USA > New Jersey > The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century > Part 109
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order, also, is in existence, under date of November 21st, 1775, from Stirling, requesting him to lead three companies, of which Captain Morris' and Captain Howell's were two, to the Highlands, but the order was probably counter- manded. During the contest between Governor Franklin and the Assembly, he was at Perth Amboy, the seat of gov- ernment, in command of a detachment of troops, subject to the order of his Colonel, Lord Stirling. Under date of January 10th, 1776, Stirling writes to the President of the Continental Congress that he has ordered him to secure the person of the governor and remove him to Elizabethtown, where he had " provided good and genteel lodgings for him." Two days previous to this, Winds wrote the follow- ing letter to Franklin : " Barracks at Perth Amboy, January 8th, 1776. Sir-I have hints that you intend to leave the province in case the letters that were intercepted should be sent to the Continental Congress. As I have particular orders concerning the matter, I therefore desire you will give me your word and honor that you will not depart this province until I know the will and pleasure of the Conti- nental Congress concerning the matter." Franklin replies the same day : " I have not the least intention to quit the province; nor shall I, unless compelled by violence." But meanwhile, as the required pledge had not been given, he stationed his sentinels at the governor's gate, "to assist him in keeping his resolution." This calls out an indignant letter the next day, January 9th, which concludes with this significant sentence : " However, let the authority, or pre- tence, be what it may, I do hereby require of you, if these men are sent by your orders, that you do immediately remove them from hence, as you will answer the contrary at your peril." To this he instantly replied: " As you, in a former letter, say you wrote nothing but what was your duty to do as a faithful officer of the crown; so I say, touching the sentinels placed at your gate, I have done nothing but what was my duty to do as a faithful officer of the Congress." The situation of Franklin was uncomfor- table enough, since on the 10th of January, Lord Stirling sent a message to him by the outspoken Winds, "which kindly invited him to dine with me at this place," Eliza- bethtown ; and such was the decision of the messenger, that " he at last ordered up his coach to proceed to this place." The intervention of Chief Justice Smyth, who pre- vailed on him to make the promise which Winds demanded, saved the governor from a disagreeable ride, under a guard, to Elizabethtown. From Franklin's second letter to him, it comes to light, incidentally, that he was not only a Lieuten- ant-colonel, but an elected representative also of the people of Morris in the Assembly. From December 21st, 1775, to January 14th, 1776, his troops were on duty around Perth Amboy and Elizabethtown; on the 14th of that month they searched Staten Island for tories, and on the 18th marched from Bergentown to New York city, thence to Hellgate, Newtown, Jamaica, and Rockaway, on Long Island, always in pursuit of tories. On the 22d, at Elizabethtown, he
stood sentry over a ship lately taken from the encmy. In February of this year he informed Congress that he was sta- tioned at l'erth Amboy with a part of the Eastern Battalion of the Continental forces; that he was destitute of ammu- nition; and that he stood in pressing need of specdy supplies. Congress, by their President, then requested the committee of Somerset county to furnish him with four quarter-casks of powder, and the committee of Middlesex county to furnish him with one hundred and fifty pounds of lead. On Thursday, March 7th, 1776, he was promoted to the Colonelcy of the Ist New Jersey Battalion ; and the news of his promotion was accompanied with a special and flattering letter from John Hancock. From the depositions of several soldiers applying for pensions is gathered the fact that, early in May, 1776, his regiment set out to join the ex- pedition against Canada, in which Montgomery lost his life the previous year ; it proceeded as far as the town of Sorel, if not to Three