Memorial cyclopedia of New Jersey, Volume I, Part 61

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


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tinental Congress, afterward resigning in order to accept appointment as Surgeon- General of the Eastern Division of the American army, which position he filled with distinction until the close of the war. He died in 1791, in the sixty-first year of his age.


Jacob Burnet, sixth son of Dr. William Burnet, was born in Newark, New Jersey, February 22, 1770, and was educated at Nassau Hall, Princeton, under the presi- dency of Dr. Witherspoon, graduating with honor in September, 1791. He remained at the college a year as a resident graduate, and then entered the office of Judge Bou- dinot, of Newark, as a law student, was ad- mitted to the bar by the Supreme Court of the State in the spring of 1796, and pro- ceeded at once to Cincinnati, Ohio, in which neighborhood his father had made consider- able investments. Cincinnati was then a small village of log cabins, including about fifteen rough, unfinished frame houses with stone chimneys, not a brick house in it, and only about 150 inhabitants. Mr. Burnet was appointed to the first Legislative Council, by President Adams and was a member of that body until the organization of the State government in 1802-03. His professional practice had obliged him to travel over the entire settled portion of the Territory as far as Detroit, and the personal knowledge of the people and conditions, which he thus acquired served him to good purpose, and he was author of most of the important meas- ures adopted by the Council. When a State government was proposed, Judge Burnet opposed such action, believing it premature and, when the State was formed, he retired from active participation in politics and de- voted himself to the practice of his profes- sion. He secured from the first an exten- sive and lucrative business, and in 1817 he retired from practice. In 1821 he accepted an appointment by the Governor to the bench of the Supreme Court of the State, and was subsequently elected by the Legis- lature to the same position. In IS28 he re-


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signed, and was elected to the United States Senate, to fill a vacancy occasioned by the retirement of General William H. Harri- son, accepting the position on the condition that he should not be considered a candi- date for re-election, but on the expiration of his term be permitted to carry out his long cherished purpose of retiring to private life. His term expired in 1833, and from that time until his death, in 1853, at the ad- vanced age of eighty-three years, he took no further active part in public affairs.


As a lawyer, judge and legislator, Judge Burnet was doubtless the most influential and prominent person in his region. He was brought up amid the stirring scenes of the Revolution, and those connected with the discussion and adoption of the Federal Constitution. He was brought into associa- tion with Washington, Hamilton, and other leaders in those days, through his father's intimacy with and friendship for them. To his great natural ability he united thorough scholarship. Holding strong and decided convictions, and great energy and persis- tence in maintaining them, he was eminently qualified to take a leading part in develop- ing the resources of the great Northwest Territory and in shaping its institutions. As a lawyer he was the acknowledged leader of the bar in the west. Within the twenty years of his practice at the bar, very few men were engaged in more important causes or with more uniform success, and his pro- fessional fame was coextensive with the west. About the time of his appointment to the supreme bench of Ohio, he was elect- ed Professor of Law in the University of Lexington, Virginia, and received from that institution the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws, an honor subsequently conferred upon him also by his own alma mater, Nas- sau Hall.


It has already been stated that while in the Territorial Legislature, Judge Burnet was author of most of the necessary legis- lation. During the session of 1799 alone he prepared and reported the following bills :


"To regulate the admission and practice of attorneys-at-law": "To confirm and give force to certain laws enacted by the Gover- nors and Judges"; a bill making promissory notes negotiable : a bill to authorize and reg- ulate arbitrations ; a bill to regulate the ser- vice and return of process in certain cases ; a bill establishing the courts for the trial of small causes ; a bill to prevent trespassing by cutting of timber ; a bill providing for the appointment of constables : a bill defin- ing privileges in certain cases ; a bill to pre- vent the introduction of spirituous liquors into certain Indian towns; a bill for the ap- pointment of general officers in the militia of the Territory ; a bill to revise the laws adopted or made by the governors or judges ; a bill for the relief of the poor ; a bill repealing certain laws or parts of laws, and a bill for the punishment of arson. He also prepared and report- ed rules for conducting the business of the Legislative Council, and an answer to the Governor's address to the two houses at the opening of the session ; also a memorial to Congress in behalf of purchas- ers of land in the Miami country, and a complimentary address to the President of the United States. After the formation of the State government he succeeded in set- tling in favor of the State of Ohio the right of arresting criminals on the river between that State and Kentucky, which the latter had denied. Under the established system for the sale of public lands by the law of 1800 and supplementary acts, an immense debt was owing to the United States by the people of the west, a sum exceeding the en- tire amount of money in circulation in the west. This had been accumulating for twen- ty years, and was rapidly increasing. The first emigrants to the west and the greater part of those who followed them, were of necessity, obliged to purchase on credit, ex- hausting all their means in making the first payment on their entries. The debt due the government in 1820 at the different western land offices amounted to $22,000,000, an


