gaged till 1851, and so profited by his experience that
he was able, upon going South, to take charge of the
construction of a section (twenty-five miles in length)
of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, situated in the
State of Mississippi. This work he carried on suc-
cessfully, notwithstanding the deleterious effect of the
climate, till the financial panic of 1857 so damaged
the immediate prospects of the company that he re-
signed his position and came home. He soon after
became a member of the firm of William E. Henry
& Co., and took a contract to build several miles of
the Allentown and Auburn Railroad. The financial
disaster also impeded the progress of this road, and
the company being obliged to suspend operations, he
and his partner lost heavily, but paid all their in-
debtedness.

During the remainder of that disastrous year, in-
stead of remaining idle and complaining of hard
times, he planned new enterprises, and, in company
with J. E. Voorhees and J. F. Wyckolf, engaged



largely in the purchase of clothing at forced sales in
New York, disposing of the purchases by wholesale
and at auction through the country. These operations
resulted in handsome profits. Engaging next in busi-
ness as drover and stock-dealer, his profits largely in-
creased until 1861, when, owing to the embarrassment
caused by the first stage of the war, he lost all he had
saved during the preceding prosperous years, and had
literally to commence business anew, with no other
capital than his characteristic energy and persever-
ance. He chose to remain in the stock trade, and did
so with fair success till 1865, when, in company with
J. N. Ramsey and Richard Bellis, he commenced
business in New York and Jersey City as live-stock
commission merchant. He continued in this way
till 1868, losing in the mean time eighteen thousand
dollars through the defalcation of a bookkeeper in
the employ of the firm, and then became sole pro-
prietor of the business, which, under his enterprising
and judicious management, became one of the largest
of the- kind in New York and vicinity, averaging
three hundred thousand head of live-stock, sheep, and
lambs a year, and comprising, besides the large local
trade, heavy consignments from the South and West.

In 1875 he entered into copartnership with Mr.
Philip S. Kase, under the firm-name of Kase & Pid-
cock. The present headquarters of the business are
at the Central Stock-Yards of Jersey City.

In politics Mr. Pidcock is a Democrat, but previous
to 1873 took no part as a candidate for any office. In
that year he was the regular nominee of the Demo-
cratic party for the office of State senator, and was
defeated by Hon. F. A. Potts, the Republican candi-
date. He was again nominated in 1876, and elected
by a majority of sixteen hundred and seventy-five
votes. He is largely interested in real estate in the
vicinity of White House, Hunterdon Co., the place
of his family residence. He has been largely instru-
mental in the improvement of the village, selling
property on time for building purposes, and advanc-
ing purchasers a large part of the money necessary to
erect buildings thereon. He was married in 1862 to
Fanny A. Faulks, of Elizabeth, N. J.



BERIAH A. WATSON, M.D.
Beriah A. Watson, M.D., was born at Lake George,.
Warren Co., N. Y., on the 26th of March, 1836. He-
is the third son of Perry and Maria (Place) Watson,
—the former a native of Rhode Island and son of
Perry Watson, Sr., who participated in the battle of
Bunker Hill. In early youth he removed to Green-
wich, Washington Co., N. Y., where his wife was
born, and where he followed the occupation of a farmer
in that and the adjoining county of Warren. Here
the subject of our sketch was early made acquainted
with farm labor ; but, having a decided preference for
study, he was allowed to attend school more than the




P^. fc. %,&^Su^ 6^.4/.






READINGTON.



505



ordinary winter months devoted to the education of
farmers' boys. He was soon placed in the family of
Jonathan Streeter, an intelligent Quaker of thai lo-
cality, where he enjoyed uncommon advantages for
mental discipline and for that urdcrly and systematic ;
pursuit of knowledge which laid the Inundation of
his future success as a student and medical writer.
He Spent two years in this Quaker family, Ih. li
taught school to acquire the means uf prosecuting his
future studies. At the age of twenty-one he entered
the office of the late I )r. .lames Iteilcv, a I Suckasuniiy,
Morris Co., N. J., where lie studied medicine, and in
the autumn of l.s.V.i entered the Medical Department
of the University of New York, where he took his de-
gree of Doctor of .Medicine in the spring of L861.
After graduation he located at White House, X. J.,
where he practiced for a short time. In the fall of !
18G2 he entered the United States service as a con- .
tract surgeon, after having passed an examination
before the board of examiners, appointed by the
Surgeon-General U.S.A., of which Dr. Valentine
Mott was president, and was ordered to report for
duty September 1st, at Newark, where lie was en-
gaged in the army hospital service until March 26,
1863. Hi- then received a com mission from Governor
Parker as assistant surgeon of the Fourth New Jersey
Volunteers, and reported promptly to the i iiuan-

