EARLY COURTS and; LAWYER^^ 
 OF MONMOUTH UuuiN 11 
 
CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 FROM 
 
Cornell University Library 
 KF355.M74 A64 
 
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EARLY COURTS AND LAWYERS 
 OF MONMOUTH COUNTY 
 
 BEGINNING AT ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, 
 AND DOWN TO THE LAST HALF CENTURY. 
 
 A DISCOURSE, 
 
 READ BEFORE THE MONMOUTH BAR ASSOCIATION, 
 
 By JOHN STILWELL APPLEGATE, LL.D. 
 
 PRESIDENT OP MONMOUTH COUNTY BAR ASSOCIATION. 
 
 Printed for the Association by 
 L. MIDDLEDITCH CO. 
 19II 
 
Abbreviations used in tbis paper and wbat tbey stand for 
 
 3J 
 
 irbat tbey 
 
 B. & H. His. C. of N. J.— Barber's & Howe's Historical Collec- 
 tions of New Jersey. 
 
 B. E3. of N. J. — Biograpliical Encyclopaedia of New Jersey. 
 
 C. of G. C. — Commission of Governor Cornbury. 
 B. H. — ^EUis History of Monmouth County. 
 
 Elm. R. of N. J. — ^Elmer's Reminiscences of New Jersey. 
 
 F. P. C. of N. J. — Field's Provincial Courts of New Jersey. 
 
 Li. & S. — ^Learning & Spicer. 
 
 L. C. O. — ^Lord Combury's Ordinance. 
 
 M. C. C. O. — Monmouth County Clerk's Office. 
 
 Mem. — ^Memoranda by James S. Yard, prepared at request of 
 New Jersey Historical Society. 
 
 n. — Note. 
 
 N. J. A. — New Jersey Archives. 
 
 N. J. A., F. S. — New Jersey Archives, First Series. 
 
 P. of N. J. H. S. — Proceedings of New Jersey Historical 
 Society. 
 
 p. — ^Page. 
 
 pp. — ^Pages. 
 
 R. of G. & C. of E. J. — ^Records of Governor & Council of East 
 Jersey. 
 
 S. H. of N. J. — Smith's History of New Jersey. 
 
 S. H. of M. & O. Co. — Salter's History of Monmouth and Ocean 
 Counties. 
 
 Vol. — ^Volume. 
 
 W. J. & C. H. of N. J.— Whitehead's Judicial & Civil History 
 of New Jersey. 
 
 W. H. of P. A. — ^Whitehead's History of Perth Amboy. 
 
 W. H. of N. J. Pro. — ^Whitehead's History of New Jersey un- 
 der the Proprietors. 
 
 W. E. J. Pro. — Whitehead's East Jersey under Proprietors. 
 
 .v.> 
 
 
OFFICERS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MONMOUTH BAR ASSOCIATION 
 
 President 
 JOHN S. APPLEGATE 
 
 Vice-President 
 WILLIAM H. VREDENBURGH 
 
 Secretary 
 JAMES D. CARTON 
 
 Treasurer 
 HENRY S. TERHUNE 
 
 Board of Trustees 
 
 John S. ApplEGatb John E. Foster 
 
 Henry S. Terhune Wilbur A. Heisley 
 
 J. Clarence Conover John W. Slocum 
 
 William H. Vredenburgh David S. Crater 
 
 James D. Carton Acton C. Hartshorne 
 Henry M. Nevius* 
 
 ♦Deceased. 
 
\r I M 
 
 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030545432 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 This address was prepared at the request of the 
 Trustees, of the Monmouth Bar Association. 
 About one-half of it, was read at its annual meet- 
 ing held in the Court House at Freehold, on the 
 opening day of the January Term, 1910, and the 
 remaiader at the same place, on the first Tuesday 
 of the May Term following. By order of the As- 
 sociation at its last annual meeting, its publication 
 was directed. 
 
 The object of the paper, is to put in convenient 
 form for perusal, many matters of historic interest 
 to our Local Bar, which otherwise oould only be 
 gathered by wa^ng through antiquated books, a 
 number of theln out of print, and only to be ob- 
 tained ia public libraries or a second-hand book- 
 store. Our county histories contain much that is 
 interesting pertaining to Monmouth Courts and 
 lawyers, but generally they are voluminous, badly 
 indexed, or not indexed at all, so that the finding 
 of anything desired is an irksome task. Bio- 
 graphical sketches of lawyers here contained, are 
 necessarily abridged to comport with the limited 
 scope of the address, but I have added foot notes, 
 directing where fuller information can be obtained. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 from New Jersey histories and biographical ency- 
 clopaedias, if anybody desires it. Some biogra- 
 phies of lawyers resident in other counties, are in- 
 cluded, because they were once active practitioners 
 in our county courts and were as familiar here, as 
 our own resident lawyers are to-day; men like 
 Garrett D. Wall, Eichard Stockton, General Jona- 
 than Rhea, "William L. Dayton, Samuel L. South- 
 ard, and others, whose names are still cherished 
 in Monmouth family traditions. 
 
 I acknowledge indebtedness to my old friend 
 A. Havens Morris of Belmar for a booklet of 
 which he is the author, containing an account of 
 the Donnelly trial. Mr. Morris as one of the jurors 
 who sat in that ease, took notes of the proceedings 
 at the trial, which he afterwards published. The 
 publication has proved to be of historic value, as 
 without it very many of the events connected with 
 this remarkable case, would have been consigned 
 to oblivion. One of the booklets referred to, is in 
 the Monmouth County Historical Association li- 
 brary. 
 
Early Courts and Early Lawyers of Monmouth 
 County. 
 
 Gentlemen of the Monmouth Bar Association: 
 
 The courts of Mouinouth County had their be- 
 ginning in 1665, under authority of the Monmouth 
 or Mcolls Patent, -which was a grant of land by 
 Governor Eiehard Nieolls, to the Patentees under 
 the authority of his Eoyal Highness, the Duke of 
 York therein naaned. It embraced parts of the 
 present counties of Middlesex and Ocean and all 
 of what is now the county of Monmouth, excepting 
 townships of Upper Freehold and the western part 
 of Millstone. This Patent conferred liberty on the 
 "Patentees, to try all causes and actions of debt 
 and trespass arising among themselves to the 
 value of ten pounds, without appeal, but that they 
 remit the hearing of all crioainal matters, to the 
 Assizes of New York. " ^ 
 
 The Patentees and their associates, commenced 
 their settlements immediately afterwards, at Mid- 
 dletown and Shrewsbury, though in the Spring or 
 Summer of 1664, they were preceded by families 
 of John Bowne, Richard Stout and three others. 
 In 1665 an additional number followed, nearly all 
 
 'L. & s., p. 663. 
 
from Long Island and Ehode Island settlements, 
 and during the succeeding four years, the numbers 
 increased to one hundred families. Many of these 
 had previously lived in the Colony of Massachu- 
 setts Bay, and had left there on account of reli- 
 gious persecution to -which they had been sub- 
 jected.^ 
 
 As early as 1667, there were courts in Monmouth 
 County, created under this Patent, but they were 
 of short duration. They held their sessions first at 
 Portland Point, and then at Shrewsbury and Mid- 
 dletown.* The trouble was that while the Duke of 
 York had granted to Governor NicoUs a patent, 
 with all the lawful authority to make, execute and 
 deliver valid titles to land, he had also made 
 grants to Berkeley and Carteret, of the same lands 
 that NicoUs had granted to the Patentees, Thus 
 arose a controversy, pending which, the right of 
 Governor NicoUs to grant any patent, for any pur- 
 pose in New Jersey was denied, and his right to 
 create a court was strenuously assailed. In con- 
 sequence, his courts thus created, proved to be 
 weak conservators of the peace, and were soon 
 abandoned. Berkeley and Carteret, as grantees 
 of the Duke of York, and the first Proprietors of 
 
 "E. H., p. 63. 
 
 •p. of N. J. H. S., Vol. 1, p. 167. 
 
3 
 
 New Jersey by their "Concessions," dated Febru- 
 ary 10th, 1664 — which formed the first constitu- 
 tion of the Province — granted the General As- 
 sembly, the power of creating courts and of defin- 
 ing their jurisdiction.* 
 
 In 1675, the Assembly of East Jersey convened, 
 for the first time after its four days' session in 
 1668.^ It passed an act, which provided for the 
 establishment of courts throughout East Jersey. 
 It was a law creating general courts, with settled 
 powers and defined jurisdictions. These courts 
 were of three Idnds ; one a small cause court, hav- 
 ing jurisdiction to the extent of forty shillings. It 
 was to be held in every town once a month, by two 
 or three persons to be selected by the people, of 
 whom a justice of the peace was to be one. This 
 court still survives, though its title has been 
 changed and its jurisdiction enlarged. Then there 
 were to be county courts, called "Courts of Ses- 
 sions," the judges of which were also to be chosen 
 by the people, of the district to which the court be- 
 longed. They were to be held twice a year, in each 
 district (or county, as they were afterwards 
 called). They exercised both civil and criminal 
 jurisdiction, and great latitude was given to the 
 
 ♦L. & s., p. 26. 
 
 ■F. p. C. of N. J., pp. 6-7. 
 
exercise of their powers. There were no counties 
 then organized, but the two townships of Nave- 
 sink (or Middletown) and Shrewsbury, were one 
 judicial district. The jurisdiction of the Sessions, 
 applied " to all causes actionable, ' ' which certainly 
 was comprehensive, and no appeal could be taken 
 from judgments under twenty pounds, excepting 
 appeals to the "Bench or Court of Chancery." 
 The Bench is supposed to have meant the Court 
 of Assize. This was the third kind of courts, cre- 
 ated by the Assembly of 1675. It was the "Pro- 
 vincial Court of Assize," held once a year, at 
 Woodbridge or wherever the Governor and Coun- 
 cil should appoint. It had both original and ap- 
 pellate jurisdiction, and subsequently became the 
 Supreme Court of the State. From it appeals 
 would lie to the Governor and Council, and from 
 them to the King in the last resort.* 
 
 In 1682-1683 under the twelve Proprietors, the 
 four original counties of New Jersey were created. 
 These were Bergen, Essex, Middlesex and Mon- 
 mouth. The Colony of New Jersey had then been 
 divided into East and West Jersey. In each of 
 these counties, county courts were to be held four 
 times a year. The Sessions were fixed for the 
 
 «F. p. C. of N. J., pp. 6, 7, 8; E. H., pp. 270, 271; W. J. & 
 C. H. of N. J., pp. 370, 371. 
 
fourth Tuesday in Marcli and September, at the 
 public meeting house in Middletown, yearly; and 
 the fourth Tuesday in June and December, at the 
 public meeting house in Shrewsbury, yearly. The 
 judges of these county courts, were to consist of 
 three of the justices of the peace in their respec- 
 tive counties. Provision was made for a higih 
 sheriff in each county, to whom all processes out 
 of the county courts were to be directed. Suitors 
 in small cause courts, were at liberty to call a jury. 
 Notwithstanding that the amounts in controversy 
 in its early days were necessarily trivial, the right 
 of being heard by their peers, was regarded by the 
 first settlers with great reverence. 
 
 A change under the twelve Proprietors, was also 
 made at the same time, whereby the Court of As- 
 size, the Supreme Court of the Colony, became 
 the "Court of Common Ei^ht." Until 1695 the 
 Court of Common Eight, was both a Court of 
 Equity and a Court of Common Law, when an act 
 was passed "declarative of the rights and privi- 
 leges of his Majesty's Subjects, inhabiting within 
 the Province of New Jersey," provided that the 
 judges of the Court of Common Eight, should not 
 be judges of the high Court of Chancery.^ 
 
 'F. p. C. of N. J., pp. 8 to 14; B. H., pp. 270-273; W. J. & 
 G. H. of N. J., pp. 366-373. 
 
Thus may be traced the present jurispradence 
 of New Jersey, to the simple system established 
 by our ancestors, a little more than two hundred 
 years ago ; so simple that some historians of New 
 Jersey, have wondered how the courts got along 
 in those days, without laws or rules as their guide. 
 How original processes were served, when they 
 should be made returnable, what time the plain- 
 tiff must have to serve his declaration, or the de- 
 fendant to plead, demur or answer. No rules, no 
 statute, no code, no practice act to guide the law- 
 yer or the Sheriff. 
 
 There does not seem to have been any complaint. 
 As for lawyers there were none, except so far as 
 every suitor was his own lawyer, or called in some 
 layman friend to help him. They were mostly 
 Englishmen, not long separated from their Mother 
 Country and probably faaniUar with methods of 
 procedure, in the conduct of legal causes in the 
 courts at home. The sparsity of the population, 
 the small amoxmts at issue, and the absence of pro- 
 fessional lawyers, certainly would tend to obviate 
 necessity for any complex system of jurispru- 
 dence. 
 
 In July, 1703, Lord Combury at New York re- 
 ceived notice of his appointment by Queen Anne, 
 
as Governor in Chief, in and over the Province of 
 New Jersey. Full power and authority was 
 granted him by his commission, with the advice 
 and consent of the Council, to elect and establish 
 as many courts of public justice within the Prov- 
 ince, as he might think fit and necessary, for the 
 hearing and determining of all causes, criminal 
 and civil, aoeordiag to law and equity.® 
 
 In 1704, Lord Combury undertook the task, of 
 reconstructing the courts of East Jersey. It is 
 said he found a frame work ready to his hand, 
 which only needed filling out, and perhaps some 
 additions and improvements. Although unfitted in 
 character to exercise authority over the Colonies, 
 he succeeded in organizing the courts of New 
 Jersey, on a more systematic basis, so that there 
 has been very little in the way of substantial 
 change in the courts since his day. Formerly, the 
 people elected the justices of the peace and the 
 judges of the county courts — the legislature choos- 
 ing the judges of the higher courts. But Combury 
 by his commission, was given full power to appoint 
 judges and other necessary officers, for the admin- 
 istration of justice and putting the laws into exe- 
 cution^. Up to the time of the Eevolution, the Col- 
 
 •C. of G. C, N. J. A., F. S., Vol. II, p. 495. 
 •C. of G. C, N. J. A., F. S., Vol. 11, p. 489. 
 
8 
 
 onial Governors exercised this authority. After 
 that, the legislature elected justices of the peace 
 and judges of the Court of Common Pleas. Until 
 the Constitution of 1776, the Grovemor nominated 
 the justices of the Supreme Court. ^" 
 
 The Constitution of 1776, made no changes in 
 the names, nor in the procedure, nor in the juris- 
 diction of our courts. But in 1844, there was a 
 vital change in the Court of Chancery. Prior to 
 that time the Grovernor had been the Chancellor, 
 so that it was necessary for the Governor to be a 
 lawyer. But with this change the Governor was 
 no longer a Chancellor and it devolved upon him 
 to nominate both the Chancellor and the justices 
 of the Supreme Court, with the sanction of the 
 Senate, formerly designated The Council. 
 
 Other changes were wrought by the Constitution 
 of 1844. The Governor's term was extended to 
 three years, instead of one and the Chancellor's 
 term to sieven years. Appeals in the last resort 
 were made to go to the Court of Errors and Ap- 
 peals, instead of to the Council. The Chancellor, 
 the justices of the Supreme Court, and six lay 
 judges, were made to compose the Court of Errors 
 and Appeals ; and a return was had to the old 
 
 "nv. J. & C. H. of N. J., p. 377. 
 
method of electing justices of the peace by the 
 people. 
 
 Lord Cornbury's method of reconstructing the 
 courts was by ordinance, without the intercession 
 of the legislature." His first ordinance, invested 
 Justices of the Peace with full jurisdiction, over 
 all causes of debt and trespass, to the value of 
 forty shillings and under, which might be heard 
 without a jury. The mode of procedure was par- 
 ticularly prescribed. Courts of Common Pleas 
 were to be held four times each year, in each 
 county, in the same place where the courts of Ses- 
 sions were held, and immediately after their ad- 
 journment. They had "power and jurisdiction to 
 hear, try and finally determine all Actions or 
 Causes of Actions, and all Matters and Things 
 Tryable at Common Law, of whatever nature or 
 kind soever." From these courts an appeal was 
 had, presumably to the Supreme Court, where the 
 judgment was for ten pounds or upwards, or where 
 the title to land was in question. Courts of 
 General Sessions of the Peace, whose jurisdiction 
 was exclusively criminal, were to sit four times 
 yearly in each county, but for only four days at 
 one time; and the terms of the Common Pleas 
 
 "L. C. O., p. p. C. of N. J., p. 256. 
 
10 
 
 were to begin immediately at the close of the 
 Court of Sessions, and could continue for three 
 days. There was also a Supreme Court created 
 by this ordinance, to sit alternately, at Perth Am- 
 boy and Burlington. "Its jurisdiction was de- 
 clared to be the same, as that of the courts of 
 Queen's Bench, Common Pleas and Exchequer of 
 England. This Court was required to hold two 
 sessions yearly, but could sit only five days at one 
 time. Circuits of the Supreme Court, were to be 
 held once in each year in every county in the state, 
 by one of the justices of the main court, assisted by 
 one or more justices of the peace of the county 
 where the Circuit sat, but the terms could only be 
 two days. The Supreme Court was authorized to 
 establish such rules of practice, as the judges of 
 the Circuits of Queen's Bench, Common Pleas, or 
 Exchequer of England might ordain." ^^ 
 
 In the drafting of this ordinance, the framer 
 did not forget to provide for that which in those 
 days, the eighteenth century, was near to the 
 hearts of the American settlers, namely, a pro- 
 viso in the last section that no rights of property 
 were to be deteronined in any of the courts without 
 the intervention of a jury, except where there was 
 
 '^. J. & C. H. of N. J., p. 379. F. P. C. of N. J., p. 261, 
 
11 
 
 an actual confession of tlie facts, or no appear- 
 ance. 
 
 Lord Cornbury's ordinance, is the origia of the 
 New Jersey Supreme Court. Changes have been 
 made in it from time to time. Its terms and num- 
 ber of judges have been racreased. Some of its 
 common law procedure, has been changed by legis- 
 lation, some by its own action, but it has remained 
 the same substantially, both in procedure and jur- 
 isdiction. Changes have been made in the old 
 common law methods of pleading. Old fictions of 
 John Doe and Richard Roe and lease, entry and 
 ouster in actions of ejectment, have been abolished. 
 In styles of action, contract and tort have been 
 substituted for assumpsit, debt, trover, trespass 
 and case. With these exceptions the practice in 
 the Supreme Court, is not very different from 
 what it was two centuries ago. 
 
 Some credit has been given to Lord Cornbury, 
 for having been the author of the first ordinance, 
 for the establishment of courts of judicature in 
 the Province of New Jersey, but says John White- 
 head, ia his judicial and civU history of New Jer- 
 sey, "It is quite doubtful whether the measures 
 Cornbury adopted, originated entirely in his own 
 mind ; they hardly seem consistent with the friv- 
 olity and meanness of his nature. In fact the con- 
 
12 
 
 elusion can be fairly reached, tliat he was very ma- 
 terially aided by a lawyer of mature life, who came 
 from England about that time, who had attained 
 some eminence in his profession at home, and who 
 afterwards became the first Chief Justice of New 
 Jersey."^* 
 
 The Chief Justice here mentioned, was Eoger 
 Mompesson. His family is said to have been an 
 ancient one and of great responsibility. Mompes- 
 son himself, had attained to some eminence in his 
 profession; he had recorded for South Hampton 
 and served twice ia Parliament. A letter from 
 Wilham Penn to a friend in this country, still pre- 
 served by the Pennsylvania Historical Society, 
 speaks in the highest terms of him, and Penn in 
 his letter recommends him as Chief Justice of his 
 Colony, but the people did not take kindly to the 
 English lawyer; they refused to pay him his sal- 
 ary, but says Mr. Whitehead, as he was appointed 
 Chief Justice for New York as well as New Jer- 
 sey, it is presumable that he did not suffer for lack 
 of funds. He became a member of Lord Corn- 
 bury 's Council and played a most conspicuous 
 part, in the politics as well as the jurisprudence of 
 the Colony. There are no reports of his decisions, 
 
 "W. J. & C. H. of N. J., p. 378. 
 
13 
 
 but tlie minutes of the Supreme Court are exceed- 
 ingly full and minute. 
 
 WiQiam Pinihom was the second judge of the 
 Supreme Court, associated with Mompesson. He 
 had been prominent in New York, before he be- 
 came judge in New Jersey. He was ex officio 
 Governor of New Jersey when Lord Oombury was 
 removed. He was a successful merchant of New 
 York and a member of the Council of that Colony. 
 He owned a large plantation, containing over one 
 thousand acres near the Hackensack River, and 
 near Snake Hill in Hudson County, which he 
 called "Mount Pinhom." Mr. Pinhom was said 
 to be a very hospitable man and had quite a large 
 family; some of his descendants are still resi- 
 dents of New Jersey, among whom are the de- 
 scendants of the Hon. Joseph C. Homblower, 
 Chief Justice of New Jersey, and one of the most 
 distinguished men who ever adorned the judiciary 
 of this state. Chief Justice Mompesson was a 
 bachelor when he reached this country. He be- 
 came a frequent visitor to "Mount Pinhome" 
 at the house of the associate judge, and the result 
 was that Martha Pinhorn became Mrs. Mompes- 
 son." Pinhom remained in commission, during 
 
 "W. J. & C. H. of N. J., p. 385. F. P. C. of N. J., p. 7S. 
 
14 
 
 the whole of Cornbury's administration, and con- 
 tinued after his arrival to become a member of 
 the Council. 
 
 The courts of Monmouth Coimty continued to 
 be held at Middletown and Shrewsbury, alternately 
 until 1713; and about two years afterwards, at 
 Shrewsbury only; and from November 1715 at 
 Freehold, until the present time. The first Grand 
 Jury in the county, consisted of fourteen persons. 
 It met at Middletown, on the fourth Tuesday of 
 September, 1687. The first indictment in the 
 County, was foimd in 1689, agaiust sixteen per- 
 sons, "for horse racing and playing at nyne pins 
 on ze Sabbath day. ' ' The bills of indictment, were 
 at that time drawn in advance by the prosecuting 
 officer, and sent to the Grand Jury for their ac- 
 tion. This practice of drawing bills of indictment 
 in advance of action by the Grand Jury, seems to 
 have prevailed throughout the Colony at that 
 time.*® 
 
 The first legislature of New Jersey convened 
 at Portland Point, in the Highlands of Navesink, 
 in June 1667. It was composed of deputies from 
 Middletown and Shrewsbury, and met under au- 
 thority conferred by the NicoUs Patent, nearly 
 a year before Governor Carteret, his Council, and 
 
 "P. p. C. of N. J., p. B2. B. H., p. 271. 
 
15 
 
 the representatives of other towms of the 
 Province, assembled at Elizabethtown. This As- 
 sembly of the Momnouth Settlers, continued to 
 meet at Portland Point, as a body distinct from, 
 and independent of the proprietors' government, 
 for some years. The records of this Portland 
 Point Assembly, have been preserved in one of 
 the ancient books of record in the Monmouth 
 County Clerk's office. It was designated in its 
 proceedings, as "The general assembly of the 
 Patentees and Deputies." The record of the first 
 meeting opens as foUows: "At a Greneral Assem- 
 bly, the 12th of December, 1667. Officers chosen 
 by the inhabitants of Middletown, on Newasunk 
 Neck, and established by oath of this present As- 
 sembly or Court held this day and year above 
 written." 
 
 "Officers for Middletown. 
 Eichard Gibbons Constable 
 
 Jonathan Hulms ) ^ 
 
 -nr-iT T f Overseers 
 
 William Lawrence j 
 
 Shem Arnold ] -rw .. 
 
 T A i.i r Deputies 
 
 James Ashton ) 
 
 For Portland Point 
 Henry Percy 
 Eichard Eiohardson 
 James Bowne 
 
16 
 
 Officers for Shrewsbury or Narumsick. 
 Peter Parker, Constable. 
 
 Edward Patterson j Overseers and 
 Ehaknn Warden [ Deputies." 
 Bartb West J 
 
 Then appears this entry as a headiag: "The 
 several acts or orders, enacted at this pres- 
 ent Assembly, upon the proof presented by 
 the inhabitants to the Patentees and Deputies, are 
 in order set down, viz." Then follow the acts of 
 the legislature passed upon a variety of sub- 
 jects.^* 
 
 The first Assembly under the Proprietors con- 
 vened at Elizabethtown in May 1668, and James 
 Grover and John Bowne, claimed to be deputies 
 from Mididletown and Shrewsbury, and took the 
 oath. 
 
 Eecords of the Session Courts of Middletown 
 and Shrewsbury, between 1679 and 1696, are in the 
 Clerk's office of Monmouth County, in the book en- 
 titled ABC. Some years ago portions of its con- 
 tents had become faded and illegible, to such an 
 extent that application was made by the Mon- 
 mouth County Historical Association, to Associate 
 Justice Collins, then sitting on the Monmouth 
 Bench, for an order pursuant to statute directing 
 
 "E. H., p. 86. 
 
17 
 
 the Oonnty Clerk to make a duplicate of the same, 
 which order was duly made and executed. 
 
 Oath of James Bowne, County Clerk "for 
 Middleitown and Shrewsbury Kept by James 
 Bound Clarke to ye fordzed Courts as doth ap- 
 peare by his Ingagement." 
 
 "You doe swar ia the presence of Almighty 
 God that you will Keep a true Record of all acts 
 and orders of the Court for Middle Town and 
 Shrewsbury and Keepe all documents and in all 
 things behave yourself as a Clarke of Sessions 
 ought to doe to the best of your understanding. 
 4th of August 1679. Subscribed James Bound." 
 
 "Actions entered against the Next Incoming 
 Court to be held ait Shrewsibury the 2d of Septem- 
 ber 1679— August 25 1679." 
 
 "Thomas & Bartholamew Apllgate, Plaintiffs. 
 In an laction of the Case against the Inhabitants 
 of the To'wne of Shrewsbury in New Jersey, de- 
 fendants, for Non performance of a written agree- 
 ment made by the Towne Clarke on the behalf 
 aforesaid Inhabitants for which the Plaintifs 
 craves the Judgment of this Corte."" 
 
 "At a cort of Sesisions held at Shrewsbury at 
 ye house of Nicholas Crownes ye 23-40 Sep. 1679. 
 
 iTVlonmouth County Clerk's Office, record of deeds, ABC, 
 page 106. 
 
18 
 
 Present 
 
 Capt. John Bowne f justices of the Peace. 
 Mr. Joseph Parker ] 
 
 Mr. Eichard Gihbons | ^ggigtants" 
 Mr. Jonathan Holmes) 
 
 ' ' The Jury Impanelled and names listed as f ol- 
 loweth : 
 
 For Middletown For Shrewsbury- 
 James Ashton J. 0. Slocum 
 
 Foreman 
 
 John Throckmorton Judh Allen 
 
 John Stout George Hulet 
 
 Eichard Sadler John Hance 
 
 Tho. Cox Will Shadock 
 
 Eichard Stout Haman Gifford. 
 
 The action of Thomas and bartholamew Aple- 
 gate, Plaintiff, against ye inhabitants of Shrews- 
 bury was withdrawn by the request of foresaid 
 Plaintiffs before it was called in Court. "^* 
 
 The first court of Monmouth County, held at 
 Freehold, convened on the fourth Tuesday of No- 
 vember, 1715, Judge John Eeid presiding ; Thomas 
 Gordon, Attorney General. Prior thereto Courts 
 were held at Middletown and Shrewsbury alter- 
 nately until 1713, and for two years afterwards at 
 Shrewsbury only. The reason assigned for lo- 
 
 ''A B C of Deeds, p. 109. 
 
19 
 
 eating the court house at Freehold, was that the 
 population of the county had become so numerous 
 and extended over so much territory south and 
 southwest, it was necessary, in order to satisfy a 
 public demand, for its location "iu Freehold 
 (Township), somewhere near John Aokesons, the 
 nearest of all to the middle of the good land, and 
 whole inhabitants of the County. "^^ At that 
 time Freehold existed only as a township, and 
 John Aokeson's was probably a public house, and 
 Aokeson the priacipal resident of the vicinity.*" 
 During the first half of the eighteenth century, it 
 is said the total number of residents of Freehold 
 village never exceeded six families, and not until 
 after 1750 did it begin to gain some importance 
 as a small hamlet. 
 
