The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 58

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

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chiefly on their recommendations. In 1868 he was nomi- nated for Congress by the Republican party, but failed of election-his district as then constituted being heavily Dem- ocratic. In 1869 he was appointed United States Pension Agent for New Jersey, by President Grant, and in 1873 was reappointed. Meanwhile he has continued the practice of his profession, more or less, since 1867, and has been ad- mitted to practise in all the State and Federal courts in New Jersey. General Rusling has also shown considerable literary talent. He has been a frequent contributor to the newspapers and magazines, and in 1874 published a book entitled "Across America; or, The Great West and the Pacific Coast," being the results of his observations and ad- ventures through 15,000 miles of travel, while making his overland tour of inspection, in 1866-67. This has already passed through three editions, and its sale continues. The Boston Post declared it "A really charming volume." The New York Christian Advocate said: "The narrative is lively, the style forcible, and the facts reliable." The Phila- delphia North American, in alluding to it, said : " General Rusling has written a capital book, in a capital way. The best-read persons will gain something from it, and to those unacquainted with recent travel it will be a liberal educa- tion." The New York Tribune pronounced it "A series of faithful, if not brilliant, sketches of personal incident and adventure, and it strikingly illustrates the development of utility, intelligence and material success in the great West and on the Pacific coast." The New York World said it was "Not the usual routine of brigadier book-making, but it treats one to some new views of life among army people and miners." The San Francisco Bulletin said : " It abounds in incidents of travel, and occasionally of perilous adventure, marked by shrewd observations and sharp but good-natured hits at our social peculiarities." These are only a few of the many notices of it. Altogether, the press seems to have taken very kindly to it, doubtless much to the gratification of its author.

Galaxy Pub Co. Phaist.

Nathaniel Niles

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of President Lincoln, and in 1863, when the war was at its height, he sacrificed his professional prospects and enlisted as a private in the 8th New Jersey Regiment. He served with credit through the severe campaigns of the Army of the Potomac nearly two years, and was, with his regiment, honorably mustered out of the service after the surrender of Lee at Appomattox. He resumed the practice of law at Clinton, New Jersey, where he has since remained. Mr. IIoffman has been engaged in a number of notable suits in the New Jersey courts; that, perhaps, which gained him greatest credit, being the celebrated case of John F. Styne vs. The Central Railroad of New Jersey, a case in which he was one of several counsel, and in which he gained a sub- stantial verdict for his client. Mr. Hoffman was married, February 22d, 1855, to Amanda, daughter of the late Aaron Van Syckel.

ILES, HON. NATHANIEL, of Madison, Lawyer, was born, September 15th, 1835, at South Kingston, Rhode Island. He is the son of Rev. William W. Niles, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and grandson of Judge Nathaniel Niles, of Vermont. The latter was graduated at Prince. ton College, under the presidency of Rev. Dr. Witherspoon, the only clergyman appearing among the signatures to the Declaration of Independence. A second Nathaniel Niles, uncle of the subject of this sketch, successively represented the United States at the courts of France, Sardinia, and Austria. Nathaniel Niles, of Madison, was educated at home by his father and also at Phillips Academy, in Massa- chusetts. He settled in New Jersey in 1854, and then afterwards studied law in the office of the late Francis B. Cutting, of New York, in which State he was admitted to practise in 1857. He removed in 1859 to Madison, where he was married to Anna, daughter of Lewis Thompson, of Morris county. IIe is a large property holder in this and Union county. ITis political belief is Republican, on which ticket he was elected in 1870 for the lower House of the State Legislature. He served on the important Committees on Railroads and on Education, and originated a number of useful laws. Amongst these, two call for special notice as of lasting importance. The first, which was finally passed over the veto of the governor, swells the State school fund, by transferring to it all moneys derived from the sale of riparian lands, and reads as follows : "An aet to increase the school fund of this State. I. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey, That all moneys hereafter received from the sales and rentals of the land under water belonging to this State, shall be paid over to the trustces of the school fund and ap- propriated for the support of free public schools, and shall be held by them in trust for that purpose, and shall be in- vested by the treasurer of the State under their direction, in

