Tunis Van Doren Hoagland (1813-1872), Teunis Garret Bergen (1806-1881)

From "The City of New Brunswick; Its History, Its Homes, Its Industries", 1908.

  Tunis Van Doren Hoagland was a 19th-century carpenter who had fleeting involvement in politics in 1858 when he became mayor of New Brunswick, New Jersey, being elected to fill a vacancy. While there is a dearth of resources on Hoagland's life, the sources that do exist mention him as a leading figure in his city, and in addition to his mayoralty served as keeper of the New Jersey State Prison at Trenton. A lifelong Garden State resident, Hoagland was born of Dutch extraction in Somerset County, New Jersey on July 3, 1813, the son of Henry and Gertrude (Van Liew) Hoagland.

  Descended from a long-established Dutch family, Tunis Hoagland's early life remains largely unknown. Before embarking on a career in carpentry he worked briefly as a clerk in a grocery store, and later followed in his father's stead and learned carpentry. He would go into business for himself, and at the time of his death in 1872 was "said to have been the best master carpenter and architect this city as ever had." Hoagland's 1872 obituary in the New Brunswick Daily Times further details that "he planned and built the whole row of houses in Paterson street to Elm row", which he later sold for "a moderate profit for himself." This same obituary notes other homes in the city that bore his handiwork, and that by 1858-59 he had "relinquished the business."

  Tunis V.D. Hoagland married Anna Eliza White (1815-1868) in 1835. The couple's thirty-three-year union saw the births of fifteen children, several of whom died in childhood. At the time of his death in 1872, only five of Hoagland's children survived him.

   By the 1850s Hoagland had become active in the civic life of his region, and in 1851, he and several other New Brunswick citizens were founding organizers of the Willow Grove Cemetery Association. This was followed by Hoagland's involvement in the organizing of the New Brunswick Water Company, which was incorporated in 1858. After retiring from the carpentry trade Hoagland's business dealings included a blind and sash factory, and a grist mill--The Girard Mills--located in the Spring Street area of the city. Additionally, Hoagland ventured into the production of mineral paints (perennis brown), which proved popular in the South until "war broke up the business." Hoagland is also remarked as a director of the Mutual Life Insurance Company, a trustee of the Lancastrian School, and an honorary member of Protection Engine Co. No. 5.

  Tunis Hoagland first entered politics in the 1850s, being affiliated with the Know-Nothing movement, and after backing a then-popular liquor law, ran unsuccessfully for the New Jersey State Assembly in 1855/56. His political fortunes changed in 1857 when John Bayard Kirkpatrick, the Democratic mayor of the city, resigned due to clashes with the board of aldermen, then predominantly Know-Nothing. Kirkpatrick's resignation necessitated a special election, with four candidates vying for the mayoral chair. Hoagland, backed by a loose coalition of Republicans and Know-Nothings, won the race "by a 40 majority."

  Hoagland's mayoral tenure proved brief (1857-58), and he was succeeded by Peter C. Onderdonk. He reemerged on the political scene in 1862 when he was appointed Keeper of the State Prison at Trenton. His brief time in office saw him undertake an extensive revision of the prison, and following this repair work could boast of a prison surplus of $13,000. Hoagland later drew the ire of contractors who "killed his reelection for the succeeding year", and was subsequently bribed with "a note and $500 to quiet him." Proving to be made of the sterner stuff, Hoagland would turn over the money to the New Jersey State Library.

  In the latter period of his life, Hoagland engaged in the manufacture of printers ink and was a mercantile tailor before retiring in the late 1860s. Widowed in 1868, he made one last run at public office in 1869, hoping to be named Collector for Middlesex County. He was defeated and later changed his political affiliation to Democrat. The last months of Hoagland's life were marked by a long decline in health, and he died at his home on December 4, 1872, aged 59. He was interred alongside his wife at the Willow Grove Cemetery in New Brunswick.

From Reed's History of Kings County, New York, 1683-1884.

  A long-tenured figure on The Strangest Names In American Political History, Teunis Garret Bergen's name was first located by this author via the online Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress back in 2002. The only "Teunis" to win election to Congress, Bergen served one term as a U.S. Representative from New York and had been a three-time delegate to the state constitutional conventions of 1846, 1867, and 1868. Born in Brooklyn on October 6, 1806, Teunis Garret Bergen was the son of Garret and Jane (Wyckoff) Bergen.

