My mother and sister wanted to visit Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, so one hot August afternoon in the summer of 2002, I took them. Of course, it was my chance to pick up three dead governors. Unfortunately, I only found two. Somehow, Leon Abbets (27th Governor) eluded me. I will have to get him on a future trip (when it is cooler). Livingston was easy to find with the map we purchased at the front gate (only $3). This wasn't his original burial location. He was moved to the vault of his son, US Supreme Court Justice, Brockholst  Livingston. 

       Livingston, who is of Scottish decent, was born into one of the wealthiest families in the 13 Colonies. His grandfather, Robert Livingston the Elder, was a son of the Rev John Livingston a lineal descendant of the fifth Lord Livingston. He was the Brother of Philip Livingston and cousin of Robert R. Livingston, the Chancellor, as well as the grandson of Albany, New York mayor, Pieter Van Brugh. Their wealth and an interlocking series of marriages with other major families gave them great political and economic influence in the New York Colony.

          He was raised by his grandmother until the age of 14. He graduated from Yale University in 1741 and then studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1748 and began his practice in New York which led into politics. Livingston was not a believer in popular voting and felt that government should be controlled by men of education and property. In 1769, he was forced from government by radical groups, such as the Sons of Liberty. He left New York, and retired to an estate in Elizabethtown, New Jersey to become a gentlemen farmer. In 1772, he had his mansion, "Liberty Hall" built. The home became a center of activity, in part due to its proximity to Francis Barber's academy and visits from young men. (Alexander Hamilton, a boarder at the academy, was a frequent early visitor.) Three of Livington's daughters — Sarah, Susan, and Catherine — came to be known as 'the three graces'. The height of social activity during this era was the wedding, at Liberty Hall, in April 1774 of Sarah to a young New York lawyer, John Jay, future Supreme Court Chief Justice.

         As the Revolutionary War approached, Livingston was sent by New Jersey to be a delegate in the First Continental Congress from July 1774 to June 1776. In 1775, New Jersey began organizing its militia, making Livingston a brigadier general, the highest rank in the state. In July 1776, when British troops started to build up on Staten Island, Livingston left the Second Continental Congress to help the New Jersey troops defend the Northern Jersey coastline (thus missing his chance to sign the Declaration of Independence).

       In August 1776 Livingston resigned his military commission to become the first governor of New Jersey elected under the new state constitution. The colony had just arrested the royal governor, William Franklin (son of Ben Franklin). Livingston served fourteen consecutive one-year terms until his death. He worked hard supporting the New Jersey contingent of the Continental Army.

        For much of the time between 1776 and 1779, the family was located in Parsippany for safety. Liberty Hall was frequently visited by British troops or naval forces since there was a substantial reward for Livingston's capture. In February of 1779, British troops, helped by local Loyalists, made a surprise pre-dawn attack at Elizabethtown with the purpose of capturing Livingston. He managed to barely escape. The family returned later in 1779 to begin restoring their looted home. Livingston's daughter, Susannah, married John Cleves Symmes in 1780 and became the stepmother-in-law of President William Henry Harrison. A descendent of William Livingston was Julia Kean, mother of New York Governor / Congressman Hamilton Fish. William Livingston's sister Sarah was married to Continental General William Alexander (aka Lord Stirling).

       After the war, Livingston felt that the Articles of Confederation were weak and needed to be replaced. In 1787 he led his states delegation to the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia with the goal of creating a stronger central government for the United States. At first, he proposed the New Jersey Plan, which gave each state an equal vote in the legislature, but eventually accepted the Great Compromise. This was a bicameral legislature with one house based on population (House of Representatives) and the other on equality (Senate). Bitterly opposed to slavery himself, Livingston put his own feelings aside and hammered out a compromise (the 3/5ths Compromise) that assured the Constitution's acceptance by the Southern slave states. At the conclusion of the Convention, he signed the Constitution of the United States.