the same manner as the funds now held by them are in- vested, the same to constitute a part of the permanent school fund of the State, and the interest thereof to be applied to the support of public schools in the mode which now is or hereafter may be directed by law, and to no other pur- pose whatever. 2. And be it enacted, That all acts and parts of acts, inconsistent with this act, be, and the same are hereby repealed. 3. And be it enacted, That this act shall take effect immediately. Passed, April 6th, 1871.' Prior to the passage of this act, the total school fund of the State was only half a million dollars. Since its passage the fund has been increased from this source to nearly two and one quarter million dollars, and in the next decade is expected to amount to five millions. The income of it will doubtless at no very distant day entirely relieve the people from the annual school tax. It now affords relief from taxation to more than $100,000 annually. The second law encourages the formation of free school libraries by donating out of the State treasury the sum of twenty dollars, with which to purchase books the first year in each and every school dis- trict in which the additional sum of twenty dollars shall be raised for that purpose by_ voluntary contribution, and ten dollars annually thereafter upon the like conditions. Under this act some four hundred libraries are now in operation. Mr. Niles was re-elected in 1871 by an immensely increased majority, and on the organization of the House was chosen Speaker. He is Vice-President of the American Trust Company of Newark, and also Trustee for several large estates.

ISHER, SAMUEL WARE, D. D., LL. D., Cler- gyman and College President, was born at Mor- ristown, New Jersey, on April 5th, 1814. His father was an eminent Presbyterian minister, for many years in charge of the church at Morristown, then one of the largest in the State; and after. ward for twenty years the pastor of the Presbyterian Church in Paterson. He was the first Moderator of the General Assembly of the New School body after its separation from the old, and was long recognized as one of the most earnest workers in the church, to whose welfare his life was conse- crated. To the example and counsels of such a father was naturally owing something of the tastes and tendencies of the son. Dr. Fisher was early initiated into the modes of thought and action common to the great body with which he was connected. Its traditions were all familiar to him from boy- hood. The choice of a profession to a young man is some- times difficult ; the result of anxious deliberation, the conclusion reached through much doubt and conflict. To lim it was casy ; a profession to which his life had been naturally and divinely shaped ; the most satisfying and best, he thought, which can be chosen by man. His desires and wishes, his purposes and ambitions, if the word may be used in its better sense, opened out in the direction of work for

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and through the Presbyterian Church. Here was ground ample and noble, whose every hillside and vale were familiar to him, and it is perfectly natural that he should always have felt himself most at home with the congregations and presbyteries, the synods and assemblics of this powerful body. He was graduated at Yale College in 1835, spent a year in Middletown, Connecticut, pursued his theological studies at Princeton for two years, and completed them afterwards at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Immediately after leaving the seminary he became the minister of the Presbyterian church in West Bloomfield, New Jersey. During his ministry of a little more than four years in this place his fidelity was crowned with two revivals of religion. From there he removed in 1843 to a larger and more trying field of labor, being installed on the 13th of October in that year as pastor of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Albany. This position was one of unusual deli- cacy and difficulty. The church was probably, at that time, the largest in the whole denomination, having more than nine hundred names upon the roll of its communicants. The important work of his predecessors he supplemented by other work quite as important in forming a complete and sound Christian character, and a vigorous and active Chris- tian church. The work that he did there has not lost its value by the lapse of years, nor is the estimation of its im- portance in the judgment of the most judicious observers less than at first. The extent of his reputation as a vigorous and effective preacher may be indicated by the fact that, in October, 1846, he was called to succeed the most popular, the most widely known, and the most powerful preacher of the New School body, in the Second Presbyterian Church of Cincinnati, Dr. Lyman Beecher, and entered on the duties of the service in April, 1847. It was not a small thing then for a minister still young, comparatively unknown, to follow in pulpit ministrations the most renowned pulpit orator, the most powerful controversialist of the West; not an easy task, with prudence, skill, commanding vigor, and above all, with Christian fidelity and with a view to the broadest Christian success, to maintain his position, to secure the confidence, the good-will, the sympathy of a large and un- usually intelligent congregation, of various political affini- ties, trained to vigorous and discriminating thought. Here was not only opportunity but imperative demand for large and exhaustive labor. Here were conflicting opinions to harmonize, critical minds to satisfy, plans for Christian labor to be formed, machinery to be organized and put in motion, new evils to be met by new methods, the life and viger of the church itself to be maintained in the midst of peculiar temptations, and so a larger and completer Christian household gathered and inspired. This was the work which he performed. The difficulties of his position stimu- lated his energy. He was in the full vigor of every faculty. The field of labor was broad and full of encouragement. His words were not spoken to the empty air, but came back laden with the murmurs of approving voices. He became

