The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 6

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

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OWELL, HON. RICHARD, Lawyer, Soldier and Governor of New Jersey, was born, October 25th, 1754 (with his twin brother Lewis), in Newark, Newcastle county, Delaware, and was one of eleven children whose father was Ebenezer Howell, the latter being the son of the founder of the American branch of the family, who left Wales in 1729 and settled in Delaware. Richard and his brother Lewis were educated in Newcastle, and remained there until about 1774, when they removed to New Jersey, whither their father had preceded them some five years previously, settling in Cumberland county, a few miles to the west of Bridgeton. Both brothers at that date were strongly imbued with patriotic ardor, and were of the party who, in November, 1774, disguised as Indians, broke into

hound's " cargo of tea, and burned it. For this the party were sued by the owners, but the case never came to trial ; for the Whig sheriff had taken care to summon a Whig grand jury, who ignored the bill, although the royalist judge charged them to find a true one. Richard Howell had commenced the study of law, but was ohliged to suspend his readings and enlist in the cause of independence. Early in 1775 he was appointed a subaltern officer in a company of light infantry, and in December of that year was commissioned a Captain in the 2d Regiment of the line, commanded by Colonel Maxwell. The regiment was ordercd to Canada, and participated in the attack on Quebec, where they were repulsed. However, Captain Howell was promoted to a Majorship, for the valor he displayed on that and several other occasions; and when the New Jersey regiments were reorganized Colonel Max- well became a Brigadier General, with Howell as Brigade- Major. They participated in the battle of Brandywine, and where Lewis Howell, Richard's twin brother, served as surgeon ; the latter was captured, but fortunately escaped. The day prior to the battle of Monmouth Surgeon Howell died from an attack of fever, without being able to bid farc- well to his brother Richard, who was with his command awaiting the expected battle. He shortly after resigned from the army by special request of General Washington, who immediately ordered him to transact certain duties of a private nature, which he could not perform while holding a military commission from Congress. It is generally sup- posed that the nature of this business was to discover by the best means he could the proceedings of the British com- manders. In 1779, having received his license as an attorney, he commenced the practice of law in Cumberland county, where he resided for several years. Early in 1788 he removed to Trenton, and shortly afterwards was elected Clerk of the Supreme Court. He served in this office until 1793, when, William Paterson being appointed a Justice of the United States Supreme Court, Howell was chosen by the Legislature Governor of the State, to fill the vacancy then existing; and as he gave entire satisfaction in that high station he was annually re-elected, almost always unanimously, until 1801, when the Republican or Jefferson party gained the ascendency, and he was succeedcd by Joseph Bloomfield. During his incumbency as Governor, in 1794, the famous Whiskey Insurrection broke out in western Pennsylvania, and Governor Howell was named by President Washington as commander of the right wing of the army detailed to operate against the insurrectionists. After marching to the extreme western boundary of Penn- sylvania the insurgents were overawed, and did not hazard a battle, and the troops were dismissed by an order of Gen- eral Washington, dated at Pittsburgh, November 17th, 1794, and shortly afterwards marched hack to New Jersey. After his vacation of the gubernatorial chair he returned to the practice of the law, continuing to reside in or near Trenton.

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He was married in November, 1779, to a daughter of Joseph Burr, of Burlington county, by whom he had nine children, some of whom died in infancy. Richard, born 1794, was in 1812 a lieutenant of infantry, and was aide to Brigadier-General Pike when he was killed at the blowing up of Fort George in Canada. Another son, William, was a lieutenant in the marine corps; and Franklin was a lieu- tenant in the navy, and was killed on board the frigate " President." Governor Howell died at his residence, near Trenton, May 5th, 1803.

