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

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Biographies:

Cortlandt Parker, lawyer, was born at Perth Amboy, N.J., June 27, 1818; son of James and Penelope Butler Parker; grandson of James Parker, who was one of the Proprietors of the colony of New Jersey. He bore off the honors of his class at Rutgers college; delivered the valedictory, and was graduated A.B., 1836, A.M., 1839. He studied law under Theodore Frelinghuysen and Amzi Armstrong, and established himself in practice at Newark, N.J., in 1839. His practice continued to increase for some eight years and in September, 1847, Elizabeth Wolcott, daughter of Richard W. Stites of Morristown, formerly of Savannah, Ga. He was prosecutor of pleas for Essex county, 1857-67. He declined a seat on the supreme bench of New Jersey in 1867, the judgeship of the court of Alabama claims offered by President Grant in 1874; the mission to Russia offered by President Hayes in 1877, and that to Austria offered by President Arthur in 1882. He was named by Governor Newell with others to the legislature, for the office of chancellor during the vacancy in that court in 1888, and was twice a prominent candidate before the legislature for U.S. senator. He also declined the nomination by the Republican convention, after it was made, for representative in congress. During the civil war and the reconstruction period he was a leader for the Union and for the civil rights of the freedmen. He was one of the revisors of the statutes New Jersey in 1875; was sent to Louisiana in 1876 by President Grant to witness the count of electoral votes; was commissioner to establish the boundary line between New Jersey and Deleware, and was largely instrumental in the forming and passage of the general railroad law which removed an abundant souce of corruption. He acted for the defense in no less than thirteen homicide cases, several of them very celebrated, and was concerned either for the paintiff or the defendant in almost all civil suits of great importance occurring in the state during his active pratice. His power ever a jury was phenomenal. He tried cases in every county in the state as well as in New York and Philadelphia, and in the supreme court of the United States. He was the counsel of the Erie Railway company, and president of the American Bar association, of the State Bar association and of the Essex County Bar association. The College of New Jersey and Rutgers college conferred upon him the honorary degree of LL.D. in 1866. He was influential in the councils of the Protestant Episcopal church, as a delegate to the Diocesan convention yearly for about forty years, and as a representative of his diocese in five general conventions.

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

William Dunlap, artist and author, was born in Perth Amboy, N.J., Feb. 19, 1766. He removed to New York in 1777 and studied drawing in India ink. By an accident he lost his right eye, but continued his study of art and in 1782 began to paint portraits. In 1783 he painted from life a portrait of George Washington, and in 1784 went abroad, studying in London under Benjamin West. After his return to the United States in 1787 he turned his attention to the drama, producing several successful plays and managing for a time the Park theatre in New York city. He helped to found the National academy of design and was its vice-president for several years. He delivered courses of lectures on art and literature. His paintings include: Christ Rejected; Cavalry; Bearing the Cross; and Death on the Pale Horse. Among his published writings are: The Father, a Comedy (1789); The Archers, an Opera (1796); Andr?, a Tragedy (1798); The Africans, a Play (1811); A Narrative of the Events Which Followed Bonaparte' s Campaign in Russia to His Dethronement (1814); The Life of George Frederick Cooke (2 vols., 1815); The Life of Charles Brockden Brown (2 eels., 1815); A History of the American Theatre (1832); A History of the Rise and Progress of the Arts of Design in the United States (2 vols., 1834); Thirty Years Ago, or, Memoirs of a Water Drinker (2 vols., 1836); and New Netherlands, Province of New York (1849). He died in New York city, Sept. 28, 1839.