 The first county jail was built at Middletown, 
 in 1684, but there was no court house there.*" 
 "The public meeting house" supplied that ac- 
 commodation. The first Court House at Free- 
 hold (1715), consisited of a small wooden building 
 with shingle walls.** The first term of court, was 
 held there on the fourth day of November of that 
 year. The justices present, were John Eeid, 
 
 "E. H., p. 385. 
 »B. H., p. 385. 
 "•B. H., p. 398. 
 "E. H., p. 403. 
 
20 
 
 President, James AsMon, Lawrence Van Hook, 
 Jospeh Wardell, Eichard Chambersi, John Wilson, 
 Thomas Gordon, Esq., Attorney General, Gideon 
 Crawford, High Sheriff. This court house re- 
 maiaed in use twelve years and was destroyed by 
 fire in December, 1727. In 1731, another court 
 house was built on the same lot. It was a frame 
 building nearly square, having a roof shaped much 
 like that of the Old Tennent Church, with a small 
 cupola or steeple in the center.^^ This was the 
 court house, made historic by the Battle of Mon- 
 mouth, in which the British Army, in its night re- 
 treat from the battle field of Monmouth, left five 
 officers and more than forty wounded privates, to 
 be cared for by the Americans; and on the fol- 
 lowing day, was filled to its utmost capacity, by 
 additions of wounded soldiers from the battle 
 ground. Freehold then was a little hamlet con- 
 taining a dozen houses, and known only as Mon- 
 mouth Court House. In 1808 another court 
 house was built to take the place of the last, which 
 had become dilapidated and decayed, and had to 
 be taken down. This new one was destroyed by 
 fire October 30th, 1873. The last meeting in that 
 building occurred the afternoon before the fire, 
 when the Monmouth Bar took action by appropri- 
 
 "B. H., p. 405. 
 
21 
 
 ate remarks and resolutions, to coanmemorate its 
 loss sustained by death of Edmund M. Throck- 
 morton, a lawyer of Red Bank. A new court 
 house was erected in its place, the following year, 
 which is the one now standing. 
 
 RIGHABD-M» HABTSHOBNE, 
 
 was the first lawyer of Monmouth County. He 
 came to New Jersey from London in September, 
 1669, and made his first purchase of land at 
 Wakake, on the "Waykee" creek and built a 
 house and resided there for a time, as is shown 
 in affidavits and official records.^* He acquired 
 possession of the Navesink Highlands about the 
 year 1670, and had a house there in 1687, as is 
 shown in a road record dated March 2d of that 
 year, where the road is referred to as running 
 "through Eichard Hartshorne's land as the way 
 now goes to his house and thence to the most 
 northerly point of Sandy Hook." (lb.) He 
 came to the possession of the Highlands, by Pat- 
 ent from the Proprietors and by assignment of 
 William Goulding's interest, as one of the original 
 Patentees of the Monmouth Patent. The tract he 
 owned at the Highlands, included Sandy Hook 
 
 »B. H., p. 334. 
 
22 
 
 and contained 2,320 acres.^^ It was by tMs ac- 
 quisition of real estate interest, that he became 
 interested in the NicoUs Patent controversy, be- 
 tween the Patentees and Lords Berkeley and Car- 
 teret, and espoused the cause of the Nicolls Pat- 
 ent. Sandy Hook was first held by him under a 
 grant made in 1677.^* In 1685 with four others, 
 he took up 2,500 acres of land on the coast, from 
 Eack Pond to the head of Bamegat Bay, under 
 the name of the Manasquan Beach Company .^'^ 
 Thus we have one of the earliest if not the ear- 
 liest, mention of the name of Manasquan in 
 American records. He was the owner prior to 
 1699, of several town lots laid out in Middletown 
 on both sides of the public road, then and now 
 known as the King's Highway.^* Soon after the 
 year 1703, he moved to Middletown and is said to 
 have built the house still standing oh the north 
 side of the King's Highway, and adjacent to the 
 easterly side of the road leading to New Mon- 
 mouth. He was a Quaker of good reputation, and 
 benevolently disposed. Born in 1641 he was 
 twenty-eight years of age when he came to this 
 country. 
 Upon his arrival in New Jersey, he attained 
 
 "E. H., p. 534. 
 
 »N. J. A., F. S., Vol. 1. p. 220. 
 
 »E. H.. p. 525. 
 
 "B. H., p. 525. 
 
23 
 
 popularity. He was town clerk of Middletown 
 from 1675 to 1677; member of the provincial as- 
 sembly, 1683, and in several other years following. 
 Early in 1684, he was appointed one of deputy 
 Governor Lawrie's Council. The succeeding 
 year he was elected to the general assembly from 
 Middletown; was chosen speaker in 1686, and 
 continued to hold that position until October, 
 1693; and again from February, 1696, to March, 
 1698, when he became one of Governor Basse's 
 Council. He still continued to hold his seat as a 
 member of the assembly, and filled both positions 
 until the surrender of the government to the 
 orown.^* He was one of the commissioners, ap- 
 pointed in 1676 to lay out West Jersey. In 1683 
 he was appointed sheriff of the County of Mon- 
 mouth, but the ofifice did not seem to attract him, 
 and he asked to be excused from serving. This 
 request was taken up and considered by the Coun- 
 cil May 19, 1683 ; the result was the following rec- 
 ord entered in the minutes of the Council.^" ' ' The 
 request of Eichard Hartshome, being here read 
 And the reason therein offered wherefore he 
 would be excused for bearing the office of 
 sheriffe, being Dulely weiged and considered. It 
 
 »N. J. A., p. S., Vol. 1, p. 220. 
 ■"R. of G. & C. of B. J., p. 66. 
 
24 
 
 is the senoe of the Grovemor and Councill, That 
 the like or more weighty reasons may be offered 
 by any p'son appointed for that office, and that 
 noe p'son in that County is more Capable in re- 
 spect of Estate or Capacity in vnderstanding 
 fitter to vnder goe and execute the same. There- 
 fore it is the sence of this board that according 
 to the act of gen 'all Assembly and in pursuance 
 of his com'ssion hee take vpon him the execu'on 
 of high sheriffe of the County of Monmouth." 
 
 He did not serve. May 31, 1683 Eliakim War- 
 dell of Shrewsbury, gentleman, was appointed 
 high sheriff by the general assembly. 
 
 April 8, 1686 a writ of admiralty for the arrest 
 of Eichard Hartshorne, dated February 27 then 
 last past, sent out by Thomas Dongan, Governor 
 of New York, was considered by the New Jersey 
 Council. This writ commanded the Grovernor, 
 Justices and all other officers iu New York to ar- 
 rest the body of Eiohard Hartshorne and Mm to 
 keep in custody, that his body might be brought 
 before the Judges of the Court of Admiralty in 
 New York. The result reached by the New Jer- 
 sey Council is expressed in the following resolu- 
 tion and preamble, entered in the minutes of the 
 Council, at a meeting held at Amboy on the 8th 
 day of April 1686. 
 
25 
 
 "Whereas CoUonell Thomas Doogan Govemor 
 ' ' of new yorke hath lately sent into this province 
 "r writt of Admeralty beareing date the 27th 
 ' ' ffeb : last past, Thereby Commanding our Gov- 
 "ernor, Justices and all other officers to arrest 
 "the boddy of Richard Hartshorne and him to 
 "keepe in said Custody, that his boddy might bee 
 "brought before the Judges of the Court of Ad- 
 "meralty in nerw yorke afores^ the ffirst Munday 
 "in this p'^sent Month of Aprill — and this Board 
 "haveing viewed and duely Considered y® Com- 
 " 'ission granted to ye s*^ G-ovemor Dongan for 
 "Vice AdmeraJl &c — Doe not app^'hend that the 
 "s*^ Com 'ission doth give any power or Authority 
 "to the s^ Governor Dongan thereby to Command 
 "the Governor Justices and other officers of this 
 "Province to arrest the boddy of the s"^ Ric. Harts - 
 "Home and him to Convey to the Citty of new 
 "yorke before the s"^ Judge in order to a Tryall, 
 "as in the s*^ writt is suggested and Comanded — 
 "and therefore doe not app''hend that the Govern- 
 ' ' or Justices or other officers of this province may 
 "w*'' safety put the s^ writ in Execution &e."^i 
 
 What the alleged offense was that Richard 
 Hartshorne committed does not appear. 
 
 "R. of G. & C. of E. J., pp. 122-123. 
 
26 
 
 An account of the country was written by Mm 
 and circulated in England, which iaduced consid- 
 erable immigration. A letter from him dated No- 
 vember 12th, 1675, is one of a collection printed in 
 1676, a facsimile copy of which is in the New Jer- 
 sey Historical Society Library.^^ 
 
 The Indians threatened him one time with the 
 destruction of his property at the Navesink High- 
 lands, on the alleged ground of Ms neglect to buy 
 their land. The alleged neglect in fact, could only 
 have been that of the Patentees, who were James 
 Grover, Eichard Stout, John Bowne, and Eichard 
 Gibbons, and others. Hartshome sought out these 
 patentees and inquired as tO' the truth of the 
 charge, and they told him it was true that the 
 land had never been bought and the Indians had 
 not received anything for it. Mr. Hartshome 
 considered the matter thoroughly, and then pro- 
 ceeded to Gravesend, where he bought out the 
 rights of William Goulding, a Patentee, and took 
 an assignment of his property interest. He was 
 thus in a position to make peace with the Indians, 
 wMch he did and their lasting friendsMp was se- 
 cured.®' 
 
 Sandy Hook being occupied in part by a heavy 
 
 "N. J. A., p. S., Vol. 1. p. 220. 
 "S. H. of N. J., n. p. 63. 
 
27 
 
 growth of oedar timber at the time that Eichard 
 Hartshorn© acquired poissession of it, it served a 
 useful purpose in protecting vessels lying at an- 
 chor under its lee, against the violence of easterly 
 storms from the ocean. In the year 1703 Harts- 
 home made a deed of his Highlands estate to his 
 son William, who lived at Portland. After this 
 transfer Eichard Hartshorne moved to Middle- 
 town. In 1711 a grand raid was made upon the 
 Hartshorne cedars. A furious war was raging be- 
 tween England and France and another expedi- 
 tion was contemplated, against the French prov- 
 inces in North America. Grovemor Hunter, of New 
 Jersey, demanded three hundred and sixty men 
 and three hundred and sixty pounds, from the New 
 Jersey Assembly, which promptly responded by 
 proper legislation, to execute the demands. 
 Among other things required, were a certain num- 
 ber of batteaux, which were ordered to be built, 
 for the service of the intended expedition against 
 Canada. No delay was permitted. By direction 
 of Governor Hunter, carpenters mere sent to 
 Sandy Hook to cut timbers of cedar for knees in 
 the frame work of the batteaux. The consent of 
 the owners was neither asked for nor given, to 
 enter upon their lands and cut their timbers. The 
 necessary timber was procured, though the ex- 
 
28 
 
 pedition to Canada was never carried out. After 
 the trespass had been committed, some tender of 
 payment was made to Mr. Hartshorne, which it 
 appears he declined to accept on the ground of its 
 inadequacy. The time came when Governor 
 Hunter's term, or Patent as it was called, was 
 about to expire. Then there was opposition to 
 the granting of a new Patent to Grovernor 
 Hunter, on the ground of his "unfitness" for 
 the office and one of the charges ia articles 
 of accusation against him, was that he had 
 invaded the property and injured the freehold of 
 her Majesty's subjects, "causing their timber to 
 be felled upon their estates." Governor Hunter 
 made defense and stated that what he did was 
 done under orders of her Majesty, to provide a 
 number of batteaux or boats for transportation 
 upon the lakes, of men and provisions. The order 
 he said involved a great task, to be performed in a 
 short time. To obtain "the knees" quickly, which 
 were little crooked sticks not so big as his arm, he 
 ordered them to be provided from a "desert beach 
 called Sandy Hooke" with all possible dispatch, 
 and if any man claimed property in the timber 
 they should acquaint him and he would satisfy 
 him in value. He heard no more, he said, of this 
 until a copy of a complaint came to his Majesty 
 
29 
 
 by Daniel and Samuel Cox, made in order to stop 
 the passing of Ms Patent (Reappointment). The 
 Grovemor further stated that when his new Patent 
 was made public, the two Hartshornes, father and 
 son, admitted that they had been the authors of 
 the complaint. "Now," said Governor Hunter, 
 "if culling a number of sticks on such an emer- 
 gency on a barren beach where they might have in- 
 deed remained uncut to the end of the world, had 
 it not been for this fatal expedition — in a coun- 
 try where all the value of timber especially of that 
 sort is the labor of cutting, for a public and imme- 
 diately necessary service, and for which all rea- 
 sonable satisfaction was tendered and refused — 
 if this, I say, be a crime, it is most certainly one 
 that deserves a ready pardon, especially consider- 
 ing how strictly accountable I had reason to con- 
 elude myself to be to those in power, for the least 
 failure on my part which might have had the 
 smallest appearance of retarding that expedi- 
 tion." Thus Governor Hunter justified his con- 
 duct on the ground of military necessity and ten- 
 der of compensation. It must be clear, however, 
 that it would have been wiser in the Governor to 
 have sought the owners' consent before seizure. 
 No good reason appears for not having done so. 
 
30 
 
 If sought and refused, the right under military 
 necessity might possibly have been invoked with 
 some color of justification.*^ 
 
 Eichard Hunter continued Governor, until the 
 13th of July 1719, on which day he left America 
 promising and expecting to return, but never did. 
 He had conducted his office with great prudence 
 and wisdom under trying circumstances, and re- 
 ceived the approbation of the legislatures of the 
 two provinces which he had governed. 
 
 Eichard Hartshome's legislative career began 
 March 1st, 1682, when he first took his oath of al- 
 legiance to the King and faithfulness to the Lords 
 Proprietors of the Province of East Jersey, and 
 ended the 24th of August 1699 at the age of fifty- 
 eight years. That he was a lawyer, is evidenced 
 by the fact that his name appears in the court 
 minutes a number of times as Attorney, and rep- 
 resenting one of the parties in the cause, both in 
 criminal and oivU cases. It is not known, how- 
 ever, that he was ever educated to the profession. 
 Very few important events occurred in his day 
 in Monmouth County with which he was not con- 
 nected, and he probably wielded a greater in- 
 fluence and had more to do with the public affairs 
 of his province, than any other one of the original 
 
 •»N. J. A., Vol. 4, pp. 275, 285, 307, 317. 
 
31 
 
 settlers. He was a leading man on the floor of 
 tlie Assembly and Council, and rarely without a 
 place on the most important committees. His 
 manner was respectful and dignified, his judg- 
 ment well considered, his utterances intelligent 
 and guarded, his reasoning cogent. In his whole 
 public life no shadow ever fell upon his character 
 for integrity. He died m 1722 at the age of 81 
 years and his body was interred in the burial 
 ground near his residence ia the Village of Mid- 
 dletown. He left a will dated May 14th, 1722. In 
 that will he names his six children who were 
 Hugh, Mary Clayton, Catherine FitzEandolpih, 
 Sarah Taylor, Mercy Lawrence and William. He 
 gave a legacy to the poor of the Shrewsbury 
 monthly meeting of Quakers. He directed half 
 an acre of land fronting the street including his 
 wife's grave, to be laid out as a famUy burying 
 ground. His executors were his two sons. The 
 witnesses to his will were Eichard Stout, John 
 Wall, Joseph Cox. His will was approved May 
 22, 1722, and the original document is on file in the 
 office of the secretary of state of New Jersey. 
 
 A tablet should be placed to his memory on the 
 wall of this court room as the first lawyer of 
 Monmouth County, a pacificator m differences 
 between men, a statesman, a philanthropist; and 
 
32 
 
 one whose example should be as a lamp set to our 
 path. 
 
 THOMAS GORDON, 
 
 of Pitloohie, Scotland, though a resident of Mid- 
 dlesex County, as a lawyer of his day and a pub- 
 lic officer, took an active part in the courts and 
 public affairs of Monmouth County. He was one 
 of the most earnest of the Scotch emigrants to 
 America, who left the land of their birth in 1684, 
 to find a home in this country. Before leaving 
 his Mother Country be became a Proprietor of 
 New Jersey, by purchasing one twentieth of Gov- 
 ernor Barclay's right as a Proprietor and at a 
 later period, he acquired additional powers. He 
 was said to have been personally known to James 
 II, from whom he received honors and advantages, 
 and the Duke of Gordon was nearly related to 
 him. Nine weeks were occupied in his voyage 
 from Aberdeen, to the Capes of Virginia, suffer- 
 ing ship wreck on the way, from the effects of 
 tempestuous winds and waves. The passengers, 
 among whom were his wife and four children, 
 seven servants and his brothers Charles and 
 George, embarked on sloops and came up the 
 Chesapeake Bay; and thence partly by land and 
 partly by water to Elizabeth Town. A brother 
 
33 
 
 Robert came to the Province about the same time. 
 His brother George died in 1686, and tbe same 
 year Charles returned to England. Of Robert no 
 information has been obtained. "It is presumed 
 that these gentlemen were sons of Sir George 
 Gordon, Knight Advocate," whose name appears 
 in some of the earliest records of the Province in 
 connection with theirsi; and they are styled 
 "Brothers to the Laird of Stralooh."** 
 
 The unfavorable termination of an insurrection 
 consequent upon the troubles of 1680, was the im- 
 mediate cause of Thomas' emigration. 
 
 Thomas Gordon's arrival in 1684, aided materi- 
 ally to the advancement of East Jersey in popula- 
 tion and enterprise. With his family he estab- 
 lished himself at first, upon the plantation on 
 Cedar Brook^^ near to what was afterwards 
 known as Scotch Plains, from having been settled 
 by the countrymen of Mr. Gordon and now known 
 as Fanwood. Before the close of 1687 his wife 
 Helen and all four of their children died. 
 
 Very soon after his arrival, he had assigned to 
 him many ioaportant positions. In 1692 he was 
 appointed deputy secretary and register for the 
 Proprietaries, by William Dockwra, their Chief 
 
 "W. H. of p. A., p. 60. 
 "»W. H. of p. A., p. 44. 
 
34 
 
 Secretary in London. The same year ihe was made 
 clerk of the court of Common Eight, register of 
 the Court of Chancery and one of a commission 
 for the trial of email causes at Perth Amboy. In 
 
 1693, he was appointed Judge of Probate, and ia 
 
 1694, an officer of the customs at Amboy. The re- 
 spect and estimation in which he was held by the 
 Proprietors at that time, was manifested by his 
 being sent to England in. 1695, with instructions to 
 give the members of the board of proprietors 
 there, particular information respecting the af- 
 fairs of the province.*'' 
 
 He remained abroad three years having with 
 him, it is presumed, Janet Mudie, whom he made 
 his second wife before his embarkation. In 1698, 
 he was appointed Attorney General of East 
 Jersey and in December 1700, was again invested 
 with the duties of Judge of Probate ; a substitute 
 having been appointed during his absence. In 
 1702 Dockwra having been superseded, Mr. Gor- 
 don was appointed to succeed him as Chief secre- 
 tary and register of the Proprietoirs.*'' 
 
 "In addition to these and other offices of a local 
 character he represented Amboy ia the county of 
 Middlesex in the Provincial Assembly, from 1702 
 to 1709, part of the time acting as speaker. He 
 
 "N. J. A. F. S., p. 107 n. 
 
35 
 
 was appointed one of Giovemor Hunter's Coun- 
 cil in 1709 and at the time of his decease held the 
 same situation under Grovernor Burnett. From 
 June 1710 to March 1719 he was Eeceiver Gen- 
 eral and Treasurer of the Province. His name 
 wUl be found connected with all the most import- 
 ant events of his time, and he seems to have been 
 unusually worthy of the eulogistic inscription on 
 his tombstone in the church yard of St. Peter's 
 Church at Perth Amboy, whither was transferred, 
 a few years since from the old public burial place, 
 the tomb stone of his first wife."*^ Although a 
 resident of Middlesex County, he was much con- 
 cerned m the affairs of Monmouth County as well 
 as his own, as the interest of the two counties 
 were closely identified, and as a public officer he 
 took an .active part in the public affairs of Mon- 
 mouth County. At the Monmouth Sessions of 
 March 1695-96, "Thomas Gordon was by the Court 
 constituted and appouited as King's Atty."*^ In 
 the matter of locating the court house at Free- 
 hold, June 8, 1710, an order was made to build 
 a new jaU at Middletown where the first jail had 
 stood. Afterwards it was determined to build 
 a court house in connection with the jaU. Then 
 
 "E. H., p. 274. 
 
 "N. J. A., Vol. 2, F. S., p. 107 n. 
 
36 
 
 occurred a change of sentiment of tlie people as 
 to the proper place for the location of the court 
 house and jail. iSome argued in favor of Middle- 
 town, because preparations had already com- 
 menced and material for the new jaU was already 
 on the ground. Others wanted it at Shrewsbury, 
 as being nearer the middle of the county. Others 
 contended that Freehold was the proper site, be- 
 ing, "the nearest of aU, to the middle of the good 
 land and whole inhabitants of the county." Much 
 excitement prevailed. William Lawrence and 
 William Hartshorne for Middletown, asserted that 
 they would never consent to any other place than 
 Middletown. There they said the work was al- 
 ready begun and the law would not allow it else- 
 where. Answer was made that it was better for 
 the county to lose the little already expended, than 
 to proceed and finish the work and suffer always 
 by an inconvenient location. Finally Thomas 
 G-ordon as Attorney General of "our Lord the 
 King" obtained an injunction to prevent further 
 interference with the work; that settled the con- 
 troversy; a lot was purchased and a court house 
 and jail erected thereon at Freehold in the year 
 1715." 
 Thomas Gordon was appointed Chief Justice of 
 
 "E. H., pp. 401 & 402. 
 
37 
 
 New Jersey April 28t]i, 1710, by Governor Love- 
 lace as successor of Eoger Mompesson who was 
 remembered as a pliant tool and base adviser of 
 Governor Cornibury, who is said to have been the 
 worst Governor that ever ruled in New Jersey. 
 Gordon's term of office as Chief Justice was very 
 short. He took his seat on the Bench in the May 
 term of that year. He was not educated as a 
 lawyer, although licensed as an attorney, and he 
 soon became conscious of his inability to perform 
 the duties of the oflSce. He resigned in a very 
 few months after his appointment and then be- 
 came Receiver General and Treasurer of th© pro- 
 vince. He was greatly respected as a gentleman 
 and a scholar and possessed business qualifica- 
 tions of the highest order. In the matters of dif- 
 ference between Governor Combury and the rep- 
 resentatives of the people, he adopted the popular 
 side and was firm and outspoken, but not violent 
 either in speech or conduct, and was sent to Eng- 
 land to represent to the Proprietors there, the 
 state of affairs in the province with direct refer- 
 ence to the payment of quit rents, which was con- 
 sidered a general grievance.^* Lord Combury 
 endeavored to injure him, in the public estimation 
 by referring to him as opportunity offered, in dis- 
 
 "W. H. of N. J. Pro., p. 193, Note 4. 
 
38 
 
 paraging terms. In 1706 at Lord Cornbury's in- 
 stigation several warrants were issued against 
 him and lie was obliged to give bail, and in May 
 1707 was suspended by Lord Cornbury from prac- 
 ticing as an attorney at law; and in 1708, three 
 days after his election as speaker of the House of 
 Assembly, he was again arrested by virtue of 
 one of Lord Cornbury's warrants, but was admit- 
 ted to bail. This persecution ceased with Corn- 
 bury's ladministration, and in December 1708, 
 Lord Lovelace reinstated him, in his practice as 
 an attorney at law. He died April 28th, 1722 in 
 the seventieth year of his age leaving three sons, 
 Andrew, Thomas and John, and three daughters, 
 Mary, Euphemia and Margaret. 
 
 The stone which marks his place of sepulture in 
 the Episcopal Churchyard at Perth Amboy, bears 
 an inscription in Latin which as translated reads : 
 "In hope of a happy resurrection, here is de- 
 " posited what in Thomas Gordon was found mor- 
 " tal : who being descended from an ancient family 
 ' ' of Pitlochie, in Scotland, could have gloried, had 
 "that been proper, in his extraction; yet in him. 
 "was not wanting that of which he might justly 
 "boast, for as the secretary of the province he 
 "exerted his best abilities in behalf of the coun- 
 "cils of the state acceptably to all. Dear to his 
 
39 
 
 "relations, a sincere worsMpper of tlie eternal 
 "Deity, he enjoyed life, and died with resignation 
 "on the 28th day of April, in the year of our 
 "Lord, 1722, in the 70th year of his age. 
 
 "His mourning consort, who also desires to be 
 "interred here, has caused this monument, such 
 "as it is to be set. He lived as long as he 
 "desired — as long as the fates appointed — thus 
 "neither was life burdensome, nor death bit- 
 "ter."*9 
 
 JOHN REID, 
 
 is also classed as a lawyer of Monmouth County 
 at that early period, but like Hartshorne and 
 Gordon was never specially educated for the pro- 
 fession. Judges who presided in the lower courts 
 were invariably laymen, and were appointed by 
 joint meeting or nominated by the Governor, 
 and the Judges of the Supreme Court were often 
 selected in the same way, as was William Pinhom, 
 Charles Gordon and Lewis Morris. These selec- 
 tions were made for political reasons and to re- 
 
 °°For additional references to Thomas Gordon, see S. H. of 
 N. J.; N. J. A., F. S., Vol. IV.; W. E. J. Pro.; N. J. A., F. S., 
 Vol. IV.; N. J. A., F. S., Vol. II, p. 106, etc.; N. J. A., Vol. 
 Ill; N. J. A., Vol. V; F. P. C. of N. J., p. 96; R. of G. & C. of 
 E. J., 1682-1703; S. H. of M. & O. Co., p. XXIX; B. & H. His. 
 C. of N. J., p. 309; E. H., pp. 37, 97n, 272, 274, 402, 589, 620n. 
 
40 
 
 ward partisanship. Eegard was seldom had to 
 qualifications or fitness for the position. The re- 
 sult was that suitors were obliged to have recourse 
 for their remedies to tribunals, where incompe- 
 tency and ignorance and servile subserviency 
 were too often the chief characteristics of the 
 judges, and gross injustice too frequently the re- 
 sult. John Eeid, though not a lawyer, posed as 
 one. He was bom February 13th, 1655, in Scot- 
 land, at Mildrew Castle in the parish of Kirkle- 
 ston. In 1667, he was bound as an apprentice to 
 a wine merchant in Edinburgh. At this time he 
 became a Quaker. He learned the art of garden- 
 ing, which was the occupation of his father and 
 grandfather. In 1676 he wrote a book entitled 
 "The Scotch G^ardener." He emigrated from 
 Scotland to New Jersey in 1683, being employed 
 by Berkeley and the other Scotch proprietors of 
 East New Jersey, as "overseer" to bring over a 
 party of emigrants from Scotland, for the con- 
 sideration of twenty-five pounds sterling as an an- 
 nual salary, and a share in ten acres of land at 
 Amibo Point (Perth Amboy). August 28th, 1683 
 he sailed from Aberdeen, Scotland, with his family 
 and on the 19th day of December following was 
 landed on Staten Island. He brought with him 
 eight cows, two horses, six oxen, 4 swine and 147 
 
41 
 
 pounds and 2 shillings worth of provisions and 
 necessaries. After he arrived, he proceeded im- 
 mediately to Perth Amboy where he took up 
 his abode. Very soon he was appointed de- 
 puty surveyor and in that capacity, made a map 
 of lands on the Baritan, Bahway, Millstone and 
 South Bivers, for which and other services he re- 
 ceived the grant of a tract of land named "Hor- 
 tensia," located "on the west branch of Hop Eiver 
 in Monmouth County, ' ' to which tract he removed 
 from Perth Amboy in the latter part of 1686. 
 For nearly forty years, he was one of the most 
 widely known and influential citizens of Mon- 
 mouth County. As surveyor he laid out many 
 of the public roads of Monmouth County, and 
 was one of the commissioners appointed by the 
 Act of General Assembly, for laying out highways 
 in the County of Monmouth. The November ses- 
 sions 1714, was the last term of the Monmouth 
 County court held at Middletown. The last term 
 at Shrewsbury was held in August, 1715, in which 
 John Eeid was indicted for swearing two profane 
 oaths. It is said that the indictment was found 
 as means of petty revenge and persecution, by the 
 adherents of the party who wished to locate the 
 new court house at Middletown. During the 
 summer of 1715, court was held for the first time 
 
42 
 
 at Freehold in the new courthouse. John Eeid, 
 Esquire, was the presiding justice.*" The records 
 of the Monmouth Court of Quarter Sessions show 
 that November 4th, 1715 the Justices and officers 
 present were John Eeid, President, James Ash- 
 ton, Lawrence Van Hook, Joseph Wardell, Rich- 
 ard Chambers, John Wilson, the Attorney General 
 Thomas Gordon, Esquire, and Gideon Crawford, 
 High Sheriff." Several times he was elected as 
 a member of the general assembly from Mon- 
 mouth County. While a resident at Amboy, he 
 was clerk and a member of the Society of Friends, 
 and continued his membership after his removal 
 to Monmouth County until 1703, when he adopted 
 the faith of the established Church of England. 
 After his death a paper was found among his ef- 
 fects in his own handwriting, entitled ' ' Mr. John 
 Reid's observations on the laws of New Jersey, 
 1713." This paper breathes a spirit of distrust of 
 "some attorneys at law whose interests differ 
 from ours, ' ' and he attacks them as disturbers of 
 land titles and as opposed to the English statutes, 
 affirming that the statutes have no force here for 
 want of words to render them specific. He cites 
 learned authorities, refers to the "some lawyers" 
 
 "E. H., 272. 
 "E. H., 403. 
 
