The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 65

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

USA > New Jersey > The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century > Part 65

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

years, in connection with Dr. Strong, he was occupied in preparing the "Cyclopedia of Sacred Literature," three or more volumes of which have been completed and pub- lished. He published also "Analysis of Watson's Theo- logical Institutes;" " Temporal Power of the Pope ; " and "Sketches of Eminent Methodist Ministers," Svo., 1854. In 1855 he edited and published " Bungener's History of the Council of Trent." He died at Madison, New Jersey, March 4th, 1870.

EESE, HON. FREDERICK II., was born Octo- ber 21st, 1823, in the city of Newark. He grad- uated at Princeton College with the class of 1843, and immediately began preparation for the New Jersey bar, to which he was admitted in 1846; he was made Counsellor in 1840. In 1860 he was elected by the Democrats to the New Jersey Legisla- ture, and was re-elected in 1861. During his second term he served as Speaker, and made an excellent presiding offi- cer. In 1864 he was appointed Presiding Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Essex county, and was reap- pointed in 1869; he resigned in 1872, and resumed his law practice. In the campaign of 1874 he was nominated by the Democrats as their candidate for Congress, and, al- though the district (Essex county) had two years previously given a Republican majority of nearly six thousand, he was elected.

ADAL, REV. BERNARD H., D. D., LL. D., Methodist Clergyman, Scholar and Author, late of Madison, New Jersey, was born in Maryland, in 1815, and was graduated from the Dickinson College. Joining the Baltimore Conference in 1835, he preached in Maryland, Virginia and Delaware; afterward in Washington, Philadelphia, Brook- lyn and New Haven. About 1850 he became a Professor in the Asbury, Indiana, University; was for one session Chaplain of Congress ; and on the organization of the Drew Theological Seminary became Professor of Church His- tory, and on the death of Dr. McClintock, acting President. While a resident of Indiana he published essays on "Church History" in the Methodist Quarterly Review, which marked him as one of the ablest writers of his denomination. He was a forcible writer, and a chief contributor to The Meth- odist. He died at Madison, New Jersey, June 20th, 1870.

291

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

PGAR, ELLIS A., Superintendent of Public In- struction for the State of New Jersey, son of David and Hannah (Whitehead) Apgar, his father of German, his mother of English descent, was born at Peapack, Somerset county, New Jer- sey, March 20th, 1836. Receiving his prepara- tory education at the district schools of Somerset county, he entered the State Normal School at Trenton in 1854, and graduated thence in 1857. For several years he was engaged as a teacher in various public schools in different parts of the State, and then entered Rutgers College. In 1866 he graduated from this institution, taking the prize for mathematics. Previous to his graduation he was elected Professor of Mathematics in the State Normal School, a position that he held concurrently with and subsequent to his course at Rutgers. In 1866, under an act of the New Jersey Legislaturc, a State Board of Education had been created, and at the first meeting of this Board, held March 29th, 1866, he was elected State Superintendent of Public Instruction. To this office he has since been continuously re-elected. Shortly after he had entered upon the discharge of his duties, he became impressed by the necessity for a change in the method then existing for the supervision of the public schools, and his first work was to frame a bill, subsequently passcd by the Legislature, which provided for the creation of county superintendents and examiners, thus making a radical change in the organization of the depart- ment of public instruction. His reforms, from this time onward, were constant. In his annual report for 1863 he urged that a tax should be levied sufficient to make all pub- lic schools in the State free; and this demand was practi- cally acceded to in 1871, when an act, which he himself framed, making the public schools free during nine months in each year, was passed by the Legislature. By his ener- getic efforts, supported as they have been by the State Board of Education and by enlightened citizens in all portions of the State, the school system of New Jersey has been raised to an equality with the best in the country; and during the ten years ending with the year 1876 the value of school property in the State has increased from $1,645,000 to $6,205,000-a gain of $4,560,000. At the Centennial Ex- hibition a fit opportunity was afforded for making a display of this very remarkable and gratifying progress, and apply- ing himself with characteristic zcal to collecting the neces- sary material, the New Jersey section was one of the most brilliant in the Department of Instruction. The following table of totals, from his report upon the New Jersey exhibit, best presents his success upon this particular occasion, and is also an effective summing up of the almost unexampled results of his years of earnest, well-directed labor: number of colleges represented, 2; number of private schools repre- sented, 33; number of public ungraded schools represented, 1,184; number of public graded schools represented, 230; number of high schools represented, 8; number of public schools unrepresented, 120; total number of public schools

