The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 117

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

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ITSWORTHI, HON. CALEB S., President Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, of Newark, was born at Metuclien, Middlesex county, New Jer- sey, September 16th, 1826. His father, Abraham D. Titsworth, was engaged in farming and the manufacture of clothing. The lad attended the schools of his native place and remained at home till the age of sixteen, being brought up on the farm. Ile then be- came a pupil at the De Ruyter Institute, Madison county, New York, with the view of preparing for college. IIere he remained for about eighteen months, and subsequently engaged in teaching in the public schools of Middlesex county for about six months, When eighteen years of age he went to Shiloh, Cumberland county, and took charge of the Shiloh Academy. During this latter period he entered his name as a student-at-law in the office, at Bridgeton, of Judge Nixon, now of the United States District Court, and read law during his hours of leisure from teaching. The summer of 1847 he spent at Rutgers Grammar School, New Brunswick, and in the fall of that year entcred the sophomore class of the Union College, then under the charge of the late venerable Dr. Eliphalet Nott. He was graduated therefrom in 1850 as A. B., with high honors. In conse- quence of too ciose application to study his health had by this time become materially impaired, and he determined upon a trip to the South, partly for the purpose of recruiting himself physically, partly for observation, and partly to seek an opening for a career. Gradually he drifted down to Mississippi, where he engaged as classical teacher in Brighton Grammar School, situated about nine miles from Natchez. This institution was then under the charge of a noble old Virginian, John S. Moseley, now deceased. Mr. Titsworth filled this position until March, 1853, when he returned to his father's home, which had been removed to Plainfield, New Jersey, and entered the office of Joseph Annin, in that place, as law student. With him he studicd for a year or two, and then moved to Newark, where he completed his law course in the office of the present Chan-

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cellor Runyon. Admitted to the bar in November, 1855, he worked hard at his profession, and at the same time took an active part in public affairs. He was especially active in the campaign of 1856, and was among the first to aid in the formation in Jersey of the Republican party, of which he has ever since been a staunch and consistent supporter. ITis convictions on the subject of slavery were crystallized and deepened by his residence in the South and his personal experience of the working of the " institution," and he thus naturally became a most pronounced Republican and strongly opposed to the extension of the system to other States. In January, 1866, he was elected City Councillor for the city of Newark, was re-elected in 1867, and con- tinucd to hold the office until appointed Prosecutor of the Pleas for Essex county in March, 1867, when he resigned. IIe prosecuted the county pleas for one term, that is, until 1872, when the politics of the State undergoing a change, he was not reappointed. During his term of office some im- portant trials occurred, which he conducted most success- fully ; indeed, he fulfilled the responsible position with an ability and fidelity highly satisfactory to the community. In 1874 he was elected by the Legislature, in joint conven- tion, under the old constitution, as President Judge of the Court of Common l'leas, and now holds the appointment. He is a Director and counsel for the Merchants' Insurance Company, of Newark, which he was instrumental in organ- izing and has taken great interest in from the beginning. Ile was married in November, 1858, to Fanny C. Grant, daughter of Charles Grant, an old and highly respected resident of Newark. Judge Titsworth is a man of high ability, and adds to his intellectual strength both conscien- tiousness of purpose and dignity of character. In the per- formance of his judicial duties he has displayed a decision and independence of external influences, and a fidelity to personal convictions of right, which have crowned his carecr with the approval of all right-thinking people. In his private life he enjoys the cordial esteem of all who know him, his daily walk and conversation showing him to be one of the manliest and most genial, as well as one of the most upright of men.

AYLOR, WILLIAM JOHNSTON, President of the North Jersey Iron. Company, was born, Janu- ary 5th, 1836, at High Bridge (then called Soli- tude), Hunterdon county, New Jersey. He is a son of Lewis II. Taylor and his wife, Jane C., whose maiden name was Johnston. His family has long resided at High Bridge, his great-grandfather having pursued the manufacture of iron there before the war of the Revolution, acquiring in the vicinity valuable landed estates, with extensive water-power and large deposits of iron orc. A sketch of his father, and also of his

