The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 124

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

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sonal views he announced on the occasion being acceptable to both parties, he was triumphantly elected, his vote' ex- ceeding the party strength. In the Presidential canvas's of 1876, however, he deemed it his duty to support Mr. Hayes as against Mr. Tilden. What effect this step will have on his political connections hereafter remains to be seen. He is evidently a man with whom party ties are less strong than personal convictions, and whose personal convictions, more- over, are formed with perfect independence. His services to the city of his adoption have been long-continued, con- stant and effective. Since the organization of the first city government in Newark in 1836, he has bech prominently identified with nearly all the improvements that have tended to make it so prosperous and beautiful a city, raising it from a population of fifteen thousand at the date of its municipal organization, to one of over a hundred and forty thousand. He may without vanity claim to share with Themistocles in the boast, that although he " never learned how to tune a harp or play upon a lute," he knows " how to raise a small and inconsiderable city to glory and greatness." He has made two visits to Europe, during which he travelled over the whole continent, observing as well as enjoying keenly, and turning his travels to rich account as a source of knowl- edge not less than of healthful pleasure. In person he is well-proportioned, erect, and active, with a large head and face, high, broad, and full brow, small, clear eyes, a mouth expressive of resolution and decision, and manners cour- teous and genial. He looks the refined and ready man lie is,

AMBERT, HON. JOHN, one of the most distin- guished citizens of New Jersey during the latter part of the past and the early part of the present century, was born in 1746, in the township of Amwell, New Jersey. His father's name was Gershom, and his mother's Sarah Merriani. His grandfather was John Lambert, who married Abigail Bum- stead in 1713. The subject of this sketch cultivated a large tract of land in his native town, where he lived a long and useful life. For many years he was a member of the New Jersey Council, the higher branch of the State Legislature, in which body he ably served the interests of his section and constituents. From 1795 to 1800 he was Vice-Presi- dent of that body, and during the years 1802 and 1803 he performed with vigorous efficiency the dutics of Acting Governor of the State. He was a representative in Con- gress from New Jersey from 1805 to 1809, and from 180g to 1815 was an influential member of the United States Senate. He was married in 1765 to Susannah Barber; by whom he had seven children. His second wife was Han- nah Dennis (nee Little), by whom he had six children, the oldest of whom was Jerusha (married Abraham Holmes), and the next in age, Merriam, who married James Seabrook.

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Merriam and James were the parents of Mary Hannah { lege with his class, but received his degree of Bachelor of Seabrook, the wife of Ashbel Welch, Esq., of Lambertville. John Lambert was a devoted lover of literature, and was especially familiar with the English classics. He owned the best library in Hunterdon county, which at that time included within its limits the city of Trenton. He was a man of great decision of character, and thoroughly honest and outspoken, even in those days of extreme party bitter- ness. He died on the 4th of February, 1823, aged seventy- seven.

NAPP, HON. MANNING M., Lawyer, and Jus- tice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, was born about 1823 in Bergen county, New Jersey. After receiving a liberal education he prepared for the New Jersey bar, to which he was admitted during the July teim, 1846, and was made coun- sellor in 1850. He acquired an extensive practice in the courts of New Jersey, and in 1875 he was appointed by Governor Bedle one of the Justices of the Supreme Court for a term of seven years. In this conspicuous and trying position he has fully sustained his previous reputation as a man of fine legal attainments.

ICHARDS, REV. JAMES, D. D., formerly Pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Newark, New Jersey, was born at New Canaan, Connecticut, October 29th, 1767. He was the son of James Richards, a farmer of excellent character, and a descendant of Samuel Richards, who came to this country from Wales during the reign of Queen Anne; his mother's maiden name was Ruth Hanford. When but thirteen years of age, he undertook the charge of a common district school, and managed its affairs with such success as to secure the offer of the same post for a second term. It

was his early wish " to obtain a public education ;" but as his father was not in a condition to encourage and sustain the project, he apprenticed himself, at the age of fifteen, to the business of cabinet and chair-making, together with house-painting, and labored for a short time in a cabinet- maker's shop in the city of New York. He united with the church in Stamford, Connecticut, September 17th, 1786, and immediately began to look forward with strong desires to the work of the Christian ministry. With many dis- couragements and interruptions, he completed his prepara- tory studies through the assistance of two excellent female relatives, and entered Vale College in 1789. But at the close of his freshman year his studies were interrupted, first by want of pecuniary means, which compelled him to leave college, and afterward by severe illness; so that, although his diligence and perseverance overcame the obstacles in the way of a private education, he did not go through col-