in the State, 1,542; number of public school teachers in the State, 2,810; number of public school teachers who fur- nished work, 2,690; percentage of school teachers who fur- nished work, 95 per cent .; number of pupils who furnished work, 14,000; number of specimens from public schools, 16,150; number of specimens from colleges and private schools, 1,512; total number of specimens exhibited, 17,- 662. In the above particular attention should be directed to the large percentage of teachers furnishing work, and to the great number of specimens from all sources, as these figures are capital proof of how well he is in accord with the teachers and scholars under his control. The total per- centage of work exhibited, it should be stated, was greater in the New Jersey section than in the section of any other State represented in the Department of Instruction. His eminent success in massing and arranging the New Jersey exhibit has caused his appointment to the position of Su- perintendent of the Department of Education in the Perma- nent International Exhibition to be held in the Main Cen- tennial Building at Philadelphia. Notwithstanding the many and laborious duties connected with his official position, he has produced several valuable scholastic works, among which may be inentioned a system of map drawing now largely in use; a fine set of geographical wall maps; an excellent volume upon "Plant Analysis," and " A Brief History of New Jersey, for School Use"-the last named supplying a long felt want in the New Jersey schools, and being an example that promoters of education in other States would do well to follow, State history being a matter at present entirely too much neglected. He was married, December 25th, 1867, to Camilla, daughter of Mr. Israel Swayze, of Hope, Warren county, New Jersey.

ADDEN, HON. HOSEA F., Merchant, Ship- builder and State Senator of Tuckahoe, was born in Millville, Cumberland county, New Jersey, November 2d, 1817. He is the son of Hosea Madden. His family are of English descent, but have lived in New Jersey for four generations. He received a good English education at the public schools of his native county, and, his school-days over, learned the art of glass-making. In 1844 he removed to Tuckahoe, Atlantic county, where he engaged in building vessels for the river and coasting trade, and in the general mercantile business-pursuits in which he speedily acquired a reputa- tion for integrity, faithfulness and administrative ability, lay- ing the foundations for the universal confidence and respect with which his fellow-citizens have long regarded him, and which they have repeatedly manifested by the public trusts they have conferred upon him. In 1853 he was elected Sheriff of Atlantic county, holding the position for three years. Ile was a member of the Board of Chosen Freeholders of the county for nineteen years, during a con-

292

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

siderable part of which time he was Director of the quished journalism in order to accept the position of Secre- Board. At one time and another he has filled all the prin- tary of State of New Jersey, and his management, notwith- standing his comparative freshness in the editorial harness, was of a character to gain the Herald increased respect and authority. He has since continued to conduct the paper with marked ability, and it is. now one of the leaders of political thought not only in Sussex county but throughout a large portion of East Jersey. Naturally, he himself has taken a prominent part in local and State politics, and has held a number of the higher local offices. He is at present Chairman of the Newton Town Council, having been elected by a handsome majority at the close of a spirited contest. In February of the present year (1877) he was elected with- out opposition Engrossing Clerk of the State Senate. He was married, September 19th, 1857, to Mary A., daughter of Mr. Jonas Smith, of Sussex county. cipal offices of his township. His popularity is solid, begin- ning at home in his town, and extending through his township and his county out into the commonwealth at large. This was shown at his more especial entrance into political life in 1874, when he was nominated by the Dem- ocrats of Atlantic county for the office of State Senator and elected, although the county usually gave a Republican ma- jority of from three hundred to four hundred. As the Senatorial term lasts three years, he still holds the office of Senator, the duties of which he discharges with marked vigor, industry and thoroughness .. He is Chairman of the Committee on Engrossed Bills, of the Committee on Passed Bills, and of the Centennial Committee, and is, besides, a member of the Committee on the State Prison, of the Com- mittee on Railroads and Canals, and of other important committees. The estimation in which he is held by his colleagues may be inferred from the positions they have assigned him. Sound in his judgment, practical in his views, thoroughly investigating every measure upon which he is called to act, and fearless in going ahead when he is sure he is right, he is a careful and at the same time an independent legislator, and, consequently, a safe and wise one. Well does he merit the wide esteem he enjoys. He was married in 1842 to Catharine Birch, of Cumberland county, New Jersey.