dant of his regiment, but very soon after was de-
tached from that command and ordered to report to
Dr. Asch, medical director of the Artillery Reserve,

and by him directed to take charge Of the artillery
brigade then located at Falmouth, \'a. ]| r remained
with that command until alter the battle of Gettys-
burg, when he received orders to return to his regi-
ment (the Fourth New Jersey), of which he was com- '
missioned Burgeon, with the rank of major, November
4th. Shortly alter this he was detailed as â–  of tin-
operating surgeons to the First Brigade, First Divis-
ion of the Si vi 1 1 Army Corps, stationed in front of
Petersburg, Va., at this time.

In this capacity he had Berved but a feu months
when he was ordered to lake charge of the First Di-
vision, Sixth Army Corps Hospital, and at the same
time made acting medical purveyor of the corps. I [i

retained these positions, and continued to discharge

the duties until the close of the war, retiring from the
service July III, L865,

Returning to civil life, he made eh,, ice ,,i' Jenej
City as bis rutin-, â–  residence, and resumed the prac-
tice of his profession. Llthough actively engaged in
practice, be -till finds time for study, and very few

men of any period of life enter into it with more ardor.
The passage of the act legalizing dissection of human
Cadavers in this State was secured principally through

his efforts and those of his friend, Dr. J. D. McGilL

The same may be said in regard to the formation of

the \e« Jersey Academy of Medicine.

He is a fellow of the N.-w Jersey Lcademj of Med-
icine; permanent member of the American Medical



Association ; member of the New York Neurological
Society, New York Pathological Society, New Jersey
Microscopical Society, and also of the Jersey City
Pathological Society. He has been president o I tin-
New Jersey Academy of Medicine, and also of the
Iii-triet Medical Society for the county of Hudson,
N. J. JIc was appointed attending surgeon to tin
Jersey City Charity Hospital at the time of its organ-
ization, in 1869, and was also appointed attending
surgeon to the St. Francis Hospital in 1878, and -till

continues to discharge the duties of both positions.

He has from time to time contributed essays and
report- of cases to medical journals, among which may
be mentioned the following: "A Case of Facial Neu-
ralgia treated by Extirpation of the Superior Max-
illary Nerve," The Medical Record, Oct. 16, 1871.
"A Case of Hematoma of the Thigh — Two Opera-
tions; Death," The Medical Record, Feb. 20, L875.
"The Pathology and Treatment of Chronic Ulcers,"
New )'"/■/ .'/• ■/•'■-,.■' .It, iini'il, July , 1 -7-",. " I Supposed
Case of Rallies Canina treated with strychnia and
Woorara; Recovery," The I can Journal of Medi-
ml S-intfr, July, ls7ii. â– â–  femoral Aneurism treated
by Plugging the Sac; Di ath. caused by Hemorrhage
from Deep Epigastric Artery, on the Eighteenth Day ;
Autopsy; Remarks," The American Journal of Medir
ice, October, l>7ii. "Stomach-Pump, Aspira-
tor, and Syringe," The Medical Record, New York, voL
ii.p. 805. "Woorara in Rabies: Report of Two Cases,
with Remarks," The American Journal of the Medical
Sciences, vol. lxxiii. p. 418. "Lever l'.\-e, ii,,n-Saw,"
New York, vol. xiii. p. 88. "Dis-
cotome," Ibid., vol. xiv. p. 78. " Gunpowder Disfigure-
ments," The St. Loui.i Medical and Surgical â– /
vol. xxxv. p. 14"). " Pya-mia and Septica-mia," Xrw

)',,,â– /; Medical Journal, vol. xxvi. pp. 867, 461. "Dis-
ease Germs : their Origin, Nature, and Relation to
Wounds," Transactione of the American Medical Asso-
. vol. xxix. p. 268. Translation from German,
â– ' Woorara in Tetanus" i extract from a " Contribution
to the Knowledge of Tetanus," by A, E. Knccht.

