Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 10.djvu/288

 VOORHEES

VROOM

Artists, and the National Arts club, and a corre- sponding member of the Secession, Munich. He was residing in Rockland Lake, N.Y., in 1903.

VOORHEES, Daniel Wolsey, senator, was born in Butler county. Oliio. Sept. 2G, 1827; son ofSteplien and Rachel (Elliot) Voorhees, and a descendant of Stephen Coerte Van Voorhies, who came from Holland about 16G0, and was an early settler in New Jersey. Daniel removed with his parents to Fountain county, Ind., in 1827; was graduated from the Indiana Asbury university in 1841); studied law at Crawfordsville; was ad- mitted to the bar in 1851, and practised in Cov- ington, Ind. He was U.S. district attorney, l!5.")8-<51; and a Democrratic representative in the 37th, 39th, and 41st-42d congresses, 1861-67, and 1869-73. He practised law, 1873-77; was ap- pointed U.S. senator from Indiana to fill the vacancy caused by the death of O. P. Morton, 1877; and served by successive re-elections until Jan- uary, 1897, when he was defeated for re-election by Charles W. Fairbanks. He advocated the free coinage of silver and the greenback currency, but in 1893 he voted against the silver purchase clause of the Sherman act. He is the author of: Foriy Years of Oratory (2 vols., 1898). He died in Washington, D.C., April 10. 1897.

VOORHEES, Foster MacGowan, governor of New Jersey, was born in Clinton, N.J., Nov. 5, 1856; son of Nathaniel W. and Naomi (Leigh) Voorhees. He was graduated from Rutgers college, A.B., 1876, A.M., 1879; studied law and established himself in practice in Elizabeth, N.J., in 1880. He was a member of the board of education of Elizabeth for several years; a mem- ber of the state assembly, 1888-90, and state sena- tor, 1894-98, serving as president of the senate in 1898. He became acting governor of New Jersey to succeed William J. Griggs, who had accepted the portfolio of attorney-general in McKinley's cabinet in January, 1898, and was elected gover- nor, November, 1898, by a plurality of 12.000, serving until January, 1902, when he was suc- ceeded by Franklin Murphy. The honorary de- gree of LL.D. was conferred on him by Rutgers.

VROOM, Garret Dorset Wall, jurist, was born in Trenton, N.J., Dec. 17, 1843; son of Peter Dumont (q.v.) and Matilda M. (\Vall) Vroom. He attended Trenton academy; was graduated from Rutgers college, A.B., 1862, A.M., 1865; studied law; was admitted to the bar, 1865; ' served as solicitor of Trenton, 1866-70 and 1874- 77; and as prosecutor of the pleas of Mercer county, N.J., 1870-73. He was married, June 8, 1871, to Charlotte, daughter of Philemon and Margaret (Gobert) Dickinson of Trenton. He was reporter of the supreme court of New Jersey, 1873; mayor of Trenton, 1881-84, and judge of the court of errors and appeals of New

Jersey from 1901. He served as president of the board of managers of the State Hospital for the Insane, 1897; was a member of the Sons of the Revolution and of the Holland Society of New York, and received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Rutgers college in 1902. He is the author of: Supreme Court Reports (vols. 36-66, 1873-1903); Revised Statutes, N.J., with J. H. Stewart (1877), and General Statutes, N.J., with W. M. Lanning (1895).

VROOM, Peter Dumont, Jr., governor of New Jersey, was born in Hillsborougli townsliip, N.J., Dec. 12, 1791; son of Col. Peter D. Vroom, who served throughout the Revolution, and Elsie (Bogart) Vroom; grandson of George and Gar- retje (Dumont) Vroom. He attended the Somer- ville academy and was graduated from Columbia college, A.B., 1808, A.M., 1812; was admitted to the bar in 1813, and practised successive!}' in Mor- ris, Sussex, Hunterdon and Somerset counties, being admitted counselor, 1816. He married in 1820, Anna, daughter of Peter B. Dumont; she died, 1829. He was a representative in the state legislature from Somerset county, 1826-27 and 1829; became a sergeant-at-law, 1828; was elected governor of New Jersey as a Jackson Democrat, serving, 1829-32 and 1833-36, and was appointed by President Van Buren a commissioner to adjust the claims of the Choctaw Indians, 1837. He was a Democratic representative from New Jersey in the 26th congress, 1839-41, and in the latter year removed to Trenton, N.J. He was married sec- ondly to Matilda M., daughter of Gen. Garret D. Wall. He was a delegate to the state con- stitutional convention, 1844; assisted in the re- vision of the state statutes, 1846; was a presi- dential elector on the Pierce and King ticket, 1852, and declined the office of chief-justice of the supreme court of New Jersey. 1853. He was U.S. minister to Prussia, 1853-57; was named by South- ern Democrats for the Vice-Presidency in 1860; a delegate from New Jersey to the peace conven- tion at Washington, D.C., 1861; appointed acom- missioner of the state sinking fund, 1864; reporter of the state supreme court, 1865, and was a presi- dential elector on the Seymour ticket, 1868. He received the honorary degree of LL.D. from Columbia, 1837, and from the College of New Jersey, 1850, and was a trustee of Rutgers college, 1822-73. Of his sons, Peter Dumont Vroom (Rens- selaer Polytechnic institute, 1862), served with distinction in the civil war, being promoted 1st lieutenant, 3d U.S. cavalry, July, 1866, appointed mayor and inspector-general, 1888, and retired as brigadier-general, 1903; and Garret Dorset AVall Vroom (q.v.) became a jurist. Governor Vroom published: Rejiorts of the Supreme Court of New Jersey (1866-73). He died in Trenton, N. J., Nov. 18, 1873.