UNNELL, THOMAS G., Editor and Politician, Newton, Sussex county, New Jersey-son of David Bunnell, farmer, a descendant of William Bunnell, an English emigrant and settler in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1634, and, less remotely, of Solomon Bunnell, who migrated from New England and established the New Jersey branch of the fam- ily about the time of the French and Indian war -- was born at Walpach, Sussex county, March 14th, 1834. Having received a substantial common school education, he was for a time employed upon his father's farm. Agriculture, how- ever, was not to his taste, and his predilection for journalism was early displayed in a series of ably written articles, mainly political, contributed to the county paper, the Sussex Herald. His writings having attracted a considerable amount of attention, he was offered, early in 1867, the posi- tion of local editor upon the paper, and this he held until August of the same year, when, in company with several other prominent Democrats, he became a part owner of the publication. The Herald is one of the oldest papers pub- lished in New Jersey, having been founded in 1829 by Grant Fitch, father of Charles W. Fitch, of Washington, District of Columbia. Selected by his associates in the purchase to be editor, Mr. Bunnell succeeded to the post so ably filled by the Hon. Henry C. Kelsey, who had relin-

OMEYN, REV. THEODORE DIRCK, D. D., Clergyman, Professor of Theology in the Dutch Reformed Church, son of Nicholas Romeyn, brother of Rev. John Brodhead Romeyn, D. D., late of Schenectady, New York, was born at Hackensack, New Jersey, January 23d, 1744. His early studies were directed by his brother, Rev. Thomas Romeyn, then a minister in Delaware. He graduated at Princeton in 1765; was ordained by the Cœtus over the Dutch Church in Ulster county, May 14th, 1766; and after- wards installed at Hackensack, New Jersey, where he remained until his removal to Schenectady, New York, in November, 1784. In 1797 he was appointed Professor of Theology in the Dutch Church. The establishment of the Union College at Schenectady is to be ascribed principally to his earnest and untiring labors and efforts. He was twice offered the Presidency of Queen's College, New Jer- sey, but, after careful consideration, deemed it fitting to decline on both occasions. His colleague, Rev. Mr. Meyer, represents him as " a son of thunder" in the pulpit. He was importantly instrumental, also, in promoting the inde- pendence of the Dutch churches, or their separation from the jurisdiction of Ilolland. He died at Schenectady, Ncw York, April 16th, 1804.

CPHERSON, HON. JOHN RHODERIC, United States Senator from New Jersey, Stock-raiser and Dealer, of Hudson City, was born, May 9th, 1833, in Livingston county, New York, and is a son of Daniel and Jane (Calder) McPherson, both also natives of New York State, and both of whom are of Scottish descent. He received his education at the Gencseo Academy. After leaving school he became engaged in farming and stock-raising, continuing in those

