The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 7

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

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Jas of Green MR

BIOGRAPHIICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

enterprise. We care not how bright may be the fame of other Christians, whether priest or layman, nor how distin- guished their piety, no name is more worthy of commenda- tion for a long life of gratuitous and arduous labor in the cause of humanity than that of our deceased friend, James S. Green." By resolution, this portion of the report was published and copies furnished to the family of the de- eeased.

REEN, JAMES S., M. D., of Elizabeth, was born at Princeton, New Jersey, on July 22d, 1829. He is a son of the late IIon. James S. Green, of Princeton, whose biographical sketch precedes this, and the grandson of the late Rev. Ashbel Green, D. D., LL.D., a distinguished Presby- terian clergyman and one of the Presidents of Princeton College. His mother's maiden name was Isabella Mc- Culloh. He received a collegiate education at Nassau Hall, and graduated in June, 1848. His tastes leading him toward the medical profession, he became a student of medicine under the direction of Dr. John Neill, of Philadelphia, and attended lectures at the University of Pennsylvania, medical department, from which he grad- uated with the degree of M. D. in April, 1851. Twelve months previous to graduation he had been appointed Resident Physician to the Wills Hospital for Diseases of the Eye, Philadelphia; this position he retained for six months after receiving his degree. In the winter of 1850-51 he was appointed as Assistant Demonstrator of Anatomy in the University of Pennsylvania, and he con- tinued to fill the appointment for a period of three years. During the summer of 1853 he served as Resident Surgeon and its successors, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. An organization was effected, known as the National Rail- way Company, having for its object the construction of a second railroad between the citics of Philadelphia and New York. At every step the new enterprise was met with opposition and litigation by its established rival. This oppo- sition and litigation culminated in 1872 in the celebrated

- of the Pennsylvania Hospital. In November of that year he removed to Elizabeth, New Jersey, and commenced a general practice there. In this city he has since resided. Having enjoyed exceptional advantages for study and practice, and having thoroughly improved them, he soon acquired a high professional reputation, and the substantial rewards ordinarily following such an acquisition have not ease before the Chancellor's Court in Trenton. In this been denied him. At the present time his practice is second suit, which was brought by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, as lessees of the franchises and road of the Camden & Amboy Railroad, against the National Railway Company to restrain it from operating a through line from Elizabeth he has always manifested an earnest and active , New York to Philadelphia, under several charters which were to be used as connecting links of the route, Mr. Green acted as attorney for the defendants. This litigation led, in the succeeding winter, to the fierce contest in the Legislature between the railroad companies and the advocates of free railroads. Bill after bill granting the rights sought by the promoters of the new enterprise passed the House of Assembly, only to be killed or smothered in the Senate. The Assembly had carly in the session passed a bill, intro- (luced by Mr. Canfield, of Morris, ereating a general railroad law. This measurc had gone to the Senate, and been there to none in the city or neighborhood. But he has never per- mitted its cares to engross the whole of his attention. He is a man of large public spirit, and from his settlement in interest in its affairs. After the incorporation of the place as a eity, he was chosen the first President of the City Council, and in the rapid development of the municipality he has borne a prominent part. This development, while exceptionally rapid, has at the same time been substantial, the improvements under wise administration of public af- fairs only keeping pace with the requirements of new and expanding industries, and the needs of a growing popula- tion. Ile was married, in April, 1854, to Fanny Win- chester, of Baltimore.

