The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 13

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

USA > New Jersey > The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century > Part 13

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AYTON, ALFRED B., M. D., late of Matawan, was born at Basking Ridge, Somerset county, New Jersey, December 25th, 1812. He came of the family so distinguished in the history of the State, which gave to its service and that of the nation the late Hon. William L. Dayton, his

brother. Another brother is James B. Dayton, of Canden. He enjoyed educational advantages of a superior character, completing his preparatory training at Princeton College. llaving chosen the medical profession, he was accorded the most estecmed aids in his study, and eventually graduated

BIOGRAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in the spring of 1835. He first settled for practice at Chester, Morris county, New Jersey, but after a few months removed to Matawan, then " Middletown Point," opening his office there in July, 1835. In this location he continued in active practice for thirty-five years, achieving large success and en- joying the high esteem of a very wide circle of patients and friends. He became a member of the District Medical So- ciety in April, 1841, and an idea is afforded of the position he had even then attained in the fact that on admission his examination was waived by a unanimous vote. In the same year he was elected Vice-President of the society, and in the following year its President. A member of the State Medical Society from an early day in his professional career, he was, in 1854, elected to the position of President. In this body, a short while before his death, he appeared as delegate from the district society. Upon the roll of the National Medical Association his name was registered as a permanent mem- ber. He possessed oratorical and rhetorical powers of a high order, being a graceful speaker and polished writer. To the medical press he contributed many papers, all of which commanded the respectful attention of the profession. Among them may be specially mentioned the following : " Review of the Principles and Practice of Thompso- nianism ; " " Mollities Ossium ; " " Inversion of the Uterus, with Method of Reduction, and Case Illustrated; " " Cere- bro Spinal Meningitis ; " and " Dry Gangrene." A refined and cultivated gentleman, his deportment in all the relations of life was dignified and pleasing. To his medical brethren he was kind, courteous, and honorable, observing the ethical rules regulating professional intercourse with scrupulous care. When, therefore, his death occurred, on July 19th, 1870, from cholera morbus, he was deeply regretted by the profession and sincerely mourned by the community at large, the poor, at whose service he had ever been, especially de- ploring the loss of an accomplished physician and kind friend.

AYTON, RENSSELAER W., A. M., Lawyer, of Matawan, was born at that place, then known as Middletown Point, January 9th, 1843. His fa- ther, Dr. Alfred B. Dayton, of wh m a biograph- ical sketch appears elsewhere in this volume, was an eminent physician, whose long and useful ca- reer was closed by death in 1870. His mother, Elizabeth . R. Vanderveer, was a native of Somerville, New Jersey. After a thorough preliminary training, the subject of this sketch entered Princeton College in 1860, whence he grad- 'uated in 1863. Drawn towards the legal .profession, he began reading with Hon. Henry S. Little, of Matawan, who at the present time is Clerk of the Court of Chancery of New Jersey. After fulfilling the prescribed conditions he was admitted to the bar as an attorney on November 8th, 1866, and began practice in association with his preceptor.

This connection was maintained until 1871, when he com- menced by himself, and so practised until December, 1874, when he took into partnership Marcus B. Taylor. The firm is known as Dayton & Taylor, and it enjoys a consider- able practice in the counties of Monmouth and Middlesex. He is thoroughly in love with his profession, to which he devotes all his time and powers.

RROWSMITH, JOSEPH E., M. D., of Keyport, was born in Middletown, Monmouth county, New Jersey, January 23d, 1823. He is descended from a family that has distinguished itself in the service of the State. His father, Hon. Thomas Arrowsmith, was for many years one of the judges of the Court of Errors, and at an earlier period worthily held the office of State Treasurer. His mother, Emma Van Brakle, a native of New Jersey, was the daughter of Matthias Van Brakle, a substantial and much-respected farmer, who was sent by his neighbors to represent them in the Legislature, where he displayed sterling qualities and won the gratitude of his constituents. The subject of this sketch obtained his literary education in the academy at Flatbush, Long Island, then presided over by Professor Campbell, the accomplished scholar and eminent teacher who now serves as president of Rutgers College, New Brunswick. Evincing a taste for medicine, he began his studies for that profession in the fall of 1838 with Dr. Ed- ward Taylor, an old and successful practitioner in his native town. Subsequently he became a student of Dr. Valentine Mott, of New York, at the same time attending lectures at the university of that city, from which he graduated with honor in 1842. After serving for a few months on the staff of Bellevue Hospital, in New York, he, in 1843, located at Keyport, where he has since continued to practise, and has won a foremost position among his professional brethren to- gether with the substantial rewards that attend able and faithful labors. He is an old member of the county medi- cal society, and was at one time its president. In 1864 he was chosen to represent his section in the convention of the American Medical Association.