293

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

avocations until he was twenty-five years of age. He then | Board. He was elected by the Democratic party as Senator removed to New Jersey, and located at Hudson City, where from Hudson county, and served in the sessions of 1872-73 and '74. During his legislative career he took a decided stand against the railroad monopolies of the State, and was a firm and unflinching advocate of the general railroad law, which was passed while he was a Senator. He served on various important committees while a member of that body, among which were Municipal Corporations, Banks, Insurance and Commerce. In 1873 he was instrumental in obtaining the charter for the Central Stock-Yard and Transit Company, above described. He was one of the organizers and the first President of the People's Gas Light Company of Hud- son county, incorporated in 1870. In January, 1877, he was elected to represent the State in the United States Sen- ate as the successor of Hon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen. Hle was married, in 1868, to Ella J. Gregory, of Buffalo, New York. he became interested in stock-dealing, and was also one of the proprietors of the stock-yards in that city, which were constructed by him during 1863 and 1864. He was also the designer and constructer of the buildings used by the Cen- tral Stock-Yard and Transit Company at Harsimus Cove, New Jersey, and as such they have proved a grand success, and are believed to be the most perfect system of stock-yards now in existence, while the abattoir is unrivalled. These cover an area of twenty-two acres, and are built entirely on piles, over fifteen thousand of these huge timbers being em- ployed. The tide water ebbs and flows daily over the entire space covered by the structure. It has a daily capac- ity for seven thousand head of cattle, with all the facilities for yarding, feeding, and watering the same. On the ex- treme end of the works, and fronting the Hudson river, the abattoir for slaughtering sheep and cattle is constructed, together with the chambers for the storage of live sheep. It has a storage capacity of twenty thousand sheep daily, and a daily slaughtering capacity of ten thousand shcep and two TOCKTON, REV. THOMAS HEWLINGS, Clergyman, Editor, Author, late of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was born at Mount Holly, New Jersey, June 4th, 1808. He began to write for the press at the age of sixteen, and studied medi- cine in Philadelphia, but in May, 1829, com- menced preaching in connection with the Methodist Protestant Church. In 1830 he was stationed at Baltimore, and in 1833 was elected Chaplain to Congress, and re-elected in 1835 and 1837. Subsequently until 1838 he resided in Baltimore, Maryland, and in addition to discharging his pastoral duties compiled the hymn-book of the Methodist Protestant Church, and was for a short time editor of the church newspaper, the Methodist Protestant ; but, unwilling to submit to restrictions sought to be imposed upon him in its discussion of slavery by the Baltimore Conference, he resigned his position and removed to Philadelphia, Penn- sylvania, where he remained till 1847, as pastor and public lecturer. Ile then settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, and while residing there was elected President of Miami University, but declined ; and in 1850 returned to Baltimore, where he was for five years associate pastor of St. John's Methodist Church, and for three years and six months temporary pastor of an Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. From 1856 to 1868 he was pastor of the Church of the New Testament, and also performed much literary labor. He had a high reputation for eloquence, and edited with marked ability the Christian World and Bible Times. He was in the van in all forms of social progress, and an intrepid pio- neer in the anti-slavery party ; was ardently opposed to all forms of ultra sectarianism, and by voice and pen sought the promotion of Christian brotherhood and union. Me- moirs of him have been published by Rev. Alexander Clark and Rev. John G. Wilson. He was again Chaplain thousand cattle. At this institution all parts of the animal are utilized, so that no portion whatever is allowed to be wasted; and as everything is manufactured while in a per- fectly fresh condition, no offensive odor is emitted there- from. It must be remembered that this establishment is located in the very heart of the city, and in its daily opera- tion it may be considered a fair settlement of the question that stock-yards and abattoirs are not necessarily nuisances. There is another feature of this great institution, and one that commends itself to public favor, which is the fact that no live- stock are permitted to pass through the streets of Jersey City or New York in their distribution from these yards, all being delivered by means of the boats of the company to the butchers in New York and Brooklyn. The company have also an extensive store-room and abattoir for hogs on the west bank of the Hackensack river, where all these animals are removed from the cars, slaughtered, and the product sent to the docks of the company in cars provided for the purpose, as no live hogs are permitted to enter the institu- tion on the Hudson river, which measurably accounts for the entire absence of anything of an offensive nature. Mr. McPherson was also one of the originators and also one of the proprietors of the abattoir and stock-yards at West Phil- adelphia. He is at the present time the lessee of all the stock-yards on the Erie Railroad, located at Buffalo, Port Deposit, Oak Cliff, etc., and is the inventor of a new stock- car for feeding and watering cattle while in transit. This latter invention has proved a most valuable one, and is being brought into use on a majority of the principal roads over which live-stock are transported. IIe has taken an active part in political matters, and is a Democrat in princi- ples. From 1863 to 1869 he served as a member of the Board of Aldermen of Hudson City, and was President of that body for the last four years of his connection with the | to the United States House of Representatives in 1859-1861;

294

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

and in the following year filled the Chaplaincy of the United States Senate. He published an edition of the . New Testament in paragraph form ; many pamphlets, ser- mons and addresses; " Floating Flowers from a Ilidden Brook," 1844; "The Bible Alliance," 1850; "Sermons for the People," 1854; " The Blessing," 1857; " Stand up for Jesus," 1858; " Poems, with Autobiographic and other Notes," 1862; " The Peerless Magnificence of the Word of God," 1862; and " The Meditation of Christ." He dicd in Philadelphia, October 9th, 1858.

