The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 15

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 15

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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

every department of a railroad, Mr. Barker is peculiarly | of Abraham Ogden, of Newark, whom he selected as his qualified to fill his present position, no matter what its emergencies, and having earned it step by step he is a firm believer in and consistent advocate of the system of promo- tion from the ranks, holding that its adoption secures well- tried and efficient assistants ; indeed, to his observance of this principle he attributes in great measure the large success that has attended his management. His position invests him with the control over about 2500 employés, including the shopmen.

E WITT, REV. JOHN, D. D., Professor of Orien- tal Literature in the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, was born in Albany, New York, November 29th, 1821. His father, whose name he bears, was a distinguished theologian and in- structor, having been for many years connected with the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick, at the same time occupying the Professorship of Rhetoric and Belles-Lettres in Rutgers College. Dr. De Witt, the subject of this sketch, graduated from Rutgers College in 1838, and then entered the Theological Seminary, from which he . graduated in 1842. His first charge was the Reformed Church at Ridgeway, Michigan, where he ministered from 1842 to 1844. He then received and accepted a call from the First Reformed Church at Ghent, New York, and la- bored in that connection with much acceptability and en- couraging success until 1848. His next charge was at Canajoharie, Montgomery county, New York, which he held for a very short time, when his health failed, obliging him to desist from professional labor for a year. Upon his recovery he accepted the pastorate of the Reformed Church at Millstone, New Jersey. He continued in this relation from 1850 to 1863. In the latter year he was elected to the Chair of Oriental Literature in the Theological Seminary at New Brunswick. Feeling that in assuming this position he would be laboring in an enlarged field of usefulness, he severed his relations with the church at Millstone, and moved to New Brunswick, and entered upon his duties as Professor. A fine Oriental scholar, he has filled the chair with distinguished ability from that time down to the present writing. He was married, in 1847, to Charlotte L. Gillette, of New York.

preceptor. During the period of his novitiate he became a member of the " Institutio Legalis," or moot-court, where he had for associates, William Griffith, J. Ogden Hoffman, Richard Stockton, who afterwards became lawyers of re- nown, hoth in New York and New Jersey, and who ascribed in a great measure their success at the bar to the practice attained in this mimic court. Ile was licensed as an attorney in 1789, and subsequently, in 1793, became a counsellor-at-law .. In 1818, under an act passed for divid- ing the State into three judicial districts, he was appointed Judge of one, comprising the counties of Bergen, Morris, Essex and Sussex, and ex officio became President Judge of the several courts of each of these counties. The act was soon after repealed, and subsequently Judge Ford, who had been thus legislated out of office, was chosen an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, and was twice re-elected, thus holding that position for twenty-one years, and would doubtless have been a fourth time chosen, had not his in- creasing years and infirm health warned him of the necessity of relinquishing the position. After he had retired from the bench, he was complimented by a series of resolutions, passed by the bar, in which they assured him of the high esteem in which they held him, " of his untiring patience in investigation, his purity, and his independence, which led him at all times to adopt, as a maxim, ' Be just, and fear not.' " He was everywhere regarded as the most efficient and elo- quent of the lawyers of New Jersey. After his retirement from the bench he relinquished all professional duties, and passed his remaining years at his seat near Morristown, where he died, August 27th, 1849. His son, Henry A. Ford, is a member of the same bar at which his father was distinguishcd.

ERRY, GARRETT, Lawyer, was born, January 3d, 1832, at Hamburg, Sussex county, New Jer- sey, and is a son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Wisner) Berry, both of whom are natives of that county. His rudimentary education was obtained at the common schools of his district, which was supple- mented by an academic course of study at the Newton Co !- Jegiate Institute ; and in 1859 he finally graduated at the New Jersey State Normal School. In the following year he was appointed Superintendent of the State Farming School, at Beverly, in which position he remained one year, and thence removed to Rahway, and assumed charge of the public school in that city for a brief period. Subsequently, in conjunction with W. M. Phelps, he was appointed by the State superintendent, Lecturer and Conductor of Institutes throughout the State, which occupied his attention for the years 1861 and 1862. His leisure hours, meanwhile, had been devoted to the study of the law, having commenced his readings in view of that profession while he was a resident

