The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 126

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

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OORHEES, CHARLES HOLBERT, M. D., of New Brunswick, New Jersey, descended from emigrants to America from Holland in 1670, a grandson of David Voorhees, a soldier in the Con- tinental army during the revolutionary war, and a son of the late Ira C. Voorhees, Esq., was born in New Brunswick, August 3d, 1824. After a creditable course at the well-known Rutgers College Grammar School, he entered the Jefferson Medical College, at Philadelphia, and from that institution received in the spring of 1850 his de- gree of M. D. Immediately upon graduation he entered upon the practice of his profession in his native town, and, save during a temporary sojourn in Plainfield, and during the late war, has since remained established there, in the enjoyment of a constantly increasing practice and the esteem of his townsmen. In his profession his standing is of the best. For a number of years he has been a prominent

HAPMAN, REV. ROBERT HETT, D. D., Pas- tor of the Presbyterian Church at Rahway, Presi- dent of the University of North Carolina, late of Winchester, Virginia, was born in Orange, New Jersey, March 2d (or 5th), 1771, both dates being given in "The Chapman Family." He was a descendant, in the seventh generation, of Robert Chapman, who was born at Hull, England, in 1616, and came to Boston in 1635, settling eventually at Saybrook, Connecti- cut, in April, 1642; his son, Robert, had a son, Robert, who was one of the first settlers of East IIaddam, Connecti- cut ; he was the father of Robert the fourth, and the grand- father of Jedidiah, of Orange, New Jersey, who was born at East Haddam, Connecticut, September 27th, 1741, and died at Geneva, New York, May 22d, 1813. Robert Hett

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was the second son of Rev. Jedidiah Chapman and Blanche Smith, and graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1789, in the same class with David Hosack, Mahlon Dickerson, Isaac Pierson and Silas Wood. After a full course of theo- logical study he was licensed to preach by the Presbytery of New York, October 3d, 1793. ' In the winter of 1794-95 he visited the Southern States on a missionary tour, and on his return supplied for a time the newly organ- ized church of Wardsesson (Bloomfield), New Jersey. The call from Rahway was laid before the presbytery October 12th, 1796, and was accepted. The ordination and instal- lation took place January 5th, 1797; and among those present were Rev. Messrs. Woodruff, Roe, Chapman, Austin, Fish, Hillyer, Condict, Cook, Richards, Armstrong and Force. Mr. Hillyer preached, Mr. Chapman presided, and Mr. Condict gave the exhortation to the people. His first pastorale was short, since, October 2d, 1799, he was dis- missed for want of adequate support, the people being unabie to fulfil their engagements. He was subsequently the honored President of the University of North Carolina ; received the degree of D. D. from Williams College in 1815; and died, while on a journey, at Winchester, Vir- ginia, June 18th, 1833. He was married, February 14th, 1797, to Hannah, daughter and sixth child of Isaac Arnett and Hannah White; she was the sister of Mrs. Shepard Kollock, of Elizabethtown, and the granddaughter of James Arnett, who was one of those who were admitted Associates of the Town in 1699. They had twelve chil- dren, four of whom were born at Rahway.

ARE, REV. THOMAS, Celebrated Itinerant Methodist Preacher, Soldier in the Revolutionary Army, late of Salem, New Jersey, was born in Greenwich, New Jersey, December 19th, 1758. His paternal grandfather was an Englishman by birth and a captain in the British service under Queen Anne. In his sixteenth year he left his native town and went to live with an uncle in Salem, New Jersey, an ingenious mechanic and a ready wit, but lax in his moral and religious principles; and there his religious creed and convictions were made the subject of biting and incessant ridicule. " Habitually listening to the skeptical conversa- tions of those who frequented his house, I soon imbibed the spirit and sentiments, and joined with them in their merri- ment." Also while residing in Salem, the quarrel with Great Britain grew more threatening, and he became deeply imbued with the spirit of patriotic resistance, and openly declared for the colonial as against the royal cause. His uncle was, on the opening of the struggle, on the side of America, I u: on the declaration of independence again became a loyalist. Influenced by the views and feelings nurtured by his love of liberty, he then abandoned his roof and volunteered as a soldier in the service; and in 1776