43 
 
 in terms of sarcasm, and urges a revision of the 
 laws of the province, in order that such laws as 
 have force here and which fit our circumstances, 
 should be bound by themselves and copies kept in 
 the Clerk's office of each county, in order "that 
 we be no more tossed with the precarious breath 
 of mercenary men." He contends that no man 
 should be suffered to practice the law, who is not 
 an inhabitant of this province, and that there 
 should be laws for shortening law suits and les- 
 sening costs, such as will be rules of court in all 
 the courts of this colony. Then he offers ten sug- 
 gestions as to how and what those rules should 
 cover. They are substantially covered by the 
 Court Eules of the present day. In 1678 he mar- 
 ried Margaret, daughter of Henry Miller of 
 Cashon in the parish Kirkintiloch. He had three 
 daughters — Anna, Helen and Margaret, all bom 
 before he left Scotland. His youngest died an 
 infant and was interred at Amboy where his son 
 John was afterwards bom. 
 
 John Reid died on the 16th day of November, 
 1722-23, aged 67 years, and was interred in the old 
 burial ground of Topanemus where a stone still 
 standing marks his grave. The inscription 
 thereon reads, "Here lies the body of John Eeid 
 who oame from Scotland, his native country, with 
 
44 
 
 Ms wife Margaret, and three daughters, to New 
 Jersey, the 9th of Deoember, Anno Dom. 1683. 
 He died" the 16th of November Anno Dom. 1723, 
 aged 67 years. "*^ 
 
 LEWIS MORRIS, 
 
 another lawyer of Monmouth County, at the be- 
 ginning of the eighteenth century. He was bom 
 at Morrisania, New York, in 1671. He was a 
 nephew of Ool. Lewis Morris who settled at Tin- 
 tern Manor (now Tinton Falls) in 1673, on a plan- 
 tation formerly owned by James Grover. The 
 name Tintem Manor, was derived from that of the 
 family estate in Moimaouthshire, Wales. Col. 
 Morris was appointed a justice of the Court of 
 Chancery, and held the position several years. He 
 was an active man in the organization of the 
 County, and gave it the name of "Monmouth" 
 from his native county in Wales. He was a mem- 
 ber of the New Jersey Council for several years 
 until August 16th, 1683, when on account of his 
 removal to New York, he ceased to be a member of 
 the New Jersey Council and was appointed a 
 
 *=B. H., 728. 
 
 *W. H. of p. A., p. 45; W. B. J. Pro., pp. 136, 163; E. H., 
 pp. 32, 36, 78, 79 & n, 81, 272, 274, 275, 375 & n, 376, 385, 401, 
 403, 505, 579. 728; N. J. A., P. S., Vol. I, p. 510. 
 
45 
 
 member of Governor Dongans' Cotmeil, con- 
 tirming as suchi until 1686. He died in 1691 leav- 
 ing a will, devising to Ms infant nephew Lewis 
 (the subject of this sketch) his Tintern Manor 
 estate.** 
 
 On the third of November 1691 Lewis Morris, 
 nephew of Col. Morris was married to Isabella, 
 daughter of James Grraham, Attorney General of 
 the province, and settled at Tintern Manor.*^ In 
 1692 at the age of twenty-one years, he was ap- 
 pointed judge of the Court of Common Eight of 
 East Jersey and became at the same time a mem- 
 ber of Governor Andrew Hamilton's Council.*® 
 On the arrival of Jeremiah Basse in 1698, claim- 
 ing the governorship of the province by the ap- 
 pointment of ten Proprietors instead of sixteen, 
 the requisite number, Lewis stood with those who 
 would not acknowledge his authority, and refused 
 obedience to the legal tribunals and to those 
 officers who upheld his claims, as the chief func- 
 tionary of the province.*^ Very soon after 
 Basse's proclamation of his commission, Morris 
 was fined fifty pounds for contemning the au- 
 thority of the Court of common right, in session at 
 
 «E. H., pp. 101, 102. 
 «E. H., p. 588.. 
 «E. H., p. 588. 
 "E. H., p. 588. 
 
46 
 
 Perth Amboy. On the return of Andrew Hamilton 
 as Governor in 1700, Morris was appointed Presi- 
 dent of the CouncLl.** The state of the public 
 mind at this time was deplorable, a large part of 
 the people being in almost open revolt against 
 Hamilton as governor, claiming his ineligibility to 
 the office, on account of his being a bom Scotch- 
 man and that his appointment was in direct defi- 
 ance of law. It was also claimed he was "a great 
 favorer of the Scotch traders," to the exclusion of 
 Englishmen. Lord Combury with his commission 
 as Grovemor of New York, arrived from England 
 in May 1702. His commission as Governor of New 
 Jersey, signed by Queen Anne reached him at New 
 York in July 1703. One of his Council of New 
 Jersey as approved by Queen Anne, was Lewis 
 Morris.*® There soon arose between Morris and 
 Governor Cornbury, feeling of the most intense 
 animosity. The Governor's opinion of Lewis 
 Morris and Lemuel Jennings, was expressed in an 
 address of his Lieutenant Governor, to the King 
 in 1707, a document emanating in fact from the 
 Governor, though not signed by him, referring to 
 the causes which had brought about the state of 
 disorder and the causes which had ruled in New 
 
 "B. H., 588. 
 •B. H., p. 36. 
 
47 
 
 Jersey for several years, proceeds to say that 
 th.ey were wholly due "to the turbulent factions, 
 uneasy and Disloyal Principles of two Men in 
 that Assembly, Mr. Lewis Morris and Lemuel 
 Jennings, a Quaker ; Men notoriously known to be 
 uneasie under all Government ; Men never known 
 to be consistent with themselves ; Men to whom all 
 the factions and confusion of the Governments of 
 New Jersey and Pennsylvania, for many years are 
 wholly owing; Men that have had the confidence 
 to declare in open Council, that your Majesty's 
 Instructions to your Govemours in these Prov- 
 inces shaU not obligate or bind them, nor will 
 they be concluded by them further than they are 
 warranted by Law; of which also they will be the 
 judges; and this is done by them (as we have aU 
 the reason in the world to believe), to encourage 
 not only this Government, but also the rest of your 
 Governments in America, to throw off your 
 Majesty's Eoyal Prerogative."^" 
 
 Combury in his address to the Assembly in the 
 same year censured "a number of people," whose 
 names he saw fit to omit though it was well under- 
 stood that Morris was one of them. On the other 
 hand Morris and his party, repelled the attack by 
 charging back upon Cornbury and his supporters, 
 
 "E. H., p. 37. 
 
48 
 
 in addition to the Governor's unfitness for Ms po- 
 sition as Governor, the fact that his supporters 
 were of the most unprincipled aad characterless 
 people in the province. They charged that the 
 Governor was corrupt and led by avarice, to the 
 acceptance of bribes, given in consideration of his 
 dissolving the Assembly, and "for having officers 
 appointed to the good liking of the people and to 
 be freed from their quit rents." ^^ 
 
 The aUegationis of Lewis Morris against Corn- 
 bury were undoubtedly true. One of the members 
 of the House of Assembly was actually expelled 
 therefrom, for his complicity in the receiving of 
 money for the bribery of Lord Combury. There 
 seems to be great unanimity among the historians, 
 that Cornbury was the most detested of all the 
 royal governors. In an address by the Assembly 
 to Governor Hunter in 1710, it was said that he 
 "sacrificed his own reputation, the laws and our 
 liberties, to his avarice," * * * ^mj ^jj^^t he 
 had treated her Majesty's subjects rather as 
 slaves, whose persons and estates he might con- 
 trol, than as freemen, who were to be governed by 
 the laws. And he was not more detested and dis- 
 liked in New Jersey than in New York, where, in 
 
 «B. H., 37. 
 
49 
 
 fact, his private oharaoter appeared in even a 
 more unfavorable light. It was not uncomlmon for 
 him, to dress himself in a woman's habit, and then 
 to patrol the fort in which he resided ; such freaks 
 of low humour, exposed him to the universal con- 
 tempt of the people; but their indignation was 
 kindled by his despotic rule, savage bigotry, in- 
 satiable avarice and injustice, not only to the pub- 
 lic but even to his private creditors; for he left 
 some of the lowest tradesmen in his employment, 
 
 unsatisfied in their just demands, — ^History of 
 New York." «2 
 
 "Finally, the complaints against Cornbury be- 
 came so loud and frequent, that the Queen was 
 forced to the conviction of his unfitness for the 
 position he held, and although he was her near 
 kiasman, she revoked his commission and ap- 
 pointed John, Lord Lovelace, his successor as 
 Governor of the provinces of New York and New 
 Jersey. ' ' ^' 
 
 The immediate and original cause of all the dis- 
 orders in the Colony above referred to, and others 
 was the acrimonious disputes between the adher- 
 ents of Andrew Hamilton on the one side and 
 Jeremiah Basse on the other, each of whom 
 
 "E. H., p. 39; S. H. of N. J., p. 116. 
 •B. H., p. 39. 
 
50 
 
 claimed to be Governor of the province. ' ' Andrew 
 Hamilton was understood to be in favor of main- 
 taining tbe proprietary title, and those in favor 
 of that title put their faith in Andrew Hamilton. 
 The inhabitants of the towns of Monmouth, who 
 had claimed title to their lands under Indian rights 
 and the Patent of NicoUs, espoused the cause of 
 Governor Basse." But in addition there was now 
 in the controversy a new element, which was the 
 bitter prejudice to the Scotch. Andrew Hamilton 
 was a Scotchman, and being firmly supported by 
 the Scotch proprietors was accused of gross fav- 
 oritism towards Scotchmen by appointing and 
 keeping them in the principal offices of the prov- 
 ince, regardless of their fitness or honesty. And 
 in off set to that, Governor Basse was charged by 
 his opponents to be in league with the pirates, who 
 were frequently committing offenses and recruit- 
 ing along our coast, and the worst of it was there 
 appeared to be some foundation in truth, for the 
 charge.^* 
 
 Lewis Morris was considered the chief leader of 
 the Scotch party, which adhered to Hamilton, 
 and though said to be "crafty, unreliable and time 
 serving, he was the most active, energetic and 
 aggressive, of the opponents of Basse and his 
 
 "B. H., pp. 96, 97. 
 
51 
 
 adherents." "At a Court of Oommon Eight, 
 sitting at Perth Amboy, on the eleventh of 
 May, 1669 — Grovemor Basse present — Lewis 
 Morris came in and demanded "by what au- 
 thority they kept court. The court declared 
 ' 'by the King's authority,' which was denied 
 'by Morris, and the court then ordered him 
 'to be taken in custody; whereupon he 'tried 
 'to draw his hanger' and defied any one to dare 
 'to lay hands on him, 'and when a constable by 
 'order of the court laid hold on him he, in the 
 'face of the court, resisted.' He was fined fifty 
 'pounds and on the following day, he with George 
 'Willocks was indicted by the Grand Jury and 
 'committed to Woodbridge jail, until three hun- 
 'dred pounds security shoidd be given for their 
 'good behavior and appearance in the October 
 'term of Court of Common Right, but a mob of 
 'adherents was collected, and with a beam of a 
 'house they battered Woodbridge jail to pieces, 
 'and set him and his seditious companion Will- 
 ' ocks at liberty. ' This was done between two and 
 'four o'clock A. M. on the thirteenth of May, 1699, 
 ' Capt. Isaac Whitehead being a ring leader of the 
 'mob of rescuers." ^^ 
 
 «B. H., p. 97. 
 
52 
 
 In Piscataway, March 3rd, 1700, there were like 
 proceedings, when a mob collected and debarred 
 the court from the place of its sitting, nailing up 
 the doors. A like resistance was made to the au- 
 thority of the Essex County Court, and there were 
 troubles of the same nature at Middletown in 
 Monmouth County, as certified by Capt. Andrew 
 Bowne and Richard Hartshome on the twenty- 
 third of July, 1700. 
 
 In April, 1702, the Proprietors of New Jersey, 
 surrendered their right of government to the 
 CroTvn.^* After the surrender the spirit of law- 
 lessness and disorder subsided in Monmouth 
 County, but in some other parts of the province it 
 was kept alive, and for half a century afterwards, 
 continued to break out in acts of violence. These 
 outbreaks occurred ia the counties of Morris, Mid- 
 dlesex, Somerset and Hunterdon, but more than 
 all ia the county of Essex.^'^ 
 
 In 1719 upon the departure of the G-ovemor for 
 England, Lewis Morris, the president of the Coun- 
 cil, became for the time acting Governor of New 
 Jersey. Upon the death of G-ovemor John Mont- 
 gomerie, Esq., July 1st, 1731, the President of the 
 Council, Lewis Morris, again became and con- 
 
 "E. H., p. 100. 
 
 •m. H., p. 101. 
 
53 
 
 tinned acting G-overnor -until 1732 when Col. Wil- 
 liam Cosby was commissioned Governor. In 1733 
 after the death of Governor Cosby, a speaker and 
 members of the House of Assembly, supported by 
 another petition from the Supreme Court of New 
 Jersey, bearing the same date, were sent to 
 England and presented to the King, praying for 
 a separation of the Government of New Jersey, 
 from the govemment of New York. The King re- 
 ferred them, to the Lords of Trade for their con- 
 sideration and advice. The Lords reported favor- 
 ably, and thus Lewis Morris of Monmouth County 
 who had been a prominent man in the affairs of the 
 province, for forty-six years and a leader in se- 
 curing the separation of the provinces, was ap- 
 pointed and commissioned in 1738, Governor of 
 New Jersey, as a distinct and independent prov- 
 ince. His appointment was heartily approved by 
 the Colonies. They remembered him gratefully 
 for his active, enthusiastic and determined efforts 
 in combating and getting rid of Combury. They 
 were thankful also, for his efficient work in sever- 
 ing the tie, which for many years had bound New 
 Jersey to New York. Belief had come at last and 
 they regarded him as their political saviour. In 
 remembrance of his heroic acts, Morris County 
 
54 
 
 was set off from Hunterdon and named for him 
 in 1739. 
 
 The separation of the two provinces, involved 
 a change in legislative procedure. The Governor 
 ceased to preside over the Council and to take part 
 in its discussions, and a president chosen from its 
 own members, was appointed to perform the func- 
 tion of presiding officer ; thus both the Council 
 and the Governor, each gained in dignity and in- 
 dependence. Both were still co-ordinate branches 
 of the government. They were thereafter relieved 
 from further occasion, to criticize each other 
 in each other's presence. The change thus effected 
 was productive of another change, whereby the 
 style used in the enacting clause of statutes, in- 
 stead of the words "Be it enacted by the Gover- 
 nor, Council and General Assembly," there were 
 substituted the words "Be it enacted by the Sen- 
 ate and General Assembly." 
 
 It was unfortunate that Governor Morris' ad- 
 ministration as Governor did not continue aus- 
 piciously as it began, much to the disappointment 
 of many of his friends. At first the Assembly 
 met him in the most flattering manner; it acknowl- 
 edged to him the lasting obligations of the Colony ; 
 guaranteed him its cheerful and generous sup- 
 
55 
 
 port; it voted him a salary of one thousand 
 pounds a year for three years ; allowed him sixty 
 pounds for house rent, and five thousand pounds 
 to compensate him for his services, in securing the 
 separation of New Jersey from New York. But 
 the attitude of the Assembly towards the Gov- 
 ernor, was not reciprocated by the latter. The 
 Assembly did not like his continued and oppress- 
 ing demands for money ; nor his disposition to up- 
 hold the arbitrary demands and pretentions of 
 the Crown, rather than to promote and defend the 
 interest of the Colonist ; he was too fond of debate 
 and controversy, and would never, it is said, yield 
 a point unless it could be mathematically demon- 
 strated that he was wrong. He would demur, re- 
 join and rebut, keeping the Assembly in suspense 
 for months together, without a prospect of accom- 
 modation, with the result of frequent and angry 
 dissolutions, in which nothing was gained but in- 
 creased firmness, in standing upon the points con- 
 tested and a popular prejudice against the gov- 
 ernment. His manner of speech, it was said, be- 
 came harsh and imperious, and calculated to 
 arouse feelings of indignation towards him. He 
 was charged with being discourteous to the gen- 
 eral Assembly and harassed them, by frequent ad- 
 jounxment, by discussions, opinionated views and 
 
56 
 
 discourses on the theory of government. The 
 strained conditions between the Grovernor and the 
 Assembly did not improve. Finally the Assembly 
 assumed the defensive and refused to pass an act 
 for the payment of the Grovemor's salary, until 
 the Governor should give his approval to certain 
 laws which they deemed important. Thus to the 
 mutual dissatisfaction of both the Governor and 
 his legislative Assembly, the differences between 
 the two grew wider at every session and restora- 
 tion of harmony never occurred. The trouble 
 with each was probably organic. Lewis Morris 
 was a man not born to yield a point, nor was the 
 New Jersey Assembly. It was simply with each 
 a case of diamond cutting diamond. The obsti- 
 nacy of the Assembly was illustrated, by its re- 
 fusal after Governor Morris' death, to pay his 
 widow two years' salary due her husband at his 
 decease. Nearly two years after that event, his 
 widow was compelled to make application to the 
 legislature for its payment, but the Assembly re- 
 fused the claim and I believe never did pay it, 
 much to its discredit. But it must be admitted, 
 that notwithstanding the unfortunate differences 
 that prevailed between the Governor and the As- 
 sembly, there was very much important legisla- 
 tion enacted under his administration. 
 
57 
 
 Lewis Morris died in May, 1747. Up to that 
 time he was the most noted Colonial character in 
 the history of New Jersey. He was several years 
 Chief Justice of New York and a member there, 
 of the House of Assembly. He was a restless 
 man of great ability. He was a member of the 
 Council which was appointed by Queen Anne for 
 her cousin Lord Combury, who soon suspended 
 him as a refractory member. He was after- 
 wards restored by the Queen, who suspended him 
 a second time ia the same year. The indictment 
 against Combury which he presented to the Queen, 
 was a document of tremendous power. Quoting 
 from the History of New York as given in Smith's 
 History of New Jersey, his character is drawn in 
 a few words: "He was a man of letters, and 
 "tho' a little whimsical in his temper, was grave 
 ' ' iu his manners, and of penetrating parts ; being 
 "excessively fond of the society of men of sense 
 "and reading: He was never wearied at a sit- 
 "ting, till the spirits of the whole company were 
 "dissipated. From his infancy he had lived in a 
 "manner best adapted to teach him the nature of 
 "man, and to fortify his mind for the vicissitudes 
 "of life: He very early lost both his father and 
 "mother, and fell under the patronage of his 
 "uncle: Being a boy of strong passions, he gave 
 
(( 
 
 58 
 
 'frequent offence to Ms uncle, and on one of these 
 'occasions, through fear of his resentment, 
 strolled away into Virginia, and thence to Ja- 
 "maica, in the West-Indies; where to support 
 "himself, he set up for a scriviner: After several 
 "years spent in this vagabond life, he returned 
 "again to his uncle who received the young prodi- 
 "gal with joy. In New Jersey, he signalized him- 
 "self in the service of both of the proprietors 
 "and the assembly; the latter employed him to 
 "draw up their com^plaint against my lord Corn- 
 "bury, and he was made the bearer of it to the 
 ' ' queen : Tho ' he was indolent in the management 
 "of his private affairs, yet through the love of 
 "power, he was always busy in matters of a poli- 
 "tioal nature; and no man in the colony equalled 
 "him in the knowledge of the law, and the arts of 
 "intrigue. He was one of the council of New-Jer- 
 "sey, and a judge of the supreme court in 1692. 
 "Upon the surrender of the government to queen 
 "Anne, in 1702, he was named to be governor of 
 "that colony, but the appointment was changed 
 "in favour of lord Cornbury, the queen's cousin." 
 "But," says Mr. Smith, "whatever his faults, 
 "it must be remembered that the province owed 
 "much to his early patriotism and abilities ; scarce 
 "an instance of inordinate love of money, is to be 
 
59 
 
 "found in his private conduct ; lie inherited a large 
 "estate from his uncle, and appeared moderate in 
 "adding to it: He was besides, in his way, a kind 
 "husband, and indeed had uncommon cause to be 
 " so ; an affectionate parent ; had the satisfaction 
 "of a promising offspring, and lived to see most 
 "of them married." 
 
 A genius has been defined as one who is mad 
 in the right direction. Morris' character seems 
 to comport with that definition as illustrated in 
 his will which contains an autobiography. Among 
 other things he orders, that no man shall be paid 
 for preaching a funeral sermon over him, but if 
 any should be inclined to say anything on the oc- 
 casion of his funeral, he may, if his executors see 
 fit, be he a churchman or dissenter, in or not in 
 priest's orders. He would not have any mourning 
 worn for him, by any of his descendants; "for I 
 shall die in a good old age"; and when called 
 hence "I die when I shall die and no relation of 
 mine ought to mourn because I do so;" * * * 
 "but may perhaps mourn to pay the shop keeper 
 for his goods, should they comply with (what I 
 think) the common folly of suoh an expence." 
 
 In the years 1769 and 1770 there were riots in 
 Monmouth County, as the result of a bitter feeling, 
 on the part of some of the inhabitants against the 
 
60 
 
 lawyers. The agitation pervaded the counties of 
 Middlesex, Essex and Monmouth, and was more 
 intense in the southwesterly part of Monmouth 
 than elsewhere. It is stated in Field's Provincial 
 Courts, that "In July 1769 a multitude of persons 
 assembled in riotous manner at Freehold in the 
 Coimty of Monmouth, and endeavored to prevent 
 the lawyers from entering the court house and 
 transacting business. But the tumult was at this 
 time quelled, owing iu a great measure to the spir- 
 ited exertions of Eichard Stocikton. " * * * "He 
 appeased the rioters, punished the ring leaders 
 and restored the laws to their regular course." 
 The attention of Governor FranMin being called 
 to this subject, he caused public measures to be 
 taken to bring the offenders to justice and prevent 
 further interferences with the government. 
 
 The promoters of these disturbances, were men 
 who called themselves the "Sons of Liberty." A 
 special comonission was issued by the Governor to 
 try the rioters, and leading ones were tried and 
 punished in Essex County, but in Monmouth they 
 escaped by reason of the inhabitants in some lo- 
 calities being in sympathy with them. The dis- 
 turbances, however, were successfully quelled 
 after the public had taken hold of the matter with 
 a firm hand. 
 
61 
 
 The real cause of the outbreak against the law- 
 yers, is said to have been that many people had 
 made investments in land speculations, thereby 
 overburdening theonselves with debt. These trans- 
 actions were followed by the hard times of 1765- 
 1770 when, unable to meet the financial obliga- 
 tions, they were sold out by the Sheriff, and there- 
 after charged the responsibility of their misfor- 
 tunes upon the lawyers. The large proportion of 
 these malcontents, were men who a few years later 
 in the American Eevolution, abandoned the cause 
 of their country and went over to the British.^* 
 
 I have found no record of lawyers of Monmouth 
 County, educated for the profession in the period 
 that intervened between the death of Lewis Mor- 
 ris and the close of the Eevolution, though I must 
 confess I have not made an exhaustive search in 
 the old court records to find them if there were 
 any. Even if found, there might be difficulty in 
 locating their residence. No doubt there were 
 numbers of pettifoggers in those days practicing 
 in the Small Cause Courts, and doing the work of 
 scriviners, but never educated to the legal pro- 
 fession, the like of whom were to be found here in 
 abundance forty or fifty years ago, men of clever 
 
 "P. p. c. 
 
62 
 
 local reputation as orators and pettifoggers, and 
 quite capable of giving a learned lawyer a great 
 deal of trouble. The county then was too sparsely 
 inhabited, to support specially educated lawyers. 
 The county at that time did not contain a village 
 of five hundred inhabitants ; the entire population 
 of the county including Ocean in 1726, was less 
 than five thousand, and sixty-four years later had 
 not passed the seventeen thousand mark. There 
 was no town or village in the County worthy of 
 the appellation of village, excepting probably Eat- 
 ontown and Middletown Point. Even after the 
 Revolutionary War and until the close of the 
 eighteenth century, our county was mainly sup- 
 plied with court lawyers by men from outside the 
 county, who made it a part of their business to at- 
 tend the sessions of our county courts, at each 
 and every term. Of such was one 
 
63 
 
 JONATHAN RHEA, 
 
 a lawyer from Trenton, originally from Pennsyl- 
 vania, admitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1784. 
 He practiced law for many years at the bar of this 
 state, where his intelligence and sound judgment 
 were highly esteemed and respected. There is a 
 record of him that in 1791, he presented a pro- 
 test against the condition of the court house at 
 Freehold, ' ' accompanied by a report of the G-rand 
 Jury, and an order was made by the court respect- 
 ing the same." The board of chosen freeholders, 
 ordered the court house repaired at its next 
 meeting, and that the court house lot be fenced 
 around with paling six feet high, and in the rear 
 with a small fence six rails high. He was a free 
 mason of No. 19, on the Register of Provincial 
 Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. A dispensation 
 was granted him January 30th, 1787, to open a 
 lodge at Freehold, to be designated by the name 
 of Trinity Lodge, of which he became a member. 
 His name frequently appears in the records of the 
 Grand Lodge of New Jersey, and Trinity Lodge 
 No. 3, and of Grand Lodge No. 5 at Trenton, of 
 which he became the Treasurer. He was an 
 officer in the Continental Army, and served with 
 zeal and fidelity; he was Quarter Master General 
 
64 
 
 from 1813 to 1821, and at one time Olerk of the 
 Supreme Court of New Jersey.®' He died Feb. 
 3d, 1815, aged 56 years 10 months and twenty-two 
 days.*" 
 
 JOSEPH SGUDDEB, 
 
 was a prominent lawyer of Monmouth County, and 
 a resident of Freehold in 1794. In 1798 he was 
 elected Clerk of Monmouth County. He occupied 
 in Freehold the house, where Dr. D. M. Forman 
 formerly resided. He was a founder of the Mon- 
 mouth County Bible Society in 1817. Dr. Na- 
 thaniel Scudder was his father, who was a resi- 
 dent of Freehold, a member of the Committee of 
 Safety in the Eevolutionary War, speaker of the 
 House of Assembly, and a member of Congress. 
 Joseph had a daughter who was the second wife 
 of Daniel B. Eyall. He was the grand father of 
 Mrs. Louisa Vought, formerly of Freehold, now 
 deceased, and of the late Thomas W. Eyall, de- 
 ceased. Governor Parker was also a connection 
 of this Scudder family, on his maternal side. 
 Joseph was the father of John Scudder, a pioneer 
 missionary to India in the early part of the last 
 
 -E. H., pp. 107, 280, 406, 475 and 476. 
 "B. & H. His. of N. J., p. 303. 
 