Rivers. In the following July he took post on the Onion river, under instructions from General Sulli- van, for the purpose of protecting the inhabitants of the sev- eral towns in the New Hampshire grants. The journals of the Provincial Legislature show that on February 3d, 1777, he was, by the joint meeting, elected Colonel of the West- ern Battalion of Militia in the county of Morris, " lately commanded by Colonel Jacob Drake ; " and that on March 4th, 1777, he was elected by ballot a Brigadier-General of the Militia of New Jersey. Previously, on the 6th of November, 1776, he had left Ticonderoga and was after- ward with Washington during his retreat. During the summer of 1777 he was stationcd on the North river, to aid in preventing a junction between Burgoyne's army from the North, and that of Sir Henry Clinton from New York. In 1778 he was for several months in active service in the region of Elizabethtown and Hackensack, and during this time several severe skirmishes were fought with the enemy. After the battle of Monmouth he led a detachment of troops to Minisink, on the Delaware, to repel a threatened incur- sion of Indians; and during the remainder of the summer and fall guarded the lines on the Passaic and Hacken- sack with noteworthy courage and prudence. On several occasions he attacked the enemy, and repulsed them in all their attempts to cross the rivers. The venerable David Gordon, when ninety-one years of age, once repeated to Rev. Joseph F. Tuttle a speech made by him during the campaign, which is sufficiently characteristic. The troops were at Acquackanonk ; and one Sabbath morning he paraded, and thus addressed them : " Brother-soldiers, to-day by the blessing of God, I mean to attack the enemy. All you that are sick, lame, or afraid, stay behind, for I don't want sick men, lame men can't run, and cowards won't fight !" He subsequently managed so adroitly an attack on a party of Hessians as to take, according to one witness, thirty, and ac- cording to another, seventy prisoners, near Connecticut Farms, perhaps in Elizabethtown. In the following year he was." not much in active service," and, owing to the feeling
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excited against him in connection with the battle of Mon- mouth, resigned his commission as a Brigadier-General. IIis resignation bears date of June 10th, 1779. From this time he is not to be considered as a member of the active army, but did not desert his country's cause. When the battle of Springfield was fought in 1780 he was present, and did good service. In 1781 also he was instrumental in fur- thering the aims of his fellow-countrymen. When Wash- ington was driving Cornwallis before him, and had begun the siege at Yorktown, it was deemed of the highest neces- sity to keep the British in New York until the arrival of the French fleet in the Chesapeake should cut off Cornwallis' retreat by water. Lafayette, accordingly, was sent to make a great demonstration on the enemy in New York. For this purpose he began to collect all the boats in the surrounding waters, even seizing those above Patterson Falls, on the Passaic. These were carried on wagons to be launched at Elizabethtown, apparently for an attack on Staten Island. On one particular night the rain poured down furiously and in torrents, and several of the wagons broke down at Crane- town (West Bloomfield). These annoyances filled Lafay- ette with great vexation. " General Winds was then in com- mand of a detachment, and performed excellent and efficient service in aiding to better the general condition of things. His voice vied with the tempest as he cheered and directed his men." In 1788 he, with William Woodhull and John Jacob Faesch, were elected by Morris county to the State Convention which ratified the present Constitution of the United States. On the 12th of October, 1789, he died, of dropsy in the chest. He had in his family, at the time of his death, one of his soldiers, named Phelps. This man in- sisted that his old commander should be buried with the honors of war, although opposition was encountered in some quarters. Accordingly, Captain Josiah Hall, who had fre- quently served under him, assembled a company of his for- mer soldiers, and he was finally buried in accordance with military customs.
