History of New Brunswick, (Middlesex County) New Jersey United States of America

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Biographies:

James Edward Freeman, painter, was born in New Brunswick, N.J., in 1808; son of Joshua Edwards and Eliza (Morgan), grandson of Elisha and Lydia (Reynolds), great-grandson of Captain Elisha and Mercy (Vincent), and great, great, great, great, great-grandson of Samuel and Apphia Freeman, who came from England to Watertown, Mass., in 1630. James spent his early life in Otsego, N.Y. He studied at the National academy of design, of which he became an associate in 1831, and a member in 1833. He opened a studio in the western part of New York, and in 1836 removed to Rome, Italy, where he passed the remainder of his life. In 1847 he was married to Horatia Augusta Latilla, born in London, England, Aug. 28, 1826, of English and Italian parentage, and the sculptor of "The Princess in the Tower," "The Triumph of Bacchus" and "The Culprit Fay," besides a number of fonts, chimney-pieces and vases in both wood and marble. His principal works were genre and portrait paintings, among them being: the Beggars; The Flower Girl; the Savoyard Boy in London; Young Italy; The Bad Shoe; The Crusaders' Return; Study of an Angel; Study of a Head of Judith; The Mother and Child (1868), and The Tucchese Peasants on the Lands of the Sezchio (1883). He is the author of Gatherings from an Artist's Portfolio. He died in London, Eng., Nov. 21, 1884.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Theodore Frelinghuysen Randolph, governor of New Jersey, was born in New Brunswick, N.J., June 24, 1816; son of James Fitz Randolph . He attended the Rutgers grammar school, and in 1840 removed to Vicksburg, Miss., where he engaged in mercantile pursuits. He was married in 1851 to Fanny F., daughter of N. D. Colman of Kentucky, and in 1852 returned to New Jersey, settling in Jersey City. He became interested in the mining and transportation of coal and of iron and ores, and was for many years president of the Morris and Essex railroad. He was a representative in the state legislature, 1859?61; was elected state senator in 1862 to fill a vacancy, and was re-elected for the full term, serving, 1862?65. He introduced a bill providing for a state comptroller, and in 1865 removed to Morristown, N.J. He was governor of New Jersey, 1869?72, and during his administration the State riparian commission was established; the Camden and Amboy monopoly tax was repealed; the Morris Plains lunatic asylum was constructed, and on the anniversary of the battle of the Boyne, July 12, 1871, he issued a proclamation, insuring the right of parade to the Orangemen of New Jersey, giving them state protection, and thus avoiding a riot similar to the one that occurred in New York city the same day. He was U.S. Senator from New Jersey, 1875?81. He was a delegate to the Democratic national conventions of 1864?72; chairman of the Democratic national committee; a trustee of Rutgers college, and one of the founders and president of the Washington Headquarters association of Morristown, N.J. He died in Morristown. N.J., Nov. 7, 1883.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Henry Janeway Hardenbergh, architect, was born in New Brunswick, N.J., Feb. 6, 1847; son of John Pool and Frances Eliza (Eddy) Hardenbergh; grandson of Jacob Rutsen (b. 1792, d. 1829) and Mary (Pool) Hardenbergh; great grandson of the Hon. Jacob Rutsen (b. 1767, d. 1841) and Mary Margaret (Lowe) Hardenbergh and of John and Mary (Voorhies) Pool; great2 grandson of the Rev. Dr. Jacob Rutsen and Dina (Van Bergh) Frelinghuysen Hardenbergh. His father was secretary of the board of trustees of Rutgers college, 1844-49, and president of the board of Domestic missions in 1874; and his great grandfather, the Hon. Jacob Rutsen Hardenbergh, was a trustee of Rutgers college, 1792-1841, and secretary of the board, 1793-1800. He studied architecture under Detlef Lienan of New York. 1863-70, and from that time was established in active practice in New York. The Dakota, Waldorf Astoria and Manhattan hotels and other structures of that class were erected from his designs. He was one of the founders of the American fine arts society and of the Municipal art society, and was elected a member of the American institute of architects.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor

Alexander Henry, trader, was born in New Brunswick, N.J., in 1739. He joined the army of Sir Jeffrey Amherst in 1760 in its expedition against Montreal and was present at the surrender of that place. This opened a new market and Henry became a fur-trader. In 1761 he went to Fort Mackinaw as a trading-post and won the friendship of Wawatam, a Chippewa Indian, who adopted him as a brotber and who saved his life in the Indian massacre which occurred at the post June 4, 1703. Henry thereafter lived with the Indians, wearing their dress and speaking their language. In June, 1764, he went to Fort Niagara, where he commanded an Indian battalion and accompanied Bradstreet Detroit. After that city had been reinforced and Pontiac had retired to the borders of the Maumee river, Henry re-engaged in the fur trade and extended his travels to the Rocky mountains. In 1770 he induced the Duke of Gloucester, Sir William Johnson, Henry Bestwick and others, to form a company to work the copper mines of Lake Superior, but it was done in a half-hearted way, and in 1774 the company was dissolved. In company with David Thompson he organized the Northwest company, and while he was the fur-trader and business manager, Thompson was the official geographer and explorer. They extended their journeys to the Pacific ocean, 1799-1814, and included the Red River of the North, the heart of the Rocky mountains, and the Columbia river. He resided at Astoria or Fort George and from that post traded in all directions. He published: Travels and Adventures in Canada and the Indian Territories between the Years 1760 and 1776 (1809), and left manuscript journals which Dr. Elliott Coues used as the basis of his New Lights on the Early History of the Greater Northwest (3 vols., 1897). He was drowned in going from Fort George to the Isaac Todd, May 22, 1814.

From: Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Johnson, Rossiter, editor