Biographies

Biographies of Somerset County

History of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, New Jersey, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Compiled by James P. Snell, assisted by Franklin Ellis and a numerous corps of writers. Published: Everts & Peck, Philadelphia, 1881; Press of J.B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. Chaper XI. Men of Prominence. pp:636-642

Page 636

CHAPTER xi.

Men of Prominence

Biographical Sketches of John Royce, Hendrick Fisher, Lord Stirling, Capt. John and Gen. Peter I. Stryker, Alexander and James Linn; Reve. Wm. Jackson, John Cornell, Isaac V. Brown, Spence H. Cone; T. DeWitt Talmage, John F. Mesick, Elbert S. Porter, Morris C. Sut-phin; Theodore Strong, LL.D., Judge Berrien, Hon. Peter A. Voor-hees, Judge Ralph Voorhees, Hon. Rynier H. Veghte, William H. Gatzmer, Andrew Hageman, etc.

Somerset County claims the nativity and residence, within her bounds, of very many of the most distinguished men of the State, eminent soldiers, statesmen, jurists, divines, learned men and brave, and patriots, without number. While a royal quarto volume would be none too ample for their memoirs, the brief space which can here be given them will necessarily admit of but few of the many, and those briefly treated. Biographical sketches of the prominent men of Somerset may be found scattered all through this history, in its various departments, and it is attempted in this chapter only to mention a few of her distinguished sons, dead and living, not elsewhere given.

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John Royce lived first at Piscataway, and then in what has since been known as Roycefield, near the late residence of John J. Staats. He was a merchant in New York, but came to Somerset County probably soon after the date of the Indian purchase. He owned, or claimed to own, a tract of twenty thousand acres on the south side of the Raritan, about which some dispute existed. Andrew Hamilton, the Governor, wrote of him in 1700, —

"He is the very leader of the troublesome sort of the people, and it is he that infuses the motive in them of holding to their Indian titles."

He managed, however, to maintain his position and influence, and was chosen the same year one of the representatives of New Jersey in the Colonial Legislature; in his office as such he questioned the authority of Governor Hamilton to call a Legislative Assembly, insisting that it was not safe to act without the king's approbation. It appears that he had been one of the council of Hamilton, appointed on his arrival and entrance upon office in 1692. One of his descendants (it must have been) occupied the same position in Governor Franklin's council when the Revolution commenced, and encouraged the capture and supersedure of the Governor when it became necessary to displace him. When the family sold their possessions and when they retired is not known. The name is still met with in New York City, and is also in existence in Northern New York and in Vermont.

John Royce was a man of activity and energy in his day, and has left his trace upon our history in an unmistakable way. As one of the early pioneers he is not to be forgotten, and ought not to be suffered to pass without commanding his appropriate meed of honor. He was at all times a man of the people, and could be depended upon when resistance to authority was necessary to the defense of their rights.

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Hendrick Fisher.—Perhaps one of the most striking relics of the olden time is the birthplace of Hendrick Fisher, who was the Samuel Adams of New Jersey. The house is situated on the south side of the Raritan, about one mile southeast from the centre of the village. In this house, in 1703, the same year in which the elder Hendrick Fisher purchased it, was born Hendrick Fisher, the son, whose name is intimately connected with Revolutionary history. The father purchased the premises directly from William Dockwra, who had purchased a tract of nine hundred acres south of Bound Brook. The house referred to is still standing, and is the residence of Abram I. Brokaw; it was probably built by Dockwra in 1688.

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Major-Gen. William Alexander.—William Alexander (Lord Stirling) was the son of James Alexander, a native of Scotland, who took refuge in America in 1716, in consequence of the part he had taken in favor of the House of Stuart in the rebellion of the preceding year. William was born in New York City in 1726. After receiving a liberal education he succeeded his father as surveyor-general of New Jersey. He subsequently became a merchant, and a commissary of the army in 1755, serving as an aide-de-camp on the staff of Gen. Shirley during three campaigns of that war. He accompanied Shirley to England, and there he succeeded in establishing his claim, as nearest male heir, to the title and estates of the vacant earldom of Stirling