UTCHINSON, MAHLON, Lawyer, was born, May 10th, 1823, in the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is a son of the late Randel Hutchinson, Jr., who married Mary Keeler, both natives of that State; the former being of Welsh descent, while the latter was of German lineage. Mahlon received his preliminary education at the Lawrence- ville High School; he subsequently entered Princeton Col- lege in 1840, and remained there until 1841. Having de- termined to embrace the legal profession, he entered as a student the office of the Hon. Henry W. Green, with whom he remained until he completed the prcseribed course of reading; and was licensed as an attorney in 1845, and as counsellor in 1854. IIe immediately entered upon the practice of his profession, locating at Bordentown, where he has remained ever since engaged in legal pursuits, and has
the control of an extensive and lucrative line of patronage. In 1853 he was elected on the Whig ticket a member of the Legislature, from the First district of Burlington county ; that being the first year when the district system was adopted in that county. While a member of the House in 1853 and 1854, he served on several important committees, chief among them being those on the Judiciary, the Educational and on the Insane Asylum; he declined a nomination for the year 1855. He was appointed in 1860, by Governor Olden, Prosecutor of the Pleas for Burlington county, which position he retained for five years. He has likewise been commissioned as one of the Commissioners of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Also United States Commissioner, and in addition, holds the position of a Master and Exam- iner in Chancery, He has served as a member of the Public School Board for three years, and at the present time is President of the Board of Trustees of the Borden- town Female College. He has been for the past eighteen years a Director of the Bordentown Bank; and is also a Director of the First National Bank of Trenton. He has ever taken an active interest in the affairs of his adopted State, especially in connection with the various lines of railway, which have been constructed within the past twenty- five years. Since the disintegration of the Whig party he has affiliated with the Republican organization. IIe was married, February 23d, 1848, to Amy N., daughter of Caleb Shreeve, of Burlington county.
cKISSACK, . WILLIAM D., late of Millstone, Somerset county, New Jersey, was born in Som- erset county, and was the only son of Dr. William MeKissaek, long an eminent practitioner at Bound Brook, and a zealous Whig during and after the revolutionary war. His education was the best that the country afforded, beginning with a careful school course at Basking Ridge; continuing with a full collegiate course at Princeton, whenec he graduated in 1802; with office study in medieine under the famous Dr. Nicholas Bel- ville, of Trenton, and with medical lectures in New York. In the latter part of 1805, or the early part of 1806, he en- tered upon practice at Pittstown, Hunterdon county, but at the end of some two years removed thence to Millstone, where for something over forty years he was the leading representative of his profession. Ile was a prominent mem- ber of the New Jersey State Medieal Society, being for twelve years Recording Secretary of that organization, and serving also as Vice-President and (in 1826) as President. In the Somerset County Medical Society he was likewise a leader, filling at various times the several offices, and taking an active part in the conduct of the affairs of the society. During the war of 1812 he was commissioned Captain of a company of volunteers raised for the defence of the State, and after the war remained in the militia and eventually
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became a Brigadier-General. In 1835-36 he was a member of the State Legislature. Both professionally and socially he was highly esteemed, his liberal habit of practising without fee among his poorer patients rendering him especially popular. He married Margaret, only daughter of Peter Ditmars, of Millstone, having by this marriage five chil- dren. He died March 6tlı, 1853.
MITH, ABRAHAM CARPENTER, M. D., Banker, of Bloomsbury, Hunterdon county, only son of William B. and Elizabeth Smith, was born in Greenwich township, Warren county, New Jerscy, December 11th, 1840. Having reccived a careful preparatory education, he entered Lafayette College and was graduated thence B. A. Shortly after his graduation he began the study of medicine, and, after office-study and a collegiate course, received his degree of M. D. For some years he was engaged in practice at Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, but upon the foundation of the Bloomsbury National Bank, he relinquished his profes- sion in order to accept the position of Teller, tendercd him by the Board of Directors of that corporation. This posi- tion he continues to retain, holding in financial affairs a leading position.
