judge of the Court of Errors and Appeal-. He was
also S member of the Twenty-third and Twenty-
fourth Congresses, from is:;:; 87. He filled both po-
sitions with honor ami credit. "His opinions as
judge were much confided in by the ineml.ers of the
bar. He was the candidate of the Republican party
for State senator in 1856. He wa- a member of tin-
Constitutional Convention of 1844, and for many
years, and until his death, of the board of trustees of
Rutgers College. He was born at Six-Mile Run. in
this county, and died suddenly, at the residence of
his son, Dr. .1. V. Schenck, of Camden (whom ho
was visiting . May i:. I860, aged Beventy-two."|
( OMtuary In Sttvrtt Quad) Not*. May .1. 1 - '
590
SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
John Potter Stockton, also a native of Somerset,
was born at Princeton, Aug. 2, 1826. He is a brother
of Gen. R. F. and a son of Commodore Stockton.
A graduate of Princeton College in 1843, he studied
law with the late Judge Field, and commenced its
practice in 1846. He was called to the bar as coun-
selor in 1849, and followed his profession in New Jer-
sey until 1857, when he was appointed United States
minister to Rome by President Buchanan. In 1861
he returned to his native land, and resumed the prac-
tice of law in Trenton. He was elected to the United
States Senate in 1865 for six years, but was unseated
after serving one year, being, however, re-elected to
the same position for the term commencing March 4,
1869, and serving the full term. At its expiration he
resumed his law practice at Trenton. He was ap-
pointed attorney-general of the State, and sworn into
office for the term of five years on April 8, 1877.
Senator Stockton was appointed, with Judges Ryer-
son and Randolph, to revise and simplify the pro-
ceedings and practice in the courts of law, and made
a report to the Legislature which was adopted.*
Robert Field Stockton is a son of the late Com-
modore R. F. Stockton, and was born in Somerset
County (at Princeton) in 1832. He entered Princeton
College, and was graduated with the class of 1851. He
then commenced the study of law with the late Judge
Richard S. Field, and was admitted to practice as an
attorney in 1854. He filled the position of secretary
and treasurer of the Belvidere Delaware Railroad
Company, general manager of the Plymouth Coal
Company, and president of the Delaware and Raritan
Canal Company, succeeding his father and holding
the office until the company was merged into the
United Railroads and Canal Companies of New Jer-
sey. (There were only two presidents of that com-
pany, — Gen. Robert F. Stockton and his father, Com.
Stockton.) He was also a director of the United
Railroads. He was appointed adjutant-general of
New Jersey, Jan. 30, 1858, serving with distinction in
that position during the late war, resigning the same
April 12, 1867. March 9, 1859, he was brevetted ma-
jor-general for meritorious services as adjutant-gen-
eral. Gen. Stockton was elected State comptroller in
1877-t
Joseph Thompson, son of Judge John Thompson,
was born Sept. 30, 1808, in the old homestead near
Readington, and close to the line dividing Somerset
and Hunterdon Counties. He is of Scotch descent.
His youth was spent, as have been his later years, upon
a farm. During his boyhood he studied land-survey-
ing, and mastered it ; he also taught district school at
most of the neighboring villages and hamlets. At the
age of twenty-one he married Ann Post, and has had
eight children, of whom the Rev. John B. Thompson,
now of Catskill, N. Y., is the oldest. When but twenty -
* Legislative Mnnual, 1880, p. 175.
t Ibid., p. 171.
eight years of age he was associated with his father
as judge of the Hunterdon County Orphans' Court,
— a position he held for fifteen years. Since then he
has held the same position in the Somerset County
JOSEPH THOMPSON.
Court for thirteen years, and, though his legal knowl-
edge is only such as he could acquire by desultory
reading in the intervals of so busy a life, no decision
of his as judge of either of these courts has ever been
reversed, t
Alvah A. Clark was born in Lebanon, Hunter-
don Co., N. J., Sept. 13, 1840. He is the son of Sam-
uel Clark, a merchant of Lebanon. When Alvah was
seven years of age his father removed to New Ger-
mantown, where the subject of this notice passed
his early years and received his preliminary educa-
tion, studying a portion of the time with Rev. Dr.
