The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 97

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

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a term of about nine years; and it is recorded of him that he brought a larger amount to its treasury than was ever brought to it by any individual at one time. Though his tastes did not lead Mr. Wallace to mingle actively in the conflict of parties, he well understood the duties which belong to a citizen of the republic. He was a member of that convention which, in 1737, ratified, in behalf of the State of New Jersey, the Constitution of these United States. And acting throughout his life upon the principle that it was the duty of the government to give this instru- ment a fair interpretation, and fairly to exercise its powers in furtherance of its professed design, it need scarcely be added that his political principles were those of the Federal school : the principles of Washington and Hamilton, of Jay and Marshall. To these he steadily adhered, avowing and maintaining them as deep laid in the economy of our popu- lar institutions; the only principles, in short, upon which this government could be administered with permanent jus- tice, dignity or success. He represented the county of Burlington in the Assembly of New Jersey during a most critical term in the history of our country, and in this capacity contributed, hy his steadiness of judgment and the influence of his acknowledged probity, much to hold the State to that anchorage of sound political morality from which so many parts of our country were carried by the tempest of the revolution in France. Mr. Wallace died on the 17th of May, 1819, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. Ilis illness had been but short, and the intelligence of its issue produced in the city of Burlington, which for more than thirty-five years had been the witness of his honorable and useful life, a sensation of general sorrow. His remains were followed to the grave by a large concourse of citizens, including many persons from adjoining places. And on a following Sunday an impressive discourse upon his life and character was pronounced by the Rev. Mr. Carter, of Tren- ton, in St. Mary's Church, Burlington, with which venerable edifice the person of Mr. Wallace, as a warden and wor- shipper, had long been identified. Obituary notices of this distinguished citizen of Burlington are found in The Chris- tian Journal and Literary Register of June, 1819, pub- lished in New York, and in the (London) Christian Ob- server of March, 1820. Mr. Wallace was the father of the late well-known lawyer, John Bradford Wallace, Esq., of Philadelphia, for some time a representative from Crawford county in the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and a most efficient advocate of its early internal improvements.

gallantry during that patriotic struggle. The family has always been noted for its piety and integrity, and love for liberal institutions. The father of Dr. Alpaugh is a farmer of considerable means, a man of the highest charac- ter, and an unflinching adherent to and exponent of his principles. An illustration of this trait was frequently afforded during the late civil war, when he was constantly threatened with personal violence, because of the boldness with which he denounced the rebels and their Northern sympathizers. The subject of this sketch obtained his earlier education at the public schools, and assisted his father on the farm until his sixteenth year. For two years thereafter he taught school, and then entered the Presbyterian Semi- nary at Hackettstown, New Jersey, at that time under the direction of Professor Budd. After studying there for a period of two years, he placed himself under the tuition of Mr. O. H. Hoffinan, for a course of classics and mathemat. ics; meanwhile beginning the study of medicine with the late Dr. Barclay, of Lebanon, New Jersey. His prelim- inary reading with this physician having convinced him that his career lay in the medical profession, he entered upon close preparation therefor, devoting his leisure hours to lit- erary labor in the shape of contributions to newspapers and periodicals. In 1865 he entered the Bellevue Hospital Medical College, attended the usual course of lectures, and in 1867 was admitted to practise in the Charity Hospital connected with the college. In 1868 he graduated, stand- ing second in a class of over one hundred students. Look- ling abroad for a field of action, he settled temporarily near Coaxburg, New Jersey, and began practice. There he re- mained until the spring of 1869, having in that short time acquired considerable practice and reputation, particularly through the treatment of some cases of chronic diseases, which had previously been treated by the resident physi- cians of the county for years without success. In conse- quence of the solicitations of Dr. Fields and a number of the most influential citizens of High Bridge, he was induced to settle at that place. At first he was associated in part- nership with Dr. Fields, of Clinton, but this connection was dissolved in 1872, and since that time he has practised alone. At the present time he enjoys a practice and reputation sec- ond to none in the county, while he is frequently called in consultation into adjoining counties. Although successful in a wide range of cases, he has been especially remarkable for his treatment of fevers. In the famous Brennan mur- der case he took a conspicuous part, being called on to make the post mortem examination, and becoming, in consequence, one of the principal witnesses on the part of the State on the trial. One of the attorneys for the defence had very evidently been "cramming" for the cross-examination of the doctor, and his discomfiture at the ready and intelligent manner in which Dr. Alpaugh explained his theory to the court and jury was palpable to all present. After the trial, he published an article conclusively demonstrating the fal-

