Notes for: Ann (Anna/Anne) Maria Bodine
From Ronny Bodine (July 20, 2020):
The marriage of George Fort and Anna Bodine was reported in the "New Jersey Mirror" of 7 July 1831 as "At Pemberton, on June 30, 1831, by the Rev. Henry Boehm, George Franklin Fort, M.D., of Imlaystown, Monmouth County, to Miss Anna Maria Bodine, daughter of the Rev. Stacy Bodine, of Pemberton, NJ." Her death was reported in the "New Jersey Mirror" of 1 Nov 1866 as "At New Egypt, on the 25th ult. ANNA MARIA FORT, wife of Dr. George F. Fort, aged 57 years."
George Fort graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1828. Fort's public career began when he was elected to the 1844 New Jersey Constitutional Convention as a Democrat from Monmouth County. At the convention, Fort supported universal suffrage, open eligibility for office, and popular election of all state and county officials. Later that year, he was elected to the New Jersey General Assembly, and, upon finishing a term, was elected to the New Jersey Senate. In 1850, he captured his party's nomination for Governor, and defeated the Whig candidate, John Runk (who had previously been a Congressman in the Twenty-ninth United States Congress). At that time, the Whigs were somewhat splintered, as some were adamantly opposed to the Fugitive Slave Law, while others were more aligned to the Democratic position that supporting the law was necessary in order to support the Union. Whigs also attacked Fort, with some justification, as being aligned too closely with the powerful railroad interests in the state. Nevertheless, the Whigs were not united, and Fort won the election fairly soundly.
During his gubernatorial term as New Jersey's 16th governor from 1851 to 1854, major reform legislation passed, including the ten-hour work day, and child protection. At the end of his term, his Democratic successor, Rodman M. Price, appointed him as a judge. After that term, he resumed the practice of medicine. He lived close to the railroad office in New Egypt. He is buried in the United Methodist Church Cemetery in Pemberton.
His death was reported in the "New Jersey Mirror" of 1 May 1872 as "EX-GOVERNOR GEORGE F. FORT, died at his residence in New Egypt, on Wednesday last. He was widely known throughout the State, having filled many offices of public trust, among others that of Executive, and his death will be learned with much regret. George F. Fort was born in Pemberton, in this county, in May, 1809. He first studied with Doctor Jacob Egbert of Pemberton, and subsequently with Dr. Charles Patterson of New Egypt. He commenced the practice of his profession in 1829 at Imlaystown, and after two years removed to New Egypt, where he resided for the rest of his life. Before Ocean county was set off from Monmouth, Dr. Fort was elected as a representative to the House of Assembly from Monmouth county. In 1844 he was elected to the State Constitutional Convention and took an active part in framing the present organic law of the State. He was subsequently chosen to the State Senate from Monmouth county, and a year after the expiration of his senatorial term, in 1850, he was elected Governor of the State. He was subsequently appointed a Judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals, which office he held for the full term. In public as in private life, Dr. Fort enjoyed a reputation for unblemished integrity, and it may be said that he leaves behind him a name which will be always associated with the best and most useful citizens of his native State."