The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 96

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

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SILES, GENERAL JAMES, Lawyer, Officer in the Revolutionary Army, President of the Cumber- land Bank, late of Bridgeton, New Jersey, was born in New York, in 1759. His parents were from England, and do not appear to have had any relatives in this country. His father subse- quently returned to the mother country, to be ordained as a minister of the Episcopal Church; on his return the vessel in which he came was wrecked, in a violent snow-storm, at the entrance of Delaware Bay, and he with others found there a watery grave; his body was said to have been buried in an old graveyard at New England Town, in Cape May county, now nearly or quite washed away by the encroach- ment of the bay; but the exact situation of the grave has never been satisfactorily defined. At an early period of the revolutionary struggle he was appointed to a Lieutenancy in the 2d, or New York, Regiment of Artillery, and con- tinued in service until 1782, in which year he became a student at law with Joseph Bloomfield, then resident at Trenton. In 1780 he was attached to the command of Lafayette, and served under him in Virginia, being one of the officers who received from the gallant hero a sword, brought from France, which is now in the possession of the Historical Society of New Jersey. When his old com- mander revisited this country, in 1824, this sword was handsomely remounted, and worn when he was received by the Society of Cincinnati of New Jersey, of which he was a member. It was said at the time that the general IVINGSTON, HON. HENRY BROCKHOLST, Officer in the Revolutionary Army, Associate-Jus- tice of the Supreme Court of the United States, late of Washington, District of Columbia, was born in New Jersey, in the first half of the last century, and was the son of Governor William received him with great cordiality, immediately recognized him, and warmly greeted him by name. IIe was for sev- eral years General of the Cumberland brigade of militia, and was commonly addressed by that title. In 1783 he was licensed as an attorney, and in due time as a counsel- lor, and in 1804 was made a scrjeant-at-law. Shortly after | Livingston, of New Jersey. He graduated at Princeton

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College. In 1776 he entered the military family of Gen- eral Schuyler, Commander of the Northern army, and was subsequently attached to the suite of Arnold at the time of the capture of Burgoyne. In 1779, when Mr. Jay, who had married his sister, repaired to the Court of Spain, he accompanied him as his Private Secretary. After three years' absence he returned to liis native country, and, at the expiration of the usual period of study and probation, was admitted to the bar in 1783. On the 8th of June, 1802, he was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of New York ; and in November, 1806, was appointed Associate-Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States. " His mind was acute and powerful, and he was distinguished as a scholar and a jurist." He died in Washington, during a session of the court, March 18th, 1823.

LAGLER, THOMAS B., M. D., Physician, of Morristown, was born, August 21st, 1823, in the town of Lagrange, Dutchess county, New York. His father was Abraham Flagler, a farmer and himself a native of Lagrange; and his mother was Elizabeth (Burtis) Flagler. The Flagler family is of Dutch origin, and the founders of the American branch, bearing then the name of Van Vluglen, came from Holland to this country in the early part of the seventeenth century. The Van Vluglens established themselves at the village of Nine Partners, so named from the fact that the land on which it stands was owned and the village founded by nine men in partnership; and there the family has ever since been strongly represented. The education of Thomas B. Flagler was received at Poughkeepsie. He was an earnest and industrious student, and his advancement in his studies was rapid and marked. In considering the choice of a profession, he had early decided upon that of medicine, and in the year 1839 he commenced his prelimi- nary medical studies in the office of Dr. John Cooper, of Poughkeepsie. His habit of close and diligent study, added to great natural aptitude for the profession he had chosen, insured his rapid advancement under the instruc- tion he received, and he was soon well grounded in the elements of professional knowledge. In due course of time he commenced attending the College of Physicians and Surgeons, in New York, in which institution he went through two regular courses. In addition to this he at- tended a course of lectures at the Albany Medical College. He received his diploma in the year 1844, and immediately thereafter commenced the practice of his profession in Poughkeepsie. He remained there a year, gaining in that time rapid and substantial professional success. At the end of the year he removed to Morristown, New Jersey, where he has ever since remained. His large medical knowledge, his zeal in his profession and his high natural qualifications for meeting all its requirements, insured his

