The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 78

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

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ELLEVILLE, NICHOLAS JACQUES EMAN- UEL DE, M. D., late of Trenton, New Jersey, was born at Metz, France, in 1753, pursued a course of studies in medicine under the super- vision of his father, passed seven years as a student, and practitioner in some cases, in the schools and hospitals of Paris, and in 1777 came to this country, landing first at Salem, Massachusetts. Previously, while in the south of France, where he usually resided during the rigorous season, on account of the feeble state of his health, he was introduced to Count Pulaski, who had just come from Italy, where he had found the place of safety needed on account of the persecution following the active part he sustained in endeavoring to restore to Poland her ancient liberties. " The count was then on the eve of his departure for this country, and having taken a liking for the doctor, invited him to accompany him. For some time he hesitated, by reason of his want of money, but the gentle- man at whose house he was, when informed of this fact, told him if a hundred guineas would be sufficient for his purpose, he would supply him, and that his father could re- imburse him. He further supplied him with everything necessary for the voyage, and on the last day of May, 1777, he left Paris and embarked at Nantes, on the 9th of June, for the United States."-(Notes of Philemon Dickinson.) He sailed in a sloop-of-war, mounting fourteen guns, with a crew of one hundred and five men, and carrying about sixteen hundred stand of arms destined for the American troops. After disembarking at Salem, he remained there for a few days, then removed to Boston, at that time the centre of attraction for both Americans and those strangers ; relations.

who chanced to be in the colonies, or who had come from France and Germany in the roles of spectator and chron- icler, or sympathizer and participant. He afterward at- tended Pulaski, in the capacity of surgeon, in the different parts of the country to which he went for the purpose of recruiting a legion, which the count was authorized to raise by the Provincial Congress. While thus engaged, he was a resident of Trenton, New Jersey, for some time, and there became acquainted with Dr. Bryant, an eminent and skilful practitioner, who bestowed on him many warm marks of friendly interest, and endeavored to persuade him to relin- quish army life and settle in the city, offering to do all in his power to introduce him into lucrative practice. He declined the proposition for the time, however, preferring to accompany Pulaski to the South. While stationed there he received from Dr. Bryant a pressing letter, repeating his counsel, and urging his abandoning military and roving for civil and settled life, representing the improbability of his succeeding there so well as by establishing himself perma- nently in the practice of his profession. This letter he showed to the count, who told him it was not his wish to stand in the way of his advancement, and advised him, if he thought the doctor's advice sound and timely, to accept and act upon it without delay. He did so, after careful delib- eration, and in the fall of 1778 returned to Trenton, where he remained until his decease. He was on several occa- sions called to attend the exiled king of Spain, at Borden- town, and once, at least, was his almoner-February 5th, 1831-when the Female Benevolent Society, of Trenton, acknowledged fifty dollars " from the Count de Survilliers by Dr. Belleville." He was a pew-holder and an occa- sional attendant at the Presbyterian church, " but was too fond of his elegant edition of Voltaire to relish the gospel; " his wife, however, was a communicant, and a pious and ex- emplary woman. He was a resident of Paris in 1774, when Louis XVI. came to the throne, and often told of his hearing the populace cry-in allusion to the wish of Henry IV., that every peasant might have a fowl for his pot-pie --- " Poule-au-pot ! Poule-au-pot!" He was buried in the Trenton churchyard, and one of his pupils, Dr. F. A. Ewing, in addition to a discriminating obituary in the State Gazette, of December 24th, 1831, furnished the in- scription for his tomb : " This stone covers the remains of Dr. Nicholas Belleville. Born and educated in France; for fifty-four years an inhabitant of this city. A patriot warmly attached to the principles of liberty; a physician eminently learned and successful ; a man of scrupulous and unblemished integrity. On the 17th day of December, A. D. 1831, at the age of seventy-nine years, he closed a life of honor and usefulness; by all respected, esteemed, la- mented." General Philemon Dickinson, with whom he was on terms of familiar friendship, held him in high and affectionate consideration, and to him more than to any other he confided the details of his private life and social

