The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 35

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

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duty at a school of instruction for volunteers in Ohio. So well did he acquit himself in this sphere that he was offered the Colonelcy of the 65th Ohio Regiment, and the per- mission necessary for its acceptance was given by the Secre- tary of War. About the same time he was promoted to be Captain in the regular army. On assuming command of the 65th he joined General Buell's Army of the Ohio, and assisted in constructing the military road in eastern Kentucky ; participated in the battle of Shiloh and siege of Corinth, and commanded a brigade of the force that drove Bragg beyond the boundaries of Kentucky. Subse- quently, with his brigade, he was attached to General Rose- crans' Army of the Cumberland, and distinguished himself so remarkably at the battle of Stone River that his superior officer recommended his promotion to a Brigadier-General- ship; this recommendation was, however, not then complied with. At the close of the campaign he was granted leave of absence for twenty days, and devoted this period of rest to a visit to his home in New Jersey. To his friends he expressed an earnest desire to take service with the troops of his native State, of whose achievements on behalf of the national cause in the field and in the council chamber he displayed great pride. He would not consent, however, that any efforts should be put forth by his friends to have him promoted and transferred, preferring to sink his per- sonal wishes and to do his duty cheerfully in whatever position he might be employed. IIis short leave, and it was the only one he obtained during the war, expired, he re- joined his brigade, assuming command as ranking Colonel, and participated in all the operations of the Tennessee cam- paign. `At Chickamauga he made himself a brilliant record under General Thomas, and received credit as largely instrumental with that officer in saving the army. At the critical moment of the conflict his command, sustained in magnificent morale by his coolness and soldierly bearing, stood immovable, and repelled, though with heavy loss, every assault of the enemy. The qualities displayed by the young commander in this battle are described by an eye- witness as of the very highest order, as positively heroic. While he did not spare himself in the slightest degree, and had two horses shot under him, he escaped all personal in- jury, seeming to bear a charmed life. Upon this engage- ment followed a second and far stronger recommendation for his promotion, and this time the voice of his superior officers could not be disregarded, he received his commis- sion as Brigadier, to date from the battle of Chickamauga. He was engaged in the battles of Mission Ridge and Resaca, on May 7th and 14th respectively, and in each he had a horse shot under him and sustained slight wounds. Writing to a friend after the latter fight, while on the march, near Kingston, Georgia, May 22d, 1864, he says : "Yon are aware that the great Southwestern campaign under General Sherman is in progress. Thus far we have had several quite severe engagements, in which we have been

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entirely victorious. In the battle of Resaca, on the 14th instant, I was wounded, though not dangerously. I was struck on the leg by a shell, which exploded immediately after passing me, wounding General Manson and killing my own horse and that of one of my orderlies. It was quite a narrow escape for me. My leg, though slightly cut and painfully bruised, is doing well. I did not leave the field, though unable to exercise full command, for about thirty- six hours. You and my family will be glad to learn that I can walk and ride very well now. I am able to discharge all my duties, and hope to be able to conduct my brave little command, which has so nobly stood by me in so many severe engagements, through the great struggle, or perhaps series of struggles, which will doubtless ensue before the fall of Atlanta. The result of the great battle before us cannot be doubted, though all of us cannot hope to witness the great triumph which must crown the efforts of our mag- nificent army." These last words would seem almost to have come to his mind in premonition of his own fate, so soon after did he fall while in the full tide of effort to pro- mote the great triumph of which he then wrote. On June 27th, 1864, General Sherman's army assaulted the position of the enemy on Kenesaw mountain ; General Harker com- manded a leading column in the assault, and, while other generals were mostly dismounted, bestrode his charger, the better to manage his force. Advancing under the full range of the rebel fire, he became an especial target for the sharp- shooters. All heedless of this danger, he rode gallantly hither and thither stimulating his men, until mortally wounded. He was carried to the rear, and soon expired, his last words being : " Ilave we taken the mountain ?" Later on, his body was removed to New Jersey and buried in the neighborhood where he passed his early life. Of truly noble personal character, and possessed of a courage and gallantry springing from a rare sense of duty and love of country, he was also a soldier of the highest skill and ability. He was much beloved by his associates and the men of his command, over whom he exerted a powerful influence for good.