65 
 
 century, who had eight sons and two daughters, 
 all of whom were ministers or missionaries.®* 
 
 CALEB and CORLIES LLOYD, 
 
 were brothers and lawyers, both admitted to the 
 Bar in April, 1791, and opened offices at Free- 
 hold. Both were founders of the Monmouth 
 Oounty Bible Society. Caleb was Surrogate of 
 the County from 1791 to 1804, County Clerk from 
 1812 to 1817, again Surrogate from 1817 until his 
 death. Eev. Daniel V. McLean, D. D. read a 
 sketch of Joseph Scudder, Caleb and Corlies 
 Lloyd before a meeting of the Monmouth County 
 Bible Society. Corlies Lloyd was Prosecutor of 
 the Pleas from 1828 to 1833.«2 
 
 WILLLAlM LLOYD, 
 
 a brother of the last named, was Sheriff of Mon- 
 mouth from 1793 until 1796. He was succeeded 
 by his brother James, Sheriff from 1796 to 1799, 
 and James was again elected Sheriff in 1805 and 
 continued as Sheriff for three years. In 1820 he 
 was again made Sheriff and held the position for 
 three years, and was succeeded in 1823 by his 
 brother Eichard Lloyd. Eichard was a Eevolu- 
 
 "B. H., pp. 280, 353, 362, 386n. 390, 392. 
 
 "B. H., pp. 280, 353, 354, 362, 389, 390, 392, 394, 395. 
 
66 
 
 tionary officer of some prominence. It used to 
 be said of the Lloyd family, William, James, 
 Caleb and Gorlies, that in the early decades, they 
 held all the important offices of the county, and 
 that no business could be done except through the 
 Lloyd family. William was a judge of the court 
 and high sheriff, James high sheriff, Caleb clerk 
 and surrogate, Corlies prosecuting attorney. But 
 observing the dates of their official services, it 
 will be noticed they were not all in office at the 
 same time. William Lloyd was a member of the 
 House of Assembly for the year 1800, and a mem- 
 ber of the legislative Council in 1808. John 
 Lloyd was a member of the legislative Council of 
 New Jersey in 1800.^* 
 
 JAMES H. IMLAY, 
 
 probably of Imlaystown or Upper Freehold, ap- 
 pears on the roll of attorneys as admitted to prac- 
 tice in April, 1791 and as Counsellor in 1796. He 
 was a member of the General Assembly from the 
 year 1793 to 1796, and in his last year was speaker 
 of the House. He was an officer of prominence in 
 the War of the Eevolution, and a member of Con- 
 gress of the United States from 1797 'm 1801."* 
 
 »E. H., pp. 107, 109. 353, 389, 390, 392, 395, 475, 506. 
 »E. H., pp. 107, 109, 280. 
 
67 
 
 WILLIAM I. BOWNE, 
 
 was born in Monmoutli County in 1792. He was a 
 law student in the office of Joseph K. Phillips, 
 Esq., at Freehold. In 1838, he was secretary of 
 the Monmouth Agricultural Society. In 1822, he 
 was elected a meanber of the Legislative Council 
 of New Jersey ; soon after he was appointed Judge 
 of the Common Pleas, which office he held for sev- 
 eral years. His associates on the Bench at one 
 time, were Judges Jehu Patterson, John Hull and 
 James Hopping. During his term the court, was 
 raised to the highest standard and came to be 
 regarded by the Bar and community at large as 
 the most efficient, judicious and impartial tribunal 
 ia the state. At one time Mr. Bowne was the 
 manager and cashier of the old Monmouth Bank 
 which was chartered in 1824. He died April 16th, 
 1858.«5 
 
 JEHU PATTERSON, 
 
 a layman from the township of Middletown, 
 served a term (1831), in the Legislative Council 
 and for a long time was a lay judge of the Court 
 of Common Pleas for Monmouth County. He was 
 chief scriviner of that part of Middletown Town- 
 
 "B. H., pp. 365n, 392, 393n, 395, 398n. 
 
68 
 
 ship, lying between Earitan Bay and the Navesink 
 River. He owned a farm on tlie north, side of the 
 Navesink Eiver where he resided. Old docuanents 
 in his handwriting, are still to be found in the 
 files of old practitioners of the county. He had an 
 orthography that was peculiarly his own, and for 
 which he was specially noted. On one occasion 
 when Judge Patterson was presiding judge, and a 
 learned lawyer from Trenton was summing up a 
 case to the jury, the lawyer was interrupted by a 
 
 remark of the judge which was, ' ' Mr , 
 
 I guess you will have to come down a little. Really, 
 Sir, your language is too 'high-flown' for the jury 
 to understand you." He was the father of Hon. 
 James Patterson of Middletown Township, who 
 was a member of the Legislative Council of New 
 Jersey in 1841-1844, and the latter year Vice 
 President of the Council. He was also the father 
 of Charles Gordon Patterson, M. D., a prominent 
 physician of New Egypt, who died in February, 
 1835.«« 
 
 ••B. H., pp. 285, 398, 393, 108. 
 
69 
 
 JOHN HULL, 
 
 anotlier lay judge associated "witli Bowne and Pat- 
 terson, was a county judge for twenty-five years, 
 He was bom May 28th, 1762. In his boyhood days 
 he was taken prisoner in the Eevolutionary War, 
 and confined for a time in a British prison known 
 as the "Sugar House." He learned the trade of 
 blacksmith, which he followed successfully for 
 many years. By frugal habits and untiring in- 
 dustry, he acquired an independent fortune. He 
 was first appointed judge of the county courts in 
 1813, and was one of the three founders of the 
 "Young Ladies' Seminary at Freehold" in 1845, 
 which was destined to acquire prominence as the 
 best educating institution for young ladies in Mon- 
 mouth County. Judge Hull was a self made man, 
 but remarkable for his independence and his ex- 
 cellent business qualities. He died in 1853 in the 
 ninety-second year of his age, leaving his wife 
 surviving him and two daughters, one of whom 
 was the wife of the late Aimzi C. McLean, a prom- 
 inent lawyer of Monmouth County for many 
 years.*'' 
 
 Another colleague associated with Judges Hull 
 and Patterson on the Common Pleas Bench was 
 
 •'E. H., 382, 392n, 398. 
 
70 
 
 JAMES HOPPING, 
 
 a proaninent farmer of Middletown Townsiiip, 
 "whose son, John J. married a granddaughter of 
 Judge Jehu Patterson, of the County of Mon- 
 mouth. Judge Hopping 's descendants were from 
 Morris County, and rendered important service in 
 the American Army of the Revolution. He was a 
 member of the New Jersey Assembly in 1827, and 
 died in the year 1834. Upon his death the Mon- 
 mouth County Bench and Bar held a meeting at 
 Hendrickson's Hotel at Freehold, after the ad- 
 journment of the Court April 25th, 1834, for 
 the purpose of adopting resolutions of respect, 
 for the memory of the Hon. William Lloyd 
 and the Hon. James Hopping; the follow- 
 ing named Judges and lawyers, Jehu Patterson, 
 John Hull, William I. Bowne, Daniel B. Eyall, 
 William L. Dayton, and Joseph F. Randolph were 
 appointed a committee, to prepare resolution 
 suitable to the melancholy occasion.®* 
 
 GARRETT DORSETT WALL, 
 
 was born in 1783 in the Township of Middletown, 
 Monmouth County. His mother was a Dorsett, 
 and both of his parents had numerous relatives 
 
 "B. H., pp. 109, 398. 
 
71 
 
 and acquaintances in this county. Ellis' History 
 classes him as a Monmouth County lawyer, who 
 made it his business to attend all the courts of 
 Monmouth County, during the course of his pro- 
 fessional life. His father James Wall had been 
 an officer in the War of Independence and a par- 
 ticipant in the Battle of Monmouth, where he per- 
 sonally captured an English officer who tendered 
 him his sword. At an early age he became a stu- 
 dent in the law offices of G-en. Jonathan Ehea, who 
 at that time was Clerk of the Supreme Court of 
 New Jersey. He began the practice of law at 
 Trenton, and was admitted to the New Jersey Bar 
 in November 1804. In 1812 he was elected Clerk 
 of the Supreme Court for the term of five years. 
 He failed of re-election and returned to the prac- 
 tice of his profession. In the War of 1812 he 
 volunteered his services, as Captain of the Phoenix 
 Infantry Corps and was detailed in connection 
 with other troops, to aid in the protection of the 
 City of New York. In 1822 he was elected mem- 
 ber of the state legislature from Hunterdon 
 County and served for five years. Up to this time 
 he had been a member of the Federalist Party, but 
 then from conviction, he became a pronounced 
 democrat or ''Republican" as known in those 
 
72 
 
 days, and was one of tlie earliest supporters of 
 General Jackson for the presidency in 1824. In 
 1827 he was re-elected a member of the Assembly 
 for Hunterdon County. In 1824 he was elected 
 by the legislature as Governor of the state, which 
 he declined. For several years he was United 
 States District Attorney for New Jersey, having 
 been nominated by President Jackson, which 
 official station he held for several years, discharg- 
 ing its duties with energy and ability. In 1834 he 
 was elected United States Senator, which position 
 he held during the last two years of Jackson's 
 term and the entire four years of Van Buren's ad- 
 ministration. Upon the expiration of his term he 
 returned to Burlington, which town had been 
 his home since 1828, and recommenced his pro- 
 fessional duties. In 1848 be was a member of the 
 Court of Errors and Appeals, which position he 
 occupied until his death in November, 1850. He 
 was twice married. His first wife was the daughter 
 of his preceptor. General Jonathan Ehea. He had 
 many acquaintances and relations in Monmouth 
 County, where he was always popular socially 
 and professionally. It was said of him that when 
 he began his practice as a trial lawyer he had diflS- 
 culty in articulating clearly and fluently and was 
 
73 
 
 somewhat discouraged, but he persevered and be- 
 came one of the ablest trial lawyers in the state, 
 achieving a brilliant and lasting reputation as an 
 eloquent speaker. General Wall was a man pos- 
 sessed of many social qualities. He was noted for 
 his hospitality and his kind and gentle manner. 
 He was also spirited and patriotic, and greatly at- 
 tached to his native state and county. His death 
 occurred in 1850.®* 
 
 THEODORE FRELINGHUYSEN 
 
 was not a resident of our County but visited it 
 frequently to try causes. He belonged to the 
 aristocratic Frelinghuysen family of New Jersey. 
 He was not only a great lawyer but a statesman 
 as well. He became a United States Senator 
 from Niew Jersey and was a candidate for the 
 Vice-Presidency on the ticket with Henry Clay, 
 in 1844. I recall that political campaign, when 
 seven years of age I stood on my father's gate 
 post and hurrahed for Henry Clay and Freling- 
 huysen, as a democratic procession passed by on 
 its return from a political meeting. He was 
 born in New Brunswick in 1787. His grandfather 
 was Eev. John Frelinghuysen, who came to the 
 
 "B. E. of N. J., p. 25; W. J. & C. H. of N. J., pp. 265, 518; 
 Elm. R. of N. J., pp. 419, 431. 
 
74 
 
 United States from Holland in 1720, and min- 
 istered for more than a quarter of a century to 
 the Dutch settlers, in Somerset and Middlesc-: 
 Counties. His father Frederick was educated 
 at Princeton, who was also a distinguished lawyer, 
 member of the Provincial Congress, and a Cap- 
 tain of artillery in the Battle of Trenton. Dur- 
 ing Washington's administration he commanded 
 as Major Greneral, a portion of the army sent to 
 Western Pennsylvania, to quell the whiskey in- 
 surrection. He died in 1804. Theodore gradu- 
 ated at Princeton in that year and choosing to be 
 a lawyer studied law with Eichard Stockton and 
 was admitted to the Bar in 1808. He followed the 
 profession until 1839, and achieved great success. 
 He was elected by the Legislature in joint conven- 
 tion, Attorney Greneral of the state, and re-elected, 
 holding his office until he was elected to the Sen- 
 ate of the United States in 1829. The high in- 
 tegrity of his character and the unquestionable 
 virtue of his motives, in connection with the high 
 order of his ability, invested him with much power 
 in Washington. Early in 1839 he wias chosen chan- 
 cellor of the University of New York, which posi- 
 tion he accepted and removed to New York City ; 
 that meant the relinquishment of the practice 
 
75 
 
 of ihis profession. In 1850 he was chosen presi- 
 dent of Eutgers College and removed to New 
 Brunswick, where he passed his remaining days. 
 He was president of the American Board of For- 
 eign Missions, and in 1846 president of the Ameri- 
 can Bible Society. He tried a number of cases 
 at the Monmouth County Bar. His death oc- 
 curred in 1862 at the age of 75 years'^". 
 
 RICHARD STOCKTON, 
 
 was a lawyer and a United States Senator from 
 New Jersey, and a bright and shining light of 
 the New Jersey Bar, who occasionally tried a 
 cause in. the Monmouth Court House. He inher- 
 ited a noble name. His father was also Richard 
 Stockton, am eminent lawyer, Justice of the Su- 
 preme Court before the Eevolution, and a signer 
 of the Declaration of Independence. He was 
 bom at Princeton in the year 1764, admitted to 
 the New Jersey Bar as Attorney in 1784. His 
 practice came slowly at first, but grew to large 
 proportions. From the year 1818 until his death, 
 he was generally recognized as the leader of the 
 New Jersey Bar and the distinction was undoubt- 
 edly deserved. He was in the habit of reading 
 
 ™Blm. R. of N. J., pp. 442, 456; B. B. of N. J., p. 156; W. 
 J. & C. H. of N. J., p. 402. 
 
76 
 
 the most important parts of Blackstone Oommen- 
 taries, once in every year. He was said to be 
 about the only New Jersey lawyer of his time, 
 who argued causes before the Supreme Court at 
 "Washington, in cases not originating in the state. 
 He was an orator of great eloquence, a master of 
 invective and retort, and crushing in sarcasm. 
 After serving his state in the United States Sen- 
 ate, he was chosen in 1813 as a member of the 
 thirteenth Congress, proving himself a worthy 
 contemporary of such men as Webster, Calhoun 
 and Clay. Princeton College was his Alma 
 Mater. He was said to be a man of most impos- 
 ing personal appearance, and singularly polished 
 address. He came to be known among the junior 
 members of the Bar as "the old duke"; yet he 
 was very affable and easy of access. He died in 
 1828, not quite 64 years of age.''^ 
 
 JOSEPH WARREN SCOTT, 
 
 was a splendid character and a lawyer, who was 
 frequently interested in Monmouth County cases. 
 He was born November 28th, 1778, and was a son 
 of Dr. Moses Scott, who fell at Bunker Hill. He 
 graduated at Princeton in 1795 imder 17 years of 
 
 "Elm. R. of N. J., p. 409; B. E. of N. J., p. 16. 
 
77 
 
 age, studied law in the office of General Frederick 
 Frelingliuysen in New Brunswick, and was li- 
 censed as an attorney in 1801. He was a most 
 profound lawyer, and Ms practice was a large and 
 lucrative one. He never held an official position, 
 except as prosecutor of the pleas of Middlesex 
 County. When an octogenarian in 1857, he de- 
 fended a criminal on charge of murder. He was 
 a member of the order of the Cincinnati, and its 
 President in 1844. He received the degree of doc- 
 tor of laws, from Princeton University. He was 
 an accomplished gentleman, a superior linguist, 
 an excellent English scholar and familiar with the 
 old poets. He was one of the Governor's staff 
 with the rank of Colonel in early life and by this 
 appellation, he was generally known as Col. Scott. 
 He assisited the State in the celebrated murder 
 ease, tried at Freehold in the "Fifties," of the 
 State V. Donnelly for the murder of Albert S. 
 Moses. The last time he appeared in court, was 
 as counsel for Donnelly in that case, when he 
 argued against the validity of the indictment in 
 1857,'^^ when he was nearly eighty years old.'^^ 
 He died in New Brunswick in May, 1871, very 
 near the age of ninety-three years. 
 
 "2 Dutch., 463. 
 
 "Elm. R. of N. J., p. 474; W. J. & C. H. of N. J., p. BOl; 
 B. E. of N. J., p. 78. 
 
78 
 
 SAMUEL L. SOUTHARD, 
 
 a favorite lawyer, politician and statesman of the 
 State of New Jersey, bom June 7, 1787, at Baskin- 
 ridge. New Jersey. He passed five years of his 
 youth as a teacher at Fredericksburg, Virginia, 
 devoting his leisure hours to the study of law, and 
 in 1809 he was admitted to the Virginia Bar. In 
 1811 he returned to New Jersey and settled at 
 Flemington, and being licensed by the Supreme 
 Court of the State, opened his office and soon was 
 in the possession of a remunerative practice, 
 eventually taking high rank at the Bar. He be- 
 came prosecuting attorney of Hunterdon County, 
 and iQ 1814 he was appointed state law reporter. 
 In 1815 he was elected a member of the general 
 assembly. He had previously attracted great at- 
 tention in that body, by an argument in opposition 
 to "a petition for the repeal of law, granting to 
 Aaron Ogden and Daniel Dodd the exclusive right, 
 of using steam boats plying between New Jersey 
 and New York, in the waters of New Jersey." 
 Soon after taking his seat in the Legislature, he 
 was chosen a Judge of the Supreme Court. He 
 removed his residence to Trenton and posed for 
 five years on the bench, being also selected as re- 
 porter of the decisions of his court. In 1820 he 
 
79 
 
 was engaged in connection with Charles Ewing, 
 to attend the preparation of the "Eevised Stat- 
 utes of the State," and to superintend their pub- 
 lication. In the Autumn of the same year, he was 
 elected by the Legislature a member of the Elec- 
 toral College of New Jersey. As such he cast his 
 vote for that sterling patriot James Monroe, who 
 was also his personal friend. In 1821 he was 
 elected United States Senator, and took his seat 
 in that body in February, 1821, having been so 
 elected to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resig- 
 nation of James J. Wilson, whose term would 
 have expired March 3rd, 1821. He was the author 
 of the Missouri Compromise Eesolutions, which 
 were first introduced by Henry Clay in the House 
 of Eepresentatives and there passed, and were 
 afterwards, presented in the Senate by their au- 
 thor and passed. From that time Henry Clay 
 had all the merit of settling the question, while 
 the real originator and author of the measure was 
 quietly ignored. He remained a member of the 
 Senate until 1823, when he succeeded Hon. Smith 
 Thompson as Secretary of the Navy. In 1829, he 
 was elected Attorney General of the State. He 
 returned to Trenton and there resumed the prac- 
 tice of his profession. In 1832 the Legislature of 
 New Jersey, elected him Governor of the State. 
 
80 
 
 He held this position for three months, when he 
 was chosen United States Senator. His only mes- 
 sage to the Legislature, in his short gubernatorial 
 term, was addressed to them in January, 1833, 
 relative to the nullification acts of South Carolina, 
 and transmitting to those bodies copies of the 
 same, which he had receievd from the Governor 
 of that state. He then took occasion to express 
 his concurrence, in the views of President Jackson 
 in his celebrated proclamation, issued on the oc- 
 casion, and which for the time united all parties 
 of the North in one solid column, to the support 
 of the men who declared that the "Union must 
 and shall be preserved." In the Autumn of 1838 
 he was re-elected, to the United States Senate for 
 the full term of six years, and in 1841 was elected 
 president pro tern of that body, and upon the 
 death of the president, William H. Harrison in 
 April, 1841, when Vice President Tyler succeeded 
 to the Chief Magistery, Southard filled the posi- 
 tion of presiding officer from that time continuously 
 for life. In 1838, Mr. Southard was appointed 
 president of the Morris Canal and Banking Com- 
 pany, and thenceforth took up his residence in Jer- 
 sey City. He died June 26th, 1842, at the house of 
 his wife's brother in Fredericksburg, Virginia, 
 aged 55 years and 19 days. "His reputation," 
 
81 
 
 says an historian, "is a rich and invaluable legacy 
 to Ms native state ; her citizens will benefit them- 
 selves by remembering him, who in his life time 
 was known as New Jersey's 'favorite son' '"* 
 
 GEORGE WOOD. 
 
 Governor Parker said in an address delivered 
 in 1873, that fifty years ago — taking him back to 
 1823 — there was scarcely a celebrated lawyer in 
 the state, who did not attend our courts. One ot 
 the number he mentioned, was George Wood, of 
 whom he quoted the words of Daniel Webster, 
 who said that he regarded Mr. Wood, as his most 
 dangerous opponent in the Supreme Court of the 
 United States. That was before my time, but I 
 have looked up the record of Mr. Wood, for con- 
 firmation of the justice of this high commenda- 
 tion of his legal ability. I find he was born in 
 Burlington Coimty, New Jersey about the year 
 1780. He was a graduate of Princeton College 
 in the class of 1808. He studied law with Eichard 
 Stockton and was admitted to the New Jersey Bar 
 in 1812, and began his law practice at New Bruns- 
 wick. It is stated that he soon outrivalled Ms 
 
 "B. & H. His. C. of N. J., p. 446; B. B. of N. J., p. 14; W. J. 
 & C. H. of N. J., p. 416; Elm. R. of N. J., p. 201; F. P. C. of 
 N. J., p. 5. 
 
82 
 
 master, to wlioin in some respects he was supe- 
 rior. Hon. L. Q. C. Elmer has said of him, that 
 "His intellect was of the highest order, entitling 
 him to rank with Mr. Webster. His power of 
 analogical reasoning was very striking; the most 
 difficult subject, seemed to arrange itself in his 
 mind, in its true proportions. He had the faculty 
 attributed to Lord Mansfield, of so stating a ques- 
 tion, as to make the mere statement a sufficient 
 argument." After a few years practice in New 
 Jersey, says Mr. Elmer, he removed to New York 
 where he took rank among the leaders and he was 
 the equal of all, if not their superior. Until his 
 death in 1860, he was engaged in the most import- 
 ant cases in New York and other states ; and was 
 among the few eminent lawyers of the country, 
 who held no office. If you will look through Sax- 
 ton's Equity Reports, you will find that Mr. 
 Wood's name appears as Counsel, for one side or 
 the other, in more cases than any other lawyer 
 whose name is mentioned, with Hon. Garrett D. 
 Wall as good second. He took no part in the 
 politics of his time. Once he was strongly recom- 
 mended to President Tyler for the Bench of the 
 United States Supreme Court, but was not ap- 
 pointed. For what reason does not appear, 
 
83 
 
 though there can be no question but that he was 
 fitted by capacity and learning to reflect great 
 credit upon the highest court of judicature in this 
 country. His biographer further says of him: 
 "In my early practice it was my fortune several 
 times to encounter him at the Bar, and a most 
 formidable adversary he was. The last time I 
 heard him, was in the year 1855 when he appeared 
 before the New Jersey Court of Appeals, in the 
 case of Gifford v. Thorn, reported in 1 Stockton, 
 708. I have always thought his speech in that 
 case, upon the whole the ablest to which I ever 
 listened; it combined almost every kind of elo- 
 quence; iQ solid reasoning quite equal to that 
 of his leading opponent, Charles O'Connor; in 
 playful wit, in occasional appeals to the sympathy 
 of the judges, and in impassioned declamation 
 quite superior.'"^ Another writer has stated, that 
 "On one noteworthy occasion, Mr. Van Ardsdale, 
 an old lawyer of Newark, was his opponent in a 
 case, which was conducted with singular dexter- 
 ity. He had filed a bill to foreclose a mortgage, 
 more than twenty years due; and set out with 
 great particularity several payments, alleged to 
 have been made on it by the mortgagor. The 
 answer sworn to by Mr. Van Ardsdale positively 
 
 "Elm. R. of N. J. 
 
84 
 
 denied tlie alleged payments, and denied also that 
 any payments had been made. When he took the 
 ground on the argument, that after twenty years, 
 payment of a debt was to be presTimed, the Chan- 
 cellor remarked with an amused smile, 'How can 
 I presume a payment which the party himself 
 positively denies?' The dilemma seemed then 
 for the first time to be perceived by the Counsel, 
 and the ludicrous manner in which he exclaimed, 
 'Is my client to lose his money by such a trick as 
 that?' caused a general laugh, in which the court 
 could not help participating." 
 
 ' ' One of the more remarkable cases in which he 
 was engaged, was that of Smith v. Wood, a bUl in 
 Chancery for the sale of mortgaged premises to 
 raise a large sum of money. It lasted ten years, 
 and was argued nine times — three times before 
 a Master; once before Chancellor Williamson, 
 who went out of office before he had time to make 
 a decree; once before Chancellor Vroom, whose 
 opinion is reported in Saxton Chancery Eeports, 
 74; three times before the Court of Errors and 
 Appeals; and once before Chancellor Philemon 
 Dickinson. He continued the practice of the law 
 until his death, which occurred in New York in 
 1860, then being eighty years of age. ' ' ''^ 
 
 "B. E. of N. J., p. 500. 
 
85 
 
 JAMES SGHUKEMAN NEVIUS, 
 
 was the first Justice of the Supreme Court whom 
 I saw, presiding at Freehold. He was born in 
 Somerset County in 1796. His ancestry both 
 paternal and maternal, were to be found among 
 the patriots of the Revolution. He graduated at 
 Princeton in 1816. Studied law in the office of 
 Frederick Frelinghuysen ; became a counsellor in 
 1823 and a sergeant-at-law in 1837. He began the 
 practice of law at New Brunswick. He was elected 
 a justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey in 
 1838, by the joint meeting of the Council and as- 
 sembly, to succeed Judge Ryerson, then deceased. 
 In 1845 he was reappointed, by Governor Charles 
 C. Stratton for another term of seven years. He 
 sat on the Bench at Freehold, in the trial of the 
 State vs. Charles Johnson for the murder of Maria 
 Lewis, which was about the last case he tried at 
 Freehold. His biographer said of him, that he 
 was very popular as a judge and as a man, espe- 
 cially among the younger members of the Bar. 
 He had an acute and logical mind, and was pos- 
 sessed of high judicial talent. He was gifted with 
 a fund of information which ever made him an 
 agreeable companion, — his conversation spark- 
 ling with wit and anecdote. He retired from the 
 
86 
 
 Bencli in 1852 and resumed the practice of law at 
 Jersey City, but not to any appreciable extent. 
 
 There is a story told of Judge Nevius, which 
 may be used to illustrate the danger of practical 
 joking. Travelling on a steam boat he stepped up 
 to the Captain's office to pay his fare. Between 
 him and the Captain stood a friend, as he thought, 
 with his back towards him. While the supposed 
 friend was settling with the Captain, his pocket 
 book laid in front of him. The judge passed his 
 hand over the shoulder of the owner, grasped the 
 pocket book and held it behind him. You can im- 
 agine the consternation of the Judge, when he dis- 
 covered that the owner of the pocket book was an 
 entire stranger. The stranger turned, and de- 
 manded that the thief be held in custody, and ar- 
 rested upon landing. Fortunately some mutual 
 friends were present to explain. Notwithstanding 
 this alarming incident and embarrassing position, 
 it is said that Judge Nevius ' sense of humor never 
 deserted hitn. With all his mirth, however, his- 
 torians agree that he was a man of dignity, who 
 could preside at court with the solemnity befitting 
 his high office.''^ 
 
 "W. J. & C. H. of N. J., p. 438; Elm. R. of N. J., p. 347. 
 
87 
 
 DAVID BAILEY RYALL, 
 
 of Freehold, was a lawyer, who had given up ac- 
 tive practice a short time prior to 1860, but he con- 
 tinued from force of habit to attend the court ses- 
 sions at Freehold. He was born at Trenton Janu- 
 ary 30th, 1798, studied law in the office of Hon. 
 Garrett D. Wall, was licensed in 1820 and located 
 at Freehold. Throughout his life he was highly 
 esteemed as a skilled practitioner and a wise coun- 
 sellor. He acquired a lucrative practice, and re- 
 tained it for thirty-five years, when he retired 
 from business. It is related of him that he loved 
 his profession ; and his industry and energy were 
 remarkable. He was not only faithful to his 
 clients, but shared in their anxieties and identified 
 himself with their causes. He entertained no jeal- 
 ousy of professional rivals, and his intercourse 
 with them was always pleasant. He was never 
 too busy to assist the young practitioner, by lend- 
 ing him the benefit of his knowledge and experi- 
 ence, and frequently delighted them with reminis- 
 cences of his earlier associations with distin- 
 guished lawyers and statesmen. 
 