       Livingston helped to push New Jersey's ratification of the Constitution. On December 19, 1787, New Jersey was the third state to ratify it with an unanimous vote (38-0). He died in office at age 66. Livingston was originally buried in Trinity Churchyard in New York City, but was reinterred in 1846 at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. Because he was the first Revolutionary governor, he is often cited as the first governor of New Jersey. The current numbering of New Jersey governors reflects this.

       Yes, the city of Paterson was named after him - what a legacy. He was a Federalist and a signer of the U.S. Constitution. Why is he buried in New York and not New Jersey? After being governor, he became a member of the U.S. Supreme Court - and unlike today, these judges had to travel around. He became ill and was going to Ballston Spa in upstate New York, but died on the way at his daughter's house in Albany. His daughter was married  to Stephen van Rensselaer (the guy who founded Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute). Paterson was originally buried in the Van Rensselaer manor house family vault, but for some reason his body was moved later to the Albany Rural Cemetery.

      I was in Albany Rural Cemetery in during a trip that would cover five dead presidents back in October of 1999. Since he is in the same cemetery as Chester Arthur, I drove by and took a picture.

         After immigrating to America at the age of five (some documents say age two), Paterson attended local schools and the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), where he graduated in 1763 (he is the first of 10 governors who graduated from Princeton). After graduating he studied law with the prominent lawyer Richard Stockton and was admitted to the bar in 1768. He quickly joined the patriot cause in the years following the French and Indian War. In 1776, he helped draw up New Jersey's state constitution. He was named an officer in the state militia, but never saw active duty. He assumed the post of attorney general of New Jersey in 1776 and remained in that position until after the war. 

       Although Paterson missed the last month of the Convention's sessions, returning only in September to sign the Constitution, he nevertheless played an important role in the Convention's proceedings. Along with William Livingston, he proposed the New Jersey Plan (a unicameral legislative body with equal representation from each state), which based legislative representation on equality of the states.

      Believing in a strong central government, Paterson was a member of the Federalist Party. In 1789, he was elected to the U.S. Senate. When New Jersey governor, William Livingston died in 1790, Paterson resigned from the Senate to become the states second governor (he was replaced in the senate by future governor Philemon Dickinson). In 1793, he resigned as governor when George Washington appointed him associate justice of the United States Supreme Court (Thomas Henderson took over as acting governor). As a member of the Supreme Court, Paterson presided over trials of people arrested in the Whiskey Rebellion. He was still a member of the Court when he died in Albany at age 60. Along with Paterson, New Jersey, William Paterson University ia also named after him.

           This was my first time in downtown Elizabeth. Not very anxious to go back. First Presbyterian Burying Ground is on Broad Street (one of the main drags in Elizabeth). The neighborhood is nothing great. The churchyard is very old. Some of the graves are pre-Revolutionary war. You can easily see the effect the pollution is having on them. The one I was looking for was showing the effects of age and the environment.

           Ogden was governor during the War of 1812 when James Monroe was president (1812-13). He was a Princeton grad (then it was called the College of New Jersey) who became a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army and fought in the Battles of Brandywine and Monmouth Court House. In 1779, he became an aide to General John Sullivan. General Washington sent him to meet with British General Clinton to try an arrange to get Benedict Arnold back (it didn't work). After the war in 1796, he was clerk of Essex County from 1785-1803. In 1796, Ogden became one of the seven presidential electors from New Jersey (back then they chose who the presidents would be - there was no popular vote). He, along with the rest of the state, voted for John Adams, who won. 

              A Federalist, he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1801 to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Schureman to 1803. He ran for re-elected in 1802, but lost to John Condit. Ogden, along with another future governor, William S. Pennington, tried to work out an agreement with the State of New York over the NY/NJ border. New York was claiming ALL of the Hudson River for themselves, up to the low-water mark of New Jersey. Nothing came of this as New York continued to bully New Jersey around.

