USA > New Jersey > The New Jersey coast in three centuries; history of the New Jersey coast with genealogical and historic-biographical appendix, Vol. II > Part 26
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"Considering how long the hand of oppression had been stretched out against us, how long the system of despotism, concerted for our ruin, had been insidiously pursued, and was at length attempted to be enforced by the violence of war; reason and conscience must have approved the measure had we sooner abjured that allegiance from which, not only by a denial of protection, but the hostile assault on our persons and properties, we were closely absolved. That, being thus constrained to assert our own independence, the late representatives of the Colony of New Jersey, in Congress assembled, did, in pursuance of the advice of the Continental
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Congress, the supreme council of the American colonies, agree upon the form of a constitution which, by tacit consent and open approbation, hath since received the consent and concurrence of the good people of the State; and, agreeably to this constitution, a Legislative Council and Assembly have been chosen, and also a Governor. Let us, then, as it is our indispens- able duty, make it our invariable aim to exhibit to our constituents the brightest examples of a disinterested love for the common weal; let us, both by precept and example, encourage a spirit of economy, industry and patriotism, and that public integrity and righteousness that cannot fail to exalt a nation ; setting our faces at the same time like a flint against that dissoluteness of manner and political corruption that will ever be the re- proach of any people. May the foundation of an infant state be laid in virtue and the fear of God, and the superstructure will rise glorious and endure for ages. Then may we humbly expect the blessings of the Most High, who divided to the nations their inheritance and separates the sons of Adam."
From year to year he was re-elected governor, while he lived, occupy- ing the combined office of governor and chancellor nearly fourteen years. For some two years after election his task was onerous and not without great danger. In every part the state was exposed, and suffered more from military operations than any other. Shortly after his inauguration the upper part of it was occupied by the enemy, and until the victories at Trenton and Princeton, during the winter of 1776-77, everything was in jeopardy. Many, hitherto sanguine, despaired and accepted British pro- tection. The legislature became a wandering body, now meeting at Tren- ton, and then at Princeton, at Pittstown, in Hunterdon county, and at Had- denfield. But the Governor was immovable, and labored unremittingly for efficient militia laws and the organization of the new government upon a solid foundation. Among the first laws passed was one providing for the taking of an oath renouncing allegiance to the king of Great Britain, and of allegiance to the new state government, and another for the pun- ishment of traitors and disaffected persons, and those who sought in any way to uphold British authority. During the session at Haddenfield, last- ing some two months, an act was passed establishing a committee of safety, consisting of twenty-three persons, the governor or vice-president being one. This committee was to act as a board of justice in criminal matters ; fill up vacant military offices ; apprehend disaffected persons and commit them to jail without bail or maniprise; could call out the militia to execute their orders ; were to send the wives and children of fugitives with the enemy into the enemy's lines ; cause offenders to be tried, and persons refusing to take the oaths to government to be committed to jail, or to send them, if willing, into the enemy's lines ; make any house or room a legal jail; nego- tiate exchanges; disarm the disaffected, etc. During the two months' gubernatorial interregnum this committee was of especial importance.
So determined and able a man as the Governor was naturally in danger. His family residence was despoiled, and he was most bitterly de-
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nounced in "Riverton's Gazette," the organ of the British party in New York. As an offset to this journal, a patriotic paper was started in De- cember, printed by Isaac Collins, sometimes at Trenton and sometimes at . Burlington, under the title of "The New Jersey Gazette." To it the Gov- ernor contributed largely, and many of his articles exerted a potent influ- ence for good.
On the proclamation of peace he quitted Trenton and returned to his house at Elizabethtown. In June, 1785, he was appointed by congress as minister to the Court of Holland, but, while he was at first disposed to accept, he eventually declined. During the succeeding year he became a member of the society in New York for promoting the emancipation of slaves, and emancipated the two he owned. He was appointed by the legis- lature in May, 1787, a delegate to the convention that formed the national constitution, and subsequently; in a message to the legislature, expressed his gratitude to God that he had lived to see its approval and adoption by the states. Yale College in the next year conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was a man of strong literary inclinations, and dur- ing both his earlier and later life wrote largely on political subjects, indulg- ing also occasionally in poetical effusions.