LPAUGH, WILLIAM C., M. D., Physician and Surgeon, of High Bridge, was born in the town of Twexbury, Hunterdon county, New Jersey, September 14th, 1841. His ancestors were of German extraction, and among the earliest settlers of the State. One of them was a captain in the war of the Revolution, and distinguished himself by his lacy of the theory for the defence. He stands high in the

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estimation of his medical brethren, by whom he was elected a member of the Hunterdon County Medical Society in 1874. In 1877 he was appointed surgeon for the High Bridge branch of the New Jersey Central Railroad. On April 29th, 1865, he was married to Miss Solliday, a lady much respected in a wide circle, and has one child. His home and surroundings evince the possession of taste and liberal culture.

IVINGSTON, WILLIAM, the First Governor of New Jersey under the constitution of 1776, was born in Albany, New York, in the year 1723. He belonged to a family worthily conspicuous for many years in the history of the United States. He was the grandson of Robert Livingston, a very distinguished minister of the Established Kirk of Scot- land. After the restoration of the monarchy in the person of Charles II., this minister with his son fled to Holland, whence Robert came to America about the year 1675, in 1679 married Alida, the widow of Nicholas Van Rensselaer, and resided at Albany. He made extensive purchases of land from the Indians, and in consideration thereof the manor and lordship of Livingston was granted to him in 1686, and confirmed by royal authority in 1715. It was the second largest of the five great manors granted in the province of New York, which in more recent times have been so fruitful of anti-rent troubles, and comprised nearly one hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, commencing about five miles south of the present city of Hudson, run- ning twelve miles along the east bank of the Hudson river, and extending back to the line of Massachusetts. It was in a measure divided at an early period, but the greater part of it was strictly entailed and transmitted through the next two generations, in the hands of the eldest son and grandson. Philip, the father of William, was the second son of Robert; but the elder brother having died, he succeeded to the manorial estate. His wife was Catharine Van Brugh, a member of a respected Dutch family of Al- bany. William was their fifth child. He was accorded the best education the country afforded. After due prepara- tion he entered Yale College, from which institution he was graduated in 1741 at the head of his class. As illustrative of the educational customs of the day, it may be mentioned that, according to general report, there were, at that time, besides himself and three elder brothers, only six persons not in orders, in the province of New York, who had re- ceived a collegiate education. William was brought up for the legal profession, and began study therefor with James Alexander, a most distinguished lawyer of New York city, and a sturdy advocate of popular rights and opponent of ministerial assumptions. Some idca of young Livingston's life at this period may be obtained from a letter written by him to his father in 1744 : " I have received your letter of

