Samuel Fowler Bigelow (March 29, 1837 – March 8, 1915) was an American judge, attorney, and author in New Jersey.

Biography

Samuel Fowler Bigelow was born in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

on March 29, 1837, the son of

Moses Bigelow Moses Bigelow (January 12, 1800 – January 10, 1874) was an American politician who served as the Mayor of Newark from 1857 to 1864. Biography Moses Bigelow was born in Essex County, New Jersey Essex County is located in the northeastern ...

, who served as the

Mayor of Newark The mayor of Newark is the head of the executive branch of government of Newark, New Jersey, United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce the municipal charter and ordinances; prepare the annual budget; appoint deputy mayors, department hea ...

from 1857 to 1864. He was educated at

Newark Academy Newark Academy is a coeducational private day school located in Livingston, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, serving students in sixth through twelfth grades. It was the first school in New Jersey to offer the International Ba ...

, Ashland Hall, and Freehold Institute. He graduated from

Princeton College Princeton University is a private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the Unit ...

in 1857 and became City Attorney of

in 1863. He became a judge of the Newark City Court in 1868. President

Grover Cleveland Stephen Grover Cleveland (March 18, 1837June 24, 1908) was the 22nd and 24th president of the United States, serving from 1885 to 1889 and from 1893 to 1897. He was the first U.S. president to serve nonconsecutive terms and the first Hist ...

appointed him

United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey The U.S. attorney for the District of New Jersey is the chief federal law enforcement officer in New Jersey. Since March 24, 2025, Alina Habba has served as acting U.S. attorney. The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey has jurisd ...

. He also served as Supreme Court Commissioner for the

Supreme Court of New Jersey The Supreme Court of New Jersey is the supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of New Jersey. In its current form, the Supreme Court of New Jersey is the final judicial authority on all cases in the state court system, including cases cha ...

and was appointed

Special Master In the law of the United States, a special master is an official appointed by a judge to ensure judicial orders are followed, or in the alternative, to hear evidence on behalf of the judge and make recommendations to the judge as to the dispositi ...

in Chancery by Chancellor William T. McGill. Judge Andrew Kirkpatrick appointed him as United States Commissioner for New Jersey. He wrote the book ''Biographical Sketch of Moses Bigelow'' (1890) about his father

He married to Lucy Paul Bigelow on January 3, 1861, in Belvedere, Warren County, New Jersey. Samuel Fowler Bigelow died at his sister's home in

East Orange East Orange is a City (New Jersey), city in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the city's population was 69,612, an increase of 5,342 (+8.3%) from the 2010 United States ...

on March 8, 1915, and was buried at Mount Pleasant Cemetery in Newark.

References

1837 births 1915 deaths 19th-century New Jersey state court judges 19th-century American lawyers 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century New Jersey state court judges 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers American legal writers American male non-fiction writers Burials at Mount Pleasant Cemetery (Newark, New Jersey) City and town attorneys in the United States Lawyers from Newark, New Jersey Newark Academy alumni Politicians from Newark, New Jersey Princeton University alumni United States attorneys for the District of New Jersey New Jersey state court judges {{US-law-bio-stub