Essex County NJ Archives Biographies.....Archer And Charles L. C. GIFFORD 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 9, 2008, 6:24 pm

Author: Mary Depue Ogden, Editor  (1917)

GIFFORD, Archer and Charles L. C.,
Attorneys-at-Law.

  The name of Gifford is of French or Huguenot extraction. According to family
tradition, Baron Walter, son of Osborne Bolle, was given the sobriquet of
Gifford, Giffard or Gyffard, signifying liberality or generosity, which was
accorded him. According to the best information concerning the early ancestors
of the family. Archer Gifford, Giffard or Gyffard, of Normandy, married
Katherine de Blois or Le Blon, a descendant of a noted family of Normandy, who
were of the nobility of that country. Archer came from Wales to America in 1756,
settling in Canada. He joined the English army and fought against the French. He
died in Canada.

The Giffords of Essex county, New Jersey, are a Welsh family. John Gifford, born
in Wales, appears for the first time upon New Jersey records as a private in
Captain Craig's company of State troops during the Revolutionary War. The next
record of him is a marriage license in the office of the Secretary of State at
Trenton, stating that April 7, 1770, he obtained permission to marry Hannah
Crane, their marriage occurring a little later in the same month. After his
marriage he made permanent residence in Newark, where he built for himself a
house on what is now the southwest corner of Broad and Academy streets, having
on his right William Rodger's house and saddlery, on his left the old Newark
Academy, while facing him on the opposite side of Broad street was the mansion
of Dr. Uzal Johnson. This house later passed into the possession of William
Tuttle, but not until after Captain John Gifford (so called from his
Revolutionary service) had passed away. Between Dr. Johnson's and Captain
Gilford's on the roadside was one of the town pumps, which as late as 1812 was
used for one of the official public bulletin boards, as at the Newark town
meeting of April 12th, in that year, passed a resolution that all hogs running
at large were to be subjected to a poundage of fifty cents which if not paid in
four days was to be collected by selling the hogs and that notices of such sales
were to be posted "at three different places viz. at Moses Roff's, at the pump
opposite Captain Gilford's in Broad Way and at Jacob Plum's store in the north
part of the town." Captain Gifford died intestate in 1821, leaving his widow and
seven children: Katherine, married Dr. Enion Skelton, of Virginia; Mary, died
unmarried; Patience, married Robert Johnson; Sarah, married (first) Benjamin
Whittaker, (second) Robert Johnson, whose first wife was her deceased sister
Patience; Anna, married William Miller, of Morris-town, New Jersey; Susan,
married Thomas Chapman, an attorney of Camden, New Jersey; Archer, of further
mention. Hannah (Crane) Gifford, wife of Captain John Gifford, was the second
daughter of Joseph Crane, great-grandson of Jasper Crane, one of the original
settlers of Newark, who came from Branford, Connecticut. Joseph Crane was town
constable in 1778, the year before his daughter's marriage to Captain John Gifford.

  Archer Gifford, only son of Captain John and Hannah (Crane) Gifford, was born
in Newark, in 1790, and died there, May 12, 1859. After preparation at Newark
Academy, he entered the College of New Jersey (Princeton University) whence he
was graduated, class of 1814, later receiving from that institution the degree
of Master of Arts. After graduation he began the study of law in the office of
Elias Van Arsdale, continuing until his admission to the bar in 1818. He at once
began practice in Newark, continuing for about twelve years, winning high
reputation as one of the rising young constitutional lawyers. During that period
he collected much of the material for his valuable contribution to the legal
literature of the State, published later under the title, "Digest of the
Statutory and Constitutional Constructions, etc., With an Index to the Statutes
at Large." In 1832, when the town became so populous that the lecture room of
the Third Presbyterian Church, the largest hall in Newark and in use as a town
hall since 1830, would no longer accommodate the meeting, he was appointed with
Isaac Andruss, Joseph C. Hornblower, Stephen Dod and William H. Earle, a
committee "to digest a plan for the division of the township into two or more
wards, with a system for the transaction of the township business upon equitable
principles." When the report of the committee had been discussed and a revised
plan finally adopted, James Vanderpool and Archer Gifford were appointed to
represent the north ward of the town on the committee that prepared the bill for
presentation to the Legislature. That bill became a law and the ward system so
organized was carried into effect in April, 1833, and operated successfully for
three years when the town received its charter as a city, in April, 1836. In the
same year Archer Gifford was appointed by President Andrew Jackson, collector of
customs for the port of Newark, an office he held for twelve years, and for
several years was also a member of Newark common council, an office to which he
was elected in 1843. He was also for many years an active and enthusiastic
member of the New Jersey Historical Society and many valuable contributions to
its collections were the results of his efforts.