ILLIAMSON, NICHOLAS, A. M., M. D., Physi- cian, of New Brunswick, was born, March 9th, 1845, in the city of New York, and is a son of Nicholas and Mary R. (Burlock) Williamson. His father was a native of the State of New York, and for many years was president of the Novelty Rubber Company, of New Brunswick; his mother was born in the island of St. Croix, West Indies. He was pre- pared at the select school of Professor Gustavus Fischer, in New Brunswick, for Rutgers College, which he entered in June, 1862. But in the autumn of that year he removed to New York, and became a clerk in the Novelty Rubber Company. At the end of three years he was elected the Secretary of the company, which position he still holds.

In 1869 he commenced his medical studies in New Bruns- wick under the preceptorship of Dr. H. R. Baldwin, and attended one course of lectures at the New York University, and subsequently two complete courses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in that city, receiving a degree from the university in 1871, and his diploma from the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons in 1872. He commenced the practice of medicine with his preceptor, Dr. Baldwin, in May, 1871, with whom he was associated for five years. He is a member of the Middlesex County Medical Society, and was its President in 1876. During the same year he was the delegate from that body to the New Jersey State Medical Society. In May, 1875, he was appointed City Physician, and reappointed in 1876. He was married, April 9th, 1874, to Sarah, daughter of Professor George H. Cook, State Geologist.

ALBACH, EDWARD, SR., Refiner of Precious Metals, of Newark, was born in Baden, Ger- many, March 19th, 1804. IIis early studies embraced chemistry, for which he evinced a special fondness, and on growing to manhood he became a refiner of precious metals. This business he prosecuted with moderate success in his native city for a number of years, but the control exercised by European governments over the refinement of ores tram- melled the business and prevented its being largely extended. Moreover, Edward Balbach was strongly repub- lican in his views and principles, and for a long time enter- tained the thought of removing to America. In 1848, when he was forty-four years of age, this idea became a fixed purpose, and he came to this country on a prospecting

tour. He was not influenced by the wild stories of great gold discoveries in California, which were beginning to be heard ; he thought only of transplanting his business just as he had conducted it at home. With this purpose in view, he was more favorably impressed with Newark, New Jersey, than any other place he visited. Newark was then a city of 35,000 inhabitants, and the manufacture of jewelry was a leading interest. The " sweepings " of the jewelry estab- lishments he ascertained were purchased by speculators, who sent them to Europe to be smelted. The smelting of these sweepings would be a largely remunerative business ; he could purchase property cheaply in Newark; the city itself was practically, for his business, a suburb of New York, and it was also convenient to the trade of Philadelphia and Baltimore; and, moreover, the Newark manufacturers would gladly welcome a skilled and reliable man among them, who would rescue them from the spoiling of the specu- lators. He determined to locate liimself in Newark, but hardly had he so decided when he received news that his brother and his brother's wife had both fallen victims to an . epidemic, leaving eight orphan children. With character- istic generosity, he at once returned to Europe and adopted

