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- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH XXX.
GEORGE SPOFFORD WOODHULL, (Hon.), seventh generation from Richard Wodhull I., Patentee of Brookhaven, Long Island, was the second son of John Woodhull, M. D., and Ann Wikoff. He was born at the family homestead at Manalapan, four miles from Freehold, New Jersey, December 25, 1814.
In 1830 he entered Princeton College (now Princeton University), graduating with honor in 1833, after which he studied law with Richard S. Field, at Princeton, New Jersey, and was admitted to the bar in 1839.
In the year 1842 he opened a law office in Freehold, New Jersey, where he practiced for several years, and in April, 1847, he was married to Caroline Mandeville Vroom, youngest child of Guysbert Bogert Vroom and Catalina Delamater, of New York City, and niece of the late Governor Peter D. Vroom, of New Jersey.
In 1850 he removed to May's Landing, New Jersey, where he became the Prosecuting Attorney of Atlantic County, and later held the same office for Cape May County.
He was an ardent Republican, and during this period he became a candidate for the State Senate on the Republican ticket. Though the district was strongly Democratic, he made such a vigorous canvass, that he reduced his opponent's majority to a very small figure. After his defeat he continued his efforts on behalf of his party, and a few years later, Atlantic County took its place in the Republican column, where it has remained ever since.
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In 1862 he removed to Camden, New Jersey, and in 1866 was appointed by Governor Marcus L. Ward, Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey.
During the first administration of President U. S. Grant, Judge Woodhull was tendered the office of Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and although acceptance was strongly urged upon him by the Vice-President, Schuyler Colfax, he declined the office, deeming the salary inadequate, without private means, for the suitable maintenance of a large family, in the City of Washington.
In 1873 Governor Joel Parker re-nominated him for another term of seven years, to succeed himself, the nomination being confirmed immediately by the Senate.
During the years that he sat on the bench, he presided at several very important criminal trials, two of which might be classed among the causes c l bres of the State. In one of these he set aside the verdict of the jury, which was very rarely done in the criminal jurisprudence of New Jersey.
The late Rev. Kemper Bocock, of Philadelphia, a clergyman in the Episcopal Church, and assistant Editor of The Church Standard, was some years ago a newspaper reporter. He wrote thus of the Hon. George S. Woodhull in his judicial capacity:
"'Tall men, suncrowned, who live above the fog,
In public duty and in private thinking.'
"The above lines come into my mind as I try to recall the impressions received of Judge Woodhull by a young reporter who sat through the famous Hunter murder trial in Camden, N. J., nearly twenty-five years ago.
"It was one of the most sensational crimes and one of the longest murder trials I have known of. The Court House was crowded daily, and at times it was not easy to preserve order.
"The friends of the accused, the army of morbid seekers for the gratification of maudlin sympathy with criminals, and the host of political rounders who gather about public office buildings made up a most motley assemblage.
"Richard S. Jenkins, Prosecutor of the Pleas, and his nephew, Wilson H. Jenkins, were pitted against Ex-Secretary of the Navy George M. Robeson, Aaron Thompson, and James Matlack Scovel.
"It was a battle of legal giants, determined to leave no stone unturned to gain a victory. Their debates became exciting at times. Mr. Robeson played on all the strings of the harp of pathos, while Richard Jenkins and James Scovel battled fiercely, as if fighting for their own lives. On one occasion the prisoner at the bar, moved to a frenzy of rage, sprang from his seat, shook his fist at the witness, and gave him the lie.
"In and over all this, Judge Woodhull presided like one who lived in a serene clime. There was no air of conscious superiority or boredom; but his calm, gentle voice, issuing a quiet order to the tipstaves,
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or ruling on a point as to which the contending counsel had almost seemed ready to come to blows, seemed invariably to introduce an element of dignity. It was not as though he took the side of the lawyer who carried the point, but rather as if the lawyer had taken the side of eternal justice, and the Judge was there to show the harmony of the issue with that principle 'whose seat is the bosom of God.'