ORD, HION. GABRIEL II., Lawyer and Jurist, late of Morristown, was born, 1764, in Morris- town, New Jersey, and was a son of Colonel Jacob Ford, whose family residence was the head-quarters of General Washington in the winter of 1779-80, and is still standing, a hallowed me- mento of " the times that tried men's souls." Judge Ford graduated from Princeton College in 1784, and having made choice of the profession of the law, entered the office [ of Rahway in 1865; and in 1863 he was licensed as an at-

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

torney, and three years later as a counsellor-at-law. In | John Maclean, and Judge Nevins, of the Supreme Court of 1866 he was elected City Attorney for Rahway, and at present (1876) is of counsel for the Union National Bank of Rahway. He has associated with him Mr. Lupton for the practice of the law, under the firm-name of Berry & Lupton, who are favorably and extensively known as able and successful practitioners. In political matters he is a Republican, and has been connected with that party since its organization. He was married, March 24th, 1859, to Lizzie Ludlam, of Dennisville, New Jersey.

OOLITTLE, REV. THEODORE S., D. D., Col- legiate Church Professor of Rhetoric, Logic and Mental Philosophy, in Rutgers College, was born at Ovid, Seneca county, New York, November 30th, 1836. His parents were Solomon and Caroline (Satterly) Doolittle, the former being a native of Connecticut, and the latter of New York State. Ile obtained his early education in the Ovid academy, and having laid a good foundation in that establishment, entered Rutgers College as a student in the fall of 1855, and was graduated in 1859, having pursued a four years' course. Feeling himself called to the ministry, he then became a student in the New Brunswick Theological Seminary, where he prosecuted his theological studies until 1862. In July of that year he accepted a call to the pastorate of a church at Flatland, Kings county, New York, and continued his ministrations for two years. At the expiration of that period he was offered the Chair of Rhetoric, Logic and Mental Philosophy in Rutgers College, which he accepted and still fills. In 1872 he took a tour through Europe, visiting England, Ireland, Scotland, Italy, Belgium and other con- tinental countries, gathering by the way much information in connection with the subjects taught from his chair, and a knowledge of methods in professional instruction which has added greatly to the acceptability of his teaching. On this trip he collected, also, many very fine specimens of ancient architecture. He is a powerful and elegant writer, and his contributions to the Christian at Work, of which he is a contributing editor, on the relations of science to religion, lend much interest and attractiveness to the columns of that journal. He was married, September 17th, 1862, to Mary A., daughter of Rev. Benjamin Bassler, of Farmer Village, Seneca county, New York.

HITEHEAD, IION. IRA C., Lawyer and Jurist, late of Morristown, was born, 1798, near Morris- town, New Jersey. He received a thorough academical education preparatory to his matricu- lation at Princeton College, from which institu- tion he graduated in 1816, having as classmates the late Bishop Charles J. McIlvaine, of Ohio, Rev. Dr.

New Jersey. After leaving college he commenced the study of law in the office of the late Joseph C. Hornblower, of Newark, afterwards Chief Justice of New Jersey, and re- ceived his license as an attorney in May, 1821 ; and became a counsellor-at-law three years later. He commenced the practice of his profession at Schooley's Mountain, where he only remained for a short time; and thence removed to Morristown, which became his future residence. He suc- ceeded in building up an extensive and lucrative practice, and was considered to be an able and successful advocate. In November, 1841, he was chosen by the joint convention of the Council and Assembly a Judge of the Supreme Court, and filled the term of seven years for which he was elected. At the expiration of his term in 1848, the politics of the State had changed, and as he was in the ranks of the oppo- sition another succeeded him. He immediately resumed the practice of his profession, and again became very suc- cessful. He was subsequently appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in and for Morris County, and occupied the bench for several terms. He was a man of the most unblemished character, and was possessed of such a high degree of integrity that he was continually named by various persons as their executor, especially where the estates hap. pened to be extensive. The business thus intrusted to him occupied his time and attention for many years. As a judge he was greatly respected, and his opinions, as reported, show him to have been a deep thinker, an able logician, and a most impartial jurist. He was a Whig in political doc- trine, and being such failed to be re-elected judge in 1848. He was a true Christian, and most charitable in his gifts for objects of a religious and benevolent character. He mar- ried about 1822, and was the father of a daughter, who died, as also did his wife, before his own decease. In 1862 he was stricken with paralysis, but recovered. He died at Morristown, August 27th, 1867.

