USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. I > Part 57
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his paper upon this subject was printed in the "American Naturalist," and won for him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the New York University. His researches led the Lyceum of Natural History of New York (nowj the Academy of Sciences) to request him to make a study of the Limulus, or King Crab, and he established the fact that this crus- taceous animal is a higher form of the perplexing trilobite. His paper elucidating his researches and conclusions was printed in the "American Naturalist" in 1870, and it was translated into German by Professor Dorhu, of the University of Jena. It also received high commendation from Milne de Edwards, the eminent French zoologist, and was reviewed in most com- plimentary manner by Dr. Owen, the accomplished comparative anatomist, in a paper read before the Linnaean Society of London, England. Dr. Lockwood's "Manual on the Oyster," published (1883) in the "Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor and Industry of the State of New Jersey," is the most exhaustive treatise upon that subject which has yet been pro- duced. Dr. Lockwood made many valuable contributions to botanical, zoo- logical and microscopical literature, and to that admirable work, "Stand- ard Natural History." He was a zealous friend of education, and the pub- lic school establishment of the State owes much to his intelligent effort.
The Rev. William Aikman, during the period beginning in 1851 and ending in 1892, wrote a number of excellent volumes and made various . notable contributions to leading journals, his titles numbering thirty in all. Among his most important works were: "The Church's Piety," New York, 1864; "The Power of the Sea," published by the Seamen's Friend Society, 1864; "Life at Home," 1870, revised and republished in various editions, and also published in London, England, in 1873; "Draper's Con- flict Between Science and Religion," a review article in "The New York Tribune," 1875, and published in book form in Detroit, Michigan; "Jehovah and Elohim in Genesis," in "Methodist Quarterly Review," 1878; "The Altar in the House," American Tract Society, 1880; "Heavenly Recogni- tion," American Tract Society, 1882; and "Talks on Married Life and Things Adjacent," New York, 1883.
Dr. Aikman was born in New York City, August 12, 1824. He com- pleted his literary education in New York University, from which he was graduated in 1846, and was honor man of his class and English salutato- rian, and he was graduated from Union Theological Seminary in 1849. In 1869 he received from New York University the degree of doctor of divinity. He was ordained in the ministry by the Presbytery of Newark in 1849. He was pastor of the Sixth Presbyterian Church, Newark, 1849 to 1857. He was afterward pastor of churches in Delaware, Michigan, and New York until 1881. From 1883 to 1894 he was pastor of the First Pres-
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byterian Church in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and since that time he has been living in pleasant retirement in that city.
The pastorate of Dr. Aikman in Wilmington, Delaware, which covered the three years previous to the civil war, the five years of the war and the four years of reconstruction, was full of incident and interest. Hanover Church was one of the two largest churches of any denomination in Dela- ware, then a slave state. Dr. Aikman was perhaps the most pronounced and influential minister as an anti-slavery and Union man in the State of Delaware. The first public meeting in behalf of the United States Sanitary Commission was held in his church, which was also the gathering place of meetings in behalf of refugees, and for the promotion of the cause of the Union.
Dr. Aikman was one of two commissioners appointed by the Governor of Delaware to go to the front in 1864 to look after the welfare of the sol- diers of the State. Under this commission and under authority from the Sanitary Commission and the Young Men's Christian Commission, Dr. Aikman organized a temporary hospital in a large church in Fredericks- burg, Virginia, in which he cared for soldiers, sick and wounded during the desperate battles of the Wilderness and Spottsylvania Court House, and until the city was vacated by the United States troops on the change of base by General Grant in his campaign against Petersburg and Richmond.
Dr. Aikman has been prominent and influential in his denomination. He was moderator of the Synod of Pennsylvania when, in 1863, it met in Washington, and as moderator he presented the Synod to President Lincoln when that body was received at the White House by the President.