"The lawyers might be fiery or scorching in their sarcasm, or stormy in their wrath with one another, but the Judge seemed an incarnation of peace and civilized order.
"When Hunter sprang up and called the witness a liar, Judge Woodhull's tone was rather that of a mother quieting an unruly child than that of a severe magistrate rebuking an offender. It was full of sympathy, and yet uncompromisingly firm, so that the incident lasted only a few seconds.
"I can see at this distance, across the years, that his spirit was suffering from the strain, but he gave no token of it. He never seemed to forget himself or let himself go for a minute.
"Even at the close of a long and exciting day, his order to the officers to keep the doors closed and the spectators in their seats till the prisoner had been removed was as naturally spoken as if he had been making an observation on the weather, and without the slightest trace of impatience at the daily necessity of repetition.
"I remember Judge Woodhull thus because I have not seen anybody else measure up to this rare standard of modest dignity, conscientious justice, and unfailing courtesy in the years that have since gone."
In 1878 many of the legal fraternity urged upon Governor McClellan to re-nominate him for a third term, arguing that although a Republican he should retain the position which he had filled with such dignity and honor.
Notwithstanding this, the nomination was awarded to Ex-Governor Parker, and Judge Woodhull resumed the practice of law with his eldest son, John Tennent Woodhull.
During his eminently useful life, he held the position of Elder in three churches, the Old Tennent Church near Freehold, New Jersey; the Presbyterian Church at May's Landing, the Rev. Allen H. Brown being his close friend and pastor; and the Second Presbyterian Church of Camden, New Jersey, the Rev. Louis C. Baker, also his warm friend and pastor. He also served as Sunday-school Super-intendent for some years in the latter church, and for one term was President of the Camden County Bible Society, in which he ever showed the deepest interest.
In him every good cause found an advocate, every down-trodden human being found a helpful friend.
Of his personal appearance one thus describes him:
"He was nearly six feet in height, gracefully formed, with large blue-grey sparkling eyes, erect of carriage and of a dignified easy manner."
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He was the beloved companion and confidante of his children; a wise and loving counsellor to all who approached him. His strong manly character was most attractive; he was exceedingly fond of athletic sports, was a fine shot, an excellent swimmer, a prodigious walker, and a horseman of rare skill.
On March 4, 1881, after a brief illness, this strong man, with the heart of a child, having worn throughout his whole career, "the white flower of a blameless life," "gave up his pure soul unto his Captain Christ under whose colors he had fought so long."
The following eulogy was pronounced by Mr. Eugene Troth, a member of the Camden Bar, after his death:
"Judge Woodhull had so much magnetism about him, he was such an accessible man, so companionable, so congenial, so kind-hearted, yet he preserved great and becoming dignity of mind and character. His nature had no barren side, it was made up of the pure, the good, the loving, the tender and true.
"The elements were so mixed in this man, that the adamant and the angles which made up the vigor of his manhood lost none of their strength because they were hidden beneath the flowers of chivalric grace and esthetic culture."
He sleeps with many of his name, in the peaceful graveyard of the Old Tennent Church near Freehold, Monmouth County, New Jersey.
From the funeral discourse by the Rev. Louis C. Baker (afterward published as a memorial by the Camden Bar), is the following:
"In the 37th verse of the 37th Psalm it is written: 'Mark the perfect man and behold the upright; for the end of that man is peace.'
"After an intimate acquaintance for many years with Judge Woodhull, I do not hesitate to say that these words seem to me to be a truer description of him than any other man I have ever known.
"As I looked upon his face not long after death--he seemed to lie before me like an old knight, who had fallen in battle indeed, but who in falling, had won the greatest of all victories, the victory over self and the world."
He left a widow, two daughters and four sons.
(See Genealogy, No. 312.)
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1814 - 1881 (66 years)
d. 18 Nov 1869, Camden, Camden, New Jersey, United States 