             In 1803, Ogden was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly, where he served until 1812. That same year, Ogden was elected trustee of his alma mater, the College of New Jersey (later to become Princeton University), a post in which he served until his death. Ogden was elected to be governor in 1812 for a one year term (the last federalist governor of New Jersey). James Madison offered him a position of Major-General in the U.S. Army in 1813 (we were fighting the British in the War of 1812 at the time) - but Ogden said no. 

            Instead, Ogden became involved in the steamboat business on the Hudson River. He bought into the Robert Fulton and Robert Livingston monopoly (given to them by the State of New York - another example of New York pushing New Jersey around). When another guy, Thomas Gibbons started operating his own steamboat between Elizabeth and New York City, Ogden sued him (claiming the monopoly) and won. However, the case went all the way up to the Supreme Court. Gibbons v Ogden was a landmark case decided by Chief Justice John Marshall against Ogden that made state monopolies unconstitutional. The decision was highly instrumental in giving more power to the federal government of the United States (the right to regulate interstate trade).

           The legal cost of the case along with the loss of the case itself to business caused severe financial hardships on Ogden and eventual imprisonment in New York for outstanding debt. His Princeton classmate and boyhood friend, Aaron Burr (former vice president) pushed through legislature prohibiting jailing Revolutionary War veterans for debt. 

            Freed from prison in 1829, he moved to Jersey City were he lived the rest of his life practicing law. In 1830, he was appointed as collector of customs and served until his death on April 19, 1839 in Jersey City. His grandnephew, Daniel Haines, served two terms as governor of NJ in the 1850's. He's buried in Hardyston, New Jersey (somewhere in Sussex County).

            Mahlon is the older brother of Philemon Dickerson, 11th governor of New Jersey. Mom Dickerson was very creative when naming her sons. I don't think anything outside a state park is named after him in New Jersey. He was a Democratic-Republican (he was an Andy Jackson man). Jackson considered him for VP, but gave it to Martin van Buren instead. He was once the Secretary to the Navy and had a navy destroyer named after him. He is in Succasunna (It's west of Morristown, if you were wondering). 

             The son of Jonathan and Mary Dickerson, he was educated by private tutors and later graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1789. He then studied the law and was admitted to the bar in 1793. During the Whiskey Rebellion, he served as a private in the 2nd New Jersey Regiment Cavalry Militia. After his militia service, he settled in Philadelphia, and began practicing in Pennsylvania courts in 1797. He was named state commissioner of bankruptcy in 1802, served as adjutant general of Pennsylvania from 1805 to 1808 and as Philadelphia city recorder from 1808 to 1810.

                 In 1810, he moved to Morris County, New Jersey and was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1811 and served one term. In 1813, he was named as an associate justice to the New Jersey's Supreme Court for two years. 

                He was elected Governor of New Jersey in 1815 and served until 1817, having been elected as a Democratic-Republican to the United States Senate in 1816.

Dickerson served in the Senate from March 4, 1817 to January 30, 1829, when he resigned, but he was immediately reelected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Ephraim Bateman and served from January 30, 1829, to March 3, 1833, for a total of 16 years of service. Dickerson served as chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on the Library during the 15th Congress, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce and Manufactures for the 16th through 18th Congresses and the U.S. Senate Committee on Manufactures from the 19th through 22nd Congresses.

In 1834, upon leaving the Senate, he declined appointment as Minister to Russia. In June of that year, he was appointed Secretary of the Navy by President Andrew Jackson and was reappointed by President Martin Van Buren, serving until June 1838. The destroyer USS Dickerson was named in his honor.

In 1840, he became judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. He was also a delegate to the New Jersey constitutional convention of 1844.

             A Jeffersonian Democratic-Republican, he was elected governor in 1815. The following year, he successfully ran for the United States Senate and served from 1817 until March 3, 1833. He once resigned in 1829, but he was immediately reelected to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Ephraim Bateman and served for a total of 16 years of service. Andrew Jackson considered Dickerson for the vice-presidency but went with Martin Van Buren instead. Dickerson, who was very supportive of Jackson was rewarded when Jackson appointed him Secretary of the Navy in 1834 (after he declined an appointment as Minister to Russia). He was re-appointed Secretary of the Navy by Van Buren. In 1840, he became judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey. He was also a delegate to the New Jersey constitutional convention of 1844. Dickerson lived to the ripe old age of 83. The destroyer USS Dickerson was named in his honor.