success as a practitioner, and he speedily became possessed of a large, increasing and lucrative practice. He is devoted to his profession, and, still retaining his habits of study, he keeps himself fully up with the progress made in medical science, and thereby he has won a high and recognized position in the front rank of medical practitioners. He is one of the Judicial Council of the United States Medical Society, and other official honors bestowed upon him from time to time attest the estimation in which he is held by his professional brethren. His devotion to his profession does not prevent his being active as a public-spirited citizen, and he has always been prominent in works of public improve- ment and benefit. He was one of the incorporators of the Morris County Savings Bank, of which institution he is one of the Directors. He is also a Director of the Evergreen Cemetery, at Morristown. He was married, in 1849, to Mary E. Wetmore, of Morristown.

UNT, REV. HOLLOWAY WHITEFIELD, late of IIunterdon county, was born in New Jersey, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and graduated from Princeton College. He received license from the Presbytery of New Brunswick about 1792, and on the 17th of June, 1795, was ordained and settled as pastor of the churches at Newton and Hardiston, New Jersey. In 1804 he removed to HIun- terdon county, and took charge of the united churches of Kingwood, Bethlehem and Alexandria. " IIe was a tall, portly man, of a very fair complexion; and, in later years, his hair white with age. He was a man of fair abilities, and in his prime was a popular preacher." His manners were bland and attractive, and he had the faculty of attach- ing to him very strongly the people of his charge. In the latter years of his life he gave up the active duties of the ministry, on account of growing and harassing infirmities. He died in Hunterdon county, New Jersey, in 1858.

OHNSON, COLONEL ROBERT G., Member of the Legislature of New Jersey, Vice-President of the New Jersey Historical Society, late of New- haven, was born in the last quarter of the past century, and was a son of Robert Johnson, of an old family of Salem county, New Jersey. His father was a man of wealth and station, his mother a de- scendant of early and wealthy settlers from England. He was a graduate of Princeton College. On one occasion his father complained bitterly to Dr. Witherspoon that his son had not been advanced as he expected. After bearing con- siderable reproach, the doctor exclaimed, with the strong Scotch accent that characterized his warmer utterance, "I tell you, sir, the boy wants capacity !" Soon after graduating

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he became Captain of a troop of cavalry, and eventually rose to the station of Colonel. In 1794 he served in the army raised to quell the whiskey insurrection, acting on that occasion as a paymaster. He was in his own right, and in the right of his wife, probably the largest landholder in Salem county. In 1821, and from 1823 to 1825, he was a member of the Legislature of New Jersey. " He was a man of truth and honor, but so fixed in his convictions as not always to be tolerant of those who differed with him. He was very hospitable, and beyond question a true Chris- tian, but, owing to this peculiarity of temper, was unpopu- lar with many." He was fond of historical research, and was Vice-President of the New Jersey Historical Society from its foundation in 1845 till near the time of his decease. To its valuable collections he added much historical matter of importance; among other things, a " Memoir of John Fenwick," the early proprietor of New Jersey. He died at Newhaven, New Jersey, in October, 1850.

MITII, HEZEKIAH B., Inventor and Manufac- turer of Woodworking Machincry, of Smithville, Burlington county, was born in Vermont in 1816. His ancestors can be traced back for two hundred years to American origin. On the paternal side his grandfather and several of his brothers were sea-captains trading to foreign ports, and principally to the West Indies. At the outbreak of the war of independence, their trade being destroyed, they took out letters of marque and engaged in what was then and is still known as priva- teering, or in other words legalized piracy. In this business they were unfortunate; as far as known all met violent deaths. The father of the subject of this sketch was thus early in life left penniless and fatherless, and the bereaved mother was compelled to apprentice her son to learn tanning, currying, and shoemaking. He was subjected to all the toils, hardships, and privations of that old pernicious system of English apprenticeship. He served his time faithfully for seven years, and at its expiration, being tired and weary of the scenes of his labors and sufferings, it was with a light heart that he set out for the wilds of Vermont. He halted at Bridgewater and there renewed his trades for him- self ; being a man of more than ordinary natural intellectual ability he soon took to reading and study, and soon made up in a degree for early deficiencies in scholarship. After a time he established a fine library, which occupied one end of his shop, and it was his greatest delight to pore over these books after his day's toil was ended. On the maternal side his origin may be traced back to the old Roger Williams stock. The relation of a tragical incident which occurred in the family of one of his ancestors, and which resulted in giving the name of IIezekiah to the subject of this sketch, may not be out of place here. His great-grandfather