uncle, George W. Taylor, will be found in this work. He received his early education in the schools of his native county, attending subsequently St. Mary's College, at Wil- mington, Delaware. The interval between the time of his leaving school and the attainment of his majority was spent at home in the discharge of clerical duties in the iron works, thus while still a youth familiarizing himself with the hum . bler operations of the business in which he was destined to pass the greater part of his life and achieve the highest dis- tinction. Nevertheless he did not immediately enter upon this business. In 1857 he went to Philadelphia, where he engaged in mercantile pursuits, which he followed until the outbreak of the civil war, when he received the appoint- ment of Sutler to the 3d Regiment of New Jersey Volun- teers, and served in that capacity for about two years. Returning to Philadelphia he became the prime mover in the organization of the Coastwise Steamship Company of Philadelphia. This enterprise, in which he was associated with Mr. E. C. Knight and other well-known merchants and capitalists of Philadelphia, did not in the end prove successful, however, and he turned his attention to the building of ocean steamers. Among the products of his skill in this line was the model propeller known as the " Electric Spark," which was placed on the mail line be- tween New York and New Orleans, and on her second voyage was captured by the notorious "Alabama," a disaster which, in the interest of the stockholders of the ill-fated steamer, he made it his personal business to endeavor to repair, and which, after fighting for the resulting claim step by step before the Alabama Claims Commission, and jeal- ously guarding the interests of the rightful owners against false or imaginary claimants, he has lately had the satis- faction of repairing, by paying over to the stockholders $227,000, the sum awarded by the commission. Though the claim was undoubtedly just, the stockholders clearly realize, in view of the endless slips between the cup of the best claim and the lip of the claimant, that they have only him to thank for their ultimate indemnification. In 1866 he returned to High Bridge and regularly entered upon his destined vocation, taking charge at once of the iron works, which in 1868 were incorporated as " The Taylor Iron Works," having been enlarged and a cam-wheel foundry and machine-shop added in the course of the two previous years. The capital of the company was then $350,000, but in 1871 the capital was increased and the works were enlarged to their present capacity, which is probably greater than that of any other establishment of the kind in the country. Its specialty is the manufacture of cam-wheels, car-axles, and car and locomotive forgings. He continued in charge of the works until 1875, when he resigned his position as Treasurer and General Manager, to accept that of President and Treasurer of the Union Iron Company, now known as the North Jersey Iron Company, which he was chiefly in- strumental in organizing. This company, having a capital stock of $300,000, is largely engaged in the mining and

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smelting of ores in Morris county, its principal mines being | he is held by his fellow-Senators appears in the number of near Chester, and its furnace at Port Oram, the present northern terminus of the High Bridge Railroad. Besides his efficient services as the head of the company, he has in- vented a furnace for roasting the sulphurous ores of New Jersey, whereby the sulphur is separated from the ore, an invention that bids fair to revolutionize, in a considerable measure, the iron manufacturing business of the State, and which certainly shows, in connection with his successful administration, that as the chief of an iron company he is the right man in the right place. In conjunction with his father he originated the High Bridge Railroad, both having been officially connected with it until it was completed and passed over to the New Jersey Central. The High Bridge road was chartered in 1872, and completed in 1876. It forms the main outlet for the iron mines of Morris county ; and, notwithstanding the depression of the times since its completion, its freight business has quite exceeded expecta- tion, and with a return of prosperity to the iron interest will no doubt prove one of the best paying roads in the State. The prominent part he took in constructing it entitles him to the lasting gratitude of the great interest of which he is so worthy and distinguished a representative. IIc has been twice married : in 1858, to Ellen Knight, of Philadelphia, who died in 1865; and, in 1868, to Mary Alward, of Au- burn, New Jersey.