William Blauvelt, of Lamington. Having decided
upon the legal profession, he commenced the study
of the law in 1860 in the office of Hon. J. C. Raff'erty,
and later under the tutelage of I. N. Dilts, Esq. He
was admitted to practice as an attorney in 1864, and
as a counselor in 1867. Immediately after his admis-
sion to the bar he opened an office at New German-
town, and there continued until September, 1867,
when he removed to Somerville, which place has
since been his residence. He was the attorney of the
Bound Brook Railroad Company until it passed into
the hands of the Philadelphia and Reading. Mr.
Clark has been, and still is, the attorney of the Ham-
ilton Land Association, etc., and is a trustee of the
X For a more complete sketch of Judge Thompson, see the account of
the Thompson family, in the history of the township of Readington,
ante, p. 491.
Till: HUNCH AND BAR OF SOMEKSET COUNTY.
591
Somerville Dime Savings-Bank ; besides these special
interests, he has been ex t > â– r j - i â– . â– I ;. engaged in legal
practice in the County ami Superior Courts.
£^*^C<&LjQ^z. «^-^5
Democratic in politics, as the candidate of that
party he was- elected, in 1876, a member of the Forty-
fifth Congress from the Fourth Congressional Dis-
trict, and re-elected in IS~S to the Forty-sixth Con-
gress. His congressional record is well known, and
n N no riiihrllishnicnt or laudation. He is a self-
made Mian, and by hi- energy and undeniable ability
lias built up a large legal business. He takes great
pride in his profession, and di rotes much care to the
preparation and management of every ease which he
undertakes. Two of the more important of the many
cases in which lie lias figured were the Van Derveer
will ease and the Can case. In 1864 he was married
to Miss Anna Van Derbeek, of Somerville.
Johb Schomp. — George Schomp, grandfather of
John, was a fanmr and resided in the township of
Readington, Hunterdon Co., N.J. Hefiral married
Elisabeth, daughter of George Anderson, a lady of
Scotch descent, who bore him the following children :
Ann, wife of Cornelius M. Wyckoff, of Bedminster,
Peter G. Jacob G., George Anderson, John G.,
David G. (died), and Cornelius Wyckoff died .
For his s indwifehe married Mary Vosseller. Of
this union were horn two son-. Tunis 0., who died
at Harlingen, and Henry P., of White House.
Jacob G., father of John, horn Oct l". 1807, mar-
ried Kli/a, daughter of Abram and Rebecca (Voor-
hees) Van Fleet, of Readington. He learned the
trade of a carpenter in early life, hut, receiving an in-
jury, gave his attention to study, and was a teacher for
sometime. He was also a merchant at Readington
for several years. During the latter part of his life
he has been a builder and farmer, and resides mar
the line between the town-hips of Readington and
r.ranchliurg. He is a member of the Dutch Re-
formed < 'hureh :n Readington, and has been officially
connected with that church a- deacon and elder.
Politically he is identified with the Democratic party,
and has tilled the oiliees of Freeholder, justice of the
peace, and other minor places.
John Schomp, one of the Leading members of the
bar of Somerset County, was horn at Readington, June
2,1843. lie received his preparatory education in
the common school at Claverack, on the Hudson,
and under the private instruction of J. Newton Voor-
I s, of Somerset, and spent one year with Rev. Wil-
liam I. Thompson, of Rutgers College grammar
school. He entered Rutgers College in 1869, from
which be was graduated with the usual honors in the
class of '62, having for classmates Judge ( lovenhoven,
of New Brunswick, Rev. A. N. Wyckoff, of New
Orleans Presbyterian Church, Judge Garretson, of
Hudson Co., N. J., ami Judge < ;. I ». W. Vroom, of
Trenton, N. J. In the following fall Mr. Schomp
entered the law-oilicc of Brown, Hall & Vanderpoel,
of New York City, where he remained for a few
months, and was compelled to relinquish his studies
for a w Idle on account of ill health. After six months'
respite he became a law-student with Judge Van
Syckel, Flcmington, and was admitted to the bar in
L866. He practiced law for a short time in Newark,
N. J., hut the same year, 1867, Opened an office in
Somerville, where he has since prosecuted his chosen
profession. Following the political line of his ances-
tors, Mr. Schomp is a Den rat He married, April
12, 1868, Wilhclmina, daughter of John V. Schomp,
of Ri adington.
