The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 9

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

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BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA.

discipline, he was referred to the Prefect of the charities of the city. This led to a further reference-this time to the Pope himself. But official circumlocution rendering a per- sonal interview with the pontiff too difficult, Dr. Parrish drew up an urgent appeal to His Holiness, which he handed in person to Cardinal Antonelli, whose sympathies he enlisted so completely that the appeal reached its des- tination under most favorable auspices, and elicited from the Pope a reply to the effect that he "was graciously in- debted to the young American for his kindly and judicious interest." Soon after a medical commission was appointed to examine the hospitals, and to visit similar institutions in France and Germany. As a consequence, the glaring abuses of power upon the helpless inmates of the asylum, appealed against by Dr. Parrish, were entirely corrected. After nearly a year's foreign travel he returned to Phila- delphia, and, his health renewed, proposed to resume prac- tice, for which his advantages, including a Fellowship in the College of Physicians, were unusually good. But the peculiar ability of his writings and lectures, with the success of his practice, marked him out to a large circle of friends as eminently fitted to take charge of an institution for the training of idiots, lately organized under a charter from the State by Bishop Potter and a few philanthropic Philadel- phians, and commenced in an experimental way in a rented property at Germantown. Unknown to him, they presented his name to the Board of Directors; the position was ten- dered to him; he visited the institution, found it in a state of confusion and disorder, became interested, and, accepting the charge, at once gave form and life to the beneficent enterprise. Under his able administration its value was speedily recognized both by the people and the Legislature of the State. From the former came large private contri- butions, and from the latter liberal appropriations. The Legislatures of New Jersey and Delaware, and the City Councils of Philadelphia, under his influence, voted grants in consideration of the reception and treatment of a given number of children from their respective localities. Having established the institution firmly-it had by this time been removed to Media-Dr. Parrish, in 1863, resigned its charge, notwithstanding the urgent remonstrances of the Board of Directors, conceiving his services to be demanded by his country. Leaving the school, with which his name will ever be identified, he entered the Sanitary Commission, where he was welcomed by being made the recipient of im- portant trusts. Beginning as an inspector of the camps and hospitals about Washington, he was subsequently delegated to travel through the principal towns of Pennsylvania and some other States, holding public meetings and organizing aid societies, with a view to secure much-needed additional supplies. He also edited the Sanitary Commission Bul- letin, and so successful was he in the organization of so- cieties for the manufacture of garments and the collection of supplies that he was requested by the board to visit the governors and Legislatures of the loyal States and endeavor, in the treatment of inebriety and presenting an outline of

to unify and concentrate the work of this valnable auxiliary to the government. This commission he executed with very gratifying results. Subsequently, under a full commission from the President of the United States, he made an ex- tended tour, embracing the numerous camps and hospitals within the Union lines in the West and South, looking after the sick and wounded and distributing with great discretion the supplies of the people through the authorities of the government. For some months he superintended the supply stations at White House and City Point, distributing whole cargoes of clothing, ice and hospital stores. In much of this benevolent labor he found a valuable coadjutor in Mrs. Parrish, who, in addition to her many services in connection with the commission, prepared a little volume entitled the "Soldiers' Friend," containing directions how to find the rests and lodges of the commission ; also a choice collection of hymns, of which 50,000 copies were distributed gratuit- ously in the army and navy. After the surrender of Lee's army Dr. Parrish went to Richmond, and rendered efficient assistance to the Sanitary Commission in providing for the disbanded soldiers of both armies and the multitudes of destitute negroes. Strongly interested in the condition of the newly emancipated slaves, he, accompanied by his wife, made a tour of inspection of schools throughout the Southern States, in connection with the Freedman's Com- mission. As illustrating the general appreciation of his noble and disinterested labors during and immediately suc- ceeding the war, it may be mentioned that through all these troublous times he travelled without a weapon of any kind. On one occasion, being arrested by a picket in Virginia, the officer before whom he was taken not only instantly released him, but furnished an escort for his safe conduct to his des- tination. Returning home to Pennsylvania he turned his entire attention to a subject which for many years had oc- cupied his mind-the nature and cure of inebriety. Obser- vation and study had convinced him that intemperance was actually a disease, subject to constitutional causes and amen- able to treatment as other diseases are. With this convic- tion he organized the Pennsylvania Sanitarium for the Cure of Inebriates, locating it at Media, and becoming the Presi- dent of its Board. In 1870 he called in New York a con- vention of physicians interested in similar institutions, and the American Association for the Cure of Inebriates was then formed. He was tendered its presidency, but, pre- ferring the secretaryship, Dr. Willard Parker, of New York, was, on his motion, elected president. Two years later the presidency was again tendered him, and he accepted, hold- ing it to this day. In 1872, the association being requested . by a parliamentary committee in England to send a delega- tion to testify before a Select Committee of the English House of Commons, Dr. Parrish and Dr. Dodge, of Bing- hampton, New York, were appointed, and appeared before the committee, in London, during three weeks, which were occupied in their examination, narrating their experience