ILVERTHORN, HON. WILLIAM, of Belvidere, was born in 1823, in Warren county, New Jersey. He is a son of Daniel Silverthorn, a farmer of Warren. His family are of German descent, and among the old residents of that section of the State. Ile was cducated in the public schools of his native county, after leaving which he engaged in agricultural pursuits until he was twenty-five years of age, when he embarked in the business of a drover and stock- dealer, which he has conducted with steadily increasing success until it has grown to be very extensive. The energy, ability and integrity which he displayed as a busi- ness man soon gave him prominence in the community, and led him into the public service, for which he at once proved his fitness, and in which, accordingly, with scarcely an interruption, he has since continued. In 1858 he was elected Collector for Warren county, filling the position until 1861. He held the office of Treasurer of the Borough of Bel- videre for one year. He has also been a member of the Town Council of Belvidere. In 1869 he was elected a member of the State Assembly, and re-elected in 1871 and 1872, each time without opposition, the Republican party making no nominations. In 1875 he was elected to the State Senate, of which he is still a member, ranking among the ablest and most trusted of the body, as he is certainly among the most diligent, vigilant and faithful. The high estimation in which

responsible and laborious positions to which they have as- signed him in the business of legislation, including the Chairmanship of the Committee on Corporations, the Com- mittee on Miscellaneous Bills, the Committee on Industrial Schools for Girls, and the Committee on Soldiers' Chil- dren's Home. He is, besides, a member of the Committee on Municipal Corporations, and of various other important committees. When it is considered that he is not a lawyer, that he has had no special intellectual training, and that he entered the Senate without any legislative experience, save that acquired in three short terms of service in the Assembly, these positions, conferred on him by his colleagues, speak significantly, it must be owned, of the strength and quick- ness of his understanding, as well as of his sterling moral qualities. He is in truth a man of strong and penetrating common sense, a faculty which, when reinforced by a sound moral sense, is capable of dealing successfully, at pretty short notice, with most of the problems of business and of life. In politics he is a Democrat, and a staunch and true one, abiding tranquilly by the Democratic prin- ciples and the Democratic organization alike through evil and through good report, and exhibiting neither bitterness in the long night of defeat nor vindictiveness in the break- ing day of triumph. He not only believes in his party, but is proud of it; and his party, as all must allow, has reason to be proud of him. Ile was married, in 1847, to Miss Pipher, daughter of Peter Pipher, of Pennsylvania.

ONDY, JOSEPH IIARRISON, M. D., Physician, of Jersey City, was born, October 9th, 1829, in the Province of New Brunswick, Dominion of Canada, and is a son of Thomas and Margaret (Biggs) Vondy. His father, a native of the Isle of Man, was engaged in mercantile pursuits, but retired from business some years ago; and his mother, at the time of her marriage to his father, was a widow-Mrs. Margaret (Biggs) McCullum. His early education he re- ceived at a private school, after which he attended a grammar school in the town of Chatham, New Brunswick. Having determined upon entering the medical profession, he entered the office of Dr. K. B. Forbes, in that town, where he pursued his studies for a year, and in the autumn of 1848 went to New York city, where he matriculated at the university of that city. After attending the usual pre- scribed courses of lectures, delivered in that institution, lie graduated therefrom in the spring of 1851. In the follow- ing month of June lie established himself at Jersey City, where he commenced practice, and where he has since re- sided. Ilis success has been an assured one from the first, and he ranks among the leading practitioners of the city. Hle is a member of the District Medical Society of Iludson

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county, and has been a delegate to the American Medical | In April, 1861, he was appointed, by President Lincoln, Association. Since the organization, by Drs. Hunt and Morris and himself, of the Jersey City Charity Hospital, in 1868, he has been a member of its medical staff; and has also filled a similar position in the Hudson County Church Ilospital. He was married, in 1853, to Mrs. J. T. Gilbert, nee Merritt Wilson, of New York city.