ORNISH, JOSEPH B., Merchant and ex-Senator, of Washington, was born, April 3d, 1836, in Bethlehem, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, his father, Joseph Cornish, Sr., being a merchant and a highly esteemed citizen of Hunterdon. In his boyhood he received such education as could be obtained at the common schools of the neighborhood in which he lived. He studied hard, and at sixteen years of age had obtained a good English education. When he had reached that age he entered. his father's store and devoted

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Hampton Cutter

BIOGRAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

himself thenceforward to mercantile pursuits. His great natural aptitude for commercial business and his ardent ap- plication to his duties developed him rapidly into a thorough business man, and on the attainment of his majority he be- came associated with his father as partner in the general country trade. In the years 1863 and 1864 he left mercan- tile life temporarily to serve as Engrossing Clerk of the New Jersey Assembly, having been elected to that office when in his twenty-seventh year. In the year 1865 he removed to Washington, New Jersey, where he associated himself as partner with his two brothers-in-law, Henry W. and Joseph Johnston, in the dry-goods, grocery, clothing and general country trade, under the firm-name of Johnston, Cornish & Co. They were eminently successful, but in 1869 his part- ners withdrew to organize an extensive hardware business, and he assumed the entire interest of the old establishment. He still continues the business, which has attained large proportions, and is eminently flourishing. He has always taken a lively and practical interest in political affairs, and is identified with the Democratic party. In the year 1870 he received the Democratic nomination for State Senator, but owing to party dissensions he was not elected. In 1873 he was again nominated for that position by the Democracy, and was elected Senator by the largest vote ever given to any candidate in Warren county. During his three years' term of office he served with eminent satisfaction to his constitu- ents. It was during this term that the great battle over the general railroad law of the State was brought to a conclu- sion by the passage of the law, and the people of the State are largely indebted to the exertions of Senator Cornish in bringing about the adoption of the measure which practi- cally puts an end to the system of corruption and jobbery formerly so great a source of public danger. He is a shrewd political manager, and at the same time maintains a spotless character, his integrity being without suspicion of taint, and he has never been even seemingly entangled in any disrepu- table political transactions. He is ambitious, able and honest, and the high esteem in which he is held by his fellow-citizens gives promise that he will in time to come attain still higher political position than he has yet occupied. He was married a number of years ago, to a daughter of Philip Johnston, Esq., a prominent citizen of Warren county, New Jersey.

AN RENSSELAER, LEDYARD, M. D., of Bur- lington, was born in Burlington, New Jersey, No- vember 20th, 1843. IIe comes of the well-known Van Rensselaer family of New York, which has for many generations furnished to New York city and State some of their brightest and most useful cit- izens. ITis father, Rev. C. Van Rensselacr, D.D., was the son of Stephen Van Rensselaer, a prominent resident of Albany, also largely enters into the composition of fire-brick ; and New York. His mother, Catharine Ledyard Cogswell, was the daughter of Mason F. Cogswell, M. D., of Hartford, in supplying this valuable article to manufacturers not only

Connecticut, a distinguished physician and surgeon of his time, and the first to perform the delicate and important operation of ligation of the primitive carotid artery in the extirpation of a tumor. Ledyard Van Rensselaer received his classical education at the College of New Jersey, Prince- ton, from which he graduated in the class of 1866. Making choice of the medical profession, he became a student in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, Phil- adelphia, and graduated in the class of 1869. After taking his degree he went abroad for the purpose of availing him- self of the opportunities afforded by the medical institutions of the old world, and spent twelve months with great profit in the hospitals in Vienna and Berlin. Thus prepared for successful prosecution of his profession, he returned to his native city and commenced practice there in 1871. Ilis ca- reer has been speedily progressive, and he now enjoys a large and valuable practice. The estimation in which he is held by his fellow-citizens is indicated by the fact that he was chosen Health Officer of the city during the years 1872 and 1873, while his position in the profession is attested by his election to the office of President of the Burlington County Medical Society, which he held from January Ist, 1875, to January Ist, 1876. He is Examining Physician for the Guardian Mutual Life Insurance Company, in Burlington.