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

American legislation on the subject. A full stenographic theory that inebriety and the opium habit are diseases sub- report of their testimony was taken and published by the ject to regular medical treatment in such a way as to secure its acceptance by the medical profession, he has earned the gratitude of all humanitarians and done much to advance the welfare of mankind. Much of his success may be at- tributed to his great personal magnetism, which attracts support from society and confidence from his patients. Naturally he has been approached by temperance organiza- tions and appealed to by them for co-operation and support. But pursuing his theory simply in its medical aspect he has invariably declined such affiliations, preferring, to use his own expression, " not to dilute his energies " by too much subdivision. The subject, as he views it, is large enough to engage all the powers of any man, and in his devotion to its study on that line he is best serving his generation and posterity. At a recent meeting of the American Association for the Cure of Inebriates, of which he was the founder and which he served as president for three years, he was made Secretary for foreign correspondence, and requested by resolution to communicate with all civilized nations having official correspondence with the United States, and with all heathen nations in which there are Christian missions, through our foreign consuls and ministers, and through the several missions, and propound to them such questions as he may prepare, for the purpose of eliciting and collating reliable facts as to the kind and character of intoxicants used by the several nations and kingdoms of the globe, and of the laws governing their manufacture and sale, as well as the effect on the morals and habits of the people. He is now engaged in this comprehensive service, and when he shall have completed it he will have secured most impor- tant facts, which will of course be made the property of the public. British government, while the committee were so impressed that they made a unanimous report adopting the recom- mendations of the delegates. Dr. Donald Dalrymple, chairman of this committee, had previously visited the various American inebriate asylums, and speaking, in his report to the House of Commons, of the Media Sanitarium, he says : " I visited the establishment at Media twice, though I only once saw the superintendent, Dr. Parrish, who, from length of experience, accurate knowledge, moderation of views and sobriety of judgment, I place at the head of all those with whom I have had communication." Soon after his return from England he was unexpectedly appointed to negotiate a treaty with the warlike Indians in the territory lying north of Texas, but he visited Washington and de- clined the commission, though repeatedly urged by the Secretary of the Interior to accept. Six months after his return he accepted the invitation of the trustees of the Maryland Inebriate Asylum, located at Baltimore, to devote a portion of his time to that institution. He found it in a most discouraging condition, but his energy and magnetism soon produced a change for the better, and aroused a lively interest in the benevolent enterprise throughout the State and country. During all these years of active work on behalf of particular institutions he has not been unmindful of the promulgation of his theory in a wider sphere. By able contributions to the public press and to the medical literature of the country, he has attracted large attention to the scientific treatment of idiocy and inebriety, and has se- cured for himself the position of an authority on these subjects. Among these publications must be specially noticed his " Report to the Legislature on the Criminal and Dependent Population of Pennsylvania," " Philosophy of Intemperance," " Intemperance as a Disease," being a re- port before the Pennsylvania Medical Society, of which he EELEY, HON. ELIAS P., Lawyer and Governor and Chancellor of New Jersey, was born, 1791, in Cumberland county, New Jersey, and was de- scended from one of the Puritan settlers, who removed from Connecticut towards the close of the seventeenth century and located in that sec- tion. While a child, his father removed to Bridgeton and held several county offices beside serving both in the As- sembly and Legislative Council of the State. Elias had but a limited education, but entered upon the study of law in the office of Daniel Elmer, and was licensed as an attorney in 1815. He shortly after commenced the practice of his profession, adding to the latter the duties of a conveyancer. Ile was elected a member of the Legislative Council in 1829, and thercafter re-elected for three successive years ; and in 1832 was chosen vice- president of the same. When Governor Southard was elected United States Senator a vacancy was then created in the executive chair, and at a joint meeting of the Legislature, held in March, 1833, Elias P. Sceley was elected to fill the same. During his term was first vice-president ; " Classification and Treatment of Inebriates," " Opium Intoxication " and " The Pathology of Inebriety," being a lecture delivered before the Medical and Chirurgical Society of Maryland. He has also ap- peared as a lecturer upon these and other subjects. About the last of October, 1875, he returned to Burlington, in- tending to devote himself to medical literature, and es- pecially to a further elaboration of the subject of his specialty ; but his return, though after twenty years' ab- sence, was greeted by his many friends with much more enthusiasm than was anticipated, and he found himself rapidly falling into an extensive practice, which he could not very well avoid. With the vigor of youth, and the enterprise which he has always manifested in his profes- sion, he is still pursuing a practice that occupies much of his time. He is, however, not so much occupied that he cannot devote a few spare hours to the preparation for the press of a work on the " Pathology and Treatment of Alco- holic and Opium Intoxication." The first to elaborate the 6