ALENTINE, HON. CALEB II., Lawyer, of Hackettstown-a grandson of Judge Caleb H. Valentine, who, previous to his elevation to the bench of the Court of Errors and Appeals, was successively a member of the lower and upper houses of the New Jersey Legislature-was born at Hackettstown, July 22d, 1838. Having been prepared for college under the tutorship of the Rev. H. N. Wilson, D. D., pastor of the Presbyterian Church of his native town, he entered Yale, and was graduated thence B. A. in 1863, ex-Governor Chamberlain, of South Carolina, being one of his classmates and fellow-graduates. Shortly after leaving college he began the study of law in the office of J. G. Shipman, Esq., of Belvidere, and at about the same time was commissioned Colonel of the 3d (militia) Regiment of Warren county. In 1865 he temporarily relinquished his legal studies for the purpose of visiting the oil regions of Pennsylvania, and here, by judicious speculation, he in a short time acquired a handsome competency. Returning to Belvidere, he resumed his course of reading and in 1869 was admitted to the New Jersey bar. On being licensed he established himself in Hackettstown, where he rapidly acquired a large practice, and is now regarded as one of the leading barristers of the county, being especially successful with cases in the criminal courts. During the past few years he has devoted a considerable portion of his fortune
| to the purchase and improvement of landed property, and is at present one of the most extensive owners of improved real estate in Warren. Ilis social and professional promi- nence has naturally led to his selection as county Represent- ative in the State Assembly, and in 1869-70-71 he did good service in the Legislature. IIe was one of the originators and a most earnest promoter of the present ad- mirable free-school system, the adoption of which has done so much honor to New Jersey ; showing in his labors for this, and other measures of scarcely less importance, a liberal and far-seeing statesmanship. In 1876 he was named as a candidate for Representative from the Fourth Congressional District of New Jersey, but as Somerset county claimed the right of nomination, he withdrew his name and heartily supported the Somerset nominee. From early manhood he has been a consistent member of the Democratic party, holding that personal claims should not be pressed at the risk of party success-a belief the honcsty of which was sufficiently established in the instance just mentioned. He married, in 1863, Miss Russling, daugh- ter of Robert Russling, Esq., of Hackettstown.
ORTER, EDMUND, M. D., late of Frenchtown, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, was born in Haddam, Connecticut, June 18th, 1791. His medical education was received in New England, and shortly after being licensed to practise he settled in Easton, Pennsylvania. IIe thence mi- grated to Union county in the same State; then drifted down to the West Indies, and finally, returning to North America, established himself in June, 1820, at Frenchtown, where he remained until his death, on the 12th of July, 1826. In 1821 he was one of the founders of the IIunter- don County Medical Society, and was one of the first dcle- gates from that body to the Medical Society of New Jersey. In practice he was generally successful, was of a cheerful, sanguine temperament, and was extremely popular in the community where the latter part of his life was passed. He was twice a candidate for the Assembly, and on being put in nomination the second time, was elected. In all matters relating to his profession he was exceedingly methodical, keeping a regular set of books, in which he noted all his cases, giving symptoms, disease, prescriptions, medicine actually administered, quantity, doses, effects produced from day to day, and result ; also a record of the daily state of the weather, with the effects of changes upon his pa- tients. He was for the times a voluminous writer upon medical, political and miscellaneous subjects, contributing quite largely to the medical and newspaper press of the day. Not content with writing for the present, he cherished a desire to write for posterity, and to this end deposited in the cellar wall of a house built for his use in Frenchtown, in
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1823, a curious document, from which are extracted the | and prepare yourself to die, as all of us have done whose following paragraphs : " To futurity I address myself, in the names you see enrolled on this memorial. We all of us had our virtues and vices; each of us was of service to society in their several capacities in life. We are no more. We look to future generations to preserve unimpaired the liberty and independence which thus far we have assisted to perpetuate at the risk of our lives and fortunes. This voice from the tombs admonishes you to do the same as we have done for you ! !! Farewell." His deposit in his " seller wall " did not remain hidden nearly so long as he had in- tended, a party of investigative antiquarians taking it upon themselves some twenty-five years ago to discover his records. According to their own statement this was done in the interest of historical and arehæological research. Of Dr. Porter's children, none, it is believed, now survive ; nor has he any living descendants. His portrait, presented by a collateral relative, is in the possession of the Hunterdon County Medical Society. The several record books, in which the history of his professional life was so carefully set forth, and which would now be veritable medical curi- osities, have unfortunately been lost. year of our Lord 1823. Perhaps this memento may be of service or curiosity to future generations, if found among the rubbish of this