The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 10

Author: Robson, Charles, ed; Galaxy Publishing Company, publisher
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy publishing company
Number of Pages: 924

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ARICK, THEODORE ROMEYN, M. D., of after Operations and Grave Injuries," was reported by the Jersey City, was born, June 24th, 1825, in Dutchess New York Medical Journal in October of that year. He is also connected with the Jersey City Pathological Society, and with the Neurological Society of New York city. In 1869 he was appointed by Governor Randolph to the office of Surgeon-General of the State of New Jersey, and still occupies that position. He is Attending Surgeon to St. Francis' Hospital and also to Jersey City Charity Hospital. In 1867 he reported to the Medical Record a case of " Com- plete Lateral Luxation of the Radius and Ulna, outward to the Radial Side." The records of medical science contain but thirteen similar cases, those having occurred in France. He also published an article on " Urticarea Produced by Hydrocianic Acid." This was as early as 1847, and in the same year he wrote another paper on the " Use of Nitrate of Silver in Acute Laryngitis." In 1859 he contributed to the medical press an account of the removal of a fibre-cellular tumor from the tongue with the écraseur. In 1869 he re- corded a case of " Sub-periostal Resection of the Clavicle." His contributions to the medical literature of his day are numerous and important. Written as they have been at times snatched from the sterner duties of his profession, they show that Dr. Varick is a physician "born, not made ; " one who loves science for its own sake as well as for the power it gives him of alleviating human suffering. His scientific researches and experience have made him an authority with the profession, while his election to the many societies of which he is a member is conclusive testimony that his brethren of the medical fraternity think they honor them- selves while honoring him. He was married, in 1847, to Adelia J. Woolsey, of Jersey City. His eldest son, William Woolsey Varick, graduated at Bellevue Medical College, New York, in March, 1876, and was appointed assistant surgeon to St. Francis' Hospital, Jersey City.

YMMES, HON. JOHN CLEVES, Lawyer, Soldier and Jurist, was born, July 21st, 1742, at River- head, Long Island, province of New York. He appears to have received a fair education, though not a classical one, and in early manhood became a school teacher and surveyor. He subsequently studied law, and at the time when the difficulties with Great Britain culminated in the war of the Revolution he aban- doned his professional pursuits and entered the Northern army, though exactly in what capacity he served is not recorded. At all events, he was present at and participated in the battle of Saratoga. Shortly after this event he re- moved to New Jersey, taking up his residence at Newton, in Sussex county, and subsequently was appointed a dele- gate to the Provincial Congress, and assisted in framing the State constitution of 1776. In February, 1777, he was elected by the joint action of the Council and Assembly an Associate-Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, and

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Theocon R. Varick I. D.