John FreiiINGhttysen Hageman, counselor-at-
law, was born Feb. I. L816, in the village of Har-
lingen, in Montgomery township, Somerset Co., N. J.,
B few mile- north of Princeton, where his father,
Abraham P. Hageman, a practicing physician, lived
ami die. I, He wa- graduated at Rutgers College with
the class of L886, read law with Judge Field and
Governor Vroom, and was admitted to the bar in
November, 1889. He opened a law-office in Prince-
ton, where he has pursued his prof, - ion until the
present time. He married a daughter of the Rev.
Samuel Miller. D.D., professor in the theological
Beminary. In 1850 he was elected on the general
ticket a member of the Legislature from Mercer
County, since km he has been a member of the
board of trustees of the theological seminary at.
Princeton, and a ruling elder in the l'ir-t Presbyterian
church of Princeton. In Isi'.l' he was nominated by
Governor Olden, and confirmed by the Senate, as
prosecutor of the pleas for Mercer County, which
592
SOMERSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
office he held for five years, and declined a reappoint-
ment.
Mr. Hageman has been accustomed to write fre-
quently for newspapers, both secular and religious.
From 1859 to 1867 he was the proprietor and imper-
sonal editor of the Princeton Standard. In 1879 he
published, in two octavo volumes, his " History of
Princeton and Its Institutions," — a work of great in-
terest and permanent value. His son, Rev. Samuel
Miller Hageman, a Presbyterian clergyman, is the
author of "Silence," "St. Paul," and other poetical
books of genuine merit.*
John V. Voorhees, lawyer, and formerly prose-
cutor of the pleas, was born at Somerville, Aug. 5,
1819. His family is an old one, of Dutch extraction,
of which see full accounts elsewhere. John V. pre-
pared for college at the Somerville academy, and was
graduated from Rutgers in 1840 with high standing.
He studied law with Judge Brown, of Somerville, and
was admitted to the bar in May, 1844. He at once
entered upon a lucrative practice, and was licensed
as a counselor in April, 1848. In 1862 he joined the
Union army, and served as first lieutenant and quarter-
master of the Thirtieth Regiment of New Jersey Vol-
unteers until failing health compelled him to resign.
After some time spent in recruiting his energies he
reopened his office in Somerville, where it has since
remained. In 1872 he was appointed prosecutor of
the pleas for Somerset County, which office he held
for five years. He is also attorney for the Somerset
County Bank.
Isaiah N. Dilts, born at Schooley's Mountain,
N. J., Aug. 3, 1824 ; graduated at Lafayette College
in 1844; read law with Jacob W. Miller and E. W.
Whelpley, then law-partners at Morristown. His
admission to the bar dates from 1847, and his coun-
selor's license from 1850. He commenced practicing
in Morristown, and in 1853 removed to Somerville,
where he resided until his death. He held several
professional appointments, having been Supreme
Court commissioner, United States commissioner,
and special master in chancery. He was a fair, well-
read lawyer, had a fine literary taste, and was a fre-
quent contributor to various periodicals and maga-
zines. In 1856 he married Ellen Van Derveer, a
daughter of the late judge, and sister of Mrs. William
L. Dayton. Her death occurred in 1875 ; he died
May 21, 1878.
Hugh M. Gaston was born Nov. 29, 1818, at Bask-
ing Ridge, in Bernard township, this county. His
father was a merchant in Somerville, and the family,
early settlers in New Jersey, are of Huguenot descent.