Physician to the Prison of Waldheim, reported in

Schmidt! » JahrbQaher, hand, clxxiii. }94), New York

Journal, vol. xxvii. p. 626. " Remarks on

Treatment of Stumps after Amputation: a New
Method," London Lancet, vol. i. (1S79) p. 536.

I i:\n-i LTION8 PROSI I in: FRENCH. — " New Mode

of Surgical Treatment" ("Histoire de la Chirurgie

Francai-c." parlc Docteur Jules Rochard, Edit. L876,
p. 635, et seq.), St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal,
vol. xxxvi. p. II:.'; vol. xxxvii. pp. 28, 489; vol.
xxxviii. p. 178; vol. rxxix. p. is i. "A Contribution
to tin- Tnat incut of Compound Fractures of the Skull,"
Richmond and Louisville Medical . I, xxviii.

p. 1. "Antiseptic Treatment of Wound-: Carbolic

Acid M. Alcohol," / M -', New York

vol. xvi. p. li,. "The Proper Period for the Per-
formance of Amputation in Cases of Traumatic In-
juries," Oillard'i Medical Journal, vol. \xx. p. 1 (for-



506



HUNTERDON COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.



merly the Richmond and Louisville Medical Journal).
"A Contribution to the Study of the Action of the
Carbolized Spray in the Antiseptic Treatment of
Wounds," The American Journal of the Medical Sci-
ences, vol. lxxx. p. 419.



JOHN KLINE.



The subject of this brief memoir was born near
New Germantown, Hunterdon Co., N. J., on the 8th
day of August, A.D. 1784. He was the grandson
of Jacob Kline, who was born in Germany, March
6, 1714, and Fraenica Gertraut Melick, born at Lan-
daff, Wurtemberg, Germany, Dec. 9, 1727. They
emigrated to America, and settled at Readington, on
the farm where the subject of this sketch spent eighty-
three years of his life (from 1796 to 1880). Jacob
Kline was for many years a justice of the peace of
the county of Hunterdon ; his docket, kept in the
German language, is now in the possession of Lewis
Vandoren, of Peapack, N. J. He died A.D. 1789,
and was buried in the Lutheran cemetery, at New
Germantown. His widow, Fraenica Gertraut, died
A.D. 1801, at the house of her daughter, at Ger-
mantown, Pa. They had six sons and three daugh-
ters. The sons, as well as the father, were not only
agriculturists, but tanners and curriers also. Their
eldest son, John William Kline, was born Jan. 5,
1750. He married Altje, daughter of Matthias Smock
and Geertje Post, Jan. 24, 1780. They had one daugh-
ter, Charity Kline, born Nov. 6, 1780, married Henry
"Van Derveer, May 12, 1799, and had six children, two
of whom are deceased, leaving no issue, — viz., Rev.
John Van Derveer, D.D., of Easton, Pa., and Jacob
K. Van Derveer, of Flemington, late of Clover Hill.
Those still living are Peter N. Van Derveer, of Somer-
ville ; Alletta Vandoren, relict of Christianus T. Van-
doren, late of Neshanic ; Mary, relict of John C. Van
Liew, of the same place ; and Henry Van Derveer, of
North Branch. Peter has two sons and three daugh-
ters. Mary has two sons and one daughter, — Henry
V. D., John J., and Anna Van Liew. Henry Van
Derveer, of North Branch, married Frances Caroline
Blackwell, of Amwell ; she died without issue, August,
1880. ... ...