  As a devoted churchman and a communicant of Trinity Episcopal Church, Mr.
Gifford labored long and earnestly. For twenty-four years he was senior warden
of the parish and took an active part in the rising Tractarian discussion of his
day, writing and publishing a strong controversial pamphlet on the "Unison of
the Liturgy." During the greater part of his life he was a man of robust health
and it is said that he enjoyed nothing better than a walk from Trenton to
Newark, a distance of fifty miles, which he often accomplished in going to and
from the sessions of the Supreme Court. He married Louisa C. Cammann, of New
York, who bore him six children: 1. Charles Louis Cammann, of further mention.
2. Ellen M. 3. John Archer, now president of the Security Savings Bank of
Newark, married Mary Jane Ailing. 4. Louisa Cammann. 5. George Ernest Cammann,
once manager of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York; married Jane
Elizabeth Smith. 6. Philip Augustus, once manager of the "Newark Evening Journal."

  Charles Louis Cammann Gifford, eldest son of Archer and Louisa C. (Cammann)
Gifford, was born in Newark, New Jersey. in November, 1825, and died there,
March 29, 1877. He was a graduate in 1845, a member of the third class of Yale
Law School, Yale University, continued study in the office of his father, and in
January, 1847, was admitted to the bar as an attorney. For the next four years,
while still engaged in legal work and study, he was deputy collector of the port
of Newark, serving under his father's successor James Hewson, in the office of
collector. In January, 1850, Mr. Gifford was admitted to the New Jersey bar as a
counsellor and practiced in Newark, lie was elected a member of the House of
Assembly in 1857, serving in 1858-59-60 as State Senator, and during the last
year as president of the Senate. He was all his life a Democrat, and with the
single exception of the year 1861 was prominently identified with that party. In
that year he was the anti-Democratic candidate for mayor of Newark against Moses
Bigelow, but was defeated. On June 29, 1872, he was sworn in as presiding judge
of the Court of Common Pleas for Essex county to fill the unexpired term of
Judge Frederick H. Teese who had resigned on his removal to another county. He
was succeeded as judge two years later by Judge Caleb S. Titsworth, owing to his
own failing health.

  In 1875 Judge Gifford and his wife went to Europe in the hope that the sea
voyage and rest would restore his former health and vigor. He returned
apparently much improved, but he gradually failed and after many months of
suffering died at his home, No. 55 Fulton street, Newark, at two o'clock in the
morning of March 29, 1877. He was a lifetime member of Trinity Protestant
Episcopal Church, and there his funeral services were held, Rev. John H.
Eccleston, D. D., officiating.

  He married Helen Matoaka Murray, of Virginia, who bore him six children: 1.
William Murray, born in 1852. 2. Charles, died in infancy. 3. Oswald Cammann,
born in 1856, died in 1892; married Frances Kingsland and left three children:
Edmund, Virginia and Helen Murray. 4. Susan V. 5. Frank W. 6. Archer, born July
8, 1859; married, April 24, 1889, Evelyn A., daughter of Henry W. and Mary G.
(Abeel) Duryee, and has two children: Gertrude M. and Helen J.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

MEMORIAL CYCLOPEDIA OF NEW JERSEY

UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION OF MARY DEPUE OGDEN

VOLUME III
MEMORIAL HISTORY COMPANY NEWARK,  NEW JERSEY
1917


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