Manuscript Group 283, Guide to the Ewing Family (Trenton, NJ) Papers 1792-1885 (Bulk dates: 1830-1853)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Descriptive Summary
Biographical Note
Scope and Content Note
Restrictions
Access Points
Related Material
Administrative Information

Container List

Documents

Guide to the Ewing Family (Trenton, NJ)
Papers, 1792-1885 (Bulk dates: 1830-1853)
MG 283

The New Jersey Historical Society
52 Park Place
Newark, New Jersey 07102
Contact: NJHS Library
Phone: (973) 596-8500 x249
Email: library@jerseyhistory.org
URL: https://www.jerseyhistory.org
© 2006 All rights reserved.
The New Jersey Historical Society, Publisher
Inventory prepared by Kim Charlton, October 1999, as part of the “Farm to City” project funded by a grant from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

Finding aid encoded by Julia Telonidis. April 2006. Production of the EAD 2002 version of this finding aid was made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Finding aid written in English.

Descriptive Summary

Biographical Note

Thomas Ewing immigrated to the United States from Londonderry, Ireland in 1718. He settled in the town of Greenwich, New Jersey (now in Cumberland County), where he married Mary Maskell. Their youngest son, James Ewing (I), became an active participant in the Revolutionary War, joining the New Jersey Militia and taking part in the burning of British tea in Greenwich in 1774. He was elected as a member of the state Legislature and moved to Trenton in 1779. He became mayor of Trenton from 1797-1803 and helped found the Trenton Library and Academy. He died on October 23, 1823.

James Ewing (I) married Martha Boyd, also a native of Ireland, and their only son, Charles Ewing, was born June 8, 1780 in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Charles graduated from the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University) in 1798 and then moved to Trenton to study law with Samuel Leake, a local lawyer. He was licensed as an attorney in November 1802, as a counselor in 1805, and called to the degree of sergeant-at-law in 1812. Charles served in many capacities throughout his career – he was the recorder for Trenton, the Federalist candidate for the State Legislature in 1815, a commissioner to revise the laws of New Jersey in 1819, and the director of the Trenton Banking Company in 1821 and 1823-1824. Charles Ewing was appointed chief justice of the New Jersey Supreme Court in 1824 and was reelected to that post shortly before his death from cholera in 1832.

Charles Ewing married Eleanor Graeme Armstrong and they had two daughters and two sons. Their son, James Ewing (II), graduated from the College of New Jersey in 1823 and was admitted to the bar in 1826. He was a practicing lawyer throughout his lifetime and also served as the director of the Trenton Banking Company from 1833-1857. James Ewing never married and died in 1869.

Return to the Table of Contents

Scope and Content Note

The Ewing Family Papers consist of fourteen items dating from 1792-1885. There are a few certificates, largely legal commissions of Charles Ewing and his son James Ewing (II); a way-bill from New York to Stroudsburg; and one piece of correspondence from R.B. Potter to an unnamed Judge giving genealogical information (birth dates and locations) for Charles Ewing and his parents.

The papers also include one folder of correspondence concerning a testimonial dinner given for Peter D. Vroom, Jr. in 1853 by the New Jersey Bar. The dinner was held in Mr. Vroom’s honor before his departure to Prussia to serve as the U.S. Minister. The correspondence contains invitations and acceptances to the dinner and are signed by a large number of New Jersey lawyers, including: Alexander Wurts, Oliver S. Halsted, William Pennington, Asa Whitehead, Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, Littleton Kirkpatrick, Richard P. Thompson, James Nevins, Benjamin Williamson, E.B.D. Ogden, Abraham Browning, Abraham O. Zabriskie, Archer Gifford, Cortlandt Parker, Edward T. Hillyer, Joseph P. Bradley, Algernon Sidney Hubbell, David Abbott Hayes, Joseph C. Hornblower, Caleb S. Green, and Peter D. Vroom.

Return to the Table of Contents

Restrictions

Access Restrictions

Photocopying of materials is limited and no materials may be photocopied without permission from library staff.

Use Restrictions

Researchers wishing to publish, reproduce, or reprint materials from this collection must obtain permission.

The New Jersey Historical Society complies with the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code), which governs the making of photocopies or other reproductions and protects unpublished materials as well as published materials.

Return to the Table of Contents

Access Points

The entries below represent persons, organizations, topics, forms, and occupations documented in this collection.

Subject Names:

Ewing family.
Vroom, Peter D., 1791-1873.

Subject Organizations:

New Jersey Bar Association.
New Jersey Historical Society.

Subject Topics:

Dinners–New Jersey.
Lawyers–New Jersey.

Document Types:

Certificates.
Letters (Correspondence).
Waybills.

Return to the Table of Contents

Related Material

Manuscript Group 20, Peter D. Vroom (1791-1873) Papers
Manuscript Group 790, Maskell Ewing, Jr. (1758-1825) Papers

Return to the Table of Contents

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as: Manuscript Group 283, Ewing Family (Trenton, NJ) Papers, The New Jersey Historical Society.

Acquisition Information

Gift of William E. Green, 1957.

Return to the Table of Contents

Container List

Return to the Top of Page