USA > New Jersey > The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century > Part 127
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commission to examine and report to the next Legislature [ life in this country, very significant of his solid qualities upon the subject of technical education, and establishing industrial schools in the State of New Jersey.
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REEN, HON. CALEB S., Lawyer, was born, Feb- ruary 18th, 1819, in Lawrence township, near Princeton, New Jersey. Ile is a son of Caleb Smith Green, a farmer of that township. He was educated at the Lawrenceville High School, from which he graduated in 1834, and at Princeton College, graduating from that institution in the class of 1837, which included, among others who have since ac- quired greater or less distinction, Joseph Branch, of North Carolina, Charles J. Biddle, of Philadelphia, and Rev. J. H. McIlvaine, D. D. Immediately after graduating he entered the law office of his brother, the late ex-Chancellor H. W. Green, with whom he completed his legal studies, being admitted to the bar in 1843. He at once settled in the city of Trenton, and began the practice of his profession, which he pursued with such diligence and effect that he soon took rank among the ablest of its members, his practice becom- ing both lucrative and extensive, not always synonymous terms in the practice of either law or medicine, as many overworked practitioners of one and the other can testify. He is a man of strong political convictions, which unite him with the Republican party; but he is not a partisan, his devotion to his profession, as well as the judicial temper of his mind and character, kceping him aloof from the ordi- mary and perennial strife of parties. He belongs, indeed, to the class of men who, believing with the fathers of the re- public that office should be neither sought nor declined, generally have offices of trust thrust upon them, while in- ferior men help themselves to the offices of profit; a pretty fair result, perhaps, in a rough way, after all, so far at least as the public is concerned, it being more important, from the public point of view, that offices of trust should be filled by trustworthy men, than that trustworthy men should fill the offices of profit, where of course the two qualities are not combined in the same office. Be this as it may, he has not escaped the honorable fate of his class. In 1862 he was appointed one of the Managers of the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum, and has held the position ever since. In 1873 he was appointed to fill a vacancy in the Court of Errors and Appeals, and in 1874 appointed for the regular term of six years. For the past twenty years he has been a Director of the Trenton Banking Company, and since 1854 President of the Trenton Savings Fund Association. He is also a Trustee of Princeton College and of the Princeton Theological Seminary. It will be noticed that every position to which he has ever been appointed he still fills, the periods of his incumbency ranging from four years to the full period of a generation of men, a fact, consider- ing the rule of unresting rotation which obtains in official |
both of character and of intellect. He was married, in 1847, to the youngest daughter of the late Chief Justice Ewing, of Trenton, New Jersey.
PRAGGS, REV. SAMUEL, Rector of St. John's Church, Elizabethtown, late of Mount Holly, was born in England, about the middle of the last century. His first appointment, after being ad- mitted on trial, as a Methodist itinerant preacher, was to Brunswick Circuit, in southeastern Vir- ginia, May 25th, 1774. In May, 1775, having been ad- mitted to full connection, he was appointed to Philadelphia, and reappointed in May, 1776. In May, 1777, he was ap- pointed to the Frederick Circuit, in Maryland. After the capture of Philadelphia by the British army, September 26th, 1777, he again returned to Philadelphia, and in the course of the following winter, or spring, removed to New York. As the only travelling preacher there in the connec- tion, he took charge of the old John street chapel from that time to the close of the war, in 1783. In common with his fellow-itinerants, he was regarded by the British authori- ties as a loyalist, and so neither he nor the chapel was dis- turbed at any time. His ministry there terminated in July, from which time his name is missing from the connection. It is probable that about this time he married and settled at Mount Holly, New Jersey. It is not known certainly how he was occupied during the next few years. He had, in all probability, become connected with the Episcopalians, and been ordained a deacon. January Ist, 1791, he was appointed to succeed Rev. Dr. Chandler, as Rector of St. John's Church, in Elizabethtown. His ministry, however, which had given promise of great usefulness, was cut short by his unexpected decease, September 7th, 1794.
