Southard

 

 

Born in Long Island in 1747, Henry Southard moved to Basking Ridge from Long Island as an 8 year old boy in 1755. He worked on his parents’ (Abraham and Cornelia) farm and in 1771 married his 15 year old neighbor Sarah Lewis (b 1756, d. 1831). Sarah was the daughter of Edward Lewis, and granddaughter of Daniel Morris – both previous owners of the farm. They would have 13 children, with only 6 of them living into adulthood (the last 6 children were all born on the BSR Estate). It is hard to imagine that by the time she turned 21, Sarah had given birth to 3 sons, and buried 2 of them. Three of the Southard children (Stephen, Isaac, and Sarah) married siblings of the neighboring Doty family.

Based on Elias Boudinot’s accounting records, the two men knew each other well. Boudinot loaned Southard money, leased land to Southard for him to grow hay for the horses Henry used in his teamster business, rented him the entire property when the Boudinots moved out in 1783 (shortly after Elias was elected President of the United States under the Articles of Confederation), and in 1785 sold him the property. Southard was a Trustee and Elder of the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church for his entire adult life, and the Boudinots worshipped there while in Basking Ridge. In 1791, the Southards even named their 11th child Elias Boudinot Southard, who died as a 2 year old. Years later, Boudinot did the legal work to obtain military pensions for Southard and other men of Basking Ridge who served.

In 1776 Henry enlisted as a private in the Somerset County militia, and saw action in multiple skirmishes with British and Hessian troops. In 1777, Henry served as a Wagoner in Captain Jacob Ten Eyck’s company, First Battalion of the Somerset Militia under the overall command of William Alexander (aka “Lord Stirling”) in the Revolutionary War. This outfit was formed in 1775, and participated in the defense of New York City, the retreat across the Hudson, the operations of the Battles of Trenton, Princeton, and the protection of Washington’s Army in the first Morristown encampment of 1777. These Teamsters in the Militia were instrumental in the continual gathering of supplies for the encampment, and participating in the important “Forage Wars” campaign of 1777.

In addition to his service to his church and the militia, Henry Southard was a Justice of the Peace (1787-1792) and an elected member of the NJ General Assembly (1797-1799, and again in 1811). He was elected to the US House of Representatives for eight terms from March 4, 1801 to March 3, 1811, and from March 4, 1815 to March 3, 1821. When his son Samuel Lewis Southard was sworn in as a US Senator on January 26, 1821 they became the very first father and son to serve concurrently in Congress. Henry was a Congressman during all eight years that Thomas Jefferson was President, and never wavered in his support of the Jeffersonian political platform of shrinking government and eliminating the national debt. He helped form the Jeffersonian Party of New Jersey. Henry befriended the Virginian Congressman John Taliaferro who owned a large plantation named Hagley worked by dozens of slaves. Taliaferro would offer Henry’s 19 year old son Samuel a job tutoring his children and nephews in 1806 – a position that Samuel would stay in for five years, and where he would train in a career in law and politics. Samuelwould meet his future wife Rebecca Harrow at Hagley. Henry Southard’s connections, and exemplary reputation clearly helped his sons Isaac and Samuel business and political careers.

We know the Southards owned slaves while they had the farm. Somerset County records indicate that slaves were born into Henry’s ownership in 1808, 1810, and 1813. He freed his slave named Rebecca in 1815, three years before he sold the farm to George Slater. In the short time that Samuel and Henry served Congress at the same time, they were both named to the joint committee of House and Senate to consider the admission of Missouri to the union. Samuel prepared Henry Clay’s famous “Missouri Compromise” resolutions. Interestingly, Henry Southard’s voting record in Congress was consistently anti-slavery – supporting the Tallmadge Amendment, and voting against the Missouri Compromise. Samuel voted for the admission of Missouri as a slave state – an unpopular vote in the eyes of his New Jersey constituents.

Henry had sold his Basking Ridge farm to George Slater in 1818, and then retired from Congress when his term ended in 1821 at the age of 74. He lived out those last decades of his long life on at home with his daughter Sarah and her prominent physician husband Dr. Samuel S. Doty who lived nearby. Henry died in Basking Ridge on May 22, 1842, eleven years after his beloved wife. His name is listed on a plaque that bears the names of Revolutionary War soldiers buried in the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church graveyard. His grave stone is side by side with his wife’s, his son Lott, and other generations of relatives. His tombstone reads:

“In memory of Hon. Henry Southard who departed this life in the hope of a glorious immortality May 22, 1842 in the 95th year of his age. For 70 years he was a professed disciple of Christ and filled the office of ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church at Basking Ridge for upwards of 50 years with wisdom. He served his country during the war of the Revolution and in a civil capacity as Justice of the Peace, Judge of the Court and in the Legislative Councils of the State and Nation until beyond the age of three score and ten when he voluntarily retired from public life and maintained good profession in Holy conservation and Godliness. On such Thy second death hath no power.”