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WING, HON. MASKELL, Lawyer, late of Green- wich, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, January 30th, 1758. He belonged to what is now the widespread family of Ewing in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Maryland; Thomas Maskell, of England, married Bythia Parsons, of Connecticut, in 1658; Thomas Stathem, of England, married Ruth Udell, in New England, in 1671, and Mas- kell's son married Stathem's daughter; while in 1720 their daughter became the wife of Thomas Ewing, who had re- cently come to Greenwich, West Jersey, from Ireland; their eldest son was Maskell Ewing, born in 1721, who was at different times Justice of the Peace, Clerk and Surrogate of Cumberland county, Sheriff and Judge of the Pleas, and died in 1796; one of his ten children was Maskell Ewing, of Trenton. In his youth he assisted his father in the clerkship at Greenwich, and before he had attained his twenty-first year was elected Clerk of the State Assembly. This appointment necessitating removal to Trenton, New Jersey, he resided in that city, engaged in the performance of his official duties, during the ensuing twenty years. He was for a time Recorder of the city, and also pursued a course of legal studies under the supervision of William C. Houston. In 1803 he removed to Philadelphia, and in 1805 to a farm in Delaware county, Pennsylvania. He represented that county in the State Senate for six years. He died while on a visit to Greenwich, August 26th, 1825. His son, Maskell Ewing, who was born in 1806, was a lieutenant in the army, and has died within a few years. Among the branches of the Ewing stock was the family of Rev. Jolin Ewing, D. D., Provost of the University of Pennsylvania from 1779 to 1803, and pastor of the First Church, of Philadelphia.

| States navy. He died at Charleston, South Carolina, March 11th, 1810, having spent the winter there in the hope of recovering his health and renewing his enfeebled energies. The Rev. Dr. Hollingshead had a highly satisfactory con- versation with him on the day of his death, when he said : " I have no reluctance or hesitation to submit to all the will of God in the article of death; I freely commit my soul into the hands of my Redeemer, and leave my surviving family to the care of a holy and gracious Providence." He was buried with military honors at Charleston, South Carolina, after services in the Circular Church; and in the Presby- terian church porch at Trenton, New Jersey, there is a cenotaph commemorating him.

OW, REV. SAMUEL B., D. D., Educator, Pres- byterian Clergyman, afterward pastor of the First Reformed Dutch Church, of New Brunswick, was born in Burlington, New Jersey, and edu- cated at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was graduated in 1811. He acted as tutor for a short time in Dickinson College; then presided as master of the grammar school of his university; in 1813 was licensed by the Presbytery of Philadelphia, subse- quently passing a session at the Princeton Seminary, and, November Ist, 1814, was ordained and installed pastor at Solebury, Bucks county. He was identified with the three schools organized under the title of "The Trenton and Lamberton Sunday Free School Association," whose es- tablishment dates from about the opening of the year 1816. " From April to October the school consisted of ninety scholars. On the 27th of October it was divided into three; and it is with peculiar pleasure the association notice those two nurseries of mercy, the Female and African Sunday- schools, which have arisen since the establishment of their own." A column of a newspaper of October 4th, 1819, is occupied with a report of the Trenton Sabbath Day-school, which opens by saying : " Nine months have now elapsed since, by the exertions of a few gentlemen, this school was founded." In February, 1821, the same society reports that it had four schools, the boys', the girls', the African and that at Morrisville. The last school had, in November, 1819, eleven teachers and 116 scholars. The " Female Tract Society" furnished tracts monthly to the schools, while the " Juvenile Dorcas Society " supplied clothing to the children. Hc was installed over the Trenton congre- gation, December 17th, 1816, on which occasion Dr. Miller presided and Dr. Alexander preached : 2 Cor. iii. 16; the former giving the charge to the pastor, and Rev. P. V. Brown the charge to the congregation. This pastorship was happily and usefully continued until April, 1821, when a call from the First Church, of New Brunswick, was laid

UNT, GENERAL PETER, Merchant, late of Charleston, South Carolina, was born in New Jersey in 1768, or thereabout. He was engaged extensively in mercantile affairs at Lamberton, where he established a large storchouse, when it was the depot for the trade of Trenton, and at the time of his decease was in partnership with Philip F. Howell. He was identified with the interests and develop- ment of the Presbyterian Church in Trenton, New Jersey, and was one of the Trustees elected to supply the vacancies made by the death of Moore Furman, and Isaac Smith, whose daughter he had married. In 1797, Jonathan Doane having contracted to erect a State prison at Trenton, he, in conjunction with Moore Furman, conveycd the ground on which the jail (now arsenal) was built. The measurement was more than cight and one-quarter acres; the consideration, £369 Is. IIe resided on the cstate since occupied by his son, Licutenant W. E. Hunt, of the United before the presbytery, and he was installed in that city in

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the following June. The additions to the communion of local church. He was then elected a Ruling Elder, which the church in these five years were fifty-six on their first profession, and thirty on certificates from other churches. In October, 1823, he became pastor of the Independent Presbyterian Church, of Savannah; and in 1830 was made President of Dickinson College. He afterward returned to New Brunswick, however, upon a call to take the pastoral charge of the First Reformed Dutch Church in that city. He was followed, as pastor over the Trenton church, by the late William Jessup Armstrong, D. D., son of Rev. Dr. Amzi Armstrong, of Mendham and Bloomfield, New Jersey.