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amount far exceeding the ability of the debt- ors to pay. Thousands of industrious men, some of whom had paid one, some two, and some three installments on their lands, which they had cleared, fenced and improved, faced forfeiture of their money paid, and loss of their labor. The conditions were des- perate. It was evident that if the government attempted to enforce its claims, it would meet with resistance, and probably result in civil war. Judge Burnet, at this momentous crisis, matured and proposed a plan which met the approval of all the sufferers, and so commended itself to Congress and the government that it was soon adopted, the threatened evils were averted, and the pros- perity and rapid settlement of the country greatly promoted. He early recognized the importance of unobstructed navigation of the Ohio river, and especially the impor- tance or removing the falls obstruction in the river at Louisville. He was among the first to advocate the construction of a canal around the falls, and was appointed by the State of Indiana one of the commissioners for carrying out this project, in which he took an active part. Considerable progress had been made in the work, when the rival project of a canal on the Kentucky shore was begun, and which met with more gener- al favor, resulting in the abandonment of the Indiana canal and the construction of the canal on the Kentucky shore, thus re- moving a most serious obstruction to the navigation of the upper Olio. The con- struction of a canal from the Ohio river at Cincinnati, to Lake Erie, at Toledo. Ohio, thus affording water communication be- tween the commerce of the lakes and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, was another project that enlisted liis earnest support. Under an act of Congress making a large grant of public land in aid of this project, considerable progress was made in the work, when it was found that certain restrictions in the grant would embarrass if not defeat the completion of the work, and which for this reason was about to be abandoned.


Judge Burnet, on taking his seat in the Sen- ate, secured the appointment of a committee to take into consideration the modification of the original grant so as to remove its objec- tionable features. His representations be- fore that body were so effective that he was requested by the committee to draw up a report in support of the claim, and a bill to carry it into effect. The committee present- ed the report and bill, with a recommenda- tion that it should pass, and it became a law during the session, securing the com- pletion of the canal.


In the Senate Judge Burnet was the friend and associate of Adams, Clay and Webster, especially of the latter. When General Haynes, of South Carolina, made the celebrated nullification speech which elicited Mr. Webster's more celebrated reply, Mr. Webster was absent from the Senate, and it was remarked that in his reply he answered General Haynes' points seriatim, as if he had been present and heard them. Judge Burnet, who heard Haynes' speech, had make full notes of it which he gave to Webster, who was thus enabled to make his reply, and no one was more delighted with Mr. Webster's unan- swerable rejoinder than the volunteer re- porter who had assisted to call it forth. With the close of his term in the Senate, Judge Burnet's public career ended. In full vigor of mind and body, with brilliant prospects of political preferment before him, he chose rather to spend the remainder of his days in private life. He had never been ambitious of place, and had accepted office out of a sense of duty. In 1837, at the request of a friend, he wrote a series of letters, detailing at some length such facts and incidents relating to the early settlement of the Northwestern Territory as were within his recollection and were considered worth preserving : these letters were laid before the Historical Society of Ohio, and ordered to be printed among the transactions of that institution. A few years later, at the solicitation of friends, he


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CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY


revised and enlarged these letters and put them in a form more convenient for publi- cation, and in 1847 published his "Notes on the Northwestern Territory," a most val- uable contribution to the history of this region.