Mrs. Sara L. Oberholtzer, an accomplished writer, now living in Phil- adelphia, was for many years a resident of Longport, near Atlantic City, where she performed much of her best literary work, including a number of her best poems, "The New Year on the Coast," "The Lunar Rainbow," "The Sentinel Sunflower," "Polysophonia Elongata," "On the Beach" and "The Longport Ribbon." Her published works are: "Violet Lee, and Other Poems," 1873; "Come for Arbutus and Other Wild Bloom," 1882; "Hope's Heart Bells," a novel, 1883; "Daisies of Verse," 1886; and "Souvenirs of Occasions," 1894. Her versatile abilities have also been well displayed in hymn and song compositions, printed in various collections, and in a score of pamphlets touching upon the education of youth and kindred topics. She has devoted much of her time to the institution of school savings banks in the United States and Canada, and has been per- sonally instrumental in placing this excellent system of thrift teaching in about four hundred public schools.
In 1884 Mrs. Oberholtzer organized the Agassiz Microscopical So-
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ciety in Longport, Atlantic county, and was its President for five years. The society erected a hall for its summer meetings, which were attended by a cultured and somewhat learned class of people interested in the natural products of the sea and the shore. No regular sessions have been held since Mrs. Oberholtzer removed to Philadelphia.
Mrs. Oberholtzer is a native of Pennsylvania, born in Chester county, May 20, 1841. Her parents were Paxson and Ann (Lewis) Vickers, peo- ple of education and position, who were Quakers and active abolitionists. In 1862 she became the wife of John Oberholtzer. Born of the marriage were two sons, one of whom, Dr. Ellis P. Oberholtzer, is a well known literateur of Philadelphia.
Another lady author of Atlantic City was Mrs. Rachel Rhodes, whose husband was one of the first aldermen in that city. She wrote a novel, "Zuleika," which had a large sale, and also a volume of poems. Her death occurred in 1874.
"The Story of an Old Farm, or Life in New Jersey in the Eighteenth Century," is a delightful volume of 743 pages, cleverly illustrated, present- ing vivid pictures of domestic life in the times written of, with many reminiscences pertaining to Middlesex County. It is from the pen of -
Andrew D. Mellick.
Henry Morford was the author of various works which met with much favor during the days immediately following the Civil war period. The most delightful was "Over Sea," a narrative of travel in Great Britain and on the continent, and others were "Rhymes of Twenty Years," and "Paris and Half Europe." Mr. Morford founded the "New Jersey Standard," of Matawan, and he conducted that journal for several years. He subse- quently was connected with the "New York Atlas" in an editorial capacity. He was a native of New Jersey, born in 1844, and his death occurred in 188I.
A work of unique character appeared in 1893 entitled "The New Jer- sey Scrap Book of Women Writers." This was a collection of writings in prose and verse by female writers of New Jersey who were not book- makers, and hence were not popularly recognized as authors. Some three hundred individuals were represented, and their contributions ranged over the widest field, including essays upon scientific and social topics, historical narratives, biographies of notably useful women of the State, and religious, sentimental and humorous stories and poems. The contents were collected and arranged by Margaret Tufts Yardley, of East Orange, chairman of the literature committee of the board of lady managers appointed by Governor Leon Abbett, under legislative authority, to represent the it- dustrial and literary work of New Jersey women at the World's Columbian
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Exposition in Chicago, in 1893. The "Scrap Book" was beautifully printed in two volumes in Newark.
