The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 99

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

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national fame and honor. At the opening of the contest with Great Britain he was fearless in the enunciation of his opinions and views, and took an open and decided part in favor of the patriot revolutionists. At the head of the 2d Battalion of the Philadelphia Militia he marched to the as- sistance of General Washington, and was present at the battle of Trenton. He was also a valued and influential member of the Council of Safety, and for many years pre- sided with marked ability and firmness as Speaker of the Legislature. In 1777, when a report was spread that his house and property had been destroyed by the British army. and that his servant, who had been intrusted with valuable personal effects, had decamped with his trust and found refuge within the enemy's lines, William Bell, with whom he had served his apprenticeship, and who had accumulated several thousand pounds, insisted that his patron should receive one-half of his estate; this generous offer was not accepted, however, as the report was without foundation. " Reiterated afflictions induced a deep depression of mind, and for some time he was no longer relieved by the avo- cations of business." But in 1785 he was appointed a member of the old Congress, then sitting in New York. In the following year, however, he was not included in the delegation. In 1788 he removed to New Brunswick, New Jersey, where he filled in turn the positions of Mayor of the city and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. He was also a Ruling Elder of the church in this place; and con- spicuous as a tireless coworker in all measures and move- ments calculated to raise the local standard of education, political and literary, and of morality and religion. His death occurred at New Brunswick, New Jersey, January 7th, 1807, aged sixty-eight years.

AN DOREN, REV. ISAAC, Clergyman, Educator, late of Perth Amboy, was born in New Jersey, in the last quarter of the eighteenth century, and secured his literary education at Princeton Col- lege, where he graduated in due time and season. He subsequently applied himself to the study of theology under the guidance of Professor Theodore Dirck Romeyn, and completed his preparations for the ministry with Dr. Livingston. IIe was licensed by the Classis of New York, and was ordained about the year 1798. In 1800 he became pastor of the Reformed Dutch Church at Hopewell, Orange county, New York, where, during a pas- torate of twenty-three years, he was blessed with eminent success. Leaving his charge, he removed to Newark, New Jersey, and during the ensuing four years presided as prin- cipal over an academy in that place. Later, in conjunction with his eldest son, he established the Collegiate Institute on Brooklyn Heights. He removed from there to Lexing- ton, Kentucky. After spending several years in teaching

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in the West, he returned to New Jersey, where his later years were passed happily and usefully among his children. " He was eminently social, given to hospitality, the gifted counsellor of young clergymen and of all who sought his advice." He died at Perth Amboy, New Jersey, August 12th, 1864. His only publication was a tract entitled "A Summary of Christian Duty," compiled from the Douay Bible.

AYLOR, AUGUSTUS R., Physician, late of New Brunswick, was born in that town in 1793, or 1794, and was the oldest son of Colonel John Taylor. His medical education was conducted under the supervision of Dr. Scott, of New Brunswick. He was for many years a member of the Board of Trustees of the First Presbyterian Church ; and was widely and highly esteemed for his good judgment, well- balanced mind, and thorough medical skill and abili- ties. He was married, in 1804, to Catharine Neilson. He died in 1841, at the age of fifty-eight years. Resolutions of eulogy and condolence were then passed by the New Jersey Medical Society, and transmitted to the family. During his last illness he was admitted to church member- ship; "but that his mind had long been sensible of the obligations of religion may be inferred from a copy of a prayer found after his death, in his own handwriting. The prayer was that beautiful and appropriate one drawn up by Dr. John Mason Good, for his own use before entering on his daily round of practice."

CARTER, THOMAS NESBITT, Lawyer, New- ark. John McCarter, founder of the family in America, was an educated Scotch-Irish Presby- terian, who emigrated in 1774 to this country, and settled in Morristown, New Jersey. Upon che breaking out of the revolutionary war he warmly espoused the cause of the colonies, and enlisted as a private in the Continental army; was shortly thereafter promoted to be Assistant Commissary with the rank of Major, and in this capacity served until peace was declared. After the. war he returned to Morristown, and was for a number of ycars clerk of Morris county. His son, Robert II. McCar- ter, succeeded him in this office, and subsequently was for fifteen years a Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Sus- sex county ; for many years a Commissioner of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, and was at the time of his death, 1851, a Judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals. Thomas Nesbitt McCarter, son of Robert HI. McCarter, was born at Morristown, January 31, 1824. Prepared for college at the Newton Academy, he entered the junior class at Princeton in 1840; was graduated thence B. A. in 1842; immediately