UTTOLPH, HORACE A., M. D., LL. D., Phy- sician and Superintendent of the State Asylum for the Insane, at Morristown, New Jersey, was born, April 6th, 1815, in the township of North East, Dutchess county, New York, and is the son of Warren and Mary (McAllister) Buttolph. His father was also a native of New York, and followed agricul -; tural pursuits ; he was of German descent, the founder of . the American branch of the family having emigrated from Germany at an early day and settled in Boston, Massachu- setts. His mother was of Irish lineage. When Dr. But- tolph was quite young, his father removed to Pennsylvania and located within four miles of the site of the present thriv- ing city of Scranton, which was then known as Slocum's Mill; and the doctor often visited the same, making his way on horseback through an almost uninhabited wilder-

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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

ness. After a few years his father returned to Dutchess county, New York, where the son attended school until he was fourteen years of age; he afterwards became an in- mate of the family of his maternal uncle, Dr. Charles McAllis- ter, of South Lee, Berkshire county, Massachusetts. While residing with his uncle he became a pupil of the Stock- bridge Academy, where he completed his education. Hav- ing resolved to devote his life to the medical profession, he commenced its study with his uncle, meanwhile teaching school and thus defraying his expenses incident to the same ; in fact, the doctor sustained himself from the start, and is, in all respects, emphatically a self-made man. He attended three regular courses of lectures delivered at the Berkshire Medical College, Massachusetts, and graduated from that institution in 1833. Returning to Dutchess county, New York, he at once began the practice of his profession ; but only remained there for a brief period, removing thence to Sharon, Litchfield county, Connecticut, where he resided for five years. He then went to New York city, and at- tended a course of medical lectures in the university of that city, at which time the late Dr. Valentine Mott was the leading surgeon. For some time previous to this period he had been deeply interested in mental science, and in the proper treatment of insane patients, and had already paid much attention to these subjects. As the asylum at Utica was about opening, in the winter of 1842-43, he made an effort to become one of the medical staff. He also visited the leading asylums in the New England States, and after his return was appointed assistant to Dr. Brigham, who had been called to take charge of the Utica Asylum, and he filled this situation about five years. In 1847 he was ap- pointed Superintendent of the New Jersey State Lunatic Asylum, at Trenton ; but before he accepted this responsi- ble position, he visited many of the prominent asylums for insane patients in Great Britain, France and Germany, num- bering in all some thirty institutions ; so that he was enabled to enter upon his duties at Trenton with a full understanding of the best methods to pursue. He held this position unin- terruptedly for nearly twenty-nine years, being thoroughly identified with every step of its progress, and relinquished it in April, 1876, to take charge of the State Asylum for the Insane, at Morristown, to which he had been elected in June, 1875. It may be here stated that, while acting as a member of a commission appointed by the Legislature of ARD, ARTIIUR, A. M., M. D., of Newark, was born at Belleville, New Jersey, December 23d, 1823. Ilis father, Samuel L. Ward, M. D., of Belleville, was for many years extensively en- gaged in the practice of medicine in that locality and the surrounding country. On the maternal side also he was of Jersey extraction, his mother being Caro- line Bruen, of Newark. ITis preliminary education was obtained partly in Newark, whence he proceeded to the Bacon Academy, at Colchester, Connecticut. Having com- pleted his preparation for a university course at this academy 1868-69 to select a sitc and prepare plans for a new institu- tion in the State, Dr. Buttolph, in conjunction with Samuel Sloan, architect, of Philadelphia, arranged the design for a building which, with slight modification of detail, was sub- scquently adopted by the commissioners for erecting this. In the interim between his acceptance of this new charge and his actual assumption of its dutics, he assisted the com- missioners charged with the crection of the samc, with his " great experience, practical skill, and rare good judgment," and he planned many of the features which render this in- stitution one of the most perfect asylum buildings ever | he entered Vale College in 1840. At this famous scat of