Williams settled in Vermont when it was nothing but a wilderness. He had two sons-Roger, who was named for his ancestor, and Hezekiah. It was their custom every evening to go for the cows: the elder one always carricd a gun as a protection against bears, wolves, Indians, etc .; while Hezekiah, the younger, went along to help drive the cows home. One evening the boys started out as was their custom; Roger trudging along in front with gun over shoulder, when suddenly stubbing his toe, hc fell, the gun went off, and two balls passed directly through Hezekiah's head, killing him almost instantly. To perpetuate the name and to commemorate the sad event the subject of this sketch was named Hezekiah. With such sturdy New England blood flowing in his veins it is no wonder that he early de- veloped remarkable mechanical genius. As early as thirteen he became a deep thinker, and hearing his father and uncle discuss their beliefs in the feasibility of perpetual motion, he quickly made up his mind to test the matter. Con- structing a wooden key to his father's workshop, thither he repaired on Sunday, it being the only day he could work without interruption, to test the truth or falsity of this much mooted theory. After three days of toil the simple fact flashed upon his mind that a weight in falling one foot would produce a certain amount of power, but it must be raised back to the starting point before it could produce power by falling the foot again. Thus his hopes were dashed, and he has never since attempted to work in oppo- sition to nature's laws. He continued until the age of six- teen to attend school for three months in summer and three months in winter. At the age of seventeen, his father giv- ing him his time, he " let" himself to a man named Mills, to learn the cabinet business. In a short time he became master of his trade. He then began business for himself as a cabinet maker, chair maker, sash, door, and blind manufacturer, etc., etc. While thus engaged his genius took distinct and definite form. From earliest boyhood his mind had been filled with visions of mechanical contrivances -- saw-mills filled with new and curious machinery, and brooks whose water-power was conserved and applied to useful purposes by water-wheels of peculiar construction. Machinery has always exercised and still continues to exer- cise a perfect fascination for him. He early perceived, as he progressed in his business, the necessity for the intro- duction into woodworking of machinery that would quicken and cheapen production of every class. Gradually the visions of younger life assumed tangible form, and his ready invention suggested contrivances of the most valuable kind for the saving of labor and overcoming of obstacles to cheap and superior production. One after another has been added to the list which now includes hundreds of different wood- working machines of various degrees of intricacy, but all rendering easy, simple, and cheap the accomplishment of work previously only performed slowly, laboriously, and ex- pensively by hand-power. Coming before the public as the first introducer of rapid motion in this class of machinery,

