empire on this continent was actually contemplated, the most conspicuous among the patriots who wielded controlling influence in the ancient borough of Elizabethtown, which was incorporated with much pomp and circumstance in 1740, were William Livingston, Elias Boudinot, and William Peartree Smith. Livingston became brigadier general of the militia, and Boudinot and Smith delegates to the New Jersey provincial congress -from which they were together sent to Philadelphia to confer with the HOME OF HON. ELIAS BOUDINOT, LL.D., IN ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY. general congress on some joint plan of action. Boudinot was also on Livingston's staff, and Smith was chairman of the committee of correspondence. Both had a hand in shaping the state constitution, which was adopted almost simultaneously with the Declaration of Independence, and Livingston was the unanimous choice for governor. Boudinot served for a time as commissary-general of prisoners. It was a period of heroic activity, every man had to be on the alert. When the British took possession of New York dangers thickened. It was impossible to guard the long line of New Jersey shore, and the enemy could land at almost any point. Forays were constantly expected, and there were innumerable skirmishes and tragic events in and about Elizabethtown, the half of which could never be told. On one occasion the approach of the Hessians was telegraphed to the patriots by the firing of a gun-from a house still standing at Halsted's point, which commanded a perfect view of the bay-in the hands of Miss Halsted. This young woman was afterward toasted by Washington for her bravery and patriotism. Elias Boudinot purchased a cottage at Baskenridge, where Lord Stirling and others had already located, to which he removed his family for safety. Elisha, the younger brother of Elias Boudinot, was in 1778 married to the daughter of William Peartree Smith. He was a brilliant lawyer, and at that time a very handsome young man of twenty-nine. He later on became a judge of the supreme court, and was the president of the first bank in Newark, where he resided in a great old-time mansion in the park that is still in existence. The wedding had many significant and romantic features. It took place at the Elizabethtown house of William Peartree Smith, in the month of October, and Washington came by a circuitous route from headquarters to attend, while Alexander Hamilton, not yet married to the pretty daughter of General Schuyler, was the master of ceremonies. It was an uneasy period in the history of the war, and Washington took every precaution against surprise; sentinels were stationed at various places with orders to report privately to him, without causing any excitement, if they discovered signs of the approach of raiding parties. from New York. There was an alarm a few moments before the performance of the ceremony, but the knowledge of it was confined strictly to Hamilton and the commander-in-chief. Hamilton quietly went out and made investigations, finding matters, however, not so serious as they had feared, and not a member of the family or its guests were allowed to have any apprehensions. The bride's dress on this occasion had a history even then in itself, and is now a historic treasure; when her daughter, Catharine Boudinot, was married to Mr. Atterbury of New York, it was her bridalgown; again, a generation later, it was worn at the marriage of Mrs. Atterbury's daughter, Mrs. Stimson; and not so very long since the same beautiful relic was the wedding-dress of Mrs. Stimson's daughter. Mrs. Catharine Boudinot Atterbury remembered with delight during her long life an incident of her childhood connected with Washington. She was about eight years old, and as she was born in 1781, it is supposed to have occurred on the evening after Washington's inauguration. She was with her parents near the Bowling Green, at what was or had once been her grandfather William Peartree Smith's house, near Chancellor Livingston's. She had skipped to the crowded street to see a balloon go up in connection with the fire-works, and her father sent her back into the house; but Washington, standing near, exclaimed, "No, you pretty little yellow bird, you shall see as well as anybody," and placed her upon his shoulder. The following years, 1779 and 1780, when the war had still further degenerated into midnight robberies and horrors along the borders, the residences of William Peartree Smith and Elisha Boudinot were both plundered, costly paintings (among which were two of Sir Godfrey Kneller) were bayoneted, and portable property carried off. A careful search was made in vain for the two "rebels," Smith and Boudinot, but they were fortunately out of town. Elias Boudinot was then in the continental congress, and William Livingston was on the wing in any part of the state where duty called him. The Boudinots were descended from the French Huguenot who bore the name of Elias-as did his son, his son's son, and his greatgrandson who gave the luncheon to Washington in 1789. He was an emigrant from France shortly after the revocation of the edict of Nantez, about 1686. In all the generations these were men of wealth, education, public spirit, religious training, and great moral respectability. At twentyfive years of age Elias (of the Washington period) was president of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian church in Elizabethtown, which was built on land donated by Mathias Hatfield, which his ancestor purchased from the Indians in 1673. The edifice was burned by the British in one of their raids, and after the war Boudinot was one of the most helpful in its re-erection. In the antique church edifice, now upward of a century old, may be seen the quaint chandeliers which Elias Boudinot presented, accompanied by the following letter addressed to General Elias Dayton : Philadelphia Feb 26. 1800 Dear Sir.-Shall I request the favor of your presenting my respectful compliments to the Trustees of the Presbyterian Church in Elizabeth Town, of whom I presume you are still President, and beg their acceptance of a pair of Cut glass Chandeliers, for the use of their Church. The many happy hours I have spent there, make the remembrance of having been one of their Society among the substantial pleasures of my life. I have sent the Chandeliers in two boxes numbered one and two, by the Sloop Sally Captain Denike, directed to you to the care of Mr. Jona, Hampton Lawrence in New York. The receipt of the officer you have enclosed. Be so good as to give immediate directions that when taken out to be sent to Elizabeth Town, they may be put into the cart upon an armful of hay or shavings, and carted with great care. Any person who has any knowledge of the form of Chandeliers can easily put them together, after they are carefully washed. They were in excellent order when boxed up ten days ago. I am dear Sir with great respect PS. Mrs Boudinot and Mrs Bradford join me in compliments to Mrs Dayton and the whole family. Gen Elias Dayton. In 1784, Susan, the only daughter of Elias Boudinot, was married to Attorney-General Bradford, of Pennsylvania, and went to reside in Philadelphia. The accompanying letter reveals how it touched the fatherly heart to give her away. A dozen years later she was a widow, living with him in his home in Burlington, after having, in the interim, been one of the prominent ladies of Mrs. Washington's circle while the seat of government was in Philadelphia, and on charmingly familiar terms in the presidential household. The beauty and symmetry of Elias Boudinot's career are vividly illustrated by his philanthropic achievements in mature years. After serving his country faithfully when it was in need of honest ability, and with plenty of means at his command, he retired from the stirring, bustling world, and devoted himself to writing, study, and beneficence. He was a trustee, and endowed Princeton college with a cabinet of natural history; he was an active promoter of foreign missions; one of the founders and the first president of the American Bible Society, in 1816, to which he gave $10,000; and he was interested in educating the Indian, in the instruction of deaf-mutes, in the training of young men for the ministry, and in helping the needy. One of his bequests was $200 to buy spectacles for the aged poor. The home of Governor Livingston, like that of Elias Boudinot, was in Elizabethtown in 1789, and it is yet standing-one of the most interesting historic monuments of colonial architecture in the country. It was erected in 1773, and occupied by Livingston and his family late in the autumn of that year. He had hitherto resided in New York city, and his brilliant daughters were sadly missed from the social world when, in emigrating to New Jersey, as they expressed it, they were "buried in a sequestered part of the globe." But John Jay was not long in taking to himself the beautiful Sarah-they were married in the following April. Livingston had owned, since 1760, some one hundred and twenty acres of land in Elizabethtown, and had brought the soil under cultivation. His hobby was fruit-raising. He imported fruit-trees, chiefly from England, until he had |