UNYON, HON. THEODORE, LL. D., Lawyer and Chancellor of New Jersey, was born at Somerville, Somerset county, New Jersey, Oc- tober 25th, 1822, the son of Abraham Runyon, of that town. The family is of Huguenot origin, and was among the original settlers at Piscata- way township, Middlesex county, their ancestor being Vin- cent Rognion, a Huguenot who came to this country with the Stelles and other French families. Theodore was edu- cated partly in New Jersey and partly in New York, whither his father removed when the lad was quite young. Having been fitted for college at Plainfield, he became a student at Yale, where he was graduated as A. B. in 1842, and suhse- quently received his degree as A. M. Having elected the law for a career, he began his legal studies in the office of Asa Whitehead. In due course he was admitted to the bar
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of New Jersey, in July term, 1846, and three years later he New Jersey on April 7th, 1869, and held the position until 1873, when he resigned on accepting the Chancellorship. For many years he bore a prominent part in the manage- ment of the political affairs of the State, as a member of the Democratic party. He was a Presidential Elector in 1860, was elected Mayor of the city of Newark in 1864, and held that office during that and the following year, his high integrity, superior ability, kindly feeling and invariable courtesy winning for him great popularity. In August, 1865, he received the nomination of his party for Governor of the State, and after a very exciting campaign was de- feated by the Republican nominee, Marcus L. Ward, by only a bare majority. On April 29th, 1873, he was ap- pointed a member of a commission to prepare amendments to the constitution- of the State, and about the same time was nominated by Governor Joel Parker as Chancellor of the State for a term of seven years. The nomination, ac- cepted by General Runyon, was confirmed by the Senate, and his commission issued bearing date May Ist, 1873. Upon assuming this high and responsible office lie resigned the presidency of the Manufacturers' National Bank, which he had held from the organization of the corporation, in 1871. As Chancellor he has proved a worthy successor of a long line of profound lawyers and worthy men, who have shed lustre upon the records of the Court of Chancery in the State. He has received the honorary degree of LL. D. from two institutions-the Western University, Middletown, Con- necticut, on August 15th, 1867; Rutgers College in 1875. He was married on January 20th, 1864, to Clementine, daughter of William D. Bruen, Esq., a retired merchant of Newark. was called as counsellor. He began practice in the city of Newark, immediately after his admission, and without intermission continued its prosecution in the same place until his appointment as Chancellor. His marked ability soon gave him great prominence in his profession, and se- cured a practice at once extensive and lucrative. For many years he was City Solicitor of Newark. He always mani- fested great interest in military matters, and did more to organize the militia of the State than any other man-in- deed what of military organization existed in the State at the outbreak of the war owed its being mainly to him. He was appointed Brigadier-General of Militia for the county of Essex on May 8th, 1857. On the commencement of hostilities, in 1861, he was appointed Brigadier-General of the Ist New Jersey Brigade, and this force, moving under his command, was the first fully equipped and organized brigade of troops that went to the defence of Washington. Other States had previously sent regiments and detach- ments, but to New Jersey belongs the honor of furnishing the first full brigade. President Lincoln issued his call for troops April 15th, 1861; the first company of the New Jersey quota under that call was mustered in, April 23d; General Runyon received his commission from Governor Olden, and took command April 27th, and on the 30th of April the quota was declared full. And, notwithstanding the difficulties in the way of obtaining transportation, am- munition and supplies, in reducing this large body of un- disciplined men, drawn from all positions in life, and wholly without previous military training, into effective condition, General Runyon set about his anything but light task with such well-directed energy, and was so generously supported by his assistants and the patriotic people of the State gen- erally, that on May 3d the brigade embarked on the pro- OOLMAN, FRANKLIN, Surveyor and Convey- ancer, of Burlington, New Jersey, was born in that city, March 25th, 1814, and in it has always resided. He is descended from a family which were among the oldest settlers in that vicinity, and whose name has ever borne with it an hon- orable reputation. The American head of the family, John Woolman, arrived from England in 1681. Ile was a mem- ber of the Society of Friends, and he sought in America the shelter and peace which, owing to his religious vicws, he was prevented from