[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 109 (Friday, June 30, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1376-E1377]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


A BRIEF HISTORY OF UNION COUNTY, NJ, RESIDENTS WHO SERVED IN CONGRESS, 
                               1833-1911

                                 ______


                            HON. BOB FRANKS

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, June 30, 1995
  Mr. FRANKS of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, with Representative Erza 
Darby's passing in 1808, no natives of Union County were sent to either 
body of Congress until the 23d Congress in 1833. While greater 
Elizabeth may have qualified for its own seat by modern standards of 
apportioning congressional districts by population, under New Jersey's 
method of electing its House Members at-large, it was entirely a hit-
or-miss proposition. This method of electing House Members statewide 
was abandoned by New Jersey in 1843 pursuant to the Congressional 
District Act, which passed Congress on November 11, 1842.
  Union County's dearth of citizens in Congress ended with the election 
of Thomas Lee of Port Elizabeth--now a part of Elizabeth--in 1832. 
Representative Lee was the third top vote-getter in the State with over 
24,000 votes, entitling him to 1 of New Jersey's 5 congressional seats. 
Born in Philadelphia in 1780, Representative Lee moved to Port 
Elizabeth in 1805 and became a merchant, shipbuilder, and landowner. 
His public life began in 1813, when he became judge of the court of 
common pleas. In 1814, he was elected to the New Jersey General 
Assembly and served one term. Elected as a Jacksonian Democrat to 
Congress when that party swept every seat in the New Jersey delegation, 
he rose after his reelection in 1834, this time coming in fourth place, 
to chairman of the Committee on Accounts. He returned to Port Elizabeth 
after his service in Congress and founded the Port Elizabeth Library 
and Academy. He died in Port Elizabeth in 1856.
  Serving briefly with Congressman Lee in the 24th Congress was William 
Chetwood, a member of the Whig Party from Elizabeth. Representative 
Chetwood won a special election to fill the vacancy created by Philemon 
Dickerson of Paterson, who was elected Governor of New Jersey in 1836. 
Representative Chetwood was sworn in to the House on December 5, 1836. 
His tenure in Congress was extremely brief, lasting less than 3 months. 
During his service in Congress, he served on the House Committee on 
Public Expenditures. Because of his short tenure in the House, and also 
because it was customary at this time for freshmen not to make speeches 
on the House floor, Representative Chetwood did not participate in 
floor debate or introduce legislation.
  Before coming to Congress, Representative Chetwood was a lawyer, and 
served in the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 as an aide-de-camp to Maj. Gen. 
Henry Lee. After Representative Chetwood's short service in Congress, 
he returned to Elizabeth to resume his law practice. He died in 1857.
  With the departure of Representatives Chetwood and Lee from Congress, 
Union County was again without a favorite son in either body of 
Congress until 1873. During this period of 36 years, House Members who 
represented the Union County area tended to be either from New 
Brunswick to the south, or Newark or Jersey City to the north.
  One notable House Member who was not a resident but represented Union 
County during this time was William Pennington of Newark. Elected in 
1858, Representative Pennington took the seat previously held by his 
cousin Alexander Cumming McWhorter
 Pennington. Representative Pennington has the distinction of being 
both the last Speaker to represent Union County in the House, and also 
the last Speaker to fail to be reelected before Speaker Tom Foley's 
defeat last year--Pennington would lose after one term of Nehemiah 
Perry in 1860 by 398 votes. Apparently, Representative Pennington's 
main qualification for Speaker was his unknown position on the top 
issue of the day, slavery. On the eve of the Civil War, Representative 
Pennington was elected Speaker as the least objectionable compromise 
candidate. A deadlocked House spent 8 weeks debating and balloting 
before electing Representative Pennington on the 44th ballot by voice 
vote. As a freshman Member, he proved to be a less-than-adequate 
Speaker, and utterly ignorant of parliamentary procedure to the point 
of reportedly asking the advice of a page. He returned to Newark after 
his defeat, and died in 1862 from an overdose of morphine evidently 
administered by mistake.