was one of the nine thousand quartered at Perth Amboy. "After we had lain there a short time, to make a show of our strength, as was supposed, our general reviewed us in full view of the enemy. As was expected by some, they opened their artillery upon us. Had their fire been directed with skill, many must have been slain. But they shot over us. . .. . This was indeed a useless exposure of life." After being quartered one month at Perth Amboy he volun- teered to reinforce Washington on Long Island, and was marched thence to Powles' Hook. Before arriving there, however, the British had secured the Hudson river, and a passage was thus rendered impossible. Upon his volun- teering at Perth Amboy to aid in strengthening Washing- ton's position, in consequence of the refusal of the ensign to go, he was given the colors as a reward for being the first to follow liis captain, who was the first in the regiment that turned out and called for volunteers. He subsequently was greatly exercised about his spiritual condition, and, retiring from the army, meditated solemnly over his past, present, and future life. " From this time I considered my country safe, nor ever after sickened at the thought of wearing the chains of civil bondage. But, alas ! I wore chains infinitely more galling than any ever forged by an earthly tyrant. My soul was in bondage to sin. . . . I had been led to infer, from the effect my reading of the catechism and Confession of Faith had produced on my mind, that no human being was ever properly in a state of trial, not even

Adam himself. . . . I was silenced, however, by my mother's fears and tears at my doubts and questionings. But I could no longer hold to this system. In leaving it, however, I did not find the right way. I resorted to na- ture's laws as my guide, preferring to believe that the Deity had revealed no will, rather than admit that he had revealed one so much at variance with himself and the dic- tates of reason." Eventually, however, after a season of trials and harassing experiences, he became, through the chance instrumentality of a wandering preacher, Mr. Pedi- cord, acquainted with the Methodist doctrine and several of its adherents, and was greatly affected by what he saw and heard concerning them and their mode of belief and practice. After attending a meeting he hastened to his lodgings, and falling upon his knees in prayer, spent much of the night in penitential weeping. He then relinquished his former studies in navigation, and abandoned all com- pany but that of the pious. The New Testament he read over and over, and was charmed with the character of God our Saviour as revealed in it. Mount Holly, Burlington county, New Jersey, was the place of his spiritual birth. Soon after he joined the Methodist Society, Messrs. Pedi- cord and Cromwell were removed from his circuit, and Dudley and Ivy appointed in their place. From the time he made a public profession of religion, many of his brethren thought he was called to preach. " But I believed them not. The affectionate solicitude I felt for the salva- tion of sinners, which had prompted me to some bold acts

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that I had performed from a sense of duty, I did not construe [ not, to my recollection, the least agitation on the question. Had the conference indulged a suspicion that the name they adopted would be, in the least degree, offensive to the views or feelings of Mr. Wesley, they would have abandoned it at once; for the name of Mr. Wesley was inexpressibly dear to the Christmas Conference, and especially to Mr. Asbury and Dr. Coke." After the organization they pro- ceeded to elect a sufficient number of elders to visit the quarterly meetings and administer the ordinances; and this it was which gave rise to the office of presiding elder among the Methodists. From this conference he returned to the peninsula, in every part of which Methodism was flourish- ing, and where the administration of the ordinances at the quarterly meetings " was singularly owned of God." His after course and career for a time is thus summarized in his " Life," as a preliminary heading : "Dr. Coke visits the peninsula. Multitudes flock to hear the word, receive the sacrament, and get their children baptized. Mr. Ware's labors interrupted by sickness. He partially recovers and resolves to return home. Is induced to change his course by an extraordinary manifestation of divine influence at a meeting he attended, just about the time he had made ar- rangements to leave. Has a second attack. Did not attend conference, and wrote to be discontinued for at least one year. Was, however, continued, and appointed to Salem Circuit. Had to contend with error. Saw many of his relatives brought into the church. Prosperity of the work. His reflections on the benefits of having the ordinances. Extension of the work. He is sent to Long Island, New York. Crosses over on the main shorc, and visits New Rochelle, Bedford and Peekskill. Detained at a public house. ITis detention proves a blessing to the landlord and 'his wife." In the spring of 1787 Dr. Coke again visited this country, and called the preachers to meet in conference at Baltimore on the Ist of the ensuing May; during its progress he took part in the proceedings-which were especially notable and of high importance as affecting the relations existing between Wesley and his American brethren-and volunteered to accompany Mr. Tunnell to the Holston country, afterward called East Tennessee, where a fair field of labor lay ready for the sower. There, notwith- standing violent opposition from many and various quarters, societies were formed and a number of log chapels erected ; and on the circuit three hundred members were received the first year. In the fall of this year he was sent to form a circuit low down on the Holston and French Broad ; and the first conference in Holston was held in 178S. Ilis next appointment was to East New River, where he was in- structed, in conjunction with his colleague, to enlarge his borders from a two to a four weeks' circuit. In the spring of 1789 his circuit was visited by Bishop Asbury, and with him he journeyed to North Carolina ; and the following conference was held at McKnight's Church, commencing on the 11th of April. Caswell Circuit was his next field of