          I had to make a special trip to Succasunna to find Dickerson. I found the cemetery easily enough which had signs outside saying that Dickerson was buried there. But where? I had to do some walking around, but I found him directly behind the church. His closeness to the building made getting a good picture of the front of his monument impossible. So I had to settle on a side picture.

             Locating this one was difficult. If you look up Vroom's Congressional Record in the U.S. Congress website, it gives The Dutch Reformed Church in Somerville as his place of burial. But, I soon found out, he is not there. So, where is he? I received an e-mail from Paul Von der Heyden who had visited my site and offered information as to Vroom's whereabouts. Paul told me that Vroom was in a family cemetery, south of Somerville, on River Road in Hillsborough. He was also kind enough to give advice as to how to find it since it was so difficult. Paul also said there would be almost no where to park my car. I did some research on the internet and found two listings for small cemeteries on River Road in Hillsborough; the DuMont Cemetery and the Vroom Cemetery. I knew this wouldn't be easy. I looked on Google Maps and found no cemeteries identified on River Road. I even scanned the satellite images on Goggle Maps, but didn't see anything that looked like a cemetery. However, much of River Road is covered with trees, so it could easily be missed (once I knew where it was, I looked again and could see a faint outline of the wall).

            So, on a Monday afternoon, July 3, 2006, Debbie wanted to go shopping at the Short Hills Mall. After the shopping, we drove south to Somerville. We found the bridge over the Raritan River into Hillsborough (it was a brand new bridge that isn't even on Google Maps) and onto Rt. 625/River Road. Driving the length and back, Debbie spotted headstones under some trees on the southside of the road. Paul was right, there is almost no where to park and the road is too narrow to pull of to the side. However, I did find a small place to park and we went up to investigate. We walked up some stone steps into the trees. There is an old cemetery there surrounded by a brick wall that is crumbling in places (at right is the view at the top of the steps). As you can see, it doesn't get very much maintenance, however, it had been visited recently, probably on Memorial Day, so that flags could be placed. We found Governor Vroom toward the back of cemetery, along with other members of the Dumont family, making him the 29th Dead Governor on my list.

            The new question is, what cemetery is it? Is it the DuMont Cemetery or the Vroom Cemetery? We never found the other one. Find-A-Grave lists both cemeteries with Governor Vroom in it. The one listed on Find-A-Grave, that has a number of the other people we also found in to cemetery, is the DuMont Cemetery. So where is the Vroom Cemetery and why is Vroom listed as being buried there also? Hopefully someone will write me and clear up this mystery. Paul also thinks that because of this cemetery association with the Dutch Reformed Church in Somerville is the reason why Vroom's Congressional Record in the U.S. Congress is incorrect. Again, special thanks to Paul Von der Heyden because I never would have found Governor Vroom without his helpful information.

             Peter Dumont Vroom was the son of Colonel Peter D. Vroom of the Somerset Militia and who fought in the American Revolution. His mother was Elsie Bogart Vroom. They were members of the Dutch Reformed Church in Somerville (which may account for the confusion of his burial location).  After graduating from Columbia College (now Columbia University) in New York City, Vroom became a lawyer in 1813. On May 21, 1817, he married Ann DuMont.

        Vroom’s political career began as a Federalists, like his father. However, by the 1820's, the Federalist Party was on the decline. Vroom, like many other prominant New Jerseyian joined the Democratic-Republican Party and supported Andrew Jackson in the Election of 1824 (Jackson lost because of the so-called 'Corrupt Bargain'). A Democrat and the advocate of state construction of a canal from the Delaware River to the Raritan River, Vroom was elected to the General Assembly from Somerset County in 1826.