RICE, IION. RODMAN M., cx-Governor of New Jersey, was born in Sussex county, New Jersey, November 5th, 1816, and studied at the New Jersey College-protracted illness preventing his graduation, however, from that institution. He afterward pursued a course of legal studies; in 1840 was appointed Purser in the navy; is said to have been the first person to exercise judicial functions under the American flag, on the Pacific coast, as alcalde; was made Navy Agent there in 1848; from 1851 to 1853, after his re- turn to the East, served as a member of Congress from his native State; and in 1861 was an influential delegate to the Peace Congress. He caused the establishment in New Jersey of a normal school, and was warmly and generously interested in the development of the State militia system.

LARK, J. HENRY, M. D., Physician and Author, late of Montclair, New Jersey, was born in Liv- ingston, New Jersey, June 23d, 1814, and gradu- ated from the University of New York in 1841. He then entered upon a course of medical studies in New York and Europe, and finally established himself in the practice of his profession at Newark, about 1846, there gaining speedily a high reputation as a scholar and physician. For several years he officiated as President of the Essex County Medical Society. His "Sight and Hearing" was published in 1856; and was followed in 1861 by "The Medical Topography of Newark and its Vicinity." He died at Montclair, New Jersey, March 6th, 1 869.

ALDWELL, REV. JOSEPH, D. D., Scientist, Author, Professor of Mathematics, late of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, was born in Leamington, New Jersey, April 21st, 1773. In his youth, while at school, he exhibited a noteworthy fond- ness for mathematical science, and won distinc- tion as a diligent and talented student. IIe afterward studied for the ministry, was engaged for a time in teach-

ing school, and in 1796 was chosen presiding Professor of the infant University of North Carolina, also performing the duties of Mathematical Professor. September 22d, 1796, he was licensed to preach. In 1804 a presidency was created, to which he was chosen, and which was held by him until the period of his decease. Upon his election to this office he vacated the Mathematical chair for that of Moral Philosophy. In 1824 he visited Europe in order to direct in person the construction of a valuable philosophical apparatus, and also to make a selection of needed books for the library. "To him North Carolina is indebted for various internal improvements of his suggesting, as well as to his services in the cause of education." In 1822 he pub- lished a " Treatise on Geometry," and in 1825 the " Letters of Carlton." He died at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, January 24th, 1835.

IXON, JOSEPHI, Inventor, late of Jersey City, New Jersey, before he had attained his twenty- first year, made a machine to cut files, and in various ways exhibited unusual skill and talent as a practical artisan. He afterward learned the printer's trade, that of wood engraving, then lithography, and ultimately became a thorough chemist, optician, and photographer. He was probably the first per- son to take a portrait by the camcra, and first used the reflector, so that the object should not appear reversed. He built the first locomotive with wooden wheels, but with the same double-crank which is now in common use. He originated the process of photo-lithography; and to guard against abuses of this process invented the system of printing in colors on bank-notes, and patented it, but never received any benefit from his idea, all the banks having used it with- out pay. He perfected the system of making collodion for the photographers, and aided Mr. Harrian in the mode of grinding lenses for common tubes. He is the father of the steel-melting business in this country; is widely known as the originator of the plumbago crucible as now made; and his establishment in Jersey City is the largest of the kind in the world. The versatility of his mechanical genius, aided by unflagging energy and an intelligent appreciation of the pressing needs of the general community, has produced no- table and welcome results. He died in Jersey City, New Jersey, June 14th, 1869, aged seventy-one ycars.

IMPSON, JAMES H., Brigadier-General, Colonel of Engineers United States Army, and Author, of New Jersey, was born in that State, about 1812, and graduated from the Academy at West Point in 1832. In 1848 he secured at the New Jersey College the degree of A. M. Entering the 3d Artillery, he was appointed Aid to General Enstis,

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 65

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