USA > New Jersey > Passaic County > Passaic > The Passaic valley, New Jersey, in three centuries.. Vol. 2 > Part 2
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
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BIOGRAPHICAL
nington. Thus was established the existing relationship between these three families- the Burnets tracing their an- cestry back to William Barnet, the second Colonial Gover- nor of New Jersey and a descendant of Gilbert Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, a distinguished Scottish prelate and historian, who flourished during the latter part of the seven- teenth century.
William Burnet Kinney was born at Speedwell, Morris County, N. J., September 1, 1799. He was the youngest son of his parents, his brother, Thomas T. Kinney, a lawyer of distinction, Surrogate of the County of Essex, and a mem- ber of the New Jersey House of Assembly, being his senior by fourteen years. His early instruction was received un- der the direction of his father, a man of culture, who made him a constant companion, and who, while serving as Colonel in the War of 1812. even took the lad at the age of thirteen into the field, where he frequently did brave service as a bearer of dispatches. it was the father's intention to train him for the army, and he was accordingly sent to the Military Academy at. West Point. Ilis father died soon after the lad's admission to that institution, and his mother, a woman of enlture and of uuusnal force of character, bo- lieving him to be possessed of talents which must insure success in one of the learned professions or in literary work, removed him from West Point and placed him under the instruction of classical and mathematical teachers of the highest repute, with whom he enjoyed all the advantages of a collegiate course. He afterward entered upon the study of law, first in the office of his brother, Thomas T. Kinney, and then with his cousin, Joseph C. Hornblower, subse- quently the eminent Chief Justice of New Jersey.
Mr. Kinney displayed, at an early age, great ability as a public speaker, and it was predicted that he would be dis- finguished as an eloquent advocate at the bar, but his pre- vailing tastes were in the direction of general literature and metaphysies. In the latter part of 1820 he became editor of the New Jersey Eagle, a weekly newspaper in Newark. In this position he remained until 1825, when he went to New York in order to pursue more advantageously his favorite studies. It was about this time that the establishment of
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the New York Mercantile Library was effected, and in this he took a very active part. He was appointed its librarian, a position which brought him in contact with the most prominent publishers of the city; among these were the Harper Brothers, who placed so high an estimate upon Mr. Kinney's abilities as a writer and literary critic that he be- came their adviser in the selection of books and manu- scripts for publication.
Aside from his daily labors he applied himself at this period so closely to study that his health was becoming somewhat impaired. Relaxation and a change of his sur- roundings became imperative, and, accordingly, he deter- mined to return to Newark, where he had been invited to take the management of the Daily Advertiser, then the only daily newspaper published in New Jersey. This he did, and at the same time he united with it, as its weekly issue, the Sentinel of Freedom, a long-established weekly paper. To this journal Mr. Kinney gave a literary tone so high that it was said of him that his criticisms had more influence on the opinions of literary men than those of any other journal- ist of the time.
Mr. Kinney was never desirous of holding public office or positions of honor, though always active and forward in every good and useful work, and although his name and influence were a power frequently coveted and solicited. The College of New Jersey at Princeton, which had con- ferred upon him scholastic honors, elected him one of its trustees in 1840. In the same year he was chosen a Presi- dential delegate to the convention which nominated Gen- eral Harrison, an office which he declined. In 1844 he was chosen a delegate-at-large with the late Chancellor Green to the Baltimore Whig Convention, and here the earnest- ness of his persuasive eloquence was largely instrumental in securing the nomination of his friend, the late Hon. Theo- dore Frelinghuysen, as a candidate for the Vice-Presidency with Mr. Clay as President. In 1843 he was nominated for Congress by the Whig convention of the Fifth District of New Jersey. This was very much against his wish, but he was induced to accept the nomination as a political duty.
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The Democrats coalesced with the Independents, and after a very bitter contest their candidate was elected.
In 1851 Mr. Kinney was appointed Minister to Sardinia, a position for which he was admirably fitted, and in which he rendered on several occasions important service to his conn- try. His fame had preceded him to Sardinia, and when he arrived at Turin, its capital, he was warmly received and soon became a favorite in the court cirele which was just then engaged in settling the details of a constitutional gov- ernment. Count Cavour and other master minds of that kingdom were in constant consultation with him in refer- once to the practical working of our republican system, and his inthuience was strongly apparent in the establishment of the liberal institutions of Italy. He also rendered signal service to the government of Great Britain in consultation with its ambassador, Sir Ralph Abercrombie, and for some important diplomatie business intrusted to him received handsome official acknowledgment in a special dispatch from Lord Palmerston.