In the year 1745 he married Susannah French, whose father had been a large proprietor of land in New Jersey ; she died in 1789. His own death occurred June 25, 1790. Of his thirteen children, six died before him. One son, Brockholst Livingston, became a distinguished lawyer in New York, sat for several years on the supreme bench of the state, and in 1807 was elevated to that of the United States, occupying his seat thereon until his death in 1823.
HON. WILLIAM PATERSON.
Hon. William Paterson, lawyer, jurist and statesman, was born in 1745, in the north of Ireland, and when but two years of age came to America. His family first located at Trenton, next at Princeton, and finally settled at Raritan, now Somerville, where his father died in 1781. He entered the College of New Jersey, at Princeton, and graduated in 1763. He then studied law with Richard Stockton, one of the signers of the Declaration, and was licensed as an attorney-at-law in 1769. He opened his office at Bromley, in Hunterdon county, but afterwards removed to Princeton, where he became associated with his father and brother in mer- cantile business.
In 1775 he was a delegate in the Provincial Congress and was secre- tary of the same at both its sessions. He was also a member of the con- gress which met at Burlington in 1776, of which he was likewise secre- tary. When the state government was organized during the same year ; he was made attorney-general, and his position was a difficult one, as he was obliged to attend courts in different counties, liable at any time to be captured by the British army, which had then invaded the state, he was,
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also at the same time a member of the legislative council. In 1780, while still occupied with his duties as attorney-general, he was named a delegate to the Continental Congress; but he declined the appointment, inasmuch as he could not faithfully discharge the duties of both stations.
When peace was declared, in 1783, he resumed his practice as an attor- ney, removing his office and residence to New Brunswick. He was named as one of the members of the convention which met in Philadelphia in 1787 to frame the Federal Constitution. There were two plans presented to that body, one by Edmond Randolph, of Virginia, and the other by William Paterson, the former being favored by the larger and the latter by the smaller states. The result was a compromise by which a general govern- ment was formed, partly federal and partly national. After the constitu- tion of the United States was ratified, William Paterson and Jonathan Elmer were elected by the legislature of New Jersey senators of the United States. The former retained his seat but a single year, for in 1790, on the death of Governor Livingston, he was chosen as his successor by the legis- lature, and his administration was so successful that at the end of his term he was re-elected without much opposition.
In 1792 a law was enacted authorizing him to codify all the statutes of Great Britain which prior to the Revolution were in force in the colony of New Jersey, together with those passed by the legislature of the prov- ince both before and after the separation from the mother country, so that the work when completed should be presented to the legislature for re- enactment, should it deem it proper so to do. The work was entered upon by him and occupied his leisure time and attention for six years; but it was deemed more convenient for the legislature to act upon the statutes thus prepared as they emanated seriatim from his revision, than to review the whole during a single session. While he was thus engaged, he was nominated in 1793, by President Washington, an associate justice of the supreme court of the United States, an office which he held until his death. He was engaged in the revision of the laws for six years, and the volume thuis produced has been long acknowledged to be the most perfect system of statute law produced in any state of the Union. He also greatly im- proved the practice of the court of chancery. During his occupancy of the position of judge of the supreme court many important cases were tried, among them the trials for treason of the persons implicated in the famous "whiskey insurrection" in western Pennsylvania ; and also that of Lyon, tried for a violation of the sedition law. His last official act was to preside in the circuit court of the United States, at New York, in April, 1806, on the trials of Ogden and Smith for violation of the neutrality laws in aiding Miranda to revolutionize some of the South American states. As he did not agree with the associate judge (Talmadge) he left the bench, and the latter proceeded with the trial alone. From this time his health began visibly to decline, and he withdrew from all active official duties.