MITH, BENJAMIN, late of Elizabethtown, Mer- chant, Trustee, President of the Board of the Presbyterian Church of Trenton, also its Treas- urer, was elected " a Deacon for Trenton," May 6th, 1777, and was an Elder in 1806, and prob- ably for some years before. From the " Minutes of the Trustees," March 19th, 1814, and from other sources, are gathered the following items : For many years he was a valued Trustee and President of the Board, as also Treasurer for the church, all of which offices he filled with faithfulness. At his funeral a sermon was preached by his pastor, Rev. Dr. John McDowell, from the words, " Lord, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honor dwelleth." This text had been selected by himself for the purpose, and his will directed the same to be inscribed on his tomb. Among the legacies of his will was one of $2,500 for the endowment of a scholarship in the Theological Seminary at Princeton, New Jersey, which was realized in 1839, upon the decease of his widow. It stands the twenty-sixth on the list of scholarships, and bears the name of its founder. "Our departed friend," said Dr. McDowell, " loved the house of the Lord, and he has told the speaker that this evidence has often encouraged and comforted his soul, when he could get hold of scarcely any other. His conduct in this respect corresponded with his profession. Through a long life lie manifested that he loved the Lord's house. It was taught him, I have under- stood, from his childhood. At an early age he became the subject of serious impressions, and hopefully of divine grace." He was first received into the Elizabethtown Pres- byterian Church, under the ministry of Rev. James Cald- well, in 1765, when he was eighteen or nineteen years of age. Subsequently he removed to Trenton and connected himself with the church in that city, where for a long time he acted in the office of Ruling Elder. During the latter part of the time of his residence in Trenton the congrega- tion erected a new house of worship, and in the attendant movement and measures he took a deep and active interest.

office he executed with fidelity until his decease, in the seventy-ninth year of his age. " He manifested his love to the house of God by his constant attendance on its worship until his last short illness; and he manifested it in his will by leaving a bequest for the support of its worship, and remembering other congregations in the town. His last words were, ' Welcome sweet day of rest.'" While the church building was in course of erection at Trenton he also bestowed much of his time, contributed liberally of his means, and went abroad soliciting aid for its completion ; while the example set by him of energy and determination spurred on the indolent to freshi exertions, and operated beneficently in awakening general attention to a worthy and laudable undertaking. He died in Elizabethtown, New Jersey, October 23d, 1824.

EAKE, SAMUEL, Lawyer, late of Trenton, was born in Cumberland county, New Jersey, No- vember 2d, 1747, and received his preparatory training in the two celebrated schools of Fagg's Manor and Pequea. Rev. John Blair, Dr. R. Smith and Enoch Green gave himn certificates, 1767-1769, " of proficiency in different branches, and of his high religious character." After teaching three years, or more, in Newcastle, Delaware, he received, in May, 1772, testimonials from Thomas Mckean and George Read-two of the three Delaware signers of the Declaration of Inde- pendence-George Munro, John Thompson and Rev. Joseph Montgomery. He then entered Princeton College, and in September, 1774, took his Bachelor's degree. In March of the same year President Witherspoon gave to him a written certificate of his qualifications to teach Greek, Latin and mathematics, to which he appended : " I must also add that he gave particular attention to the English language while here, and is probably better ac- quainted with its structure, propriety and force, than most of his years and standing in this country." He decided, however, not to resume the employment of teaching, but entered upon a course of legal studies, first with Richard Howell, afterward governor of the State, then with Charles Pettit, of Burlington, and with their certificates and that of Thomas McKean, afterward Governor of Pennsylvania, se- cured his license as an attorney in November, 1776, begin- ning the practice of his profession in Salem. In October, 1785, he removed to Trenton, where he rapidly acquired an extensive business, and took a leading position among the prominent practitioners of the town. " He paid un- usual attention to the students in his office; regularly devot- ing one hour every day to their examination." He was About the year 1814 he returned to Elizabethtown, and in proverbially systematic in his business affairs; and even the decline of life again renewed his connection with the | into the more private relations of his social and religious

