means the least important duties assigned to them. In 1852 he was nominated Justice of the Supreme Court, which position he held for one term, and was assigned to a circuit which was one of the largest and most impor tant in the State. Judge Potts's opportunities for acquiring practical preparation for per forming some of the duties of his new office had been few. He had very little equipment for the criminal jurisprudence committed to him; but he was quick to learn, and his men tal force enabled him almost intuitively to master the abstruser legal principles of cases which came before him. His plain, practical, every-day common-sense was of very great service to him, and he soon became an accom plished jurist. His opinions were marked by his strong bias for what was just. Perhaps his ten years' constant intercourse with equity jurisprudence led him in this direction. It was evident that his desire was to learn what the law ought to be rather than to know what other judges had held in similar cases. He was a simple-minded man, looking always straight forward for a result which would do justice to all, and seeking to find what there was that was right in the cause. At the close of his term he was quite en feebled in health, he had, in fact, never been an entirely healthy man, and withdrew from active life, delighting himself in his library and enjoying the comfort and solace to be derived from books, of whose society he was ever fond. He was a kind-hearted, benevo lent man, and philanthropic in his nature, interesting himself in charitable institutions. He took a deep interest in the common schools of the State, and at one time drafted a law which was passed by the Legislature and revolutionized the system then in exist ence. He died in 1865 at Trenton, after a protracted illness, universally regretted. Daniel Haines during his lifetime filled many important positions in the political and judicial history of New Jersey. He was born in the city of New York in 1801, and came from an ancestry which was known for its sufferings in the War of the Revolution.
Stephen Haines, his grandfather, had made himself obnoxious to the British by his patri otic services in the cause of the colonies. One dark night some English soldiers led by Tory refugees from Staten Island surrounded his house, made him prisoner, carried him to New York, and imprisoned him in the infa mous " Sugar House." After the battle of Monmouth he was exchanged for a British officer Elias Haines, the father of Daniel, was then a lad of eleven years of age. His mother, Mary Ogden, was the daughter of Robert Ogden, 3d, and the niece of Gen. Matthias Ogden and Gov. Aaron Ogden, all three of whom were well-known patriots of the Revolution. He was educated at Princeton College, where he graduated in 1820, and at once after graduation entered the office of Thomas C. Ryerson, then a leading lawyer at Newton, Sussex County, and afterward an Associate Justice. He was licensed as an attorney in 1 823, as a counsellor in 1826, and was made a serjeant in 1837. He began practice at Ham burg, Sussex County, in the midst of a large agricultural community, but in a small coun try settlement. Here he secured a clientage of the very best men of the county, who re spected him for his integrity and admired him for his sound, sensible methods of business. Political parties in the early days of his practice were not equally divided in Sussex County; the voters of that county were over whelmingly friends of General Jackson, one or two townships voting solidly for him. One of these townships was that in which young Haines resided. He shared in the universal enthusiasm, and strongly espoused the chief tain's cause. In 1839 he was brought prom inently forward as a candidate for the position of member of the Council, as the State Senate was then called. He was rather averse to accepting the nomination, but it was deemed important that a man of talent and influence should represent the county as a subject of great importance to the community was to be agitated before the Legislature. He was nominated and, of course, elected by a very