John Kline was born, as above stated, on what was
for many years known as " the Cole farm," half a
mile southwest from New Germantown. His father,
John William Kline, moved to Lower Valley, and
engaged in mercantile business with David Miller;
and when John was twelve years of age, he returned
with his family to the homestead at Readington, three
years before his father's death. He was a man of correct
habits and exemplary character, much respected in
the community, — and so were his brothers and sisters,
— and attached to the Evangelical Lutheran Church.

His son, the late John Kline, married Catharine
Williamson, Oct. 27, 1804, who died A.D. 1837; and



for his second wife he married Ellen Wyckcflf (widow
of Henry Vroom), Jan. 27, 1841, who survives him
and now resides in Somerville, N. J. Mrs. Vroom
(the youngest daughter of Dennis Wyckoff, Esq.) had
one daughter by her first husband, Henrietta Vroom,
born in Wayne Co., Ohio, June 27, 1836 ; was edu-
cated at the female institute in Somerville. She
married Lewis Vandoren, of Peapack, Somerset Co.,
N. J., and died January, 1875, leaving three children,
— John Henry, Ellen Kline, and Henrietta Vroom.
Mr. Kline did for her in all respects as he would have
done for an only daughter, and she loved and re-
spected him as a father. The death of Mr. Kline,
which occurred Jan. 20, 1880, was deeply lamented
by the whole community. He was the patriarch of
that section of the country, and commanded more
than the respect of all who knew him. He was hon-
ored and beloved. Speaking of his funeral at his late
residence on the homestead farm of his father and
grandfather, and where he had spent eighty-three
years of his life, the obituary notice says, " Never
had that wide-spread, hospitable roof covered a larger
company, and seldom has such a gathering been so
entirely pervaded and absorbed with affectionate rev-
erence for departed worth." Several years before his
death he selected for his funeral text, "To live is
Christ, to die is gain." He was a man of exemplary,
devoted Christian life, genial in spirit and abundant
in hospitality ; of simple, child-like faith and unos-
tentatious manners, he was yet a man of positive
strength of character, and exerted a wide-spread influ-
ence for good, being a liberal patron of the church
and a free giver to every charitable and benevolent
enterprise. From the worldly abundance with which
Providence had blessed him, and from the rich treas-
ure of his inner life, he shed a light and a benediction
upon all around him. His body lies in the Reading-
ton cemetery, near the Reformed church, of which
he was many years a member and ruling elder. A
granite monument, inclosed by an iron fence, marks
the place of burial.



DAVID M. KLINE.

Godfrey Kline and his wife Ida appear to have
been the first American ancestors of this branch of
the family, who came to this country from Germany.
Their son, Christian Kline, was born March 13, 1754;
married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry and Catharine
Muller (or Miller, as it is called in this country), who
was born July 12, 1758. They had children, — Henry
M., David M., Jacob M., Betsy, Ida, and Maria.
Henry M. married Sally Ramsey, and lived at Klines-
ville, near Flemington, where he was a merchant, and
reared a family of eight children. David M. married
Elizabeth Hager, Dec. 28, 1805. At the age of four-
teen he was indentured to his uncle, David Miller, a




^z



/fZ/aC ^ZJfcnxj^_^





&£D ^<7%%~~ &/i vyiM^'^t^



IAJ




*



Albert Shannon, M.D., was born near
Hope, Warren Co., N. J., Aug. 5, 1850, a son
of John and Margaret (Harris) Shannon, and
was brought up at Hope, receiving his prepara-
tory education at Blair Academy, Blairstown,
N. J. He received his degree of Doctor of
Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in
1872, having previously read medicine with
Dr. Thomas Bond, of Polkville, N. J. He
first settled in Chicago, with the view of re-
maining there permanently ; but his health not



being good he returned East, and settled at
Stanton, Hunterdon Co., N. J., where he suc-
ceeded to the practice of Dr. William S.
Creveling, the latter removing to Bethlehem,
N. J., to the estate of his father and grand-
father.

Dr. Shannon married, Jan. 19, 1875, Martha,
daughter of Dr. William S. Creveling, and has
one child, Mary C. Shannon, born Oct. 9, 1876.
He has quite a successful practice extending
over a rich section of country.



READINGTON.



