Rodman McCamley PRICE, Congress, NJ (1816-1894)

PRICE, Rodman McCamley, a Representative from New Jersey; born in Newton, Sussex County, N.J., May 5, 1816; attended the public schools of New York City and the Lawrenceville (N.J.) Academy; pursued classical studies in Princeton College, but did not graduate; studied law; was admitted to the bar; appointed purser in the Navy in 1840 and was stationed in San Francisco; during the Mexican War served as an officer of the Navy; prefect and alcalde of Monterey in 1846 and the first American to exercise judicial functions in California; naval agent 1848-1850; delegate to the first constitutional convention of California; returned to New Jersey; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-second Congress (March 4, 1851-March 3, 1853); unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1852 to the Thirty-third Congress; Governor of New Jersey 1854-1857; father of the public-school system of New Jersey; established a ferry from Weehawken to New York; engaged in the quarrying business and in the reclamation of lands along the Hackensack River; delegate to the peace convention held at Washington, D.C., in 1861 in an effort to devise means to prevent the impending war; died in Oakland, Bergen County, N.J., June 7, 1894; interment in Reformed Cemetery, Mahwah, N.J.

Source: Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, 1771-Present