mansion ereeted by order of Edmund Porter, M. D., physician and surgeon; member of and principal founder of the Medieal Society of Hunterdon County, New Jersey ; licentiate of the Connecticut Medical Society, also of the Medieal Society of St. Bartholomew's (West Indies), and Union Medical Society, of Pennsyl- vania, and author of a number of medieal essays, politieal pieces, to be found in the New York Medical Repository and American Medical Recorder, the New England Journal of Medicine, and in the newspapers, viz., the Trenton True American, The Spirit of Pennsylvania, the Eastern Sentinel, etc., etc." Under the heading, " existing facts," he briefly writes : " James Monroe, President of the United States. W. H. Williamson, Governor of New Jersey." Then follows a long list of the names of the several persons engaged in the building of the house, " previously to the deposition of this memorandum in the cellar wall; " the " architeets of this building," the " persons who assisted at the several parties in digging Seller, tending masons, quar- rying stone and carting the same." Then, launching out into the broader sphere of contemporaneous history, he con- ERGEANT, LAMBERT II., Lawyer, and Mayor of Lambertville, New Jersey, was born in 1841, near Flemington in that State, and is the son of Gershom C. Sergeant, who was engaged in agri- cultural pursuits ; the family is of German lineage. Young Sergeant until his eighteenth year assisted his father in the management of the farm, and attended also the public schools of the neighborhood, subsequently enter- ing the Flemington High School, where he completed his education after a two years' course in that institution: With a view of acquiring first-class legal attainments, he became a student in the office of B. Van Syekel, now Judge of the Supreme Court, where he passed four years ; and subsequently entered the law department of the University of Albany, from which institution he graduated as Bachelor of Laws in May, 1868. He then returned to the office of Judge Van Syckel, where he remained until the November term of the Supreme Court, and was then admitted to the New Jersey bar. In December, 1868, he removed to Lam- bertville, where he opened an office and commenced the practice of his profession; and his attainments, together with his high integrity of character, soon won for him the tinues : " The 4th of July is to be celebrated in this town on the approaching anniversary, it being the forty-seventh of American independence. William Voorhis and John Clifford, Esquires, and Samuel Powers and David R. War- ford, presidents and vice-presidents of the day. Dr. Albert Tyler is to deliver the oration, Dr. Luther Towner the in- vocation, and the Hon. Joshua B. Colvin is to read the Declaration of Independence. The Rev. Mr. Ilunt is re- quested to make a short address. Captain John Scott is appointed marshal of the day, and Captain Ezra Brewster will appear with the Kingwood Uniform Company, equipped and in uniform. A dinner, toasts, musie, and the roar of can- non to conclude the festivities of the day." Then follows this brief autobiography : " Edmund Porter was born in Haddam, Connecticut, June 18th, 1791, emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1815, married Mary More, September the 2Sth, 1816. Have three children [names and dates of birth]. Com- menced the practice of medieine in this town, June 10th, 1820. Intermitting fever makes its appearance after an absence of twenty years ; has been common along the banks of the Delaware river, and dysenteria interiorly; charcoal pulverized proved a useful adjunct in the latter complaint." confidenee of the public, and as a consequence he was re- warded with a large share of legal business of the county. In 1873 he was appointed, by the Common Council, City Solicitor, and reappointed in April, 1876. In 1874 he was nominated by the Democrats of the city of Lambertville as their candidate for Mayor, and was elected by a large majority. Again, in 1875, he was renominated by the same organization, and re-elected by an increased majority, although the majority of the ticket was defcated. He was. His fondness, already mentioned, for recording meteoro- logical observations, crops out in a paragraph to this effect : " The seasons for five years past have been remarkably dry. The present year, 1823, has thus far been cold and in- clement; frost and ice seen on the 5th and 6th of May. Crops look well, June Ist." In conclusion he adds : " Finder of this document, know that I wrote it to amuse ; if it should afford you any, remember the end of all things,
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elected a third time, in 1876, and still holds the position. IIe has the control of an extensive practice, not only as a business lawyer, but also in litigated cases. He is shrewd and efficient in the management of a case, preparing it thor- oughly, and always brings it before court in the most pre- sentable manner. He was married, May 6th, 1874, to Sadie, daughter of William Scarborough, of New Hope, Pennsyl- vania.
convulsed with laughter that he had well-nigh fallen under his burden into the water." When they arrived in New York, an excellent breakfast was sent him by the father of Washington Irving, who had been informed of his capture and imprisonment. He was a Trustee of the Princeton College twenty-nine years, from 1778 to 1807. In 1800 the honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred on him by Yale College. His preaching was distinguished for substantial excellence, rather than for those qualities which attract and dazzle the multitude; and he was universally and highly esteemed as a pastor, and was in charge of the same flock for fifty-four years. He died in November, 1815.