Arts out of course, in 1794. In 1793 he was licensed to preach the gospel by an association in Fairfield county, Connecticut, and having labored for a time in Wilton, Ballaston, Shelter Island, and Sag Harbor, he commenced the work of the ministry in Morristown, in June, 1794, and was ordained as pastor of the church in that place, by the Presbytery of New York, May Ist, 1795. Dr. Macwhorter preached the ordination sermon, Dr. Rodgers presided, and Rev. Mr. Austin gave the charge to the people. His ministry there was signally successful ; and in three memor- able instances his labors were attended with peculiar mani. festations of divine influence, in 1791, in 1803-4, and in 1808. Urgent applications were then made to him, after the removal of Dr. Griffin, to take charge of the church in Newark, New Jersey; and when a call was unanimously offered him, the path of wisdom and duty seemed plain, and, with the consent and approbation of the presbytery, he accepted it, and his connection with the church in Morris- town was dissolved, He was installed at Newark, June 7th, 1809. Dr. Romeyn, of New York, preached the ser- mon, Dr. Rowe presided and gave the charge, and Dr. Miller, of Princeton, delivered the exhortation to the pcoplc. November 14th, 1809, the Presbytery of New York, with which this church had been connected ever since its forma- tion in 1738, was divided into two by erecting a portion of its churches into a new presbytery bearing the old name, and changing the name of the remaining portion, of which this church was one, into the " Presbytery of Jersey." Its first meeting under the new arrangement was held in Morris- town, April 24th, 1810. The First Church had been, hitherto, during nearly a century and a half, the only Prcs- byterian church in Newark, except those of Orange and Bloomfield, which had now become separate towns. But the time had come when the need of greater facilities for the accommodation of a large and growing population was manifest to all. In the spring of 1809, accordingly, the business of church extension was entered upon with com- mendable zeal and enterprise. The whole transaction, which resulted in the establishment of the Second Presby- terian Church of Newark, took place with his entire appro- bation, and was forwarded also by his active assistance. At the service of organization he delivered an address on the words, " Let brotherly love continue." For a time the two pastors exercised a sort of joint ministry in the two congre- gations, officiating in each other's pulpit in the afternoon of every Sabbath. During his ministry, the first Sabbath- school in the congregation was established, under the superintendency of Moses Lyon, and held its meetings, for a brief period, in the gallery of the church. The first lecture-room, a low brick building, was erected in. IS13. His ministry, especially its early part, was notably fruitful in conversions. Between the years 1812 and IS13 there was a very desirable revival of God's work ; and in 1816-17 occurred a remarkable season, whose fruits were, in nine

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months, one hundred and thirty-five, of whom sixty-nine | prepared the way for the railroad and the canal, but took were added to the church at one time. When he first took charge of the congregation, the number of communicants was about five hundred and thirty; and, in the course of fourteen years, five hundred and fifty-six were added thereto, three hundred and thirty-two by profession, and two hundred and twenty-seven by certificate; making in all one thousand and eighty-six to whom, in the course of that period, he statedly administered the sacred ordinances. Under him, the church contained the largest number of communicants that ever belonged to it at one time, viz., about seven hun- dred, and that notwithstanding the dismission of the large colony that united in the formation of the Second Church. But Providence had now other work for him to perform, in another and still more responsible station. By his constant devotion to study, he had made large attainments in theo- logical knowledge; and by his careful and discreet manage- ment of affairs intrusted to him, public and private, had acquired a reputation which marked him as one of the first men in the church, in respect to qualifications for the head of a theological institution. In the autumn of 1823, accordingly, having been a second time solicited to take the Professorship of Theology in Auburn Theological Semi- nary, he accepted the appointment, and, having resigned his charge in Newark, was inaugurated to that office, October 29th, 1823. Ile took charge of that institution when it was suffering under great embarrassments, and left it in a strong and prosperous condition. He died August 2d, 1843, in the seventy-sixth year of his age. He pub- lished several lectures and sermons. His successor at Newark was Rev. William T. Hamilton.

