History of Rahway, (Union County) New Jersey United States of America

Our database does not include an historic photo for Rahway, (Union County) New Jersey, do you have one you would like to contribute? Contact Us!

Biographies:

William Mulford Martin, clergyman and educator, was born in Rahway, N.J., June 29, 1813; son of William and Ann (Loree) Martin; grandson of Mulford and Hannah (Trembley) Spinning Martin, and a descendant of John Martin, who came from Devonshire, England, to the plantation of Dover, on the Piscataqua river (now New Hampshire), in 1634, and removed in 1668 to that part of Woodbridge township, N.J., subsequently named Piscataway township. William M. Martin attended the College of New Jersey, 1833-36; was graduated from the University of the City of New York, A.B., 1837, A.M., 1840, and studied at the Union Theological seminary, 1839-41. He was married, Jan. 10, 1836, to Ann Elizabeth, daughter of Judge James Parmenter, of Boston, Mass. He was the organizer and first principal of the New York Classical and Mathematical college school at Brooklyn, N.Y., 1838-48, and re-organized and was principal of the Athenian academy at Rahway, N.J., 1848-52. He was ordained by the presbytery of Brooklyn, April 3, 1852; was one of the founders of the Second Presbyterian church of Rahway and identified with its interests until July, 1852, and was pastor of the First Presbyterian church at Woodbridge, N.J., 1852-63. He served for a time during the civil war in the field as chaplain under the auspices of the Christian Commission. He was missionary of the Home Missionary society, N.Y., 1864-67, and built under its auspices the churches at Columbia, Cal., 1864-65, and at Virginia, Nev., 1865-67; was secretary of the Brooklyn Young Men's Christian association, 1868-76, and raised nearly $200,000 toward the building of its headquarters. He was professor of Christian work at the Brooklyn Lay college, 1876-78; was connected with the Brooklyn Society for the Benefit of the Poor; secretary and superintendent of the Brooklyn City Mission and Tract society, 1878-88; and agent of the Charity Organization society, N.Y., 1888-96. He removed to San Francisco, Cal., in 1896, and died there at the home of his son, James Parmenter Martin, Sept. 4, 1898.

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

Samuel Hanson Cox, clergyman, was born at Rahway, N.J., Aug. 25, 1793: son of James and Elizabeth (Shepard) Cox; grandson of Isaac and Susan (Hanson) Cox; great-grandson of Samuel Hanson, planter, of Delaware; and a descendant of Sir Richard Cox of England. His father died in 1801, and his mother, with her five children, returned to the home of her girlhood in Philadelphia, Pa. Samuel attended school at Westtown, near Philadelphia, until 1811, when he entered Bloomfield academy, N.J. He afterward studied law in the office of William Halsey of Newark. Here he organized a volunteer corps of riflemen, who served at intervals during the war of 1812. The corps included young men from the best families of New Jersey. He had been born and reared a Quaker, but withdrew from the Society of Friends and joined the Presbyterian church. After a course in theology under Dr. James Richards and Dr. James P. Wilson, he was licensed to preach; and on July 11, 1817, was ordained pastor of a church at Mendham, N.J., where after a successful ministry of more than three years he accepted a call to the Spring street Presbyterian church of New York in 1821; removing to the Laight street church in 1825, where his congregation was made up of wealthy residents of the neighborhood. He was one of the founders and a member of the board of trustees of the University of the City of New York, 1830-35, 1837-38 and with the Rev. Dr. Charles P. McIlvaine was appointed to open the course of instruction with a series of lectures, 1831-32. He was a sufferer from the epidemic of cholera in 1832, and refused to leave his pest of duty until impaired health forced him to take a trip to Europe in 1833. He attended the anniversary in London of the British and foreign Bible society and made a notable speech before that body. On this visit he defended his country against the assaults made by the anti-slavery advocates; but what he heard so wrought upon his mind that on his return to New York he preached an antislavery sermon which was severely criticized. In the controversy in his own church (Presbyterian) he took a conservative course and tried to avert a division on the question of slavery. On other matters of church polity he championed the new-school, while on the question of order and discipline he maintained the old-school tenets. In 1834 he was elected to the chair of pastoral theology in the Auburn, N.Y., theological seminary, resigning in 1837 to accept the pastorate of the First Presbyterian church in Brooklyn, N.Y. He was president of the board of directors of the Union theological seminary, New York city, 1840-41. He made his second visit to Europe in 1846 and attended the Evangelical alliance in London. In 1846 he was moderator of the General assembly of the Presbyterian church. Failing health compelled him to resign his pastoral charge in 1854 and he made his home on a property at Owego, N.Y., purchased through the liberality of his parishioners. He was president of Ingham university, a school for girls at Le Roy, N.Y., 1856-63, and a resident of New York city, 1863-69. In 1869 he removed to Bronxville, N.Y., where he spent the remainder of his life in retirement. The College of New Jersey conferred upon him the honorary degree of M.A. in 1818; Williams gave him that of D.D. in 1825, and Marietta college that of LL.D. in 1855. He was married April 7, 1817, to Abiah Hyde Cleveland of Norwich, Conn., and in 1870 to Anna Bacon of Hartford, Corm. He published: Quakerism not Christianity (1833); The Ministry of Need (1835); Memories of Evarts, Cornelius Wisner-Introduction (1835); Theopneustor (1842); Bower's History of the Popes, with Constitution (1847); Interviews, Memorable and Useful (1853); and numerous sermons and addresses. He died at Bronxville, N Y., Oct. 2, 1880.