507



merchant in German Valley, Hunterdon Co., to serve
until he was twenty-one years of age, at tlie expira-
tion of which he was to receive a "freedom suit and
one hundred dollars in money." Having Berved hie
time and received his freedom, with the one hundred
dollars as capital, be started in mercantile business
for himself at New Germantown, where lie remained
two years. He then removed to Jacksonville (now
Lebanon), where lie was remarkably successful in
business. He continued there for the rest of his life,
building up a large mercantile trade, and realizing a

hands c competency. His wife Elizabeth was a

daughter of Jacob Hager, of Morris Co., N. J. Their
children were Mary Catharine, born Feb. 1 •">, 1807,
married William R. Smith, of Pittstown, Hunterdon
Co., .May 29, 1*28; Sophia lineman, horn vpril 23,

1809, married John Emery, of Lebanon, Oct. 28,
1826 (after his death she became the wife of George
S. Shurts, of Lebanon, where they now reside) ; Da-
vid Miller, born Nov. 23, 1811, married Sarah Ann
Everett, Dec. 14, 1831 (and also married a second
wile, Lydia Robison, of Baptisttown ; they now re-
Bide in Fulton Co., 111.); Ann, born Feb. 20, 1814,
married Dr. Henry Field, of Clinton, N. J., Dec. 15,
1831; Oliver, born May 2. r ), 1816, died in infancy;
Jane, born Dec. 2, LSI", married Jonathan Dawes,
Dec. 29, 1835 ; Lambert Boeman, born June 15, 1820 ;
John Ramsey, born Oct. 15, 1S22, married Elizabeth
Van Syekcl, July 2::, I S44 ; Elizabeth, born Aug. 5,
-1825, married William Childs, of Basking Ridge,
N. J.; William, born Dec. 27, 1829, died in infancy.

Jacob M. Kline married Phebe Kuhl (Cool), and
had several children, lie was for several year- a
merchant at Ilamden, \. J., and removed to lair-
vicw, 111., where he died recently. Betsy Kline mar-
ried John Ramsey; Ida married Harmon Diltz ;
Maria married Abraham Melick.

David M. Kline died Dee. ti, l-Si',1 . aired seventy-
seven years. His wife Elizabeth died March 19, 1S:',.">.

LAMBERT BOEMAN KLINE,

the seventh child of David M. and Elizabeth Eager
Kline, was born in Lebanon, Hunterdon Co., N.J.,
June 15, 1820; married, lir>t, Emily Shannon, of Leb-
anon, May 26, 1841. They had children, as follows:
David SI., born May 5, 1846, died at the age of twenty-



two ; Sarah S., born Feb. 23, 1848, married George
W. Sharp, of Annandale, Bunterdon Co., March 17,
1869; Julia B., horn Oct. 5, 1851, married Charles M.
Quimby, of Chester, Morris Co., N. J., Feb. 25, 1873;
William S., born March 5, 1853, died in infancy; Ed-
gar E., born Aug. 21, 1858, married Eliza A. Mills, of
Chester, Aug. :hp, 1*76. Mr-. Emily Kline died Sept.
22, 1*61. Mr. Kline married for his second wife Har-
riet W. Foster, of Wooster, Ohio, Nov. 8, 1862. They
have one daughter, Mary E. M. Kline, born Dec. 25,
1868. Mi. Kline grew up behind his father's counter
as clerk, wdiere he remained till he took the store
under his own management, and continued a success-
ful mercantile career till 1868, when he removed to
the homestead farm of ( hristopher Rowe, at Three
Bridges, Hunterdon Co., where he now resides.

ISAAC ROWE

was a son of Christopher Rowe and Ida Vesselius,

wle. were the grandparents of the present Mrs. Har-
riet W. Kline, who inherited the estate, part of which
had been in the family for over a hundred years. It
was bequeathed to her by the subject of this sketch,
who died Feb. 16, 1862, and whose memory Mrs. Kline
holds in grateful esteem.

