"Portrait and Biographical Record of Hunterdon and Warren counties, New Jersey"
Chapman Publishing Company, New York and Chicago, 1898
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JOSEPH M. ROSEBERRY. Nearly twenty
years have passed since this highly respected
citizen of Belvidere, Warren County, was
admitted to the bar, and during this period he
has built up for himself a reputation that is
indeed enviable. His ability as a lawyer, though
great and well recognized in this portion of the
country, is, however, not secondary to his talent
for business, and his mind, life and character are
well rounded, commanding the esteem of all who
know him. His services to the Republican party,
with which great political body he is enrolled,
have been and are most valuable. For several
years he was chairman of the Warren County
Republican committee, and has succeeded very
materially in organizing the forces and making it
a power in this locality, having reduced the
Democratic majority over fifteen hundred.
On the paternal side Mr. Roseberry is descended from one of the early settlers of this
county. His great-grandfather, John Roseberry,
was a man of considerable wealth when he came
to America. He made a permanent home in
Phillipsburg in 1750, and owned about fifteen
hundred acres, embracing nearly the whole site
of the present city. He married Margaret,
daughter of William Phillips, the founder of
Phillipsburg, in whose honor it was named. A
brother-in-law, Gen. John Phillips, served in the
Revolutionary war.
From Michael, a son of John Roseberry, is descended Joseph M. Roseberry, Sr. , born in October, 1804, who was a farmer by occupation, but
did not confine himself to that one line-of enterprise. He was remarkably good as a financier,
and through the exercise of judicious care and
correct methods became very well off, as at his
death his estate, with what he had previously
given to his children, was estimated to be about
$150,000 in value. In the work of the Presbyterian Church, with which denomination he was
connected, he was very active, contributing liberally to religious and charitable enterprises. Had
he so desired he might have held various positions
of responsibility and honor, but he was not ambitious of public recognition. For his wife he
chose Sally A. , daughter of Abraham and grand-daughter of Benjamin DePue. The latter was a
commissary in the war of the Revolution and
married Catherine, daughter of Col. Abraham
Van Campen, who commanded a regiment of
New Jersey troops in the French and Indian
wars, and was the first judge of old Sussex
County. The original DuPue (spelled in French
Dupuis or Dupuy) ancestor in America was a
Huguenot whose Christian name was Nicholas;
from him are descended Chauncey M. Depew
and other men of national repute. He emigrated
from Artois, France, in October, 1662, and
bought land in New York City � the site of the
present Produce Exchange building and was
classed as one of its wealthiest citizens. Our
subject's father departed this life August 5, 1887.
Nine of his children survive him, and two of the
number and a brother-in-law are lawyers.
J. M. Roseberry, of this sketch, was born in
Oxford Township, Warren County, December 3,
1852. After finishing his preliminary studies in
the schools of Belvidere and Blairstown Academy
he entered Princeton College, in 1873. He graduated four years later, in the meantime having
spent one year in opening an iron mine in Scott
Mountain near here. His alma mater bestowed
upon him the degrees of Bachelor of Philosophy
and Master of Arts, and he still belongs to a fellowship class of 1877 and contributes to two
endowment funds. Determining to enter the
legal profession, he took up the study of law
under the direction of J. G. Shipman & Son, and
at the expiration of three years was admitted to
the bar as an attorney. He became a counsellor-at-law in 1887 and has a large legal business.
He is one of the counsel of the United States
Pipe Line Company in its struggle in the courts
with the Standard Oil Company, and the railroads
in laying its line of pipes through New Jersey.
His uame has been prominently before the public
owing to his connection with various important
cases, railway suits, murder trials, etc. At one
time he had control of the Osmun iron mine, and
from time to time he has made profitable investments in real estate, farms and owns considerable
mining property, etc. He holds membership
with the First Presbyterian Church, and is very
liberal in his contributions to its expenses.
August 15, 1891, Mr. Roseberry married Mary
Winter White, and their only child, Joseph
White, was born April 29, 1897. Mrs. Roseberry is a daughter of Thomas White, and is a
direct descendant of one Alexander White, who
settled in Greenwich, N. J., long prior to the
Revolutionary war. His three sons were William, Alexander and Samuel. William, the eldest, resided in the fine old family mansion, Whitehall, which was built of stone, and though
constructed over a century ago, is still standing
and in a fair state of preservation. Lieut. William White was the first man from Sussex County
(then comprising the territory of the present
Sussex and Warren Counties) to join the army
of Washington, at Boston, Mass. After having
had his papers properly certified to by the free-
holders of his home county, he proceeded with
his younger brother, Samuel (a lad under age)
to give his services to the cause of freedom and
independence. The brother lost his life in the
ensuing war, while he, William, shipwrecked all
of his goodly estates and property for the same
great object; and the old homestead, including
the stately residence, Whitehall, passed into the
hands of his other brother, Col. Alexander
White, who had also been a soldier in the same
war. President William Henry Harrison stopped
at the old homestead on one occasion. The
property has continued in the family up to the
date of this writing and is now owned by William
B. White, a direct descendant of Col. Alexander
White, who at the time of his death had sixteen
hundred acres of land. About 1760 Alexander
White, Sr. , donated the land known as the White
burying-ground, in Oxford Township, to the community, and it is a tradition that one of the White
family built a church of bricks imported from
England.
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