He attended the Somerville academy, and was a law-
pupil of George II. Brown, of Somerville. Admitted
to practice as an attorney in 1840,f cotcmporary with
William S. Cassedy, John Whitehead, and Henry
* See chapter on " Books and Authors of Somorset County," in this
work,
f Biog. Encyclop. of New Jersey (p. 297) erroneously says " 1814."
McMiller, he became a counselor in November, 1843.
Upon his admission to the bar he opened an office at
Somerville, and entered at once upon the labors of
his chosen profession. " He was soon recognized
as a man of sterling ability, unyielding integrity, and
consequently of high promise in the profession,"
which promise he has fully redeemed. " He stands
to-day among the acknowledged leaders of the bar.
. . . His professional standard, like his personal
standard, has been high, and the verdict of his fellow-
citizens, in and out of the profession, is that he has
nobly lived up to both." For a number of years he
was prosecutor of the pleas for Somerset County. He
has refused to become a candidate for civil honors,
although repeatedly solicited, and in one case (when
nominated for State senator) refused to stand even
after being nominated. He finds in his profession
his true sphere of action, and is content — as well he
may be — with its honors and emoluments, not to say
its labors, which surely are multiplied and various
enough. In addition to his ordinary practice, now
very extended and important, he is attorney for sev-
eral of the leading corporations in this section of the
State. In 1870 he formed a partnership with James
J. Bergen, which still continues. He was married, in
1849, to Frances M. Prevost. In 1880, owing to ser-
vices he gratuitously rendered the tax-payers of the
county, he was presented by leading citizens with a
silver pitcher and salver of elegant design, valued at
three hundred and fifty dollars.
James J. Bergen, a descendant of the old and
honorable Bergen family, of Dutch extraction, was
born at Somerville, N. J., Oct. 1, 1847. He was a
pupil of Mr. Calvin Butler, of Somerville, and after-
wards studied law with Hugh Gaston, Esq. After
his admission to the bar, in 1868, he practiced for a
year in Plainfield, and then returned to his native
place, where he formed a copartnership with his
former legal preceptor, thus establishing the firm of
Gaston & Bergen. In 1875 he was elected a member
of the State Assembly, where he served on several
important committees, introduced important bills,
often spoke at length and forcibly, and made his pres-
ence felt in that body so much to the satisfaction of
his constituents that he was re-elected to the same
position in 1876. The following year he was ap-
pointed prosecutor of the pleas for Somerset County.
John D. Bartine was graduated at the Lawrence-
ville high school in 1858. He was engaged in teach-
ing school for several years, but in 1861 commenced
the study of the law with J. F. Hageman, of Prince-
ton, near which place Mr. Bartine was born, in 1836.
Admitted to the bar in 1865, he commenced practice
at once, establishing himself in Somerville. He
speedily acquired reputation, and his business has
continued to increase with each passing year. He is
an excellent counselor and an able advocate. He
practices in all the courts and in all branches of the
profession. Recently he entered into copartnership
THE BENCH AND BAR OF SOMERSET COUNTY.
593
with James L. Griggs, the firm bearing the title Bar-
tine & Griggs. During his professional experience
.Mr. Bartine has managed many important and intri-
cate cases, among which may be mentioned the Van-
arsdale murder ease, the Van Denver will case, and
the long-contested water-right case of Ten Eyck vs.
Bank. He is the legal adviser of the Wellsboro' Fire
[nsurance Company, as also of several other corpora-
tions, and is one of the directors of the Somerset
Count] Bank. In political faith he is a Democrat.
In 1867 he was honored by Princeton College with
the degree of Master of Arts, lie married, in lsiiS,
.Miss Van Denver, of Rocky Hill.
A. V. D. Honeyman, born at New Germantown,
Hunterdon Co., Nov. 12, 1849, is a son of Dr.