 For several years he was a member of the New 
 Jersey legislature, and at one time speaker of the 
 House of Assembly. Subsequently he became a 
 
88 
 
 representative in the United States Congress, 
 ■where lie served Ms state with great ability. He 
 died at Freehold December 17th, 1864, beloved and 
 lamented by all who knew himJ* 
 
 PETER VREDENBUBGH, 
 
 son of Dr. Peter Vredenburgh of Somerville, 
 was bom in 1805, in Hunterdon County. He 
 graduated at Eutgers College in 1826, was ad- 
 mitted to the New Jersey Bar in 1829, and opened 
 his first office at Eatontown, Monmouth County. 
 In about one year he removed his office to Free- 
 hold, where he found a rival practitioner in the 
 person of Daniel B. Ryall, who was ten years 
 his predecessor. He was not content in youth 
 with the acquisition of merely local practice, but 
 sought, as shown by our early court reports, a 
 more extended field. Very soon he was taking 
 rank with the ablest practitioners of the State, 
 in the argument of causes in the New Jersey 
 courts. It was said of Vredenburgh and Day- 
 ton in their early practice, that these boys 
 had come down from the mountains of the 
 north, to bear away the palm of Monmouth. 
 Peter Vredenburgh gave his life's work to the 
 study of law and jurisprudence, and never 
 
 "B. H., p. 281. 
 
89 
 
 suffered his industries to be diverted from the 
 profession of his choice. He was appointed Prose- 
 cutor of the pleas of Monmouth County in 1837, 
 at the age of thirty-two years, and held the posi- 
 tion for fifteen years. One term he served in the 
 Legislative Council of New Jersey. In 1815 G^ov- 
 ernor Rodman M. Price, though opposed to him 
 in politics, appointed him an associate justice of 
 the Supreme Court. At the end of his term he 
 was reappointed to the same office. He was one 
 of the Counsel for the state, in the murder case 
 of the State v. Charles Johnson. I heard the 
 summing up in that case, by Mr. Vredenburgh and 
 Mr. Dayton. I was impressed with the clearness 
 and power of Mr. Vredenburgh 's reasoning. He 
 drove the wedge of argument deeply, with a con- 
 tinued succession of sledgehammer blows. There 
 was no attempt at display. He simply was vigi- 
 lant, earnest, active, tactful; qualities, which con- 
 vey truth to the jury about as well as flowers of 
 rhetoric or charms of oratory. There were 
 negro witnesses that testified for the state giving 
 strong testimony against Johnson, the prisoner. 
 Mr. Dayton endeavored to parry its effect by 
 ridicule, by bold accusations of perjury, by ap- 
 peal to race prejudice, all of which was set at 
 naught in Mr. Vredenburgh 's reply, by a simple 
 
90 
 
 but humorous reference, to the terrible stench 
 these innocent negroes had begotten in the delicate 
 nostrils of the distinguished Counsel for the pris- 
 oner. This case was an uphill fight for Judge 
 Dayton. He drew upon all his resources of per- 
 sonal influence as a great lawyer, jurist and states- 
 man, as a master of invective, as a magnetizer of 
 men, which enabled him by his dignity of manner 
 and judicious phrase to bind men to him with 
 bands of siteel. But for all that, the jury's ver- 
 dict was "guilty." The verdict was set aside, 
 because of a technical omission of the jury to 
 designate the degree of the crime. This over- 
 sight, necessitated a re-trial of the case by the 
 same Counsel, but not with the same result, a ver- 
 dict being rendered this time by the jury of "not 
 guUty," which set the prisoner free. 
 
 Judge Vredenburgh was the first Supreme Court 
 Judge, before whom I had the honor of appearing 
 as a lawyer. It was in a bastardy case from the 
 Township of Shrewsbury, tried below before 
 two Justices of the Peace, w'ho were Justice Truax 
 of Long Branch and Justice MUler of Shark 
 River, one hot July afternoon in the summer of 
 '62, in the woods under the shady pines which sur- 
 rounded the Halfway House. There was a large 
 crowd of auditors. Clark Newman, who for fifty 
 
91 
 
 years bore the sobriquet of "the silver-tongued 
 orator of Shrewsbury," and Peter Vredenburgh, 
 Jr., only recently admitted to the New Jersey 
 Bar, represented the putative father of the child, 
 while it was my duty to serve the interests of the 
 Township on the other side. A jury of twenty- 
 four men was impanelled, which brought in a unan- 
 imous verdict for the Township. An appeal was 
 taken by the defendant to the court above, over 
 which Justice Vredenburgh presided. The ar- 
 gument on the appeal was very short and ele- 
 mentary. The motion of the defendant was to 
 set aside the verdict below, on the ground of ex- 
 cess of jurymen. Judge Vredenburgh asked the 
 appellant's lawyer what he had to say to that 
 complaint. "Nothing," was the reply. "Then," 
 said Judge Vredenburgh, "nothing remains to be 
 done except to set aside the verdict." It was set 
 aside. That meant going back to the woods and 
 trying the case over again, which I did with the 
 result of a verdict in my favor, which was solid 
 and capable of resisting all attacks. This experi- 
 ence taught me caution, which I regard as a most 
 valuable asset to a lawyer young or old. 
 
 At the expiration of Judge Vredenburgh 's sec- 
 ond term of office as Justice of the Supreme 
 Court, he resumed the practice of his profession. 
 
92 
 
 At this period I chose him as my associate coim- 
 sel in an important case, where a worthy, but indi- 
 gent old woman, who had been receiving help from 
 her township, fell heir to a small estate, and there- 
 upon the township sued her to recover back the 
 money it had voluntarily advanced, for her neces- 
 sary support, in her days of absolute poverty. 
 The Judge argued the case with much zest and elo- 
 quent pathos in behalf of the good woman. His 
 contention was that a suit to recover back money, 
 advanced in voluntary benevolences could not be 
 maintained. Edward W. Scudder, the presiding 
 judge on the occasion so decided and thus the old 
 lady triumphed over the stony hearted municipal 
 authorities. 
 
 In his last years when his health was failing, he 
 sought comfort in daily walks upon the streets, 
 visiting the court house, the scene of his early 
 labors and triumphs, and waiting at the station 
 on the arrival of the cars, to greet his friends and 
 acquaintances from all parts of the county. He 
 loved to sit on his porch hailing friends as they 
 passed, who frequently called for a social chat. 
 On occasions of that sort he indulged in reminis- 
 cences of his past ; spoke of his early career when 
 he was accustomed to attend court at Trenton, New 
 Brunswick, Mount Holly, Toms River and other 
 
93 
 
 places, involving long journeys, wHcJi lie usually 
 made -with horse and sulky. In those days he said 
 five dollars meant a good day's work to the aver- 
 age lawyer, and two thousand dollars net earn- 
 ings in a year was considered a lucrative prac- 
 tice, which only the most successful lawyers could 
 command. 
 
 "When a young man he took an active part in 
 politics, as an enthusiastic memher of the Whig 
 party. As Prosecutor of the Pleas, if he had any 
 doubts as to the gmlt of a prisoner, he frankly 
 so stated and consented to an acquittal. As Judge, 
 many of his decisions are reported among the 
 ablest of the judiciary. His power of analyz- 
 ing and marshalling the testimony of witnesses 
 was xmsurpassed, which stood him well in hand, 
 both as a lawyer at the Bar and as a Judge on the 
 Bench. On the Bench he was given in charging 
 juries, to summing up the strong points in the case 
 and presenting them to the jury, with strong em- 
 phasis of voice and gesture, strongly indicating 
 to the jury what were his zealous convictions. As 
 to the propriety of that way of charging juries, 
 the lawyers were not at all of one mind and natur- 
 ally would criticise it, from their respective stand- 
 points of interest or experience. Henry S. Little 
 was one who believed in Judge Vredenburgh's 
 
94 
 
 method of charging. The Judge was vehement, 
 he said, because he knew he was right and it was 
 the only way to make the jury agree with him. 
 Any other way meant a split jury or a new trial. 
 Others would say, that a Judge cannot always 
 know to an absolute certainty, when he is right. 
 That is true, but it should not happen very often. 
 I recall an instance where it did happen, that the 
 Judge at the trial mistook the motive of the crime 
 when he charged the jury. A servant girl was 
 indicted for the murder of her mistress. Judge 
 Vrendenburgh charged the jury, declaring the 
 girl's motive to have been robbery. The jury 
 f oimd her guilty of murder, in the first degree and 
 she was sentenced to be executed. Before exe- 
 cution, however, she made a confession, which 
 showed that the motive for the crime was not rob- 
 bery but jealousy, the maid being enamoured of 
 her mistress' husband. 
 
 Judge Vredenburgh was never an office seeker 
 nor a politician, but notwithstanding, a number of 
 minor offices were thrust upon him. For several 
 years he was a member of the Board of Eiparian 
 Commissioners, and held other positions of trust 
 and honor. He died in the City of St. Augustine, 
 
95 
 
 Florida, March 24th, 1873, greatly lamented by all 
 who knew himJ* 
 
 WILLIAM L. DAYTON, 
 
 was born in Somerset Coimty in 1807, and admit- 
 ted to the New Jersey Bar in 1830, when he imme- 
 diately removed to Monmouth County, where he 
 opened a law office at Middletown Point, which 
 place was then a part of the old and original Town- 
 ship of Middletown, the first Township in the 
 county to be settled by white men, and the first 
 land in the state to be trodden by white men, when 
 the Half Moon, commanded by Henry Hudson, 
 anchored in Sandy Hook Bay in the year 1609. 
 
 Only a f sw days after young Dayton opened his 
 office at Middleton Point, he was engaged in the 
 trial of a cause before a Justice of the Peace and 
 a jury at Eed Bank. He was then twenty-three 
 years of age, but his smooth face, delicate com- 
 plexion and slender form, suggested a youth still 
 in his years of minority. His adversary at the 
 trial, was an experienced pettifogger of Shrews- 
 bury, by the name of Tabor Chadwick who de- 
 lighted in personal remarks with the evident intent 
 
 "B. B. of N. J., p. 189; W. J. & C. H. of N. J., p. 452; B. H., 
 p. 286. 
 
96 
 
 of ridiculing Ms youthful oppouent. Why he 
 should have been so ungracious, does not appear 
 unless he looked upon young Dayton as a new 
 comer, trespassing upon his preserves. He called 
 Dayton a college fledgling, said his own coat tail 
 had never brushed a college wall and indulged in 
 other unkind reflections and imputations. There 
 was no stenographer in those days, to take down 
 what Dayton had to say in response, but a reliable 
 tradition prevails that this frail and unpromising 
 youth, in summing up the case unmasked concealed 
 batteries and let the pettifogger feel their full 
 power. At first it merely excited the curiosity of 
 Captain Chadwick, but he was quick to observe a 
 skilled operator at the guns of his adversary. 
 Then as the words flew from Dayton's lips, 
 straight to the mark, like bullets from a gatling 
 gun, Chadwick 's manner bore evidence of the gall- 
 ing effect of the fire in his desire to get away. 
 Then in dismay, he beat a hasty retreat from the 
 court room aanid the jeers of bystanders. The 
 two met again in trial cases a little later, when it 
 was observed that Chadwick 's attitude towards the 
 "fledgling lawyer," had changed so much as to 
 transform him into one of Mr. Dayton's obsequi- 
 ous admirers. In this way did Mr. Dayton achieve 
 
97 
 
 a local reputation at once as a trial lawyer, wMcli 
 soon extended throughout the boundaries of the 
 county. Shortly afterward, he removed his office 
 to Freehold as a more central location and more 
 convenient to the court house. 
 
 In 1837, his renown both as a trial lawyer 
 and a political speaker having become strongly 
 established, he was nominated by the Whig 
 party of Monmouth County, as a candidate 
 for the New Jersey Legislative Council and 
 placed at the head of the ticket. He suc- 
 ceeded in securing, not only his own election 
 but that of his feUow candidates also. In the 
 legislature, he was the leader of his party and 
 earned the distinction of being the framer and 
 father of the legislative enactment, whereby the 
 county courts of this state, were removed from the 
 domain of politics and each placed under the su- 
 pervision and control of one of the Supreme 
 Court judges. It was a radical reform, which 
 yielded beneficent results. In 1838 he was ap- 
 pointed a Supreme Court judge, when only thirty- 
 one years of age, being the youngest man in New 
 Jersey who had ever occupied that eminent posi- 
 tion. He bore himself as a jurist with remarka- 
 ble credit, considering his youth and comparatively 
 
98 
 
 short term of service in the legal profession. His 
 reported decisions will be found in Harrison's 
 Law Reports Volumes 1, 2 and 3. There are thir- 
 ty-four of them in aU, covering the period of his 
 judicial service. 
 
 In 1842 Samuel L. Southard, United States Sen- 
 ator from New Jersey died, and Judge Dayton was 
 appointed to fill the vacancy; and subsequently 
 elected for a full term of six years. Entering the 
 Senate at thirty-five, he was probably the youngest 
 member of that body. He took an active part in 
 the Senate in all the important measures of his 
 time, to which more particularly the narrow scope 
 of this sketch wUl not permit me to refer. I will 
 say, however, that his speech in defense of the 
 credit and character of the national government, 
 on account of failure of the states to pay the in- 
 terest on the national debt, is regarded as a master 
 piece of oratory, which was opportune and unan- 
 swerable. He stood in line with the Whigs of his 
 day, and was not so ultra as to be regarded as a 
 radical, nor so flexible as to falter ia the mainten- 
 ance of his simple faith, which was that his coun- 
 try's welfare was bound up in the supremacy of 
 his party's principles. While in the Senate he 
 had occasion to measure swords with some of the 
 
99 
 
 greatest men in that body, and did not hesitate to 
 try his strength with Daniel Webster. 
 
 In 1856 he was nominated as Vice President, on 
 the Republican presidential ticket headed by John 
 C. Fremont for president. It was the first Repub- 
 lican presidential campaign. Many believed at 
 that time, the success of the ticket would have been 
 greatly promoted if not insured, had the candi- 
 date for vice president received the nomination for 
 president, instead of vice president. In 1857 he 
 was appointed by Governor Newell, Attorney Gen- 
 eral of New Jersey over other distinguished can- 
 didates, who were Frederick T. Frelinghuysen and 
 Cortlandt Parker. In 1860 he was appointed by 
 President Lincoln, to fill one of the most important 
 and embarrassing embassies in the gift of the 
 president, which was that of Minister to France. 
 Paris at that time was swarming with emissaries 
 of the confederacy, and the Emperor of the 
 French being more than one-half inclined to rec- 
 ognize the southern confederacy. Mr. Dayton 
 succeeded, however, with considerable tact in 
 thwarting the plans of the southerners, and in 
 persuading the French Government to adopt a 
 policy, which greatly aided in crippling materially 
 the confederacy. 
 
100 
 
 WMle a resident attorney of Monmotitli County, 
 he achieved an enviable reputation as a lawyer of 
 remarkable astuteness. On one occasion he was 
 appointed to defend a man, indicted for assault 
 and battery. Not being entirely sure of his abil- 
 ity to acquit him, on the proofs that could be of- 
 fered he moved to quash the indictment, on the 
 groimd that the Grand Jurors were illegally 
 summoned. His motion prevailed and ia conse- 
 quence all the criminal business of that term of 
 court, went over to the next term and all indict- 
 ments were quashed. 
 
 Mr. Dayton's career both as a lawyer and a 
 statesman, was one of unexaanpled activity and 
 brilliancy. As a trial lawyer, I doubt whether New 
 Jersey has ever produced his equal. His speeches 
 before juries, were masterpieces of oratory. His 
 form, his mianner, his voice, his diction, in fact 
 his whole personal presence was magnetic, and 
 without irreverence I may say Godlike. Daniel 
 Webster was known as the "Godlike Daniel." I 
 doubt that he could have been more Godlike as 
 a jury lawyer than Judge Dayton. He had one 
 defect of articulation, which nobody objected to, 
 because it was not unpleasant, and this was a 
 habit of frequently shying the letter E. Thus he 
 would say "Gentlemen of the Juey" or "Juey- 
 
101 
 
 men in the juey box," or as lie was heard to say 
 on a trial of an indictment for assault and bat- 
 tery, "A wow, a wiot and a wumpns," instead 
 of a rowt, a riot and a rumpTis. But these de- 
 fects rarely attracted attention, except when oc- 
 curring in succession as in the last instance. I 
 have a vivid recollection of a pettifogger of the 
 county who was a great admirer of Mr. Dayton, to 
 the extent that he emulated his faults as well as 
 his merits, and in addressing juries he would say, 
 "Gentlemen of the Juey," which made him a 
 laughing stock. 
 
 The celebrated case of the State v. Charles 
 Johnson for the murder of Maria Lewis, was tried 
 at Freehold in the early "fifties." The Counsel 
 in the case were Peter Vredenburgh and Joel 
 Parker for the State, and William L. Dayton, Dan- 
 iel B. Ryall and Jehu Patterson for the defend- 
 ant. The victim of the murder was Maria Lewis, 
 aa aged and respectable lady living in a secluded 
 part of the Navesink Highlands, where the mur- 
 der was committed. The motive of the crime was 
 robbery. She had many respectable relations in 
 the county, and the same was true of Johnson, 
 the alleged murderer. The case was tried and re- 
 tried. On the first trial the jury was out nearly 
 
102 
 
 all night, and coming in before day light when the 
 lawyers were absent, they omitted specifying the 
 degree of the murder. For that reason a new 
 trial was granted. On the second trial the same 
 Counsel appeared, and the verdict of the Jury was 
 "not guilty." 
 
 Mr. Dayton was on the difficult side of this case. 
 The trend of public sentiment was agaiast his 
 client, and the weight of testimony was against 
 him, but the acquittal of the prisoner on the sec- 
 ond trial was a great triumph for him. Mr. Day- 
 ton's address to the jury was one of his greatest 
 efforts. I heard his summing up on the first 
 trial. Though my personal sympathies in the 
 case were not on Mr. Dayton's side, I recognized 
 his speech as one of tremendous power. It was 
 not all argument, nor eloquence, nor law, nor 
 humor, nor sarcasm, nor invective, but a combi- 
 nation of all, like a master mechanic who uses 
 skilfully every utensil of his trade producing 
 with all a magnificent structure, admirable from 
 every point of view. I served three months in his 
 office as a law student, until he left the country 
 for Paris as Minister to France. He asked me 
 one time, if I knew what had become of Charles 
 Johnson. I replied, the reports were that he left 
 the county soon after the trial for parts unknown. 
 
103 
 
 Then lie said, "I tried that man twice for his life. 
 I spent five hours at the last trial, summing up the 
 case. At the close of my argument, every gar- 
 ment I wore was wet with perspiration. Yet that 
 wretched man never gave me a doUar. ' ' 
 
 Another celebrated murder case was that of the 
 State against Donnelly, which was for a murder 
 committed August 1st, 1857, at the Sea View Hotel 
 in the Navesink Highlands, by one James P. Don- 
 nelly, a youth of twenty-four years of age, and a 
 book keeper of the hotel. Only lately he had re- 
 ceived his diploma as a physician, but on account 
 of impairment of health, had taken this position as 
 book keeper for the summer season. Albert S. 
 Moses, the victim of the crime, was about twenty- 
 one years of age stopping at the hotel a few days as 
 a visitor of the bar keeper. At night Donnelly and 
 Moses played cards, and Moses won the sum of 
 sixty-one dollars. The next morning about dawn, 
 Donnelly entered Moses* bed room and stabbed 
 him fatally in the neck. Moses survived the wound 
 about three hours, making a dying declaration in 
 the presence of witnesses, charging Donnelly with 
 the crime. He stated in his declaration, that he 
 had won from Donnelly the night before sixty-one 
 dollars. The force of the blow awoke him, and it 
 was light enough for him to recognize Donnelly. 
 
104 
 
 He sprang out of bed, followed Donnelly into the 
 hall, caught hold of his coat, but he tore away from 
 him and ran down stairs. Alderman Wilson 
 holding Moses in his arms when he died said, 
 "Moses, do you know you are about to die and 
 appear before your God?" He replied, "I do." 
 "Tell me again, are you sure who did it?" "Yes, 
 Bomielly, the book keeper, the man with the long 
 curly hair; it was light. I followed him out in 
 the hall to the head of the stairs and caught him 
 by the coat, but he tore away from me and ran 
 down stairs." Moses added, "You will find the 
 money in the bed in the adjoining room, between 
 two mattresses in three different parcels, done up 
 in a handkerchief. Sixty-one dollars was his, and 
 thirty dollars belongs to the Bar." 
 
 The money was found where Moses said it was, 
 between the mattresses in the bed on which Moses 
 was stabbed, and each separate parcel contained 
 the exact amount, as stated by Moses. The trial 
 at Freehold began September 15th, 1857. The 
 prisoner, James P. Donnelly, a handsome young 
 man, guarded by two officers, was led up the aisle 
 of the court room' for trial. The crowd assembled 
 and waiting, was immense. He was quietly seated 
 by his aged and venerable father, and two sisters. 
 He was to be defended by very distinguished 
 
105 
 
 Counsel. They were Josepli P. Bradley, destined 
 to become a justice of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States; William Pennington, former Gov- 
 ernor of New Jersey; Joseph W. Scott, one of 
 the ablest lawyers of New Jersey at that 'time, and 
 Amzi C. McLean, a well knowa lawyer of Mon- 
 mouth County, who was afterwards a law judge 
 of the county and Prosecutor of the Pleas. 
 
 The State was also ably represented by most 
 distinguished Counsel, who were Joel Parker, 
 Prosecutor of the Pleas of Monmouth County, 
 and William L. Dayton, Attorney Greneral of New 
 Jersey. The presiding Judge at the trial was the 
 learned jurist Peter Vredenburgh, one of the as- 
 sociate judges of the Supreme Court of New 
 Jersey. His associates on the Bench as associ- 
 ate county judges were Judges Gifford, Throck- 
 morton and Forman. The trial occupied twelve 
 days. The case was summed up on the part of the 
 prisoner by Joseph Bradley, who spoke with 
 great earnestness and with his well known learn- 
 ing and ability, followed by Prosecutor of the 
 Pleas Joel Parker, for the State, whose argument 
 was exhaustive and logical. Governor Penning- 
 ton followed Mr. Parker, being the last argument 
 for the defense, who appealed strongly to the 
 sympathies of the jury ; William L. Dayton, made 
 
106 
 
 tlie closing address for the State, It was one of 
 his characteristic speeches, and delivered with 
 great zest. I can remember a slight altercation 
 that occurred, in the course of his argument, be- 
 tween Mr. Dayton and Bradley. Mr. Bradley in- 
 terrupted Mr. Dayton, by saying that he was 
 wrong in the statement of a certain fact, to which 
 Mr. Dayton replied in effect, that he was not 
 wrong, but Mr. Bradley insisted he was, and that 
 he was not mistaken about it. Mr. Dayton re- 
 plied that the learned Counsel is one who thinks 
 he is never mistaken. Mr. Bradley rising in some 
 heat retorted "Judge Dayton, I will not be put 
 down with a sneer," and would have said more, 
 but he had no chance, as Mr. Dayton was proceed- 
 ing without noticing the remark, his voice increas- 
 ing in volume and in rapidity of utterance, as he 
 repeated the disputed statement in stronger terms 
 than before, without abating his position one jot 
 or tittle. 
 
 The verdict of the jury was, "guilty of murder 
 in the first degree." The case was carried to the 
 Supreme Court, and again to the Court of Errors 
 and Appeals, on the numerous exceptions taken at 
 the trial, but the rulings of the court below were 
 sustained. ) 
 
107 
 
 The trial of this case created great exoitemenit, 
 both in New York aad New Jersey. The Freehold 
 Jail was broken open at one time and the prisoner 
 let out, but he was captured and returned. He 
 made a remarkable speech on the scaffold, where 
 after looking around him with a smile, he ad- 
 dressed the audience beginning "Friends all 
 around me, friends of New Jersey, friends from 
 Buffalo, friends from New York and friends from 
 loved home Washington, and also those dear 
 friends at a distance, who will not hear my voice, 
 but will hear of my last words when I am gone, I 
 feel that my time has come." After protesting 
 his innocence of the crime, he reviewed the history 
 of the case with much deliberation and tact, pro- 
 testing his own innocence throughout. He partly 
 charged another, by implication, with having com- 
 mitted the terrible deed. He summed up the evi- 
 dence in the case, paid complimentary tribute to 
 one of his own witnesses, who had testified strongly 
 in his behalf, denounced witnesses of the state for 
 testifying against him, as perjurers, and prayed 
 Grod to forgive Judge Vredenburgh. Governor 
 Newell also he condemned for voting against him 
 in the Court of Pardons, and denying persistent 
 applications for commutation. He criticized the 
 Governor bitterly, for quoting Shakespeare to a 
 
108 
 
 dying man, referring to that part of Governor 
 Newell 's refusal to grant commutation, -where lie 
 quoted from Hamlet's Soliloquy the woi^ds, "The 
 undiscovered country from whose bourne no 
 traveler returns." His harangue was closed 
 with an exhortation to young men, not to come to 
 Monmouth. "No rogue e'er felt the halter draw, 
 with a good opinion of the law. ' ' 
 
 The case of the State vs. Donnelly, is quite fully 
 reported in. 2 Butcher, p. 463. It is now a leading 
 case on the subject of dying declarations. 
 
 The last great honor conferred by the New Jer- 
 sey legislature on Mt. Dayton, was in April, 1861, 
 when he was delegated in the name and behalf of 
 the state at large, to receive Abraham Lincoln at 
 the border line on his way to Washington, to be 
 inaugurated President of the United States. As 
 Mr. Dayton uttered his hearty words of greeting 
 to Mr. Lincoln, it was observed that Mr. Lincoln 
 watched him very intently, listening and leaning 
 forward to catch every word, as it feU from the 
 lips of the distinguished statesman. He and Mr. 
 Lincoln were personally known to each other, in 
 the thirtieth Congress. 
 
 William L. Dayton died at Paris December 1st, 
 1864. The funeral services were held in the Ameri- 
 
109 
 
 can Chapel, and in addition to tihe exercises, ad- 
 dresses were delivered by Mr. Bigelow, then the 
 American Consul and subsequently Minister to 
 France, and by Professor Laboulaye of the French 
 Institute, in which the highest tributes were paid 
 to his worth and public service. In offering a 
 closing tribute to his memory, I beg to quote from 
 the words of Abraham Lincoln, spoken to a dele- 
 gation of Jerseymen at the White House, about the 
 time Mr. Dayton was appointed Minister to 
 France. No more enduring eulogy can be tran- 
 scribed. "It is not necessary to speak to me in 
 "praise of Mr. Dayton; I have known him since 
 "we served in the different houses of Congress at 
 "the same time, and there is no public man for 
 "whose character I have a higher admiration. 
 "When the telegraphic wires brought to Spriag- 
 " field the news of my election, my first thought 
 "was that I would have him associated with me in 
 "Council, and would make him 'Secretary of State. 
 "But New York is a great state, and Mr. Seward 
 "has many friends, and I was compelled by the 
 "pressure upon me to give up the thought. I 
 "then desired to arrange for him sottne other 
 "cabiaet position, commensurate with Ms abili- 
 "ties; but Pennsylvania, another gieat state, you 
 
110 
 
 "know, was bound to have a place for Mr. Cam- 
 "eron, and I again reluctantly yielded. I then 
 "said to myself, Mr. Dayton deserves the best 
 ''place abroad and I will send him to the Court of 
 "St. James, but New England presented her 
 "claims for notice and united upon Mr. Adams, 
 "and I was driven from that purpose. I then 
 "thought of the French mission and wondered if 
 "that would not suit him. I have put my foot 
 "down now, and will not be moved. I shall offer 
 "that place to Mr. Dayton, and hope it will prove 
 "satisfactory to him and his friends."*" 
 
 JOSEPH F. RANDOLPH, 
 
 was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in May, 1825. 
 He was one of the distinguished Randolph family 
 of New Jersey, and was born in New York City in 
 1803. Though not a graduate of college, he was a 
 zealous student and reader and thus became a 
 scholar of more than ordinary merit. Upon his 
 admission to the Bar, he opened a law office at 
 Freehold and soon thereafter he was appointed as 
 Prosecutor of the Pleas of Monmouth County. He 
 served in Congress for a period of six years. At 
 
 •»BIm. R. of N. J., p. 372; B. E., of N. J., p. 1; W. J. & C. 
 H. of N. J. 
 