ISH, BENJAMIN, of Trenton, was born Novem- ber 15th, 1785, in what was then Trenton town- ship, in Hunterdon county, but in the course of the mutations of almost a century has become Ewing township, in the county of Mercer. His father, whose Christian name he bears, was a farmer, on whose farm he spent the early years of his life, acquiring the ordinary education furnished by the common schools of that remote day. In the spring of 1808 he took up his residence in Trenton, where, with the stability char- acteristic of a strong mind in a strong body, he has resided ever since, a period in itself equalling the span of human life as defined by the Psalmist. During the war of 1812 he took in hand the business of forwarding merchandise and munitions of war across the State from Trenton to New Brunswick, continuing it, with the necessary changes, after the close of the war, at the same time instituting a new forwarding line, by vessels and steamboats, from Trenton to Philadelphia. He merits the distinction of being re- garded as one of the pioncers of transportation in this country. Nor was he a pioneer merely, for he not only

the lead in preparing those modern courses of intercom- munication themselves. He was one of the projectors and incorporators of the Camden & Amboy Railroad, and of the Delaware and Raritan Canal, as also a member of the first Board of Directors, and, for that matter, of every sub- sequent board, he having served as a Director until the property was leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad, and formed, as he still forms, one of the new board under the new organization. The work on the Camden & Amboy Railroad, it may be stated, was begun in 1830, and com- pleted in about two years and a half, while the Delaware and Raritan Canal was not completed till some time later. He has been a Director of the Trenton Banking Company for over forty years. He is President of the Freehold & Jamesburg Railroad, and a Director of the other roads belonging to the United Company of New Jersey. Previous to the building of railroads in this country, he, like Commo- dore Vanderbilt, was largely interested in steamboats and stages, though afterwards, like the commodore again, he transferred his energies and his capital to the new means of locomotion. In 1833 and 1834, he was a member of the New Jersey Legislature, showing in that position the sagacity and public spirit which have marked his entire career, to the vast and manifold advantage of the common- wealth. His life, indeed, has been one of unswerving devotion to the best interests of New Jersey, as well as of unintermitting activity. Although now in his ninety- third year, he is still a hale man, in the full possession of his faculties, and retaining a vivid recollection, at once comprehensive and minute, of the history of those great public improvements with which he has been so closely and thoroughly identified. It is an occasion of just regret that this sketch cannot be enriched with some account of his personal habits, in respect to diet, exercise, rest, etc., whereby, in a measure at least, it may be presumed, his life has been thus remarkably prolonged. Autopsy is properly regarded as a source of much information important to the preservation of human life, but on this topic such a man living could afford more information of value than scores of dead men; his autobiography would be worth a hundred autopsies. He was married in 1812, and has two children living, one a son, A. I. Fisli, Esq., of Philadelphia, the other a daughter, married to John C. Chambers, Esq., of Trenton.

AYLEY, JAMES ROOSEVELT, Archbishop of the Province of Baltimore, was born in New York, in 1814, and brought up in the faith of the Protestant Episcopal Church. He received his college education at Trinity (then Washington) College. He was graduated in 1836, and having determined to become a clergyman, he became a student