John II -yniaii, deceased.* He enjoyed but ordi-
dary common-school advantages, and at the age of
sixteen left school and entered his brother's store as
a clerk. Not liking mercantile life, he went to Easton
in April, 1867, and entered the law-office of Judge H.
D. Maxwell, a brother-in-law and prominent lawyer,
who Was United States Consul to Trieste under Presi-
dent Taylor. While studying law Mr. Honeyman
took a supplemental Latin course under that sin ci ss-
ful teacher Bev. John L. Grant, of Easton, Pa. He
wee admitted to practice in Pennsylvania ill Novem-
ber, 1870, but at e removed to Somervillc, N. J,,
where the balance of the term required in New Jersey
for admission to the bar was spent in the office of
Hon. Alvah A. ('lark. He was admitted as an at-
borney-at-law by the Supreme Court of the State of
New Jersey in June, 1X71, and entered into partner-
ship with his late preceptor under the firm-name of
(lark it Honeyman, which continued until October,
1872, and again, in 1X74, he formed a legal partner-
ship with II. B. Heir, K-'|., of White House, which
was continued under the name of Honeyman & Hen
until 1876; since then he has practiced alone. In
August, 1876, he married Julia E., daughter of An-
gustine Reger.
Independent of his legal pursuits, Mr. Honeyman
has taken an active part in the religious, educational,
and journalistic enterprises of hi~ adopted home.
Since I87H he has edited and published Tht Sc
Oautte. i He was one of the founders of the Somer-
villc Young Men's Christian Association in L878, and
in 1X7">, while president of thai association, united
with four business men in erecting the beautiful
block known as " Association Hall" building, costing
twenty-seven thousand dollars, in politics he is a
Republican, bul with liberal views towards other par-
ties, lie is a member of the Second Reformed
Church, lie is himself a hard worker, with no knowl-
edge of rr.-i in any mental or physical sense of the
term. He has been a liarle - advocate of the rLdit,
both in his paper and at the bar. His course in Is7'.'
♦ Sm sk.'iili in iiio.il. nl ohajpWi of lliiiitonlim County, In knottier por>
lion of tlii.H work.
t Sim) clmptor ou " Pross of Somonwt County."
in bringing about an official investigation, and more
recently in acting a- counsel of the tax-payers for
four months without compensation, gained the prai-c
of all honest citizens. He is the author of several
important legal works, among which is "The New
Treatise on the Small-Cause Court in New Jersey,"
and in ls7!» established the Nino Jersey Lam Journal,
of which he is still editor and publisher.
Garrit S.Cannon is a native of Somerset County.
He is a son of Rev. Dr. James S. Cannon, late pro-
fessor at New Brunswick Theological Seminary. He
was born at Six-Mile Hun, and was graduated from
liutgers College in lx:i:;. lie â„¢ nnced the study
of law with B. K. Brown, of Mount Holly, and in
1 s::r, was lie, used as attorney, and three years after as
counselor. He settled at Bordentown. He was ap-
pointed prosecuting attorney of his county in 1850,
and was reappointed in 1X55 and I silo. In 1853,
President Pierce appointed him United States district
attorney for New Jersey, and President Buchanan re-
appointed him in 1857. He i- almost unsurpassed as
a pleader. His presentation of tin- fact and the law
of the case, his keen analysis of evidence, his cita-
tion of authorities in support of his arguments, are
rapid, elear, decisive, pew men are more fluent in
speech, more thorough in preparation, more brilliant
in legal strategy. In 1X45 he was elected a member
of the Lower House of the State Legislature. He
now devotes all his time to his professional duties and
| gives his support to all local improvements. In
November, 1N3'.I, he married Hannah Kinscy, of Bur-
i lington.