as a call to the ministry, but as a collateral evidence of my adoption into the family of God. . . . . I was a leader and an exhorter, and more than these I never expected to be." Such were his views and feelings when Bishop Asbury came to New Mills, and sent for him to come and see him. The result of his interview with that eminent Methodist was his appointment to take the Dover Circuit, which had but one preacher on it; and in September, 1783, accordingly, he turned toward the peninsula, where he was received with warmth and kindliness. In the spring of 1784 he attended the conference which sat at Baltimore. " There was quite a number of preachers present. . . . . The whole number of itinerant preachers at that time in America was eighty- three ; stations and circuits, sixty four; and members in so- ciety, 14,988. . . . Among these pioneers, Asbury, by common consent, stood first and chief ; next to him, in the estimation of many, stood the placid Tunnell, the philosophi- cal Gill, and the pathetic Pedicord." He was afterwards appointed, with James O. Cromwell and William Lynch, on the Kent Circuit, Eastern Shore of Maryland; and here, as on Dover Circuit, found a great number of young people, some of them connected with the first families; and when, in 1800, he had charge of the whole peninsula, he found many journeying toward the holy land, who, in sixteen years, had advanced from babes in Christ to fathers and mothers in Israel. The Methodist Episcopal Church in the United States was organized in 1784, soon after the close of the Revolution; and it was impracticable, during the war, for Wesley to furnish an organization suited to the necessities of this country. After its termination, however, Mr. Asbury made application to the father and founder of the Methodist societies in behalf of those of the new nation. Wesley, accordingly, resolved without delay to send over Dr. Coke, whom he first set apart by the imposition of hands to the office of superintendent, with instructions to carry his plan into effect. The doctor was then furnished with forms of ordination for deacons, elders, and superin- tendents, and appointed, jointly with Asbury, to preside over the Methodist family in America. It was afterward agreed to have a conference, to meet in Baltimore on the ensuing,25th of December. " Nearly fifty years have now elapsed since the Christmas Conference; and I have a thousand times looked back to the memorable era with pleasurable emotions. I have often said it was the most solemn convocation I ever saw. I might have said, for many reasons, it was sublime. . . . . After Mr. Wesley's letter had been read, analyzed, and cordially approved by the conference, the question arose, 'What name or title shall we take?' I thought to myself, I shall be satisfied that we be denominated The Methodist Church, and so whispered to a brother sitting near me. But one proposed, I think it was John Dickens, that we should adopt the title of Methodist Episcopal Church, . . . . and the motion was carried, I think, without a dissenting voice. There was | labor, and his second year in the Southern section was

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Ware " are the following characteristic lines : " The writer has neither capacity nor disposition to employ his pen . merely for the purpose of amusing his fellow-men. But having been called in the order of Providence to act a part upon the stage of life at a period when everything connected with the history of this great nation was stamped with in- terest, he may without ostentation perform the humble task of recording some things which passed under his observa- tion, and thus preserving from oblivion incidents connected with those days which might otherwise be lost. . Ile