UTTER, HAMPTON, Farmer and Clay Merchant, was born, December 25th, 1811, in Woodbridge township, Middlesex county, New Jersey, and is the fifth child of the late William C. and Sarah (Harriott) Cutter, of that section. The Cutter family are of Scotch and English extraction ; one, Richard Cutter, with his mother, brother and sisters, ar- riving in Massachusetts about 1640, and settled in and about Cambridge. A grandson of Richard Cutter, himself bearing the same name, and known as Major Richard Cutter, was the first of the name to leave New England and settle in a distant locality. Ile married Mary, daughter of John Pike, August 20th, 1706. This John Pike was one of the first and most active settlers of Woodbridge. Major Cutter died in 1756, leaving a numerous progeny ; and from his fourth child and eldest son, Deacon William Cutter, who died in 1780, Hampton Cutter is the third in descent, being his great-grandson. Ile received his education in the schools of his native district, and assisted his father in his farming operations until 1836, when he married, and then continued in agricultural pursuits on his own account. In 1845 he commenced to dig kaolin, having discovered a large deposit of this valuable material on his farm. It is used with clay in the manufacture of fire-brick. Several years afterwards he reached a strata of fine blue clay, which for many years past he has been engaged very extensively

BIOGRAPIIICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

of his immediate neighborhood, but also shipping the same to more distant points, large amounts finding their way to Portland, Boston, Albany, Cleveland, etc. Of late years he has associated his sons, Josiah C. and William Henry, with him, under the firm-name of Hampton Cutter & Sons. Aside from his business Hampton Cutter has been for many years called upon to serve the public in various local offices. For the past fifteen years he has been Justice of the Peace, and very recently has refused another term of the said office. Since 1868 he has been a director in the National Bank of Rahway. In religious faith he is a Presbyterian, and has been for twenty-two years one of the Trustees of the old Presbyterian Church of Woodbridge; and in poli- tics he affiliates with the Democratic party. He was mar- ried, January 26th, 1836, to Mary R., daughter of Josiah Crane, of Crawford, New Jersey, and has a family of four children, two sons and two daughters.

ONEYMAN, JOHN, M. D., late of New German- town, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, was born, February 22d, 1798, a few miles from that vil- lage. He was a son of James Honeyman, well known as a popular landlord and singing-master fifty years ago, and grandson of John Honeyman, whose exploits in the French and Indian war, under Gen- eral Wolfe, and during the Revolution, as " the Spy of Washington," are detailed with great interest by Hon. John Van Dyke in the local magazine, Our Home, for October, 1873. The subject of this sketch taught the academy in New Germantown when only eighteen years of age, and afterward entered the sophomore class, Middle- bury College, Vermont, in 1817. He studied medicine with Dr. William Johnson, of White House, attended lec- tures at the University of Pennsylvania, and commenced practice in his native village in 1824, fifty years before his death, which occurred January 2d, 1874. He was esteemed far and wide, had a large practice, and by industry and economy accumulated a competence. His character was so extremely dignified and exemplary that it is said of him he never prevaricated, never told an untruth, never uttered a harsh word, never made an enemy. His death created a void in the medical profession which cannot soon be filled.

ONEYMAN, A. VAN DOREN, Lawyer, Littera- teur and Journalist, of Somerville, was born in New Germantown, Hunterdon county, November 12th, 1849, and is consequently in his twenty- seventh year. His father, Dr. John Honeyman, mention of whom is made just above, was an esteemed physician of a half century's practice at New Ger- mantown. His great-grandfather, John Honeyman, emi-

grated from Ireland, fought under General Wolfe, and was a chosen spy of General Washington in the Revolution. On his mother's side he is a descendant of the Van Doren stock, whose ancestry can be traced back in Holland to the fourteenth century. He received but a common school edu- cation, then studied law in the office of the late Hon. H. D. Maxwell, of Easton, his brother-in-law, and commenced its practice at Somerville, as a partner of A. A. Clark, Esq., in 1871. In 1873 he projected and carried through the year the publication Our Home, a magazine of much local merit, which, however, was not financially sustained by the public. Resuming the practice of the law he formed a partnership with Mr. H. B. IIerr, which still exists. In 1874, from hard work and exhaustion, he was obliged to leave busi- ness, and spent the summer in Europe, travelling in every country from Ireland to Italy. January Ist, 1876, he pur- chased the Somerset Gazette, and at once enlarged and im- proved it, with a view to making it the leading literary and family journal in the county. He has written much for the press generally, including the New York Independent and Christian at Work. He has also written and had printed a " Memorial" of his father's labors as a physician, and likewise a small book of poems. In the temperance cause he has been ever active, assailing the rumseller in the courts wherever practicable; and he aided to found and has been thrice elected President of the Young Men's Christian Association of Somerville.