Ill 
 
 the close of his Congressional term, he removed 
 from Freehold to New Brunswick. He was influ- 
 ential as a member of the Constitutional Conven- 
 tion of 1844. In 1845 he was appointed an associ- 
 ate justice of the Supreme Court and continued 
 in office until 1852. He was a member of the Peace 
 Congress in 1871. He had a natural literary taste, 
 which combined with a legal mind, materially as- 
 sisted him in the preparation of his opinions. One 
 of these is the ease of Gough vs. Bell, which settled 
 the law of New Jersey on the subject of riparian 
 rights, though it was strenuously opposed in its 
 time. An honorary degree was tendered him by 
 the CoUege of New Jersey, but he declined it. At 
 the close of his term as judge of the Supreme 
 Court he resumed the practice of law at Trenton. 
 Later he removed to Jersey City where he died in 
 March 1873.8^ 
 
 WILLIAM L. TERHUNE, 
 
 a lawyer of Middletown Point, now Matawan, was 
 born in May, 1815, at New BrunsAvick. He grad- 
 uated at Eutgers College in 1835 and studied law 
 in the office of Judge Nevius. He began his law 
 
 "B. B. of N. J., p. 285; W. J. & C. H. of N. J., p. 69; E. H., 
 p. 282. 
 
112 
 
 practice at New Brunswick, lq 1838, and removed 
 from there to Middletown Point in 1842. Some 
 of you will remember him as a venerable gentle- 
 man of Matawan. He was never active in his pro- 
 fessional career, and only attended to such busi- 
 ness as comported with his placid disposition. I 
 had occasion in my early practice to represent a 
 client, who had been summoned to answer in a 
 suit before Squire Bedle at Matawan. Attending 
 at the Squire's office on the return day of the 
 summons, I was informed by the justice that Mr. 
 Terhune represented the plaintiff. As he was 
 personally not known to me at that time, I asked 
 Squire Bedle if he was a lawyer. The reply was, 
 "Yes, he is a lawyer and has been one for the last 
 twenty-three years; and I am not surprised you 
 do not know him, for he is too good a man to be 
 a lawyer." This remark whetted my curiosity to 
 know Mr. Terhune personally. I soon learned 
 to know him and we were friends; but I never 
 found him too good a man to be a lawyer, though 
 a very exemplary gentleman in all respects. He 
 lived to a good old age, always finding plenty of 
 work to do to his liking, and he enjoyed the re- 
 spect and esteem of everybody who knew him. 
 He married Margaret L. Little, a sister of the late 
 Henry S. Little, a prominent lawyer of Monmouth, 
 
113 
 
 and was the father of Henry S. Terhune, former 
 State Senator, and a member of the New Jersey 
 Bar and of the Monmouth Bar Association. Wil- 
 liam L. Terhmie died December 27, 1907, at his 
 home at Matawan.*^ 
 
 JOEL PARKER, 
 
 in his day, was always one of the most prominent 
 of Monmouth County practitioners. In Novem- 
 ber, 1861, I was licensed as an attorney at law 
 and he was then a lawyer of twenty years exper- 
 ience at the Bar. In personal appearance he was 
 tall, erect, muscular, swarthy in complexion and 
 of a commanding presence. In his latter years he 
 became somewhat corpulent. He was bom No- 
 vember 24th, 1816, near the town of Freehold, ad- 
 mitted to the Bar in 1842, and located Ms office at 
 Freehold. He was a most industrious worker at 
 the beginning of his career, and prepared his cases 
 with great care. In this way he soon found him- 
 self in Ijhe front rank of the practitioners of the 
 county, and in command of a lucrative practice, 
 which in 1860 was probably the largest in the 
 county. In 1852 he was made Prosecutor of the 
 Pleas of Monmouth County and as such, prose- 
 
m = 
 
 euted the trial of Charles Johnson, for the murder 
 of Maria Lewis. He won great credit on that 
 trial as a jury lawyer, and his summing up was 
 regarded as the best effort of his life. He was 
 very agreeable as a legal adversary, because he 
 never sought undue advantage, nor invoked the aid 
 of technicalities, which did not go to the merits 
 of the case. He never lost his temper in the trial 
 of a cause or dropped a word that was discourt- 
 eous to his adversary. Though he might be 
 abused by opposite Counsel, he was never resent- 
 ful. This was one of the strong qualities of his 
 personality, which shielded him against venomous 
 attacks. In the latter years of his professional life, 
 he was not so successful in his law practice, for the 
 reason that he gave less time to the preparation 
 of his cases, in order to give more time to his 
 civic duties. Two years after his admission to 
 the Bar, he entered the political arena in the cam- 
 paign of 1844. In 1847 he was elected a member 
 of the legislature, and became a party leader on 
 the Democratic side. In 1860 he was made a 
 presidential elector on the Douglass ticket by a 
 large majority. He had previously been ap- 
 pointed Brigadier General, commanding the Mon- 
 mouth and Ocean brigade of militia. In 1861 he 
 was promoted to the Major Greneralship of the 
 
115 
 
 militia division, comprising the Counties of Mon- 
 mouth, Ocean, Mercer, Union and Middlesex. In 
 1862, he was elected Grovernor of the State of New 
 Jersey, over Marcus L. Ward, the most popular 
 patriot of New Jersey during the period of the 
 civil war, by a large majority three times greater, 
 than any previous candidate for governor had 
 ever received in this state. In 1868 and again in 
 1876, he received the unanimous vote of his state 
 delegation in the Democratic Convention, to nomi- 
 nate a president of the United States. In 1871, in 
 spite of his positive declination to be a candidate 
 for governor, he received that nomination from 
 the Democratic State Committee, and at the elec- 
 tion which followed he was successful by a large 
 majority. In all of these distinguished official 
 positions, he proved himself to be wise, judicious, 
 impartial, patriotic, imselfish and won the grati- 
 tude of all his fellow citizens of New Jersey, irre- 
 spective of party divisions. 
 
 After the expiration of his second term as gov- 
 ernor, he resumed his professional business at 
 Freehold, and was soon again in possession of a 
 large legal practice, but he was no longer the alert 
 trial lawyer he had been in his younger days. It 
 oould not be expected of one on the eve of three 
 score years. He was then made Attorney General 
 
116 
 
 of the State, but regarding tbe oompensation as 
 inadequate and incommensurate with the work and 
 responsibilities involved, he very soon resigned 
 the position. In 1880, he was appointed justice 
 of the Supreme Court, which position he accepted 
 and continued to hold until Ms death. One of his 
 biographers has said of him, that "In estimating 
 Judge Parker as a jurist, it must be remembered 
 his habits of life and thought, had not been such as 
 to equip him sufficiejitly for the position to which 
 he was elevated. * * * Under such circum- 
 stances, his intellect could not have had that 
 ready grasp of abstruse legal principles, so neces- 
 sary in a judge who is called upon to decide on a 
 moment's reflection, during the hurry of a trial." 
 But he was naturally a painstaking man, pos- 
 sessed of great honesty of purpose and determin- 
 ation, to understand his duties and fulfill his mis- 
 sion. On the Bench he despised the narrow 
 minded manner of seeking victory, which seizes 
 trifles and technicalities at the expense of justice. 
 What he sought was principle. In that, he wias 
 aided materially by his innate love of justice, by 
 his strong common sense, and his admirable judg- 
 ment of human nature. His opinions were care- 
 fully prepared and were evidently the result of 
 investigation and study. Perhaps no words de- 
 
117 
 
 scribe his judicial character better, than those by 
 one of his eulogists at his death, "As a judge he 
 was painstaking, faithful and sagacious." 
 
 He was a descendant of Revolutionary sires. 
 Yonder battle monument, commemorating the 
 Battle of Monmouth, and the lives of the patriots 
 who fell there, would never have been raised, but 
 for his persistent and patriotic exertions. 
 
 During the War of the Rebellion, he uttered no 
 uncertain sound but entered at once into the con- 
 test upon the side of an inseparable Union. It has 
 been well and truthfully said of him, that at that 
 time he "seemed ubiquitous; he convened public 
 meetings and addressed them; roused the patri- 
 otic spirit of the citizens to fever heat; organized 
 uniform companies and compelled them to enlist; 
 he promoted volunteering and raised more men 
 for the federal army in Monmouth County than 
 any other man." * * * "He did not stop to 
 inquire into the merits of the controversy; the 
 time to do that had passed." All this he did as 
 a private citizen. Later he became the great 
 "War G-ovemor." The history of New Jersey 
 abounds with a recital of historic events, attesting 
 his ready patriotism and alert action in the cause 
 of the Federal Union. The limitations of this 
 paper, do not permit me to recite them here ; suffi- 
 
118 
 
 cient to say he made the name of Nlew Jersey glor- 
 ious. His death occurred January 2d, ISSS.*^ 
 
 BENNINGTON F. RANDOLPH, 
 
 of Freehold, brother of Joseph F. Eandolph, was 
 born in Belvidere, New Jersey, January, 1817, and 
 admitted to the New Jersey Bar as an attorney 
 in February 1839. He practiced in Ocean and 
 Monmouth Coimties and located at Freehold. He 
 possessed many admirable qualities of miad and 
 heart. After my admission to the New Jersey 
 Bar in November '61, I attended Freehold court 
 on the opening day of the January Term, for the 
 first time as a lawyer, taking my place timidly in- 
 side the Bar. Personally I knew all the lawyers 
 gathered there. One was Bennington F. Ean- 
 dolph, who as I entered most kindly took my hand 
 and bade me a hearty welcome to the Monmouth 
 Bar, which I was sure catoe from the inmost cen- 
 tre of his heart. A few years afterwards he re- 
 moved to Jersey City and was a member of the 
 law firm of Alexander & Green. In business he 
 had a reputation as being a master of detail. He 
 was a law judge of Hudson County from 1868, to 
 1873, and served two terms from 1877, as judge of 
 
 ™Mem. 
 
119 
 
 the district court of Jersey City. In 1859, he was 
 one of the organizers of the Equitable Life In- 
 surance Society of the United States, of which he 
 was a trustee until his death, which occurred at 
 Jersey City March 7th, 1890. He was a director 
 of the Freehold Bank, of the First National Bank 
 of Jersey City, the Mercantile Trust and Mercan- 
 tile Safe Deposit Companies of New York, and of 
 the Theological Seminary at Princeton; he was 
 a Eiparian Commissioner of New Jersey and held 
 the position a mmiber of years. He was a member 
 of the Jersey City and State Boards of Educa- 
 tion; a trustee of the State Normal School and the 
 Presbyterian Board of Church Extension; an 
 elder in the First Presbyterian Church of Jersey 
 City, and one of the organizers, the Counsel, and 
 for a time director of the Central Railroad Com- 
 pany of New Jersey. In 1861 he was one of the 
 organizers, of the Nicaragua route to California. 
 He was widely respected and esteemed for his 
 personal and business qualities.** 
 
 AMZI CHAPIN McLEAX, 
 
 was prominent as a lawyer and judge in Mon- 
 mouth County for fifty years. He was born near 
 
 "W. J. & c. H. of N. J., p. 351. 
 
120 
 
 Chillioothe, Eoss County, Ohio, April 23rd, 1S18. 
 His preliminary educational training, was ob- 
 tained in the neighboring schools, where he made 
 good use of his opportunities. Being destined 
 for a learned profession, he determined upon a 
 college education, his course being taken at Prince- 
 ton College of New Jersey. He was graduated 
 in 1835 after four years of study. Travelling to 
 and from Princeton, involved a journey of eight 
 hundred miles each way, which he was wont to ac- 
 complish on horse back once a year, buying his 
 horse at the starting out from Ohio and selling 
 upon his arrival in New Jersey at a profit. Having 
 completed his college course, he entered the law 
 office of James Veech of Pittsburg, where he pur- 
 sued his legal studies for a period of two years, at 
 the end of which time he was admitted to member- 
 ship of the Pennsylvania Bar. Then removing to 
 Freehold, New Jersey, he continued his legal stud- 
 ies for one year in the office of Peter Vredenburgh, 
 and in 1844 was admitted to the New Jersey Bar. 
 His professional life began and continued at Free- 
 hold the remainder of his career. In 1858 he was 
 appointed as Prosecutor of the Pleas of Monmouth 
 County, by Grovernor Newell for the term of five 
 years. At the end of his first term, he was reap- 
 
121 
 
 pointed, and served for an additional term of five 
 years. In 1874 he was appointed law judge of 
 Monmouth County, which office he filled acceptably, 
 for the term of five years following, when he re- 
 sumed the practice of his profession. He acquired 
 a large law practice, in both the counties of Mon- 
 mouth and Ocean. 
 
 In politics, he was associated with the old Whig 
 party in its day, and took an active part as a po- 
 litical speaker iu the presidential campaigns of 
 1844, 1848 and 1852. In 1856, the Eepublican 
 party first appeared as one of the great national 
 parties of the country, bearing banners, inscribed 
 with the names of John C. Fremont and William 
 L. Dayton for president and vice president of the 
 United States. Mr. McLean was one of the first 
 of the political leaders of New Jersey, to raise his 
 voice in advocacy of Eepublican principles, and 
 his example was effectual ia determining the po- 
 litical affiliations thereafter, of a very large num- 
 ber of his political friends, who at the extinction 
 of the old line Whig party, found refuge in the 
 ranks of the young and stalwart Republican Party 
 that was just entering the field. 
 
 Mr. McLean in all the walks of life, bore an un- 
 blemished character and was always highly re- 
 spected as a gentleman, of great ability and in- 
 
122 
 
 tegrity. He married Margaret Hull, tlie daughter 
 of Judge Joka Hull to whom I have already re- 
 ferred. One of his daughters, Annie Hull Mc- 
 Lean, became the wife of the late Henry S. White, 
 a prominent lawyer of Hudson County; he was 
 a native resident of Monmouth County, and at 
 one time United States District Attorney. Mr. 
 McLean died February 11th, 1899, at the resi- 
 dence of his daughter Mrs. William E. Hallock 
 in Pittsburg.®^ 
 
 AARON RHEA THROCKMORTON, 
 
 was born March 21st, 1818, at Freehold, studied 
 law in the office of William L. Dayton and after 
 Mr. Dayton's removal from Freehold to Trenton 
 completed his studies in the office of Peter Vred- 
 enburgh. He was admitted as Attorney in May, 
 1841, and as Counsellor in May, 1846, and immed- 
 iately thereafter he opened his office at Freehold, 
 where ever afterwards he continued to reside. 
 He formed a law partnership with Judge James 
 S. Nevius, in 1853. In 1854, he was elected Sec- 
 retary of the New Jersey Senate and held the 
 position for three years. In 1867 he was elected 
 
 "E. H.. p. 304. 
 
123 
 
 Surrogate of Monmorith County, without opposi- 
 tion. In 1873 he was re-elected, without opposition. 
 In 1877 he was again re-elected, without opposi- 
 tion. After fourteen years popular service in the 
 surrogacy, he resigned the office to accept the 
 presidency of the Freehold National Banking 
 Company to which he had been elected, and which 
 office he held until his death, occurring March 3rd, 
 1883. 
 
 Mr. Throckmorton made no pretentions as a 
 trial lawyer; but as a business man, as a citizen, 
 as a public officer, as a Churchman, as an orga- 
 nizer and maintainor of good local government, 
 he was a man of leadership and steadfast- 
 ness of purpose, such as is rarely equalled. 
 He possessed other remarkable qualities, as a 
 splendid gentleman revealed by manners that 
 were always courteous, genial and friendly, 
 united with that rare and enviable disposition, 
 which enabled him to discharge trying duties with 
 an evenness of temper, that commanded the admi- 
 ration and good will of all, and won for him a love 
 which outlived its object and still clings to his 
 memory.*' 
 
 "E. H., p. 294. 
 
124 
 
 JEHU PATTERSON, Jr., 
 
 was a graduate of Prinoeton College, admitted to 
 the New Jersey Bar in November 1843, and as 
 Counsellor in June 1847. He was tlie son of Hon. 
 James Patterson of Middletown, formerly a mem- 
 ber of tbe legislative Council of New Jersey, and 
 also of the New Jersey Assembly, and a grandson 
 of Judge Jehu Patterson, to whom I have already 
 alluded. Jehu Patterson, Jr., settled as a practic- 
 ing lawyer at Freehold continuing as such until 
 1856 when he was elected Clerk of Monmouth 
 County. He died iu 1858 lamented and beloved by 
 aU who knew him. 
 
 CHARLES A. BENNETT, 
 
 lawyer, admitted as an attorney in 1847, and lo- 
 cated his office at Freehold. He was bom June 
 4th, 1820, and graduated at Princeton College in 
 1844 ; he studied law in the office of Bennington F. 
 Eandolph. From 1850 to 1868, he was acting Sur- 
 rogate of Monmouth County, assisting Dr. Arthur 
 J. Conover and Dr. John L. Conover during their 
 respective terms, as incumbents of that office. He 
 held many local offices in Freehold, and was ap- 
 pointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of 
 Monmouth County, in April 1882. He was a de- 
 
125 
 
 scendant of one of the early settlers of the Cioiiiity, 
 who purchased a tract of land in Middletown 
 Township in 1685, on the Navesink Eiver, and 
 resided there. For a number of years prior to his 
 death he was a special master of the High Court 
 of Chancery, and as such many cases were re- 
 ferred to him by the Chancellor, to take testimony 
 and report thereon. He was a man of exemplary 
 character, quiet in manner, but of positive views 
 and unswerving in their enforcement. He was 
 married September 28th, 1854 to Eleanor B. Clay- 
 ton, daughter of Elias C. and Louisa M. Clayton 
 of Millstone, New Jersey, who still survives him. 
 
 HEimY STAFFORD LITTLE, 
 
 was born in Middletown Point, now Matawan, in 
 the year 1823. He was graduated at Princeton 
 University, studied law in the office of Peter Vred- 
 enburgh at Freehold, and admitted to the Bar of 
 New Jersey in 1848. He opened a law office in his 
 native toAVH and solicited a general law practice, 
 which he gradually secured by wi'miing the confi- 
 dence and favor of the community. At the end 
 of ten years, his reputation as a lawyer was such, 
 that he was regarded as a leading trial lawyer and 
 was retained in very many of the important cases 
 
126 
 
 of the county. He was of Irish descent, and had 
 inherited some marked traits of character, pecu- 
 liar to his Celtic ancestors. 
 
 Polonius' advice to his son to beware of en- 
 trance to a quarrel, did not seem to be a part of 
 his code of ethics, for he was generally in at the 
 beginning, and once in, bore it to the end that "the 
 opposer" might beware of him. In law and law 
 work he was not remarkable for his legal acumen 
 nor for analytical reasoning, nor for a pleasing 
 diction. His strong points were his wit, humor 
 and sarcasm. When these were of no service he 
 was weaponless. The lines of Pope are character- 
 istic of him: "Satire's my weapon, but I'm too 
 discreet, to run amuck and tilt at all I meet. ' ' His 
 sallies of wit and humor entertained the jury, ami 
 his satire was the keen cutting sword with which 
 he combated fraud and vicious men ; it was thus he 
 was able to earn and maintain his just reputation 
 as a successful jury lawyer. 
 
 As a citizen one of his favorite methods of dis- 
 cussing questions of public interest, was by chal- 
 lenging an opponent to debate on the rostrum He 
 was the author of a series of newspaper communi- 
 cations, which were published in the New Jersey 
 Standard about thirty years ago, over the nom de 
 plume of "Shrewsbury," which criticised the fi- 
 
127 
 
 nancial transactions of certain high county offi- 
 cials, with a boldness of assertion, that attracted 
 the general attention of the community and great- 
 ly augmented the publisher's list of subscribers. 
 
 He was very genial and social, and spoke face- 
 tiously and with felicity as an after dinner speaker, 
 when he was generally in demand. Many in- 
 stances can be recalled of his quickness at repar- 
 tee. On a wedding occasion at the house of a 
 prominent politician of Monmouth County, wine 
 was set out for the men, and the host politely re- 
 quested Mr. Little to set the example by sampling 
 the quality. A newspaper reporter not waiting for 
 Mr. Little to accept or decline, but disposed to be 
 facetious, interpolated rudely a remark that "It's 
 unnecessary to ask Mr. Little to drink for he 
 never refuses." "Nor do you," said Mr. Little, 
 "when it doesn't cost you anything." 
 
 He was a democrat in politics, and a leading 
 member of his party. He was one of the cele- 
 brated "Triumvirate" of thirty years ago, com- 
 posed of himself, Benjamin F. Lee, Clerk of Su- 
 preme Court of New Jersey, and Henry C. Kelsey, 
 Secretary of State for many years. On one oc- 
 casion, he was solicited to accept the candidacy of 
 his party as its nominee for Governor. In his 
 reply he declined, saying that he had no objection 
 
128 
 
 to being Governor, but bad an unoonquerable 
 aversion to being an ex-governor. In an un- 
 dertaking tbat involved strenuous opposition and 
 conflict, be fought for victory with tihe most per- 
 sistent determination. I bave beard Mm say that 
 be liked Ms position as a State Senator, because 
 of the great opportunity it afforded Mm, to figbt 
 rascality. 
 
 Politically be and Joel Parker were in accord, 
 but personally be was not an admirer of the gov- 
 ernor, and never missed an opportunity to give 
 bim a tilt. Tbis often happened in court, in the 
 progress of a trial when they were against each 
 other on opposite sides. On one occasion of tbat 
 kind, Mr. Little kept up such a scintillating fire of 
 wit and sarcasm, at the Governor, tbat finally the 
 Governor said, ' ' Staff, I think you are giving me 
 more attention than you are your case." "Gov- 
 ernor, you deserve it" was Mr. Little's quick re- 
 sponse. Again in a Justice Court Case to be tried 
 at Matawan which was a case of unusual import- 
 ance, for a Small Cause Court, as it involved the 
 right of a turnpike road to exercise a certain fran- 
 chise. Mr. Little was on the other side and Gen- 
 eral Parker was to assist me. Mr. Little being in 
 Bed Bank the morning of the day the case was to 
 
129 
 
 be tried, he accepted an invitation to ride over 
 with me. As we came in sight of the hotel at 
 Matawan, where the case was to be heard, he 
 caught sight of Grovernor Parker on the Hotel 
 Porch. ' ' Hello ' ' said he, ' ' what is General Parker 
 doing here?" I replied that he was going to as- 
 sist me. Mr. Little then remarked, "John, excuse 
 me, now that he is in the case, I shall put on my 
 war paint and beat you." 
 
 Mr. Little was one of the Presidential Electors 
 to seat James Buchanan and a delegate to the con- 
 vention, that nominated Horatio Seymour for 
 president. Li 1863 he was elected State Senator 
 of New Jersey, and subsequently re-elected three 
 successive terms, serving twice as President of 
 that body and resigning in his third term, to take 
 the office of Clerk in Chancery, which he held for 
 ten years. Soon afterwards he was appointed by 
 the Chancellor, Eeceiver of the Central Railroad 
 system and subsequently was elected president of 
 that Company, which office he filled with con- 
 spicuous ability for five years. 
 
 He was principally instrumental in securing 
 from the legislature, the act incorporating the New 
 York and Long Branch EaUroad Company, for the 
 construction of what was known as the "All Eail 
 Eoute," from New York to Long Branch and in 
 
130 
 
 procuring the oo-operation of John Taylor John- 
 son, President of the Central Railroad Company 
 of New Jersey, in the building of the road. 
 
 Judge Alfred Walling, Jr., once remarked, that 
 he regretted that he never had a hobby ; he thought 
 every man ought to have one. Mr. Little had sev- 
 eral. He was fond of good horse racing, especially 
 the old fashioned kind, like that of a four mile 
 race between Longfellow and Harry Bassett at 
 Eatontown, many years ago. He was fond of rid- 
 ing' horseback, and for a long time kept a thorough 
 bred horse for that purpose, on which he galloped 
 to court and around and about the county, in at- 
 tention to business. He was fond of an intercol- 
 legiate college game of foot ball. He loved a trip 
 to Europe, which he made a good many times ; he 
 loved his summer vacations at Saratoga ; he loved 
 the boys, their sunny temperaments and their ath- 
 letic sports ; and he was a boy himself as long as 
 he lived. Young and old enjoyed Ms society, due 
 in a large measure to his entire freedom from any 
 assumption of personal importance. 
 
 Henry S. Little, came to be possessed of a large 
 estate. He was undoubtedly the wealthiest law- 
 yer, that Monmouth County ever produced. A 
 respectable portion of his estate, he inherited from 
 
131 
 
 his father, who was William Little, a native of 
 Ireland and a successful merchant of Middletown 
 Point. A greater portion was the earnings of his 
 personal industry, natural sagacity and thrift; a 
 portion was the reward of faithful official services 
 as Clerk in Chancery for many years, and Receiv- 
 ership of the Central EaUroad of New Jersey ; and 
 the greatest portion was the accumulations de- 
 rived from his investments. 
 
 Mr. Little's home for many years was with his 
 sister Mrs. William L. Terhune, at Middletown 
 Point, residing in the old Homestead Mansion 
 constructed by her father. After his appointment 
 as Clerk in Chancery, Trenton became his abiding 
 place, though he stUl claimed the old Homestead 
 as his legal residence. His impulses were gener- 
 ous and his character for integrity was never 
 questioned. He made benefactions in his life time, 
 to his church and college. To the latter, Prince- 
 ton University, he gave $200,000.00 with which the 
 University constructed a dormitory, built of Ger- 
 mantown granite, trimmed with Arizona lime 
 stone, which structure bears the name of Stafford 
 Little Hall. He died intestate, and a bachelor on 
 the twenty-fourth day of April, nineteen hundred 
 and four, greatly beloved and lamented by hosts 
 of friends. 
 
132 
 
 JOSEPH D. BEDLE, ' 
 
 was born at Middletown Point, now Matawan in 
 Monmouth County, in 1831. His father was a 
 prominent citizen of Monmouth County, and for a 
 long time a justice of the peace, and for several 
 years a judge of the Court of Common Pleas. The 
 subject of this sketch was practically a self made 
 man, having never acquired a college education. 
 He" studied law for a time in the office of William 
 L. Dayton. At a later period he attended law 
 school in New York; subsequently he studied in 
 the law offices of Thompson and "Weeks of Pough- 
 keepsie, and was admitted as an attorney and 
 counsellor of New York in 1852. Very soon after, 
 he returned to New Jersey, and finished his course 
 as law student ia the office of Henry S. Little at 
 Matawan. He was admitted by the Supreme 
 Court of New Jersey as an attorney in January, 
 1853, and as Counsellor in 1856. He began his 
 practice at Matawan, where he remained two years 
 and then removed to Freehold where he soon se- 
 cured a large and lucrative business. He was ap- 
 pointed associate justice of the Supreme Court 
 March 23rd, at the age of thirty-four years, being 
 the youngest of the judges up to that time, except- 
 ing William L. Dayton who became an associate 
 
133 
 
 justice at the age of thirty-one. His circuit in- 
 cluded the counties of Hudson, Passaic and Ber- 
 gen. In 1872 he was reappointed associate jus- 
 tice and pending his last term he was elected Grov- 
 ernor in 1874. His administration as governor 
 was vigorous, prudent and patriotic. He retired 
 from office in 1877, firmly entrenched in the ad- 
 miration and confidence of his constituents. He 
 resumed the practice of his profession in Jersey 
 City at the close of his gubernatorial term. As a 
 man, as a lawyer, as a jurist, as Governor of the 
 State of New Jersey, he was remarkable for his 
 affability of manner and the admirableness of his 
 disposition, which impressed his kindness of heart 
 upon everybody who came in contact with him. 
 In trial work he had a legal mind that was quick 
 to act and discern. His manner was uniformly 
 courteous, to adversaries and witnesses. In an 
 emergency he was fertile in expedients, and in the 
 trial of a cause he was never averse to changing his 
 theory of a case as necessity required. He was 
 technical only when technicalities subserved the in- 
 terest of justice. His business was always a lucra- 
 tive one and comprised Counselorship of rail- 
 road and other large corporations, as the larger 
 part of his professional work. He died October 
 21st, 1894, lamented by all who knew him. He 
 
134 
 
 married Althea Eandolph, daughter of the late 
 Bennington F. Eandolph who still survives him.*^ 
 
 CHARLES HAIGHT, 
 
 was bom at Colts Neck, Monmouth County, on the 
 fourth day of January, 1837, and was graduated 
 at Princeton College, in 1857. Choosing the law 
 for his profession, he studied in the offices of Al- 
 exander Cumming and G-reen, at New York City 
 and Joel Parker, at Freehold. Before he had com- 
 pleted his legal studies and preparation for the 
 Bar, he was elected a member of the House of As- 
 sembly of New Jersey, in 1860, and re-etected in 
 1862. The same year, he was chosen Speaker of 
 the House, and having passed his examination as 
 an attorney at law, before the Supreme Court of 
 New Jersey, he was admitted to the New Jersey 
 Bar at the June Term, 1861. He began and al- 
 ways continued his practice of law, at Freehold, 
 New Jersey. In the fall of 1866, he was elected 
 to Congress as a representative of the Democratic 
 party, and re-elected to the same position in 1868. 
 At one time he was connected in partnership with 
 Joihn J. Ely, Esq., Counsellor at Law, at Freehold, 
 in the practice of law, under the partnership name 
 of Haight and Ely, which continued for a time, 
 
 "W. J. & C. H. of N. J., p. 478. 
 
