Excerpted pp. 1-14 by ASH
ABRAHAM COLES, M.D., Ph.D. LL. D., son of Dennis and Catherine (Van Deursen) Coles, was born December 26, 1813, at Scotch Plains, New
Jersey. His father was then living on the ancestral farm, which he had inherited, its title-deed antedating the Revolution. He was a man of sterling integrity, sound judgment, and rare literary taste. He had been
for a number of years, (after an apprenticeship with Shepard Kollock of Revolutionary fame), a printer and editor in Newburg, N. Y., of a newspaper -- "The Recorder of the Times. Bound volumes of this paper
were preserved and treasured by his son Abraham, in whom he early cultivated his fondness for study and for literature.
As a youth, Dr. Coles manifested a diligent interest in the acquisition of knowledge. Dr. J. W. Craig, of Plainfield, once told me that he well remembered his assiduity as a boy, as, from day to day, he saw him
coming all the way from Scotch Plains to Plainfield in order to have the advantage of a better school than he could attend at home. Yet his parents do not seem to have looked forward to his special preparation for a professional life, as we find him for two years in a dry� goods store, and as he never entered any college for academic studies. All this time, his love of learning must have led him to private study, for, at the age of seventeen, he assisted Rev. Mr. Bond, pastor of the
First Presbyterian Church of Plainfield, in his school, as teacher of Latin and mathematics.
At eighteen years of age, he had resolved to study law, and entered the office of Chief Justice Joseph C. Horn�blower, at Newark. He seems soon to have discovered that he could find a wider field for usefulness in the practice of medicine than of law, for, in less than a year, he left the office to study for the medical profession. His resolution to make himself acquainted with law was, however, never shaken. Throughout his long life, his fondness for the law and his knowledge thereof were manifested on many occasions.
Having attended lectures at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, and at Jefferson College, Philadelphia, he graduated at the latter in 1835. Returning to his home, he made a profession of his
Christian faith, uniting with the Scotch Plains Baptist Church, under the pastorate of the Rev. John Rogers. In 1836 he settled, for the practice of the medical profession, in Newark, N. J., and united, by letter, with the First Baptist Church.
Those who knew him in early professional life can well recognize how, with his modesty, diffidence and reserve, he should thus far not have revealed the amount of knowledge he had acquired. Yet those who
met him were impressed with his commanding person�ality, his urbane and quiet dignity, and somehow felt themselves in the presence of a superior nature.
Besides thorough preparation in his profession, he evidently had spent much of his time in the study of the classics, and had acquired an accurate knowledge thereof, such as is possessed by those only who have by dint of personal effort worked their way into the genius
and technicalities of a dead language.
In 1842 he married Caroline E., a beautiful and accomplished daughter of Jonathan C., and Maria (Smith) Ackerman, of New Brunswick, N. J. She was very saintly and lovely in character, and much beloved by those who knew her. She died in 1847, leaving a son and a daughter who were thenceforth the only fond companions of his domestic circle. His great loss and his new responsibilities seem to have still more inclined
him to devotion to his professional and scholastic studies.
In 1848 he went abroad, spending most of his time in hospitals, and in the society of the most eminent physi�cians and surgeons, of Europe. He was in Paris during the Revolution of June, 1848, which gave him special
opportunities for surgical study.
When I entered his office, in 1849, he was regarded as the most accomplished practitioner of Newark, and as eminent both for his professional and literary acquire�ments. He had already found his practice sufficient to admit a partner, which he did all the more readily because seeking to secure more time for literary study, and the indulgence of his taste both in art and litera�ture. He had been favored in and out of his profession with such pecuniary success -- resulting mostly from judicious investments in real estate -- as enabled him to
continue in practice chiefly for the love of his calling. He was fond of clinical exactness, was often called upon in consultation, especially in surgical cases, and had that conscientious regard for the welfare of his patients which led him carefully to study and observe, so as to be skillful in his treatment and devotedly attentive to
those in his charge. In 1854, he again visited Europe. After an absence of seventeen months, during which he made the continental languages a study, he returned to his practice in Newark. He then devoted himself with increased knowledge and earnestness to professional
work, and for many years, with another assistant, con�tinued in the active practice of his profession.
In 1862, under the direction of an eminent English landscape gardener, he began the laying out and beau�tifying of seventeen acres of the ancestral farm at Scotch Plains, selecting for his plantings the choicest varieties of foreign and domestic trees, plants and shrubs. In one portion of this park, he located a repro�duction of the famous labyrinth at Hampton Court, near London. In another part, he enclosed a large paddock for a herd of deer of his own raising. He built, subsequently, a house of brick and stone and native woods, in harmony with the grounds. In this he resided with his son and daughter, and was a most genial and entertaining host. His large library with its lofty roof was the special admiration of his many guests. Among the imported copies of antiques on the lawn is one of �sculapius, and in the entrance hall of the mansion is Horatio Stone's marble bust of
Harvey." ...
While retiring from the more active duties of a general practice, he was for many years daily at his Newark office; and also, as a favor, allowed many of those who lived near his country home, "Deer�hurst," to avail themselves of his advice. In fact, it cannot be said that he relinquished practice at all, or allowed his increasing literary distinction and his busi�ness duties to interfere with his devotion to his chosen pursuit. He was eminently a physician, amid all other
eminence. He delighted in his profession, both as a science and as an art. He felt his calling to be a sacred one. It was apart of his ministry for the Master whom he loved to serve. He lived to assuage pain, and to be courageous in relieving sickness and postponing death;
rejoicing in the good he was thus enabled to do for humanity and for God."...
"Well may he be called the Physician-Poet! He
received the degree of A. M. from Rutgers College.
In 1860 he received the degree of Ph.D. from Lewis�
burg University, and that of LL.D. from Princeton
College in 1871.
Dr. Coles had reached such a vigorous old age as still
to promise many years of life. In the early Spring
(1891), he had the prevailing influenza, which left him
with a cough, and some mild symptoms which puzzled
him, as they have so many others, but which seemed to
give no occasion for alarm. As a recreation, he pro�
posed a trip to California with his son and daughter
and a sister-in-law. They left home April 14th. The
trip was a disappointing one, for, although his power�
ful constitution enabled him to go everywhere, his
cough defied all treatment, and by reason thereof he
grew weaker instead of stronger. After a week's stay
at the beautiful Hotel del Monte, California, where he
received every possible courtesy and attention, heart
complication suddenly set in as a sequel to La Grippe.
He was confined to his room but two days. Unable to
recline, he calmly realized the serious nature of his
symptoms. With great peace he bade adieu to his
loved ones, reminded them to repeat, each morning, The
Lord's Prayer, and to aid the objects dearest to his
heart; then, with words of Christian faith and love,
passed away, (May 3d, 1891), to be, as one of his own
hymns so well expresses it --
Ever, my Lord, with Thee,
Ever with Thee!
Through all eternity
Thy face to see!
I only ask to be
Ever, my Lord, with Thee,
Ever with Thee!
The funeral of Dr. Coles took place at the First Baptist Peddie Memorial Church, Newark, N. J., May 29th, and was largely attended by his medical and literary friends and those in other walks of life who had known him in the various relations he had sustained. The appropriate rendering of four of his hymns added solemnity to the occasion, and emphasis to the many tributes to his earnest Christian life. His remains were interred in Willow Grove Cemetery, New Brunswick, N. J., beside those of his wife."
See: Abraham Coles, Biographical Sketch, Memorial Tributes, Selectins from his works... edited by his son, Jonathan Ackerman Coles, A.M., M.D.; illustrated, New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1892
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