        Jackson did win the presidency in 1828, and his followers, now called Democrats, dominated New Jersey politics. In 1829, Governor Isaac Williamson was forced to resign, after 13 years, due to illness. The Democratically controlled legislature choose Garrett D. Wall to replace Williamson. Wall declined to be governor so the legislature then choose Vroom.

        Vroom believed in strengthening the authority of the governor under the state constitution. To accomplish this goal and stay within the limitations of the 1776 Constitution, Vroom reintroduced the practice of sending messages to the legislature and meeting with his party’s legislative caucus to influence its decisions. His efforts produced a number of contributions to the state, especially in the areas of prison and militia reform, education and internal improvements.

        To improve New Jersey’s penal system, Vroom proposed building a new institution modeled after the Eastern Penitentiary in Pennsylvania. The new prison was built during his second term. He also proposed the abolition of imprisonment for debt, which was enacted in 1842. Vroom also urged legislature to reform the militia system, requiring every able-bodied man between the age of 18 and 45 to train regularly with a unit (however, this didn't last long). In school reform Vroom got the legislature to give part of the money in the school fund to local towns to support public education.

          Vroom's major accomplishment as governor was the construction of a canal and a railroad through central New Jersey, but this did not happen without controversy. In 1829, Vroom chartered the Camden & Amboy Railroad and the Delaware and Raritan Canal Company to build the railroad and canal. The following year, Vroom had the two companies merged together to get money for the canal. They received a monopoly over all railroad and canal transportation between New York and Philadelphia. Both the canal and railroad, when finished, helped New Jersey economically.

        In 1832, the Whig Party gained control of the state legislature and choose Samuel Southard as the new governor who promptly removed many Democrats from office. Southard resigned four months later to become Secretary of the Navy and was replaced by acting-governor Elias P. Seeley, also a Whig. Later that year, the state legislature replaced Seeley and again selected Peter Vroom to be governor. After his second term was over in 1836, the Democratic controlled legislature choose Philemon Dickerson to be governor.

        In 1837 President Van Buren appointed him Claims Commissioner to the Chickasaw tribe in Mississippi, where he was to adjust land claims arising from the removal of the Choctaw Indians from the state. In 1838, he was one of five Democrats that were elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. However, Governor Pennington (who was a Whig), due to a controversy surrounding the Monmouth County returns, claimed that Whigs had won those seats. The House of Representatives, which had a small Democratic majority, instead certified Democrat Vroom and the others to those seats.

         My wife Debbie and I, along with our nephew Damian, traveled south to Manassas, Virginia for a weekend back in August of 2002. While we were in Washington D.C. (and it was very hot that day - around 100 degrees) we went to the Congressional Cemetery and picked up a dead vice president (Elbridge Gerry) and this Dead Governor.

         Southard's father was one of the founders of the Democratic-Republican Party in New Jersey. Southard graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1804. He began teaching after graduation and accepted a position as a tutor on a Virginian plantation. He studied law and he returned to New Jersey to set up a practice. Southard than married Rebecca Harrow of Virginia and became interested in politics.

         Southard seemed to like to jump from one political position to another. In 1815, he was appointed a justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court. A Democratic-Republican, Southard was appointed to fill a vacancy in the U.S. Senate in January 6, 1821. He was elected to that position, but resigned from the Senate on March 3, 1823 to become Secretary of the Navy in James Monroe's Cabinet which he served to 1829. Southard was the first New Jerseyian to hold a cabinet position. In the highly controversial Presidential Election of 1824, Southard had to decide which Democratic-Republican to support among the five running. He decided to support South Carolinian John C. Calhoun and ran his campaign in New Jersey. However, Calhoun soon pulled out of the race to concentrate on being elected vice president (which he successfully did). Southard was opposed to Andrew Jackson, who he saw as unfit, and secretly supported John Quincy Adams. Adams won the election when it was sent to the U.S. House of Representatives and kept Southard as his Secretary of the Navy. In the Election of 1828, despite Southard's campaigning in New Jersey, President Adams lost his bid for re-election to Andrew Jackson. 