He was an able statesman, an upright judge and a disinterested friend of his country. His religious creed was that of the Presbyterian church,
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and he was a trustee of their college at Princeton from 1787 to 1802. He was twice married; he left two children, a son and daughter of his first wife, to whom he was united in 1779; his second wife, whom he married in Brunswick, left no issue. He died at his daughter's residence, Septem- ber 9, 1806, in the sixty-second year of his age. His name is perpetuated by the thriving manufacturing city near the falls of the Passaic river.
HON. WILLIAM A. NEWELL.
Of the many names that may be counted worthy to receive honorable mention in a historical work, none could more deservedly be given a lead- ing place than that of Hon. William Augustus Newell, known as the father of the United States Life Saving Service, the history of which is written out at length in this work. To say that through his earnest and untiring efforts in formulating and carrying his plans to success, more human life and property have been saved than by any other means ever instituted for so important an object, is only to give statement to a fact established long years ago by the unimpeachable records of the service of which he was the author.
William Augustus Newell, the son of James H. and Eliza D. Hankin- son Newell, natives of New Jersey, was born at Franklin, Ohio. Septem- ber 5, 1817. At an early age, he returned with his parents to New Jersey, residing for several years in Monmouth county and afterwards removing to New Brunswick. His father was a civil engineer and practiced his pro- fession at New Brunswick, where his maps have been adopted by the city government and recognized as authority.
The son attended district schools in the neighborhood, and afterwards pursued his education under private tutors and completed the college course at Rutger's College, graduating in 1836. Among his classmates were the late Secretary of State Frederick T. Freylinghuysen, United States Su- preme Court Justice James Bradley and Hon. Cortlandt Parker, of New- ark. Choosing for a career the medical profession, he studied for a time with Dr. VanDusen, of New Brunswick, whose daughter, Johanna, he subsequently married. Later he pursued his medical studies at the Uni- versity of Pennsylvania, where he graduated in 1839. Commencing prac- tice at once with his uncle, Dr. Hankinson, at Manahawken, New Jersey, he became interested for the first time in the study of shipwrecks at short range, and began his experiments in the matter of establishing communi- cation between vessels in distress and the shore.
In 1841 he began the practice by himself at Imlaystown, in Upper Freehold, Monmouth county. His first political office was that of town- ship 'collector, to which he was a number of times re-elected. In 1844 removed to Allentown, where he scon acquired an extended patronage and an enviable reputation in his profession. In 1845 he was urged to accept nomination to Congress to fill the inexpired term of Samuel G. Wright,
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deceased, but declined it. In 1846 he was elected to Congress, reversing the Democratic majority of fifteen hundred, and was re-elected by an in- creased majority in 1848. He was a member of the Thirtieth Congress, of which Abraham Lincoln was also a member, and these two men occupied adjoining seats in the house, boarded and roomed together, and became intimate friends.
It was on the 3rd day of January, 1848, during the first session of the Thirtieth Congress that Mr. Newell introduced a resolution which was the initial step in the founding of the United States Life Saving Service, which is to-day one of the chief features of the government system and has no equal in any part of the globe. The services of Mr. Newell in this his most beneficent work, are written of at length in the chapter on the Life Saving Service.
Dr. Newell in congress established a record as an earnest opponent of the extension of human slavery and his whole life was consistent with his views expressed in that early day.
In 1856 he was nominated for governor by a state convention made up in about equal parts of representatives of the rising Republican and so- called American parties, erected on the ruins of the Whig party, which had gone down in defeat four years before, and carried the state by some twenty-six hundred majority, though the plurality for Buchanan was nearly twenty thousand and the opposing candidate was William C. Alex- ander, one of the ablest and most popular men of his day.
Among the acts of Governor Newell, which distinguished his admin- istration for honesty, courage and fidelity in the discharge of public duties, and which are now matters of history, may be mentioned his uncompromis- ing attitude in resisting and frustrating New York's persistent attempt to foist its quarantine upon New Jersey's shores : his courteous, but firm, refusal to allow an opposition senate to dictate the nomination he should make for chancellor, though it resulted in the closing of the court of chancery during the last year of his term of office; his fearless discharge of duty in the celebrated Donnelly murder case, in refusing commutation of sentence, for which he was never forgiven by the mistaken partisans and sympathizers of that misguided and unfortunate young man. In all these matters he vindicated the honor of the state and defended success- fully the prerogative of the executive.