Ida Vesselius was the daughter of Dr. George An-
drew Vesselius, who was born and educated in Hol-
land or Germany, and came to this country not later
than 171'.'. lb- lived on the Old York Road, half a
mile from Three Bridges, in a stone house on the top
of the hill, having an extensive and successful prac-
tice. He died in 1767, and his remains were interred
on his own land. There is n,, mark or monument to-
show where he lies.

Christopher Rowe was born .Mai.li ]. 1756, and his
wife Ida Nov. 4, 1758. Their children were as fol-
low-: Mary, born March 15, 1782, married Jacob
Young, of Karitau township, and died without issue;
Jacob, born April 25, 1787, lived on the homestead
till Feb. 15, ls.">7, when he died; Isaac, horn V
1793, married Margaret Case, of Karitau township,
and died childles- ; Abraham, born Sept. 12, 1795.
died in infancy. Of the entire family only two remain
at this writing, — viz., Mrs. Harriet N. Kline and her
daughter, Mary E. M. Kline, of Three Bridges,
Hunterdon Co.



UNION.



This township was formed from the south part of
Bethlehem township by act of the Legislature, session
of 1852-53. It was brought about principally by
those who opposed the then existing school law.
Two names were proposed for the new township, —
"Union," the name of the furnace formerly existing
in its northeastern part, and " Rockhill," in honor of
the families who had for many years owned and re-
sided in the extreme south part of the township of
Bethlehem, embracing at this time Robeson Bockhill,
Esq., and Edward A. Rockhill, his brother, great-
grandsons of Edward Eockhill, a large land-proprietor
(who lived here as early as 1731), and grandsons of
Dr. John Bockhill, who settled here in 1748. The
former name was selected.

It is divided from Bethlehem by a line commencing
at a stone in the boundary of Alexandria, in the road
leading from Bloomsbury to the Hickory farm, on
the top of the hill north of tbe Hickory, and running
in an easterly direction about four miles to the Union
Methodist Episcopal church at the mines (Norton),
and thence, in the same direction, until it strikes
Spruce Run, which for about three and a half miles
divides it from High Bridge, formerly Lebanon town-
ship.

The territory is sufficiently undulating to need but
very little artificial drainage. There is no marsh-
land in the township, and, except the two small mill-
ponds of Pattenburg and Cole's Mill, scarcely two
successive acres that could not be tilled. It is drained
principally by the " Big Brook," known on maps by
the names of " Albertson's Brook," " Albertson's
Branch," and called by the aborigines " Monselaugh-
away" (said to mean big brook), which empties into
Spruce Run, that discharges its waters into the South
Branch of the Raritan. There are also several spring
runs in the south of the township, all making their
way to the Capoolon and the South Branch of the
Raritan. These springs, without exception, supply
pure water.

The land, when properly tilled, produces good
crops of grass, corn, wheat, and other grains. At
Clinton, and thence up Spruce Run and the Big
Brook, there is an abundance of good limestone, of
which considerable has been burned and distributed
in the vicinity as a fertilizer; its effects are plainly
visible in the increased produce of the farms where
used. The soil along the northern boundary is in
some instances gravelly, as is also the western border,



508



* By John Bluuo, M.D.



being formed by the eastern slope of the so-called
Barrens Ridge; the other parts are loam and clay,
with some little red shale'

The township has, according to the report of the
comptroller of the treasury, in 1879, 13,110 acres of
land, valued at $786,550 ; and personal property valued
at $244,600 ; 272 polls paid a tax of $258. The school
tax is $1911.11 ; county tax, $3136.69; road tax, $1000;
poor tax, $800.

EARLY SETTLERS.

Ferdinand Srope came from France about 1750 and
settled in what was then the township of Amwell,
afterwards Bethlehem, and now Union township,
near where Norton post-office is now located. Here
his son, Christopher Srope, was born, Nov. 2, 1761.
Christopher married Thankful Penwell, Nov. 24, 1785.
They raised a large family of children. Christopher
died in Union township, Sept. 19, 1848, and his widow
in Kingwood township, at Baptisttown, June 19, 1852,
aged eighty-eight.

John Srope, oldest son of Christopher, was a black-
smith, and at an early age married Charity Smith and