As this "Chapter of Literary History" was approaching completion, occurred the death of Thomas Dunn English, in Newark, April 2, 1902. He was one of the most widely known of New Jersey authors, and his liter- ary activity extended over the long period of more than two-thirds of a century. When but sixteen years of age he began writing for Philadelphia journals, and while so engaged he came in friendly and sympathetic con- tact with Edgar Allen Poe. In 1843 N. P. Willis and George P. Morris revived "The New York Mirror," and urged Dunn to write a poem for publication in its columns. After frequent solicitations he finally complied, and penned the sentimental verses. "Ben Bolt," which were given a musi- cal setting and came into popular favor. The song had been forgotten save by those of a foriner generation, when Du Maurier introduced it in his novel "Trilby," and it again became a favorite in concert hall and parlor. Dr. Dunn is known more widely for the authorship of this ballad than for all others of his works, but he never regarded it with much favor. Its writ- ing was, however, his real introduction to the public, and from that time his pen claimed the greater part of his attention. An edition of his poems was printed in 1855, but this he suppressed. In 1869 was published "Am- brose Fecit, or the Peer and the Painter," in 1882 "American Ballads," and in 1886 "Jacob Schuyler's Millions" and "Battle Lyrics." His poems numbered more than one thousand, and many of them were published in the "New York Independent" and "New York Ledger." and in these journals and others also appeared many essays and stories from his pen. lIe was also the writer of some fifty plays for the stage, nearly all of them now forgotten, and but one among them, "The Mormons," which is vet occasionally produced. His was a remarkably fertile brain, and he threw off work with great rapidity and apparently little effort. "The Mor- mons" was written in three days and nights. His poem "Kallimais," of six hundred lines, was written in a day, and so well that it was printed without revision. In a single evening he wrote three poems, "The Logan Grazier," of one hundred lines, "The Canoe Voyage," somewhat longer, and "The Wyoming Hunter," equally long. In another single evening he produced for "Harper's Weekly" a long poem, "The Sack of Deerfield," which was remarkable for its peculiar versification and resonant rhythm.
In the region of which this work principally treats, Dr. English is held in particular regard, if not with genuine affection, for his verses descriptive of the Battle of Monmouth, which have been recited by thousands of school- boys. It is this piece of work which has, more widely than all others, pre- served the story of Captain Molly, who, after her husband had been killed
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while serving one of Knox's guns, rushed to the piece, exclaiming, "I will avenge his death," and, her feet almost touching the body of her loved one, seized the rammer, drove home the charge, and continued her work until the battle was over. As Dunn told the story,
"As we turned our flanks and centre in the path of death to enter, One of Knox's brass six-pounders lost its Irish cannonier,
And his wife, who 'mid the slaughter had been bearing pails of water For the gun and for the gunners, over his body shed a tear.
'Move the piece!' but there they found her, loading, firing that six-pounder, And she bravely, till we won, worked the gun.
Though like tigers fierce they fought us, to such zeal had Molly brought us, That though struck with heat and thirsting, yet of drink we felt no lack; There she stood, amid the clamor, swiftly handling sponge and rammer, While we swept with wrath condign on their line."
Dr. Dunn was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, June 29, 1819. He was graduated in medicine when twenty years of age, and three years later he completed a course of legal studies and was admitted to the bar, but never engaged in the practice of law, devoting himself to the first of his professions. He resided in Virginia until 1856, when he removed to Fort Lee, New York, where he remained until 1878. He then made his residence in Newark, New Jersey, and there spent the remainder of his life, and performed much of the best of his literary work. He was elected as a Democrat to the New Jersey legislature in 1863, and he was re-elected the following year, and during that session he was the leader of his party in that body. In 1890 he was elected to Congress, and he was re-elected for a second term. In 1876 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from William and Mary College. He was of a most lovable disposition, a de- lightful conversationalist, and, on occasion, a forceful and eloquent pub- lic speaker.
It is not within the field of this narrative to present the history of the newspaper press farther than it is related to the beginning of literature in the State.