LOOMFIELD, HON. JOSEPH, Lawyer, Soldier and Governor of New Jersey, was born, 1755, at Woodbridge, Middlesex county, and was the son of Dr. Moses Bloomfield, who was probably de- scended from Thomas Bloomfield, who lived at Newbury, Massachusetts, in 1638, and afterwards removed to New Jersey. He was educated at a classical school taught by Rev. Enoch Green, at Deerfield, Cumber- land county; after leaving which he commenced the study of the law with Cortlandt Skinner, attorney-general of the province, who during the Revolution was a Tory, and left the country with his family after independence had been achieved. In 1775 Bloomfield was licensed as an attorney, and commenced the practice of his profession in Bridgeton. In February, 1776, he received a commission as Captain in the 3d New Jersey Regiment, which was ordered to Canada. On their way thither Captain Bloomfield was ordered to arrest his old preceptor, Skinner, at Perth Amboy, but who, however, had taken refuge on board a British man-of-war. The regiment, on its arrival at Albany, received news of the retreat of the Continental troops from Quebec, and was subsequently marched up the Mohawk valley to restrain the Indians. Thence, in the following November, they repaired to Ticonderoga, where Captain Bloomfield was named Judge Advocate of the Ariny of the North. There being much sickness and exposure, he fell ill, and on Christmas day left for home. He was subse- quently promoted Major of the 3d Regiment. In 1778 he resigned from the army, and in the autumn of the same year was chosen Clerk of the Assembly, and was for several years Register of the Admiralty Court. In 1783 he was elected Attorney-General of the State, was re- elected in 1788, and resigned in 1792. Shortly after his resignation from the army he had removed to Burlington, which be- came his future residence, except when absent on public service. In 1793 he was chosen as one of the Trustees of Princeton College, which he resigned in 1801. Ile was General of Militia in 1794, and took the field as commander of a brigade to aid in the suppression of the Whiskey Insur- rection in western Pennsylvania, marching with the troops to the district where these troubles arose, and was instru- mental in quelling the insurgents without recourse to arms.

In 1792 he had been one of the Electoral College of New Jersey, voting for Washington and Adams for the respective offices of President and Vice-President of the United States; but owing to his opposition of the latter was not appointed an elector in 1796. This opposition to Adams accordingly made him friendly to Jefferson, the avowed leader of the Republicans, since termed Democrats, and he was chosen to succeed Richard Howell as Governor of the State. This was in the autumn of 1801, when he received thirty votes, while his opponent, Richard Stockton, commanded but twenty. In the election, held in 1802, each candidate re- ceived twenty-six votes, and the balloting thereafter with different candidates resulted in a tie. Notwithstanding all efforts of compromise nothing resulted, and New Jersey had no governor for a year, the duties of the office being performed agreeably to the constitution by the Democratic vice-president of the Council, John Lambert. In 1803 he received thirty-three votes, while his old opponent could only poll seventeen; and in 1804 he counted thirty-seven votes, and Mr. Stockton sixteen, in all. He was subse- quently re-elected, until 1812, without opposition. In June, 1812, war was declared against Great Britain, and he was shortly thereafter appointed a Brigadier-General by Presi- dent Madison, in the army destined for the invasion of Canada. Early in 1813 his brigade marched to Sackett's Harbor, and a portion of them, under General Pike, crossed into that province, attacked Fort George, were repulsed, and the general killed. General Bloomfield was soon withdrawn and ordered to the command of a military dis- trict, with his head-quarters at Philadelphia, where he remained until the close of the war. He then returned to Burlington, where he re-commenced the practice of his profession, and in 1816 was elected, by the Democrats, a member of Congress, and re-elected in ISIS, closing his career in that body March 3d, IS21. IIe was Chairman of the Committee on Revolutionary Pensions, and suc- ceeded in introducing and having enacted the bills granting pensions to the veteran soldiers of the Revolution and their widows. During the period of his serving as Governor he was ex-officio President of the Board of Trustees of Prince- ton College ; and in 1819 he was again elected a Trustee of that institution, which position he held until the close of his life. He was for many years an active member and President of the " New Jersey Society for the Abolition of Slavery," an organization that must not be confounded with those other societies which afterwards degencrated into societies of a fanatical character. The societies first formed for the abolition of slavery confined themselves to protect- ing slaves from abuse, and to aiding them to obtain their liberty by legal proceedings. Writs of habeas corpus were procured, and many negroes claimed as slaves were de- clared by the Supreme Court to be free. Joseph Bloomfield was throughout his whole carcer a firm Republican, or, as was afterwards styled, a firm Democrat in his political belief; while in Congress he was regarded as a sound

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

legislator ; a brave soldier in the field, and in private life Newark. He was, as already stated, a true Democrat ; yet an estimable citizen. He was married, about 1779, to he regarded John Quincy Adams as the true Republican (democratic) successor of Presidents Jefferson and Madison. He enjoyed the respect of all men, and during his entire career was never known to have an enemy. He was re- garded by all as a good citizen, a faithful friend and a just, unswerving judge. He died September 17th, 1826. Mary, a daughter of Dr. William McIlvaine, of Burlington; she died in 1818. A few years afterwards he married a lady who survived him. He died at Burlington, October 3d, 1825. The inscription on his tomb states the simple facts that he was "A soldier of the Revolution; late Governor of New Jersey."