Southard’s son Isaac was born August 30, 1783, just months before Henry would rent the Ross Farm from Elias Boudinot. Educated at the Basking Ridge Classical School of the Presbyterian Church, Isaac married the Southard’s neighbor Mary W. Doty in 1807. Isaac and Mary would have 11 children. Isaac was a Colonel in the NJ State Militia during the war of 1812. He became a Justice of the Peace in Somerset County, and served as the County Clerk of Somerset for a decade before being elected in 1831 to the US House of Representatives as a member of the “Anti Jacksonian Party” which was formed by his outspoken brother Samuel who hated Andrew Jackson. Isaac served only one term, losing his bid for re-election in 1833. He then received positions as a NJ court examiner, then became the NJ State Treasurer. He died in Somerville NJ 1850, and is interred in the Old Cemetery there.

Henry and Sarah Southard’s 7th born son Samuel Lewis Southard had one of the most impressive political resumes in history. Born on the Ross Farm June 7, 1787 he was baptized as an infant at the Basking Ridge Presbyterian Church. He would graduate from the Reverend Robert Finley’s Basking Ridge Classical School and enter Princeton. He graduated Princeton in 1804 when he was just 17, and went into teaching in Mendham, NJ. He then took the post teaching at Taliaferro’s Virginia plantation, and trained for a law career in Fredericksburg, VA. He was admitted to the Virginia bar in 1809, returning to NJ in 1811. He would return briefly to VA to marry Rebecca Harrow on June 14, 1812.

Samuel established his law practice in Flemington, and soon became the Prosecuting Attorney for Hunterdon County – his first public position. He was elected to the NJ State Assembly in 1815, but by August he had resigned because he had been chosen as a NJ Supreme Court justice – the youngest in history. He took his seat on the court on October 31, 1815, and moved his growing family to Trenton. As a Supreme Court Justice in 1820, he took on the monumental task to prepare, publish, and annotate the Revised Statutes of the State of NJ for the first time. He also publish all decisions made by the court. The same year as a member of the electoral college of New Jersey, Samuel cast his vote for his personal friend, James Monroe.
After 5 years on the bench, he resigned when he was elected a US Senator – taking his seat in early 1821. His reputation for superior writing, oratory and organizational skills followed him to Washington. Just two years later, President James Monroe tapped him to become Secretary of the Navy in 1823. Samuel L. Southard became the very first cabinet member from NJ.

Samuel Southard would serve as the US Secretary of the Navy for both the Monroe and John Quincy Adams administrations, leaving the post when Andrew Jackson became President in March 1829. Southard’s tenure with the Navy was hugely consequential.

As America’s stature in the world grew, Southard’s goals were to professionalize, modernize, and grow the Navy. He instituted detailed and fair criminal codes and ended the practice of flogging for sailor’s offenses. He took on officers such as Admiral David Porter who operated too independently – driving home the point that they took their direction from elected officials, He built America’s first dry-docks (Boston and Norfolk) for shipbuilding and repairs. He established new naval bases such as in Key West, where his efforts greatly curtailed West Indies piracy. He envisioned a role for the Navy in global exploration for both scientific discovery and to perform vital nautical navigation mapping and surveys. He built the first Naval Hospitals, and pushed for his idea that the Navy needed its own Academy to rival West Point for the training of officers. Samuel would also serve as Interim Secretary of the Treasury in 1825, and Interim Secretary of Way in 1828.
Those years as a member of the Presidential Cabinet were extremely difficult ones on the Southard family personally. Four of their seven children died during those 6 years. Rebecca was driven into deep depression, forcing even more responsibilities onto Samuel.