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these eight children as his own. Having done this he facture of white-lead. Heretofore this has all been imported came back to Newark, and there, in 1850, erected the first from Europe. During the year ending October Ist, 1875, the total value of the products turned out by Messrs. Bal- bach & Son was $2,890,931.26. For the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1875, the total amount of domestic gold and silver deposited at the Philadelphia Mint was $2,123,711.39. The private smelting establishment has surpassed the parent mint of the government; and notwithstanding all these grand operations, the firm continue to work as faithfully as ever at the sweepings of the jewelry establishments. It is need- less to speak of the absolute and unblemished integrity with which the business of the house is conducted. Without the perfect and unquestioning confidence which such integrity inspires their business would be an impossibility. As it is, the bars of silver and gold bearing their stamp pass as cur- rent upon Wall street as those of the mint. Edward Bal- bach, Sr., although he has passed the limit of three-score years and ten, is still an active and energetic man, with the prospect before him of being permitted to give still more years of attention to the great business which his enterprise founded and his prudent care and skill developed. building of what are now the extensive smelting works that have become so famous. He commenced the smelting of jewelers' sweepings. His was the only establishment of the kind in the country ; he speedily won the confidence of the trade, and his business grew with great rapidity. His reputation extended, and he received consignments from New York, Philadelphia and other cities. His machinery and buildings had to be increased. Then other demands were made upon his skill and resources; lead from a new mine in New York, and from an old mine reopened in Penn- sylvania was sent to him to be smelted. His reputation extended to foreign·lands, and in 1861 he received a con- signment of silver-bearing lead from Mexico. This estab- lished a connection which still continues. The treating of these silver-bearing leads involved the necessity for a more rapid process of desilverizing or separating the silver from the base metals. This new process was devised by Edward. Balbach, Jr., a young man of twenty-one, who had long been employed in his father's `establishment, and who was at once admitted to partnership. The new process was patented in 1864, and soon became universally known as " Balbach's desilverizing process." It speedily came into general use, and yielded large revenues. The discovery of ALBACH, EDWARD, JR., Chemist, Inventor and Refiner of Precious Metals, of Newark, was born in 1842. He is of German birth and parentage, his father, Edward Balbach, Sr., being a native of Baden. He was an earnest scientific student in his youth, and by the time he had reached the age of twenty-one he was an accomplished chemist. He was employed in his father's smelting works in Newark, and about the time mentioned large quantities of silver- bearing lead were being sent to the works to have the pre- cious metal separated from the base. This process by the old methods was a slow, tedious and wasteful one, and he commenced a series of elaborate experiments to devise some process in which these objections should disappear. The result was a most valuable invention, known as " Balbach's desilverizing process," which has come into universal use and has brought rich revenues and a world-wide reputation to the house of Balbach & Son. Under the old proccss the whole volume of lead containing gold or silver had to be " cupelled," or oxidized into " litharge," a slow and laborious work, involving great loss of lead. By the new process the lead containing the precious metals is first melted with a sufficient quantity of zinc to take up the gold or silver present, those metals having a greater affinity for zinc than for lead. The melted mass is then poured into moulds of proper size and allowed to cool. These prepared masses are then placed in a furnace with an inclined hearth, and hcated to a degree just sufficient to melt the lead with- out melting the other metals, the melted lead being drawn off into kettles. This Icad contains no particle of gold or silver, although it still bears traces of zinc, and must be still the great Nevada mine brought so great an increase of busi- ness to the Newark establishment that new wharves for the storage of coal and the shipment of products, and new build- ings and furnaces for the treatment of ores, were required, these wants were promptly met, and since that time the fires of the great establishment have never been permitted to die out by day or night. Much of the silver ore which comes to Newark is what is known as " refractory," or " base metal," that is, carrying too large a quantity of lead to be amalgamated with quicksilver. This is melted into pig- metal, and from these pigs of base metal Messrs. Balbach & Son extract gold, silver, copper, antimony, nickel and other substances, until there is nothing left but slag and ashes. Vast shipments have been made to the firm through the agency of the Bank of California, and great consignments have come from the mines of Nevada, Utah, Colorado, Montana, Idaho, Arizona and Lower California. Fre- quently also shipments are received from Mexico and South America. Some of these latter ores are very rich, and one lot of five tons from Mexico yielded 29,000 ounces of silver, or more than $6000 to the ton. The Canadian "Silver Islet " mine, of Lake Superior, has sent a great deal of ore to the establishment. The firm also receive large amounts of crude silver bars for separation, as this is the only private concern in the country where this work is done. In short, Messrs. Balbach & Son do the same close work as the government mints and assay offices, and much that the latter have not the facilities for doing. Within the last two or three years a new business has been opened up here, being the preparation of that perfectly pure lead used in the manu-

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further treated before it becomes pure lead. The mass re- [ sician to the Pennsylvania Hospital, a position which he maining in the furnace consists of zinc, gold and silver, with a small portion of lead remaining. The mass is placed in black-lead retorts, and freed from zinc by distillation. This leaves again a mass of lead, gold and silver, but the precious metals which were before distributed throughout a ton of lead are now distributed through only sixty pounds. To this mass of sixty pounds of base metal the old process of cupelling is now applied, and the pure gold and silver obtained. Through this process the establishment of Messrs. Balbach & Son is enabled to smelt twenty-five tons of ore in one day, and to desilverize seventy-five tons of bullion. Edward Balbach, Jr., is still a young man. He has fine natural endowments, and by culture and experience is thoroughly qualified to achieve even greater scientific re- sults than he has yet done.

