Background
Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus Elmer was the only son of Ebenezer and Hannah (Seeley) Elmer.
Lucius Quintius Cincinnatus Elmer was the only son of Ebenezer and Hannah (Seeley) Elmer.
After “a good academic education” and one term at the University of Pennsylvania, he studied law for five years with his cousin, Daniel Elmer.
He was licensed as an attorney in 1815 and as counsellor in 1818.
Their report, written by him, favored either state construction or participation, but the project was privately carried out later by Commodore R. F. Stockton.
He served with great credit and won the especial confidence of Judge Bushrod Washington.
As an Adams Democrat, he was superseded in 1829 by Garret Dorset Wall, whose life he later sketched.
Simultaneously, from 1824 to 1834, he was prosecutor of the pleas for Cape May and Cumberland counties, and served on the two commissions, in 1824 and 1833, which ended the Hudson River boundary dispute with New York state.
Maintaining his private practise, he published in 1838 a digest of state laws, with notes of judicial decisions, followed the next year by a volume of legal formé.
In the latter year he also served on the joint legislative committee which studied the care of idiotic and insane persons and recommended the asylum system in which New Jersey has since been a leading state (Lee, post, III, 292-93).
As Democratic congressional candidate in 1842 he upset a previous Whig majority of 1, 200 in his district.
In the House he became chairman of the committee on elections and submitted their report regarding members elected by general district (see Congressional Globe, 28 Cong. , 1 Sess. , App. , pp. 12630).
He also took a stand against the Dorr constitution in Rhode Island (Ibid. , 28 Cong. , 2 Sess. , App. , pp. 260-63) which was later advocated by Webster and sustained by the Supreme Court in Luther vs. Borden (7 Howard, 1).
On the tariff question he yielded, against his own belief, to the convictions of his constituents and helped defeat the amendments proposed in 1844.
Failing of réélection, he declined to take further part in politics.
He served as attorney-general of New Jersey, 1850-52, resigning to become justice of the state supreme court.
In this capacity he served for two seven-year periods, 1852-59 and 1862-69, with an ad interim appointment in 1861.
He then retired from public office—save for his membership on the local board of education—having served almost continuously for forty years.
He was tireless in charitable, temperance, and church matters, though never able to accept Presbyterian standards in their entirety.
Elmer was a member of various societies and made numerous addresses before educational and other bodies.
He kept abreast of his times in history, government, theology, and science, and was deeply learned in the origins and principles of the law, especially as to land tenures.
His opinions were models of terse, vigorous reasoning, strictly limited to the case in hand.
member of the Assembly as an independent Democrat in 1820
Elmer was a member of various societies and made numerous addresses before educational and other bodies.
Elmer was a calm, dignified man, sometimes cold and severe, but always admired for his integrity.
He was happy alike in his family life, his public service, and the mastery of his profession.
He married on Oct. 6, 1818, Catharine Hay of Philadelphia.