In 1861 he was appointed by President Lincoln superintendent of the Life Saving Service for the district of New Jersey. It was a deserved recognition of the credit due to him as the originator of the system, and coming from President Lincoln of his own motion, especially compli- mentary. During his four years' tenure, he made quarterly official visits along the shore, so that in 1864, when he received the Republican nomina- tion for Congress and was elected for the third time, he was enabled to advance still further the usefulness of the system. During President Lincoln's administration as president, the old friendship between him and Dr. Newell was renewed, and he had the honor of being the attending physician at the White House.
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In 1866 and again in 1870 Dr. Newell was a candidate for Congress and both times defeated. For more than twenty years, as the most promi- nent and influential political leader in his party, he had controlled and dispensed party patronage throughout his state and congressional district. As is common under such circumstances, the disappointed applicants for office became in time a hostile factor of considerable strength in determin- ing an adverse result of a political campaign. To this, and the fact that the Democratic party at that time was largely in the ascendency in New Jersey, may be safely ascribed Governor Newell's first political defeat as a candidate for popular suffrages. At the end of his congressional term in 1867, he resumed the practice of his profession in New Jersey, which he continued until his appointment by President Hayes as governor of Washington territory, when he removed from the state, in 1880, to assume the responsibilities and discharge the duties of that position. In 1877 he was a candidate the second time for governor of the state. The political conditions of this campaign proved to be unfavorable to Repub- lican success and resulted in his defeat, there being in the field two new parties with candidates and platforms on distinctive issues, recruited largely from the ranks of the Republicans.
His administration as governor of Washington territory was eminently successful in promoting and developing its growth and resources. He labored industriously to that end and thereby hastened its early admission as a state into the Union.
During President Arthur's administration he was appointed inspector of Indian agencies, in which position he visited various tribes and bands of Indians, administering to the wants and necessities of these children of the forest so successfully that he earned their lasting gratitude.
Though he became greatly attached to the people of Washington ter- ritory by his long residence among them, his advanced years and the death of his wife prompted him in 1899 to return to Allentown, New Jersey, the home of his earlier years, to give to the congenial labors of his pro- fession the remaining brief period of his life. He was received there with such an affectionate manifestation of welcome by his old friends and neigh- bors that he soon was busy again in the practice of his professional duties. In 1899 he delivered an informal address before the Monmouth County Historical Association ; and again in 1900, upon the invitation of the asso- ciation, he presented a paper upon the Life Saving Service of the United States, which proved to be highly valuable as an historic review upon that interesting subject.
Dr. Newell filled many other positions of honor and trust in the course of his long, useful and active life. He was an Odd Fellow, a Freemason, and active and prominent in both of these orders. He was vice-president for many years of the National Union League of America, and chairman of its executive committee. He was also a trustee of Rutger's College. In 1864 he was a delegate-at-large from New Jersey to the National Re- publican Convention at Baltimore, and was tendered by a unanimous vote of the state delegation the honor of being presented to the convention as
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New Jersey's candidate for the vice-presidency, which he modestly de- clined, stating that in his opinion it should be given to a western man.
At the Monmouth May term of court prior to his decease, he was fore- man of the grand jury which considered the cases of the Long Branch gamblers, and which was held in session by order of the court during the following summer as a menace to the re-opening of the gaming and club- houses, and only a few weeks previous he addressed a meeting of the Mon- mouth County Board of Agriculture, he being a successful farmer as well as physician, and the author of the plan which led to the establishment of the Federal Department of Agriculture.
His death occurred on the 8th of August, 1901, at the advanced age of eighty-four years. Governor Voorhees, by proclamation, made an official announcement of the event, eulogizing the character of the deceased in terms of the highest praise, and directing that all public buildings be draped in mourning for the period of thirty days; that during the days succeeding the official obsequies, the large flag upon the State House be placed at half mast, and that during the funeral services the public offices be closed and the proper honorary salute be fired.
