Colonel Edward Livingston Price, for 56 years past a member of the Essex
County Bar, died at his home, 112 Bruen street, Newark, on February 4,
from a heart attack, after an illness of about one year.
Colonel Price was born in New York City Dec. 20, 1844, being a brother
to former Governor Rodman M. Price, and a son of Francis and Maria
Louisa (Hart) Price of New York City. He received his education at Dr.
Cattell's Edgehill School, Princeton; Dr. Woodhull's School, Freehold,
and Dr. John F. Pingry's School, then in Newark and now in Elizabeth. He
would have gone to college had it not been for the outbreak of the Civil
War. He entered the Union Army in April, 1861, when he was sixteen, as
Second Lieutenant of Company E, 74th Regiment, New York Volunteers,
having been unable to get a commission in New Jersey. Shortly afterward
he was promoted to First Lieutenant. In this capacity he served from
July, 1861, to April, 1862, when Major General Hooker placed him on his
personal staff as Ordinance officer of the Third Army Corps, "Hooker's
Division." As Ordinance officer he served at the siege of Yorktown, Va.,
and during the whole of the peninsular campaign. In August, 1862, he
became Major of his old Regiment, the 74th New York, which he commanded
through Pope's campaign in Virginia, in the battles of Bristow Station,
Second Manassas and Chantilly. His promotion to the Colonelcy of the
145th New York Volunteers took place on February 18, 1863. He served
with this Regiment until January, 1864, taking part in the battles of
Chancellorsville and Gettysburg.
At the end of the War he studied law with the late U. S. Justice Joseph
Bradley, and was admitted as a New Jersey attorney at the June Term,
1866, but did not become counselor until February, 1879. He also became
admitted to the various United States Courts. He became, in Newark, an
active lawyer not only but a strong political speaker and manager, and
was long chairman of the Essex County Democratic Committee and, for a
time, of the State Democratic Committee. His ability as an organizer and
his forcefulness as a speaker made him a powerful factor in moulding
sentiment in party conventions. His tall figure and military bearing
added their effect. In the latter years of his political activity he was
familiarly referred to as the "Old War Horse of the Democracy." As a
lawyer he ranked high in municipal practice. He was counsel for the city
of Newark and various outlying townships and for many of the Boards in
Newark.
In 1865, before he became of age, he accepted a nomination for Assembly
from Essex county and was sworn into office just after he rounded his
twenty-first year. He was re-elected in 1867. As a legislator he applied
his active intelligence to a study of the needs of his constituents and
of the State in general and was the author of many laws now on the
statute books. In later life Colonel Price bought a farm near
Branchville, Sussex county, and spent much of his time there.
On June 1, 1864, Colonel Price married Emma, daughter of William and
Mary Ann Marriott of Newark. On April 27, 1887, he was married again,
the second wife being Frederica Theresa, daughter of Edward C. and Eva
Elizabeth Eberhardt of Newark. His surviving children are a son, Frank
M. Price, who lives at the Price home, and two daughters, Mrs. Frances
Maria Josephine Spear, wife of Edwin M. Spear of Trenton, and Mrs.
Marion White, a widow, also of Trenton. Edward Livingston Price, the
eldest son, died three years ago. The eldest daughter, Marie Louise
Jones, died in Kansas City, Mo.