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

of service as Chancellor, the celebrated Quaker case was argued before him, which consumed over a month in the hearing. The result was to affirm the original decree, seven of the judges, including the Governor, being favorable to the decree, while four dissented from the same. After the expiration of his term as Governor, he was again elected a member of the Legislature, in which he served for several years. He was politically opposed to the Democratic doc- trines as laid down by Jackson, and toward the close of his life was an active and zealous member of the Whig party. He died in 1846.

HEDDAN, REV. SAMUEL SHARON, D. D., late of Rahway, was born in Northumberland county, in Pennsylvania, September 13th, 1810. His grandparents came from Scotland, and settled on a farm within a few miles of the Susquehanna river, where the homestead of his family remains until the present time. He pursued his studies preparatory to college at the academy in Milton, Pennsylvania ; entered Jefferson College in the year 1830, and graduated two years afterward. Theology he studied at Princeton, and was li- censed to preach by the Presbytery of Northumberland in the fall of 1834. Shortly after his license Dr. Sheddan was called to take charge of the church at Muncy for one-half of his time, and to give the other half as a supply to the church in Williamsport, in Pennsylvania. At the end of two and a half years he was called to relinquish his field in Williamsport, and give this half of his time as co-pastor with Dr. Bryson in the church at Warrior Run. Dr. Bryson had been pastor of the church at Warrior Run for about fifty years, and under his pastorate both the grandfather and the father of Dr. Sheddan had become ruling elders. He remained four years and a half as co-pastor with Dr. Bryson, and at the end of that period became sole pastor of the church, then one of the largest churches in the vicinity. Ile remained at Warrior Run eleven years from the day he became sole pastor of the church. At the end of that time he was unanimously called to the First Presbyterian Church in Rahway, New Jersey. On December 17th, 1835, he was united in marriage with Mary Boyd, daughter of the Rev. Alexander Boyd, of Newtown, Pennsylvania. In the year 1864 he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Columbia College, New York. The life of Dr. Sheddan was a most laborious and useful one. During his ministry at Warrior Run, he united the office of teacher with that of pastor, and by unremitting toil carried on successfully both his school and his church. Among other fruits of his labors he prepared for college from twelve to fifteen ministers of the Gospel, many of whom still survive; and through them, though dead, he still speaks. He remained the beloved pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Rahway, New Jersey, for twenty-two years and a half, and Sunday, at

noon, on October 18th, 1874, upon the fortieth anniversary of his ministerial life, he laid down his earthly work to re- ceive his crown.

LMENDORF, JOHN C., Lawyer, and Treasurer of Rutgers College, was born in Somerset county, New Jersey, in March, 1814. His parents, Wil- liam C. and Maria (Dumont) Elmendorf, were both natives of the same State. He obtained his elementary education at Somerville ; entered Rut- gers College in 1833, and was graduated in 1836. Choos- ing the legal profession, he became a student in the office of Judge S. Nevins, of New Brunswick, and after the pre- scribed course of study was licensed as an attorney in 18:9, and as counsellor in 1842. For fifteen years he served with marked ability and fidelity as Prosecutor of the Pleas for Middlesex County, filling the office under the administra- tions of Governors Stratton, Newell and Olden. Appointed Treasurer of Rutgers College in 1853, he has discharged the duties of that position for over twenty-three years with distinguished ability, and to the increased prosperity of tlie institution. He was married on October 6th, 1857, to Maria Louisa Frelinghuysen, of New Jersey.

