Josiah Hornblower -Belleville N.J.

Josiah Day in Belleville - Aug. 13, 1992

By Howard Klausner

(Belleville Times, Belleville, NJ) - After 180 years, Belleville has decided to celebrate the memory of Josiah Hornblower in style. ...

... Specifically, Hornblower is remembered for having brought the steam engine to the New World. He was also a great Patriot, serving in the Continental Congress and fending off British attempts to capture him.

Besides erecting the first steam engine on American soil, to pump water from the Schuyler's copper mines in Belleville, he was also instrumental in creating the first steam engine ever made in America, in Belleville, and the engine was used to power the first steamboat in America, the Polacca, which navigated the Passaic River in 1798.

Almost forgotten in history, Hornblower's name was kept alive by his direct descendents Joseph Hatch and Adeline Brehmer, among them. ...

HORNBLOWER, Josiah, a Delegate from New Jersey; born in Staffordshire, England, February 23, 1729; completed preparatory studies and became a civil engineer; immigrated to the United States in 1753 and settled in Belleville, N.J.; captain of a company engaged in the defense of New Jersey during the French and Indian wars; member of the State general assembly in 1779 and 1780 and served as speaker in the latter year; Member of the Continental Congress in 1785 and 1786; judge of the Essex County court 1798-1809; died in Newark, N.J., January 21, 1809; interment in Dutch Reformed Churchyard, Belleville, N.J.

Bibliography
Nelson, William. Josiah Hornblower, and the First Steam-engine in America, With Some Notices of the Schuyler Copper Mines at Second River, N.J., and a Genealogy of the Hornblower Family. Newark, N.J.: Daily Advertiser Printing House, 1883.

Source: Biographical Directory of the Unites States Congress

Gov. Florio Proclamation

Sources

Belleville Renaissance Committee

The Belleville Times, Aug, 13 + 20, 1992

Howard Klausner