The grand jury of Monmouth county, of which Dr. Newell was fore- man, gave out resolutions rendering tribute to the exalted character of the deceased, and obituary notices highly eulogistic appeared in newspapers in all parts of the country.
The funeral services were held in the old Presbyterian church at Allen- town, conducted by the pastor, Rev. George Swain, D. D., assisted by the Rev. Mr. Babcock, of the Baptist church of Allentown. The remains were laid to rest in the burying bround adjoining the church where the funeral was held. Dr. Swain delivered the sermon. The discourse was able, earn- est and appropriate; he dwelt upon the useful and unselfish life of the deceased, and how he had devoted himself to serving others in every social rank. The speaker touched upon the value of the dead man's public services and said that by advising and bringing into being the beneficent system of life saving with which his name would be indissolubly connected for all time, he had erected a monument for himself greater than any marble. The casket was opened at the church and a great crowd of friends and neighbors viewed the remains of the former governor, which were exceedingly well preserved.
Many of the business places at Allentown were closed. The churchi was crowded by friends and mourners. and there was deep feeling mani- fested among the people. The casket was adorned with many choice flow- ers. The Masonic lodge of Allentown, of which Dr. Newell was a mem- ber, turned out in large numbers, and placed many testimonials of esteem on the casket which was borne to the grave by six of the deceased ex- Governor's oldest and most intimate friends and neighbors. They were Dr. P. B. Pumyea. Dr. Johnson, Dr. W. L. Wilbur, Charles Spaulding, Horace Ford and Forman P. Wetherill. Among the honorary pall bearers were many of the most prominent men in the state; in the list were in- cluded Governor Foster M. Voorhees, ex-Governor George T. Werts,
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former United States Attorney-General John W. Griggs, Cortlandt Parker, Justice J. Franklin Fort, Dr. Austin Scott, President of Rutger's College, Congressman Benjamin F. Howell, Adjutant-General A. C. Oliphant, State Comptroller William S. Hancock, State Senator C. Asa Francis, Nathaniel S. Rue, ex-State Senators John S. Applegate, James A. Bradley, Henry J. Irick, E. C. Hutchinson and George T. Cranmer, William Cloke, Charles. S. Tunis, A. L. Moreau, Charles W. Deshler and George Wild. Mr. Griggs was not present, and there were one or two others who failed to respond to the invitation.
The portrait of the late Governor Newell, painted by Frederick H. Clark, of Trenton, has been accepted by the commissioners appointed by the last session of the legislature to secure it, under whose auspices it has been conspicuously placed in the executive chamber of the State House. It represents the distinguished subject at the age of forty-eight when in the full vigor of his physical and intellectual powers. It is pronounced by those who were intimately associated with the former governor as a strik- ing likeness of him at his best.
William A. Newell was only about twenty-two years of age when he began the practice of his profession in Monmouth county, without wealth, family distinction or influential friends to aid him, having only the future and its possibilities before him to inspire and nerve him for the battle of life. He moved forward boldly with honest determination and self-reli- ance ; very soon the people learned to respect, admire, honor and love him for his many noble, generous, magnanimous and chivalrous qualities of head and heart; of resistless energy, iron will, lofty moral courage, acute intelligence, fervent patriotism, unselfish loyalty to principle and friend- . ship, and unswerving honor, he quickly became a leader of men. Though not an orator in the common acceptance of the phrase, yet the masses of the people were always deeply moved and largely controlled by his personal appeals. It was due to his evident sincerity and earnestness, his charming personality, his commanding presence, his clear and rapid flow of speech, the flash of his eye, the kindly tone of his voice, giving to his utterances a power that was intensely attractive. "He recognized his powers and limi- tations, and in his political campaigns relied largely upon personal can- vasses, whereby he came into personal contact with the voter, holding and directing him to the views he expressed. In this way he acquired and com- manded the position of a political leader, which he ably maintained with scarcely a rival for many years.
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