Authors and Writers Associated with Morristown Part 20

During his fifteen years in this county he was a most voluminous and acceptable writer for the press--writing for the _Observer_, _Evangelist_, _Tribune_ and other papers. But he is princ.i.p.ally remembered more for his work as a local historian. He wrote, "The Early History of Morris County"; "Biographical Sketch of Gen. Winds"; "Washington in Morris County"; "History of the Presbyterian Church at Rockaway"; "Life of William Tuttle"; "Revolutionary Fragments", (a series of articles published in _The Newark Sentinel of Freedom_); "Early History of Presbyterianism in Morris County", and other shorter articles. At the time his Revolutionary articles were published there were still men living who had personal knowledge of the events of that era and he gathered an immense amount of material which but for him would have been lost.

The following from the pen of Dr. Tuttle appeared in _The Newark Daily Advertiser_ of April, 1883:

A FINE RELIC AND A FINE POEM.

Thirty years ago and more my surplus energy was devoted to the innocent delights of hunting up places, people, facts and traditions a.s.sociated with the American Revolution as preserved in Morris County. Some very charming rides were taken to Pompton, Mendham, Baskingridge, Spring Valley, Kimball Mountain, Singack, and other places. My rides made me certain that Morris County is both rich in beautiful scenery and historic a.s.sociations.

The results of these rides appeared in a series of "Revolutionary Fragments" printed in the _Advertiser_, as also in some elaborate papers before the Historical Society.

One day I visited the Ford Mansion, and met that polished and elegant gentleman, the late Henry A. Ford, Esq., then its proprietor. He was the son of Judge Gabriel H. Ford, grandson of Colonel Jacob Ford, Jr., whose widow was the hostess of Washington, the Winter of 1779-80, great-grandson of Colonel Jacob Ford, Sr., who built the "Ford Mansion," and great-great-grandson of John Ford, of Hunterdon County, whose wife was Elizabeth who was brought to Philadelphia from Axford, England, when she was a child a year old. Her father was drowned by falling from the plank on which he was walking from the ship to the sh.o.r.e. Philadelphia then had but one house in it. Mrs. Ford's second husband was Lindsley, and "the widow Elizabeth Lindsley died at the house of her son, Col. Jacob Ford, Sr., April 21, 1772, aged ninety-one years and one month," and so the courtly master of the "Ford Mansion," when I called to visit it, was of the fifth generation from the child-emigrant, whose father was drowned in the Delaware, in 1682.

The pleasure of the visit was greatly enhanced by the attentions of Miss Louisa, daughter of the gentleman named. She afterward became the wife of Judge Ogden of Paterson. The father and daughter with delightful courtesy took me over the famous house and a.s.sociated in my memory the rooms and halls, and even the antique furniture with the family's most ill.u.s.trious guest. I was especially interested in the old mirror that had hung in Washington's bedroom. Miss Ford produced a poem on that mirror, written, I think, by an aunt, and at my request she read it. She was a charming reader and promised me a copy.

Under date of Paterson, October 31st, 1856, Mrs. Ogden was kind enough to send me the promised copy with a note apologizing for the delay and adding: "I think, however, you will find the poetry has not spoiled by keeping." I have not ceased to be thankful that my first visit to the Ford Mansion was so pleasantly a.s.sociated with the attentions of the father and daughter, both of whom have since died.

The mirror is a fine relic still to be seen with other elegant old furniture, belonging to the Ford family, at the "Washington Quarters" at Morristown, and I am sure all will regard the poem which pleased me so much thirty years ago as "one that has not spoiled by keeping."

ON AN OLD MIRROR USED BY WASHINGTON AT HIS HEADQUARTERS IN MORRISTOWN.

Old Mirror! speak and tell us whence Thou comest, and then, who brought thee thence.

Did dear old England give thee birth?

Or merry France, the land of mirth?

In vain another should we seek At all like thee--thou thing antique.

Of the old mansion thou seem'st part; Indeed, to me, its very heart; For in thy face, though dimmed with age, I read my country's brightest page.

Five generations, all have pa.s.sed, And yet, old Mirror, thou dost last; The young, the old, the good, the bad, The gay, the gifted and the sad Are gone; their hopes, their sighs, their fears Are buried deep with smiles and tears.

Then speak; old Mirror! thou hast seen Full many a n.o.ble form, I ween; Full many a soldier, tall and brave, Now lying in a nameless grave; Full many a fairy form and bright Hath flitted by when hearts were light; Full many a bride--whose short life seemed Too happy to be even dreamed; Full many a lord and t.i.tled dame, Bearing full many an honored name; And tell us, Mirror, how they dressed-- Those stately dames, when in their best?

If robes and sacques the damsels wore, And sweeping skirts in days of yore?

But tell us, too, for we _must_ hear Of _him_ whom all the world revere.

