The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 33

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

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HITAKER, JONATHAN S., M. D., Physician, of Millville, was born in Cedarville, Cumberland county, New Jersey, January 20th, 1823. On both paternal and maternal sides he comes from Cumberland county families, his parents, Thomas and Deborah (Sheppard) Whitaker, being natives of that section. He was educated at Claflin's High School, at Bridgeton, New Jersey, and received a thorough funda- mental training. Attracted towards the profession of medi- cine, he began his studies in that science, in 1841, under the superintendence of Dr. Jacob W. Ludlam, at Deerfield, Cumberland county, New Jersey. Having prepared him- self for a college course, he matriculated at Jefferson Col- lege in 1842, and, taking the full course, graduated in 1845. Upon receiving his diploma he located at Centreton, Salem county, where he engaged in an extensive and la- borious practice for some nineteen years. In 1864 he removed to Millville, where he has since resided, and has secured a good practice. He is a skilful physician, and

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enjoys to the highest degree the respect and esteem of his professional brethren as well as of the community at large. In the medical associations he manifests an earnest interest ; he is a member of the Cumberland County Medical Society, and in the present year (1876) was a delegate to the New Jersey State Medical Association. He was married in 1856 to Mary S. Johnson, of Salem county.

RANE, JOB SYMMES, M. D., Physician in the city of Elizabeth, was born, April 23d, 1825, in the town where he now resides. His parents were Job and Mary B. (Woodruff) Crane, both natives of Elizabeth. The family of which he is a representative is an ancient and honorable one. Ilis ancestor, Ralph Crane, accompanied Sir Francis Drake from England to America in 1577. Another ances- tor, Sir Robert Crane, belonged to the first company which came to Massachusetts Bay in 1630. His home was in Essex, England. The first resident representative of the family in this country was Stephen Crane, who was born in 1619, and probably came to America from England in 1640. He died there in 1710, and during his life held a number of high offices in church and state. Among other public duties he was chosen, in 1743, to go to England and lay a petition before the king. Job Symmes Crane is the great-great-great-grandson of this distinguished citizen. Ilis early education was obtained at the justly celebrated classical school of Mr. James G. Nuttman, and when he had reached the age of fifteen he entered Princeton College, from which institution he graduated in 1843. After leaving college he taught school for a period of two years and a half at the seminary of S. E. and S. G. Woodbridge, at Perth Amboy. In the meantime he had decided to adopt the medical profession, and at the conclusion of his term of teaching he began with spirit and assiduity the necessary preliminary studies. In due time he entered as a student at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, and in the year 1849 he graduated from the college and re- ceived his diploma. He at once returned to Elizabeth, and there commenced the practice of his profession, having been invited to enter into a copartnership with his former preceptor, Dr. George R. Chetwood. He possessed emi- nent natural qualifications for attaining success in his pro- fession, and his acquired knowledge and practical skill were already grcat. Hence his progress toward success was rapid, and he speedily attained a large and lucrative prac- tice. IIe rose rapidly to a high and universally acknowl- edged rank, and now enjoys the honorable distinction of being one of the leaders of the profession in the community where he resides. For five years after entering upon prac- tice he was associated in partnership with Dr. Chetwood. Later he was associated, for a period of seven years, with Dr. James S. Green. He is a member of the New

Jersey State Medical Society, and was a member also of the Essex County Medical Society, until the formation of the Union County Medical Association. He was President of the last-named society during the second year of its or- ganization. He was married, March 8th, 1854, to Helen B. Watkins, a native of Albany, New York.