REEN, HON. ROBERT S., Lawyer, of Elizabeth, son of James S. Green, was born at Princeton, New Jersey, March 25th, 1831. After a prelim- inary training, he became a student at Nassau Hall, from which he graduated in 1850. Choos- ing the profession of the law, he was, after the usual course of study, admitted to the bar in 1853, and be- came a counsellor in 1856. While residing in his native place he took an active interest in its affairs, and in 1852 served as a member of its council. In 1856 he removed to Elizabeth, and immediately became interested in the movement for the creation of Union county ; indeed he was largely instrumental in the passage of the act of 1857 by which it was accomplished, and which designated Elizabeth as the county-seat. During this latter year he was appointed Prosecutor of the borough courts by Governor Newell, and in the following one became the City Attorney of Elizabeth, a position he continued to fill with marked ability for ten years. At the expiration of this period he was elected to the City Council, and served therein by successive elections from 1868 to 1873. He had been elected Surrogate of Union county in 1862, and appointed Presiding Judge of the Court of Common Pleas and county courts in 1868. During the succeeding year he was appointed by Governor Randolph to the Commercial Convention at Louisville as a representative of New Jersey. In his professional capacity he has been connected with some of the most important movements of recent years in the State. Of these the most notable, because of its almost revolutionary and far reaching character, may be mentioned the enterprise designed to deliver the people of the commonwealth from the monopoly long enjoyed by the Camden & Amboy Railroad Company

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

amended by the striking out of all after the enacting clause, | studied law and was admitted to the bar. Having removed and the insertion of a bill that would have been practically to New Jersey, he received his license there as an attorney in 1813; became a counsellor in 1817, and, finally, in 1834 attained the third and highest degree, that of serjeant-at- law. He resided at Paterson, where he entered into the practice of his profession, which eventually became not only extensive but lucrative. In 1833 he was returned to the Assembly as a Representative from Essex county. He was elected by the two houses of the Legislature Governor of the State in 1836, and filled that position a single year. In 1839 he was nominated for Congress, and, as was finally settled by the majority in the Twenty-sixth Congress, was considered elected; but owing to irregularities in some of the returns, the votes were thrown out by two of the county clerks, and when the returns were reported to the Governor the latter issued the commission to his opponent under the broad seal of the State. When Congress met, the disquali- fied members were admitted, because their opinions hap- pened to coincide with the majority who organized the House; while those who held their certificates, as being duly elected, were denied the seats. Had they been ad- mitted, the very close majority of the administration party would have been destroyed, and the opposition would have gained the political ascendency. This course resulted in the almost entire discomfiture of the power that had so long ruled the Union-the election of 1840 terminating in a regular rout of the Democracy. In 1841, towards the very close of President Van Buren's administration, he was ap- pointed Judge of the District Court of the United States, and held that office during the remainder of his life. He was an ardent supporter of Democratic principles as ex- pounded by Jackson and his successors. His decisions as Chancellor were but few in number, yet none of them were ever reversed in the Court of Appeals. During his service of over twenty years in the United States Court he gave entire satisfaction, and was acknowledged to be an able jurist. He died in 1862. useless. On the return of this amended bill to the House, in the last days of the session, it was referred to. a com- mittee, consisting of Messrs. Worthington, Canfield, Letson, Willets and Schenck, who, with Messrs. Cortlandt Parker, Green, Attorney-General Gilchrist, and B. W. Throck- morton, prepared and perfected a measure which was the next day reported to the House by the committee as a sub- stitute for the Senate's amendment. The Assembly passed it, and, after some small alterations, made by a Committee of Conference, it eventually passed both Houses ; was signed by Governor Parker and became law. Railroad monopoly privileges, which had been enjoyed under the decision in the case of the Camden & Amboy Railroad Company and the Delaware & Raritan Bay Company, even after the companies had relinquished their rights to exclu- sive privileges, were by this law destroyed, and under it the Delaware & Bound Brook Railroad was built on the route and partially finished road-bed of the National Railway Company, and in connection with the New Jersey Central and North Pennsylvania Railroads formed a continuous and through line from New York to Philadelphia. With the opening of this road was consummated the release of New Jersey from one of the most oppressive monopolies known to the history of this country, and to Mr. Green the community is indebted in no small degree for its deliverance. His great ability and tireless care in working up the intricate points of the preliminary litigation, and in shaping the subsequent legislation, conduced conspicuously to the final triumph of popular rights. In 1873 he was appointed by Governor Parker, and the nomination received the confirmation of the Senate, one of the commissioners to suggest amendments to the constitution of the State. In this commission he served as Chairman of the Committees on Bills of Rights ; Rights of Suffrage; Limitation of Power of Government, and Gen- eral and Special Legislation. The amendments suggested were substantially adopted by the two succeeding Legisla- tures and ratified by the people at the general election of 1875. He became a member of the bar of New York in January, 1874, as a partner in the firm of Brown, Hall & Vanderpoel, which afterwards, by changes in its personnel, became that of Vanderpoel, Green & Cuming. Politically, he is a Democrat, and was a delegate to the convention at Baltimore which nominated Hon. Stephen A. Douglas for President. IIe was married October Ist, 1857.