enjoying in the old country. He lo- cated a tract of land about four miles from Burlington in 1686; it extended from the city of Burlington to Rancocas creek, a distance of about five miles, and comprised about 8,000 acres ; part of the land still remains in the possession of the family. A man of education and ability, a surveyor, and the owner of an extensive property, he naturally occu- pied a prominent position in the community, and became a member of the Council of Proprictors. His son, Samuel, was also a prominent surveyor, and devoted much attention to the farming of his land. Samuel had two sons, John pellers of the Delaware & Raritan Canal. The command arrived at Annapolis on the 4th, and reported at Washing- ton May 6th, thirteen days after the first man had been mustered. The appearance of this large organization did much to quiet the apprehensions entertained for the city of Washington. General Runyon served with the brigade until they were mustered out, at the end of their term of enlistment, during which they were engaged on the fortifi- cations in Virginia, opposite Washington, where Fort Run- yon, named after him, was erected. He returned home in August, 1861, but before quitting the field he received the thanks of President Lincoln, personally tendered in the presence of the Cabinet, for his services in connection with the New Jersey Brigade. Subsequently resolutions com- plimentary to his patriotism and efficiency as a soldier were passed by the Legislature of New Jersey, and he was, on February 25th, 1862, appointed, by Governor Olden, Major- General by brevet, in compliance with the recommendation of the House of Assembly, in testimony of his patriotic and meritorious services in the field. He was appointed Major- Gencral commanding the National Guard of the State of and Jonah. The former was the celebrated Quaker preacher
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and philanthropist, and the first person who opposed slav- [ called Blairstown, in his honor. Ilere he continued for ery. His life has been published several times, and his " Journal " edited by the poet Whittier. The latter is per- haps one of the most beautiful idyls in prose in the English language. The other son, Jonah, followed his father's oc- cupation of surveying and farming, and he, in turn, was succeeded by his son, Burr, who added conveyancing; he was appointed Surveyor-General of the Western Division of New Jersey in 1814, and held the office for thirty years. Franklin Woolman, the subject of this sketch, is the son of Burr. He received a sound education, and studied with a view to inheriting his father's business, into which in due course he was admitted. On the death of his father he was appointed to the Surveyor-Generalship, and has held the office ever since, in connection with the old-established conveyancing and surveying business. He has made an especial study of titles and matters connected with real estate in Burlington county, and has gained the reputation of being the most thoroughly informed person on this sub- ject in that section of the State. His capacity in the man- agement of estates and his high character have caused him to be very frequently selected as executor and administrator, and it is probable that in these capacities he has settled more estates than any other person in West Jersey. His business ability has also been called into requisition in connection with several corporate and other associations, among which may be named the Burlington Savings Institution, of which he is Vice-President, the Burlington National Bank and the Burlington Library, in each of which he is a Director. A man of public spirit, and especially interested in the ad- vancement of the social and moral condition of the com- munity with which his interests are so intimately bound up, he takes an active part in all movements calculated to accomplish that end. He is a prominent Episcopalian, attending St. Mary's Church, of which he is a vestryman and the Treasurer. He was married, in 1848, to Jane, daughter of John Conrad, a well-known citizen of Phila- delphia and Mayor of the Northern Liberties, and sister of Judge Conrad, the first Mayor of the consolidated city of Philadelphia. Mr. Woolman is one of the best known citizen's of West Jersey, and he is as widely respected and esteemed as known. many years, applying himself industriously to his business and managing it with marked economy and judgment. What may be termed his first start was obtained by a specu- lative transaction on a small scale in cotton. It yielded a fair profit, and on this was laid the foundation of his ample fortune. The section of the State in which his early lot was cast was then comparatively wild and uninhabited ; but it was ascertained to possess valuable resources, and he was one of the first and most active spirits in the development of its agricultural and mineral wealth. By small invest- ments in the coal and iron interests of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, he gradually became a master-spirit among