upon receiving his degree began the study of law in the office of the Hon. Martin Ryerson, at Newton, and was ad- mitted to the New Jersey bar as an attorney in October, 1845, and as a counsellor in January, 1849. Upon being licensed, he formed a partnership with Mr. Ryerson, that proved highly satisfactory to both parties, and that was con- tinued until 1853, when the senior member of the firmn re- moved to Trenton, and in a little time was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey. After the dis- ruption of this partnership he practised alone in Newton until 1865, when he removed to his present location, New- ark. Already well known by reputation to the bar of that city, one of the strongest in the State, he was at once ac- corded a prominent position; and in a few years was one of the recognized leaders. In 1868, liis practice having greatly increased, he entered into a partnership with Oscar Keen, Esq., a partnership that still continues. For a num- ber of years his standing as a corporation lawyer has been of the highest, and beside being specially retained in many of the great suits brought in recent years in the New Jersey courts, he is the regularly appointed counsel of several of the most important corporate organizations of, or doing husiness in, the State. While resident in Newton he was a Director in and Counsel to the Sussex Railroad Company ; has been for a number of years a Director of and Counsel to the Morris Canal and Banking Company ; has been Coun- sel to the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company; to the Dela- ware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad Company; to the Morris & Essex Railroad Company; to the New Jersey Railroad and Transportation Company, etc., etc. Aside from his professional connections, he has been and continues to be prominently identified with various influential corporate bodies as a Director. Of the People's Mutual Insurance Company ; of the Republic Trust Company-both of New- ark; and of the Easton & Amboy Railroad Company, he was one of the original incorporators; and in each of these companies, since their foundation, he has been a Director, and has taken an active part in their management. He has twice been tendered a seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of New Jersey-by Governor Olden in 1860, and again by Governor Ward in 1866-but on both occasions his desire to remain at the bar led him to decline the prof- fered honor. The only professional position of a public character that he has accepted has been that of Chancery Reporter, tendered him in 1864 by Chancellor Green ; and this, after issuing two volumes of reports, he was com- pelled by reason of his constantly increasing practice to re- sign. For many years he has taken an active part in State and national politics, and had he chosen to relinquish his profession his opportunities for advancement in public life were exceptionally excellent. While resident in Newton, he was for three years Collector for Sussex county, and in 1861 was elected thence, on the Democratic ticket, a mem- ber of the State Assembly-his election being remarkable in that no opposition candidate was placed in the field and

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that he received in common the vote of both political par- ties. During his term of office he served as Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means, taking an active part in all the deliberations of that body-composed of an un- usually large delegation of able and influential men-and impressing in a marked manner his own personality upon all important measures reported by it for legislative action. In 1862 he declined to be a candidate for re-election, and in the following year-strongly objecting to its pronounced opposition to the prosecution of the war-he definitely abandoned the Democratic party. In the Presidential campaign of 1864 he earnestly advocated on the stump -. and proved the sincerity of his advocacy by his vote at the polls-the re-election of President Lincoln; and since that date he has been thoroughly identified with the Republican party, and in its interest has taken an active part in every important canvass. He has twice been nominated a Presi- dential Elector : on the Douglas ticket in 1860, and on the Ilayes and Wheeler ticket in 1876, being elected on the former. He married, December 4th, 1849, Mary Lovisa Ilaggerty, daughter of Uzal C. Haggerty, Esq., of Sussex county, New Jersey.

HEPARD, JOSEPH FLAVAL, M. D., of Phillips- burg, was born, March 30th, 1819, in Ranton township, Hunterdon county, New Jersey. IIe is a son of the late Jacob Shepard, a farmer of Ranton. Receiving an ordinary education in the schools of Hunterdon, he began in 1848 the study of medicine with the vencrable Dr. Schenck, of Fleming- ton, with whom he remained five years, practising with him for a portion of the time, and also attending, in 1851 and 1852, a course of lectures at the Medical Department of the University of New York, from which he graduated in 1853. He first settled at Hightstown, New Jersey, whence, after a short residence there, he removed to Phillipsburg, where he settled permanently. For about twelve years he was the only physician in Phillipsburg, which, at the time he took up his residence in it, was a village of less than two hundred inhabitants ; Harper's Gazetteer, published a year or two later, putting its population at one hundred and seventy-five, It now contains between five and six thousand inhabitants, and its growth measures roughly the growth of his practice, which from a small beginning has become as large, perhaps, as that of any other physician in the county of Warren, He is a member of the Phillipsburg Medical Society, of which he is President, and of the Warren County Medical Society; and in 1877 represented Warren county in the State Medical Society. For eleven years he has been a member of the Phillipsburg School Board, of which for the last five years he has been Treasurer ; has been for several years a member of the Phillipsburg Town Council, is Treas- urer of the Phillipsburg Building Loan Association, Nos.