ICKERSON, HON. PHILEMON, Lawyer, Gov- ernor and Chancellor of New Jersey, late of Paterson, was born about 1790, and was a son of Jonathan Dickerson and a brother of Mahlon Dickerson, whose biographical sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. He was a resident of Philadelphia for a number of years, during which time he

AGIE, REV. DAVID, D. D., late of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was born in the immediate neigh- borhood of that place, on March 13th, 1795. His life from his infancy to three-score years and ten was spent near the same locality and among the same people. He was the descendant of a line of Scotch Presbyterians, a class of men distinguished for their strong, good sense ; their love of peace and order ; their untiring industry and their deep, practical piety. Pride of birth would have been inconsistent with the humility which was a prominent trait of Dr. Magie's char- acter, and yet he felt, and has been known so to express himself, that he was happier having such an ancestry than if he had descended from "loins enthroned and rulers of the earth." His parents, Michael Magie and Mary (Meeker) Magie, were for a long time members of the First

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth. He inherited from his father his activity and industry, and from his mother her sympathetic and deeply religious nature. As early as eight or ten years of age, a time when most boys think of their sports only, his mind was exercised with the idea of God and thoughts of the world to come. His father was regular in his observance of that time-honored custom of Scotch Presbyterians, the calling around him on the Sabbath day every member of his household and teaching them the " Westminster Catechism." It is impossible to over-esti- mate the value of such instruction in childhood and early youth, when the heart and mind are wax to receive im- pressions and marble to retain them. At the age of sixteen he was bereft of his father's care and left to be the staff of a widowed mother and an example to the younger members of his family. From his childhood he had always felt an ardent desire to be a minister of the gospel, and when at the age of eighteen he united with the church the desire became stronger and stronger. His way seemed, however, to be hedged in by many difficulties. His age was an ob- jection; and as the care of the farm devolved on him he did not see how he could be spared. But He who had ealled him to the high destiny of the ministry made his way elear before him. In 1813 he began to study Latin under Rev. Dr. John McDowell, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. He entered the junior class of the College of New Jersey in 1815. After graduating with honor, he became a student in the Theological Seminary, in the same place, in the fall of 1817, being then in his twenty-second year. After spending one year in the seminary, he was solicited by the faculty of the college to fill the position of tutor. He accepted the offer, and for two years performed the two- fold duty of teacher and student at the same time. Imme- diately after graduating he placed himself under the care of the Presbytery of New Jersey as a candidate for gospel ministry. After the usual course of study, he was licensed to preach. He delivered his first sermon in the lecture- room of Dr. McDowell's church, and his second on the following Sabbath in the church proper. The First Church had long been full to overflowing, and just at this time the subjeet of forming a new society was agitated. The enter- prise was successfully carried out, and Dr. Magie was installed pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth, April 24th, 1821. During the period of his pas- torate, which lasted nearly forty-five years, he received many ealls from other churches and from many religious boards, but he declined them all, some of them without even mentioning the subject to his people. The relations between him and his congregation were always most happy, and he had no wish to change for a more prominent position. He filled, up to the time of his decease, several positions of honor and trust ; as Trustee of the College of New Jersey ; Director in the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions; Director in the American Tract Society, and Chairman of the Committee of Publica-