capitalists of that particular branch of industry, and em- ployed all his earnings for a time exclusively in the expan- sion of the coal and iron trade. Extending his interests to the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys, of Pennsylvania, he becanie one of the original founders of the city of Scranton, and largely interested in the coal and iron enterprises of that place. With a view to providing an outlet for the products of this region, he took part as one of the promoters in the construction of the main line of the Delaware, Lacka- wanna & Western Railroad. This road has been the prin- cipal means of developing the extensive natural resources of the Lackawanna and Wyoming valleys, and for many years was the only eastern outlet for the coal and iron of the region. In the welfare and prosperity of this corporation he has ever continued to manifest the warmest interest, and is still one of its managing directors. He also holds a. managing interest in the Lackawanna Coal and Iron Com- pany, a separate organization, as well as important shares in other mining and banking stock concerns of Scranton. Railroad enterprises have always claimed large attention at his hands. He has been extensively engaged in various undertakings of the kind both in the West and South, in most cases taking the entire contract, and personally super- intending the work, and all those in which he has held a controlling interest have proved successful. He displayed wonderful mechanical skill in the rapid construction of the Sioux City Railroad, in Missouri, which he completed under contract in one year, the road-bed and other track accessories extending a distance of 100 miles. This was considered by practical men a splendid achievement. In one instance he is said to have built 300 miles of road in eight months. Although his varied interests have occasioned an extraor- LAIR, JOHN I., Railroad Promoter, of Blairs- town, was born in Warren county, New Jersey, near that place, about the year 1810. He re- ceived an ordinary business education, and at a very early age was thrown upon his own re- sources, with very indifferent prospects. When a mere boy he commenced work for his own support as a clerk in his uncle's small country store in his native county. As he neared manhood he opened a similar business for himself at a place then known as Gravel Hill, but now dinary amount of travelling, so much so that he may be said to have lived and slept in railroad cars, with occasional intervals in prairie huts, he has still regarded Blairstown as his home, and has managed to return thither to spend some time with his family, to look after his home concerns and to take needed rest. In the advancement of the town he has always manifested the liveliest activity. Originally a mcre village, it is now a thriving town of some thousands of inhabitants. Through his exertions and aid, banks, churches and institutions of learning have been established.
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He built the Blairstown Academy, with its boarding-house attached; burned during the winter of 1867-68, he at once set about its rebuilding, at a cost of some $40,000. Of the Belvidere Bank, one of the most substantial financial insti- tutions in the State, he was elected President in 1860, having been for some years previously a Director and its largest shareholder; he has always been able to discharge the duties of President down to the present time, notwith- standing his multifarious engagements. In educational matters he has proved a munificent benefactor. Beyond his large expenditure in this direction, directly in Blairstown, he some years since endowed a professorship at Princeton with $30,000, and he has also given $10,000 to the Lafay- ette College, at Easton, Pennsylvania. Other educational establishments have experienced his generosity, and any deserving charity finds in him a liberal friend. Politically, he was a Whig until the organization of the Republican party, when his warm sympathies were enlisted on behalf of that organization, although as a rule he has refrained from personal share in the actual work of politics, only on one occasion permitting his name to be offered for any public office. This was in 1868, when he accepted the Republican nomination for Governor of New Jersey. As, however, the State was Democratic, he was defeated by Hon. Theodore F. Randolph, the candidate of that party, by a small majority. Although he has now passed the meridian of life, Mr. Blair enjoys robust health, being as hale and vigorous, physically and mentally, as when in early manhood. This is in a great measure due to the out- door life and exercise he has pursued. With an intellect naturally clcar and vigorous, he has supplied the deficien- cies of early education and overcome the obstacles presented to his youthful ambition, and now stands forward a note- worthy example of a self-made man-a pure, strong, well- balanced character, a developed mind, and a successful financier. Of a family of several children he has but one surviving son.