URPHY, COLONEL WILLIAM ROBINSON, Supervisor of the New Jersey State Prison, at Trenton, was born at Princeton, New Jersey, No- vember 27th, 1809. His father, William R. Murphy, a farmer by occupation, was a native of Lawrence township, Mercer county, in the same State, and his mother, whose maiden name was Mary Burk, was born in Princeton. John Burk, his maternal grand- father, was a sergeant in the Maryland Line Regiment of Infantry, under General George Washington, and received at Monmouth a wound, which eventually proved fatal. Colonel Murphy's education was obtained in the Princeton common schools. When fifteen years of age he was appren- ticed in the cabinet-making trade, to which he devoted him- self assiduously, and when attaining his majority, his em- ployer dying, the entire business which the latter had built up in Princeton fell into his hands. He carried this on with good results for eight years, and was compelled then to relinquish it by reason of failing health, retiring for a time from active life. In 1844 he was appointed Postmaster at Princeton, and filled this position acceptably to his fellow- townsmen for many years. In 1852 he was appointed Clerk of Mercer county, and remained in office until the expira- tion of his term, which comprised a period of five years, win- ning golden opinions from all classes in the community by the energy, promptitude and fidelity he displayed in the dis- charge of his duties, and by the urbanity of his deportment.

BIOGRAPHICAL ENCYCLOPEDIA.

He had always manifested a deep interest in military | years of age, at which period his parents removed to Orange, matters, was a member of a military organization, and at the time of the breaking out of the late civil war, he was in command of a fine body of men, in discipline and morale unsurpassed by any other of like numbers in the State. With this body, acting heartily with him, he was among the first to respond to President Lincoln's call for troops. Governor Olden placed him, successively, in various posi- tions, all comprising important military trusts, and in Febru- ary, 1862, he received his commission as Colonel of the 10th New Jersey Infantry. In 1863, after resisting for a time pressing importunities to return, he came from the field to supervise the interests of the canal company. In March of the same year he resigned his command, and was ap- pointed Inspector and Collector of the Delaware & Raritan Canal, a joint company with the old Camden & Amboy Railroad. For a few months he served as Superintendent of the Air Line from New York to Washington, the business of which had assumed huge proportions in consequence of its being used as the main road for the transportation of troops and army supplies from the northeast to the seat of war. He retained his connection with the canal company up to 1868. In April of the following year he was chosen to the Supervisorship of the State Prison at Trenton, and it is an excellent commentary on the ability and care with which he has discharged all his onerous duties, that he has continued ever since to fill that position in the midst of great political changes. He is an active Democrat, but al- lows no partisan zeal to influence him in the fulfilment of the responsibilities laid upon him. IIe has reformed many abuses in prison discipline, and has originated and rendered practical many beneficial methods of discipline, and has been often rewarded by the commendation of the people. He is a gentleman of engaging manners, versatile in busi- ness accomplishments, and firm in action when convinced it is for private and public good. His residence is at Bordentown, and his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Landphier, and her native place, New London, Connecti- cut, is a lady of many accomplishments, and ably supports him in all his undertakings.

ARRISON, CHARLES II., Manufacturer of Patent Leather, was born in Parsippany, Morris county, New Jersey, March 12th, 1825. His father, IIenry Harrison, originally a manufact- urer, was a native of Orange, New Jersey, as was his father before him, Captain Thomas Harrison, a soldier of the Revolution, who died about 1837, at the ripe age of eighty. His mother was Pamela De Hart, of Elizabethtown, New Jersey, a descendant of the De Hlarts of revolutionary fame; so that revolutionary blood pours into his veins along both lines of descent. IIe attended the district schools of Morris county until he was twelve | Brewster, of New Jersey.