an intellectual and moral power in the city. The young gathered about hini, and he prepared more than one series of discourses particularly adapted to their tastes and wants. One of these series, " Three Great Temptations," published in 1852, went through six editions .. In no other place did he labor continuously so long as in Cincinnati, and to this period he afterward looked back as on the whole the most successful and fortunate of his life. He was in his chosen employment, his manly energies at their highest vigor ; a working church, trained and stimulated by large foresight, in full sympathy with him, accepting his leadership, and cheerfully co-operating in Christian word and work. IIis ministry in this church was eminently successful-one hun- dred and seventy-eight persons having been added to the church by profession and two hundred and forty-eight by letter during the eleven years of his pastorate. His charac- ter was a rare combination of mildness and energy. He possessed the faculty of discovering the capabilities and most valuable characteristics of those with whom he asso- ciated, and of infusing into them the ardor and zeal which animated his own heart. He developed the latent energics and abilities of the Second Presbyterian Church and con- gregation in a remarkable degree, and by his skill in organ- izing and combining individual talent into congenial asso- ciation for Christian work, accomplished great results for the cause of his Master. Thus quietly operating, he put in motion various plans and organizations in the church which resulted in great and lasting usefulness. Among them was the Young Men's Home Missionary Society, so successful in establishing Sabbath schools, providing for vacant churches, and other works of a similar character. He awakened an unusual interest in Foreign Missions by ap- pointing different members of the church to make reports at the monthly concerts on the condition of the important foreign stations. He held regular meetings at his own house of the younger members of the church for devotion, consultation and advice. In numerous ways he was con- stantly leading on the church in matters of Christian enter- prise. During the eleven years of his service in the great commercial city of Ohio, his mind had not been growing narrower, nor, engaged as he constantly was in duties most important and exacting, had he forgotten the claims of science and letters, or failed to meet the demands upon his time and talents necessary to their encouragement. The schools, colleges and professional seminaries of the State, and of neighboring States, heard his voice and felt his in- fluence whenever he could say a word or lift a finger for their help. It was natural also that, occupying so promi- nent a place, he should have been called upon for various public services, and become of influence in the larger assem- blies of the church. In 1857 the New School General As- sembly of the Presbyterian Church met at Cleveland. Of this learned and able body Dr. Fisher was chosen Moderator. The subject of slavery had been discussed in more than one General Assembly, and the system strongly condemned. The

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southern members had as frequently protested against these { 1858, the ceremonies of the inauguration not taking place deliverances, and in 1856 did not hesitate to acknowledge that their views in respect to the evil of slavery had mate- nially changed, and they openly avowed that they now ac. cepted the system, believing it to be right according to the Bible. This position the assembly at Cleveland pointedly condemned, while yet expressing a tender sympa- thy for those who deplore the evil, and are honestly doing all in their power for the present well-being of their slaves, and for their complete emancipation, These ideas of the two parties were too radically antagonistic, too deeply held, too frequently and publicly affirmed to allow fraternal co- operation. The southern synods thereupon withdrew, and formed themselves into a separate body, called the United Synod of the Presbyterian Church. It was in reference to this secession that, in the sermon before the General Assem bly of 1858, in Chicago, with which, as retiring Moderator, he opened the sessions of that body, Dr. Fisher used these strong and generous words : " Fathers and brethren, minis- ters and elders, we assemble here amidst the brightness of scenes of revival, scenes such as the church of Christ, per. haps, has never enjoyed so richly before. But as my eye passes over this audience, a shade of sadness steals in upon my heart. There are those who have been wont to sit with us in this high council, whose hearty greeting we miss to- day. Taking exception to the ancient, the uniform, the oft-repeated testimony of our church, as well as to the mode of its utterance, respecting one of the greatest moral and organic evils of the age; deeming it better to occupy a plat- forin foreign, indeed, to the genius of our free republican institutions, yet adapted, in their view, to the fuller promul- gation of the Gospel in the section where they dwell, they have preferred to take an independent position ; and while we cannot coincide with them in their views on this subject, while we know that this separation has been precipitated upon us, not sought by us, yet, remembering the days when, with us, they stood shoulder to shoulder against ecclesias tical usurpation and revolution, when in deepest sympathy we have gone to the house of God in company, and mingled our prayers before a common mercy-seat, we cannot but pray for their peace and prosperity. We claim no monop- oly of wisdom and right. If in our course hitherto we have been moved to acts or deeds unfraternal or unbefitting our mutual relations-if in the attempt to maintain our an cient principles and apply the Gospel to the heart of this gigantic evil, we have given utterance to language that has tended to exasperate rather than quicken to duty, we claim no exemption from censure, we ask the forgiveness we are equally ready to accord." From the delivery of this able and weighty discourse on the "Conflict and Rest of the Church," of the style and spirit of which the above brief extract may give an imperfect notion, he went directly to Clinton, New York, having been already con- sulted respecting the presidency of Hamilton College. Ile entercd upon his duties at the opening of the fall term of