ENSON, DAVID, M. D., of Hoboken, was born in Englewood, Bergen county, New Jersey, July 19th, 1832. He is descended from families long resident in that locality and enjoying always the high regard of their neighbors, both his father and his mother, John J. and Hester (Banta) Benson, being natives of the same place. While he was yet very young his parents removed to Philadelphia, where his education was obtained. As a boy he attended a pri- vate collegiate school conducted by Dr. A. L. Kennedy, the present President of the Polytechnic Institute. Having de- termined to become a physician he entered the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania, matriculating in 1849. Here he prosecuted his studies very assiduously and thoroughly, taking a four years' course, and graduating with distinction in the spring of 1853. After graduation he engaged in practice in New York city for a short time, and then passed several years in travel and observation. On turning his attention once more to his profession, in 1861, he located in Hoboken, and began to earnestly prosecute his practice. Patients soon manifested their appreciation of his skill, care and sympathy, and their circle has widened and widened with every successive year. He is an elec- trician in practice. In all matters relating to his profession he takes an active interest. He is a member of the District

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Medical Society of Hudson county, and was its President | presented him with a sword. One of his sons, Thomas in 1872. He also belongs to the Pathological Society of Jersey City and to the New Jersey Academy of Medicine. For years he has been the Attending Physician of St. Mary's Hospital, of Hoboken, which is the oldest hospital in the State, and is maintained under the auspices of the " Sisters of the Poor of St. Francis." During 1871 and part of 1872 he was City Physician of Hoboken, and it was while he was incumbent of the office that the long-to-be-remembered small-pox epidemic prevailed. Throughout the continu- ance of this dreadful scourge he was unceasing in his efforts to circumscribe its destructiveness, and his indefatigable labors, crowned as they were with a large measure of suc- cess, earned for him the gratitude of the whole community. He was married in 1854 to Mary Lyons, of Dublin.

EVINS, HON. JAMES S., Lawyer and Jurist, was born, 1786, in Somerset county, New Jersey. He received a fine classical education, and after passing through the curriculum at Nassau Hall, Princeton, graduated therefrom in 1816. He at once commenced the study of the law in the office of Frederick Frelinghuysen, and received his license as an attorney in 1819, becoming a counsellor in 1823, and named serjeant-at-law in 1837. After his admission to the bar he opened an office in New Brunswick, where he practised his profession and where he continued to reside until 1852. He was elected in 1838, by the joint meeting of the Council and Assembly, a Judge of the Supreme Court of New Jer- sey, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Ryerson ; and on the expiration of his term, in 1845, was reappointed by the Governor for another term of seven years, which expired in 1852. He then removed his resi- dence to Jersey City and resumed the practice of his pro- fession, but not to any appreciable extent. He was a man of generous impulses, of great conversational ability, inter- spersed with wit and humor; and he was the life of the social circle with whom his lot was cast. He had been trained by pious parents in the evangelical faith, and was ever a believer in the doctrines which had been taught him. He possessed a warm friend in his legal preceptor, Fred- erick Frelinghuysen, and frequently visited him, and for a long period corresponded with him. Judge Nevins died in Jersey City, in 1859.

WING, HON. CHIARLES, LL. D., Lawyer and Jurist, was born, 1780, in Bridgeton, Cumberland county, New Jersey, and was the only son of James and Martha (Boyd) Ewing. Ile was of Scotch-Irish descent, and was the great-grandson of Finley Ewing, of Londonderry, Ireland, who fought at the battle of the Boyne, and for his gallantry was publicly complimented by King William III., who also