TETSON, DAVID S., Merchant, was born in Bath, Maine, May 22d, 1819. Bred among seamen, at a very early age he determined to adopt a sea- faring life, and when only fourteen years old he went as cabin boy in the ship " New England," bound from Bath to New Orleans, and thence to IIavre. His rise in his profession was unusually rapid : when only eighteen years old he was made first officer of the ship " Manco," and when scarcely twenty-one he was given the command of the " Maria," brig. In the " Manco" he came for the first time to Philadelphia, and was suhse- quently engaged in the Gulf and South Atlantic trade. The " Maria " he commanded for four years, trading between Philadelphia and the West Indies. In 1844 he built the brig " James A. Marple," an unlucky vessel that was soon
after wrecked upon the Bahamas. With characteristic en- ergy he repaired his loss immediately by building the brig " Ida," continuing in her in the West India trade during the ensuing three years. In 1846 he married a daughter of Mr. T. H. and Susan Sickels, of Philadelphia, and the ensuing year he determined upon abandoning the sea. Associated with Mr. J. Baker under the firm-name of Baker & Stetson, he established himself in Philadelphia as a ship- chandler, his store being situated upon Delaware avenue, north of Arch street. In 1856 Mr. Baker withdrew from the firm, whereon Mr. Stetson formed a partnership with Mr. W. F. Cushing, at the same time changing the charac- ter of his business to that of shipping and commission. Founded just before the financial panic of 1857, the firm of D. S. Stetson & Co. was seriously affected by the failure of many prominent houses with which it had dealings; but while sorely pressed, the firm maintained its credit intact. Every obligation was met as it became due, and at the end of the season of disaster and reverse, although weakened in capital, the credit of the firm was unimpeachable. The losses of '57 were more than made good during the flush years of the war, an immense business being done under contract with the government in coaling and supplying the naval vessels and stations of the Gulf, and in forwarding supplies for the use of the armies operating in the Southern seaboard States. From the punctual manner in which these contracts were fulfilled, the government was an even greater gainer than were the contractors : it is not too much to say that the success of the naval force operating in the Gulf, and of the military force in the interior, was very largely due to the faithfully rendered services of the firm of D. S. Stetson & Co. In 1872 Mr. Cushing retired from the firm, and D. S. Stetson, Jr., who had for a number of years bcen actively engaged in the executive departments of the establishment, became his father's partner : a young man of exceptional business ability, fine address, and a thorough comprehension of the trade, West India and Mediterranean, in which the house is mainly engaged, he has of late succeeded to a con- siderable share in the control of the large and still increas- ing business, thus enabling his father to take the rest which, by his laborious, useful life, he has so abundantly earned. Mr. Stetson has been prominent in the development of two thriving towns in New Jersey -- Merchantville, on the east- ern border of Camden county, and Ocean Grove, near Long Branch. In the former, a village of handsome villas, he has for many years resided, being prominent alike in the Methodist Church and in furthering all works looking to the moral or material advancement of the welfare of the town ; and in the latter he is the owner and summer occu- pant of a charming cottage. He is a man of commanding presence : his manner, somewhat bluff and smacking of the sea, is tempered by geniality and an innate courtesy ; while his absolute honesty in all relations of life assures him the respect and esteem of all with whom he is brought in con- tact.