UHL, RICHARD S., Lawyer, of Flemington, was born near "that place, August 24th, 1839, and is the son of Leonard P. Kuhl, a farmer of Hun- terdon county, New Jersey, who was a prominent man in the management of both township and county affairs, and held a number of offices of trust and responsibility. He graduated at Lawrenceville in the year 1860, and in 1861 he entered the law office of B. Van Syckel, Esq., now one of the judges of the New Jersey Supreme Court. He remained here as a student for four years, and was admitted to the bar as an attorney in 1865. He at once commenced the practice of law in Flem- ington, and was admitted counsellor in 1868. His progress in his profession was rapid, and he soon took rank as one of the leading lawyers of the county. He is a fine and ef- fective speaker, and his management of a case is marked by much ability and skill. He was one of the counsel for the defence in the case of the Pattenburg rioters, a case which attracted much attention a few years since. For a long time he was Secretary of the Hunterdon County Agricultural Society. He has always been prominent in every move- ment of his town, social, moral, or financial. Politi- cally he acted with the Republican party up to the time when the Liberal Republican movement was inaugurated. Being a warm admirer of Mr. Greeley, he took an active part in his support during his campaign for the Presidency. After that time he gave but little attention to politics, until the Presidential campaign of 1876, when he took an active part with the Democratic party in support of Mr. Tilden.

RELINGHUYSEN, GENERAL FREDERICK, Lawyer, Soldier and Statesman, late of New Bruns- wick, was born, April 13th, 1753, in Somer- set county, New Jersey. Ile was a son of the Rev. Theodorus Frelinghuysen, a devoted minis- ter of the Reformed Dutch Church, who came from Ilolland to America in 1720, and preached the gospel in the counties of Somerset, Middlesex and Iluntingdon. He received an excellent education and subsequently studied law, being admitted about the time of his attaining the age of twenty-one years. When only twenty-two he was sent by the representatives of the colony of New Jersey as a Delegate to the Continental Congress, which position he re- signed in 1777, as appears by a curious letter which he ad-

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dressed to Colonel Camp, in which he pleads his youth and inexperience in affairs of State as one reason for his with- drawal, in order that an older and more expert individual might be substituted in his place. Returning home he seems to have been instrumental in raising a corps of ar- tillery, of which he was named Captain, and which volun- teered their services to the Continental Congress for a year. During the recesses of Congress, while then a member, and also subsequently, he was in active service, and participated in the battles of Trenton and Monmouth ; and throughout the war was continually engaged, being Colonel of the militia of his native county of Somerset. In 1793, after repeatedly receiving the testimonials of public confidence in various State and county offices, he was elected by the Legislature a Senator of the United States. He continued in that sta- tion until domestic bereavements and the claims of his family constrained him to resign in 1796. In the Western Expedition, as was then termed the military force sent into western Pennsylvania to quell the uprising of the people in the notorious " Whisky Insurrection," he was selected by the commander-in-chief to the command, as Major-General, of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania troops. As a civilian he stood in the front rank at the bar of New Jersey, and he died beloved and lamented by his children and friends, leaving to the former the rich legacy of a life unsullied and which had ever abounded in benevolence and usefulness. On the monument erected by his children over his remains, his virtues are recorded in touching language, of which the following is an extract : "At the bar he was eloquent, in the Senate he was wise, in the field he was brave. Candid, generous and just, he was ardent in his friendships, constant to his friends, the patron and protector of honorable merit ; he gave his hand to the young, his counsel to the middle- aged, his support to him who was feeble in years." He died on his fifty-first birthday, April 13th, 1804, and left three sons, John, Frederick and Theodore; a biographical sketch of the latter will be found hereafter.

'RELINGHUYSEN, HON. THEODORE, Law- yer, United States Senator, and candidate for the Vice-Presidency on the ticket with Hon. Henry Clay, was born in New Brunswick in 1787. He sprang from Dutch ancestry. His grandfather, Rev. John Frelinghuysen, came to the United States from IIolland in 1720, and ministered for more than a quarter of a century to the Dutch settlers in Somerset and Middlesex counties. His grandmother, the daughter of a rich merchant of Amsterdam, was a woman of superior in- tellect, strong will, and devoted piety. His father, Frede- rick Frelinghuysen, educated at Princeton, was a distin- guished lawyer and a member of the Provincial and Conti- nental Congress. He fought during the Revolution ; was a Captain of artillery in the battle with the Hessians at Tren-