EASBEY, ANTIIONY Q., of Newark, Lawyer and United States District Attorney for the Dis- trict of New Jersey, was born, March Ist, IS24, in Salem, New Jersey. His ancestors were among the earliest settlers of Salem county, the capital of which, Salem, was the first place settled in West Jerscy, having been founded in 1675 by John Fen. wick, the English Quaker, who then claimed authority as chief proprietor over that section of the province Edward Keasbey, the great-grandfather of the subject of this sketch, bore a prominent part in the public affairs of New Jersey during the period that ushered in the war of independence. In November, 1763, he " was returned a representative to serve in the General Assembly for the colonies of Salem and Cumberland," in which capacity he served until 1769. IIe was elected one of the Deputies for Salem to the Pro- vincial Congress, which assembled at Trenton in October, 1775, and attended the session of that Congress held at New Brunswick in 1776, at which a State constitution was adopted, the Statehood of New Jersey and the nationality of the United Colonies dating from the same year. In 1778 he was appointed a member of the Council of Safety. His son, Anthony Keasbey, was for a long time Clerk of the county of Salem, and from 1798 to 1801 represented that county in the General Assembly. The father of the present subject, Edward Q. Keasbey, born in 1793, was a physician, having studied with Dr. Philip Physick, of Phil- adelphia, and been engaged in active practice until his death, in 1847. His learning, however, extended beyond the bounds of his profession, as did his training and ac- tivity; insomuch that, February 27th, 1840, he was ap- pointed a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and in 1844 was chosen a Presidential Elector by the Whigs, of whose pecrless leader, Henry Clay, he was a strong sup- porter. He resided all his life in Salem. Anthony Q. Keasbey, the son, was graduated at Yale College in 1843, and shortly afterwards began the study of law, studying with Francis I. McCulloch, in Salem, and subsequently with Cortlandt Parker, in Newark. He was admitted to the bar in October, 1846, and began the practice of the law in Salem, where he pursued it until 1852, at which time he removed to Newark, and in 1855 entered into partnership with Cortlandt Parker, his former preceptor, the firm, which was the first formed in the State after the passage of the law authorizing legal partnerships, continuing for twenty years. , direction of Rev. Dr. Macwhorter. After remaining there

United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, and in April, 1865, reappointed; but, his new commission not having been signed at Mr. Lincoln's death, he was provis- ionally appointed by President Johnson till the next session of the Senate, when, in 1866, he was regularly appointed, being reappointed by President Grant in 1870, and again in 1874. Ile has thus held the office continuously since the spring of 1861, a period of unbroken incumbency longer than that of any other United States district attorney in the Union. Of his fidelity as an officer and his ability as a lawyer no clearer or stronger proof than this record could be asked. It is a testimonial, so to speak, of his official, professional and personal merit, signed by the President and Senate of the United States, and countersigned by the bar of the State. After the dissolution of his long partner- ship with Mr. Parker he associated with him in the practice of the law his two sons, Edward Q. and .. George M., under the style of A. Q. Keasbey & Sons, and this connection now subsists. He is a man of polite attainments, it should be said, as well as of professional learning, adding to distin- guished legal abilities and acquirements the culture and tastes of the scholar. IIis wife is the daughter of the Hon. Jacob W. Miller, for two consecutive terms a representa- tive of New Jersey in the Senate of the United States.

OD, REV. THADDEUS, Presbyterian Minister, of Cross Creek, was born near Newark, New Jerscy, March 7th, 1740 (o. s.), and was the son of Stephen Dod. He spent his youthful days in Mendham, whence his father, who was a native of Guilford, Connecticut, had removed from Newark. From early childhood he had strong religious impressions, and the private record of his exercises through a series of ycars shows that he was the subject of. almost constant internal conflicts, until 1764, when he believed that he experienced a decisive change of character. In the course of the following year he was admitted to the com- inunion of the church in Mendham. At a very early period " he began to develop an extraordinary taste and talent for mathematics," and was earnestly desirous of obtaining a collegiate education; but the straitened circumstances of his father forbade the expectation of it, except as it should be accomplished through his own efforts. By teaching school at different times, and studying in leisure hours, he at length succeeded in fitting himself to enter college and in acquir- ing the means of meeting his expenses there. In the spring of 1771 he joined the sophomore class of the College of New Jersey, and was graduated in the fall of 1773, under the presidency of Dr. Witherspoon. He subscquently settled in Newark, and entered on the study of theology under the