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life carried a notable method and preciseness, of which the following may be cited as an example : " I. Be it remen- bered that Samuel Leake, on Sunday, the thirteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hun- dred and eleven, in the Presbyterian church in Trenton, received the Lord's supper; James F. Armstrong then being minister of the gospel, and administering the supper in that church." Entries in the same form, with the proper dates, follow as to each of the semi-annual communions until October Ist, 1815, when the record is that " Dr. Miller preached the action sermon ; Dr. Alexander administered the ordinance; Mr. Armstrong was sick and absent." The paper continues to make a formal register of each attend- ance at the Lord's supper until it closes with that on Jann- ary 2d, 1820, two months before his decease; he also pre- pared similar documents for each of his daughters as they in turn became communicants. He died, March 8th, 1820, in the seventy-third year of his age. The Supreme Court being in session at the time, the har not only resolved to attend the funeral, but recommended to their brethren throughout the State to wear the customary badge of mourning and respect. His epitaph is as follows: "Sacred to the memory of Samuel Leake, Esquire, Serjeant-at-Law. Died March 8th, A. D. 1820, Æ. 72. Educated to the bar, he attained the highest degree of eminence; distin- guished for candor, integrity, zeal for his clients, and pro- found knowledge of jurisprudence, he fulfilled the duties of his station with singular usefulness, 'without fear and without reproach.' Deeply versed in human literature, and devoutly studious of the words of sacred truth ; he lived the life of a Christian, and died the death of the righteous."

OLLOCK, JAMES, Dyer, noted Presbyterian Ex- horter, Elder of the Trenton church, late of Tren- ton, was born in Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland. He was one of the most valued parishioners of Rev. James Waddel Alexander, and was " of those who are the glory of the Presbyterian churches." He resided in a small house on Mill Hill, and was employed as a dyer in one of the woollen factories on the Assanpink ; and thus is described by the eminent divine already men- tioned : " His figure was somewhat bent, and his hands were always blue, from the colors used in his trade. But his eye was piercing and eloquent ; his countenance would shine like a lantern from the light within; and the flame of his strong and impassioned thought made his discourse as interesting as I ever heard from any man. He had the texts of Scripture, as many Scotchmen have, at his finger- ends, and could adduce and apply passages in a most un- expected manner." The great Scottish writers were his familiar friends, and one of his favorite volumes was Ruth- erford's " Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself,"

while for Calvin's " Institutes" also he had high respect and admiration. His acquaintance with the reformation history of Scotland was remarkable, being such as would have reflected credit upon any learned clergyman. "Unlike many who resembled him in attainment, he was inwardly and deeply affected by the truths which he knew. His speech was always seasoned with salt, and I deemed it a means of grace to listen to his ardent and continuous dis- course. He was certainly a great talker, but without as- sumption or any wearying of competent hearers. His dialect was broad west-country Scotch, and while I was resident his sense of the peculiarity kept him from praying in the meetings, though none could otherwise have been more ac- ceptable. Having from my childhood been used to Scotch Presbyterians, and knowing how some of the narrower among them will stickle for every pin of the covenanted tabernacle, and every shred and token, as if ordained in the decalogue, I was both surprised and delighted to observe how large-minded he was, in respect to every improvement, however different from the ways of his youth. I have wit. nessed his faith during grievous illnesses, and I rejoice to know that he was enabled to give a clear dying testimony for the Redeemer whom he loved."-(Letter.) He died in Trenton, New Jersey, in 1858 or 1859. He was widely known and esteemed in the Presbyterian circles of this city, Burlington and other towns of the State, and by his excel- lent labors in the cause of religion accomplished a large measure of good among those who came within the scope of his influence.

NDERSON, ALEXANDER, M. D., the first En- graver on Wood in America, late of Jersey City, was born near Beekman's Slip, New York, April 2Ist, 1775, two days after the first bloodshed in the war for independence had occurred at Lex- ington and Concord. His father was a native of Scotland, and differed in politics from the major portion of his countrymen in America at that time, who were gen- erally noted for their loyalty to the king and an uncom- promising adherence to the royal cause. While the revo- lutionary crisis was approaching, and collisions between colonial and British authorities and wishes were increasing in frequency, he steadfastly advocated the rights of the Americans, and was fearless and outspoken in his denun- ciation of English usurpation and tyranny. At the time of his son's birth he was the publisher of a republican newspaper in the city of New York, called The Constitu- tional Gasette. This he continued to publish in opposition to the ministerial papers of Rivington and Gaine until the close of 1776, when the British took possession of New York city. The "rebel printer" was then compelled to fly, with his books and printing materials, nearly all of which were lost or destroyed before he reached a place