He married, January 2, 1800, at Mari- etta, Ohio, Rebecca Wallace, daughter of the Rev. Matthew Wallace, a Presbyterian clergyman ; they lived together fifty-three years, and the wife outlived her husband fourteen years. They were the parents of eleven children, five of whom attained ma- turity and survived the father at his death. In appearance Judge Burnet was rather above medium height, erect in form, with animated countenance and piercing eyes. His manners were dignified and courteous, of the school of Washington and Hamilton. His colloquial powers were uncommonly fine. He expressed himself in ordinary con- versation with the precision, energy and polish of an accomplished orator. His friendships were ardent and lasting; he who once won his friendship, unless proved to be unworthy, enjoyed it for life. It is re- lated of him that when Aaron Burr was in Cincinnati, seeking to enlist in his treason- able designs as many prominent persons as possible, he sought out Judge Burnet, who, although unaware of Burr's designs, yet peremptorily refused to see him, giving as his reason that he would never shake hands with the murderer of Hamilton, his father's own friend and his own. In mor- ality and integrity he was above suspicion both in his public career and private life. He was a firm believer in the truth of Chris- tianity and the inspiration of the Bible ; and although a Presbyterian both from convic- tion and preference, he was far removed from anything like sectarian bigotry, and ministers of all denominations were at all times welcome and honored guests in his house. On May 10th, 1853, in his eighty- fourth year, with mind still vigorous, mem- ory still unimpaired, and bodily vigor such as to give promise of still more advanced


age, he died at his home in Cincinnati, of acute disease, after a comparatively short illness.


BRINKERHOFF, George O.,


Strong Early Character.


As we are denied the personal acquain- tance of our ancestors, it is a pleasure to know from tradition, they have lived and left memorials.


Richard (commonly called Dick) Brink- erhoff was born in Holland. He emigrat- ed to America in the early part of the seven- teenth century, married, and remained in New York City, then called New Amster- dam. He was the father of two sons and one daughter. The sons, Richard and Abra- ham, engaged in business in New York City, Richard in the mercantile business, and Abraham in the hardware business. Abra- ham married a Miss Van Duser. They lived in the city of New York, where he died in the year 1819.


Richard Brinkerhoff married Catherine Van Wyck, of New York City. They had six children, four sons and two daughters- Richard, Isaac, Abraham and George O., Elizabeth and Catherine. Three sons died in early manhood, 1775. Catherine married Harvey Peters, of New York City, in Octo- ber, 1807. After the death of her husband, in December, 1827, she removed to Parsip- pany, New Jersey. She lived but a few months, dying in September, 1828, and was interred in the Brinkerhoff burial plot in the cemetery of the parish of Parsippany.


George O. Brinkerhoff removed from the city of New York to Mount Hope, New Jer- sey. in the year 1788. He dressed in the style of 1700, always wore a powdered wig. and kneebuckles and shoebuckles. He en- tered into partnership with his brother-in- law. John Jacob Faesch, in the iron and mining business, keeping bachelor's hall for five years. However, he did not forget a lady whom he admired that lived in New York City. January 12, 1793, he was mar-


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ried to Miss Euphemia Ashfield, daughter of Honorable Louis Morris Ashfield and Elizabeth Redford, daughter of John Red- ford, by Rev. Abraham Beach, of Trinity Episcopal Church, New York City. Their marriage is recorded in the church register of marriages-"the Lord give us grace to live to his glory here, that our end may be peace and happiness."


While living at Mount Hope, two chil- dren were born, both daughters. Eliza was born November 23rd, 1793. On Monday, May 5th, 1794, she was baptized by Rev. Mr. Spragg, an Episcopal clergyman of New York City, by the name of Eliza Sus- sanne. Her sponsors were Miss Susan Faesh, Miss Elizabeth Ward, and Miss Eliza M. Faesh stood as proxy for Captain Michael Kearney, the third sponsor. "May this outward sign be followed by an inward principle of Grace and may she live to show the Christian, and be worthy the esteem of all who know her." On the first day of September, 1796, a second daughter was born. "On Sunday, July 30, 1797, we had her baptized in the old Boonton Church by the Rev. Mr. Ostrander and named Euphemia Maria. Her sponsors were Mrs. Susanne Darby and John Jacob Faesch Jr. May an early principle of Grace be instilled in her that should she live may she grow up in the nurture and fear of the Lord, and be a pattern of Piety to all that may know her."