Southard had served briefly in the Senate with Andrew Jackson, and grew to loathe him both personally and for his purposeful disruptions of funding and support for programs and initiatives that Southard favored. He publically criticized Jackson’s positions, and reputation. He believed strongly that Congress was where true US authority lied, and hated the notion of executive tyranny. So when Jackson was elected President, Samuel Southard headed back to Trenton NJ as soon as the Adams administration ended to become the State Attorney General in 1829 – serving until he was elected the 10th Governor of New Jersey in 1832 as a member of the Whig Party. He was soon back in Washington, elected again to the US Senate – taking his seat there on March 4, 1833, and being a vociferous critic of President Jackson until Jackson’s term expired on 1837.

During his last decade, he was a leader of the Whig Party and attained national prominence as chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs. As President pro tempore of the Senate, he was first in the presidential line of succession after the death of William Henry Harrison and the accession of Vice President John Tyler to the presidency. Samuel Southard’s was a much respected member of the US Senate until his death in Fredericksburg on June 26, 1842 – just one month after his father died.
Southard’s dream project as the Secretary of Navy was what he called The US Navy’s Exploratory Voyage. Southard had pushed hard for that project, and President Adams had unsuccessfully requested Congressional funding for in 1829. As Chair of the powerful Senate Committee on Naval Affairs Southard finally got Congressional appropriation for the voyage in 1836, but the Expedition would not launch until 1838. Southard had seen the expedition off from Hampton Roads Virginia in 1838 – 7 large ships of the line, 350 sailors, artists, cartographers, taxidermists, and scientists. The expedition was a rousing success going to all 7 continents – mapping over 300 islands (including Fiji and Hawaii), the west coast waters, proving that Antarctica was its own continent with mapping of 1,500 miles of coastline, and bringing 60,000 plants, seeds, and animals back to the US for study.

These samples became the core of the fledging Smithsonian Institution’s natural history collection. The Exploratory Voyage (now usually referred to as the Wilkes Expedition) returned – sailing into New York Harbor to much fanfare on June 10, 1842. One can hope that Southard heard the news of the expedition’s success – for he lay on his deathbed in Fredericksburg. For Southard’s important role in the important 4 year voyage, Cape Southard, and Mount Southard in Antarctica bear his name.

Outside of politics, Samuel L. Southard was intently driven to make money to support his family and his often ill and reclusive wife Rebecca (though she would outlive him by many years). Being an elected official was a far less taxing on his time than when he served as Secretary of the Navy, so his NJ law practiced flourished. He was a diligent and attentive attorney, and attracted some of NJ’s deep pocketed businesses as clients including the Society for Useful Manufacturers of Paterson (a company co-founded years earlier by Elias Boudinot), the Trenton Banking Company, the NJ Railroad and Transportation Company, and the Morris Canal and Banking Company (a company he was named President and Chief Counsel of).

He served as a Trustee at his alma mater in Princeton for 20 years, and as a trustee for Princeton Theological Seminary. He was a prominent member of the Columbian Institute for the Promotion of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and the American Colonization Society. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws Degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1832.
In the first century of the United States, there were no New Jersey politicians more influential than Samuel Lewis Southard. Upon his death in 1842, Congress honored the great man by having his body lay in state at the capitol, and both houses of Congress completely adjourned on the day of his funeral. He was buried in D.C.’s Congressional Cemetery next to 2 of his toddler daughters. In his eulogy to the House of Representatives, former President John Quincy Adams mourned his skillful friend’s death with these words:

“The soundness of his judgement, the candor of his disposition, the sweetness of his temper, and the adherence to his own sense of right were, to me, as a colleague, and a confidential assistant and advisor, a treasure beyond all price.”

His pastor at the Presbyterian Church of Trenton, Rev. J. W. Alexander wrote of Southard:

“Samuel L. Southard was a member of the congregation and a friend of all that promised its good. He was sprightly and versatile; he resembled a tropical tree of rapid growth. Few men ever attained earlier celebrity in New Jersey. This perhaps tended to produce a certain character which showed itself in good-natured egotism. He was a man of genius and eloquence, and made great impressions on first interview or by a single argument. He loved society and shone in company.”

In addition to the geological features in Antarctica named after Samuel Southard, the US Navy destroyer “USS Southard” (DD-207), (later DMS-10) was named in his honor. It was launched from the Philadelphia naval yard in 1917, and was scuttled in the waters off Okinawa in 1946. The public park just down the street from his birthplace on the Ross Farm in Basking Ridge is named jointly for Henry and Samuel Southard. Southard Place in Basking Ridge, Southard St. Trenton, Southard St. Paterson, and Southard St. in Key West FL leading down to the old naval base which Samuel Southard developed all celebrate the name Southard in honor of Samuel.