OE, REV. AZEL, D. D., Revolutionary Patriot, late of Woodbridge, New Jersey, was a native of Long Island, whence he removed to New Jersey for the purpose of becoming a student in Prince- ton College. In 1760 he was licensed by the Presbytery of New York, and two years later was ELVILLE, NICHOLAS, M. D., late of Tren- ton. This eminent physician was born in France in 1752, was educated in that country, and in 1781 emigrated to America. Settling at Trenton, he rapidly acquired a large practice, and in time came to be one of the medical pillars of the State, being constantly sought in consultation, and the favor of studying under his supervision being eagerly solicited by young men desirous of adopting medicine as a profession. His manner was quick and peremptory-occasionally to the hither verge of rudeness-but it was manner only, his nature being kindly to a degree. He was one of the founders (in 1821) of the Hunterdon County Medical So- ciety (Trenton at that time being included within the limits of Hunterdon), and was of that society the first President. When Joseph Bonaparte was resident in Borden- town, he was the regularly appointed physician to the ex- king. His personal character was on a par with his profes- sional standing, his strict integrity, no less than his success as a physician, winning for him the respect and esteem of the community in which for half a century he lived. He died December 17th, 1831, and was buried in the grave- yard of the Presbyterian Church at Trenton. ordained. In 1763 he became pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Woodbridge, New Jersey, afterward connected with Metuchen. During the revolutionary contest he proved his patriotism in many ways and on many occasions. The part of New Jersey in which he resided was constantly annoyed by marauding parties sent out from the British forces stationed at Staten Island. On one occasion a brave Continental captain, who had done great execution in driving off or annoying those predatory bands, was very anxious to attack a party which had encamped near the Blazing Star Ferry, but could not induce his men to follow him. As many of them belonged to his congregation, he determined to bring into action the influence their pastor might possess over the weak and wavering, and ask his assistance. "Accordingly he called and stated his difficulty, and found Mr. Roe more than willing to second his efforts. The good minister accompanied the captain to the place where his men were, and addressed a few words to them, exhorting them to their duty, and enforcing his exhortation by telling them that it, was his purpose to go into the action himself. And into the action he went, every man following readily. But when the bullets began to fly among them, they promised that, if he would keep out of harm's way, they would do the business for the enemy. And seeing that their spirits were sufficiently excited, he did retire, and, as he afterwards acknowledged, very much to his own com- ILLY, JOHN, M. D., late of Lambertville, one of the most eminent physicians of East New Jersey during the first half of the present century, son of Samuel Lilly, Esq., barrister, was born in Staf- fordshire, England, in 1783. His parents emi- grated to America while he was still a child, settling first in the city of New York, subsequently in Albany, and finally in Elizabeth, New Jersey. His father was for several years engaged as a teacher in New York and in Albany; while in the latter city he took holy orders, and was for many years Rector of St. John's Episcopal Church at Elizabeth. While in charge of St. John's, Lord Boling- fort." One night the tories united with the British, and, seizing him while with his family, carried him off as a prisoner to New York, where he was lodged in the famous " Sugar-House." As they were on their way to New York, it was found necessary to ford a small stream. The officer in command, " who seemed to have taken a fancy to Mr. Roe and treated him politely, insisted that the captured minister should allow him to carry him over on his back. When they were about the middle of the stream, Mr. Roe, who relished a joke and was not wanting in ready wit, said to the officer : ' Well, sir, if never before, you can say after this, that you were once priest-ridden.' The officer was so | broke being then a resident of Elizabeth, he performed the
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