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about one year he removed to Morristown, where he con- | left his brothers, and, crossing the mountains alone, pro- ceeded to Ten Milc, where he preached in the forts and baptized the children. After his return he remained at Patterson's creek for nearly two years, during which time he was employed in preaching there, and in the adjacent counties in Virginia and Maryland, where, it would seem, no churches had yet been organized. IIis labors in this field were attended with a manifest blessing, and when he was about to leave, a vigorous effort was made to retain him, and a much better support offered than he could ex- pect at Ten Mile; " but he could not be diverted from his purpose." In September, 1779, accordingly, he, with his family, proceeded on his way, and crossed the mountains on pack-horses. On reaching the place of his destination " he found a dark and forbidding state of things," yet entered upon his labors with great zeal and self-denial. August 15th, 1781, he organized a church consisting of twenty-five members. The first administration of the Lord's Supper was in a barn, in May, 1783, and the first house of worship was erected in the summer of 1785. As he " had an exquisite taste for music, and withal was well acquainted with it as a science, he caused special attention to be given to the performance of that part of public wor- ship." He was specially attentive to the interests of edu- cation, frequently visiting schools and counselling and encouraging the teachers; and in the spring of 1782 opened a classical and mathematical school. September 24th, 1787, in conjunction with Messrs. Smith and McMillan, he instituted an academy at Washington, Pennsylvania, and secured a charter for it. At the fall meeting of presbytery he was appointed to preach at Cross Creek, and accepted that charge. He died May 20th, 1793. Says Rev. Dr. Eliot : "As an academy, it soon acquired distinction by having for its first president the Rev. Thaddeus Dod, one of the early literary pioneers of western Pennsylvania." tinued his studies under Rev. Timothy Johnes, who had been his first teacher in Latin. In 1775 he was licensed to preach by the New York Presbytery. In the winter of 1776-77 he was prostrated by a severe attack of inflamma- tory rheumatism ; but in March, though still unable to dress himself without assistance, he resolved on making a tour to the West. After preaching in parts of Virginia and Mary- land, he crossed the mountains and visited the settlements of George's Creek, Muddy Creek and Dunlap's Creek, thence proceeding to Ten Mile. As there were at the latter place a number of families who had removed from Morris county, "it is not improbable that they had invited him to visit them, and that his journey was undertaken with special reference to that purpose." This emigration had taken place about the year 1773, when there had been for several years peace with the Indian tribes ; but by a fresh outbreak, in the spring of 1774, these people were driven back, and took refuge in a fort near Monongahela river. The next year they returned and built a fort, to which they could resort in time of danger. In the summer season, for several years, they were compelled frequently to remain together in the defences, the men going out in armed parties to work on their farms; and in the winter, when the Indians had retired to their wigwams and hunting-grounds, they returned to their habitations. Such was the state of things when he went among them; and as they were his old friends, and some of them associates with him in the scenes of an interesting revival in New Jersey, in 1764, the meeting must have been, on both sides, one of uncommon interest. The frequent in- eursions of the savages, however, had put a stop to immi- gration, and prevented the increase of their numbers, and consequently delayed what was ardently desired, the estab- lishment of a church and the administration of its ordi- nances among them. After preaching for some time in that comparatively desolate region, he returned to New Jersey in August, 1777. The people at Ten Mile during his sojourn there expressed a strong desire that he should take up his residence among them as their minister ; and though there were not more than ten men within their bounds ARDENBERGH, HON. AUGUSTUS A., Mem- ber of Congress, of Jersey City, was born in that city, May 18th, 1830. He is a son of the late Cornelius L. Hardenbergh, LL. D., of New Brunswick, who was during his lifetime a lead- ing member of the New Jersey bar, and for many years prominently connected with Rutgers College, of which institution Rev. J. R. Hardenbergh, D. D., another of his distinguished ancestors, was the first president and founder. Augustus entered Rutgers in 1844, but continued in college only one year, the failing health and sight of his father rendering the son's assistance as amanuensis neecs- sary. Two years later he entered a counting-house in New York, and took up his residence in Jersey City. In IS52 he became connected with the Hudson County Bank, and who were professors of religion, and not one man of wealth among them all, they unanimously agreed to support him and his family, if he would cast in his lot with them. He ultimately yielded to their wishes, and was ordained ac- eordingly by the Presbytery of New York, sine titulo, in October, 1777, with a view to finding his home in that then wild part of the country. He then left New Jersey, with his family and also two of his brothers, to carry out his purpose in regard to an ultimate settlement. By the 10th of November they had arrived at Patterson's creek, in Hampshire county, Virginia ; but hearing while there of an attack by the Indians on the fort at Wheeling, and of the consequent confusion and terror prevailing throughout the West, they deemed it imprudent to proceed farther at that time. But after remaining a few days with his family, he in 1858 was appointed its Cashier. For some years pre-

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 117

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