George O. Brinkerhoff bought a large tract of land at Parsippany. in the year 1795. On the land stood a house that had been used as a tavern before the Revolu- tion. As Mrs. Brinkerhoff wanted a larger house, an addition was added. making a double house. The rooms were eighteen feet long with a ten foot ceiling. a large kitchen was added twenty-one feet in length, with any number of closets, cellars, etc. The place was named Hybla Hill soon after it was purchased, before they took posses- sion. Soon after the family were establish- ed, Mr. George O. Brinkerhoff was appoint- ed postmaster, which position he held as


long as he lived, which was until 1827, his daughter taking charge after his death until a successor was appointed.


In the year 1810, Mr. Brinkerhoff pur- chased two slave girls to be trained as maids for his daughters. They remained in the family until slavery was abolished in 1820. The elder, Lucy, remained for some years, then married and went to New York City to live. The family kept in touch with Lucy until her death, which occurred at the Colored Home in New York City, at an ad- vanced age. Her papers of purchase and manumission are in the New Jersey His- torical Society at Newark, New Jersey.


As Mr. and Mrs. Brinkerhoff were both fond of flowers and shrubbery, their garden was laid out with much care, and the choic- est flowers of the time were cultivated, mak- ing it very attractive. Hedges were around the walks. Among the flowers left at the present time are one rose-bush, some daffo- dils, white lilacs, syringas, a sweet-scented shrub, one large boxwood tree and one horse chestnut. This is all that remains of one hundred years.


Mr. George O. Brinkerhoff held the of- fice in Brick Church at Parsippany as clerk until his death in 1827.


NOTE .- The foregoing is from the pen of Mrs. Ruth E. Fairchild, and was read by her before a chapter meeting of the Daughters of the American Revolution.


WOOD, Richard D.,


Merchant, Manufacturer.


Richard D. Wood was born in Green- wich, Cumberland county, New Jersey, March 29, 1799. His ancestors came from Gloucestershire, England, and were among the original settlers of Philadelphia. Rich- ard Wood, who arrived with some of the earliest Quaker emigrants in the latter part of the seventeenth century, here located.


Richard Wood, grandson of the above- named Richard, moved to Cumberland county, New Jersey, where he became a


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judge and a justice of the peace, in the reign of George II. He also represented his county in the Legislature of the State, as did also some of his descendants, who were men of marked intelligence and in- fluence. Passing through the limited course of instruction of the country schools of that period, he acquired a fair elementary edu- cation. For some years he was an assistant in his father's store, where the town library was kept, and this being placed under his care, gave him the opportunity of reading of a varied character. Of this advantage he diligently availed himself, at once grati- fying his taste, and continually adding to his store of information. Before attaining his majority he removed to Salem, New Jer- sey, and a successful career of two years in that place enabled him to establish himself in Philadelphia. To that city he removed in 1823, and with William L. Abbott and S. C. Wood, under the firm name of Wood, Ab- bott & Wood, he began life as merchant at what is now No. 309 Market street. With this house, under all its various changes of title, he remained until his death. Com- mencing with but limited means, in compe- tition with established houses of large cap- ital and unlimited credit, who had been ac- customed to extend long credits to their cus- tomers, with correspondingly large profits. the firm of Wood & Abbott inaugurated a system of selling for cash and at only five per cent. advance on cost, and by rapidity of sales and a frequent turning of capital, the new house succeeded in equalizing prof- its with their more powerful competitors. From that time forward the labors and in- fluence of Mr. Wood were felt in almost every undertaking for the advancement of the material prosperity of Philadelphia. He was the first to introduce the bleaching and dyeing of cotton goods on a large scale for this market, in competition with the estab- lished and powerful corporations of New England. Even while carrying on this ex- tensive business, he found time to embark in other enterprises. The advance of thie