At Woodbridge, in Middlesex county, appeared in 1758 the "New American Magazine," which is notable as being the first periodical of any ciescription published in New Jersey, and as one of the earliest monthly magazines on the American continent. The word "New" in its title was to distinguish it from another "American Magazine" in Philadelphia. It was a monthly publication of forty pages, devoted to literary subjects, and accompanying each of the early numbers was a "History of America and
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Traveler's Diary," paged separately, in order to form a distinct volume in itself when completed. The magazine was edited by Samuel Neville, of Perth Amboy, who wrote under the pen name of "Sylvanus Americanus." The publisher was James Parker, who also printed the legislative proceed- ings and various public documents. His was the first permanent print- ing press set up in Jersey, and from it went out the first literary impulse in the province. Yet its establishment was but one-half a century after Lord Cornbury had received his instructions from the crown setting forth that "forasmuch as great inconvenience may arise by the liberty of printing, you are to provide by all necessary orders that no person keep any press for printing, nor that any book, pamphlet or other matters whatsoever be printed without your especial leave and license first obtained." True, Parker was yet "Printer to the King." But the spirit of the times had practically annulled the prohibition, and Neville and Parker led the way for the absolute freedom of the press. Parker's press was destroyed by Tories during the Revolutionary war.
The first newspaper in New Jersey was the "New Jersey Gazette," established in Burlington in December, 1777, by Isaac Collins. He was a Quaker, and therefore a non-combatant, but he was at heart a patriot, and through his press he performed noble service in upholding the cause of American liberty. His columns presented a curious contrariety of senti- ment. True to his religious faith, he sought to promote, even in those ill- conditioned times, a feeling of friendliness between the opposing elements in the community. But side by side with his peaceful utterances were the ' virulent satires of "Hortensius," who won 'for himself the admiring ap- plause of patriots and provoked the bitter hatred of Tories. The author of these much commended and much denounced articles was Governor William Livingston, the successor of Governor William Franklin, and it was to him that the establishment of the paper was due. It is not to be inferred that his pen was only capable of such productions as have been mentioned, for he was a scholar and a man of dignity. He was, however, a sagacious politician, and he adapted himself readily to what he con- sidered the necessities of the moment. The "New Jersey Gazette" ceased publication in 1786.
Collins's press produced, for its day, a stupendous work. This was a quarto Bible, in 1791. It contained, in addition to the Old and New Testaments, the Apochrypha, a Concordance, and many pages of "Prac- tical Observations on the Old and New Testaments, illustrating the chap- ters, a very few excepted, in their order, by the Rev. Mr. Ostervald. Pro- fessor of Divinity, and one of the Ministers of the Church in Neuchatel, in Switzerland." These "Observations" were produced from an English
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edition. The Bible is also remarkable for its preface, which begins in the following language :
"As the dedication of the English translation of the Bible to King James the First, of England, seems to be wholly unnecessary for the pur- poses of edification, and perhaps on some accounts improper to be con- tained in an American edition, the editor has been advised by some judicious friends to omit it, and to prefix this edition with a short account of the translations of the Old and New Testaments from the original Hebrew and Greek in which they were written."
Following this are several pages containing the history of the various translations and of the different versions which had been printed up to that time.
In 1776, preceding Collins's "New Jersey Gazette" by a year, Hugh Gaine printed a newspaper in Newark for a few weeks, but this was a journal representing a town outside the State, the "New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury." Newark, however, subsequently became a field for various local newspaper enterprises, among them the "Centinel of Free- dom," in 1796, which, under the editorial management of Aaron Penning- ton, was a bitter opponent of the Federal party and a valiant exponent of the Jeffersonian policies.
Shepard Kollock in 1779 began the publication of the "New Jersey Journal" at Chatham, which was then an obscure point beyond the reach of the British troops, and during the remainder of the war it gave able support to the patriotic cause. This ancient sheet is perpetuated in the "New York Journal" of the present day, at Elizabeth, to which place it was removed in 1785, after having a brief location in New Brunswick.
After the removal of Kollock's newspaper from New Brunswick, Abraham Blauvelt (in 1786) began the publication of the "New Bruns- wick Gazette." From this period newspapers multiplied rapidly, and the record of their establishment has been placed in accessible form through the arduous effort of various members of the New Jersey Historical So- ciety.
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