ENNINGTON, WILLIAM SANDFORD, Soldier, Lawyer, Jurist and Governor of New Jersey, was born in Newark, and was the great-grandson of Ephraim Pennington, one of the original settlers of Newark, who removed in 1667 from the colony of Connecticut. Very little is known concerning the youth of Governor Pennington, excepting that he was apprenticed to his maternal uncle, from whom he was named; and that as the uncle espoused the cause of the royalists, while the nephew was an ardent revolutionist, the indentures were cancelled and he entered the Continental army. He was at first a non-commissioned officer of artillery; and heing discovered by General Knox entirely unsupported, during a skirmish, actively loading and firing one of the cannon, and exhibiting so much courage, he was commissioned on the field a Lieutenant of Artillery, to take rank from September 12th, 1778. From his private journal, he appears to have been present at the execution of Major Andre, October 2d, 1780; and was ordered to join a de- tachment of troops, January 25th, 1781, to assist in quelling a mutiny among the Pennsylvania and New Jersey troops at Morristown, New Jersey. It is believed that he was present during the siege of Yorktown, and that he was wounded in some engagement with the enemy; he had been promoted to a hrevet Captaincy when he left the army. After the war he was engaged in business as a hatter, and subsequently embarked in mercantile pursuits in Newark. In 1797 he was elected a member of the General Assembly, which position he held for three years. In 1801 he was chosen a member of the Council, and re-elected in 1802. He was at this period, and subsequently for twenty years, a leading member of the Republican or Democratic party. He had entered, ahout the year 1800, upon the study of the law with Mr. Boudinot, and in May, 1802, was licensed as an attorney. Before he could be appointed a counsellor-at- law he was elected, in February, 1804, an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court ; and in 1806 was appointed Reporter of the same. He retained this position until 1813, when he was elected Governor of the State, being the successor in that office of Colonel Ogden, and was re-elected in 1814. In 1815 he was nominated by President Madison as Judge of the United States District Court for New Jersey, vice Robert Morris (deceased), and was confirmed hy the Senate. He held this position until his death, his residence being

ICKERSON, MAHLON, Lawyer, Jurist and Gov- ernor of New Jersey, was born in 1771, and was a descendant of Philemon Dickerson, who with his brothers emigrated from England in 1638 and settled originally in Massachusetts. Four of his grandsons and children of his son Thomas re- moved to Morris county, New Jersey, in 1745, and from these the Dickersons, and Dickinsons, as some term them- selves, of New Jersey, are descended. Mahlon was the grandson of one of these four brothers, and the son of Jon- athan Dickerson. He graduated from Princeton in 1789; and after leaving college studied law, and was licensed as an attorney in 1793. In the following year he served as a member of Captain Kinney's cavalry company, in the expedition sent to western Pennsylvania to aid in the suppression of the celebrated Whiskey Insurrection. He subsequently, with his brothers, removed to Philadelphia, which for many years thereafter became their residence. In that city he entered the law office of James Milnor, who afterwards was a member of Congress, and who ultimately studied divinity and became a distinguished clergyman of the Episcopal Church. Mahlon Dickerson was admitted to the bar in Philadelphia in 1797. Shortly afterwards he was elected a member of the Common Council; and being an earnest Republican was named by President Jefferson, in 1802, as a Commissioner in Bankruptcy. In 1805 he was appointed Adjutant-General of the Commonwealth of Penn- sylvania by Governor McKean, and resigned the same three years after to accept the position of Recorder of the City of Philadelphia, which was, as then constituted, a judicial office, to be held during good behavior, and exercising criminal jurisdiction in the city proper. In 1810 his father died, leaving a valuable estate, and Mahlon Dickerson re- moved to Morris county, New Jersey, where he continued to reside, except when employed in public business, until the close of his life. IIe was elected in 1812, and re- elected in 1813, a member of the General Assembly of New Jersey, from Morris county. While thus a representative he was elected by the two houses of the Legislature a Jus- tice of the Supreme Court, and also chosen Reporter of the same, but did not accept the latter appointment. In 1815 he was elected Governor of the State, without opposition, and re-elected in 1816. While occupying the gubernatorial chair, in February, 1817, he was elected United States Senator, and served in that capacity for sixteen years. In

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

May, 1834, he was named by President Jackson as Minister to Russia, and expected to accept the position, but yielded to the persuasions of Martin Van Buren, who was then an aspirant for the Presidency, and he declined the office and devoted all his energies towards securing the succession in the Presidential office to his friend, Van Buren. In June, 1834, he became Secretary of the Navy, and resigned there- from in 1838. In September, 1840, he was appointed to succeed Judge Rossell in the District Court, which he held for about six months, when he resigned, and his brother, Ilon. Philemon Dickerson, was appointed. He subse- quently was President of the American Institute, of New York city. During his term as Senator of the United States he was a leading member of that body, affiliating at first with the Republicans or Democrats, and afterwards became a member of the Jackson and Van Buren Democracy. He was largely interested in the mining and manufacture of iron in Morris county, and so favored a high protective tariff, in opposition to the views of many of his political brethren. IIe was kind, amiable and highly esteemed as a man of sound judgment and a safe legislator. He was pos- sessed of a large fortune, but had no issue, never having married. He died at his residence in Suckasunny, Morris county, October 5th, 1853, aged eighty-two years.