erected. The institution was opened for the admission of patients on the 17th of August, since which, to this date (November Ist), a period of two and a half months, the largc number of 346 have been received. It was commenced in the year 1872, and during that and the following years the sum of over $2,250,000 was expended in its construction. It has an imposing appearance, especially when viewed from the front, which stretches out in a continuous line 1270 feet in extent, each subdivision receding, until the rear of the two wings are about 600 feet distant from the front line of the central projecting edifice. All the buildings are fire-proof as far as stone, brick and iron can make them, and the stairways are of iron and slate. They are generally five stories high, including the basement, the upper story being finished with a mansard roof, ornamented with domes and turrets. The asylum is heated with steam throughout, supplied by eight boilers, which are placed in a building some distance in the rear of the central structure, and which also contains the bake-house, laundry, machine and work shops. To give an idea of the great extent of the edifice, it may be stated that nearly eight acres of floor, over thir- teen miles of base-board, 2000 doors, 2500 windows have been placed in the several stories; and the area of the plas- tered walls is somewhat over thirty-three acres. There are between 4000 and 5000 radiators, and about 3000 registers connected with the heating apparatus; while some eiglit miles of iron pipe have been laid to convey gas, water and steam. The gas used is made on the premises in a separate building erected for the purpose; while other structures, such as barns, stables, carriage-houses, ice-houses, slaughter- houses, etc., have been put up during the present ycar (1876). Dr. Buttolph is most enthusiastically devoted to his profession, particularly in his specialty, which, indecd, has been almost a life-long study with him. In IS72 he was honored by Princeton College with the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was married, in IS38, to Catharinc, daughter of George King, cf Sharon, Connecticut. Shc died in 1851. In 1854 he was united in marriage to Mrs. Maria R. Gardner, daughter of John Syng Dorscy, M. D., Professor of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania.

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

learning he spent four years in diligent student, grad- unting in 1844, and having conferred on him in due course the degree of A. M. Selecting the medical profession, he immediately commenced his studies under the tutorship of his father and the eminent physician, Dr. Thomas Cock, of New York, who was one of the founders of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of that city. At this institution he attended lectures, and from it he graduated in the fall of 1847. He at once entered upon the active duties of his profession in Newark, where he practised for one year, when he took up his residence at Belleville. At this place and in Newark he was successfully engaged until 1865. In that year he returned to Newark to reside, and has con- tinued to practise there with steadily increasing success to the present time. He has now been in active practice for nearly thirty years, and during this period he has devoted himself exclusively to the promotion of the interests of his noble profession, always commanding the respect and es- teem of the profession at large, as well as the entire confi- dence of all who have come under his care. In the medical associations with which he is and has been connected he has always taken an active interest. He is a member of the Essex District Medical Society ; also, the Essex Medical Union. Of the Connecticut Medical Society he is a cor- responding member, and for the year 1876 was a delegate to the New Jersey State Medical Society from the district society. He was married in 1854 to Anna C., daughter of Robert Lee, of Rahway.

RAKE, HON. GEORGE K., Lawyer and Jurist, late of Morristown, was born, 1788, in Morris county, New Jersey, and was a son of Colonel Jacob Drake, and his mother was a sister of Jonathan Dickerson, and aunt of Governor Mahlon Dickerson. He received his preparatory education at the hands of Rev. Dr. Armstrong, of Mendham, and subsequently entered Princeton College, from which in- stitution he graduated in ISOS, having as classmates the late Bishop Meade, of Virginia, and Judge Wayne, of the United States Supreme Court. After leaving college he made choice of the profession of the law as his future avocation, and chose as his preceptor therein Sylvester Russell, of Morristown. After the usual course of study he was li- censed as an attorney in 1812, became a counsellor in 1815, and was appointed serjeant-at-law in 1834. Shortly after his admission to the bar he commenced the practice of his profession at Morristown, where he continued until he was appointed Judge. In 1823 he was elected a member of As- sembly, and was re-elected three several times; during his last two terms in that body, he was chosen Speaker of the House. In December, 1826, at a joint meeting of the Council and Assembly, he was chosen Justice of the Su- preme Court, to succeed Judge Russell. Shortly after his

appointment he removed to Burlington, where he remained but a short time, however, and ultimately chosc Trenton as his residence, and where he remained until the expiration of his term of office. The opinion which he gave in the case of Hendrickson vs. Decow operated against his reap- pointment, although generally admitted to be correct. This opinion was adverse to the Hicksitcs' cause, and they helped to elect, in 1833, a large majority of Democrats to the Legislature, mainly to defeat the re-election of Judge Drake. Upon the termination of his office he returned to Morristown, where he resumed the practice of his profession. Religiously he was a Presbyterian, and an active and zealous member of that communion. He died suddenly, while on a visit to his brother-in-law, Dr. Woodruff, at Drakesville, in 1837.