November 21st, whereof the first two lines are, 'I am concerned to hear that you neglect your study, and are abroad most every night.' As to neglecting my study, I am as much concerned to hear it as my father, having read the greatest part of this winter till twelve and two o'clock at night, and since I have had a fire in my room have frequently risen at five in the morning and read by candle-light, of which I suppose your informer (whatever ingenious fellow it he) was ignorant, as it was impossible he should know it without being a wizard. As to my being abroad almost every night, I have for this month stayed at Mr. Alexander's till eight and nine o'clock at night, and shall continue to do so all winter, he instructing us in the mathematics, which is indeed being abroad." Study- ing thus diligently, - he in due course was licensed to practise law in 1748. Such close study being combined with great natural ability and qualifications for a lawyer, it is not surprising to learn that he soon won a high position at the bar, and was retained in most of the important litiga- tions of the day, not only in New York, but in New Jersey. Among other notable engagements in his legal career, he was in 1752 one of the counsel of the defendants in the great suit in chancery, between the proprietors of East Jer- sey and some of the settlers, which, although never brought to a final decision, has been much referred to in respect of the title to a considerable part of East Jersey. Brought up in the Reformed Dutch Church, he engaged earnestly in the controversies which arose with the Episcopalian party, in reference to an established religion. It was not a little owing to the feelings so strongly excited in Congregation- alists and Presbyterians by these discussions, that the resist- ance eventually advanced to the attempted imposition of taxes on the American colonies by the British ministry arose, and the unanimous support by the colonies of antagonistic measures resulted. Livingston's most earnest sympathies were enlisted in the cause of the colonists, and he wrote very much on the various topics which grew out of the dis- pute. In 1772 he changed his residence to Elizabethtown, New Jersey, where he had acquired by purchases at different times an estate of about one hundred and twenty acres, which was carefully cultivated and upon which he planted various species of fruit trees, imported by him from abroad. Upon this estate he built a handsome residence, which con- tinued his home during life. As at this time he was pos- sessed of property considered sufficient for the maintenance of his family, he intended settling down to a quiet country life, but the failure of some of his debtors, and the loss by payments of others in depreciated Continental money, re- duced his income considerably, and caused him in a meas- ure to abandon his intention. Hc had been admitted to the bar of New Jersey in 1755, and at it he continued to prac- tise his profession, but not in any very close fashion. To him was submitted the case of Stephen Skinner, treasurer of the eastern division of the province, whose public-money chest was broken open and robbed of six or seven thousand