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of theology with Dr. S. F. Jarvis, at Middletown, Con- necticut. After his ordination he was assigned to a parish at Harlem, where he remained until called to a pastoral charge in western New York. From there he moved to Hagerstown, Maryland, where he was some time rector of a church. In the meantime his religious views having undergone a gradual change, he finally decided to adopt the Roman Catholic faith. With this view he resigned his position in the Protestant Episcopal Church, and entered St. Sulpice College, Paris, where he pursued the necessary preliminary course of study. From Paris he returned to this country and completed his studies at the Ecclesiastical Seminary at St. John's, Fordham, New York. On the 2d of March, 1842, he was ordained priest by Bishop Hughes, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York. For a time he officiated as parish priest on Staten Island, from whence he was called to act as Secretary to Archbishop Hughes. His rise in church was rapid. He was appointed Professor of Belles-Lettres at St. John's College, Fordham, New York, and subsequently became Vice-President and acting Presi- dent of that institution. When the college was transferred to the Jesuit Fathers, the Rev. Mr. Bayley was made Chan- cellor of the Archdiocese. Ile held this position until 1853, when, at the recommendation of Archbishop Hughes and his suffragans, the Pope appointed him Bishop of the new see of Newark. He was the first bishop of the diocese which was erected from the old diocese of New York, and included all the State of New Jersey. He was consecrated in St. Patrick's Cathedral, New York, on the 30th October, 1853, by the Most Reverend Cajetan Bedini, afterward Cardinal, who was on an apostolic visit to this country. The ceremonies of consecration were of the most imposing character, all the bishops of the archdiocese, including the Rt. Rev. Bishop Rappe, of Cleveland, Ohio, and the Rt. Rev. Bishop McCloskey, assisting. His presenters were the Rt. Rev. Bishops Fitzpatrick, O'Reilly and Timon. The sermon was preached by Archbishop Hughes. The new bishop at once entered upon his duties and labors in New Jersey, and during the nineteen years of his adminis- tration he devoted his personal attention to the elevation and advancement of its affairs. He may be truly said to have created one of the most prosperous and flourishing dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States. During his administration he founded Seton Hall College, at Orange; the Academies of the Sisters of Charity at Madison, and the Houses of the Brothers of the Christian Schools at Newark and at Jersey City. He built many large and beautiful churches throughout the State, and introduced into his diocese a priory of Benedictine monks in Newark, and a convent of Benedictine nuns at Elizabeth, the Convent of the Passionists of St. Michael's, at West Hoboken, and the Jesuits' establishment at St. Peter's, Jersey City. On the 30th of July, 1872, Bishop Bayley was elevated to the Archidiocese of Baltimore (to succeed Arch- bishop Spaulding, deceased) by a papal bull signed on that

day. The decree reached Archbishop Bayley on the 25th of August, and two months later he had severed his official relations with the see of Newark, where he had labored so long and well, and began the work in the new field to which he was called, and where he still remains. The Archbishop " has written much, but published little." Among his . printed works are a "Sketch of the Early History of the Catholic Church on the Island of New York," written while he was Secretary of the Diocese of New York, a " Biography of Bishop Brute," of Vincennes, Indiana, and " Pastorals for the People," dealing mainly with the subject of temperance, for which he has always been an earnest advocate and worker. He is also known to the general public as a popular lecturer, in which capacity he has addressed audiences in several of our eastern cities and towns.

UTKINS, ALFRED A., M. D., of Jersey City, was born in New York city, in October, 1826. His father, Stephen H. Lutkins, was a native of New Jersey, and for many years held the position of magistrate in New York ; his mother was Eliza La Rue. The family moved to Jersey City when Alfred was two years old, and it was here that the lad obtained his early education. Destined for the profession of medicine, he matriculated at the University of New York in 1846, and after taking two courses of lectures he was licensed by the New Jersey State Medical Association, having, as a preliminary, passed the required examination before its Board of Censors in May, 1848. On receiving his diploma, he commenced practice in Jersey City, where he has since been constantly engaged in the active duties of his profession, and has built up a most extensive and suc- cessful practice. An earnest student, and thoroughly in love with his profession, he has kept himself well abreast with medical progress, and is highly esteemed by his brethren as a well-read and eminently efficient physician, so much so that his services are frequently called in con- sultations. He has been a member of the District Medical Society of Hudson county for many years, and was Presi- dent of that body in 1873. Since the organization of the Jersey City Charity Hospital, he has been a member of its medical staff, and he is also connected with the Hudson County Hospital. For five years he was City Physician of Jersey City, and during his term of office the duties and responsibilities were exceptionally heavy, owing to the prevalence of the well-remembered cholera epidemic. While a public-spirited citizen, discharging faithfully his duties to the community, he has not suffered his attention to be drawn beyond his profession, devoting himself to its service, and being content to find his rewards therein. He married Julia Demotte, of Hudson county, New Jersey.