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and constructing his machines entirely of iron and steel, | beautifully laid out, so choicely stocked and so well-cared" thus avoiding the warp and twist incident to the old wooden for as to present a fairy scene of color and beauty. Here he dispenses a generous hospitality, and receives unmistak- able evidence of the wide esteem in which he is held. Most emphatically the architect of his own fortunes, his career offers at once an example and an encouragement to youth. None could have had more adverse circumstances to contend with than beset his early career; none with the results his energy and industry have achieved before them need despair of final triumph, if only they will bring the same qualities to bear in the struggle. He never aspired to any political position, having many times received invitations to accept office but always replying that his taste and ability belonged to mechanics, not politics; but he at one time re- ceived the unanimous nomination for Congress in the Sec- ond District of New Jersey, unsolicited and undesired by him, but under circumstances in which he could not honor- ably decline. Although running in a district strongly op- posed to him politically he was only defeated by a small majority; and much to the surprise of everybody he carried his own county by a handsome majority, which had never before been done by his party. frames, and which formed so marked a defect in other makes of machines, he has obtained wide popularity for his inventions, which have forced their way into favor by their superior merits, and by reason of the exceptionally fair and honorable manner in which all purchasers are treated. His machines are to be met with all over the world, and cvery- where have given the most complete satisfaction, while in- augurating a new era in woodworking. Some of his best patents were invented when their inventor lived by necessity on a low diet, which only seemed to have the effect of making his inteliect burn more brightly and clearly. Al- ways a shrewd business man, availing himself of all open- ings, he has never been known to resort to sharpness or trickery in his dealings. By his ability, industry, and perse- verance he has accumulated a handsome competency in his 'legitimate business, which was started with no foundation but his active brain and ready hands. The early part of his life was spent in Massachusetts; he removed to Smithville, Burlington county, New Jersey, in 1865. Long before leaving the East, and ever since settling in New Jersey, he has stood at the head of the manufacturers of wood- working machinery. By the excellence of his inventions, and his indomitable will in forcing public recognition of them, he has driven many of his competitors out of the SBORNE, JOSEPH D., Physician and Surgeon, was born at Suckasunny, New Jersey, September 6th, 1833, the son of Rev. Enos A. Osborne. August 17th, 1861, he received the appointment of Assistant-Surgeon, United States Volunteers, and went out with the 4th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers. In October of the same year he was appointed Surgeon of the 2d Regiment, New Jersey Volunteers; and was then transferred to the 4th Regiment, with which he remained until mustered out, November 19th, 1864. He was Chief of Brigade by virtue of date of commission; in 1863 was Assistant Operator of Division; and in 1864 was Operating Surgeon of Division. From July to October of . 1863 he was Executive Officer of Hospitals, and was placed in charge of the transfer of the wounded at Gettysburg. From January to July of 1864 he was on duty in the Ward United States Hospital, in Newark. market. Arriving in New Jersey he purchased the land and a portion of the buildings now occupied by his exten- sive manufactory, which to-day comprises about two acres and a half of floor room, the lower floors being of iron. He has, in fact, worked no less than one thousand tons of iron into real estate. When running at its full capacity the factory is capable of giving employment to from seven to eight hundred men. For the material comfort and mental and moral improvement of this large number of employés he manifests constant and generous solicitude. Adjoining the mills he has erected a large boarding-house for his " boys," as he calls them, to which is attached a well- appointed and well-stored reading-room, and a very beauti- ful hall for their free use. From among the " boys " a fine band has been organized and equipped by Mr. Smith, and a room in the hall has been fitted up expressly for them to practise in. In fact, the entire village, which consists of some fifty houscs, a post-office, store, and newspaper office, belongs to him, and he is even the publisher of the news- paper, a very neat little weekly sheet, ably edited by his OLCOMBE, SAMUEL, Grain Merchant, late of New Brunswick, was born in Amwell, New Jer- sey, whither his father had removed from Eng- land, in 1768. He was made a ruling elder in Amwell church while it was under the pastoral care of Rev. Mr. Grant, but in what year is not certainly known. In 1809 he removed to New Brunswick, where he carried on a heavy business in the grain trade. He was irreproachable as a man of business, and exemplary as an elder of the First Presbyterian Church, to which wife, a lady of excellent family and many accomplishments. Indeed, nothing is left undone by him that would tend to elevate the character of his men and afford them pleasure. IIe is not only their employer but their best friend. Sur- rounding the village, he owns and cultivates a farm of about five hundred acres. It is maintained in a high state of cultivation, and he takes great delight and pride in its pro- ducts and in the raising of fine stock. His residence is a fine, substantial edifice, and the extensive grounds are so

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office he was chosen December 30th, 1810. "He was as- siduous in visiting the poor, and liberal in alms-giving. He was of a lovely disposition, being very even-tempered, and never known to be angry even by his family. His death was like his hfe, happy and Christian. It took place De- cember 17th, 1838, in the seventieth year of his age."