One of the most important services rendered by Mr. Kin- ney to his country was in connection with Kossuth, the Hungarian exile, then in Constantinople. Ainsi before his departure from that city to the United States the object of his visit became known to Mr. Kinney, who promptly im- parted the same to his own government, and Mr. Webster, then Secretary of State, being thus forewarned, thwarted Kossuth's philanthropic but impracticable efforts to enlist the United States in a foreign complication.
Having announced his intention to remain for a few years in Haly after the expiration of his term of office, he was strongly solicited by the Sardinian ministry to continue his residence in Turin, but in Florence the society of liter- ary friends and artists, among whom were the Brownings and Hiram Powers, could not be resisted, and to that city he removed. During his residence there curiosity prompt- ed him to renew his acquaintance with the romantie history of the Medici family, which had delighted him as a youth. The high position which he had so recently occupied gave him rare facilities for investigation, and the hitherto nn- published information which he acquired induced him to
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begin a historical work which should embody his new dis- coveries, but he did not live to complete it.
Near the close of the late War of the Rebellion Mr. Kin- ney, with his family, returned to his home in New Jersey and thereafter led a retired life, his time being chiefly occu- pied in literary work. At the celebration of the two hun- dredth anniversary of the settlement of Newark, N. J., in May, 1866, he delivered the oration in the First Presbyterian Church. This was not only a historical review, but an eulo- gium upon the virtues of the Puritans, who were the early settlers of the city. It is an interesting and valuable paper, and was printed in the Proceedings of the New Jersey His- torical Society, under whose direction the celebration was conducted. Although he continued to labor for a consider- able period after this, yet his strength began eventually to fail, and his latter years became, finally, a protracted sea- son of bodily suffering. He died October 21, 1880, profess- ing a sincere trust in the Christian faith.
He married, first, Mary Chandler, of Elizabeth, N. J., who died in 1841, leaving one son, Thomas T., whose sketch fol- lows. His second wife was the only surviving sister of the late Hon. William E. Dodge, of New York, and the mother by her first husband of Edmund Clarence Steadman, the poet. She bore him two daughters-the wife of William I. Kip (son of Bishop Kip, of California) and the wife of Nel- son S. Easton, of New York.
THOMAS TALMADGE KINNEY, only son of William Burnet Kinney, was born in Newark, N. J., August 13, 1821. He was named after his uncle, whose middle name, Tal- madge, was from General Benjamin Talmadge, of Revolu- tionary fame, an ancestor of the Kinneys.
Mr. Kinney's early studies were pursued in the Newark Academy, and his preparation for a collegiate course was made in the classical school of Rev. William R. Weeks, D.D. At an early age he entered the College of New Jersey at Princeton, and was graduated from that institution in 1841, among his classmates being the late Francis P. Blair, ex- Vice Chancellor Amzi Dodd, Judge John T. Nixon, of the
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BIOGRAPHICAL
United States District Court, and several others who subse- quently became distinguished as jurists and men of letters, During his college course Mr. Kimey manifested so much fondness for the natural sciences that the attention of Dr. JJoseph Henry, the pro- fessor of these sciences, was attracted toward him. During his senior year he was chosen by Professor Henry for an assistant, and the inti- macy thus formed rip- ened into a lifelong per- sonal friendship. The degree of A.M. was in due course conferred upon Mr. Kinney, who, in the meantime, had en- tered upon the study of law in the office of the late Joseph P. Bradley, subsequently one of the Justices of the United States Supreme Court. THOMAS T. KINNEY. In 1844 he was admitted to the bar, but never availed himself of his privileges as an attorney.