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CIIULTZE, GENERAL JOHN, State Senator, in all its engagements. At Chancellorsville and Frederick? burg his gallantry was especially conspicuous, and in the latter battle he was severely wounded. Soon after the Chancellorsville fight, General Couch was assigned to the Department of the Susquehanna, and at the same time Colonel Schultze was made Adjutant-General of the Dc- partment of Pennsylvania, a position that he retained until after the battle of Gettysburg. During the remainder of the war he served in this department, being promoted to be Brigadier-General in 1864, and in 1865 receiving the brevet of Major-General. The war being ended, he resigned his commission, and the resignation was accepted in May, 1866. Upon returning to civil life he became, and has since con- tinued to be, the business agent of Mr. James Brown, of New York, in the charge of varied properties of that gentle- man in New Jersey, including tracts of land in Ocean county aggregating twenty-five thousand acres; several slate quarries; a large iron mill; extensive mining opera- tions; and important interests in a number of feeder and main lines of railway. The management of this great and heterogeneous trust necessarily implies the possession on the part of the trustee of business tact and ability of the highest order. Since assuming its duties he has resided in Man- chester. On his own account he conducts a manufactory of gunny cloth, and is also prominently connected with various leading corporations. As his war record implies, he is an earnest member of the Republican party, and since he has been a resident of New Jersey he has taken an active part in State politics. In 1872 he was elected a member of the Assembly, and in 1873 refused a renomination, as he was desirous of visiting Europe. Having returned to America, he was elected, in 1874, a member of the State Senate, and still (1877) retains his seat in that body. A request to be congressional candidate for his district, with the certainty of election, he was compelled to refuse, the requirements of his very extensive business preventing him from accepting the offer. In the State Legislature he has served on several of the leading committees, and both in committee and in debate has displayed a broad knowledge of the principles of good government, and a remarkable faculty of reducing his principles to practice-qualities which, in a modified form, have been no less conspicuous in his brilliant military and business career. Manchester, Ocean county, a grandson of Henry Frederick William Schultze, some time a member of the Prussian diplomatic service, one of the commissioners appointed to determine the boun- dary between Prussia and Russia, and, during the latter part of his life, President of the University of Halle, and son of H. F. W. Schultze, who immigrated to America in 1815, settled in Centre county, Pennsylvania, and there married Sarah Watson, a descendant of the Williamson family, members of which were among the early settlers of the Cumberland valley, and were also distinguished in the war of the Revolution, was born in Centre county, Septem- ber Ist, 1836. Having received a liberal education, begun in the public schools of his native county, continued at the Lock Haven Academy, and ended at Dickinson Seminary, Williamsport, he engaged in the manufacture of iron, and was in a short time made Superintendent of the Millhall Iron Works and Washington Iron Works in Clinton county. From 1855 to 1858 he was Superintendent of the Roaring Creek Iron Works, the output of the works being anthracite pig- iron, and in the latter year was appointed General Super- intendent of the works of the Farrondale Iron and Coal Company, a corporation engaged in the manufacture of boiler iron and of fire-brick, and also extensively engaged in mining and shipping bituminous coal. While conduct- ing this general business for the company, he also conducted a considerable trade in lumber on his own account. Thus employed, he remained until 1861. In August of that year, when the second call for troops was issued, and it had become evident that not a mere mutiny had occurred in a single Southern State, but that the whole South had risen in rebellion, he relinquished his profitable and well-established business and entered the United States volunteer army. Of the company recruited among his own and the Farron- dale employés, he was commissioned First Lieutenant, and the command was assigned to the Fourteenth (subsequently the Ninety-third) Pennsylvania Regiment. In all the hard fighting during the Peninsula campaign he took an active part, and while serving for a considerable period on the staff of General Couch (in charge of the transportation of material) he always managed to be with his regiment when it was ordered into action. During the campaign he was three times wounded-at Williamsburg, at Fair Oaks, and at Malvern Hill. After the army was withdrawn from the Peninsula, he took part in the battles of Chantilly and second Bull Run, and served through the Maryland cam- AYLOR, HON. JOHN W., Lawyer, of Newark, was born at Buckland, Massachusetts, about 1830, and was educated in that State. Like so many young men, in New England especially, he spent the years of his earlier manhood in teaching, first in his native State, and then at Morristown, New Jersey. He studied law with ex-Vice-Chancellor Dodd, was admitted to the bar in 1857, and began practice in paign that terminated in the battle of Antietam. Imme- diately after Williamsburg he was raised two grades at a step, being promoted from Lieutenant to be Major, and shortly after Antietam he was promoted to be Lieutenant- Colonel. On receiving this latter promotion he was again attached to the staff of General Couch, as Chief Quarter- master of the Second Army Corps; but, as before, his con- nection with his regiment was not severed, and he took part Newark. Always taking an active part in public affairs,

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 124

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