Rusling, John Fowler, 1834-1918.

Lawyer and Civil War officer, of Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey; graduated from Dickinson College, 1854; taught school in Pennsylvania, 1854-1858; was admitted to the Pennsylvania bar, 1857; removed to Trenton, 1859, and was admitted to the New Jesey bar the same year; served in the Union Army, 1861-1865, and in the U.S. War Dept., 1865-1867, rising to the breveted rank of brigadier general; ran for Congress unsuccessfully, 1868, having received the Republican nomination (over former Governor William A. Newell) for the Second District; served as U.S. pension agent for New Jersey, 1869-1877; resumed his legal career, in conjunction with pursuing other business interests (in land associations, other real estate holdings and a building and loan association); served on three New Jersey state commissions and on the boards of several educational and religious organizations; wrote on various topics (including an 1886 history of Trenton's State Street Methodist Church) and delivered numerous commemorative addresses and orations; was a member of several military and patriotic organizations, including the Mercer County Soldiers' and Sailors' Monument Association (organized 1891) which he served as president.