passed on a district consisting of eight circuits, embracing a | thirty-eight." In the " Preface to Memoir of Rev. Thomas part of Virginia. After spending two years in that country he returned to the North, and arrived in time to attend the Philadelphia Conference for 1791, and was appointed to Wilmington, Delaware, and in the spring of 1792 to Staten Island, New York, where he labored a short time with " much satisfaction and some success." He then took charge of the Susquehanna District, and thenceforward, until 1808, continued to fill this very laborious office, " which was, I believe, a longer time in regular succession than had fallen to the lot of any other man since we became a church." has lived to witness great changes. . Ilis 'old com- panions dear' are all gone. He lives as in a new world ; yet not new, because, though other men inhabit it, they are engaged in the same cause. Methodism, in its radical prin- ciples and prominent features, is the same as when the writer first entered the field. That it may continue so to the end of time, and equal the highest expectations of its early friends and advocates as an instrument of spreading evangelical holiness through these lands, is his sincere prayer." He died some years since. In the spring of 1793 he took charge of the Albany District, which was constituted of ten circuits, embracing a portion of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. September 30th, 1796, the Annual Conference commenced its session in New York city, and from there lie went with Bishop Asbury to the Philadelphia Conference, which commenced on the 20th of October. Here he was ap- pointed to the charge of the Philadelphia District, extending from Wilmington, Delaware, to Lake Sencca, New York. He did not enter upon its duties, however, until after the General Conference, whose session opened in Baltimore on the same day. In 1800 he was appointed to a district on the peninsula, and his first year there " was one of the hap- piest in his whole life." Previously to entering upon the charge of this district he attended the third Baltimore OODRUFF, HON. ROBERT S., JR., Lawyer and Judge, of Trenton, a member of one of the oldest families in East New Jersey, and son of James H. Woodruff,.merchant, was born at Newark, April 2d, 1841. Educated in the public schools of his native town, at the State Normal School, and at Rutgers College, he was appointed, while pursuing his studies there, Principal of the Rutgers Grammar School, a position that he retained for six years. During the latter portion of this period he read law, completing his legal studies in the office of Lewis Parker, Jr., Trenton, and in 1869 was admitted to the New Jersey bar. Establishing himself in Trenton, he was in the same year elected.a mem- ber of the Common Council for a three years' term, but in 1870 resigned his seat. In 1874 he was elected a member of the State Assembly, and during the ensuing session served on the Judiciary and other important committees. A renomination, tendered him in 1875, he declined, his practice having so greatly increased as to command his un- divided attention. Early in 1877 an act was passed by the New Jersey Legislature creating District Courts in all cities of New Jersey containing more than fifteen thousand in- habitants, and soon after this act became a law he was ten- dered by and accepted from Governor Bedle the position of Judge of the District Court of Trenton. His appointment was confirmed by the Senate during the extra session in March, 1877, and under his direction the new court was at once organized. His management of its business has thus far been highly successful, greatly expediting the adminis- tration of justice in civil suits, and going a long way toward General Conference, where, as at other past meetings, he deplored the neglect of providing for superannuated preachers, and eloquently advocated the speedy adoption of needed measures relating to the subject. He was present also at the Annual Conference at Smyrna, and participated in a great revival which, continuing during the session, added one hundred members to the church at its close. A meeting was then appointed by request at Dover, to be called the Yearly Meeting; a season followed of extraordi- nary power and gracious influence. Leaving the district at the end of the third year, he returned to the charge at Phila- delphia, and in 1803 took charge of the Jersey District, continuing on it four years. He afterward labored two years in the St. George's charge, Philadelphia; in ISO8 was attacked by serious illness ; in the spring of 1809, on account of his debility, was obliged to take a supernumerary relation, and in the following year was superannuated. In ISII Lancaster Town became the field of his labor, and at the General Conference held at New York in 1812 he was elected one of the Book Agents. In that office he continued four years, and was then appointed to Long Island. " From this time, 1816, I continued to be effective till 1825, so that I was an effective travelling preacher, in all, forty years." He attended also the General Conference in 1832. While Strasburg Circuit was the place of his residence, he formed an acquaintance with Barbary Miller, "a person whom I selected, above all others, as a suitable companion for me; and on the 15th of October, 1797, we were joined in holy matrimony, she being thirty-five years of age, and I

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breaking down the strong feeling against the operation of the act that has been aroused in several cities of the State. Beside his other public offices, Judge Woodruff has been since 1868 a prominent member of the Trenton School Board.