  Union County sent its first resident in over three decades to 
Congress in 1872 with the election of Amos Clark of Elizabeth. Born in 
Brooklyn in 1828, Clark moved to Elizabeth and established himself in 
the real estate business, where he became one of the largest landowners 
in the city. He was also the founder of the First National Bank of 
Elizabeth. His first foray into politics was as a member of the 
Elizabeth City Council from 1865 to 1866. From there, he served in the 
State Senate for one term, 1866-69, before being elected 3 years later 
as a Republican to the 43d Congress.
  Although he would only serve one term, he was defeated for reelection 
by Miles Ross, the Democratic mayor of New Brunswick, Congressman 
Clark's legislative record was not unremarkable. He introduced seven 
bills as a freshman legislator, but only spoke on the House floor once, 
regarding amending the National Currency Act. One of the bills he 
sponsored was to improve the channel between Staten Island and 
Elizabeth, an issue I expect to address as a member of the House Water 
Resources and Environment Subcommittee. Representative Clark did manage 
to get one bill he introduced passed in the House, a bill incorporating 
the Washington Market Co. Unfortunately for him, this legislation died 
in the Senate.
  After leaving Congress, Congressman Clark moved to Norfolk County, 
MA, but retained business interests in Elizabeth. He died in Boston in 
1912, and is buried in Elizabeth.
  Union County's next native in Congress was John Kean. The Kean family 
name is familiar to all New Jerseyans, as the Keans have a long and 
distinguished history of service of their country. John Kean won 
election to the House in 1882 by defeating incumbent Miles Ross with 
48.2 percent of the vote. Representative Kean was born in 1852 at 
Ursino, the Kean ancestral estate in Union Township. Ursino is now 
called Liberty Hall, and it was originally the home of New Jersey's 
first Governor, William Livingston.
  Representative Kean was educated at Yale University and Columbia Law 
School. Although a lawyer, he was primarily interested in banking and 
manufacturing.
  During Representative Kean's first term in the House, he was 
appointed to serve on the House Public Building and Grounds Committee, 
and the House Banking and Currency Committee. He spoke on the floor
 twice during his freshman term, on Chinese immigration and a rivers 
and harbor appropriations bill. The bills Representative Kean sponsored 
included eight private relief bills, as well as a bill to protect 
Atlantic fisheries, a bill regarding bankrupt municipalities, and a 
bill concerning pensions for prisoners-of-war.

  Representative Kean's early congressional career was twice 
interrupted by his lack of success at the polls. In 1884, he was 
unsuccessful in his bid for reelection against Robert S. Green, 
garnering 46 percent of the vote.
  Like Representative Kean, Robert S. Green was also a Union County 
resident. Born in Princeton in 1831, he attended Princeton University, 
studied law, and established his legal practice in Elizabeth, where he 
was active in Democratic politics.
  While in Congress, Representative Green served on the Committee on 
Elections and the 