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of absolute safety in Connecticut. He was originally a physician, having graduated, M. D., at Columbia College, New York, and was the pioneer engraver on wood in America, the " virtual inventor" of the art on this side of the Atlantic. His name has been familiar to booksellers and readers in the United States since the opening of the present century ; and the "mysterious little monogram, 'A. A.,' in the corners of wood-cuts in educational and text- books has attracted the attention of millions of children in our schools, and at our firesides when experiencing the de- light of his pictures." In 1804 he published "A General Ilistory of Quadrupeds," with numerous wood-engravings. Among his best known works are forty illustrations of Shakspeare, and those in " Webster's Spelling Book." After his decease B. J. Lossing prepared a memorial lecture of him as pioneer engraver and publisher ; and in Harper's Weekly, February, 1870, are shown an early and a late specimen of his skill in engraving, the first entitled " The Beggar at the Door; " the second "Alexander Anderson," a portrait of himself, executed in his eighty-first year. It depicts him as a hale, though wrinkled and furrowed, large- featured and bright-eyed man, with a snow-white beard and kindly compressed lips. He died at the residence of his son-in-law, in Jersey City, January 17th, 1870; and in his death " the bookmakers' craft and the world of book- readers have lost a long-familiar friend : a man whose genius, not meteoric in splendor, but planet-like in its effulgence, has burned in our firmament with steady lustre for almost three generations." His " William and Amelia in the Orchard " is a quaint representation of two damsels, a lad playing on a pipe, and a small dog, executed at an early day, and one which presents a fair sample of his initial efforts in the line of art.

GROVER, LEWIS C., of Newark, was born in Caldwell, in the county of Essex, New Jersey, in 1815. His grandfather, Rev. Stephen Grover, served in the continental army, and upon the conclusion of peace resumed his clerical studies. Hle settled in Caldwell early in life, and remained the pastor of the Presbyterian church in that place until his death, in 1836. He was a man of strong personal charac- teristics, and was the trusted coadjutor of the many eminent and gifted preachers of the time. The subject of our sketch was a favorite of this venerable and worthy gentle- man, whose reputation is still held in high esteem through the large and extensive parish which he ruled and guided. In 1827 Stephen R. Grover, the father of Mr. Grover, took up his residence in Newark, where he became a lawyer of excellent standing. He represented the county of Essex in the State Senate from 1845 to 1848, and discharged the duties of the position with credit and faithfulness. Upon

the removal of the family to Newark, Lewis C. Grover, although quite young, took immediate hold of the real responsibilities of life. He obtained a situation in the State Bank, and afterwards in the large establishment of Messrs. Shipman, Robinson & Co., where hc acquired that clear and accurate knowledge of business which has been invalu- able to him in his progress through life. While engaged in these pursuits he found time to pursue branches of study in which he became well grounded, the advantages of which he has always felt. His reading, too, was extensive and sound, and his quick, retentive mind carried with it the fruit of culture and study. During this period and after- wards he became connected with the literary institutions of his place of residence, and derived great advantage from his contact with other minds. During this time his in- clinations became more decided in favor of a profession,, and after some hesitation he became a law student in the office of his father, giving to the study all the resolution of his character. In 1840 he obtained his attorney's license, in the same class as F. T. Frelinghuysen and Joseph P. Bradley, and he almost immediately stepped into a success- ful and lucrative practice. His activity and energy were proverbial, and his management of causes, and his zeal in behalf of his clients, are remembered and noted. It is not to be supposed that, with his earnest characteristics, he should long remain a stranger to political action. The po- litical contest of 1838 culminated in what was designated the Broad-Seal contest, and in this Governor Pennington enlisted the aid of Mr. Grover in the scrutiny of the polls in this section of the State. This drew him into early as- sociation with all the trusted Whig leaders of the State, and laid the foundation of those vigorous efforts which charac- terized lis course in later years. From 1838 to 1848, the close of his connection with political pursuits, he was a bold, earnest and uncompromising Whig, conversant with the political action of his party, and always influential with the younger elements composing it. It was a period when Newark and the county of Essex were changing their char- acter without altering their convictions, and the conflict of what was new with what was old was a necessary feature of that change. The political contests of those times, too, were the wars of the giants. They were tremendous struggles for supremacy between two equal parties, and they called out the energies of young and old to an extent never since equalled. Mr. Grover was prominent and active in the great Presidential struggles of 1840, 1844 and 1848, giving of his labors, means and speech to the success of the Whig organization. In the year 1848 he was placed upon the Whig ticket for Assembly in the county of Essex, and was elected by a large majority. In that body he im- mediately took an active and leading position. Mr. Whelp- ley was elected Speaker, and Mr. Grover took the Chair- manship of the Judiciary Committee. In the House were Martin Ryerson, John T. Nixon, William F. Day, and others prominent in the State, and it may be easily under-

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 78

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