135 
 
 when the firm was dissolved by nautual consent. 
 In 1882, he was made Prosecutor of the Pleas of 
 Monmouth County by appointment of Governor 
 Ludlow, and reappointed by Governor Green in 
 3887, his former preceptor. May 27th, 1861, he 
 was commissioned Brigadier General of Militia, 
 and from August 22d, 1862, until the close of the 
 war, he was in command of the Monmouth and 
 Ocean brigade of militia at Camp Vredenburgh, 
 and thus acquired the title of General, by which 
 he was well known throughout the state. Under 
 his command, the 14th, 28th and 29th Regiments 
 were organized, equipped and sent to the field. As 
 his rapid official promotions implied, he was a 
 popular man and active in the political field. 
 Within ten years after he had commenced his prac- 
 tice, it had become one of the largest in the county. 
 It consisted chiefly of trial and court work, and 
 there were very few inaportant cases tried in the 
 Monmouth County Court House, between 1870 and 
 1880, in which he was not engaged as a lawyer on 
 one side or the other. He was a fluent speaker, 
 possessed of keen perceptions and great nat- 
 ural ability. General Haight was socially a fav- 
 orite, and there was hardly a man in the county 
 who did not know him personally. The news- 
 
136 
 
 papers frequently referred to him as "Mon- 
 mouth's favorite son." 
 
 He was a son of Thomas Gr. Haight, a promi- 
 nent citizen of Monmouth County, who for many 
 years was the owner of the property at Colts Neck, 
 known as the "Huddy House" where Captain 
 Joshua Huddy lived. General Haight died Au- 
 gust 1st, 1891. At a meeting of the Monmouth 
 Bar Association, Chief Justice Mercer Beasley 
 presiding, held in the Court House at Freehold, 
 October 6th, 1891, resolutions of respect were 
 adopted, followed by a memorial address by Hon. 
 William T. Hoffman, a printed copy of which is 
 filed in the Archives of the Monmouth County 
 Historical Association. 
 
 MAJOR PETER VREDENBURGH, 
 
 son of Judge Peter Vredenburgh of the Supreme 
 Court, was bom at Freehold, February 12th 1837 ; 
 was admitted to the New Jersey Bar in February, 
 1859, and at once began the practice of law at 
 Eatontown in this county. In February, 1862, 
 he was licensed as Counsellor. In the foliowiag 
 term he received his commission as Major, in the 
 14th Eegiment of New Jersey Volunteers in the 
 War of the Rebellion. Soon after being commis- 
 
137 
 
 sioned, his regiment was transported to Frederick 
 City, Maryland, where for six months he acted as 
 Provost Marshal of the City. The following year 
 he was appointed Inspector General, of the third 
 division of the third Corps, and thus became at- 
 tached to the staff of General Elliott, and later on 
 to the staff of General Carr. At a later period 
 he became Inspector General, of the third Corps 
 by appointment of General French. A few 
 months later the third division of the third Corps, 
 was transferred to the sixth Corps, Major Vreden- 
 burg remaining at the headquarters of his divi- 
 sion, on the staff of General Eicketts. In General 
 Grant's advance across the Eapidan May 4th, 
 1864, he bore himself gallantly. On the following 
 day and throughout that terrible campaign of the 
 Wilderness, at Cromp's Creek and Spottsyl- 
 vania, he exhibited great courage and activity. 
 Again at the Battle of Cold Harbor, he proved 
 his sterling qualities as a soldier. In July, 1864, 
 occurred the hard fought Battle of Monocacy. 
 Acting on the staff of General Eicketts, Major 
 Vredenburgh, as is asserted by spectators of the 
 fight, exhibited greater bravery than any man ia 
 the field. 
 The Lieutenant Colonel with every Captain of 
 
138 
 
 the Eegiment, having been killed or wounded 
 Major Vredenburgh upon his own request was re- 
 turned to his regiment. On September 18th, 1864, 
 the regiment proceeded from its works at Berry- 
 ville, towards and near Opequan, where it again 
 engaged the enemy. The charge was made 
 through a galling fire of ball and shell. Major 
 Vredenburgh, while gallantly pushing forward, 
 was struck by a fragment of a shell, and killed in- 
 stantly. His last words were "Forward Men! 
 Forward and guide on me." Thus nobly died a 
 gallant hero. 
 
 I first met Peter Vredenburg as a fellow pupil, 
 at the Willis School at Freehold, in 1852. He was 
 about six months my senior in age, but being a 
 day student and I a boarder, little opportunity 
 was extended for becoming intimately acquainted. 
 I noticed, however, that among boys he was able 
 to take care of himself. I came to know him bet- 
 ter after he was admitted to the Bar and opened 
 an office at Eatontown, which he maintained for 
 three years. He tried many oases in the justice 
 courts, of that section of the county, including not 
 only Eatontown but Eed Bank, Long Branch, Tin- 
 ton Falls, Shark River, Bailey's Corner, Manas- 
 quan and Middletown. That he was possessed 
 of many manly qualities, was evident to aU who 
 
139 
 
 knew him. He was friendly, frank and open 
 hearted. He was a striver for business, but hon- 
 orable and generous in his rivalry. He was popu- 
 lar as a young lawyer, tried his oases and summed 
 them up with marked ability. It was very plain 
 that he had well chosen his profession, and there 
 was every promise of his making a successful 
 lawyer. The news of his death was a great shock 
 to the youth of our county and hard to bear.^* 
 
 There were other lawyers in Monmouth prior 
 to 1860, who were men of prominence and ability 
 and deserving commendation, biographical 
 sketches of whom I omit here, for want of time 
 and space. They were James M. Hartshorne, 
 Thomas C. KyaU, Joseph Combs, Asa CottreU, 
 Egbert H. Grrandin, Eobert Allen, Jr., Holmes W. 
 Murphy, Edmund M. Throckmorton, Jonathan 
 Longstreet, Philip J. Eyall, Joseph B. Cowart, 
 Denise H. Smock, Joseph Ely, D. Vanderveer Con- 
 over, and perhaps others. 
 
 The firsit lawyers, and dates of their coming, 
 to several towns of Monmouth County were as 
 follows: Middletown, Eichard Hartshorne, 1669; 
 Freehold, John Eeid, 1715; Batontown, Peter 
 Vredenburgh, 1829; Middletown Point, William 
 
 »B. B. of N. J., p. 189. 
 
140 
 
 L. Dayton, 1830; Bed Bank, Asa Cottrell, 1847; 
 Keyport, Joseph B. Cowart, 1858; Long Branch, 
 John E. Lanning, 1865; Allentown, Chillion Bob- 
 bins, 1866; Manasquan, Charles J. Parker, 1873; 
 Asbury Park, David B. Harvey, 1874. 
 
 Some one of the justices of the Supreme Court, 
 has presided in the courts of Monmouth County 
 since the Eevolution; among them were Andrew 
 Kirkpatrick, William Bossell, George K. Drake 
 (Father4n-la-w of Edward W. Scudder), Thomas 
 C. Eyers'on, John M. "White, and Chief Justice 
 Joseph C. Hornblower down to 1838, when began 
 the term of James S. Nevius, who served two terms 
 down to 1852. Justice Stacy Gr. Potts followed 
 Nevius, and Chief Justice Henry W. Green fol- 
 lowed Potts. In the interval occurring between 
 1852 and 1855, Justice Peter Vredenburgh was 
 appointed, who served two consecutive terms until 
 1869, when Justice Edward W. Scudder was ap- 
 pointed. He served for twenty-four years until 
 his death in 1893, during which period he was pre- 
 siding judge of Monmouth Courts about twenty- 
 one years. Chief Justice Beasley, followed Ed- 
 ward W. Scudder in Monmouth County; and Gil- 
 bert Collins, followed Chief Justice Beasley, in 
 1897; and John Franklin Fort followed Justice 
 
141 
 
 Collins, and Willard P. Voorliees followed Jus- 
 tice Fort. 
 
 It is now nearly two hundred years since onr 
 Circuit Courts were established in New Jersey.®' 
 Under that system a member of the Supreme Court 
 was delegated to preside over the county courts. 
 Thus headed by a Supreme Court Judge, a county 
 court became a Circuit Court ; and after 1838, the 
 Circuit Judge sat with the county judges through- 
 out the term, assisting in the trial of all causes 
 and issues, civil or criminal, that might be pre- 
 sented. 
 
 Fifty years ago in Monmouth County, a court 
 session of a week or two, would suffice to dispose 
 of all the business, and then the court would ad- 
 journ for the term. With the increase of popula- 
 tion and the consequent increase of court business, 
 the court sessions were prolonged to such an ex- 
 tent, that the Supreme Court Judge holding the 
 Circuit, would have to leave for the term after dis- 
 posing of the Circuit list, to afford him time to 
 prepare his opinions for delivery at the next term 
 of the Supreme Court. To meet emergencies of 
 that sort, it became necessary to appoint law 
 judges to hold the Court of Common Pleas. This 
 worked very well for a time, but the business of 
 
 »L. c. o. 
 
142 
 
 the court increasing, the Supreme Court Judge 
 holding the Circuit, still found he had more work 
 than he could handle and so turned over to the law 
 judge of the Common Pleas, all of the Circuit is- 
 sues. Thus the law judges came to he saddled 
 with more work than they could perform. To re- 
 lieve this stress, Circuit Judges were specially 
 created. Then the Supreme Court Judge attend- 
 ing our Circuit, had only the Supreme Court list to 
 occupy his attention. It proved only a temporary 
 accommodation for very soon the Supreme Court 
 Judge would pass over to the Circuit Judge all 
 the Supreme Court cases on his list, until he had 
 nothing to do in the Circuit except to open the 
 courts, on the first day of the term and call the 
 lists of Supreme and Circuit Court cases, having 
 no cases to try except an occasional homicide 
 case. What the next change will be remains to be 
 seen, but it cannot long be deferred as population 
 and court business continue to multiply. 
 
 Ocean was set off from Monmouth about the 
 year 1850. It was undoubtedly a good thing then 
 for Ocean, as it obviated the necessity of long jour- 
 neys by horse and carriage (the only way to get 
 to Monmouth Court House), somietimes over bad 
 roads and in inclement weather. Had there been 
 
143 
 
 railroads, telegraphs and telephones, in those days 
 such drastic measures of relief as that of dividing 
 the county, would have been unnecessary. 
 
 Fifty years ago, printed lists of causes had not 
 come into vogue. Judge Vredenburgh presided 
 in the county court assisted by three lay 
 judges. Each judge had a vote, and the lay judges 
 not infrequently voted down the Supreme Court 
 Judge. I recall an instance, when a young man 
 by the name of Elisha Walton of Long Branch, 
 who was a lineal descendant of Captain Elisha 
 Walton, a Eevolutionary officer and soldier, a 
 member of the legislative Council of New Jersey, 
 and whose descendants had been prominent as rep- 
 resentatives of Monmouth County in the New Jer- 
 sey Assembly, and as soldiers in the Civil War. 
 Young Walton the grand son of Captain Walton, 
 drove to Freehold one day and put up his horses in 
 a hotel stable formerly known as Higgins' Hotel 
 adjoining the easterly side of the Court House lot, 
 and then kept by a Mr. Snowhill. Having cared 
 for his horses at the stable, he stopped at the hotel 
 and left his overcoat with the bartender, who gave 
 him a check in return. Upon his return in the 
 afternoon, he ordered his horses, treated the bar 
 tender, paid his bill and calling for his overcoat 
 
144 
 
 tendered the check, but the overcoat could not be 
 found, so "Walton retained his check. Afterwards 
 he brought a suit before a Justice of the Peace 
 against the proprietor of the hotel, for the value 
 of the overcoat, and obtained judgment. The case 
 was appealed to the Court of Common Pleas. 
 Hon. Joseph D. Bedle represented the hotel pro- 
 prietor on the trial of the appeal before Judge 
 Vredenburgh and his three assistant lay judges. 
 Walton proved the facts in his case, as above 
 stated. The other side made the point that Wal- 
 ton did not eat a meal at the hotel. He simply 
 stabled his horses and drank at the Bar, paying 
 for all it is true, but that, as Council argued, was 
 insufficient to constitute the relation of guest and 
 landlord. The court also took that view, and de- 
 cided in favor of the hotel proprietor, holding that 
 the proprietor was not liable for the loss of the 
 overcoat, because of the fact that there was no re- 
 lation of landlord and guest between the parties. 
 Judge Vredenburgh announced the decision of the 
 court without comment. When court was ad- 
 journed Judge Vredenburgh quietly informed 
 Walton's Counsel, as he was leaving the court 
 room that he had been over-ruled in the case by 
 his three assistant lay judges. A little later Mr. 
 
145 
 
 Walton learned something else, which was that 
 the three assistant lay judges were and had been 
 guests at the defendant's hotel, during that entire 
 term of court. 
 
 Sometimes the Court of Common Pleas sat and 
 heard oases tmattended by a Supreme Court 
 Judge. That was common until about the year 
 1837 when the law was passed which reestablished 
 Circuit Courts. Without the assistance of a Su- 
 preme Court Judge, the lay judges were apt to be 
 somewhat erratic as I have just illustrated, but 
 every reasonable intendment should be made in 
 favor of those who are clothed with oflScial au- 
 thority, 
 
 NEW PUBLIC ROADS. 
 
 The laying out of new public roads, was an im- 
 portant part of the business of lawyers fifty years 
 ago. Public roads then were few, and it was fre- 
 quently necessary to lay a new one until the county 
 became fairly gridironed. There were generally 
 two sides to those cases. Anybody interested 
 was privileged to be heard. Sometimes there 
 would be two or three lawyers on one side, and as 
 many on the other side. Occasionally there was 
 a row and blows exchanged. Once when Joseph 
 D. Bedle, afterwards an Associate Justice of the 
 
146 
 
 Supreme Court, and Governor of New Jersey, was 
 summing up, a land owner whose interests were 
 adverse, interrupted Mr. Bedle byf personal re- 
 marks of a disorderly nature, which interruptions 
 continuing and no officer with authority being pre- 
 sent, he was compelled to discontinue his speech. 
 Either party dissatisfied mth the surveyors de- 
 cision might file a caveat, and call out the Board 
 of Chosen Freeholders to review. The meetings 
 of these boards for hearing and deliberation, would 
 be held at a hotel or at the residence of the prin- 
 cipal applicant for the road. On such occasions, 
 excellent luncheons were provided by the host 
 for the entertainment of the board of surveyors. 
 The saying was, that it took one roast turkey to 
 lay a road and two to upset it. 
 
 A certiorari proceeding often followed a caveat, 
 and the litigation thereon, would be sometimes 
 very protracted. I have in mind the laying out 
 of the Oceanic Boad, from Bed Bank to Oceanic 
 or Quaiker Dock as it was then called, half a cen- 
 tury ago. It was twenty years in litigation before 
 it was finally opened to the public. Such pro- 
 longed contests would be impossible to-day. The 
 courts now are authorized by statute in case of 
 error, to send the proceedings back to the Board 
 
147 
 
 of Surveyors for correction. This new practioe 
 has been very effectual, in dampening the ardor 
 of road litigants. Among the lawyers of the 
 connty, who were then considered adepts in road 
 proceedings, were Bennington F. Randolph, Joel 
 Parker, Henry S. Little, Robert Allen, Jr., and 
 Joseph D, Bedle. 
 
 Thus change is the order of the day. The laws 
 that we think are good in one decade are changed 
 in another for others thought to be better. We 
 live in a kaleidoscopic world, where the organic 
 and fundamental law is change; and only by 
 change can come progress; as the poet says, 
 "The Spring, the Summer, childing Autumn and 
 angry Winter change their wonted liveries. ' ' The 
 courts, the lawyers, law practice and administra- 
 tion of the laws, are no exception to the universal 
 rule. 
 
 Fifty years ago I saw gathered here in this 
 court room Joel Parker, Henry S. Little, Joseph 
 Dorsett Bedle, Robert Allen, Jr., Bennington F. 
 Randolph Amzi C McLean, and Peter Vreden- 
 burgh, Jr. They were the legal gladiators of that 
 day, sitting within the bar awaiting the call of 
 their cases. All of them have passed; younger 
 men came on and took their places. These were 
 
148 
 
 Charles Haight, William H. Conover, Jr., CMl- 
 lion Robbins, Charles H. Trafford, Jobn F. Haw- 
 kins, Alfred Walling, Jr., Henry G. Clayton, James 
 Steen; but they too have gone over to the great 
 majority. Of all the lawyers of the county who 
 were licensed and living fifty years ago, only two 
 remain. The changes of the past half century in 
 the courts, in the practice, in the laws, in the 
 lawyers, in legal education and legal ethics, have 
 been remarkable. 
 
 The total number of N-ew Jersey lawyers then 
 living in the county, practising and non-practis- 
 ing were twenty-two. To-day the number has 
 increased probably four fold. Then the courts 
 sat six days in the week, eight hours a day and 
 often well into the night. 
 
 The seats in the first court room of the Mon- 
 mouth Court House that I remember, ascended 
 from front to rear. The effect was that the rear 
 seats were so high above the floor of the aisles, as 
 to make it difficult to climb into them. A per- 
 manent elevated seat stood, about where the bar 
 rail was located; that was the dock, a little over 
 to the south side of the room, which was enclosed 
 by a railing with an entrance gate. In the Court 
 House loft there were wagon loads of fiint lock 
 
149 
 
 muskets, piled up in heaps. It was said they were 
 used by our forefathers against the enemy, in the 
 Eevolutionary War. Deposit of muskets in a 
 Court House might be in one sense appropriate, 
 as they suggest enforcement of justice, by the gun 
 if necessary. But we are not expecting any dire 
 exigency of that sort, in the 20th Century. In a 
 corner of the court room there stood a stack of 
 maces, then used by court officers as symbols of 
 authority. 
 
 A half century ago, one comparatively small 
 volume of Elmer's Digest contained all the New 
 Jersey Statutes. To-day if all the statutes were 
 compiled, they would make, I imagine, half a 
 dozen volumes, each one several times larger than 
 the first Elmer's Digest. 
 
 Our law reports which began in 1816, numbered 
 twenty-eight volumes. Today there are seventy- 
 six. Our Chancery reports which began in 1836 
 with Saxton, numbered eleven volumes. Today 
 there are seventy-two. At this rate of increase 
 the Chancery reports, must soon overtake and 
 pass OUT common law reports. In 1860, the 
 Special Masters of the Court of Chancery in 
 Monmouth County, were four in number. They 
 were Bennington F. Randolph, Aaron E. Throck- 
 morton, Joel Parker and Henry S. Little. Today 
 
150 
 
 there are twenty-five. Forty years ago Vice 
 Chancellors were unknown in New Jersey. The 
 first appointment was that of Amzi Dodd, May 
 2d, 1871. Now we have seven. At the present 
 rate of increase it will not be long before the 
 Chancellor and his "Vices" will outnumber the 
 judges of the Court of Errors. This rapid growth 
 of the Court of Chancery, is certainly marvellous 
 considering the fact that in colonial times, a Court 
 of Equity hardly existed. "At its beginning in 
 the colonies its necessity was severely questioned 
 and never met the favor of the community. The 
 old Saxon spirit of independence, rebelled against 
 a court whose single judge determined the impor- 
 tant issues brought before it, and insisted that the 
 inimitable right of trial by juries should reign 
 supreme. But this opinion eventually gave way 
 before the growing confidence of the people, in a 
 tribunal whose action was found to be permeated 
 with principles of justice, and with which equity 
 was a cardinal virtue ; and by the Constitution of 
 1776, the necessity of retaining so useful a court 
 was fully recognized."®" The act of 1871 author- 
 izing the appointment of a Vice Chancellor, made 
 a change necessary in the method of hearing wit- 
 nesses, whereby they might appear and be orally 
 
 »w. J. & c. H. of N. J. 
 
151 
 
 examined before the Vice Chancellor, as suits are 
 tried in courts of law. The change doubtless had 
 much to do with the popularization of the Court of 
 Chancery, and the multiplication of its business. 
 Fifty years ago, the offices of Monmouth Coimty 
 lawyers were devoid of clerks. A Monmouth 
 County lawyer did his own work, sometimes with 
 the assistance of a student, his wife, or some other 
 member of his family. Doing his own work then, 
 meant a very long day. Country practice, was 
 not considered sufficiently lucrative, to warrant 
 the hiring of a clerk. A greater part of a lawyer's 
 time was spent on the road. In 1860 Eobert Al- 
 len, Jr., was the leading lawyer at Bed Bank. It 
 was a common remark that his office was on the 
 road, between Eed Bank and Freehold, or Long 
 Branch, or the Highlands and all the country 
 around about within a ten mile radius. There 
 were no railroads in those days, located in the 
 coast section of the county. There was but one, 
 I think in the county and that was the Freehold 
 and Jamesburg Railroad, constructed about the 
 year 1852. There were no stenographers, no 
 typewriters, no telephones in the law offices. I 
 might hazard the statement that with our modern 
 facilities iucluddng encyclopaedias of law, Atlantic 
 Eeporter, Annotated Reports, Statutory Indexes, 
 
152 
 
 Citations of Cases, and other labor and time sav- 
 ing devices, a lawyer today can accomplisli twice 
 as mucli work in a given time, as lie conld fifty 
 years ago. 
 
 The changes in practice, have been radical. 
 The old common law system of pleading, was in- 
 terminable in length and infinite in variety, mod- 
 eled upon the old English system introduced by 
 the Eomans and the Normans. Then the fictions 
 of John Doe and Eichard Eoe, were considered in- 
 dispensable ; and a cardinal doctriae of pleadings, 
 as stated by a learned English judge, was that 
 ignorance must not be put too much on a par with 
 learning. 
 
 To day we have learned, that the best 
 pleading is that which points the judge to the 
 shortest, straightest and easiest road by which 
 he comes to the gist of the controversy. 
 
 The old styles of action numerous and refined, 
 to such a degree that successful discrimination be- 
 tween them, was a science, have been greatly sim- 
 plified by the abolition of Debt, Assumpsit, 
 Trover, Trespass, and Trespass on the Case, and 
 the substitution therefor of simple Contract and 
 Tort. 
 
 Eevisions, repealers, amendments, change our 
 statutes with the extraordinary frequency and 
 
153 
 
 facility, with which a crustacean changes its shell 
 or the chameleon its color, to that of the objects 
 by which it is surrounded. There is nobody who 
 deprecates such changes more than the conser- 
 vative lawyer, who having passed m years the 
 limit of three score and ten which Mark Twain 
 called "The scriptural Statute of Limitations," 
 wakes up to find that the legislators, have re- 
 pealed nearly all the statute law he ever knew. 
 
 Changes are being made from time to time, in 
 the requirements for admission to the New Jer- 
 sey Bar, whereby the whole subject of admissions 
 and examinations, has been relegated to the sup- 
 ervision of a Board of Bar Examiners, and the 
 State Board of Education, instead of examina- 
 tions by the judges themselves, in open court. 
 Thereby have been effected some changes in the 
 rules, relating to requirements for admission, and 
 to eligibility of candidates, whereby a high school 
 graduate or the graduate of a private school of 
 equivalent standard, is admitted upon the same 
 terms as a graduate of college; and the old time 
 requirements, relating to non-graduates of college 
 serving four years clerkship in an attorney's 
 office, are abrogated. Thus the rules put up one 
 bar and let down another ; they abrogate the four 
 
154 
 
 years service of a non graduate in a law office, 
 but require a Mgh school certificate, or that of 
 a private school of an equivalent standard, in its 
 stead. They admit a young man with a college 
 diploma or high school certificate to an examina- 
 tion who may be utterly deficient in the learning 
 taught by the elementary school. Why not let it 
 be understood that every applicant must stand on 
 his merits; his merits to be ascertained by a 
 searching and exhaustive examination. The true 
 standard of admission to examination being 
 good morals, a good English scholar and a good 
 arithmetician. Latin or Greek or higher mathe- 
 matics are ornamental but unessential to the ma- 
 king of a good American lawyer. We want no 
 rule or system of rules that will shut out a can- 
 didate, should he apply, of the type of an Abra- 
 ham Lincoln, when he was an applicant for admis- 
 sion to the Uliuois bar. 
 
 With a good elementary education no matter 
 how acquired, ia the high school, at private school, 
 at night school, or self taught in any old fashion 
 way even by the light of a candle or a pine knot, 
 there should be a good moral character, estab- 
 lished by unquestionable proofs and confirmations 
 strong. These should include proofs of intimate 
 
155 
 
 knowledge of the best codes of professional ethics 
 extant ; such for instance as have been adopted by 
 the American Bar Association, which embraces the 
 thirty-two subjects of Canons of Ethics, to be 
 found in Vol. XXXIII, p. 575, of Reports of the 
 "American Bar Association." These rules, are 
 the products of the evolution of law, within the 
 past half century, and for which I believe the 
 twentieth century will stand, as firmly as the Rock 
 of Gibraltar. The above qualifications I consider 
 as prerequisites, to the admission to examination 
 of every law student, and when firmly insisted on 
 must inevitably result, in the elevation of legal 
 and moral standards of our profession. The im- 
 portance of this subject will be realized, when we 
 consider that the profession of the law, is the 
 source from which all our high judicial magis- 
 trates are derived, and many of the distingushed 
 civil magistrates and officers of the state and 
 country at large. Such a consideration is a pow- 
 erful additional reason for solicitude, that our 
 profession may not be suffered to fall into the 
 hands of unworthy persons, whereby its standards 
 may be lowered in public estimation. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 A. 
 
 ABC Record 16, 17n 
 
 Aberdeen, Scotland: John Reid sailed from, for 
 
 America 40 
 
 Thomas Gordon sailed from 32 
 
 Actions at law: Record of 17 
 
 Actions -of Debt, Assumpsit, Trover, Trespass, and 
 
 Trespass on the case 152 
 
 Actions on Contract and Tort 152 
 
 Action of Thomas and Bartholomew Applegate with- 
 drawn 18 
 
 Actions: Old forms abolished and contract and tort 
 
 substituted therefor 152 
 
 Allen, Judith 18 
 
 Robert, Jr 139, 147, 151 
 
 American Bar Association 155 
 
 Aokesons, John 19 
 
 Appeals: To Bench or Court of Chancery 4 
 
 Under Constitution of 1844 were made to Court of 
 
 Errors and Appeals Instead of to the Council 8 
 
 Applegate, Thomas and Bartholomew 17 
 
 Arnold, Shem 15 
 
 Ashton, James: Deputy for Middletown 15, 18, 20, 42 
 
 Assembly: Address to Gov. Hunter 48 
 
 Of East Jersey convened in 1675 3 
 
 Of East Jersey, established courts in 1675 3, 4 
 
 Assembly of New Jersey: Demand on, by Gov. Hunter 27 
 
 Assembly under the Proprietors 16 
 
 Assizes of New York to hear criminal matters 1 
 
 Assize of Supreme Court called the Bench 4, B 
 
 B. 
 