[[Page E1377]]
Committee on Private Land Claims. He introduced 25 bills, 20 of which 
were private relief bills, mainly concerning pensions. The public bills 
he introduced included legislation to erect a public building in Perth 
Amboy and Elizabeth, respectively.
  Representative Green served only one term in the House. Instead of 
seeking reelection to the House, Representative Green ran and won the 
governorship of New Jersey with 47.4 percent of the vote. He resigned 
his seat in Congress to assume New Jersey's highest office on January 
17, 1887.
  After serving one term as Governor, Representative Green served as 
vice-chancellor of New Jersey, and as a judge. He died in Elizabeth in 
1895.
  Representative Kean came back and was reelected to the House in 1886, 
again with approximately 46 percent of the vote. In his second term, 
Representative Kean reintroduced his bill to protect Atlantic 
fisheries, reintroduced Representative Green's bill to erect a public 
building in Perth Amboy, and also introduced a bill to aid the Stevens 
Institute of Technology.
  Representative Kean lost his House seat for the final time in 1888 to 
Jacob A. Geissenhainer, a Democrat from Freehold. In 1892, he ran and 
lost a race for Governor to George T. Werts, garnering 47 percent of 
the vote. His political fortunes changed in 1899, however, when 
Representative Kean returned to Congress yet again, this time as a U.S. 
Senator.
  During Kean's tenure in the Senate, he would serve on the Committee 
on Claims and the Committee on Foreign Relations. Later in his first 
term, he chaired the Committee on the Geological Survey from 1901-
1903--this committee was abolished in 1921--and later served as the 
chairman of the Committee to Audit and Control the Contingent Expense 
of the Senate. He was reelected in 1905, and served until his 
retirement in 1911. He died in 1914.
  In between John Kean's House and Senate stints, reapportionment 
created an open congressional seat in Union County for the 1892 
election. This seat was filled by Elizabeth resident John T. Dunn, who 
narrowly defeated his Representative opponent with 50.4 percent of the 
vote. With the exception of the 65th Congress (1917-1919), after Dunn's 
ascension to the House, Union County would never again be bereft of 
having at least one of its citizens in Congress.
  Representative Dunn was born in Tipperary, Ireland in 1838. He and 
his father emigrated to America during the Irish potato famine when 
Dunn was 7 years old. His father placed him with a farmer for rearing 
and private tutoring, but the young Dunn was unable to handle the 
hardship of farm living, and he ran away at age 11 to become a cabin 
boy on a trading vessel in the West Indies. After this adventure, 
Representative Dunn returned to Elizabeth, was schooled at home, became 
a local businessman, and entered public service as an Elizabeth 
alderman in 1878. The next year, he was elected to the New Jersey 
general assembly, where he attained the speakership of that body in 
1882.
  After Dunn left the Assembly in 1882, he decided to become a lawyer, 
and at the age of 44 was admitted to the bar and began practicing in 
Elizabeth. A decade later, Dunn was elected to the 53d Congress. While 
in Congress, Representative Dunn served on the Committee on Claims. He 
reintroduced Representative Green's bill to build a Federal building in 
Elizabeth, and also sponsored two private relief bills.
  As a member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, 
I found it interesting to discover that Representative Dunn was very 
active in advocating public works projects for New Jersey. For example, 
Representative Dunn participated in the debate on whether to build a 
bridge across the Hudson River, connecting New Jersey and New York 
City. Dunn also sponsored legislation to build a drawbridge across 
Newark Bay, connecting Elizabeth and Bayonne. Similar legislation to 
Dunn's bill would pass the House under his
 leadership. Unfortunately, this bill, which would have built what 
could be considered a forerunner of what many of my constituents call 
the Turnpike Bridge, died in the Senate.

  Representative Dunn was denied a second term by the voters, losing in 
a landslide with 38.6 percent of the vote. After his single term in 
Congress, Dunn returned to Elizabeth and resumed his law practice. He 
died in Elizabeth in 1907.
  Representative Dunn's career on Capitol Hill was abruptly ended by 
Charles N. Fowler, his Republican opponent and fellow Elizabeth 
resident. Representative Fowler was born in Lena, IL in 1852 and 
attended public schools. Fowler was well-educated, garnering degrees 
from Yale and the law school at the University of Chicago. He left the 
law for banking, however, and helped to organize the Equitable Banking 
Co. in 1886, and became its president in 1887. To pursue his business 
interests, Fowler moved east in 1883, settling in the quaint little 
township of Cranford, which had only incorporated 13 years before. 
After living in then-rural Cranford for 8 years, he moved to Elizabeth 
in 1891.
  After his election in 1894, Fowler would be reelected to the seven 
succeeding Congresses, averaging 54 percent of the vote. Early in his 
congressional career, Fowler primarily introduced legislation that had 
local rather than national implications. For example, he reintroduced 
legislation previously introduced by Representative Green to build a 
public building in Elizabeth. He also introduced legislation building 
on the work of Representative Dunn concerning a bridge over Newark Bay. 
Also in his first term, he sponsored a bill to improve the Rahway 
River, a small yet scenic river that twists through Cranford.
  Fowler rose to become chair of the Committee on Banking and Currency 
from 1901 to 1909. He attracted national attention for his pronounced 
opinions on financial matters and as a relentless and uncompromising 
advocate of currency reform. He had acrimonious disagreements over the 
latter issue with such figures as New York Senator Nelson H. Aldrich 
and Senator Kean. His most continuous combat, with Speaker Joe Cannon, 
eventually led to his deposition from the chairmanship of the Banking 
and Currency Committee. As my colleagues may know, Speaker Cannon (R-
IL) was perhaps the most powerful Speaker of the House ever, and would 
usually take tough action against any dissident Republican Member.
  In 1910, Fowler sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate, 
but was denied. After leaving the House in 1911, Fowler resumed his 
banking activities in Elizabeth. He also successfully developed marble 
quarries in Vermont, where a town is named for him. In 1918, he 
published a comprehensive book on currency.
  Fowler moved to Orange in 1930, and died there in 1932. He is 
interred at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield.


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