When William B. Kinney retired from the editorial chair of the Newark Daily Adrertiser in June, 1851, his son, Thomas T. Kinney, though still a young man, assumed the editorship and management of the journal which had been so ably conducted by his distinguished father. Without bringing special experience to the work which he had un- dertaken, he, nevertheless, brought to it all the scholarly acquirements afforded by his college course and his inti- mate association with accomplished professors and scien- fists. With a mind thus well stored he entered gracefully and easily upon his work, and the Daily Adrertiser went forth regularly from his hand so like what it had ever been that no one would have dreamed that its old conductor had
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dropped the reins. Mindful above all else of the high char- acter of the paper, he neglected nothing that could render it more useful or make it more acceptable. He gave great attention to the matter of newsgathering, and was largely instrumental in inangurating a system which culminated in that comprehensive organization known as the Associ- ated Press. In 1860 he purchased the property on the southeast corner of Broad and Market Streets, the very cen- ter of the business part of the City of Newark, and covered by three brick buildings. Adapting these buildings to his purpose and introducing every modern improvement in the business of newspaper and printing enterprise, he thither removed his establishment, and there the Daily Advertiser, enlarged and greatly improved in appearance, has been printed until the present time.
Notwithstanding his great interest in the financial, indus- trial, and political movements of his time, Mr. Kinney never sought nor accepted a nomination for any political office. In organizations of a patriotic, beneficent, and scientific character he was, however, very prominent and active. He was one of the projectors of the Newark Board of Trade, and by that institution was sent as a delegate to the con- vention that organized the National Board of Trade in Phil- adelphia; of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, of which he was a founder and for many years President; and of the Asylum for Indigent Deaf and Dumb Children of the State, of which he was for a long time a trustee and active manager. Ile was a member of the State Board of Geology as well as of the State Board of Agricul- ture, and of the latter body was the presiding officer from 1878 to 1882. In 1860 he was a delegate to the Chicago Convention and labored earnestly for the nomination of Abraham Lincoln. No less active and prominent was he among the business institutions of Newark. The National State Bank of Newark, the Newark City Ice Company, and the Stephens and Condit Transportation Company num- bered him among their directors. He was one of the oldest stockholders in both the Morris and Essex and the Lacka- wanna Railroad Company, one of the founders of the East Jersey Water Company, and was associated with many
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BIOGRAPHICAL
other public and corporate interests. He was one of the founders of the Newark Electric Light and Power Company and of the Fidelity Title and Deposit Company, of which he was President from its origin. He was also a member of the Board of East Jersey Proprietors and a hereditary member of the Society of the Cincinnati in the State of New Jersey.
While by no means a mere nominal participant in the affairs of all these institutions, his scrutinizing eye never failed to run over everything of importance in the columns of the Daily Advertiser before it issued from the press. Nothing was ever allowed to interfere with the principal object of his life. lle was possessed of a vigorous constitu- tion and of great self-control in all his actions. He was a valuable friend where friendship may be worthily be- stowed, and a jovial companion where wit and wisdom are not overridden by vulgarity and licentiousness. He never lost his fondness for the natural sciences so strongly mani- fested by him in college.
Mr. Kinney conducted the Daily Adrertiser until about 1895, when he retired. He was always a stanch Republic- an, and when James G. Blaine was Secretary of State he was offered the post of Minister to Italy, which he declined. He died December 2, 1900.
He married Miss Estelle Condit, of the well known New- ark family of that name. She survives him, together with one son, William B. Kinney, a lawyer, and three daughters : Mrs. W. Campbell Clark, Miss Margaret Kinney, and Miss Estelle Kinney.
William Burnet Kinney was born in Newark, April 30. 1872. He was graduated from Princeton College in 1894, read law with MeCarter, Williamson & MeCarter, and was admitted to the bar in JJune, 1896.