Lbkahah < >. Zabrisktb, son of the Rot. John
ZabrisMe, formerly pastor of the Reformed church at
Millstone, was not a native of this county, but hero
spent bis boy 1 1 days, lie was born June 1". 1807,
at Grreenbuah, N. Y., educated at Princeton, and ad-
mitted to the bar in lxi'X. lie. settled permanently at
J Jersey City, and died June 27, 1878. From 1866 to
: 1873 he was chancellor, and at the time of his death
was pn-ideiit of the constitutional commission. He
attained a high and honorable reputation at the bar,
and " was a faithful servant whom in death ;is in life
we will delight to honor." lie was one of [li
read lawyers in the State, and was di-tinguished pre-
eminently as a common-law lawyer.
Stephen B. Ransom, lawyer, of Jersey City, fin-
ished his legal studies with William Thomson, of
Soniervillc. and practiced the law there from
IX.'m'i. His second wife, married July, 1866, is Kli/a
W., daughter of Stephen K. Hunt, of Somervillc.
OTHBB LAWTEB£ CTAMVB OS SOMBBSBT.
James R. English, lawyer, of Elisabeth, is a
native of Bernard township, Somerset Co., being
the Bon of Rev. dames t. and Mary 0. (Jobi
lish, of Liberty Corner, and born Sept. 87, 1840.
Peter i.. Voorhees, of Camden, was born near
Blawenburg, July 12, i N -'">: he was the -on ,.f Peter
594
SOMEKSET COUNTY, NEW JERSEY.
and Jane (Schenck) Voorliees, and married, in 1855,
Annie, the sister of Hon. William L. Dayton.
Frederick Voorhees, a counselor - at - law of
Mount Holly, N. J., was a native of Somerset, born
at Blawenburg, and is a brother of Peter L., just
mentioned.
Isaac N. Blackford, late of Washington, D. 0.,
was born at Bound Brook, N. J., in 1786 ; died 1859.
The greater portion of his life was passed at Vin-
cennes, Ind., where (1819-35) he was judge of the
Supreme Court of Indiana, and (1855-59) judge of
the United States Court of Claims.
Enos W. Runyon, now law-judge of Union Co.,
N. J., was born in this county, Feb. 24, 1825. He
was educated at the Plainfield academy, studied law
with a Plainfield lawyer, and has practiced at and
lived in Plainfield ever since.
Theodore Runyon, chancellor of New Jersey,
one of the most profound lawyers of the State, al-
though he never practiced in this county, is a native
of Somerset, having been born at Somerville, Oct. 25,
1822, and is a son of Abraham Bunyon, of that place.
Licensed in 1846 ; now resides in Newark, N. J.
John C. Elmendorf, lawyer, and late treasurer
of Rutgers College, was a native of Somerset County,
born in March, 1814. His parents, William C. and
Maria (Dumont) Elmendorf, were also natives of the
same State. He obtained his elementary education
at Somerville, was graduated at Rutgers, and became
a law-student of Judge Nevius at New Brunswick ;
licensed as an attorney in 1837 ; became a counselor
in 1841. For fifteen years he was prosecutor of the
pleas for Middlesex County, and for twenty-three
years from 1853 was treasurer of Rutgers. In 1857
he married Maria L. Frelinghuysen.
CHAPTER VII.
HISTORY OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
OF SOMERSET COUNTY.
The County Medical Society : its Origin, Officers, and Members — Bio-
graphical Sketches of John Reeve, William M. McKissack, Peter I.
Stryker, Abraham Van Burcn, the Van Derveors and Schencks, Wil-
liam H. Merrill, Poter Ten Eyck, H. G. Wagoner, Chauncey M. Field,
etc.
THE DISTRICT MEDICAL SOCIETY OF SOMERSET
COUNTY.
The medical society of this county was organized
under the above title May 21, 1816, and was the first
of the kind instituted in the State of New Jersey,
although the medical societies of three other counties
were established soon after, — that of Morris County,
June 1, 1816 ; Essex County, June 4, 1816 ; and
Monmouth County, July 16, 1816. The records of
the State Medical Society show that
"On the first Tuesday of May, 1816, the Nuw Jersey Medical Socioty
proceeded to appoint district societies In I be conn ties, when the following
gontlomon wore appointed for Somerset, — vi/„, Poter I. Stryker, Ferdi-