town of Millville, New Jersey, was due to his far-sighted sagacity. About the year 1851 he became interested in that place, es- tablishing there a large cotton factory, bleaching and dyeing works. as also exten- sive iron works, which gradually built up the town to a manufacturing place of im- portance. He projected and built the Mill- ville & Glassboro railroad, and afterward was a prime leader in the building of the Cape May road, with its various branches. About 1851 he began to manufacture cast iron gas and water pipe, under the firm name of R. D. Wood & Co., whose products have entered a large proportion of the Union. He was the owner of the original tract upon which is built the town of Vine- land, New Jersey, and it was due to his lib- eral dealing with the founder of that thriv- ing place, that the project was carried out. About 1867 he erected a large factory at May's Landing, New Jersey, and also con- structed a mammoth dam on the Maurice river at Millville. He was also, at critical periods, a powerful supporter of the Schuyl- kill Navigation Company, promoting confi- dence in it by liberal subscriptions to its stocks and loans when they were looked upon with suspicion and doubt : and, at an- other time, of the Pennsylvania Central railroad, when it was of the most critical importance that its then president (Samuel V. Merrick) should be supported, as he was. in his efforts to carry forward to com- pletion that great undertaking, by men in its directorship of just such personal in- fluence, fertility of resource and force of character as Mr. Wood. In fact, he was one of the projectors of this great railroad. as well as one of the reorganizers and larg- est owners of the Cambria Iron Works at Johnstown. Pennsylvania. He was long a director of the Philadelphia Bank ; was one of the founders of the Union Benevolent Association of Philadelphia, and held direc- torships in numerous other railroads, cor- porations and public institutions.


Mr. Wood's talent and goodness of heart


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alike were ever shown by his conspicuous ability in moulding those who at different times joined him in his enterprises as as- sistants. He rarely separated from those men, but developed and applied their pow- ers until they became useful members of his different firms, or sometimes left him, upon the completion of their business education, for the creation of individual fortunes. From the laboring man to the possessor of business talent, he recognized the qualifica- tions of every applicant, and became the life long friend of all who were suited to aid him ; so powerful was his influence and dis- position to promote the advancement of en- terprising and deserving young men, that possibly a hundred of Philadelphia's wealthy and honored citizens owe their first suc- cess in business to a partnership in one of the various enterprises inaugurated and prosecuted by Mr. Wood. His agreeable relations in society depended largely upon his own even and pleasant temper, conver- sational powers, ready and well-stored memory, and natural urbanity. Educated with the Society of Friends, of which he was a lifelong though not active member, he ever displayed the sobriety and justice of apprehension common to that sect. Of his religious character, it may be said that he felt far more than he showed, having a dislike to formality and bigotry quite equal to his love for true heartfelt Christianity.


Mr. Wood died April Ist, 1869. Out of his fortune of several million dollars, he de- vised numerous bequests to charitable and public institutions, among which were $5000 to Haverford College; $500 to the Union Benevolent Association of Philadelphia ; and $500 to the Shelter for Colored Or- phans. He was a benefactor not only to the community in which he lived, but to the en- tire country ; and benefits of his enterprise and examples will be strong in their influ- ence for good in generations to come.


YOUNG, David,


Accomplished Amateur Astronomer.


The career of David Young, the Ameri- can astronomer, is an example of modest merit obscured by circumstances, denied a well deserved fame and forgotten by the world; it shows the life of a man v ut


pride or self-conceit and devoid of presumption, yet one whose brilliant . ments would have brought wealth and tinction to many another thus gifted 1. mind, but more self-seeking in disposition. Worthy of being notable among the not- ables, his name is to-day known by but few, and in the churchyard at Hanover, marked by a small and simple stone, rests all that is mortal of him "who trod the earth with the step of a Newton, and explored the heavens with a Newton's mind." New- ton's fame is world-wide, but David Young, though endowed with remarkable genius, lived and died in almost entire obscurity, lacking even the delayed earthly reward and appreciation which come to some great in- tellects when, after death, their labors on earth are done and their souls pass from material and transitory environments into the realm of the spiritual and eternal.


David Young was born at Pine Brook, New Jersey, in the year 1781. His biog- rapher had no data concerning his ancestry, nor can anything definite be recorded of his youth, except that it is certain that most of his life was spent there, during which time he acquired a common-school educa- tion. Starting out in life, he left Pine Brook and located in Morris county, opening a store at the lower end of Rockaway Neck, in a place later called the Simmes estatc. Having marricd, his wife kept the store while he taught a private school. until he removed to Hanover Ncck, where most of the remainder of his life was spent and where all of his astronomical calculations




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