tions ; Director in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, etc. The duties of these different positions he performed with the most conscientious carefulness. A man who con- quered circumstances, he made himself, under Providence, what he was, a power in the community. Contending in youth with the hardships of a farmer's life, and then grap- pling with the intellectual difficulties of the student, his powers and capacities developed themselves to a degree far exceeding that of a man nursed in the lap of luxury. Hav- ing lived in daily contact with nature, he learned to esti- mate things according to their true value, and he esteemed men not in proportion to the mere accident of birth or surroundings but according to their integrity and worth. He possessed in a great degree the characteristics of the race from which he sprung, prudence, excellent judgment and a wide knowledge of the affairs of every-day life. Be- nevolence beamed from every feature of his face, and so wise was he in counsel that many who were not his own people sought his advice upon subjects not spiritual or ecclesias- tical. IIis patriotism during the dark and trying hours of the rebellion was only second to his religion. He was a man of great simplicity and earnestness of manner, which in preaching carried the hearer beyond the speaker to the message he was delivering, a fact which accounts for his successful ministrations through so long a term of years. He finished his earthy career May 10th, 1865. His funeral, which took place a few days after, was largely attended, not only by his brethren in the ministry from other parts of the State, but also by persons of all classes in the com- munity. The bells of the city were tolled ; the flags were displayed at half-mast, and everything betokened that his fellow-citizens mourned deeply the great loss they had sustained.

AGIE, WILLIAM J., Lawyer, of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was born in that city, December 9th, 1832. His father, David Magie, D. D., was for nearly forty-five years pastor of the Second Presbyterian Church of Elizabeth, and was also a native of the same town. His mother, nee Ann Franeis Wil- son, was also to the manor born. He entered Princeton College in 1852, and graduated in 1855. Then lie studied law in Elizabeth with the late Francis B. Chetwood, and was licensed an attorney in 1856, and as counsellor in 1859. For six years he was associated in practice with his able preceptor, Mr. Chetwood, under the firm-name of Chetwood & Magie. Dissolving this connection le prac- tised alone for a short time, and then formed a partnership with Mr. Cross, the style of the firm being, as now, Magie & Cross. From 1866 to 1871 he was Prosecutor of Pleas for Union county. One of the original nucorporators of the First National Bank of Elizabeth, he is at present a Director of that institution; also a Director in the Dime Savings Bank. He is counsel for the Elizabeth Water Company,

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

and was counsel for the New Jersey Railroad until its lease to the Pennsylvania Railroad, and was continued by them until his election to the New Jersey Senate in 1875 from Union county. During the session of 1875-76 he was ap- pointed Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, on which he served with marked ability. In politics he is a Republican, having acted with that party since 1861, but, as a rule, he has eschewed an active part in politics, preferring to devote his time and talents to his profession. He only accepted his senatorial position at the earnest solicitation of his friends. In educational matters he has always manifested an earnest interest, and was a member of the Board of Education of Elizabeth from 1856 to 1861. With others he was instru- mental in organizing the Elizabeth & Newark Horse Rail- road, and has been a director in that company since its or- ganization, acting also as counsel for it. He is a Director and one of the originators of the Elizabeth Public Library, which, though in embryo, bids fair to be a valuable means of culture to the town. In fact he is and has always been active in all public improvements, and is among the most valuable citizens of Elizabeth. In his profession he takes position in the front rank, being at once an able and well- read lawyer and a high-minded gentleman. He was mar- ried on October Ist, 1857, to Frances Baldwin, of Elizabeth.

ORNELISON, JOHN MESIER, M. D., Physi- cian, late of Bergen, was born in that town, April 29th, 1802. Ilis parents were Rev. John Cornelison, pastor of the Dutch Reformed Church of Bergen, and Catharine (Mesier) Cornelison, of New York. After acquiring a good preliminary education at the schools of the community in which he lived, he entered Union College, at Schenectady, New York, from which institution he graduated in the year 1822. Shortly after leaving college he entered the office of Dr. Valentine Mott as a medical student. He received his di- ploma in the year 1825, and at once commenced the prac- tice of medicine in Bergen. After a time he removed to Jersey City, and there continued earnestly engaged until 1862, when he retired from active practice and removed again to his native town of Bergen. Devoted as he was to his profession, and successful as he was in the practice of it, he yet found time and strength for political and official labors. In the year 1832 he was elected by the Democratic party to serve as a member of the Assembly in the State Legislature, and was re-elected in 1833. In the year 1851 he was appointed by the Governor one of the Lay Judges of the Court of Errors and Appeals, to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Garret Wall, and was reappointed for two succeeding terms, holding the position for sixteen years. In 1869 he was elected Mayor of Bergen, and in 1873 was appointed hy the Legislature a member of the Board of Works in Jersey City, and was elected President of the

Board. When the war of the rebellion broke out, he be- came an earnest and active supporter of the national govern- ment, and thenceforward remained identified with the Re- publican party. At the time of his death he was President of the Board of Regents of the Hudson County Hospital. He was married in 1826 to Metta Van Winkle. He died, May 24th, 1875, universally esteemed and universally la- mented.