until the 4th of November. The college had risen far above its earlier difficulties, and under a wise administration had for many years enjoyed an honorable reputation for thorough- ness of instruction and discipline, but its resources were still insufficient, and its appeals for aid had not been quite loud enough to reach the ear of the wealthy and the liberal. To the period of his presidency dates the growth of a greater confidence in the college, the endowments of its professor- ships and charitable foundations, and prizes for the encour- agement of good learning, bearing honored names in this and in neighboring communities, never to be forgotten. From this period dates also the effective enlargement, almost the new creation of the general funds of the college, and an impetus and direction imparted to the liberality of the gen- erous and noble-minded which has not ceased, but has yielded but the first-fruits of an increasing harvest. During his presidency the efficiency of the college instruction was increased. Under his influence and in accordance with his wishes the Bible assumed a more prominent place as a part of the regular curriculum, a place which it has ever since re. tained, for the advantage of all. Ilis views of the ends and methods of education are contained in several ad- dresses which he delivered at different times, and which were afterwards collected and published. The very sub- jects of these are suggestive of broad and careful thought. They are such as " Collegiate Education," " Theological Training," " The Three Stages of Education " (by which he discriminates child-life, the school and society), " Female Education," " The Supremacy of Mind," " Secular and Christian Civilization,' " Natural Science in its Relations to Art and Theology." These addresses are eloquent and sound. The most complete of them, perhaps, is his inau- gural, in which he endeavors to develop his idea of what he calls the American collegiate system. The whole address is an argument for breadth and loftiness of culture. The scheme which it defends and enforces is noble and generous to the last degree. In 1862, in the midst of the civil war, occurred the semi-centennial celebration of the founding of Hamilton College, a memorable occasion, marking the age and progress of the institution as with a tall memorial shaft visible from afar. The address of Dr. Fisher is an admira- ble sketch of the college history, portraying in picturesque language the events of its early and later life, with enthusi- asm and faith commending it to the good will of its alumni and friends, and predicting its future prosperity. " It was," he said, " amid the smoke and thunder of war that, fifty years ago, the foundations of this college were laid; and when they passed away, lo ! on the hill-top had sprung into being a power mightier than the sword, more glorious than its triumphs. It is amid the heavier thunder and darker clouds of this dread conflict, when all that to us is most precious is in peril, that we celebrate our semi-centennial jubilee. This thunder shall roll away and the cloud dis- perse before the uprising patriotism of twenty millions of