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pounds in coin and paper. The treasurer was held respon- | Continental Congress, in which case he would undoubtedly sible for this sum, on the ground of negligence, by a majority have signed the Declaration of Independence. Indeed, his correspondence indicates this feeling very plainly. In military duty he nevertheless proved himself remarkably efficient, while conscious of his need of precise knowledge, for he says, in a letter written to Congress in July : " I must acknowledge to you that I feel myself unequal to the present important command, and therefore wish for every assistance in my power ; " and again, in a letter to a Con- gressman in Philadelphia, in August : " I received yours of yesterday's date, just after I had got into my new habita- tion, which is a marque tent in our encampment. You would really be astonished to see how grand I look, while at the same time I can assure you I was never more sensible (to use a New England phrase) of my own nothingness in military affairs. I removed my quarters from the town hither to be with the men and to inure them to discipline, which by my distance from the camp before, considering what scurvy subaltern officers we are ever like to have, while they are in the appointment of the mobility, I found it impossible to introduce. My ancient corporal fabric is almost tottering under the fatigue I have lately undergone, constantly rising at two o'clock in the morning to examine our lines, which are - and very extensive, till daybreak, and from that time till eleven in giving orders, sending despatches, and doing the proper business of quartermasters, colonels, com- missaries, and I know not what." Soon after this his family were obliged to find a safer residence than their home, and for three or four years lived at Parsippany. It was not long that Livingston served as a soldier, his abilities being called into play in a position where they were calcu- lated to prove of far greater value to his country. A new constitution having been adopted, and a Legislature chosen under it, that body assembled at Princeton, and on August 27th, 1776, proceeded in joint convention to elect a gov- ernor. The vote was by a secret ballot, and it resulted for a time in a tie between him and Richard Stockton. By next day, however, an arrangement had been reached, and Livingston was elected Governor, Stockton being chosen chief-justice of the Supreme Court. The former accepted, but the latter declined. For a while after installation, Governor Livingston, by resolution of the Legislature, used his own seal at arms as the great seal of the State, but in a short time it was replaced by a seal of silver, engraved in Philadelphia, which bore the devices still in use, and was lettered, " The great seal of the State of New Jersey," the word colony, used in the constitution, being entirely 'dis- carded, On September 13th the Governor made an address to the Legislature, in which he says: " Considering how long the hand of oppression had been stretched out against us, how long the system of despotism, concerted for our ruin, had been insidiously pursued, and was at length at- tempted to be enforced by the violence of war; reason and conscience must have approved the measure had we sooner of the Assembly, and although he was supported by Gov- ernor William Franklin, he eventually resigned, and an action was brought to recover the amount, but it never reached trial, and Skinner throwing his services on the British side, his New Jersey property was finally confiscated and sold. In 1774 Livingston was chosen a Delegate to the Continental Congress by the committee which met at New Brunswick in July of that year, and became a member of the committee of that body, appointed to prepare the ad- dress to the people of Great Britain. IIe signed and ad- hered to the non-consumption and non-importation pledge. In January, 1775, he was re-elected Delegate to the Con- gress by the Assembly, and served on the most important committees thereof. He was again delegated in February, 1776, hy the Provincial Congress, and labored on the same committees with Adams, Jefferson, and Lee. During the ensuing June, however, he left the Congress at Philadelphia, in order to take command of the militia of New Jersey as a Brigadier-General, this position having been accorded him some time previously by the Provincial Congress. While thus patriotic in spirit and doing everything in his power to advance the American cause, he was yet among those, and the number included many pronounced Whigs, who doubted the expediency of the Declaration of Independence at the time it was made. On this subject he says, in a letter dated in February, 1778 : "As to the policy of it, I then thought, and I have found no reason to change my sentiments since, that if we could not maintain our separation without the assistance of France, her alliance ought to have been secured, by our stipulation to assert it on that condition. This would have forced her out into open day, and we should have been certain either of her explicit avowal, or of the folly of our dependency upon it." Holding these sentiments, however, he would not hesitate to accept all risks in a cause so dear to his heart, or to enter military life on its behalf, and this without any military training or ex- perience. Relative to this he says, in another letter: " We must endeavor to make the best of everything. Whoever draws his sword against his prince, must fling away the scabbard. We have passed the Rubicon, and whoever at- tempts to cross it will be knocked in the head by the one or the other party, on the opposite banks. We cannot re- cede, nor should I wish it if we could. Great Britain must infallibly perish, and that speedily, by her own corruption, and I never loved her so much as to wish to keep her com- pany in her ruin." While this extract does not do much honor to his quality as a prophet, so far as the downfall of the British empire is concerned, it demonstrates very clearly the patriotic impulses of his heart. In June, 1776, by de- sire of Congress he took command of the militia destined for New York, and established his head-quarters at Elizabeth. town Point. There is good reason to believe, however, that he would have much preferred to continue a delegate to the | abjured that allegiance from which, not only by a denial of