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

held that position for several years. In 1784 and 1785 he | Speaker of the House for many years, his last tenure of was a delegate to the Continental Congress at Philadelphia, that position being in 1733. He shortly afterwards removed to Pennsylvania, where he was likewise chosen a member of the Assembly of that Province ; he was an eminent law- yer; a consistent member of the Society of Friends, and for the last seven years of his life Chief-Justice of Pennsyl- vania. Ile died in May, 1750, at Burlington, West Jersey. In the same town his son, James, married and scttled. In 1772 he was elected a member of Assembly to represent, in connection with .a colleague, that city, and soon took a prominent part in the proceedings of that body, being regarded as the leader of the opposition to Governor Franklin. He was appointed one of the delegates to the Continental Congress, and took his seat in that body, at Philadelphia, September 5th, 1774; he resigned his position, for reasons deemed satisfactory by the Congress, in Novem- ber, 1775. In 1777 the New Jersey Legislature passed a law requiring attorneys and counsellors-at law to take the oath or affirmation of allegiance to the new State govern- ment ; but this he declined taking, and consequently was obliged to relinquish his practice. It is probable that his being a member of the Society of Friends caused his un- willingness to conform to the law as enacted. When Judge Brearly resigned the office of Chief-Justice, the joint meet- ing of the Council and Assembly, in November, 1789, elected James Kinsey to fill the vacancy, and he was re- elected in 1796, holding the position during life, a period of nearly fourteen years. Ilis first election took place during the administration of Governor Livingston, who was not only satisfied that he was amply qualified for the office, but of his being entirely devoted to the cause of his country. He was thoroughly veised in the doctrines of the law, and of spotless integrity. He died in Burlington, January 4th, 1803, in the seventieth year of his age. retaining, however, his seat on the bench. In 1788 he was chosen by the Continental Congress one of the Judges of the Northwest Territory, and shortly afterwards removed to Ohio. As early as 1787 he began to negotiate for the pur- chase of lands in that Territory; the coveted tracts being about one million acres lying between the two Miami rivers. Finally a contract for that number of acres was signed by himself and others, at sixty-six cents per acre, payable in instalments. But the troubled state of the country, caused by the hostility of the Indians to the proposed settlement, led to their failure in fulfilling the contract. However, in the spring of 1794, in conjunction with Elias Boudinot, Jonathan Dayton and others, he effected the purchase of 248,000 acres, lying between the two Miami rivers, includ- ing the sites of the present cities of Dayton and Cincinnati. In the meantime, he established his own residence at the north bend of the Ohio, and laid out a city there to be called after himself; but circumstances led to the adoption of the land around Fort Washington as the site of the " Queen City," and the prospective metropolis at North Bend was destined to fail, although in those pioneer days it was regarded as the rival of Cincinnati. Judge Symmes was one of the most energetic and influential of the early pio- neers, and had a method of dealing with the Indians which made them more friendly towards him than to the great majority of his white brethren. Indeed, he was more than once assured by these children of the forest that his life had been thus far spared because of his kindness to them. He married Susanna, daughter of Governor Livingston, of New Jersey, and was the father of two children, a son and a daughter. . The son, who bore the same name as himself, was the promulgator of the fanciful theory that the earth was hollow, with openings at the poles, whereby the inhabitants of the interior could enter; and he even petitioned Congress to fit out an expedition to explore those mysterious regions. Judge Symmes' daughter married General, afterwards Presi- dent, Harrison, who subsequently made North Bend his residence after the death of his father-in-law. Judge Symmes died February 26th, 1814, at Cincinnati, and was buried at North Bend, where twenty-seven years later the remains of President Harrison were also laid. The inscrip- tion on Judge Symmes' tomb states, among other facts, that " he made the first settlement between the Miami rivers."

INSEY, HION. JAMES, LL.D., Lawyer and Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, was born, 1733, in Middlesex county, New Jersey, and was the son of the Hon. John Kinsey, who emigrated from England in 1716 and settled in Middlesex county, which he subse- quently represented in the Provincial Assembly, and was

AMPBELL, REV. W. H., D. D., LL.D., Clergy- man, Professor and President of Rutgers College, New Brunswick, was born, September 14th, 1808, in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. Ile received a thorough academical education prior to his entering Dickinson College, at Carlisle, Pennsyl- vania, from which institution he graduated in 1828. After leaving this seminary he became the Principal of " Erasmus IIall," an institution of learning on Long Island, where he remained for six years. After dissolving his connection therewith he became the pastor of congregations at East New York and Albany, wherein he was settled for a period of nine years. In 1848 he returned to educational pursuits, and accepted charge of the Albany Academy, where he remained three years, and thence was called to and accepted a professorship in the New Brunswick Theological Sem- inary and Rutgers College; and, September 16th, 1862,

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

was elected President of the latter. Since occupying this prominent position, he has been very active in promoting the interests of the college, and during the years 1863, 1864 and 1865 by his own efforts secured from the churches of the Reformed Dutch Communion, in New Jersey and New York, an endowment fund aggregating $144,000. In 1870, in commemoration of the centennial anniversary of the col- lege, he again secured the additional sum of $121,000 for the purpose of erecting new buildings and establishing pro- fessorships, seven of which have been created since he com- menced his administration, thus materially enlarging the course of study. As a natural result of this great increase of professorships, the number of students has correspond- ingly augmented since he accepted the office of President. Several fine buildings have been erected on the college grounds : the Astronomical Observatory; Geological IIall ; Kirkpatrick's Chapel and Library; and also outside the grounds a large building used as a grammar school, known as the " Rutgers College Grammar School," and which is under the charge and government of the trustees of the college. As an efficient educator and able administrator, Dr. Campbell is widely known throughout the country ; while as a pulpit orator and deeply-read theologian, he likewise occupies a prominent position among the divines of the Reformed Dutch Church.

