fended those corporations in many litigated cases, both in the county courts and in the New Jersey supreme court.

Mr. Kennedy is also counsel for many large estates, and has himself, as executor, administered some of the largest estates ever administered in Monmouth county. He possesses a large and well selected law library, access to which is at all times freely accorded to those of his profession.

Throughout his entire career, in his younger days as a civil engineer, and later as a lawyer, he has been indefatigably industrious, counting no amount of painstaking too trying nor labor too severe, and only contenting himself with entire thoroughness and accuracy in every task devolving upon him. Moved by a commendable spirit and taking a laudable pride in the development and prosperity of the splendid city with which he has been identified from its foundation, he has always given cordial aid to numerous commercial and benevolent enterprises.

Mr. Kennedy is a member of the New Jersey Historical Society, Monmouth Club and Deal Golf Club. He married Miss Rebecca Jennette Metz, of Wilmington, Delaware, January 9, 1884, who died November 5, 1890. One child born of their marriage survives, namely, Frederick Laurence Kennedy, born November 17, 1884, who resides at Asbury Park, New Jersey.

JUDGE WILLIAM T. HOFFMAN.

Judge William T. Hoffman, of Englishtown, New Jersey, one of the most widely known men in the state as a most accomplished lawyer, legislator and public official, is a native of the state of New Jersey, descended from Dutch ancestry of the colonial period. His ancestor was William Hoffman, who, with his wife, came from Holland. William Hoffman served faithfully in the Continental army during the Revolutionary war. He had settled in Middlesex county, New Jersey, and acquired large tracts of land which extended from what is now Jamesburg, in a southerly direction almost to Englishtown, and much of this land yet remains in the possession of his descendants. He reared a large family, and his oldest son settled and founded the present beautiful city of Dayton, Ohio. Another son, John Hoffman, made his home near Jamesburg, in Middlesex county, New Jersey. By occupation he was a farmer, and he acquired an extensive property. He was a deeply religious man, and was a leader in the establishment of Methodism in his county. His children were William, Thomas, Henry and Godfrey.

William Hoffman, oldest son of John Hoffman, was born near Jamesburg, Middlesex county. As was his father, he was a prosperous farmer and a zealous and exemplary member of the Methodist Episcopal church, a leading spirit in the local church body, and a class leader and local preacher in the days when meetings were held in private houses for want of a church edifice. He married Lydia A. Barclay, a member of the old and honored Thomas family, who bore him one child, William T. Hoff

man. Mr. Hoffman came to his death by a stroke of lightning at his home near Jamesburg, when thirty-five years of age. His widow subsequently became the wife of John Sutton, and is yet living near Englishtown. The fruit of her second marriage was a daughter, Mary Emma, who became the wife of S. Cameron Young, son of Colonel Young, of Middletown, Pennsylvania.

William T. Hoffman, only child of William and Lydia A. Hoffman, was born November 8, 1836, at his father's residence near Jamesburg. In early youth he acquired an excellent English education, and was preparing for college, when his attention was directed to business pursuits. He subsequently took up the study of law under the preceptorship of the distinguished Governor Bedle, and in November, 1862, he was licensed as an attorney, and he became a counsellor in 1872. His admission to the bar was during the crucial period of the Civil war, and in 1863 he entered the military service, and served in the paymaster's department, U. S. A., until the restoration of peace. Resuming the practice of his profession, in Hudson county, New York, he speedily attained a front place at the bar, and from that time has been known as one of the busiest and most successful lawyers in New Jersey.

He is at his best as a jury lawyer,—clear in presentation of his case, searching in the examination of witnesses, and logical and convincing in his analysis of the fact presented. Among the many known causes celebre in which he has been a counsel were the homicide trials of Smith and Bennett, of Jersey City; Rockwell, of Toms River; Klankowski, of Jersey City; Eli Shaw, of Camden; and the more recent and notorious Bosscheiter case in Paterson. Among cases of vast importance in which he was engaged, were the celebrated railroad taxation cases, in which he was counsel for the state; the noted Laverty impeachment trial before the state senate in 1886, in which he was counsel for the defense; and the Stuhr-McDonald contested election case before the senate in 1890. He also appeared in the famous Lewis will case, and in the Brockaway counterfeiting trial in the federal court.

Judge Hoffman has filled various important positions most usefully and creditably. From 1873 to 1878 he served as presiding judge of Hudson county, and for five years he was president of the Hoboken board of education. In 1892 he was a candidate for Congress, upon the Republican ticket, but suffered defeat on account of the political complexion of the district. In 1902 he was elected to the assembly from Monmouth county, by a plurality of five hundred and sixty-eight votes over his opponent, Mr. McDonald, who was the highest candidate on the Democratic ticket. In the assembly to which he was chosen his professional attainments gave him immediate prominence, and he was placed upon two important. committees the judiciary and the railroads and canals committees.

Judge Hoffman has always been identified with the Republican party, and cast his first presidential vote for the martyr President—Abraham Lincoln—in 1864. From that day to the present he has been prominent in the councils of the party, and prominent before the people as an orator of

commanding ability. He presided over the Republican state convention which nominated Frederick A. Potts for governor. From 1880 to 1883 he was a member of the Republican state committee, and in 1892 he was a delegate to the Republican national convention at Minneapolis, which nominated Benjamin H. Harrison for the presidency. In all his long professional and political career he has borne himself as a man of high principle and strong intellect, and has drawn to himself an army of friends who delight in the honors which have come to him.

In 1863 Judge Hoffman was married to Miss Ann Elizabeth, a daughter of John G. Fisher, of New Brunswick, and a descendant of the wellknown pioneer Hance family of Shrewsbury, Monmouth county, New Jersey. She was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and was a graduate of the Hannah Hoyt Seminary (in that city), in which institution she subsequently taught for a number of years. She was a member of the Hannah Hoyt Association, and was a woman of rare culture and beauty of character. Her home life was ideal, and she was greatly beloved by a large circle of friends, both young and old, who were called to mourn her death February 12, 1902, at the age of sixty years, when she was in the prime of her intellectual powers. She left two children, namely: Mrs. John H. Baird and Miss Katherine Hoffman. Mrs. Baird, with her husband, reside at Fort Valley, Georgia, but spend their summers with Judge Hoffman at his well known home, Lasata. Mr. Baird is the superintendent of the largest peach orchard in the United States and is an extensive fruit grower. Katherine Hoffman, the youngest daughter, resides with her father.

WASHINGTON LAFAYETTE HOPE.

Washington Lafayette Hope was born in New York City, August 4, 1824, and was the youngest child of Reuben Hope, and Catherine Taylor Hope. Reuben Hope was engaged in the shipping business, and was one of the officials of New York City appointed to welcome General Lafayette when he visited the United States by invitation of the government in August, 1824. During that interesting occasion, Reuben Hope named his son, then but a few days old, Washington Lafayette Hope.

Reuben Hope was English and some of his ancestors were French Hugenots and Scotch. He and two brothers, Cornelius and Thomas, came to New York from England, shortly prior to 1800, together with James Malcolm and others, several of whom became prominent in commercial enterprises in New York.

Mr. W. L. Hope's mother was Catherine Taylor, a daughter of Abner Taylor, who was distinguished for his bravery and efficient services in the Revolutionary war, particularly in connection with blockading the Hudson river, near West Point. Abner Taylor and his wife, Catherine, and their ancestors, some of whom came from Holland, were early settlers of this country, mostly in New York state, and were related to the families of Gibbs, Rose and others, who were well known patriots. Washington L. Hope, and his older brothers frequently repeated interesting stories of in

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