 Baskinridge: Birthplace of William L. Southard 78 
 
 Basse, Jeremiah 45, 49 
 
 Battle of Monmouth 20 
 
 Beasley, Mercer 136, 140 
 
 Bedle, Joseph D. : Biographical sketch 132 
 
 Joseph Dorsett 145. 146, 147 
 
11 INDEX. 
 
 Bennett, Charles A.: Biographical sketch 124 
 
 Bergen County: Created 1682-1683 4 
 
 Berkeley and Carteret: Grant of lands to 2 
 
 Bible Society 64 
 
 Blgelow, Mr. : American Consul to Paris 109 
 
 Board of Bar Examiners 153 
 
 Bowne, James 15, 17 
 
 John: claimed to be deputy in 1668, 16, 18, 26 
 
 William I. : Biographical sketch 67 
 
 Bradley, Joseph P 105, 106 
 
 Burlington, N. J 72 
 
 C. 
 
 Cedar Brook 33 
 
 Cedars of Sandy Hook 26, 27 
 
 Chambers, Richard 20, 42 
 
 Chancellor: nominated by the Governor 8 
 
 Was Governor 8 
 
 Chancellor's official term extended 8 
 
 Chancery Reports overtaking our Law Reports 149 
 
 Changes of statutes 152, 153 
 
 Changes In rules and regulations of application for 
 
 admission to bar examination and the N. J. Bar. . 153 
 Character, essential qualification for admission to legal 
 
 examination 154 
 
 Circuit Courts: Establishment of 141 
 
 Congestion of 141 
 
 Judges : Especially created 142 
 
 Clayton, Henry G 148 
 
 Mary 31 
 
 Collins, Gilbert 140 
 
 Justice, grants order to preserve ancient 
 
 records Iff, 17 
 
 Colony of N, J. divided into East and West Jersey 4 
 
 Combs, Joseph 139 
 
 Common Right judges should not be judges of High 
 
 Court of Chancery 5 
 
 Conover, D. Vanderveer 139 
 
 William H., Jr 148 
 
 Constitution of 1844: changes wrought by 8 
 
 1776 8 
 
 Cornbury, Lord 6, 7, 9, 11, 12, 37, 38, 46, 47, 48, 49, 54 
 
INDEX. lU 
 
 Cosby, Col. William 53 
 
 Cottrell, Asa 139, 140 
 
 Council, formerly, now the Senate 8 
 
 County jail: first one at Mlddletown, 1684 19 
 
 Counties of New Jersey : how created 4 
 
 Courts: Appealed from 4 
 
 Assembly of 1675 create 4 
 
 Assize 4, 5 
 
 held at Woodbridge 4 
 
 Court of Freehold, first presiding justice 42 
 
 Shrewsbury, record of 17 
 
 Courts: Beginning of 1, 2 
 
 Chancery, changes in 8 
 
 Changes made by Constitution of 1776 8 
 
 Changes which followed separation of New 
 
 York and New Jersey 54 
 
 Changes of half a century 143 
 
 Changes in styles of action 152 
 
 Circuit of the Supreme, when and where and 
 
 by whom to be held 10 
 
 Circuit of the Supreme, how conducted 10 
 
 Circuit, 50 years ago 141 
 
 Cornbury, exercised authority over 7 
 
 reconstructed courts by ordinance 9 
 
 County 3 
 
 County, held 4 times a year 4 
 
 Court House: At Freehold 1715 19 
 
 Built 19 
 
 Description of 20 
 
 Destroyed 1727 20 
 
 Hospital for wounded soldiers 20 
 
 Reason for locating at Freehold 18, 19 
 
 Site at Freehold a subject of controversy 35, 36 
 
 The last meeeting before destruction by fire. . 20 
 
 When erected 20 
 
 Court Room: How furnished 50 years ago 148, 149 
 
 Courts: Established by New Jersey Assembly 3 
 
 Every suitor his own lawyer 6 
 
 East Jersey 3 
 
 Equity 5 
 
 First authorized by Nicolls Patent 1 
 
 First held at Freehold 1715 19 
 
IV INDEX. 
 
 Held at Mlddletown and Shrewsbury alter- 
 nately till 1713 14 
 
 Held at Shrewsbury only, from 1713 to 1715 . . 14 
 
 Held at Freehold after November 1715 14 
 
 Held at House of Nicholas Crownes at Shrews- 
 bury 17 
 
 Held by Justices of the Peace, jurisdiction of 3, 9 
 
 In 1687 of short duration 2 
 
 Judges of, how selected 7, 8 
 
 Judicial district 4 
 
 Jurisdiction conferred by NicoU's Patent 1 
 
 Jurisdictions of Sessions 3, 4 
 
 Jurisdiction of Provincial 4 
 
 Jurisdiction of, both appellate and original . . 4 
 
 NicoU's right to create questioned 2 
 
 No necessity for complex system of juris- 
 prudence 6 
 
 Number of judges 5 
 
 Court of Appeals, how made up 8 
 
 Court of Assize or Bench 4 
 
 Subsequently became the Supreme Court 4 
 
 Court of Chancery 4 
 
 Vital changes in 8 
 
 In Colonial times 150 
 
 Courts of county: Where held and how often 3, 4 
 
 Judges, how chosen 3 
 
 Of whom to consist 5 
 
 Jurisdiction of 4 
 
 Court of Common Pleas 8, 9 
 
 Term of 9, 10 
 
 Court of Common Right 5, 34 
 
 In 1695, was both a Court of equity and a 
 
 Court of common law 5 
 
 Judges should not be judges of the High Court 
 
 of Chancery 5 
 
 Courts of General Sessions of the Peace, when to sit. . 9 
 
 Courts of Lord Cornbury reconstructed by ordinances. 9 
 
 Courts of Navesink and Mlddletown, one judicial 
 
 district 4 
 
 Courts of Sessions 3, 9 
 
 Jurisdiction 9 
 
 Courts of Small Causes 3, 5 
 
INDEX. V 
 
 Might hear cases to the value of 40 shillings, 
 
 without a jury 9 
 
 Procedure prescribed 9 
 
 Courts: Power to create granted to the General 
 
 Assembly by Berkeley and Carteret 2 
 
 Provincial Court of Assize held at "Woodbrldge 4 
 
 Provisions for Sheriffs 5 
 
 Provisions for Jury 6 
 
 Processes of 5 
 
 Records of Middletown and Shrewsbury 
 
 ordered copied to preserve them 16 
 
 Simplicity of rules, proceedings and processes. 6 
 
 Small amounts at issue 6 
 
 Court: Supreme 5 
 
 Justices nominated by the Governor 8 
 
 How long to sit 10 
 
 "Where to sit 10 
 
 Jurisdiction of 10 
 
 To establish rules of practice such as English 
 
 Courts might ordain 10 
 
 Courts, NichoUs' : Where they first held their sessions. 2 
 Courts: Sat 6 days in a week, 8 hours a day, 50 
 
 years ago 148 
 
 Courts: Sessions; Where they met 4,5 
 
 Cowart, Joseph B 139, 140 
 
 Cox, Daniel 29 
 
 Joseph 31 
 
 Samuel 29 
 
 Crawford, Gideon 20, 42 
 
 D. 
 
 Danger of practical joking 86 
 
 Dayton, William L., Biographical sketch 95, 139, 140 
 
 Dayton and Bradley in Donnelly case 106 
 
 Deeds: Record of 16 
 
 Deputies 15, 16 
 
 Deputies, Grover and Bowne take oath 16 
 
 Differences between the old ways and the new 151, 152 
 
 Dock 148 
 
 Dodd, Amzi: First Vice Chancellor 1871 150 
 
 Doe, John 11, 152 
 
VI INDEX, 
 
 Dongan, Thomas: Governor of New York 24,25 
 
 Colonel 25 
 
 Donnelly trial, State v. Donnelly 103 
 
 Drake, George K 140 
 
 Duke of Gordon 32 
 
 Duke of York: Authorizes grant 1 
 
 What grant embraced 1 
 
 Causes trouble by a double grant 2 
 
 E. 
 
 East Jersey Assembly convened 3 
 
 Eatontown 88, 136, 138, 139 
 
 Batontown and Middletown Point, the only villages in 
 
 the County 62 
 
 Elizabethtown held its first Assembly, May 1668 16 
 
 Elmer, L. Q. C: Tribute to George Wood 82 
 
 Elmer's Digest of Statutes 50 years ago 149 
 
 Ely, Joseph 139 
 
 Ely, John J 134 
 
 Englishmen favored the legal profession 6 
 
 Epitaph on John Reid's tombstone 43, 44 
 
 Equity Court 6 
 
 Errors and Appeals: Court of 8 
 
 Essex County Court 52 
 
 Essex County created 1682-1683 4 
 
 Ethics: Code of 148, 155 
 
 Eulogistic inscription on tombstone 35 
 
 Every suitor his own lawyer 6 
 
 Excitement engendered 107 
 
 Expert Road Lawyers 147 
 
 r. 
 
 Fanwood 33 
 
 First Assembly that met at Elizabethtown, 1668 16 
 
 First Legislature of New Jersey met at Portland Point 14 
 
 Fitz Randolph, Catherine 31 
 
 Forman, Judge 105 
 
 Fort, John Franklin 140 
 
 Freehold: Court House, reason for locating there. .. . 18,19 
 
 Donnelly trial held there 77 
 
 First court house, how built 19 
 
INDEX. VU 
 
 First presiding justice 42 
 
 Had a public House In 1715 19 
 
 In 1750, a small hamlet 19 
 
 Lawyers who settled there, 64, 65, 87, 88, 97, 110, 113, 
 118, 120, 122, 124, 132, 134, 139. 
 
 Only a township in 1715 19 
 
 Frelinghuysen, Theodore, Biographical sketch 73 
 
 General Frederick 77 
 
 G. 
 
 General Sessions of Peace: Courts of 9 
 
 Gibhons, Richard: Patentee 15, 18, 26 
 
 Gilford, Haman 18 
 
 Judge 105 
 
 Gordon, Andrew 38 
 
 Charles, brother of Thomas 32 
 
 Chief Justice 36 
 
 Duke of 32 
 
 Buphemia, daughter of Thomas 38 
 
 George, brother of Thomas 32 
 
 John 38 
 
 Margaret, daughter of Thomas 38 
 
 Mary, daughter of Thomas 38 
 
 Robert, brother of Thomas 33 
 
 Sir George: Knight Advocate 33 
 
 Thomas, Atty. Gen., present at first court held 
 at Freehold, 1715, 18, Biographical 
 
 sketch 32 
 
 Arrested by Lord Cornbury's warrant 37, 38 
 
 Died April 28th, 1722 38 
 
 Inscription on tombstone 38,39 
 
 Lawyer, Judge, Statesman 32 
 
 Married, Ist, Helen; 2nd, Janet Mudie 33, 34 
 
 Names of Children 38 
 
 Names of brothers 32 
 
 Place of Sepulture 38 
 
 Goulding, "William: Patentee 21,26 
 
 Governor, after 1776 nominated the Chancellor 8 
 
 Governor Hunter 27 
 
 Raid of, upon the Hartshorne Cedars 27, 30 
 
 Governor Joseph D. Bedle, Biographical sketch 132 
 
Vm INDEX. 
 
 Governor Lewis Morris of N. J 53 
 
 Governor Lovelace 37 
 
 Governor Morris' administration reviewed 54,55 
 
 Governor's official term extended by constitution of 
 
 1844 8 
 
 Governor prior to constitution of '44 was the Chan- 
 cellor 8 
 
 Governor Thomas Dongan 24 
 
 Graham, James : Attorney General 45 
 
 Grandin, Egbert H 139 
 
 Grand Jury: First consisted of 14 persons 14 
 
 First in County 14 
 
 First indictment found 1689 14 
 
 First met at Middletown fourth Tuesday in 
 
 September, 1687 14 
 
 Grover, James : Claimed to be Deputy 1668 16 
 
 Owner of a Plantation at Tinton Falls 44 
 
 Patentee 26 
 
 H. 
 
 Haight, Charles, Biographical sketch 134, 148 
 
 Hamilton, Andrew 45, 46, 49, 50 
 
 Hance, John 18 
 
 Hartshorne's Cedars at Sandy Hook 26, 27 
 
 Hartshorne, Hugh 31 
 
 James M 139 
 
 Richard : Biographical sketch 21, 52, 139 
 
 Burying ground 31 
 
 Will 31 
 
 William 31,36 
 
 William, of Portland 27 
 
 Harvey, David B 140 
 
 Hawkins, John F 148 
 
 Heading of first Assembly Record 16 
 
 "Henry Clay and Frelinghuysen" 73 
 
 Hoffman, William T 136 
 
 Hopping, James, Judge, Biographical sketch 70 
 
 Hornblower, Joseph C 140 
 
 "Hortensia," residence of John Reid in Monmcuth 
 
 County 41 
 
 Huddy, Joshua 136 
 
 Hulet, George 18 
 
INDEX. IX 
 
 Hull, John : Judge, Biographical sketch 69 
 
 Hulms, Jonathan 15 
 
 Hunter, Governor 27, 28, 29, 30 
 
 Hunterdon County 72, 88 
 
 Rlotings in 52 
 
 Set off from Morris County 54 
 
 I. 
 
 Imlay, James H., Biographical sketch 66 
 
 Increasing court business 141, 142 
 
 Indians of Navesink: Diplomacy of Richard Harts- 
 home 26 
 
 Indian Rights 50 
 
 Indictment: Bill of, first found 14 
 
 Drawn in advance of action by Grand Jury. . 14 
 
 Infantry, Phoenix Corps 71 
 
 Innovation of "law judges" 141 
 
 Inscription upon tombstone 35, 38 
 
 J. 
 
 Jail: First one at Middletown, 1684 19 
 
 Jail of County in 1684 19 
 
 James II 32 
 
 Janet Mudie 34 
 
 Jennings, Lemuel: a Quaker 46,47 
 
 Johnson, Charles: tried for murder of Maria Lewis, 
 
 89, 101, 102, 114 
 
 Judges: changes in manner of appointing 7 
 
 Judges of County Courts, how many 5 
 
 Of Court of Common Right should not be 
 
 judges of High Court of Chancery 5 
 
 Of Courts: how selected 7 
 
 Judge of Supreme Court when 31 years of age , . 97 
 
 Jurisdiction defined of Small Cause Courts 3 
 
 Of Appellate and original courts 4 
 
 Of County Courts 3 
 
 Of Justices of the Peace 9 
 
 Of Provincial Courts 4 
 
 Of Sessions 4 
 
 Of Supreme Court 10 
 
 Jurisprudence: no necessity for complex system.... 6 
 
 of New Jersey, traced 6 
 
X INDEX. 
 
 Jurors: Names of, in case of Applegate v. Shrewsbury. 18 
 
 Jury: Provisions for 5 
 
 Justice Collins grants order to preserve ancient 
 
 records 16 
 
 Justice Court Procedure: How prescribed 9 
 
 Justices of Supreme Court, nominated by the Gover- 
 nor S 
 
 Justices of the Peace: Extent of jurisdiction 9 
 
 Hear causes without , a jury 9 
 
 Hold courts 9 
 
 How elected 9 
 
 Names of 18 
 
 K. 
 
 Kings Attorney 35 
 
 Kings Highway 22 
 
 Kirkpatrick, Andrew 140 
 
 Lanning, John B 140 
 
 Law Reports, remarkable extent of their increase. . 149 
 
 Lawrence, William 36 
 
 Lawrence, Mercy 31 
 
 Lawrie's Council, Governor 23 
 
 Lawyers: Absence of professional 6 
 
 Early: who they were 6 
 
 Earnings 70 years ago 93 
 
 Gladiators at the Bar in 1860 147 
 
 Learned, were rare in Monmouth between 
 1722 and the close of the American 
 
 Revolution 62 
 
 Number of, in Monmouth County 50 years 
 
 ago were 22 148 
 
 Number of, today may exceed 80 148 
 
 Legislature: Chose the judges of the higher courts.. 7 
 Continued to meet at Portland Point for 
 
 some years 15 
 
 Legislature of New Jersey: Composed of Deputies 
 
 from Middletown and Shrewsbury 14 
 
 First met at Portland Point June 1667 14 
 
 Met by authority of Nicoll's Patent nearly a 
 
INDEX. XI 
 
 year before Governor Carteret and his 
 
 legislature met at Blizabethtown 14 
 
 Legislature of Portland Point: Heading of entries in 
 
 Record 16 
 
 Its records designated in Its proceedings as 
 "The general Assembly of the Patentees 
 
 & Deputies" 15 
 
 Names of Overseers and Deputies 16 
 
 Record of the first meeting 15 
 
 Records of, still preserved in Clerk's office 
 
 of Monmouth County 15 
 
 Lincoln, Abraham 154 
 
 Lincoln praises Dayton 109 
 
 Little, Henry Stafford: Biographical sketch 125,147,149 
 
 Litigation protracted 146 
 
 Lloyd, Caleb: Biographical sketch 65 
 
 Corlies: Biographical sketch 65 
 
 William 65 
 
 Longstreet, Jonathan 139 
 
 Lord Cornbury 6,7,9 
 
 Lovelace, Governor 39, 40 
 
 Lord John 49 
 
 M. 
 
 Manasquan 22 
 
 McLean, Amzi C: Biographical sketch 119,105,147 
 
 Middlesex County 77 
 
 Created 1682-1683 4 
 
 MIddletown Courts first met 2 
 
 Middletown and Navesink one judicial district 4 
 
 Middletown: Courts met at Middletown and Shrews- 
 bury till 1713 14 
 
 First Legislature met at 12 
 
 Meeting House at Middletown was first court 
 
 house 19 
 
 Officers for 15, 16 
 
 Original seat of County Jail 19 
 
 Riotings 52 
 
 The first land in New Jersey trodden by 
 
 white men 95 
 
 Middletown Point: The first lawyer 95 
 
 One of principal towns. .62, 111, 112, 125, 131, 132, 139 
 
XU INDEX. 
 
 Middletown Township, 4, 5, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 27, 31, 
 
 35, 36, 41, 52, 67, 70, 124, 125, 138 
 
 Miller, Henry 43 
 
 Millstone Township 1 
 
 Missouri Compromise: Samuel L. Southard, the 
 
 author of 79 
 
 Mompesson, Roger: Chief Justice 12, 13, 37 
 
 Mrs 13 
 
 Monmouth County: Against the lawyers 60 
 
 Bible Society 64 
 
 Created 1682-1683 4 
 
 Historical Association 16, 136 
 
 Historical Association obtains order to pre- 
 serve record 16, 17 
 
 Lawyer did his own work 151 
 
 Lawyers rare in 18th Century 62 
 
 Population in 1726 62 
 
 Public Roads 41 
 
 Montgomerle, John 62 
 
 Moral character of law students important subject for 
 
 investigation by examiners 154, 155 
 
 Morris County: Named for Lewis Morris 54 
 
 Riotings 52 
 
 Morris, A. Havens: Author of "Account of Donnelly 
 
 Trial," Preface 
 
 Morris, Lewis : Biographical sketch 44 
 
 Administration reviewed 54 
 
 Character as depicted in history 57 
 
 Colonel 44,45 
 
 Governor of New Jersey 53 
 
 Will of 59 
 
 Moses, Albert: Victim of murder 77 
 
 Mudie, Janet 34 
 
 Munificent gift to Princeton College 131 
 
 Murder of Maria Lewis 101 
 
 Murder of Albert Moses 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108 
 
 Murphy, Holmes W 139 
 
 Muskets in old court house 149 
 
INDEX. XUl 
 
 N. 
 
 Narumslck: Officers for 16 
 
 Navesink and MlddletowD, one Judicial district 4 
 
 Naveslnk Highlands 101 
 
 Navesink Indians 26 
 
 Necessity for best code of Legal Ethics obtainable 1B5 
 
 For good elementary education of law stu- 
 dents 154 
 
 For good moral character of law students... 154 
 For stricter rules and examinations of law 
 
 students 154, 155 
 
 Nevius, James S. : Biographical sketch 85, 140 
 
 Newasunk Neck 15 
 
 New Jersey Bar 153 
 
 New Jersey Colony divided into Bast and West Jer- 
 sey 4 
 
 NicoUs' Courts: Of short duration 2 
 
 Weak conservators of the Peace 2 
 
 When created 2 
 
 Where they first held their sessions 2 
 
 NicoUs' Patentees: Commenced settlements 1 
 
 Where they came from 2 
 
 NicoUs' Patent: What it was 1 
 
 NicoUs, Richard 1 
 
 O. 
 
 Oath of James Bowne, County Clerk 17 
 
 Ocean County set off from Monmouth 142 
 
 Ocean and Monmouth population in 1726 62 
 
 Officers for Narumslck 16 
 
 Portland Point 15 
 
 Shrewsbury 16 
 
 Ordinance, Cornbury's 11 
 
 Changes therein 11 
 
 Author of 11, 12 
 
 Overseers 15, 16 
 
 P. 
 
 Parker, Charles J 140 
 
 Joel 105, 147, 149 
 
 Joel, Governor, biographical sketch 113 
 
 Peter 16 
 
XIV INDEX. 
 
 Patent of Nicolls 50 
 
 Patentees, Nicolls' 1 
 
 Jurisdiction to try causes 1 
 
 Of Monmouth, where they came from 2 
 
 Where they began settlement 1 
 
 Patterson, Edward 10 
 
 James 68 
 
 Jehu, biographical sketch 67, 68 
 
 Jehu, Jr., biographical sketch 124 
 
 Percy, Henry 15 
 
 Perth Amboy: Thomas Gordon's place of sepulture.. 38 
 
 Pennington, William 105 
 
 Phoenix Infantry Corps 71 
 
 Piscataway 52 
 
 Pinhorne, William: Second Judge of Supreme Court.. 13 
 
 Martha 13 
 
 Population of the County in 1790 including Ocean, 
 
 17,000 62 
 
 Population of the County in 1726 including Ocean, 
 
 less than 5,000 62 
 
 Portland Point Assembly Records: Where preserved. IB 
 
 First records thereof 15 
 
 How designated 15 
 
 Portland Point Assembly: First met 2 
 
 Potts, Stacy G 140 
 
 Preface 
 
 Preservation of ancient Records 16 
 
 Price, Governor Rodman M 89 
 
 Procedure at Common Law and changes therein.... 11 
 
 Proprietors create counties in 1682-1683 4 
 
 Provincial Court of Assize, held at Woodbridge 4 
 
 Jurisdiction of 4 
 
 Provincial Court: Appeal from 4 
 
 Jurisdiction of 4 
 
 Jurisdiction, both appellate and original 4 
 
 Subsequently became the Supreme Court 4 
 
 Public Roads of Monmouth County laid out by John 
 
 Reid 41 
 
INDEX. XV 
 
 Q. 
 
 Qualities of applicants for legal examination and ad- 
 mission to examination 154, 155 
 
 Queen Anne 46 
 
 Appoints Cornbury 6 
 
 Revokes Cornbury's commission 49 
 
 Quit Rents, a general grievance 37 
 
 R. 
 
 Randolph Bennington F.: Biographical sketch 118, 147, 149 
 
 Joseph F., Biographical sketch 110 
 
 Record ABC, copy made IS 
 
 Records of Court at Shrewsbury 17, 18 
 
 Red Bank 21, 95, 128, 138, 140, 146, 151 
 
 Reid, John, first presiding judge at Freehold 18 
 
 Reid, John, 19, biographical sketch 39, 139 
 
 Children of 43 
 
 Epitaph of 43, 44 
 
 Residence of 41 
 
 Regulations of Admission to examination 153 
 
 Reports, Law 149 
 
 Reports of American Bar Association 155 
 
 Reports of Chancery, gain on the Law Reports 149 
 
 Rhea, Jonathan, biographical sketch 63 
 
 Officers in the Continental Army 63, 71, 72 
 
 Richardson, Richard 15 
 
 Riotings 62 
 
 Against the Lawyers 60 
 
 Roads, laying out and vacating was a large Item of 
 
 legal business 50 years ago 146 
 
 Road litigation 145, 146 
 
 Expert lawyers 147 
 
 Robbing, Chilllon 140, 148 
 
 Roe, Richard 11, 152 
 
 Rossell, William 140 
 
 Ryall, David Bailey, Biographical sketch 87,88 
 
 Philip J 139 
 
 Thomas C 139 
 
 Ryerson, Thomas C 140 
 
XVI INDEX. 
 
 S. 
 
 Sadler, Richard 18 
 
 Sanction of the Senate rectuired In nominating Chan- 
 cellor and Justices of the Supreme Court 8 
 
 Sandy Hook 22, 26, 27, 28 
 
 Cedars 26, 27 
 
 Scotch Plains 33 
 
 Scott, Joseph Warren, biographical sketch 76, 105 
 
 Scudder, Edward W 140 
 
 Joseph, biographical sketch 64 
 
 Senate, Was formerly Council 8 
 
 Separation of New York and New Jersey 54 
 
 Session Court Records of Middletown and Shrews- 
 bury ordered copied for preservation 16 
 
 Sessions, or County Courts 3 
 
 Court held at Shrewsbury in 1679 17 
 
 Jurisdiction of 3 
 
 When and where to be held 4 
 
 Shadock, Will 18 
 
 Sheriffs: provisions for 5 
 
 Shrewsbury Court at house of Nicholas Crownes 17 
 
 Shrewsbury Court first met 2 
 
 Officers 16 
 
 Shrewsbury, Defendant in an action at Law 17 
 
 Township. . 1, 4, 5, 14, 16, 17, 18, 24, 36, 90, 91, 95, 126 
 
 Slocum, J. 18 
 
 Small amounts at issue 6 
 
 Small Cause Courts: Juries might be called 5 
 
 Smock, Denise H 139 
 
 Society of Friends 42 
 
 "Sons of Liberty" 60 
 
 Southard, Samuel L., biographical sketch 78 
 
 South Carolina and President Jackson 80 
 
 Sparsity of population 6 
 
 Special Masters: In 1860 149 
 
 Increase in numbers 150 
 
 State Board of Education 153 
 
 Statutes: Frequency of changes 153 
 
 Steen, James 148 
 
 Stockton, Richard, biographical sketch 75, 76 
 
 Stout, John 18 
 
 Richard, 18, Patentee 26,31 
 
INDEX. XVll 
 
 St. Peters Church, Perth Amboy 35 
 
 Supreme Court 4, 5 
 
 A Judge of, at 31 years of age 97 
 
 Became Court of Common Right B 
 
 Jurisdiction 10 
 
 Justices: How nominated 8 
 
 Was to establish rules 10 
 
 T, 
 
 Taylor, Sarah 31 
 
 Terhune, William L., biographical sketch Ill 
 
 "The Old Duke," 76 
 
 Throckmorton, Aaron Rhea, biographical sketch 122, 149 
 
 Edmund M 21, 139 
 
 John 18 
 
 Judge 105 
 
 Tie severed that bound New Jersey to New York 54 
 
 Tintern Manor 44, 45 
 
 Tinton Falls 44 
 
 Traftord, Charles H 148 
 
 Trial of Charles Johnson for murder of Maria Lewis. 101 
 
 Trial of James Donnelly for murder of Albert Moses. 103 
 
 U. 
 
 Upper Freehold Township 1 
 
 V. 
 
 Van Hook, Lawrence 20, 42 
 
 Voorhees, Willard P 140 
 
 Vredenburgh, Major Peter, biographical sketch 136, 147 
 
 Peter, biographical sketch 88, 105, 139, 140, 143 
 
 W. 
 
 Wakake Creek 21 
 
 Wall, Garret Dorset, biographical sketch 70,82 
 
 James 71 
 
 John 31 
 
 Walling, Jr., Alfred 148 
 
 Walton, Bllsha 143 
 
 Walton V. Snowhill: How justice was administered by 
 
 Common Pleas 50 years ago 144 
 
XVlll _ INDEX. 
 
 Warden, Ellakim 16, 24 
 
 Sheriff of Monmouth County. 24 
 
 Joseph 20, 42 
 
 Waykee Creek 21 
 
 West, Earth 1^ 
 
 White, John M 14*^ 
 
 Whitehead, Capt. Isaac ^■'■ 
 
 Willocks, George ^^ 
 
 Wilson, John *2 
 
 Wood, George: Biographical sketch ^1 
 
 Daniel Webster's opinion of 81 
 
 Y. 
 
 York, Duke of: made double grants 2 
 
 Younger men who took their places 147 
 
 ERRATA 
 
 Omit initial M. in caption Richard M. Hartshorne 
 p. 21. 
 Insert foot note, p. 113 as follows: «^E. H., p. 298.