MITH, ISAAC, Physician, Soldier and Jurist, was born in 1740, and received a liberal education and graduated from Princeton College in 1758. He afterwards studied medicine and became a practising physician. From the very commence- ment of the troubles with Great Britain he was distinguished for his patriotic services in the cause of his country, and in 1776 he commanded a regiment. During the periods of gloom and dismay he was firm and persever- ing. He associated valor with discretion, and the discip- lined spirit of the soldier with the sagacity of the statesman. In February, 1777, he was elected by the Legislative Coun- cil and Assembly, in joint meeting, an Associate-Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and was thrice subse- quently re-elected to the same position, so that he remained on the bench for twenty-eight years, a longer period than it has ever been held by any other person. When his fourth term of office expired, in 1805, party spirit ran high, and, as he was a Federalist, he did not succeed in being re- elected. After he had retired from the bench, he returned to his residence in Trenton, and was appointed the first President of the Trenton Banking Company, which position he held until death. He enjoyed the acquaintance and friendship of both Presidents Washington and Adams, who esteemed him for his many virtues. Endowed with talents of a high order, he united in himself the scholar, soldier, gentleman and Christian. He died August 20th, 1807.

TRATTON, HON. CHARLES P., Lawyer and Law Judge, of Camden county, was born, June 18th, 1828, in Bridgeton, Cumberland county, New Jersey. He is descended from Benjainin Stratton, of East Hampton, Long Island, who removed to Fairfield, Cumberland county, as early as 1715. His parents, Nathan L. and Hannah (Buck) Stratton, were both natives of New Jersey, and the family has always enjoyed a good standing in the State. Having obtained his preliminary education in the schools of Bridgeton, he took an academical course at Perth Am- boy, in a boarding-school of high reputation. Thus care- fully prepared, he entered Princeton College in 1845, and was graduated with the class of 1848. Then he became a student in the office of Judge L. Q. C. Elmer, of Bridge- ton, an able lawyer and judge long and favorably known throughout the State. Under this excellent supervision he prosecuted his legal studies, and, in due course, was licensed to practise as attorney in November, 1852. Three years later he was admitted to the higher rank of counsellor. In the early part of 1853 he removed to Camden, and entered the office of Judge Carpenter, where he remained for about one year assisting the judge in the details of his practice and gaining a valuable experience for himself. On leaving that engagement he began the practice of his profession alone in the same city, where he has since continued to reside. Since the passage of the bankruptcy act he has acted as Register in Bankruptcy. Having established a reputation as a sound lawyer, and manifested a judicial cast of mind, his name was brought before the Legislature in 1872 as a candidate for Law Judge of Camden county, and on joint ballot he was elected for a term of five years. In this capacity lie presides over a court created for the trial of a special class of cases, and his conduct thereof has tended to consolidate and increase the estimation in which he was previously held in the profession and in the community generally. In politics he has always been a Republican, and, so far as consistent with the dignity of his official position, he has always accorded an earnest and active sup- port to the Republican party. He was married in 1856 to Clara Cooper, of Trenton.

ESSLER, REV. ABRAHAM, D. D., Clergyman, of Somerville, New Jersey, was born, November 15th, 1800, in Readington township, New Jersey. His father was Cornelius Messler, and his mother Mary (Stryker) Messler. The family are de- scended from Teunis Thomason Metzellaer, who came to this country from Holland in 1641 with the first ship sent out to the Van Rennselaer manor, at Albany. Ile seems to have remained only a short time at Albany. In 1642 he was a resident of New Amsterdam, and had a child baptized March 23d. The grandfather of Dr. Mcssler