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freemen and the red right arm of the Lord of hosts." That weighty in matter, affluent in language, with no ambiguity of expression, fertile in imagery and illustration, with a voice clear and penetrating, and a manner somewhat au- thoritative, it is not surprising that he was constantly sought for to address public bodies on important occasions, a duty which he always performed with dignity and to the satisfac- tion of his hearers. The subjects of his discourses were va- rious, and as his mind was mainly occupied with grand and lofty themes, so there was a certain nobleness, freedom, and power of development, the natural and necessary fruit of his general studies and habits of thought. No man could ever listen to him when engaged upon those great themes with which his soul was filled, without a persuasion that he spoke from absolute conviction of the truth and an over- whelming sense of the importance of the message he bore as an embassador of Christ and a "legate of the skies." His ordinary discourses were full of thought as well as of feeling. Those who heard the course of sermons on the " Epistle to the Hebrews," and on the " Life of Christ," need not be told that a more remarkable series of discourses has seldom been heard from an American pulpit. There were public occasions also when he discussed great topics with a fulness and a power that left nothing more to be said, and with results of conviction in the minds of his au- ditors that nothing could shake, nothing even disturb. There are several of his discourses that would alone make a distinguished reputation for any man, and that are to be ranked among the highest efforts of the pulpit of his day. But not in the pulpit only did he shine. So unusu- ally is marked excellence as a preacher combined with an equal excellence as a pastor, that it would not have been strange if he had proved comparatively inefficient in pastoral work. Nevertheless he did prove to be an excep- tionably good pastor. He gave living demonstration that one man may be both great preacher and good pastor. In all the families that made up his congregation, his name was a household word. Carrying everywhere an atmosphere of cheerfulness and sunshine, no one ever met him in social life without feeling the charm of his manners and conversa- tion. Slow to condemn and quick to sympathize, shrinking instinctively from wounding the feelings of any, and prompt in all offices of kindness and love, he won the hearts of his people to a most singular degree. Never was any pastor more universally beloved. The minister most covetous of the love of his people might well be satisfied with the measure of affection accorded to Dr. Fisher. A prince he was, not by virtue of any patent of nobility bestowed by an earthly mon- arch, but by the direct gift of Heaven, with the royal signet of the giver legibly impressed thereon ; a prince in intellect, a prince in large and liberal culture, but over and above all, a prince in active sympathies, warm affections, and a great human heart going out impulsively toward all that pertained to man, however lowly, or sin-stained, or despised, and de- voting his best powers and faculties to the good of the was indeed to the nation an hour of darkness, when the light was as darkness, but he never " bated one jot of heart or hope," or failed to act up to his patriotic faith. After a service of eight years in Hamilton College, he was so- licited to accept again the position of pastor by the West- minster Church of Utica, New York, and was installed as pistor November 15th, 1867. For nearly four years of active and progressive work the church enjoyed the minis- tritions and stimulating energy of this able, active, and untiring pastor. There was yet one other occasion not to be forgotten in which he bore a prominent part in a great and memorable public service, whose influence is in- calculable ; viz., the measures which led to the reunion of the separated branches of the Presbyterian Church. There was no object, perhaps, nearer his heart, none which more moved his enthusiasm. The disruption had taken place in 1837, just before he entered upon his ministry. His father was the first Moderator of the New School Assembly. The doctrines and the men, the causes and the consequences, he had heard discussed from his boyhood, and in the reunion of the two branches of the church he was relied upon as among the most judicious counsellors in the very delicate and difficult questions that impeded its progress and threat- ened to prevent its consummation. He was one of the able committee of conference appointed by the two assemblies, which reported the plan of reunion in 1869. Nor does he seem to have doubted the beneficent result. In behalf of the joint committee, he proposed the resolution for raising $1,000,000, immediately afterward raised to $5,000,000, as a memorial fund. His last work, to which he gave himself with all the confidence and enthusiasm of his nature, was to prepare a paper for the General Assembly of 1870, an as- sembly which he was never to see. He received the Doctorate of Divinity from Miami University in 1852, and the Doctorate of Laws from the University of the city of New York in 1859. As a preacher he must be held to rank among the ablest of the Presbyterian body. With all that may be said by way of detracting criticism, it must still be allowed that our religious communities move along a pretty high level of intellectual experience and of religious feeling. To satisfy the reasonable demands of our congregations requires a continuous intellectual exertion, which, when we come to measure its force, is something startling. It is not a wonder that so many poor sermons are preached, but rather that there are so many good ones. But Dr. Fisher moved above, far above the common level. Within the ample dome of that forehead it was felt, at sight, there dwelt a powerful brain. He brought to his discourses a mind well stored and well disciplined. There was a ful- ness and richness of thought which left little or nothing in that direction to desire. An intellectual hearer could not fail to be attracted by his vigor. His style was often bold, sometimes picturesque, almost always clear and direct. His - words were well chosen and exuberant. Thus full and | world and the glory of God. It was in the practical and

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 58

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