Ewing, emigrated to America in 1718 and settled in Cum- berland county, New Jersey, where he died, leaving a numerous progeny, some of whom have been greatly dis- tinguished ; among them may be named the late Thomas Ewing, of Ohio, United States Senator, and at one time Secretary of the Treasury. Judge Ewing's maternal grand- father was from the north of Ireland, and emigrated about 1772 to New Jersey, settling in Bridgeton. After a short time he managed to establish himself in a good busi- ness, and sent for his family. When these arrived, the following year, they found that he had died but a short time previous. The widow, however, took charge of her late husband's business, and employed as her clerk and assistant James Ewing, who subsequently married her eldest daughter, and the latter died soon after the birth of her son. Charles received a liberal education, and entered Princeton College, from which he graduated in 1798, taking the first honor. He afterwards entered the office of Samuel Leake, with whom he studied law, and in due time received his licenses as an attorney and counsellor-at-law. He was re- garded as a most efficient and able advocate, and gained the control of a large and lucrative practice. In 1824 he was elected by the two houses of the Legislature as Chief- Justice of the Supreme Court, to succeed Judge Kirkpatrick, whose term at that time expired. He did not aspire to the position ; indeed, he was opposed to any change being made, as the selection of his predecessor had given general satisfaction to the profession, although some complained of his unwillingness to pay much attention to the statutes regulating the proceedings in justices' courts. The change, however, was regarded as an excellent one, as Judge Ewing was a most patient, painstaking and laborious judge, learned both in principles and cases, and prompt in their application. He always took upon himself all the responsibilities of the judge, and ever instructed the jury in matters of law, and guided them, where it was allowable for him to do so, in their estimate of facts and evidence. At the expiration of his seven years' term, so satisfactory had been his course, that he was re-elected by a joint meeting of a Legislature opposed to him in politics; but he only lived a few months of the first year of his second termn. In religious faith he was a Presbyterian and a zealous member of that church. When from any cause there was no one to preach, the wor- ship was carried on by the elders, and a sermon read. On these occasions Judge Ewing was always sclected as reader, and the discourse he chose was always onc of Dr. Wither- spoon's. Ile was excellently well informed on the general literature of the day; and possessed a fine miscellaneous library, in addition to the well-filled shelves of rare and valuable works of legal lore. He was a truly elegant gen- tleman of the old school ; an instructive and agreeable con- versationalist, and renowned for his hospitality. He died, August 5th, 1832, being one of the first victims of the Asiatic cholera in New Jersey.

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tice of his profession in Rahway, attending during the winter | politics receives but a minor share of his attention. He of that year, 1864, a course of lectures at Bellevue Medical was married in Australia, in the year 1862, to Margaret McLean, of Scotland. College, New York, and availing himself of the advantages of the hospital clinics. Since the conclusion of this ad- ditional course of study he has devoted himself to his prac- tice in Rahway, which has grown to large and influential proportions. He has been a member of the Union County Medical Society since its organization, in 1869, and acted as its Vice-President in 1873. Politically he affiliates with the Republican party, and has been honored by it with various important trusts. In 1867 and 1868 he was elected by it to the mayoralty of Rahway, and in 1868 and 1869 to the Legislature. He was a member of the Water Commis- sion of Rahway from 1871 to 1874, and President of the Board during the construction of the works. On January 28th, 1850, he was married to Elmira C. Runkle, of New Jersey.

CHENK, WILLIAM HENRY, M. D., Physician, of Flemington, is a native of the place which is now his home, having been born in Flemington, September 21st, 1826. His early education was obtained at the public schools of Flemington and vicinity, and. later he attended the grammar school connected with Rutger; College. When he had reached the age when he should select and prepare for a profession, he commenced the study of medicine under the instruction of his father, Dr. John F. Schenk. After com- pleting his course of preparatory reading he entered the University of New York. Here he continued his studies with energy and great success, and when he graduated, in the spring of 1848, he was well qualified for the practice of the arduous profession he had chosen. He returned to Flemington after his graduation, and there entered upon practice in company with his father. He remained there until 1850, when he removed to Ringoes, New Jersey, where he was engaged in professional practice for about a year. At the end of that time he went to New York, and there engaged in the drug business. He remained in this business until the year 1853, when, upon the breaking out of the Australian gold excitement, he went to try his for- tunes upon the island continent. In Australia he engaged in mining as well as the practice of his profession, although the latter claimed the principal portion of his attention and efforts. While there he became a member of the Medical Board of Victoria. In the year 1867, after having remained abroad for fourteen years, he returned home by way of England. In 1868 he resumed the practice of his profes- sion in his native town of Flemington, and there he has continued to reside ever since. He has achieved a high position in his calling; his skill as a practitioner is uni- versally recognized, and he is in possession of an extensive and valuable patronage. Politically he is a Democrat, but his highest and most active interest is in his profession, and lose sight of his main points. He thus invariably puts his

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 13

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