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removed to New Jersey, and settled near New Brunswick, in 1745; his grandfather resided near Sommerville, but finally removed to New Brunswick, and died there in 1806, at the age of eighty years; his father resided on the pater- nal homestead, near New Germantown, where he died, May 28th, 1843, in the eighty-fifth year of his age. Abra- ham Messler was prepared for college at New Germantown and at Lamington, under the direction of Rev. Horace Galpin. In the year 1819 he entered the junior class of Union College, from which institution he graduated with honors in the class of 1821. Among his classmates were Rev. Dr. Nevin, of the Reformed Church, of Pennsylvania, Rev. Dr. Austin Yates, of Union College, and President Hickock, also of Union College, Hon. W. A. Campbell, of Cherry Valley, and Governor Seward, of New York. Immediately after his graduation he entered the Theologi- cal Seminary at New Brunswick, then under the charge of the Rev. Drs. Livingston and Ludlow. He graduated here in the year 1824, and was licensed to preach, May 27th, 1824. He settled first at Lodi, New York, where he was ordained, April 29th, 1825. He remained there three years, when he resigned and accepted a call from the church of Pompton Plains, New Jersey. There he re- mained until October, 1832, when he was called to the First Reformed Church, of Somerville, New Jersey. There he nas ever since remained, ministering to this con- gregation through a period of almost half a century. In 1844 the degree of D. D. was conferred on him by Rutgers College. In the year 1854 he travelled extensively in Europe, visiting France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, England and Scotland. He is a most faithful worker for and with one of the largest congregations in the State, a great portion of which has grown up under his fostering care, and sent off three branches, now flourishing churches; but, in addition to his regular ministerial labors, he has found time and strength to do much arduous literary work. In the year 1836 he wrote a work entitled " Fruits of Early Piety," which was published by the American Sunday- school Union and has had an extensive circulation. In 1872 he published his " Eight Memorial Sermons, with a History of the Reformed Churches of Somerset County." In 1874 his " Memorial Sermon and Tribute of Respect to ex-Governor P. D. Vroom " was published, " a contribution of friendship to departed worth." Beside these publica- tions, with occasional sermons, his contributions to periodi- cal literature have been large. In 1853 and 1854 he published two series of articles for the Christian Intelli- gencer entitled " Christian Ministry, the Reformers before the Reformation, the Confession of Faith," etc., which ran through about 150 numbers of this paper. After his return from Europe he contributed to the same paper a series of articles entitled " Rhine and Rhineland ; Holland, Belgium, etc." For over five years he wrote the principal editorials of the Christian Intelligencer. During the last year he contributed several articles to that paper, entitled

" Science and the Bible," which have attracted considerable attention. He is now engaged in preparing a " Centennial History of Somerset County." He was married in IS26 to Elma Doremus, an aunt of the well-known Professor Dore- mus, of New York. He has six children living, his only son being Thomas D. Messler, third Vice-President and Comptroller of Accounts of the Pennsylvania Railroad, Assistant President of the Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis Railroad, and President of the Terre Haute & St. Louis Railroad. His eldest daughter is the wife of Hon. Charles W. Swift, of Poughkeepsie, and another is married to John T. Grimsby, of Springfield, Illinois. On the 11th of Sep- tember himself and wife celebrated their golden wedding, having all their children and grandchildren present at din- ner, and in the evening a numerous reception of their friends of the church and congregation, and others.

ORRIS, ROBERT, Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, was the son of Robert Hun- ter Morris, also Chief-Justice of the province; the grandson of Lewis Morris, Governor of the same province; and the great-grandson of Richard Morris, an officer of the time of Cromwell, who left England at the period when Charles II. was restored to the throne, and settled in New York, where he died in 1673. Robert Morris was the first regularly elected chief- justice of New Jersey after the State had declared her in- dependence of Great Britain. He was elected at the joint meeting of the Legislative Council and Assembly, held in February, 1777, and continued in that office only two years, when he resigned it. In 1790 he was appointed by Presi- dent Washington Judge of the District Court of the United States for the District of New Jersey, which he held for the remainder of his life; during the latter part of the time, however, his health was so impaired as to render him un- able to preside in court ; but the business of the court was so limited that his failure to appear on the bench did not create any special inconvenience to the public interests. He died at his residence in New Brunswick, in 1815.

RIFFITII, HION. WILLIAM, Lawyer and Jurist, was born, 1766, at Bound Brook, Somerset county, New Jersey, and was the son of Dr. John Griffith, of that place. IIe entered the office of the late Hon. Elisha Boudinot, at Newark, where he pur- sucd his legal studies; and in conjunction with Josiah Ogden Hoffman, afterwards a distinguished lawyer of New York, Gabriel II. Ford, Alexander C. MeWhorter and Richard Stockton, who were all law students in the same town, founded the " Institutio Legalis," a species of moot court, which subsequently existed for many years, and