ton, and a Colonel of militia in several subsequent engage- ments with the enemy. In 1793 he was elected Senator of the United States, but resigned in 1796. During Washing- ton's administration he commanded, as Major-General, a portion of the army sent into western Pennsylvania to quell the " Whisky Insurrection." He died in 1804. Theodore graduated at Princeton in that year, and choosing to be a lawyer, studied law with Richard Stockton, and was ad- mitted to the bar in 1808. He followed the profession until 1839, and achieved large success. His attention was al- ways fully occupied, and he was engaged in most of the leading causes of his day. In 1817 he was elected .by the Legislature in joint convention, a majority of which differed from him in politics, Attorney-General of the State, and was re-elected, holding the office until elected to the Senate of the United States in 1829. Prior to this, in the year 1826, he had been elected one of the Judges of the Supreme Court of the State, but he had declined the position. As a coun- sellor, his rapid, correct and comprehensive mind, and ex- ceptionally good judgment, made him very safe, while the same qualities, combined with a most magnetic, persuasive manner as a speaker, won him success as an advocate. In the prosecution of his professional duties, he was always governed by the highest sense of honor and right, never per- mitting himself to become the advocate of wrong, nor to press for a conviction in a criminal cause, even when public prosecutor, unless the case was reasonably clear of doubt. As a Senator he exercised a powerful influence. His voice was always heard in the Senate chamber on the right side of all questions partaking of a religious or moral character, and he always exerted his best powers for the promotion of all measures which in his judgment were calculated to ad- vance the best interests of the nation. The high integrity of his character and the unquestionable purity of his mo- tives, in connection with his ability, invested him with much power in Washington; indeed, it is generally conceded that no one man of his day exercised a larger personal influence in the national capital. Early in 1839 he was chosen Chan- cellor of the University of New York, and after considerable hesitation he accepted the position and removed to New York city. He was moved towards acceptance and the re- linquishment of his profession, which that step involved, by the great and growing repugnance he felt to the conflicts of a lawyer, especially in the trial of causes involving dis- puted facts. In 1844 he was chosen by the Whig party as their candidate for Vice-President, with Mr. Clay, then the great leader of the party, as the candidate for the Presi- dency. When eventually slavery became the great issue of the day, and the Republican party came into existence, Mr. Frelinghuysen gave it his earnest support. He had never been a pronounced abolitionist, but he heartily disapproved of the system of slavery, and up to the time of his death al- ways did his utmost to prevent it dissolving the Union, and extended his most powerful efforts for the preservation of the nation. It was not permitted him to witness the final tri-

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umph of right, but his descendants can regard with pride [ porter of the Democratic party and its principles, and at the part he took in making that triumph possible. In the times active in politics. But he has devoted himself almost exclusively to his profession, and has never sought nor held any political office in the gift of the people. He is a mem- ber of the Board of Directors of the Sussex National Bank, of Newton, New Jersey, and was for several years the legal adviser of the Merchants' National Bank, of Newton. He was married, September 24th, 1857, to Amanda E. Slater, of LaFayette, New Jersey. His health became much im- paired in 1869 from too close application to his profession, and he has continued to practise law since only by taking a great deal of outdoor exercise. He is naturally of a sturdy constitution and indomitable will, which have enabled him to rise by his own unaided exertions from comparative ob- scurity to a commanding position in his section of the State, and though in the later years his health has been enfeebled, his strong determination has to a great extent supplied the lack of physical strength. year 1850 he was chosen President of Rutgers College, and removed to New Brunswick, where he passed his remaining days. His management of this institution was able and ju- dicious, and he was very much beloved by the students. He was a man of deep and earnest piety, and felt at various times in his career strongly drawn towards the ministry of the gospel. By the advice of his friends, however, he con- tinued in his profession, where his spotless integrity and un- ostentatious piety exercised a powerful influence for good. In religious movements he always manifested an earnest in- terest, and he labored in a conspicuous post in connection with two great instruments for the promotion of religion, being chosen in 1841 President of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and in 1846 President of the American Bible Society. He died in 1862, at the age of seventy-five years, after a life of singular distinction and usefulness.