          Now a member of the Whig Party (like many other Jeffersonian Democratic-Republicans who couldn't stand Andrew Jackson), he hoped to be elected to the Senate, but lost to another future governor, Mahlon Dickerson. We actually had four Whig governors. In 1829, he was elected Attorney General for New Jersey. He was elected by the legislature to be Governor in November of 1832, but resigned four months later when he was elected again to the U.S. Senate in 1833. He was replaced with acting-governor Elias P. Seeley. In his short term as governor, Southard fired all Jacksonian Democrats from any office they held, he pushed for a new prison (which was introduced by his predecessor Governor Peter Vroom) and pushed for governors being chosen by popular election. The New Jersey Legislature elected Southard to the Senate to fill a vacancy in 1833 so he resigned as governor. Southard joined other Whigs in he Senate fighting President Jackson. He was re-elected to the Senate in 1838 and became President Pro Tempore of the Senate on March 4, 1841. He became the Senate's leader a month later when President William Henry Harrison died and Vice President John Tyler (Senate President) became President of the United States. Southard, who was a heavy set man suffered from ill health and died a year later at the age of 55. 

           The above cenotaph is the style given to any Congressman who wanted it - free of charge. To me, they seem excessively ugly though. To make it worse, they are lined up in rows giving it a kind of jagged tooth look in the cemetery. I guess you get what you pay for.

          The cemetery looks a little run down. There are some famous people buried here like John Philip Sousa and Matthew Brady (Civil War photographer). Of course, we can't leave out Mr. FBI, J. Edgar Hoover himself. His grave is surrounded by a black fence with a large FBI logo on it along with a bench facing the grave with the Department of Justice logo on it.

        Born and died in Newark. He was the son of Governor William Sandford Pennington (6th Governor). I still haven't found out where dad is buried. Pennington started out as a Whig (he was our third Whig governor). He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1813. Pennington studied law and took up practice in Newark. He was a clerk of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey (where his father was a judge) from 1815 to 1826 and then studied law on his own with Theodore Frelinghuysen (Whig senator and mayor of Newark). As a member of the Whig party, he was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly from 1828 to 1834.

                  In 1836, he was elected governor and served one term. His tenure as governor was marked by the "Broad Seal War" controversy. Following the closely contested election of 1838, two groups sought admission to the United States Congress from New Jersey. Both held commissions bearing the great (broad) seal of the state; only the Whig commissions, however, were legally executed and signed by the state governor, William Pennington. Charging their opponents with election fraud and facing loss of control of the House of Representatives, the Democratic Party majority in the House refused to seat all but one Whig. When it was proved that the county clerks in Cumberland and Middlesex counties had suppressed the returns in certain townships that would have given the Democrats a majority, the House, on February 28, 1840, seated the five Democratic claimants.

                 After being governor, President Millard Fillmore wanted Pennington to be the Governor of the Minnesota Territory, but Pennington said no. Instead, leaving the Whigs and joining the Republican Party, he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1858 to the 36th Congress. He took the seat that his cousin, Alexander Cumming McWhorter Pennington, held two years earlier. This was a tumultuous time in our history to be in Congress. During his first (and only) term, he was elected Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (one of only two from New Jersey) after months where the House was unable to decide on a candidate (the Republicans had a plurality, but not a majority, and the Southern Oppositionists who held the balance of power were unwilling to support either a radical Republican or a Democrat). Pennington was Speaker of the House in 1860 as the country headed for Civil War. He replaced James L. Orr of South Carolina as Speaker as Orr left to join the South Carolina secession convention (he later became a Confederate general). However, Pennington wasn't re-elected in November of 1860 (despite Lincoln's election - New Jersey didn't go Republican - the state voted for Democrat Stephen Douglas). He lost to Democrat Nehemiah Perry.

                He died two years later. Pennington is in Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Newark, one of three in Mt. Pleasant (A trifecta?).