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

served to prepare them and their successors, in a great measure, for the active duties of their profession. William Griffith was licensed as an attorney in 1778; in 1781 as a counsellor ; and in 1798 as a serjeant-at-law. He fixed his residence at Burlington, where he married, and in a short time his practice became a very lucrative one, and he en- joyed a deservedly high reputation as an advocate. He was exceedingly well versed in the common law which governs real estate; and he made himself acquainted with most of the land titles of New Jersey. At the close of President Adams' administration, and after the election of President Jefferson, an act of Congress was passed creating six new Circuit courts, each having its own justice and two associate justices. On the very last day, or rather night, of the outgoing administration the Senate acted on the nominations made by the President; and as the entire num- ber were confirmed by the Senate, about midnight of March 3, 1801, these judges - thuis confirmed - enjoyed the soubriquet of " Midnight judges." For the Third Circuit, consisting of the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, there were selected the late Chief-Justice Tilgh- man, of Pennsylvania, as chief-justice of the new circuit; Richard Bassett, of Delaware, and William Griffith, of New Jersey. The court thus constituted held two terms, one in May and the other in October, 1801. But these appoint. ments were very unpopular, as they were made in the last hour of an outgoing administration, when the succeeding one was of directly opposite doctrines; and so, when Con- gress assembled, in December, 1801, one of its first acts was to repeal the courts thus established, and cast adrift the judges so nominated and confirmed. Judge Bassett, how- ever, vigorously protested against these retaliatory meas- ures ; but nothing resulted from it, although the course thus adopted by the majority was against the Constitution of the United States, which states that the judges shall hold office during good behavior. Of course there was no alternative but to accept the situation, and Judge Griffith returned to his practice at the bar, but did not long continue therein, as he had become a speculator in the sale of lands; and when the war of 1812 was in progress he embarked in the busi- ness of manufacturing both cotton and woollen goods ; and, having no experience in that line of business, lost all his fortune, besides being involved far beyond his means; and indeed he was entirely unable to free himself from these incumbrances during the balance of his life. At a later date he became a member of the Legislature, and while in that body was the author of the act " to secure to creditors an equal and just division of the estates of debtors who con- vey to assignees for the benefit of creditors," which was passed in February, 1820. In the early part of the year 1826 he was appointed Clerk of the Supreme Court of the United States, but he only filled that important station a few months. IIe was at an early date a member of the Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery; and when his father died he, as the executor, refused to allow the

slaves to be sold, but took them into his own service, and in 1806 formally liberated them. He was one of the few attorneys and counsellors-at-law in New Jersey who ever became an author. In 1796 he published a " Treatise on the Jurisdiction and Proceedings of Justices of the Peace," with an appendix containing advice to executors, etc. It was regarded as a most valuable work, and several editions were issued. He also published a series of " Essays," in which he showed the defects of the State constitution, and advocated a change, which, however, was not effected until a fourth of a century after his death. In 1820 he became engaged in the publication of the "Annual Register of the United States," which was designed to include not only the officers, but also the laws and regulations of each of the States of the Union; and these to be corrected year by year in supplements issued for the purpose. By way of an in- troduction, he began to collate the " Historical Notes of the American Colonies and Revolution, from 1754 to 1775," but he never lived to complete it. He died June 7th, 1826.

LLEN, ROBERT, JR., Lawyer, of Red Bank, was born in the city of New York, March 2d, 1824. His father, Charles G. Allen, is a native of Mid- dletown, New Jersey; for many years he was engaged as a looking-glass and picture-frame manufacturer in New York city, a business he subsequently abandoned to take up farming in New Jersey. His mother's maiden name was Catherine Trafford, who was born at Rumson village, Shrewsbury township, Mon- mouth county, New Jersey. Young Robert received excel- lent educational advantages. After a thorough preparatory training he entered Princeton College in 1842, and took a four years' course, graduating in 1846. His inclination leading him towards the law as a profession, he immedi- ately began study with the late Judge Peter Vredenbergh, at Freehold, New Jersey. After passing through the pre- scribed preliminaries he was licensed as an attorney in 1851, and in three years was qualified as counsellor. On beginning the active prosecution of his profession he took up his residence at Red Bank, where he has since con- tinued to practise. He is a close and industrious student, and has attained a wide reputation as a learned lawyer. His practice is chiefly in the State and county courts. He is the author of several important acts passed by the Legis- lature of New Jersey, among them the noted Railroad law of 1874, commonly called the Ten-day law, whereby the New Jersey Southern Railroad, from Sandy Hook through Long Branch and Vineland to the Delaware, was put in re- operation, to the relief of the towns and business centres in the neighborhood of the route of the road and its branches. For a period of five years, from 1867 to 1872, he was State's Attorney for Monmouth county, by commission from the governor, and performed the duties of that office with ready

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 10

Author: Robson, Charles, ed; Galaxy Publishing Company, publisher Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy publishing company Number of Pages: 924

Author: Robson, Charles, ed; Galaxy Publishing Company, publisher
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia, Galaxy publishing company
Number of Pages: 924