George Theodore Werts

George Theodore Werts (March 24, 1846January 17, 1910) was an American attorney, judge, and Democratic Party politician who served as the 28th governor of New Jersey from 1893 to 1896. His term in Governor coincided with the precipitous decline of the New Jersey Democratic Party amid the Panic of 1893 and growing ethnoreligious divisions in the state. Werts created the Palisades Interstate Park Commission which saved the New Jersey Palisades from being quarried for their rock. Early life George Theodore Werts was born on March 24, 1846, in Hackettstown, New Jersey. He attended public schools in Bordentown and completed his education at the State Model School in Trenton. Early legal and political career In 1863, Werts moved to Morristown, New Jersey to study law with his uncle, Jacob Vanatta, a former Attorney General of New Jersey. After four years of study, he was admitted to the bar and established a law office in Morristown. He practiced there for sixteen years, building a lucrative practice and gaining a reputation for integrity and skill at trial.