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

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Biographies:

Thomas Ward Osborn, senator, was born in Scotch Plains, N.J., March 9, 1836. He was graduated from Madison university in 1860, studied law in Watertown, N.Y., and was admitted to the bar in 1861. At the outbreak of the civil war he organized a company of artillery in Watertown, N.Y., was commissioned its captain and was assigned to the 11th army corps. He served through the war as chief of artillery in various army corps, and of the Army of the Tennessee and was three times wounded. He was commissioned colonel in 1865, and was appointed assistant commissioner of the Florida bureau of refugees, 1865-66. He practised law in Tallahassee, Fla.; was appointed register in bankruptcy in 1867; was a member of the state constitutional convention of 1867, and drew up the constitution which was adopted. He was a Republican state senator and was elected June 30, 1868, by the Florida legislature, U.S. senator with A. S. Welch, drawing the long term expiring March 3, 1873. He died in New York city, Dec. 18, 1898.

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

Abraham Coles, author, physician and surgeon, was born in Scotch Plains, N. J., Dec. 26, 1813; son of Dennis and Catherine (Van Deursen) Coles; grandson of James (born 1744) and Elizabeth (Frazee) Coles, and a descendant on his mother's side of Everardus Bogardus and his wife, Anneke Jans. Until the age of twelve he was educated by his parents, and in 1828 became a clerk in a New York dry goods store. In 1830 he taught Latin and Greek at Plainfield, N. J., for a few months, and in 1831 began to study law, which profession he subsequently relinquished as his vocation in life for the study of medicine. He attended the University of the City of New York, and the College of physicians and surgeons, New York, and in 1835 received his M.D. degree from Jefferson medical college, Philadelphia. In 1836 he began practice at Newark, N. J., and in 1842 was married to Caroline Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Jonathan Combs and Maria (Smith) Ackerman of New Brunswick, N. J. He several times visited Europe for study and travel, giving especial attention to languages, both ancient and modern. He was one of the founders of the Newark library and of the New Jersey historical society, and a member of the board of education and other organizations. He owned a valuable collection of books, paintings and statuary gathered during his lifetime. A colossal bronze bust of Abraham Coles by J. Q. A. Ward, with its pedestal of stones quarried for the purpose in Galilee, Bethlehem, Jerusalem, and on the Mount of Olives, Palestine, was unveiled in Washington Park, Newark, N. J., July 5, 1897. The pedestal is founded on a rock weighing about seven tons, which was transported with much difficulty from a grove near the landing place of the pilgrim fathers at Plymouth, Mass. He received from Rutgers college the degree of A.M.; from Lewisburg university that of Ph.D. in 1860; and from the College of New Jersey, Princeton, that of LL. D. in 1871. In 1847 appeared in the Newark Daily Advertiser his first translation of the "Dies Ir?." This was extensively copied and made him famous throughout the literary world. In 1859 he published a volume comprising thirteen original translations of Dies Ir? (6th edition, 1892), to which he subsequently added five other translations. He also published a translation of Stabat Mater Dolorosa (1865, 3rd edition, 1892); a translation of Stabat Mater Speciosa (1867, 2nd edition, 1892); Old Gems in New Settings (1866, 3rd edition, 1892); Man, the Microcosm (1866, 5th edition, 1892); The Evangel (1874, 2nd edition, 1884); The Light of the World (1884); and A New Rendering of the Hebrew Psalms Into English Verse (1887). He was the author of many patriotic and devotional hymns. See Abraham Coles; Biographical Sketch, Memorial Tributes, Selections from his Works, edited by J. Ackerman Coles (1892). He died at Hotel Del Monte, near Monterey, Cal., May 3, 1891.

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