Maj. Aaron Ogden, Governor, U.S. Senator

Aaron Ogden

A Patriot of the American Revolution for NEW JERSEY DAR Ancestor #: A085700
Service: NEW JERSEY
Rank: MAJOR
Birth:12-3-1756 IN ELIZABETHTOWN NEW JERSEY
Death: 4-19-1839 IN JERSEY CITY
Service Description 1) CAPT BRIG-MAJ,INSPECTOR & AIDE-DE-CAMP

Wikipedia Page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Ogden
Find A Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7173573/aaron-ogden

Ogden was a United States Senator and the fifth Governor of New Jersey.

Early life

Ogden was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey (formerly Elizabethtown). He graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1773, and served as a grammar school tutor from 1773 to 1775.

In the American Revolutionary War, Ogden was appointed a lieutenant in the 1st New Jersey Regiment; his older brother Matthias Ogden was the lieutenant colonel. Aaron Ogden served in various roles through the war, seeing action and rising to the rank of brigade major. In 1778, he visited the house also occupied by the family of diarist Sally Wister, who described him as "a genteel young fellow, with an aquiline nose." He was wounded at the siege of Yorktown in 1781.

Political career

After the war, Ogden studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1784. He commenced practice in Elizabeth. He served as a presidential elector in the 1796 electoral college that elected John Adams. He was clerk of Essex County from 1785–1803, and was elected as a Federalist to the United States Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Schureman and served from February 28, 1801, to March 4, 1803. He lost his bid for reelection to the Senate in 1802. In 1803, Ogden was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly, where he served until 1812. Ogden was elected trustee of the College of New Jersey (later to become Princeton University) in 1803, a post in which he served until his death. Ogden was elected as Governor of New Jersey in 1812.

Ogden was nominated by President James Madison as major general of the Army in 1813, but declined the appointment. He became engaged in steamboat navigation in 1813, and was a defendant in the Gibbons v. Ogden case that denied New York State's attempted monopoly on steamboat operation between New York and New Jersey. Ogden moved to Jersey City in 1829 and resumed the practice of law. In 1830, he was appointed as collector of customs and served until his death in Jersey City. Ogden's body is interred at the First Presbyterian Church Burial Ground in Elizabeth.

Family

Ogden's son, Elias B. D. Ogden served as an associate justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court from 1842 until his death in 1865. His grandson, Frederick B. Ogden served as Mayor of Hoboken, New Jersey from 1865 to 1867. Ogden's nephew Daniel Haines later also served on two separate occasions as Governor of New Jersey.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

New Jersey Governor info page: http://www.nga.org/portal/site/nga/menuitem.29fab9fb4add37305ddcbee...

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~nnnotables/zaaog.html

=

Aaron Ogden (1756-1839)

Aaron Ogden was born in Elizabethtown, New Jersey on December 3, 1756. He was the son of Phebe Hatfield and Robert Ogden, and the great-grandson of John Ogden.

Aaron Ogden graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1773 and was a teacher for three years before the Revolution. He fought with the New Jersey patriots during the war and afterwards studied law with his brother Robert. He was admitted to the bar as an attorney in 1784, and as a counselor and sergeant-at-law in 1794. He lived and practiced in his hometown of Elizabethtown.

Ogden fought against the French at the turn of the century, rising to the rank of colonel. After the war, he was the clerk of Essex County until 1801 when he was appointed to fill the remaining two years of a vacant U.S. Senate seat. In 1812, he was elected to the office of governor of New Jersey and served for one year.

Around this time, Ogden turned his attentions to the steamboat business. With his partner Daniel Dod, he established a steamboat ferry between Elizabethtown and New York City. Ogden and Dod faced problems in the New York waters with the Fulton-Livingston New York monopoly and the New Jersey waters where Thomas Gibbons, Ogden’s former partner, was becoming increasingly competitive. Ogden ran out of money while the matter slowly reached its way to the United States Supreme Court where all water monopolies were declared null and void. With that decision he lost sole claims to the route between Elizabeth and New York and was financially ruined. He moved to Jersey City, New Jersey and was soon imprisoned for debt in New York City. When his predicament became known, he was released under the terms of a law drawn up for his assistance that stated that Revolutionary War soldiers could not be imprisoned for debt. The position of collector of Customs of Jersey City was created for him, and he remained in that job until his death on April 19, 1839.

Aaron Ogden married Elizabeth Chetwood on October 27, 1787 and they had seven children together.