Thou sawest him when the times so dark Had made upon his brow their mark; Those fearful times, those dreary days, When all seemed but a tangled maze; His n.o.ble army, worn with toils, Giving their life blood to the soils.

Disease and famine brooding o'er, His country's foe e'en at his door; But ever saw him n.o.ble, brave, Seeking her freedom or his grave.

His was the heart that never quailed; His was the arm that never failed!

Old Mirror! thou hast seen what we Would barter all most dear to see; The great, the good, the _n.o.blest_ one; Our own _immortal Washington_!

Well may we gaze--for now in thee Relies of the great past we see, Well may we gaze--for ne'er again, Old Mirror, shall we see such men; And when we too have lived our day, Like those before us pa.s.sed away, Still, valued Mirror, may'st thou last To tell our children of the past; Still thy dimmed face, thy tarnished frame Thy honored house and time proclaim; And ne'er may sacrilegious hand, While Freedom claims this as her land One stone or pebble rashly throw To lay thee, honored Mirror, low.

Y. F.

Hon. Edmund D. Halsey.

Mr. Halsey, historian, biographer, as well as lawyer, has published our most valuable "History of Morris County", and is considered an authority upon that subject, his accuracy being unquestioned. By his sterling integrity and superior intellectual ability, he has, in the practice of his profession, gained the entire confidence of the community in which, as a lawyer, he has pa.s.sed the greater part of his life.

Included in his literary work are "Personal Sketches" of Governor Mahlon d.i.c.kerson, Colonel Joseph Jackson, and others; "The Revolutionary Army in Morris County in 1779-'80"; and a brief sketch of the Washington Headquarters ent.i.tled "History of the Washington a.s.sociation of New Jersey", published in Morristown in 1891.

Mr. Halsey also a.s.sisted Mr. William O. Wheeler in the publication of a book of unique interest and of unusual value, especially to genealogists and antiquarians, the t.i.tle of which reads "Inscriptions on Tombstones and Monuments in the Burying Grounds of the First Presbyterian Church and St.

John's Church at Elizabeth, New Jersey".

Mr. Halsey is a prominent member of the "Historical Society of New Jersey", as well as of the "Washington a.s.sociation of New Jersey".

We quote from his "History of the Washington a.s.sociation" the following "brief history of the t.i.tle of the property".

FROM "HISTORY OF THE WASHINGTON a.s.sOCIATION OF NEW JERSEY."

Colonel Jacob Ford, Senior--prominent as a merchant, iron manufacturer, and land owner, who was president Judge of the County Court from the formation of the County in 1740 until his death in 1777, and who presided over the meeting, June 27, 1774, which appointed the first "Committee of Correspondence"--conveyed the tract of 200 acres surrounding the house to his son, Jacob Ford, junior, March 24, 1762. In 1768 he conveyed to him the Mount Hope mines and meadows where the son built the stone mansion still standing. In 1773 Jacob Ford, junior, rented this Mount Hope property for fifty years to John Jacob Faesch and David Wrisbery, and these men proceeded to build the furnace afterward useful to the patriot army in supplying it with cannon and cannon-b.a.l.l.s.

Colonel Jacob Ford, junior, after making this lease returned to Morristown, and, probably with his father's aid, began at once the erection of these Headquarters, and had just completed the building when the war broke out.

He was made Colonel of the Eastern Battalion of the Morris County Militia and was detailed to cover Washington's retreat across New Jersey in the "mud rounds" of 1776--a service accomplished with honor and success. In this or in similar service, Colonel Ford contracted pneumonia, of which he died January 10, 1777, and was buried with military honors by order of Washington. He left a widow, Theodosia Ford, and five young children. She was the daughter of Rev. Timothy Johnes, whose pastorate of the First church extended from 1742 to 1794, and who is said to have administered the Communion to Washington. This lady in 1779-80 offered to Washington the hospitality of her house, and here was his Headquarters from about December 1, 1779 to June 1780. In 1805, Judge Gabriel H. Ford, one of the sons of Colonel Jacob, purchased his brothers' and sister's interest in the property and made it his home until his death in 1849. By his will dated January 27, 1848, Gabriel H. Ford, devised this, his homestead to his son, Henry A. Ford, who continued to occupy it until his death, which occurred April 22, 1872. From the heirs of Henry A. Ford t.i.tle was derived to the four gentlemen who organized the a.s.sociation, namely: Governor Theodore F.

Randolph, Hon. George A. Halsey, General N. N. Halsted, and William Van Vleck Lidgerwood, Esq.

Hon. John Whitehead.

BIOGRAPHER AND HISTORIAN.

Of Mr. Whitehead's new departure into the field of romance, we have already spoken and a portion of his story "A Fishing Trip to Barnegat", is given to represent him among "Novelists and Story Writers".

His literary work of many years covers a variety of departments in literature.