I and 4, and also a member of the Masonic order. A man of strong and rounded character, combining general abilities with special training, he touches the community in which he lives at many points besides the strictly professional one, exerting through each a wholesome and decided influence. He was married, in 1856, to Miss Cummings, of Belvidere, who died the following year; and again, in 1871, to Mrs. Hannah Stears, of Plainfield.

OTT, GERSHOM, Trenton, Keeper of the New Jersey State Prison, late Major-General United States Volunteer Army, son of Gershom Mott, and descended from a German family long resident in New Jersey, was born near Trenton, April 7th, 1822. Having received at the Trenton Academy the groundwork of a solid English education, he began his business career, when but fourteen years of age, in a com- mercial establishment in New York. Mercantile affairs, however, were not to his taste-he was destined to move in a broader field-and shortly before the breaking out of the Mexican war he had relinquished his position in New York, and was temporarily residing with his father in New Jersey. When Congress, in May, 1846, voted ten millions of dollars for the prosecution of the war against Mexico, and at the same time authorized President Polk to accept the services of fifty thousand volunteers, the opportunity that he required was presented, and he eagerly accepted it. Promptly upon the publication of President Polk's procla- mation calling for volunteers, he offered his services to the government, was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, and was assigned to the 10th United States Infantry. With this organization he served during the entire war, distinguishing himself for his coolness in danger and for his exactness as a disciplinarian-not only in seeing that his own orders were obeycd, but in rendering prompt obedience to the orders addressed to him by his superiors. On the triumphant termination of the war he willingly relinquished his military rank, having no desire to be a soldier in times of peace ; while in recognition of his meritorious services he was offered by President Polk the position-previously held by Gershom Mott, Sr .- of Collector of the Port of Lamber- ton (now a part of Trenton). This office he accepted, re- taining it until the spring of 1849, when he was removed to make room for President Taylor's appointee. About this time he was tendered and accepted a clerical situation in the office at Bordentown of the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company, remaining thus employed until 1855, when he was appointed Teller in the Bordentown Bank. It was while he held this latter position that the final acts were wrought out of the long chain terminating in the war of the rebellion. All his life long he had been a sincere believer in the principles espoused by the Democratic party; but when the Southern division of that political organization

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declared and acted upon what its leaders styled the right of | secession from the Federal Union, he promptly ranged him- self on the side of union and law, and loyally offered his services to the government in defence of its menaced in- tegrity. When the famous Second New Jersey Brigade- composed of the 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th Regiments-was formed, under a requisition made by President Lincoln on the 24th of July, 1861, he was appointed (August 4th) by Governor Olden Lieutenant-Colonel of the 5th Regiment. Practically-Colonel Starr being ranking officer and acting Brigadier-General-he was the Colonel of the 5th; and un- der his supervision-his previous military training admirably fitting him for the task-its men were thoroughly disciplined and drilled. Early in December, 1861, the regiment was deemed ready for the field, and was accordingly ordered forward from the camp at Meridian Hill, near Washington, where it had lain since mustered into the service, and with the remainder of the brigade was attached to General Hooker's division, at Budd's Ferry, Maryland. In March, 1862, it entered upon its brilliant career of scrvice in the field; on the 10th of that month a detail of five hundred men, under Lieutenant-Colonel Mott, being sent across the Potomac to occupy the rebel works at Cockpit Point, aban- doned the previous day by General Beauregard in his retreat from Manassas, and a few weeks later-having been trans- ferred to the Peninsula-went into action for the first time at the battle of Williamsburg. In this battle the New Jersey Brigade took a leading part, holding for a time the entire rebel army in check, and the 5th Regiment was for more than nine hours exposed to a frightfully destructive fire. For the gallant manner in which he held his ground, Lieutenant-Colonel Mott was promoted (May 7, 1862) to be Colonel of the 6th New Jersey Regiment; and while in command of the 6th his soldierly qualities became more and more conspicuous. In the official report of the battle of Seven Pines, General Hooker made especial mention of his " distinguished services in the field ;" and Acting Brigadier- General Starr, in his official reports, again and again speaks of his intrepidity and coolness whilst under fire. Through- out the Peninsular campaign his record is distinguished, notwithstanding the heroic qualities of the men by the side of whom he fought. In the second Bull Run battle, July 28th, 1862, he was severely wounded in the arm, and was compelled for a time to relinquish his command ; and it was while thus absent on sick-leave that he was unanimously commended by his superior officers for promotion. Acting upon this commendation, President Lincoln promoted him (September 7th, 1862) to be Brigadier-General, and when he returned to duty (December 4th) he was assigned, at the urgent request of General IIooker, to the command of the Second New Jersey Brigade; or, as it was in fact, the Third Brigade of the Second Division, Third Army Corps. In the battle of Chancellorsville (May 3d, 1863) the Jersey troops were again placed in the thick of the fight, and were held up to their work by General Mott with his accustomed cool-

