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(Page 721)
Joshua Brick was born in Bricksboro, in the township of Maurice River in the year 1779. His father, Joshua Brick, Sr., was the son of John Brick (3d), who inherited from his father, John Brick (2d), a large real estate, including the mills and property at the place now called Jericho, situated on Stow Creek.
Joshua Brick appears to have lived during his youth in Haddonfield, where he received a good English education, and was apprenticed to a tanner named James Hartly. He inherited or acquired property there, married a daughter of Jeremiah Elfreth, then sold his Haddonfield property, and took up his residence at the house built by his father at Bricksboro. His relation, John Clement the elder, who, like his son, the present Judge John Clement, was a surveyor, laid out for him the projected town of Bricksboro, He sold some of the lots, but the town refused to grow, and after a few years he removed to Port Elizabeth.
Whatever may have been the early training of Joshua Brick, it soon appeared that he was a man of superior intellect and well informed, especially in matters of politics and history. He made himself thoroughly acquainted with the titles and situation of the land in his vicinity, and was thus enabled to purchase advantageously. For many years he carried on a large business, and added considerably to his inherited property; but he was not careful to retain what he acquired. One of his marked characteristics was that he confined himself almost exclusively to his own neighborhood, seldom traveled, and was never at New York or Washington. He was a judge and justice of the peace, but seldom acted in either capacity, and could not be prevailed on tot attend the courts at Bridgeton. He was elected a member of the Legislative Council of the State in 1836, and of the Convention that formed the new Constitution in 1844; was a few years one of the judges of the Court of Errors and Appeals, a place which he soon resigned, having no taste for judicial duties. He was proposed by his friends as a representative in Congress, and a senator of the United States, but failed to obtain the public confidence so as to be considered by his party a safe candidate for these places.
Probably no other man in the county was more active and influential in the political management, although most of the time the party to which he belonged was in the minority. Toward the close of his life he united with the Methodist Church. He died in 1860.
