Four Governors Have Been From This Area
Jean Jones
Staff Writer for The Bridgeton Evening News

Cumberland County has furnished four governors of New Jersey, three from the Bridgeton area, and one from Millville.

The first was Richard Howell, governor and chancellor of the state from 1793 to 1801. Howell was one of the patriot teaburners of Greenwich fame. His father built a home in Shiloh in 1770, when Richard and his twin brother, Lewis were 16. Both served in the Revolutionary War. Richard became a major and participated in several battles. Lewis was a surgeon and died in the service. Howell practiced law in Salem and Cumberland Counties after the war.

In 1788, he was appointed clerk of the New Jersey Supreme Court and in 1793 was elected governor. He was re-elected for seven additional one-year terms.

An interesting note is that in later years Howell's granddaughter, Verona Kempe, became the second wife of Jefferson Davis.

Immediately following Howell, Joseph Bloomfield was elected governor. Although not Cumberland County born, he was partly educated by the Rev. Enoch Green, pastor of Deerfield Presbyterian Church. After obtaining his license to practice, he settled in Bridgetown.

He served first as a sergeant, then as a major, then judge advocate of the Northern Army. After the war, he became clerk of the New Jersey Assembly. In 1783, he was appointed attorney general, and five years later was a presidential elector. He also was a general in the state militia.

Bloomfield was elected governor in 1802 and held that office until 1812, when President James Madison appointed him brigadier general of U.S. forces in the war with England.

He was elected to Congress in 1816 and also was a president of the New Jersey Society for the Abolition of Slavery and a trustee of Princeton College.

Elias Seeley was born in 1761 in Bridgeton and was a lifelong resident there. He studied law with Daniel Elmer and was admitted to the bar in 1815, when he opened a practice in Bridgeton. He was a member of the New Jersey Assembly in 1826, 1827, and 1828.

Seeley held the office of governor from February 1833 to October 1833, after Governor Southard was elected to the U.S. Senate. He later was re-elected to the Assembly.

Many years later, Edward Casper Stokes of Millville became governor of New Jersey, from 1905 to 1908.

Stokes was born in 1860 in Philadelphia and moved to Millville with his parents in 1871. A graduate of Millville schools, Stokes also attended the Friends School in Providence, RI and Brown University. He was superintendent of schools here from 1889 to 1898.

He was elected to the New Jersey Assembly in 1890 and 1891, and to the Senate from 1893 to 1901, serving as president of the Senate in 1895. He then was appointed clerk of the Chancery Court, a position he held until elected governor in 1905. Because of his contributions to preserving the environment and clean water, Stokes State Forest was named for him.

Taken from The Bridgeton Evening News;
250 Years of History Special - 6/26/1998