Bridgeton pioneer., 1889-10-03
JUDGE JOHN T. NIXON.
HE PASSES AWAY SATURDAY
MORNING..
The Kind Father. the Christian
Gentleman. the HOnOred
Citizen and Eminent
JUriSt Dead.

immediate relatives, of Judge John T.
Nixon, in this vicinity, are very much
grieved to learn of his demise, which
occurred Saturday morning at Stock
bridge, Mass, where he was taken ser,
iously ill on his way to his home, at
Trenton, from Bar Harbor, Me. He
was born at Fairton, Cumberland
County, in the year 1920. For
nearly thirty years Mr.. Nixon was a
resident of Bridgeton, and became our
most prominent and we'll known citi-
zen, being held in the very highest es-
TEEN for his many noble qualities of
head and heart. He was gentleman
OF the most upright character, of great
public spirit, and charitable in the
highest degree. He married here his
wife, who was the youngest daughter
of the late Hon. L. @. G. Elmer, in the
year 1861. He lost here his only son,
but he has three daughters living, the
eldest of whom is the wife of the Rev.
Walter A. Brooks, pastor of the Pros
pect street Presbyterian Church, of
Trenton. He connected himself with
the Presbyterian Church in Bridgeton,
in 1843, and was elected elder of the
First Church, April 26, 1868. For near
ly twenty years he was Superintend-
ent of the Sunday Schools here, and at
the time of his death was elder of the
church, and Superintendent of the
Sunday School at Trenton. We pre-
sumo that whilst resident of this part
of New Jersey, that there was never a
more popular man in the community.
Every one spoke good word for John
T. Nixon.
On the resignation by Judge Field of
the office of United States District
Judge, in May, 1870, he was nomina-
ted by President Grant for the place,
and was confirmed by the Senate. He
shortly afterward removed to Trenton,
where he has since resided.
Judge Nixon was the son of the late
jeremiah s. and Mary (Thompson)
Nixon, and has brothers living-Wil-
liam g., President of Cumberland
Bank; Col. James O., of Miss, and Rev.
DR.. J. Howard Nixon, of Missouri.
Mrs. Eliza M, wife of David P. Elmer,
of this city, and Mrs. Rhoda Sheppard,
of Springfield, No., are his sisters.
He was graduated from the College
of New Jersey, at Princeton, in 1s41,
having a respectable standing in a
class which included larger number
of young men who have since achieved
distinction in life, than are usually
found in single class. Shortly after
his graduation, Mr.. Nixon entered the
office of, Judge Pennybacker, then the
United States District Judge for the
Western District of Virginia, as
student of law, and became member
of his family, as tutor of his children.
He was admitted to the bar in that
State, in the spring of 1S45, and Judge
Pennybacker, having about that time
been elected to the Senate of the
United States by the Legislature of
Virginia, he agreed to enter into part.
nership with him in the practice of
law at Staunton, Virginia. But the
sudden death of Judge Penny ybacker,
in Washington shortly after he took
his seat as Senator, defeated the ar
rangement.
He then returned to his native State
and formed a legal partnership with
his friend and kinsman, Charles E.
Elmer, ESQ.,, of Bridgeton, and at once
entered upon a large practice in the
southern counties of the State.
He was elected to the Legislature of
New Jersey in the years 1S49 and 1850,
the latter year presiding over the
House of Assembly as Speaker.
In the midst of the disintegration of
political parties in the fall of 1858, he
became candidate for Congress, in
the First Congressional District, in
dependent of all mere party organiza-
tions, and was elected, receiving a
popular vote, almost equal to the CON-
bined vote for the candidates repre-
senting the existing parties. He was
reelected in 1860 ON the ticket with
the Electors who supported Abraham
Lincoln for President. He retired to
private life at the close of the Thirty
seventh Congress, and quietly pursued
his profession. He found time, how
ever, in the midst of his professional
labors, to publish, under the patron
age of the Legislature, three editions
of the Digest Of the Statute Laws of
the State, in the years 1866, 1861 and
1868, respectively.
The business of the Federal Courts
in New Jersey, before inconsiderable,
has grown into large proportions since
the advent of Judge Nixon to the
bench. Being the only member of the
courts resident in the State, he was