CORTLANDT PARKER, LL.D., is descended from the very best strain ever known in New Jersey. His first ances- tor in the colony was Elisha Parker, who came from Eng- land, probably about 1634. His son Elisha was married in Barnstable, Mass., in 1657, to a sister of Governor Hinck-
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ley, and lived there until near 1670, when he came to New Jersey and settled at Woodbridge. Ilis son Elisha became prominent in public affairs in Middlesex County, being at one time High Sheriff of that county, afterward representing it in the Legislature, and in 1711 becoming a member of the Governor's Council. He was selected by the then Governor, though not a lawyer, to be one of the keepers of the Great Seal. A son, John Parker, was also a member of the Governor's Council, and James Parker, son of John and a great-grand- son of the original Elisha, was also of the Govern- or's Council, and was distinguished in the col- CORTLANDT PARKER, LL.D. ony, holding several of- fices of honor. He was one of Governor William Franklin's Council in the stormy times preceding the Revolution, and took an active part in the proceedings of that body. His son James, the father of Cortlandt, was foremost in church and State, for over twelve years a member of the Legislature, a Congressman for four years, a founder of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, and one of the commissioners to settle the boundary line between New York and New Jersey. He took an abid- ing interest in the affairs of the Episcopal Church, of which he was ever a consistent member and an ardent admirer of its doctrines, forms, and ceremonies. Ile was, up to the end of his long life, a delegate to the annual diocesan conven- tions in New Jersey from St. Peter's Church at Perth Amboy, of which, like his father and grandfather, he was a Warden for many years. He was likewise a leading mem- ber of the Constitutional Convention of 1844, Chairman of
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BIOGRAPHICAL
the Committee on Rights and Privileges, and draughtsman of the bill of rights incorporated in the organic law adopted by that body. He was also the author of the section in the constitution perpetuating the use of the school fund. He was one of the most independent of men, acting always ac- cording to the dictates of his conscience and seeking ever the right. His views upon political subjects were pro- nonneed and held with the greatest tenacity, but he never hesitated to differ from the party with which he affiliated if in his opinion it swerved from the strict path of rectitude or demanded that from him which he thought to be wrong. He lived a nseful life for ninety-two years.
Cortlandt Parker was born at Perth Amboy, June 27, 1818, received a preparation for college in the schools of his native town, and, in 1832, entered Rutgers at New Bruns- wick, from which he was gradnated in 1836, with the high- est honor, and was the valedictorian of his class. In his class were Joseph P. Bradley and Frederick T. Frelinghuy- sen, respectively Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Attorney General, Senator, and Secretary of State; William A. Newell, Governor of this State, a Con- gressman, and afterward Governor of Washington terri- tory; and other distinguished men in church and State who attained high rank in the country. After graduation he entered the office of that eminent lawyer and statesman, Theodore Frelinghuysen, the unele and adoptive father of his friend and fellow graduate, also a student in the same office. The uncle became Chancellor of the University of New York before the term of studentship of the two friends expired, and Mr. Parker completed his studies in the office of Amzi Armstrong.
He was licensed as an attorney in 1839 and as a counsellor in 1842. and opened an office in Newark when he received his attorney's license, and has remained ever since in that city, confining himself to the practice of the law.
The time was most unpropitions for the young lawyer: business of all kinds was prostrated; money was scarce; the great mercantile ad manufacturing interests of the city and country were ruined by the bankruptcy of all classes. But Mr. Parker persevered and soon became surrounded by
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numerous appreciative and admiring clients. His former fellow students, who came with him from college to Newark, worthy antagonists, became his friendly rivals, and they were obliged to meet older and more experienced lawyers, who had become entrenched in the confidence of the community, by their commanding intellect and long experience, before they came to the bar. He did not wait long, his success was almost unprecedented, and it seemed to his contemporaries that it was with a bound that he reached a high rank as an advocate and practitioner. He soon measured swords in the legal arena with older com- petitors and in a few years stood side by side with lawyers who preceded him by several years. He was not only suc- cessful as a trial lawyer, being an accomplished orator, but also distinguished himself by his arguments before the higher tribunals, where success was gained more by close, logical arguments submitted to the keen scrutiny of judges, whose judgments are required to be calm and dispassionate. His status as a lawyer was soon established, and in a very few years he was retained on one side or the other of almost every important cause tried at the Essex Circuit. His labors as a lawyer were not confined to Essex County, but his services were sought by clients in every county of the State save two, and of later years there has hardly been an important litigation in which he has not borne a conspicu- ous part, besides appearing several times in important cases at Washington. These cases in which he has appeared as counsel have been so numerous that it will be impossible to particularize them.