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ILCHRIST, HON. ROBERT, Lawyer, of Jersey | posed upon a judge) for the refusal, and if the courts decide City, was born in the first quarter of the present he is wrong, to a civil suit; and the person elected may, if the votes refused would have defeated him, lose his elec- tion. One or two cases in the whole State will be all that can be productive of any good whatever, if it shall be deenied wise to contest the right. As a practical, present question of the hour, the right of the colored man to vote, if he is otherwise qualified, should be treated as settled in his favor-Robert Gilchrist." In April, 1873, he was ap- pointed by Governor Parker on a special commission to re- vise the Constitution of the State. In January, 1875, he retired from the Attorney-Generalship, and was succeeded by ex-Governor Joel Parker. During the same month his name was brought before the Democratic caucus of the Legislature for the nomination for United States Senator, and he received large support; but ex-Governor Theodore F. Randolph eventually obtained the nomination and was elected. century. He studied law, and in due course was called to the bar, where he holds a high position, being regarded, by general consent, as one of the leading lawyers of the State. Always taking an earnest interest in public affairs, he has been called upon to discharge some high and responsible trusts. Politically, he was a member of the Whig party until it was merged into the Republican organization. During Mr. Lincoln's administra- tion he acted with the moderate Republicans, protesting against the radical measures of the government, and finally breaking away from the party upon the question of recon- struction. In the summer of 1866 he joined the Johnson movement, and became the Democratic candidate for Con- gress in the Fifth District. The Republicans, however, were successful, electing their nominee, George A. Halsey. In May, 1869, he was nominated by Governor Randolph as Attorney-General of the State, to succeed George M. Robe- son, appointed Secretary of the Navy, accepted the nomina- tion, and was confirmed by the Senate. During his term AY, HON. ANDREW K., of Winslow, was born in Massachusetts about 1817. Removing to New Jersey, he became engaged in the manufacture of glass at Winslow, and has in the course of a number of years built up an extensive business in that town. He is also largely interested in real estate, and has under cultivation in the vicinity of Winslow several fine farms. During the existence of the Whig party, he was a member of that organization, and from 1849 to 1851 represented his district in Congress. Since the foundation of the Republican party he has been one of its staunchest members, and while declining office, has been an earnest worker for the success of Republican principles. In 1872 he was a Grant and Colfax elector. of office an important question arose, and his public-spirited, unpartisan decision upon its submission to his judgment doubtless prevented what might have proved a serious trou- ble. It concerned the right of negroes to vote in New Jer- sey. The question was submitted by the Mayor of Prince- ton in the following form on April 2d, 1870 :- " Borough election, Monday. Have the negroes a right to vote ?" His reply came promptly on the same day in the following terms :- " E. R. Stoneaker, Esq., Mayor Princeton, New Jersey-The Fifteenth Amendment makes void so much of our State Constitution as on account of color denies the right of any citizen of the United States to vote. The Thir- teenth Amendment made all the colored people who were before in slavery free. If a free colored native was not a citizen before, the text of the Fourteenth Amendment makes him so. Three questions are made on the Fifteenth LUMMER, HON. SAMUEL, of Salem, was born in Salem county, New Jersey, September 13th, 1813. He is of English extraction. In youth he was put to the coach-making business, but was soon drawn into political life, being elected Assessor of Pyle's Grove Township. Subsequently he became the first Justice of the Peace in that township elected under the new Constitution. In 1848 he removed to Penn's Grove; in 1852 was elected Sheriff of Salem county; in 1855 and 1856 a member of the New Jersey Assembly. In 1864 and 1865 he was appointed under the United States Internal Revenue law Assessor-at-large in the First Con- gressional District, and was also President of the Board of State Prison Inspectors. In 1866 he was elected to the State Senate from Salem county by the Republicans, and in 1869 became United States Marshal for the District of New Jersey ; reappointed in 1873, he declined being an applicant in 1877. He married a daughter of E. Woodruff, Esq., Amendment. First. Is it in force or legally adopted ? Second. Does it operate upon State elections ? Third. Does it destroy old provisions of the Constitution as well as prevent future provisions denying the right to vote on ac- count of color? In my opinion, the judges of election should treat the matter as a practical one, and answer all these questions in the affirmative, though they may believe as I do, that unconstitutional force was the means of pro- curing the ratification of the amendment, and though on this ground it may finally be held by all branches of the government never to liave been in force. Nothing but dis- order will result if the judges of election in any State, by concert, now, answer these questions in the negative. Yet if any judge thinks these questions should be answered in the negative and desires to make a case, and thinks he can practically do so, by refusing a colored person's vote, he may without moral guilt refuse it, but will undoubtedly sub- ject himself to the penalty of the law (if any there be im- of Bridgeton, New Jersey.
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