In the _Northern Monthly Magazine_ which began some years ago, as a periodical of high order we find running through several numbers a "History of the English Language", contributed by Mr. Whitehead, in which he starts from a true and philosophic premise. It is this: "It would be difficult to separate any one creation from the whole universe and p.r.o.nounce that it is not subject to law." The reader discovers that these magazine articles contain the germs of all that has been written in many exhaustive works on the philosophy and growth of language.

For a number of years, Mr. Whitehead was editor of _The Record_, a small sheet opened by the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown, the value of which historically increases with each year. For this, he wrote largely, sketches of prominent men of Revolutionary times and of others connected with the congregation of the church.

Some important papers were contributed by him to the local press, including "A Review of Fitz John Porter's Case", in the Morristown _Banner_, also "Sketches of Morris County Lawyers". A series of "Sketches" was also published in the _Newark Sunday Call_, ent.i.tled "Newark Aforetime", referring to Newark and Newark people, fifty years ago.

Many of Mr. Whitehead's speeches and addresses have been published, among them, those given at the Centennial Celebration of the First Presbyterian Church of Morristown; at the Centennial Celebration of the Presbyterian Church at Springfield, N. J.; two or three addresses before the Society of the Sons of the American Revolution, and an address delivered two or three years ago before the Washington a.s.sociation of N. J. Of the latter a.s.sociation, Mr. Whitehead is an honored member as well as of the Historical Society of New Jersey.

In the course of his study and writing, we have already mentioned among "Translators," Mr. Whitehead has made several valuable translations from German and French authors.

We must not overlook one princ.i.p.al labor which is far more herculean than we, who are so greatly benefited by it, perhaps fully comprehend, namely, the Catalogue, in two volumes, of the Library, in which Morristown justly takes so much pride. This was a voluntary work.

Mr. Whitehead is now engaged on a "History of Morris County", to form one chapter in a new ill.u.s.trated "History of New Jersey," to be published by Colonel U. S. Sharp. He has also in preparation the "History of the First Presbyterian Church" of Morristown, in which will appear the interesting proceedings of the Centennial exercises, recently held there.

A series of fine articles on "The Supreme Court of New Jersey" are now appearing in _The Green Bag_ of Boston. This _Green Bag_ is a magazine published in the interests of the legal fraternity, as from its significant name we see, and this magazine is the nearest approach so far made by Americans towards the traditional appendage of the English barrister, everywhere seen over the border in Canada, by which, it is well known, he is always accompanied when he goes to court and while he remains there in attendance. This bag contains his briefs, papers and other impedimenta connected with trials. It is not surprising, but it is touching, to find Boston holding on to this last hope of accomplishing that for which so many frantic efforts have been made in this country, only to meet with failure.

The last article in this magazine, of the series on "The Supreme Court of New Jersey", is delightful in expression and in form; it has a fine large type, is ill.u.s.trated with well-executed portraits of the judges, in group and singly, and is altogether most attractive and interesting.

Bayard Tuckerman.

Mr. Tuckerman, who resided for some time in Morristown, and whose ancestry is a.s.sociated with artistic and literary taste and genius, is the author of "The Life of General Lafayette", published in 1889, during his residence in Morristown, and, a copy of which was presented by the author, in person, to the Morristown Library. Before this, he published a "History of English Prose Fiction", in 1882, and after it, in 1889 again, he edited "The Diary of Philip Hone". This author is now engaged on another book, to be published in the spring in the "Makers of America" series, with the t.i.tle of "Peter Stuyvesant".

"The Diary of Philip Hone" is a charming book, especially to those familiar with old New York. The editorship of any life requires a talent for selection and a gift for combining and drawing together much desultory matter, but when we consider that the two volumes, into which Mr. Tuckerman compressed his material were less than one-fourth the original diary, which fills twenty-eight quarto ma.n.u.script volumes, the herculean task is at once apparent. A critic in one of the popular journals says of it: "As a rule the diary needs little interpretation and it may be welcomed as an agreeable, gossipy contribution to civic annals, and as a pleasant record of a citizen of some distinction, parts and usefulness in his generation".

In the "Life of General Lafayette", Mr. Tuckerman has evinced his superior love of industrious, conscientious study. The book is acknowledged to be essentially truthful and exceptionally just above anything ever written of Lafayette. It has been truly said of Mr. Tuckerman that "he tells the story of Lafayette's life in such a way that the interest increases as it proceeds" and that "he shows his skill as a biographer in this as in making both the narrative itself and his own criticism of the subject heighten our sympathy". He has not allowed himself to be turned from the actual statement of fact by that peculiar sentiment of the romantic side of Lafayette's career which has more or less colored the opinions of so many other biographers. Mr. Tuckerman himself says that "Lafayette's name has suffered more from the admiration of his friends than from the detraction of his enemies."

FROM THE "LIFE OF GENERAL LAFAYETTE."