Mr. Parker has no peculiar, pre-eminent characteristic as a lawyer. He is many sided, admirably equipped to meet the requirements of his profession; his oratorical ability is great; he can rise to heights of eloquence, he can charm an ordinary andience with brilliant thoughts, storm a jury box with unanswerable logic, or assail them with passionate ap- peals; he can overcome reluctant judges with a wealth of argument. drawn from an active brain. Whenever it is announced that he is to mount a platform, as lecturer or public speaker, he secures a crowded audience and sways them with fervid eloquence. His intellect is of a high
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BIOGRAPHICAL
order, his learning great, and he has the ability, so indis- pensable in an orator, to make his knowledge the servant and ready exponent of his persuasive oratory; his diction is of the highest order, pure and classic, yet simple and easily understood; his personal appearance adds much to his power-erect, tall, moulded in manly proportions; whenever he speaks he demands attention and commands respect. Two colleges, his alma mater and that of Princeton, each and in the same year conferred upon him the honorary de- gree of LL.D.
Mr. Parker throughout his life has been a leader in poli- ties, not with partisan skill, but with earnest pa- triotism. He stood up for the Union and for na- tionality through thick and thin. No one in New Jersey surpassed him in energetic action to suppress seces- sion, and lead public opinion safely through the perils of our Civil War and reconstruction. His voice and pen were always busy, and he was always in the advance, framing publie sentiment. At the same time he has been always and is a leader in the Protestant Episcopal Church, both in his State and diocese and in the Union. Scorning political chicanery, though often nominated for high office, he has not been an officeholder; yet he has declined judicial ap- pointments of the highest character and membership of the House of Representatives when, against his will, put in nomination, and foreign missions to Russia and Austria. Like his father, who was one of the commissioners to set the boundary between this State and New York, he was ap- pointed as one of the commissioners to settle the boundary between New Jersey and Delaware, and with two distin- guished Judges of the Supreme Court he was a reviser of the State's laws. A number of Mr. Parker's public addresses are in print, though never delivered with that expectation. Be- sides being public prosecutor during the Civil War he has held no other office, though several times the candidate of a large section of his party for the United States Senate.
WILLIAM WRIGHT was born in Rockland County, N. Y., about 1790, being the son of William Wright, Sr., a
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graduate of Yale College. He received such educational advantages as were commonly available in his section and period, his inherent force of character and exceptional men- tal receptiveness being such as to create a distinct and pow- erful intellectuality which dominated his entire life. He early became identified with practical business and eventu- ally engaged in the saddlery trade in Bridgeport, Conn. From that city he removed to Newark, N. J., abont 1821, and here for more than a quarter of a cen- tury he was actively and successfully en- gaged in the saddlery and harness business. The firm of which he was originally a mem- ber in Newark was formed about 1823, con- ducting operations un- der the title of Smith & Wright, its membership some years later com- WILLIAM WRIGHT. prising Hanford Smith, William Wright, Edwin Van Antwerp, and William S. Faitonte. Their establish- ment was from the start the leading one in the city, and their business became the most extensive of any similar en- terprise in the Union. Their large factory, a portion of which is still standing, was located at the southeast corner of Broad and Fair Streets.
Through his well directed efforts and executive ability in business Mr. Wright attained merited financial success, but his greatest distinction and his peculiar claim to a place on the pages of history lie in his service to the State and Nation as the incumbent of exalted public office. He re- tired from active business abont 1854, prior to which time he had manifested a lively interest in public affairs. His
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publie spirit and solicitude for the progress and prosperity of Newark led to his selection as the Whig candidate for Mayor in 1841. He was elected and was retained in this office for three terms, a fact clearly indicative of the popu- lar appreciation of his administrative ability. In 1842, while still Mayor, he was nominated for Congress and was successful at the polls, his opponent being the lon. William B. Kinney. Mr. Wright was elected as his own successor in Congress in 1844, and gained prestige as a safe and con- servative legislator. In 1847 he was a candidate for Gov- ernor of New Jersey, but was defeated after a spirited con- test, his successful opponent being the late Hon. Daniel Haines. He was originally an old-time Whig, supporting Henry Clay in 1848, but in 1850 he withdrew from that party and identified himself with the Democracy, whose canse he ever afterward ardently espoused. In 1853 he was the Democratic candidate for United States Senator and was elected. At the expiration of his term he was sue- ceeded by a Republican, but in 1863 the Democrats again gained the ascendency. Senator Wright was promptly ro- turned to his position in the upper house of the National legislature. Ile was still in this office at the time of his death, which occurred November 1, 1866, at the age of seventy-six.
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