where he resumed his attendance at school, though only for the winter months, working through the rest of the year on the farm with his father, who had retired from manufactur- ing, and engaged in agriculture. IIe continued thus to divide his time between the farm and the school till he was fifteen years old, when he left school, and for a short time gave his whole attention to the farm, after which he went to Newark, and entered the establishment of Colonel D. B. Crockett, for the purpose of learning the art of manufactur- ing patent leather. In this establishment he remained until 1848, when, having mastered the business, he left for Pitts- burgh, Pennsylvania, to take charge of a patent leather manufactory at that place. This position he held till 1850, discharging its duties faithfully and ably. IIe had now acquired experience as well as skill in his business, and withal a small capital, the fruit of hard labor and self-deny- ing economy. With this stock, of which by far the most valuable part was carried not in his purse, but in his head, he returned to Newark, and laid the foundations-in a small way, indeed, but on the present site -- of the extensive and flourishing business which now spreads his name in all quarters of this continent, A little over a year after he set up in business on his own account he associated with him his brother, John D. Harrison, under the firm-name of C. II. & J. D. Harrison. Their united capital was not large, but both were hard workers, with clear perceptions of what should be done, and strong wills and cunning hands to do it. They were determined to succeed, and, as usually fol- lows in such cases, they carried their determination into effect. They have succeeded eminently, standing to-day among the acknowledged leaders of their business in the United States. Their present manufactories, erected on the site occupied at the outset, cover about two acres of ground, and, when running at full force, they employ some one hun- dred and twenty mcn, producing twenty thousand hides annually. Their trade, which is steadily increasing, extends now over all parts of the United States, Canada, and the East and West Indies. Not content with their success, they treat it as a stepping-stone to greater achievements in the future. The spurs they won long ago they used only to prick the sides of their ambition, and, in the midst of ripening prosperity, they still maintain the same spirit. With them success is not a sedative, but a stimulant. The senior member of the firm is in politics a Republican, and in 1875 represented the Sixth Assembly District of Essex county in the Legislature, where he displayed the diligence, judgment, and liberality that have characterized him as a business man. He is now one of the School Commission- ers of the city of Newark. On the special call of the gov- ernment during the Gettysburg fight he volunteered his services, and was assigned to duty as Quartermaster of the Provisional Battalion of New Jersey Volunteers, stationed at Harrisburg. Ile was married in April, IS49, to Marie

BIOGRAPHIICAL ENCYCLOPÆDIA.

county, New York. His father, John Vreeden- bergh Varick, was a native of New York city. His mother, Anna Maria (Romeyn) Varick, belonged to the Romeyn family of Hackensack, New Jersey. Members of this family have, for the last three generations, ministered to the congregation of the Reformed Dutch in that town, and the pulpit is at present filled by one of them. His uncle, Colonel Richard Varick, leaving his profession, that of the law, enrolled himself during the revolutionary war among his country's defenders, and was attached to General Benedict Arnold's staff at the time of that great traitor's defection. Subsequently Colonel Varick became private secretary to Washington, and continued in that office till the close of the war. He was Recorder of New York city from 1783 to 1788; being also, from 1787 to 1788, a member of the Assembly. From 1788 to 1789 he served as Attorney-General for the State of New York. In the latter year he was elected Mayor of the city of New York, holding that office till 1800, a period of eleven consecutive years. He died in 1831, " full of years and of honors," and was buried at Hackensack. In 1832 Dr. Varick's father removed to Jersey City, occupying as a country residence the old homestead. The family lived in New York from 1845 to 1848, in which year they returned to Jersey City. Ilis father died in 1835, previous to their removal to New York. In 1841 Theodore R. Varick entered the collegiate department of the New York University, and in 1843 he commenced the study of medicine in the same institution, graduating in the spring of 1846, before he had attained his twenty-first year. Soon after his graduation he received an appointment as Assistant Physician in the New York City Dispensary, located at the corner of White and Centre streets. In the following year he became one of the corps of attending physicians, and served in this capacity for two years. During this period (in 1847), the ship fever pre- vailed as an epidemic, and three out of a medical staff of six, succumbing to the disease, fell martyrs to their noble pro- fession. In the fall of 1848 he returned to Jersey City, where he has since resided. In 1851 he became one of the incor- porators of the District Medical Society of Hudson County, New Jersey, and is at the present time, except Dr. J. E. Culver, the only surviving one of the charter members. In 1853 he was elected member of the American Medical As- sociation. He is also a Fellow of the New Jersey State Medical Society, having been President of that body in 1864. In that capacity he addressed them upon the occasion of their annual meeting, in a learned and suggestive disser- tation upon the "Attributes of Mind, their Operations and Effects." He belongs to the New York Academy of Med- icine, and has been an honorary member of the New York State Medical Society since 1869. Of the New Jersey Academy of Medicine he was the first President. His ad- dress to the society in 1875, upon "The Causes of Death

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 9

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