ness and courage. Early in the day he had a narrow escape, a rifle-ball passing between his bridle-arm and body, and at a later period of the engagement his left hand was struck and shattered. After receiving this wound he remained for a considerable time upon the field, and it was only when greatly weakened by loss of blood that he at last consented to go to the rear. During the action a section of Dimmick's battery, Ist Artillery, was in great danger of being captured, the artillerymen and horses having all been killed, and in order to rescue it General Mott ordered Captain Nicholls, with a detachment of men from the Sth New Jersey, to bring it off by hand. The battery was being raked by a pitiless fire, and for a moment the rescuing party wavered. Promptly General Mott seized the colors, sprang forward and said that he himself would lead the detail, and the men -with a ringing cheer for their plucky commander-rallied at once, put themselves down to their work, and the battery was saved. His wound, though not dangerous, was an ugly one, and it was not until the end of August that the surgeons would permit him to rejoin his brigade. On the 15th of the following October the brigade fought the spirited little engagement at McLean's Ford, on Bull Run, the ordering of the fight resting entirely with General Mott, and resulting in successfully holding the ford against a su- perior force of the enemy. When the grand advance was ordered by General Grant, in the spring of 1864, General Mott was placed in command of the Second Division of the Third Army Corps, a position that he held until the end of the war. As had been his custom from the outset, during the campaign of the ensuing summer he was utterly regard- less of his personal safety, looking only to the effectiveness of his command, and it was owing to this regardlessness that (before Petersburg, August 19th, 1864) he was again- though not seriously-wounded. His management of his division was as able as had been his management of his brigade and regiment, and on the 10th of September he was deservedly brevetted a Major-General. Just at the end of the war (April 6th, 1865), in a skirmish at Amelia Springs, he was again wounded, and while the wound was but slight it was sufficient to temporarily disable him, and so prevent him from being in at the death with the brave Jerseymen of his command. On the dissolution of the army General Mott was placed in temporary command of the Provisional Corps, and when, in July, that body was dis- banded, his services were still retained, and he was ordercd to Washington. In August he was detailed to serve on the Wirz commission, and in the ensuing November was de- tailed to serve on the commission appointed to investigate the difficulties between the State of Massachusetts and the Austrian government, growing out of the enlistment of Austrian subjects by the former. While engaged in this last service he received his final promotion, being made (December Ist, 1865) a full Major-General of Volunteers. He was thus the first soldier from New Jersey to receive the brevet of Major-General, and was the only Jerseyman who