AYLOR, OTHNIEL HIART, M. D., Physician, late of Camden, was a native of Philadelphia, in which city he was born, May 4th, 1803. He was of English ancestry, both his parents, William Taylor, Jr., and Mary E. Gazzam, being natives of Cambridge, England. They removed to America in 1793 and settled in Philadelphia, where for more than forty years William Taylor was engaged in ex- tensive mercantile business. In his early years Othniel Taylor attended elementary schools in Philadelphia and Holmesburgh, Pennsylvania, and in Baskingridge, New Jer- sey. He studied earnestly and effectively, and made rapid progress. In the year 1818 he entered the literary depart- ment of the University of Pennsylvania, and there pursued the more advanced studies of a general education. He had decided upon entering the medical profession, and in the year 1820 he became a student in the office of Thomas T. Hewson, M. D., the distinguished physician and surgeon. At the same time that he was pursuing his studies in Dr. IIewson's office, he received a course of instruction in the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his university studies in the year 1825, and graduated with the class of that year. After graduating he at once entered upon the practice of his profession in the city of Philadelphia. He brought to the work he had chosen a combination of qualifications as valuable as rare. He was energetic and patient ; he was progressive and pru- dent ; he worked ceaselessly, and always had leisure to meet the necessities of others; he studied continuously and practised cautiously ; he had much knowledge and so much modesty that his knowledge was never obtruded. Such a combination in the long run makes success, and success came to him. Soon after he entered upon the practice of his profession, he was appointed one of the physicians of the City Dispensary, in which capacity he served many years. About the same time he was elected out-door phy- general labors in the line of his profession were various

held for a term of eight years. In the year 1832 the Asiatic cholera made its first appearance on this continent, and it afforded him a signal opportunity to show his quali- ties, not only as a medical practitioner, but as a man. He distinguished himself by volunteering to serve in the city hospitals which the municipal authorities established to meet the emergency, and at the same time he acted as one of the committee of physicians appointed by the City Councils as consulting physicians to their sanitary board. The hospital specially in his charge was the St. Augustine Hospital, on Crown street, and the number of cholera patients reported by him as under treatment in that hospital was five hundred and twelve. He had also been elected as one of a commis- sion of medical men who were sent to Montreal to study the character and treatment of cholera on its outbreak in that city, and before its appearance in our own cities; but being unable to accompany the commission, he declined in favor of Dr. Charles D. Meigs. When the hospitals were closed, after the disappearance of the cholera, he with seven other physicians, who had also been in charge of cholera hospitals, received, by vote of the City Councils, a testimonial for the services rendered the city, each being presented with a ser- vice of silver, the inscription testifying that the gift was bestowed " as a token of regard for intrepid and disinter- ested services." In the meantime Dr. Taylor had attained a very extended private practice and achieved recognition as a man already eminent in his profession. His arduous and unceasing labors told inevitably upon his health, and at length, in the year 1838, in consequence of impaired strength, he temporarily relinquished the practice of his profession, and removed from Philadelphia to Fontaintown, Pennsylvania. He remained there until 1841, when he re- moved to Caldwell, Essex county, New Jersey, and in 1844 he took up his residence in Camden. In the meantime he had resumed practice with the recovery of his strength, and in Camden his medical career was, from the first, one of great success and distinction, and he very soon possessed a very large share of the practice of the city and vicinity. He continued actively engaged in the work of his profes- sion until about a year before his death, when, owing to his rapidly failing strength, he was obliged to relinquish his practice entirely. His fatal illness commenced with a se- vere attack of pneumonia early in the winter of 1864. The effects of this attack were manifested in a rapidly developed disease of the lungs, which resisted all efforts to check it, and resulted in his death, September 5th, 1869. Added to his eminent qualities as a professional man, Dr., Taylor possessed rare personal characteristics which won for him not only the respect and esteem, but the warm affection of all who came within his acquaintance. He was for many years a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Camden, and was known as a consistent Christian gentle- man. Beside the regular routine work of his practice, his

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and exacting. He was an active member of the Camden | ing almost doubled its membership, built a chapel, and en- County Medical Society from the time of its organization ; larged the church edifice at a cost of several thousand dol- lars. He was married, September 5th, 1839, to Jane Perrine, daughter of Dr. William Perrine, of Philadelphia. His eldest son, William, is a graduate of Rutgers and is practising law in Philadelphia ; he was first admitted to the New Jersey bar, and afterward prepared himself with Hon. F. C. Brewster for the Pennsylvania bar. acted as Vice-President of the body through many succes- sive terms, and prepared and delivered numerous addresses before the society. In 1852 he was the President of the State Medical Society, and consequently a Fellow of the same till his death. Moreover he was the author of many exhaustive treatises on medical subjects, published in various leading medical periodicals. In 1832, the year in which he so distinguished himself during the cholera visita- tion, Dr. Taylor married Evelina C. Burrough, of Glouces- ter county, New Jersey.