AVS, THOMAS, Lawyer, of Newton, Sussex AMESON, CHARLES MILLER, Journalist, was born in York, York county, Pennsylvania, in 1823. His grandfather, Dr. Iloratio Jameson, emigrated to that locality from Scotland, before the revolution- ary war, and became a surgeon in the American army. The father of the subject of this sketch, Dr. Thomas Jameson, was also a physician of prominence and extensive practice in York county. Charles, after at- tending the York County Academy, then under the direc- tion of Rev. Stephen Boyer, entered Marshall College, then located at Mercersburg, in the year 1845, and graduated with the class of 1849. Ile remained two years in the Theological Seminary, connected with the German Re- formed Church, and affiliated with the college, when he was licensed to preach by the Synod of the above-mentioned church, then holding its sessions at Martinsburg, Virginia. Soon after he received a call from a Reformed congregation in Taneytown, Maryland, to become its pastor, which he accepted, and settled in that State. Here he remained but a short time, having received and accepted a call to the Fiftieth Street Reformed Dutch Church, New York. In that charge he remained about twelve years. During the year 1862 he resigned his pastoral charge and purchased a finely-situated farm in Hillsborough township, near Somer- ville, Somerset county, New Jersey. Upon this farm lie took up his residence, and devoted himself to agriculture, at the same time contributing considerably to the press. Latterly he has been writing most of the leading editorials of the Somerset Messenger, organ of the Democratic party in Somerset county. In March, 1876, he purchased the Messenger, and assumed entire editorial and financial con- trol of the journal, which promises to become even more prosperous than of yore under his able direction. He is a county, New Jersey, was born, October 15th, 1829, in Lafayette township, Sussex county, New Jersey, and is a son of Thomas and Mary ( Bale) Kays, both of whom were also natives of New Jersey. His father was a manufacturer by avoca- tion, and died in 1830, leaving a small estate. The subject of this sketch received only a common school education, and when sixteen years of age commenced to learn the trade of pattern-maker, machinist and millwright. He duly served his time until he attained his majority, and became thoroughly versed in all the various details of the business. While learning his trade he spent all his leisure time in study, and became thoroughly conversant with most of the higher branches of education, especially mathematics, and during the same time read law to some extent. In Febru- ary, 1852, being then in his twenty-third year, he engaged in copartnership with Dr. Franklin Smith, at LaFayette, in the general foundry, machine and millwright business, in all its branches, and carried on a very heavy business until 1860, when he sold out his interest to his partner. He com- menced regularly the study of law with Hon. Andrew J. Rogers, in 1858, and continued it under the preceptorship of IIon. Martin Ryerson and Mr. Rogers until the February term of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1863, when he was licensed as an attorney-at-law, and immediately formed a copartnership with Mr. Rogers, the firm being Rogers & Krys. The copartnership continued until April Ist, 1867, when it was dissolved, and he has since conducted the law business alone, having built up a very large and valuable practice. Ile was licensed as a counsellor-at-law at the February term of the Supreme Court in 1872, and is a master and examiner in chancery, and is also a special master of that court. IIc has always been a strong sup- | Democrat of the most pronounced type, and with his paper

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has wielded signal service to the party cause. Well in- president of the organization ; Peter Hayden, whose reputa- formed upon all current topics, a scholar of large attain- ments, and a man of well-defined individuality, he not only handles a subject easily and forcibly, but also boldly, im- pressing his views with weight upon his readers. Socially he is a genial, kind-hearted man, and a very fluent and pleasant conversationalist. He was married in 1857 to Ann Eliza Meserole, of Greenpoint, Long Island.