ALLACE, JOSHUA MADDOX, of Burlington, was born in the city of Philadelphia, October 4th, 1752. His father was Mr. John Wallace, a na- tive of Scotland, who, emigrating in his twenty- third year from his paternal home at Drumellier, upon the Tweed, arrived in the year 1742 in Newport, Rhode Island. His name is there found among those of other persons, including several natives of Scot- land, members of a literary society through whose organiza- tion the Redwood Library in that ancient town was subse- quently founded. Having resided for some time in Newport, Mr. Wallace removed to Philadelphia, then becoming the principal city of America, and in this place married Mary, only child of Joshua and Mary Maddox; the former an honored citizen of Philadelphia, and for many years one of the justices of the courts there, a councilman of the city, a founder and trustee of the college, and a warden of Christ Church. The subject of this notice was placed at an early age under the care of the best teachers of the time ; and having been thoroughly instructed in rudimentary learn- ing, was cntercd at the College of Philadelphia. He was graduated there November 17th, 1767. After exercising for a short time in that same year the office of a tutor in the college, he was placed in the counting-house of Mr. Archi- bald McCall, a well-known merchant of old Philadelphia. How long the subject of this notice remained in this excel- lent school for the acquisition of mercantile knowledge is not now known; but the singular integrity, method and accuracy which marked his own transactions of business in after life, and his scrupulous punctuality in all his engage- ments, would indicate that while there his time was given with effect to a comprehension and to a practice of the duties which the situation imposed. But though qualified, as might be inferred, for affairs of commerce, he docs not seem, on leaving the counting-house of Mr. McCall, to have entered upon them. The uncertain state of our British rela- tions may have induced him to postpone doing so, and his tastes, it is probable, combining with his excellent educa- tion, found stronger affinities in literature and science. These apparently occupied his early manhood. A few years after his marriage in 1773 with Tace, the daughter of Col- onel William Bradford-a lady of uncommon virtue, intelli- gence and refinement-he went to occupy his cstate of Ellerslie, a large and beautiful farm upon the Raritan, Som- erset county, New Jersey. He retained his estate of Eller- slie for many years, and during the heats of summer occa-

sionally resided there. But thinking that there was some ground to suppose the region insalubrious, he fixed his abode in 1784 at Burlington, New Jersey, near which place the family of his wife, in the maternal lines, had been settled from the foundation of the province. He continued to re- side at Burlington until the close of his life, A. D. 1819, maintaining "that ancient, native, genuine character" de- scribed by Edmund Burke, but now apparently departed from the earth, of "a country gentleman," and using his leisure and ample inheritance greatly to the benefit of the place and its inhabitants. In the office of Judge of the Pleas of Burlington County, which he accepted from the Council and General Assembly of the State in the year 1784, "he was very highly useful in administering justice, maintaining the police, relieving the distresses and improv- ing the morals of the common people." Ile greatly inter- ested himself to advance agriculture, and particularly those attractive branches of it, ornamental gardening, and the . culture of fruit trees. Ile was instrumental in establishing an academy of learning, and in bringing good teachers to the place. The public library of the town was a subject of his interest and contributions. He took much pains to in- troduce for the benefit of the townspeople supplies of pure and wholesome water, and also to establish engines, with a well-appointed police, to prevent the ravages of fire; and was, in short, an energetic, disinterested and most useful citizen. Ile was a Trustee for more than twenty years of Princeton College, President of the Trustees of the Bur- lington Academy, and President of the Society in New Jersey for the Suppression of Vice and Immorality. Ilis name appears in the Journals of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, as a representative from his State of New Jersey, for the years 1786, 1795, 1808, 1811, 1814 and 1817, the last which he lived to witness; and it is con- stantly found through the same long series of years, in the Journals of the New Jersey Conventions, as a representative of the ancient parish of St. Mary's, Burlington. In 1796 he was appointed, along with his friend Mr. Croes, after- wards Bishop of New Jersey, to the responsible office of framing a Constitution and Canons for the ecclesiastical polity of that State, Rules for Conducting its Business in Con- vention, Rules for the Government of Congregations, and such recommendations from the convention to the churches generally as were calculated to advance its prosperity. The Journal of the following year contains the report "as agreed to and adopted by the convention." Devoted, however, as he was to the theology of his own church, his love for it was characterized by a most catholic spirit. With his friend and near kinsman, the venerable Elias Boudinot, he took an early and active part in the formation of the American Bible Society, and was chosen President of the Conven - tion which formed it, in acknowledgment of his zeal and services in promoting the great object for which that body was assembled. Of the Bible Society in his own State he was a manager from its foundation till the time of his deatl .-

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 96

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