INSEV, CHARLES, Lawyer, of Burlington, New Jersey, was a son of Chief-Justice Kinsey. He studied law with William Griffith, Esq., at said place, and after being admitted to the bar by the Supreme Court, opened his office there and con- tinued to practise his profession until he was ap- pointed Surrogate of the County of Burlington, when he removed to the county-town, Mount Holly. After his term of office expired he returned to Burlington, resuming prac- tice there until he died. He was a conscientious, well- read lawyer, and was noted for the purity of his life and character.

ESICK, REV. JOHN F., D. D., of Somerville, was born in the State of New York, June 28th, 1813, and when he was about two years of age his father removed to Catskill. The Mesick family are of old German origin, the first of the name having settled in the town of Claverac in 1719. The father of John Mesick was Peter Mesick, a merchant. At a proper age John attended the classical academy at Catskill, his teacher being the Rev. Carlos Smith, an eminent Greek and Latin scholar. In 1831 he became a communi- cant of the Reformed Dutch Church at Catskill, then under charge of the Rev. Dr. Wykoff; during the same year he entered Rutgers College, graduating with the class of 1834, and numbering among his classmates Dr. Chambers, of New York. Immediately after leaving college he entered the theological seminary, where he was graduated July 5th, 1837. The same year he was ordained and in- stalled pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church of Rochester, New York, remaining there until December 17th, 1840, when he became pastor of the German Reformed Salem Church, of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In 1855 he accepted a call to the Second Reformed Church of Somerville, New Jersey, of which he took ministerial charge February 15th of the same year, and where he still officiates. Under his efficient leadership this church has greatly prospered, hav-

OOPER, REDMAN, Merchant and Importer, was born, January Ist, 1818, at Mantua Creek, about four miles below Woodbury, New Jersey. He is of the seventh generation, in line, from English ancestors, William and Margaret Cooper, of Coleshill, farish of Amersham, Hertford county, England, who came to America in 1679. They were members of the Society of Friends. A certificate to visit and settle in the new world was granted them by their Meeting on December 5th, 1678. After arrival, for a short time, they resided in Burlington. In 1682 they removed to Pyne Point, now Cooper's Point, so called from William Cooper, at one time the largest land-holder in New Jersey, owning two miles down the Delaware river, and two miles up Cooper's creek, on the south side. Redman is the son of David Cooper. He received a fair education in the schools at Haddonfield and Woodbury, and improved to the utmost what advantages were offered. On September 24th, 1834, he moved to Philadelphia, and obtained a posi- tion in the store of Isaac Barton & Co., on Second street, at that time one of the largest retail stores, of dress goods, in the city. Desirous of further knowledge, he gave all his spare time to reading. After coming of age he remained with Barton & Co., in the capacity of clerk, until 1847, when, with a limited capital of about $700, he started in business on his own account, purchasing a part of the inter- est held by his brother in the firm. In the year 1851 the nature of the business was changed, the house confining it- self to shoe-stuffs, upholsterers' and carriage-manufacturers' goods, and a few years later dropping other branches in order to make a specialty of shoe-stuffs. On January Ist, 1867, the senior retired from active business, the firm then changing to Armstrong, Wilkins & Co. They are now the largest importers and jobbers of leather and general shoe goods in the United States, their sales amounting to from one to one and a quarter million of dollars per annum. The subject of this sketch is the senior partner of the firm, as well as its general financial manager. The extended operations in which it is constantly engaged, in supplying the markets of this country by importations from abroad, are under his carc, and the excellent reputation which it sus- tains in European markets, as well as in this country, is largely owing to the weight of his personal character. Prior to the consolidation of the city of Philadelphia, he

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 35

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