ALE, THOMAS N., Silk Manufacturer, the founder and principal owner of the Dale Manu- facturing Company, of Paterson, New Jersey, was born at Springfield, Massachusetts, April 25th, IS13, of respectable and unpretending parentage. He was the youngest of three children-two sons and one daughter-and was left fatherless at an early age. The common district school teachings of New England, with two winter terms at the High School, at Springfield, were all the education his mother, who had married again, was able to give him. At the age of sixteen he was sent to Pittsfield, Massachusetts, to learn the trade of gun-making, at the establishment of Mr. Lemuel Pomeroy. Some diffi- culty, which occurred between himself and one of Mr. Pomeroy's sons, caused him to leave in the autumn of the year and return to his home. A few weeks afterward he was engaged as clerk with Mr. Marvin B. Avery, a retailer of dry-goods, groceries, hardware and crockery. He re- mained in this employment until the spring of 1833, when, Mr. Avery having failed, he left Springfield and went to New London, where he shipped himself as a sailor on board the ship "Georgia," Captain Brewster, bound on a two years' whaling cruise to the Indian ocean. This voy- age was not a financial success to the young sailor, though rich in experience. In October, 1835, he was installed as clerk in the house of Levi Cook & Co., of New York, a Pearl street jobbing house, in what was then known as the notion and fancy trade. He remained with this house, ex- cept during a temporary suspension in the summer and winter of 1837, until January, 1840, when, with the sum of forty-five dollars, the balance due him for his salary, he joined in business another clerk from the same house, who had ninety dollars. The name of the firm was Dale & Maxwell, and their place of business was at No. 2 Cedar street. They were the first to introduce into this country a specialty known as " tailors' trimmings." The business was profitable and the house successful until 1844, when it was dissolved, and Mr. Dale continued the business under his own name. In January, 1845, he married a daughter of Alfred S. Monson, M. D., of New Ilaven, Connecticut. His business increased rapidly, and it was in the latter part of that year that he realized his want of knowledge of the nature and value of silk, of which his stock was largely composed. Ile advertised for a silk weaver, and found an Englishman from Macclesfield, whom he engaged, and with whom he made the experiment of weaving a piece of silk vesting. Mr. Dale attended in person to the buying

¡ and dyeing of the silk, and watched very attentively all the operations in manufacturing this piece of silk. When it was finished, the reed was reserved, the remaining machin- ery sold, and the vesting disposed of, the whole operation resulting in a loss of $100. This experiment qualified him to become a successful purchaser of silk goods. In 1848 he went to Europe to purchase goods, for the first time, and made semi-annual trips until 1851. At this time, having a young family, and his business being greatly increased, he was induced to take two of his clerks into partnership, under the firm-name of Thomas N. Dale & Co., and move his family to Paris, France, where they resided until the autumn of 1864, Mr. Dale making frequent visits to this country, occasionally accompanied by his family. During his residence in Paris he was active in, and sympathized with, all that was American in character. The success of the American chapel in Paris, founded by Mr. Anson G. Phelps and Rev. Dr. Kirk, was largely due to his active co-operation with other American residents in Paris, and many Americans in distress found relief at his hands. He returned to this country with his family in 1864. He was identified with many patriotic movements originating with the Union League Club at the commencement and close of the slaveholders' rebellion. On the passage of the tariff bill of 1864 he became convinced that silk manufacture would be one of the great industries of this country, and under this conviction he organized the Dale Manufacturing Company, and constructed the Dale mill, at Paterson, for the purpose of supplying the house of Thomas N. Dale & Co., and its branches in Philadelphia and Cincinnati, with the class of goods in which they dealt. The mill was finished in the summer of 1866, and commenced opera- tions; but the over-purchase of foreign goods by his house compelled the mill to diminish its product and partially sus- pend its operations. Mr. Dale finally became the purchaser of the largest portion of the stock of the company; and his house in New York having gone into liquidation, he turned his attention to the reorganization of the mill company; but not succeeding in securing such an organization as he de- sired, and the business outlook not being inviting, in the spring of 1873 he commenced reducing his operations, sold part of the machinery, and rented the largest portion of the mill. Since then he has confined himself principally to the manufacture of silk braids and trimmings. But his active mind has been interested in questions of economy and the industrial education of the laboring classes. He has been prominent as the first Vice-President of the Silk Associa- tion of America, has taken an active part in matters con- nected with the Paterson Board of Trade, and was ap- pointed Centennial Commissioner for the Fifth District of New Jersey. On this commission his usual activity was displayed, and he shared with his fellow-commissioners the gratifying commendations of the public. He was instru- mental in urging upon the Legislature the passage of the bill presented by the Centennial Commission, creating a

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 126

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