  Descended from a family with its roots in New York extending back to the 1630s, Bergen worked the family farm in Gowanus during his youth and attended the Erasmus Hall Academy in Flatbush. Readying himself for a career in farming, Bergen studied surveying, "in which he soon became proficient." He married Elizabeth Roelof Van Brunt (1807-1890) in December 1827, and the couple's fifty-three-year union produced at least seven children: Gertrude (1831-1865), Jane (1832-1919), Garret (1833-1893), Elizabeth (1837-1893), Johanna (1839-1913), Van Brunt (1841-1917), and Lemma (1844-1846).

  Early in his life, Bergen joined the "Kings County Troop" of the New York State National Guard, and through the succeeding years attained the ranks of captain, ensign, adjutant, lieutenant colonel, and colonel in the 241st Regiment. He began treading the political waters with his election as township supervisor of New Utrecht and served 23 years in office (1836-1859). For four years (1842-46) he was chairman of the Kings County Board of Supervisors, and in 1846 was elected a Kings County delegate to the state constitutional convention. He would again serve as a delegate to the conventions of 1867-68 and was a member of the committees on Canals and Indians. Additionally, Bergen would attend multiple democratic state conventions after beginning his political career.

  Elected as a delegate to the Democratic National Convention of 1860, Bergen journeyed to Baltimore and during the convention proceedings "vigorously opposed the resolutions of that body which caused the breach between the Northern and Southern Democratic party." In 1864 he announced his bid for the U.S. House of Representatives from New York's 2nd district and that November was elected, defeating Union Republican Samuel Maddox by a vote of 13,630 to 8,829. He served one term and wasn't a candidate for renomination in 1866.

  After leaving politics Teunis Bergen focused his efforts on writing history and genealogy, and between 1866 and his death he authored numerous works, including: "The Bergen Family" (1866), "The Genealogy of the Van Brunt Family" (1867), and portions of "A Register of the Early Settlers and Freeholders of Kings County, N.Y., from Its First Settlement by Europeans to 1700." A founder of the Long Island Genealogical Society, Bergen also held membership in the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and in 1878 published "A Genealogy of the Lefferts Family, 1675-1878."

  Teunis G. Bergin continued residence in New Utrecht until his death from pneumonia on April 24, 1881, aged 76. He was survived by his wife Elizabeth, and both were interred at the famed Green-wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. 

Lament Bacon Corbin (1813-1872)

Lament Bacon Corbin, from the collection of the Massachusetts State Library Archives.

  With beard aplenty and a curious name to match, we visit Worcester County, Massachusetts to highlight the life of Lament Bacon Corbin, a little-known shoemaker who served two terms in his state's House of Representatives. The life of this obscure Bay State resident began on September 1, 1814, in the town of Dudley, Massachusetts. The son of Timothy (1780-1845) and Ruth Albee Corbin (1781-1848), it has been lost to history why the couple decided to bestow the unusual name "Lament Bacon" upon their seventh born child, and it will most likely remain a mystery! Nothing is known of Corbin's early life or education, and it is presumed that the latter occurred in schools local to his hometown of Dudley. 

  Bacon married in Oxford, Massachusetts on May 31, 1840, to Melezenda Pierpont Stone (1819-1898), a resident of that town. Lament and his wife were married for over thirty years and had one son, Luman Boyden Corbin (born 1843) who died at age 20 in June 1863. 

   Despite the dearth of information mentioning him, Corbin was a prominent cobbler in Worcester County for the majority of his fifty-eight years and founded the L.B. Corbin Co. with partner Allen L. Joslin in 1860. This Oxford-based shoe-making business is recorded by Duane Hamilton Hurd's History of Worcester County, Volume II as employing "forty-five workmen, and produces shoes to the value of $80,000 a year", a considerable sum for the time. Corbin also served as a director of the Oxford National Bank for a number of years. 

   Active in public affairs in addition to his business, Corbin served as a selectman for the town of Oxford for nearly sixteen years, holding his seat from 1855-1868 and 1870-1871. He was elected to his first term in the Massachusetts General Court in 1856 from his home county of Worcester, serving in the following year's legislative session. During his term, he held a seat on the joint standing committee on Manufactures, appropriate when one considers his successful shoe-making business.