REEN, REV. JACOB, D. D., of Hanover, Morris county, was born at Malden, in the State of Mas- sachusetts, in 1712. IIe graduated at Harvard, and joined the Rev. George Whitfield in his enterprise to Georgia. On reaching Elizabeth- town, New Jersey, on their way thither, Mr. Whitfield suggested a change of plan, and Mr. Green, on the advice of Mr. Dickinson and Mr. Burr, remained at tliat place and studied divinity with the latter. He was soon called to settle in the Presbyterian congregation of Hanover. He married a daughter of Rev. John Pierson, for a long time the pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Woodbridge, New Jersey, and who was a son of Rev. Abraham Pierson, the first president or rector of Vale Col- lege, and a grandson of the Rev. Abraham Pierson, one of the first settlers, from Connecticut, of Newark, and the first pastor of the church in that city. Jacob Green, although a clergyman, took a deep interest in the impending conflict between England and the colonies, and was an earnest Whig. On the fourth Tuesday of May, 1776, he was elected from the county of Morris a member of the Pro- vincial Congress of New Jersey, which organized at Bur- lington the 10th of June, 1776, by choosing Samuel Tucker, Esq., President, and William Patterson, Esq., Secretary. On the 21st of June the Provincial Congress resolved that a government be formed for regulating the internal police of the colony, pursuant to the recommendation of the Con- tinental Congress of the 15th of May. A committee was

appointed on the 24th of June to prepare a constitution, of which Jacob Green was the chairman. It consisted, be- sides the chairman, of John Cooper, Jonathan D. Sargeant, Lewis Ogden, Theophilus Elmer, Elijah Hughes, John Covenhoven, John Cleves Symmes, Silas Condict and Samuel Dick. The constitution was reported on the 26th, and discussed from day to day until the 2d of July, when it was adopted two days before the Declaration of Independ- ence. The convention, on the 22d of June, authorized their delegates"" to concur in a declaration of independence and in the formation of a confederacy for union and com- mon defence, making treaties with foreign nations, for commerce and assistance, and taking such action as might appear necessary for these great ends." The Constitution of New Jersey, adopted July 2d, 1776, remained the or- ganic law of the State for nearly seventy years, the second constitution being framed and adopted in 1844. Jacob Green, though pressed to do so, refused to be again a can- didate for membership in any legislative body, on the ground that his duty as a minister, except on extraordinary occasions, required his efforts in his parochial charge. He was one of the first Trustees of Princeton College, a position which he resigned in 1764. He remained in charge of his congregation at Hanover for forty-five years, and died there in May, 1790.

REEN, REV. ASHBEL, D. D., LL. D., President of Nassau Hall from 1812 to 1822, and one of the originators of the Theological Seminary at Prince- ton, was born in Hanover, Morris county, New Jersey, July 6th, 1762. He was the son of the Rev. Jacob Green, D. D., a biographical sketch of whom appears above. While a youth he served in the local militia at the battle of Springfield. IIe graduated at the College of New Jersey in 1783, and for the succeeding two years was tutor at Princeton. In 1785 he was ordained a minister of the gospel by the Presbytery of New Bruns- wick, and during the same year was chosen Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Princeton, holding the chair until 1787. In April of the last-mentioned year he became colleague-pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, and succeeded to the pastorate on the death of Rev. Dr. Sproat, in 1793. IIe was a member of the body which adopted the Constitution of the Presby- terian Church of America, in 1788, and was also a delegate to the General Assembly in 1791. From 1792 to 1800 he was, with Bishop White, one of the Chaplains of Congress. In 18og he had a primary agency in forming the Phila- delphia Bible Society. He was chosen a Trustee of Nassau Ilall in 1790, and held that office until IS12, when he resigned in order to accept the Presidency of the college. This important trust remained in his charge until I822, when he resigned and returned to Philadelphia to reside. For twelve years thereafter he edited the monthly Christian