ENNINGTON, WILLIAM, Lawyer, Governor and Chancellor of New Jersey, was born, 1790, in the city of Newark, and was the son of Gov- ernor William S. Pennington, whose biographical sketch will be found elsewhere in this volume. William received an excellent classical education in the schools of Newark, and subsequently entered the Col- lege of New Jersey, at Princeton, from which institution he graduated in 1813, with honor to himself and to his Alma Mater. He at once commenced the study of law in the office of Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, and was licensed as an attorney in 1817 ; three years afterward he was made a counsellor, and in 1834 was appointed serjeant-at-law. He was for several years Clerk of the United States Dis- trict and Circuit Courts, and in 1828 was elected a member of the General Assembly as a Representative from Essex county. He was, as were also all of his family, friendly to the election of John Quincy Adams for the Presidency, and of course opposed to the principles and policy of Andrew Jackson and his successors. This party were at one time designated as National Republicans, but in 1834 assumed the name and style of the Whig party , and of this latter or- ganization William Pennington was regarded as the leader in New Jersey. In the fall of 1837 he was elected by the Legislature to the office of Governor and Chancellor of the State, and was re-elected continuously until 1843, when the Democratic party had gained the ascendency in the Legis- lature. During his term as Governor occurred the cele- brated " broad seal" difficulty, which created such an in- tense feeling throughout the country, and particularly in New Jersey; and it is not too much to say, at this distant day, that the action of the majority of Congress, in displacing the Whig members, who bore their commissions as having been fairly returned to that body, and substituting therefor others who had not such commissions, merely because their views were in accordance with the majority when Con- gress organized, contributed in a great measure to the over- whelming defeat which met the Democratic party in the campaign of 1840. Governor Pennington likewise gave great satisfaction both as Chancellor and Judge of the Pre- rogative Court, and but one of his decrees was overruled in the Court of Appeal, and that was after he ceased to preside. After his last term as Governor had expired, he returned to the practice of the law, which, prior to his holding that office, had been large and lucrative. During the Fillmore

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Alfred Hall

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

administration he was offered the position of Governor of the Territory of Minnesota, but declined the appointment. When the Whig party had become disintegrated, and a new organization was being formed, he became in a measure identified with it. In 1856 Fremont had been nominated by the Free-soil or Republican party, for the Presidency, with William L. Dayton, of New Jersey, as the candidate for Vice-President; and he supported these nominations be- cause of his firm friendship for Mr. Dayton. In 1858 he was nominated for Congress, but declined the same; but as it was believed he was the only candidate in the then oppo- sition party who could carry the district, he was elected. When the House met in December, 1859, an intense excite- ment was at once apparent, and everything betokened the coming contest. For two months the organization of the House was suspended, no Speaker being elected; but at last, he received a majority of all the votes cast, and was in- ducted into that office, which he filled most ably and im- partially; indeed, it is not too much to say, that he never had any superior and rarely one equal in such an arduous and difficult position. He was a man gifted with a large share of common sense ; and he was thus able to grasp as it were the most difficult questions and render a decision on true and equitable grounds. He was an excellent counsellor, an eloquent pleader, and a most judicious and reliable judge. In religious belief he was a member of the Presby- terian church, and for many years had been the President of the Board of Trustees of the First Church of Newark, prior to 1849, at which time he withdrew to become one of the High Street congregation, then about being formed. He was married, about 1820, to an estimable lady, a de- scendant of Dr. William Burnet, Surgeon-General of the army, who survived him. He died in February, 1862, his death being ascribed to a large dose of morphine, adminis- tered through the mistake of an apothecary.

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 7

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