   The early 1860s saw Corbin continuing in his business pursuits. Despite being too old to enter military service, Lament Corbin did his patriotic duty during the early months of the Civil War, serving as first selectman as well as town recruiting officer. Mary DeWitt Freeland's Records of Oxford, Massachusetts (published in 1894) gives note that "through the efficiency of Lament B. Corbin, first selectman, as recruiting officer, all demands for men were promptly met. In June 1864, the town by unanimous vote expressed its thanks to him for the ''energetic, faithful, and patriotic manner'' in which he had performed the duties."

   In November 1867 Corbin was elected to a second term in the General Court and began his term at the beginning of the new year, being named to the committee on Parishes and Religious Societies. At the conclusion of his term in 1868, Corbin returned home to Oxford, and in 1870 the partnership between he and Allen L. Joslin was dissolved, with Joslin later continuing in the manufacture of shoes under his own name. In May 1870 Corbin is recorded as serving as Chief Marshal in a Memorial Day Procession occurring in Oxford. Sources of the time acknowledge that Corbin was "an active and respected citizen of Oxford" and was a "liberal supporter of the Methodist Church."

   Lament Bacon Corbin died in Oxford on July 1, 1872, at age 58 and was shortly thereafter interred at the South Congregational Church Cemetery in that town. His wife Melezenda survived him by twenty-six years, dying in 1898 at age 79. She too was interred at the South Cemetery, alongside her husband and son.

From the 1868 Journal of the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Memorable Walker Creagh (1817-1872)

                                    Creagh's name on a roster of Alabama State Representatives.

   Today we profile an infinitely obscure Alabama state representative with the unusual name of Memorable Walker Creagh. As you may have guessed, no picture of Memorable Creagh could be found for this article, and the information contained herein mainly comes from the only available biography on him (a small column in the History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume 3.)

  Creagh was born in South Carolina on July 4, 1817, and relocated to Alabama with his family in 1826. As a young man, he earned a degree in law in his native South Carolina. Later, Creagh earned a degree to practice medicine from a school in Philadelphia, but the book mentioned above states that he "never practiced either profession."

  Creagh inherited a large plantation from his father and with it, the plantation's slaves. This period also saw him enter politics. In 1849 he was elected to the Alabama state House of Representatives from Marengo County and was re-elected to another four-year term in 1853. It is mentioned that Creagh was an "old-line Whig" until that party's dissolution in the 1850s, and later switched political allegiance to the Democratic party. He was subsequently acknowledged as a "good speaker and had considerable influence on the floor of the house."

 On May 21, 1872, at age fifty-seven, Memorable Creagh died at his home in Demopolis, Alabama. He was later interred at the Riverside Cemetery in that city and was survived by his wife Willie Harris (Burton) Creagh (1927-1898) and two sons. 

Addendum--December 17, 2020

  Several years after the above article on Memorable Creagh was published here, a helpful blog reader posted a comments section link (that has since disappeared) regarding Creagh's connection to Matilda McCrear (ca.1857-1940), the last known survivor of the last American slave ship, the Clotilda. McRear (whose given name was Abake) was a member of the Yoruba tribe in modern-day West Africa, and as a two-year-old was captured and sold into slavery with her mother and sisters. 

  Transported to the United States aboard the Clotilda, Abake, her mother, and sister were purchased at a slave auction by Creagh, to work on his plantation in Marengo County. Upon their resettlement on Creagh's plantation, Abake's name was changed to Matilda. After the conclusion of the Civil War Matilda, her mother (having married a fellow Clotilde survivor), and stepfather moved to Athens, Alabama. Matilda's surname of Creagh (having been given by her former master) changed to McCrear, which was kept through the remainder of her life.

  Matilda McCrear had become the mother of three children by the late 1870s and later had a decades-long relationship with a German immigrant, with whom she had a further seven children. During a long life, McCrear sought compensation for her being enslaved while a child, a legal claim that was ultimately dismissed by the courts. McCrear lived long enough to be photographed and died in January 1940, being past eighty years of age. Through the efforts of modern historians, McCrear was revealed to be the last survivor of the Clotilde and was profiled in a February 2020 National Geographic article. Some months later, further facts on her life (as well as the history of Cudjo Lewis, a fellow Clotilde survivor) were featured on the History Channel webpage, which can be viewed in its entirety at the following link.