an electrical power-house. Opposite the mill he constructed a forge for refining iron, and this forge he operated for a number of years. He bought raw pig-iron at a smelting furnace at Andover; the iron he bought was in the shape of sticks, each stick being six feet long and weighing about two hun- dred pounds ; these he carted to the forge, a distance of eleven miles. He purchased some timber land on the Kittatinny moun- tains ten miles away ; and there manufac- tured charcoal which he carted to Paulina to use in the forge. After the raw iron had been purified into bar iron. it was transport- ed to the Delaware river, a distance of twelve miles, floated down stream on flat- boats and sold at Philadelphia. His enter- prise and energy overcame all difficulties. But the times changed and the smelter at Andover had to shut down owing to econ- omic conditions that affected the whole coun- try. As a consequence no pig-iron could be obtained and the refining forge at Paulina was compelled to close.
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