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

Advocate. Recognizing the necessity for the establishment | fessor of the Law Department of the college from 1847 to of a theological seminary in connection with the college at Princeton, he became one of its originators, was the first President of its Board of Directors, and a director until his death. He was also a Trustee of the Jefferson Medical College, of Philadelphia. Although he did not give much attention to authorship, many of his discourses, lectures, addresses, etc., were of such a character as to create a great demand for their publication. Among these may be specially mentioned a " Discourse delivered in the College of New Jersey, with a History of the College," published in Boston, in 1822; a " History of Presbyterian Missions," and " Lectures on the Shorter Catechism," two volumes. He was a logical, bold and powerful preacher. As a man, he was possessed of great moral courage, and was character- ized by wonderful perseverance and industry. He was an able college president, and, while a strict disciplinarian, commanded the marked regard of the students. For more than half a century he occupied a conspicuous position in the community, and was one of the leading men of the Presbyterian Church. His wife was Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Stockton, of Princeton, to whom he was married on November 3d, 1785. He died in Philadelphia, May 19th, 1848.

REEN, JAMES S., Lawyer, of Princeton, son of Rev. Dr. Ashbel Green, was born in Philadelphia, on July 22d, 1792. He graduated at Dickinson College in 1811, and studied law with Hon. George Wood. He was licensed as an attorney in 1817; was admitted as counsellor in 1821, and received the rank of Sergeant in 1834. He soon acquired a large practice in the courts of the State, and was the Re- porter from 1831 to 1836 of the decisions of the Supreme Court, published under his name. He represented Somerset county for several terms in the first branch of the Legisla- ture, then known as the Council, being first elected in 1829, and as such was ex-officio a member of the Court of Appeals. On the accession to office of President Jackson he appointed Mr. Green United States District Attorney, which position he filled by successive appointments until the election of President Harrison. He was nominated by President Tyler as Secretary of the Treasury, but, with others, failed of con- firmation in the opposition Senate. Under the old consti- tution the Legislature in joint meeting had the appointment of Governor, who was also Chancellor, and Mr. Green was the candidate of the Democratic party for the position, but was defeated by Governor Pennington. Mr. Green was one of the first directors of the Delaware & Raritan Canal Company, which position he occupied until his death, being also Treasurer of the Joint Railroad and Canal Companies. He was a Trustee of Princeton College from 1828 to the time of his death, and had been Treasurer of the Theologi- cal Seminary at that place for many years. He was Pro- it to the encouragement and support of any benevolent

I855. His death occurred on November 8th, 1862. At the annual meeting of the stockholders of the Delaware & Raritan Canal Company, held in Princeton, May 11th, 1863, the Hon. Robert F. Stockton, in his report, made the following allusion to the loss the corporation had sustained by the death of Mr. Green : "About half a century ago Mr. Green commenced his career at Princeton as an attorney-at- law. To great suavity of manner he united industry, accu- racy and precision, a sound judgment and talents eminently practical and efficient. His deportment was always correct, and neither pleasure nor vice impaired his character for steadiness and attention to business. He frequently repre- sented the people in the Legislature. As a legislator he became known throughout the State, and the 'Statute Book of New Jersey' bears witness to his wisdom and sagacity. The cause of common school education had no more meritorious advocate than Mr. Green. In progress of time he took rank with the first men in our State in di- recting public opinion. He was among the first and most efficient friends of internal improvements in New Jersey, in constructing that noble system of public works which, with- out imposing on the people the burthen of a State debt, has developed the resources of New Jersey and conferred on her advantages which no other State in the Union pos- sesses. As a politician he was firm, though conciliatory and kind to his opponents. For many years there was no one in the party to which he belonged who enjoyed more completely the public confidence. From the origin of our Joint Companies to the day of his death Mr. Green was an influential member, enjoying the implicit confidence of all connected with them, and holding in them high and re- sponsible positions. His fidelity, industry and sagacity, as a member of our great corporations, will be always grate- fully remembered by all of us who survive him. Distin- guished as Mr. Green was, as our true, faithful friend, a politician, a legislator and a statesman, it may be perhaps from his labors of love as a philanthropist and a Christian that his memory will he held dear by a large and distin- guished circle of friends. I will not attempt, at this time, to enumerate and record all the important services of Mr. Green as a public benefactor. I hope some one more com- petent to such a task will perform it, because such a history, while it would do but justice to the dead, might be of ben- efit to the living. But his friends will fondly remember the alacrity with which he went forward to aid every cause by which human suffering could be ameliorated, or religion and public virtue promoted. Whether it was to restore by colonization the emancipated African to his ancestral home, to send the missionary to herald the glad tidings of salva- tion to pagan nations, to spread abroad the Bihle to all destitute people, to build up and foster the Sunday-school, Mr. Grecn was ever ready to take the advance, to marshal organizations, or to instruct the public mind and direct

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 6

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