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

James Monroe Buckley, editor, was born at Rahway, N. J., Dec. 16, 1836. He studied at Pennington, N. J., and at Wesleyan university, leaving in his freshman year on account of ill-health. On partial recovery he studied divinity under Dr. Nathaniel Laselle, at Exeter, N. H. He entered the New Hampshire conference of the Methodist Episcopal church on trial, 1859, and was stationed at Dover, Manchester and Concord. In 1863 he travelled in Europe and in November of that year was transferred to Detroit conference, and preached in Detroit, Mich., from 1864 to 1866; in Brooklyn, N. Y., and Stamford, Conn. 1866 to 1880. He studied medicine 1866-69, and served on the medical committees of the State lunatic hospitals of New Jersey for many years, and as president of the Methodist Episcopal (Seney) hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y., from its foundation. He was a member of the general conference in 1872, 1876 and 1880, and a delegate to the ecumenical Methodist conference in London, 1881. In 1880 he became editor of the New York Christian Advocate, and was a member of every general conference and of the ecumenical conference in 1891. He published: Appeals to Men of Sense and Reflection, New York (1869); Two Weeks in the Yosemite Valley, New York (1873); Supposed Miracles, Boston (1875); Christians and the Theatre, (1875); Oats or Wild Oats, New York (1885); The Land of the Czar and the Nihilist, Boston (1886); Christian Science, Faith-Healing and Kindred Phenomena, and Travels in Three Continents. The degree of A.M. was conferred on him by Wesleyan university in 1869, and that of D.D. in 1872; Emory and Henry college, Va., gave him the degree of LL.D. in 1882.

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

Edward Mott Moore, surgeon, was born in Rahway, N.J., July 15, 1814; son of Lindley Murray and Abigail (Mott) Moore. His father, a distinguished Quaker, was a leader of the antislavery movement. He attended the schools of New York city and Rochester, N.Y., and was graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, M.D., 1838. He began practice in Rochester in 1840, and was professor of surgery in the medical schools at Woodstock, Vt., and Berkshire, Mass.; at the Starling Medical college, Columbus, Ohio, and at the Buffalo Medical college, 1854-83. He was president of the Medical Society of the State of New York; a founder of the Surgical Association of the United States, succeeding Dr. Gross as its president, and was the first president of the state board of health until 1886, when he resigned. He was a delegate to the international congress of physicians at Copenhagen, Denmark, 1884. His more important researches are those on the action of the heart. He lectured on surgery at the Buffalo Medical college for twenty-nine years, and at the medical school at Woodstock, Vt., for eleven years. He was elected a trustee of the University of Rochester in 1872, and was second vice-president of the board, 1886-93, and in 1893 was elected president of the board. He developed the park system of Rochester, and was president of the board of management in 1902. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from the University of Rochester in 1870.

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