OWELL, THEODORE P., Leather Manufacturer, of Newark, was born, January 6th, 1819, at Suckasunny Plains, Morris county, New Jersey, and is a son of the late Jacob Drake Howell, an officer in the United States army, who died in 1826, and whose widow still survives at the ad- vanced age of eighty-six years. When young Ilowell was about nine years of age, he went to Newark, where his uncle, Samuel M. Howell, resided, who received him into his family, and by whom he was reared. He attended school in the academy of Stephen R. Grover, and there ac- quired a fair English education. Having concluded his studies, he became desirous of learning his uncle's trade, that of tanner and currier, and accordingly entered it as ap- prentice. He began at the very foot of the ladder, so that he might learn the business thoroughly. In that establish- ment he acquired a practical knowledge of the trade in all its details, and this thorough acquaintance with its every branch has been the secret of his great success through his long career as a manufacturer. When he attained his ma- jority his uncle admitted him as a partner in the business, under the firm-namc and style of S. M. & T. P. Howell, the concern being then located at the corner of Market and Washington streets; and they commenced the manufacture of patent leather on a very small scale. - This article is a German invention, and was first made about a century ago. It was soon after introduced into France and England, and first made its appearance in America in 1828, the pioneer being Seth Boyden, of Newark. In 1848 the buildings of the firm having been destroyed by fire, the new establish- ment was located on the site of the present works, then out- side the city limits and surrounded by fields. At the present time there is a larger population beyond it than the whole city then contained. The capacity of the works was con- si lerably larger than the one first inaugurated, and from the amount of forty hides per week, the product has gained to the immense proportion of five thousand in the same space of time. In the new location the firm conducted the busi- ness with remarkable success, in connection with other part- ners admitted from time to time until August, 1855, when the present company was organized, and which consists, in addition to Theodore P. Howell, and his two sons, Henry C. and Samuel C. Howell, of Abraham R. Van Nest, of New York city, an old and successful merchant, who is carried out, yet he has spared time to interest himself in

tion is known throughout the country; Austin Jenkins, one of the leading merchants of Baltimore, now retired from business ; and Pollock Wilson, of Cincinnati, all of whom have long been recognized as the leading saddlery hardware men of the United States. Since the company organized, the business has been ever on the increase ; new buildings have been erected, and all the novel and improved ma- chinery which from time to time has been invented has been added as required, until, in this Centennial year of the na- tion, the establishment ranks as one of the largest and finest on the continent, and in the production of its leading spe- cialty, patent leather, is the largest in the world. Many of the prominent leather manufacturers of Newark have learned the business with this company. The works in Newark cover six acres of ground, and manufacture principally the patent and enamelled leather of twenty different varieties and classifications. There are also produced roans, linings, many varieties of harness leather, military buff leather of extraordinary endurance, being tanned with pure cod-liver oil, as are also the buck-skins ; and the manufacture of wool mats is a specialty, being sheep-skins with the wool left upon them. A branch manufactory has been established at Mid- dletown, Orange county, New York, which covers two acres, and is designed for the production of boot and shoe leathers, as also for Russia and pocket-book leathers. In addition to these hives of industry, a slaughtering house has been in operation in New York city for some time, and re- quires seven city lots for its arca. This branch is con- ducted solely for the purpose of having the skinning done promptly and the hides free from those cuts which arise from the carelessness of workmen. The cattle are not pur- chased, but simply killed for the wholesale butchers, the hides being retained at their value. The total number of skins used by the company in the course of a year amounts in round numbers to a quarter of a million, one-fifth of these being cattle hides, and the remainder of calf, sheep and deer skins. During all these years the present senior mem- ber of the company, Theodore P. Howell, has led a life of untiring industry, devoting the early morning hours to the vast business details, and suffering nothing to interfere with his constant supervision of the manufactory. Nothing bearing directly or indirectly upon this, his life-long study, has been neglected or omitted. He has twice visited Eu- rope to investigate the markets and methods of England and Germany, and thus has familiarized himself with the hide and cattle markets of the world, as well as the modes of manufacture and the qualities of their products; so that he might not only imitate, but improve upon their manner of fabrication. This persistency of observation has resulted in the superior excellence of the goods furnished at his estab- lishment, and his brand of skins is recognized throughout the country as strictly of the first class. Although this great devotion to his private business has been so systematically

JungHowell

Salary Put. Co. Frilad.“

Obaich Hoffe

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other matters which have tended to the welfare and pro- gress of the city where he resides. He early recognized the necessity of an improved method of communication with New York city, and was among the earliest supporters and promoters for the establishment of the plank road, over which his wagons now daily travel with the goods from his warehouse direct to their destination, thus saving the many expenses attendant upon railway transfer. He has also as- sisted in the establishment of banks, insurance companies, and other commercial institutions, and was also among those who originated the New York & Newark Railroad, and labored ardently until it was a fixed fact in being a di- rect route to the great city on the Hudson. He is at the present time a Director of the Mutual Benefit Life Insurance Company, the American Mutual Fire Insurance Company, the Mechanics' Bank, and the Howard Savings Bank.

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 33

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