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attained to the full rank. On the 20th of February, 1866, his resignation, tendered some time previously, was accepted, and with hearty expressions of esteem from Secretary Stan- ton and other members of the government, he retired from the service to which he had so constantly done honor, and the interests of which he had so constantly advanced. The following is a partial list of the battles in which he person- ally took part : Yorktown, Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Seven Pines, Savage's Station, Glendale, Malvern Hill, Bristow's Station, Second Bull Run, Chantilly, Centreville, Fredericks- burg, Chancellorsville, Wapping Heights, McLean's Ford, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Todd's Tavern, Po River, Spottsylvania, Spottsylvania Court House, North Anna River, Toloposomy Creek, Cold Harbor, before Petersburg, Deep Bottom, Mine Explosion, North Bank of the James, Fort Sedgewick, Poplar Spring Church, and Amelia Springs. Upon returning to his home in New Jersey, he was offered and accepted the important position of Paymaster in the Camden & Amboy Railroad Company. In 1867, while holding this office, the regular army was increased, and General Mott was appointed Colonel of the 33d Infantry, but he declined the commission. Although the nomina- tion was in a high degree complimentary to the reputation he had made as a soldier, and would certainly have proved only a stepping-stone to further preferment, he could not bring himself to a soldier's life in time of peace. When his country needed him he had not been found absent, but the war over he preferred civil life. He therefore con- tinued in his railroad appointment, and discharged his duties with marked ability and efficiency until March Ist, 1872, when the Camden & Amboy Company's lines were leased to the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. Shortly after this event, September Ist, 1875, he was appointed to a much higher office, to wit : that of Treasurer of the State of New Jersey-his presentation to the treasurership having been made by Governor Bedle to fill the vacancy caused by the removal of Sooy. The management of the treasury at this particular juncture was of course a matter of some little delicacy, but by the efficient manipulation of the forces at his command he rapidly restored order throughout the de- partment, and during the entire period of his incumbency he evinced a quite exceptional financial ability. On Feb- ruary 15th, 1876, upon the appointment of his Republican successor, he relinquished his trust ; and on the 29th of the following March, 1876, was appointed to his present position of Keeper of the New Jersey State Prison. In tendering him this office, Governor Bedle recognized the fact that his habit of enforcing rigid discipline would admirably well fit him for the discharge of its responsible duties, and the record of his administration up to the present time has abundantly justified this belief. In his present, as was the case in all his past professions, General Mott keeps ever before him one single word-duty. It is this honesty to himself that has made his life so exemplary. He married, August 8th, 1849, Elizabeth, daughter of John E. Smith, Esq., of Trenton

ING, REV. BARNABAS, D. D., late of Rocka- way, Morris county, New Jersey, was born in New Marlborough, Massachusetts, June 2d, 1780; graduated at Williams College, September 5th, 1804, and in the fall of 1805 was licensed to preach by the Berkeshire Association. On the following 24th of December he first stepped upon the soil of New Jersey, and soon after began his labors at Sparta, Sussex county ; occasionally, also, at Berkeshire Valley, and Rockaway, Morris county; his first sermon in the latter place having been preached Friday evening, January 24th, 1806, at a private house, on the text : "To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heavens."- Ecclesiastes iii. I. At various times during that year he supplied the Rockaway pulpit ; but in October, 1807, made an agreement to supply it regularly, and also the one at Sparta, on alternate Sabbaths. His labors were so accepta- ble that, on the 25th of September, 1808, he was called to be pastor of the church at Rockaway, the call being signed and attested by Rev. James Richards, D. D., of Morris- town, as moderator of the parish meetings; and Decem- ber 27th was ordained and installed pastor by the Presby- tery of New York. The services took place in the old church, " which was less comfortable than many a modern barn, and which had no stove to warm it." Among the eminent men who were present were Drs. Griffin, Hillyer, Richards, John McDowell, Perrine, and Rev. Aaron Con- dit. Dr. McDowell, then in the third year of his ministry, preached the sermon ; and Dr. Perrine, then the pastor of the " Bottle Hill Church," as Madison was called, and after- ward the associate of Dr. Richards, in the Auburn Theo- logical Seminary, delivered the charge to the pastor. "As a mark of the times, it may be stated that the services were held in that rude and uncomfortable church on a very cold day ; they were begun with a congregational prayer-meeting at ten o'clock, and continued until three in the afternoon. There is no tradition of a single complaint, either by the clergymen or people, although it is said that the young pas- tor was so thoroughly chilled, that when seated at the din- ner-table, it was shaken by his trembling."-"Sketch " by Rev. Joseph F. Tuttle, D. D. His parish included a circle of territory whose diameter was ten or twelve miles. In that region he was for several years the sole minister; he visited with strict regularity every family; and, in addition, held such frequent public services in the church, the school- house, or private house, as often to amount, for weeks to- gether, to ten each week. These ahundant labors, accom- plished by the most rigid adherence to rule in regard to his health, studies, and time, were attended with extraordinary success. The growth of the church was rapid, and health- ful in tone and character, and with that there was a marvel- lous and desirable change in society. Schools sprang up, many young men sought the culture of the college, business prospects grew brighter and more extended, the wealth of | the mines was discovered and appreciated, and the refine-

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The biographical encyclopaedia of New Jersey of the nineteenth century, Part 99

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