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protection, but the hostile assault on our persons and prop- erties, we were clearly absolved. That, being thus con- strained to assert our own independence, the late represent- atives of the colony of New Jersey, in Congress assembled, did, in pursuance of the advice of the Continental Congress, the supreme council of the American colonies, agree upon the form of a constitution which, by tacit consent and open approbation, hatlı since received the consent and concurrence of the good people of the State; and agreeahly to this con- stitution, a Legislative Council and Assembly have been chosen, and also a governor. Let us, then, as it is our in- dispensable duty, make it our invariable aim to exhibit to our constituents the brightest examples of a disinterested love for the common weal ; let us, both by precept and ex- ample, encourage a spirit of economy, industry and patriot- ism, and that public integrity and righteousness that cannot fail to exalt a nation; setting our faces at the same time like a flint against that dissoluteness of manner and political corruption that will ever be the reproach of any people. May the foundation of an infant State be laid in virtue and the fear of God, and the superstructure will rise glorious and endure for ages. Then may we humbly expect the blessings of the Most High, who divides to the nations their inheritance and separates the sons of Adam." From an expression in this address the Governor is said to have derived a name he bore for some time, "Doctor Flint." From year to year he was re-elected Governor, while he lived, occupying the combined office of Governor and Chan- cellor nearly fourteen years. Occasionally slight opposition was manifested, but quickly overcome. From August 31st to November Ist, 1777, there was an interregnum, his term of a year having expired and the second Legislature not meeting until two months thereafter. For some two years after election his task was onerous and not without great danger. In every part the State was exposed, and suffered more from military operations than any other. Shortly after his inauguration the upper part of it was occupied by the enemy, and until the happy turn of affairs occasioned by the victories at Trenton and Princeton, during the winter of 1776-77, everything was in jeopardy. Many, hitherto san- guine, despaired and accepted British protection. The Legislature became a wandering body, now meeting at Trenton, and then at Princeton, at Pittstown, in Hunterdon county, and at Haddonfield. But the Governor was im- movable and labored unremittingly for efficient militia laws and the organization of the new government upon a solid foundation. Among the first laws passed was one provid- ing for the taking of an oath renouncing allegiance to the king of Great Britain and of allegiance to the now State government, and another for the punishment of traitors and disaffected persons, and those who sought in any way to uphold British authority. During the session at Haddon- field, lasting some two months, an act was passed establish- ing a committee of safety, consisting of twenty-three persons, the governor or vice-president being one. This committee

was to act as a board of justice in criminal matters ; fill up vacant military offices ; apprehend disaffected persons and commit them to jail without bail or maniprise; could call out the militia to execute their orders; were to send the wives and children of fugitives with the enemy into the enemy's lincs; cause offenders to be tried, and persons re- fusing to take the oaths to government to be committed to jail, or to send them, if willing, into the enemy's lines ; make any house or room a legal jail; negotiate exchanges ; disarm the disaffected, etc. During the two months' guber- natorial interregnum this committee was of especial impor- tance. So determined and ahle a man as the Governor was naturally in danger. His family residence was despoiled, and he was most bitterly denounced in Riverton's Gazette, the organ of the British party in New York. As an offset to this journal, a patriotic paper was started in December, printed by Isaac Collins, of whom a sketch appears else- where in this volume, sometimes at Trenton and sometimes at Burlington, under the title of The New Jersey Gazette. To it the Governor contributed largely, and many of his ar- ticles exerted a potent influence for good. But while popu- lar among patriots, the Governor did not escape all criticism. On October 27th, 1779, just before his re-election, a virulent attack was made upon him in the New Jersey Gazette, over the signature of " Cincinnatus." The following day this resolution was passed by a large majority in the Council : " Whereas by a late publication, inserted in the New Jersey Gazette, called ' Hints humbly offered to the consideration of the Legislature of New Jersey, in the future choice of a governor,' signed 'Cincinnatus,' being apparently designed to have an undue influence in the ensuing election of a governor of this State, and, though in an ironical way, fully and clearly implies, not only a slur upon the seminary of learning in this State, and the president and tutors thereof, but also a tacit charge against the Legislature of this State, as being greatly deficient in point of integrity, or ability and judgment, in the choice of a governor, and an express declaration against our excellent constitution, and also an unjust, false, and cruel defamation and aspersion of his ex- cellency, the Governor ; all which evidently tends to disturb the peace of the inhabitants and promote discord and con- fusion in the State, and to encourage those who are dis- affected to the present government ; and notwithstanding the freedom of the press ought to be tolerated as far as is consistent with the good of the people and the security of the government established under their authority, yet good policy, as well as justice, requires that those who speak any- thing that directly tends to encourage the enemy and dis- affected, and to discourage or disquiet the minds of the good people of this Siate, ought to be detected and brought to such punishment as may be agreeable to law and justice ; . therefore, resolved, that Isaac Collins be required imme- diately to inform the Legislature of this State who is the author of the aforesaid publication, and at whose request the same was published." This resolution was forwarded to

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 97

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