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

James Parker, representative, was born in Bethlehem, Hunterdon county, N.J., March 3, 1776; son of James and Gertrude (Skinner) Parker; grandson of Col. John (1693-1732) and Janet (Johnstone) Parker, and of the Rev. William Skinner, and great-grandson of Elisha and Hannah (Rolph) Parker. Elisha Parker removed from Staten Island, N.Y., to Woodbridge, N.J., previous to 1675, and was high sheriff of the county of Middlesex, and a member of the Provincial Assembly. James Parker, St., served in the French and Indian war, was one of the proprietors of the colony and a member of the council of Gov. William Franklin. James Parker, Jr., was graduated at Columbia college in 1793, entered a counting house in New York city, where he remained until his father's death in 1797, when he returned to the family estate at Perth Amboy, N.J. He engaged in mercantile pursuits there for a few years, was a representative in the New Jersey legislature, 1806-10, 1812-13, 1815-16, 1818 and 1827; a presidential elector on the Jackson ticket in 1824, and collector of customs at Perth Amboy, 1829-33. He presented to the trustees of Queen's (afterward Rutgers) college the site for the college buildings. He was one of the commissioners appointed in 1807, 1827 and 1833 to obtain a settlement of the boundary question between New York and New Jersey, which was accomplished in 1833, and was prominent among the originators of the Delaware and Raritan canal. He was married first, January 5, 1803, to Penelope, daughter of Anthony Butler of Philadelphia, and secondly, ,Sept. 20, 1827, to Catherine Morris, daughter of Samuel Ogden, of Newark, N.J. He was a Democratic representative in the 23d and 24th congresses, 1833-37, and a member of the state constitutional convention of 1844. While in the state legislature he drew up and secured the passage of several laws, including that prohibiting local slavery in 1819, and that establishing the school fund. He was a vice-president of the New Jersey Historical society and its president, 1864-68. He died at Perth Amboy, N.J., April 1, 1868.

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

Lawrence Kearny, naval officer, was born in Perth Amboy, N.J., Nov. 30, 1789; son of Michael Kearny; grandson of Philip and Isabella (Hooper) Kearny, and of John Lawrence, the father of Capt. James Lawrence of the Chesapeake; great grandson of Ravaud and Anne (Hude) Kearny; great2 grandson of Philip and Lady Barney Dexter (Ravaud) Kearny, and of the Hon. James and Mary (Johnson) Hude; and great3 grandson of Michael Kearny and his first wife, a daughter of Elizabeth Brittain. They came to America from Ireland, resided in Monmouth county, N.J., and Mrs. Kearny died in Philadelphia. In 1716 Michael Kearny married Sarah, daughter of Governor Lewis Morris, and purchased land in Perth Amboy, N.J., to which place they removed. Lawrence Kearny was warranted a midshipman in the U.S. navy in 1807, served on the gunboat flotilla under Com. John Rodgers, subsequently on the Constitution, and President, and in 1810 on the Enterprise. He was promoted lieutenant, on March 6, 1813, in recognition of services in the war of 1812, and in 1814-15 was engaged in, suppressing piracy in the West Indies and Gulf. He commanded the Warren in operations against the Greek pirates in the Levant in 1826, and succeeded in breaking up their hiding-places and capturing a large number of prisoners. He was promoted to the rank of captain, Dec. 20, 1832, was on shore duty, and in command of the Potomac, 1832-41, and was ordered to the command of the East India squadron in 1841. With the Constitution as flagship he sailed by the way of Rio de Janeiro, and when he reached that harbor he hoisted his flag on the Constitution, the first time an American man-of-war had displayed a commodore's broad pennant at a foreign station. He helped to suppress opium smuggling in the east and secured from China the promise of extending to American merchants the terms of trade to be granted to Europeans, and his communication to the U.S. government on this subject led to the treaty, negotiated by Caleb Cushing, ratified, July, 1845. He returned to the United States by way of the Hawaiian Islands, and while there prevented the consummation of a treaty that looked to the transfer of the islands to the government of Great Britain. He commanded the Brooklyn navy yard; was on the lighthouse board; was president of the naval board of inquiry; and was commissioned commodore in April, 1867, and placed on the retired list. He subsequently served as a member of the New Jersey board of pilot commissioners. He died in Perth Amboy, N.J., Nov. 29, 1868.

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