UNT, EZRA M., M. D., of Metuchen, was born in that place on January 4th, 1830. His father, Rev. H. W. Hunt, was for many years the be- loved pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Metuchen, and was a Jerseyman, having been born in Hunterdon county. The family, how- ever, came originally from Westchester county, New York. Having received a superior elementary training, Ezra at- tended Irving Institute, at Tarrytown, New York, where he continued from 1840 to 1845, and prepared for college. He entered Princeton College in the latter year, and gradu- ated therefrom in 1849. The life of a physician being that to which his tastes led, he then began the study of medicine under the superintendence of Dr. Abram Coles, an eminent practitioner of Newark, New Jersey, at the same time at- tending lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgcons, of New York, from which, after a three years' course, he re- ceived his degree of M. D., in March, 1852. After gradu- ating he located himself in Metuchen, but did not labor long in that place at that time, being, in 1853, appointed Lecturer on Materia Medica and Therapeutics, in the Vermont Med- ical College, at Woodstock. In the following year he was chosen Professor of Chemistry in the same institution. During 1855 he concluded to resume his profession, and re- turned to Metuchen. There he was successfully engaged until 1862, when he was impelled by patriotic motives to join the Union army. He entered the service for nine months, as Assistant Surgeon of the 29th New Jersey In- fantry. After serving with the regiment for two months he was detached to take charge of the Calvert Street Hospital, Baltimore, where he did duty until the expiration of his term. Returning to Metuchen, he once more resumed the labors of private practice, in which he has since been con- tinuously occupied, and with steadily increasing success. In his profession he enjoys a high reputation, both as a phy- sician and an author. . He is a member of the Middlesex County Medical Society, and has been many times a dele- gate to the State Medical Society, of which he is a Fellow,

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

having acted as its President in 1865. He was one of the | delegates who represented the State Medical Society of New Jersey in the Convention of the American Medical. Associa- tion held in Philadelphia, from June 6th to June 10th, 1876, and was also a delegate from the State to the International Medical Congress, held in Philadelphia in September, 1876. Among the medical works that have emanated from his pen may be mentioned the " Physicians' Counsel," and " Pa- tients' and Physicians' Aid." But he is known in author- ship outside of the professional pale. Among the more prominent of his literary works may be named " Grace Cul- ture," published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication, and "A Commentary on the Old and New Testaments," published by Scribner & Co., of New York. Various other works of minor importance have been given to the public by him. During 1863 and 1864 he was a member of the Board of Enrolment from the Third Congressional District. He has been twice married. His first wife, Emma L. Ayres, of Rahway, he espoused in 1853; she died in 1867. The second marriage took place in 1870, and was contracted with Emma Reeve, of Allowaystown, New Jersey.

ROWN, HON. GEORGE H., Lawyer and Jurist, late of Somerville, was born in 1810, and was the son of Rev. Isaac V. Brown, D. D., for a long time principal of a classical academy at Law- renceville, and where he received a thorough training previous to entering college. He gradu- ated with the class of 1828 from Nassau Hall, and after- wards became an assistant in his father's school, where he remained about two years. Having determined to embrace the legal profession, he entered for a while the law office of Thomas A. Hartwell, of Somerville; but subsequently he became a student in the law department of Yale College. He was licensed as an attorney in 1835, and became a counsellor in 1838. He immediately opened an office in Somerville, which town he likewise made his residence, and continued there throughout his life. His success was a good one from the first, and he soon had the control of an CHOMP, JOHN, Lawyer, of Somerville, was born, June 2d, 1843, in Readington, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, and is a son of Jacob G. Schomp, a farmer and builder of that county. He was pre- pared for college at first under private instruction, and at Claverack Institute, New York. He en- tered the sophomore class of Rutgers College, New Bruns- wick, in 1859, and had as classmates Judge Reed, A. J. Garretson, and others, since prominent in the legal profes- sion. After leaving college he commenced preparing him- self for admission to the bar, with the cminent law-firm of Brown, Hall & Vanderpool, of New York city, where he remained for some time ; but as his health began to fail, he abandoned his studies for a ycar. He subsequently became extensive and lucrative business, being a thoroughly able lawyer. He was a member of the convention which assem- bled in 1844 to frame the new State Constitution, in which body he took an active part. When this new Constitution was adopted, he was nominated by the Whigs as Senator from Somerset county, and was elected, although the county was considered a sound Democratic district. He was elected, in 1850, a member of Congress, but failed to be re- elccted in 1852, the district giving a majority to his oppo- nent. In 1861, when Judge Whelpley was appointed Chief- justice, he was nominated by Governor Olden, to fill the vacancy created by such promotion, and duly confirmed by the Senate. The selection was an excellent one, and his course as a Judge was eminently satisfactory ; but he was a student in the office of B, Van Syckel, now one of the

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 15

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