GIFT OF 
 
 rrnf. C. A. Kofcid 
 
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Fort Amsterdam and Village, New York, p. 10. 
 
 Dutch Fort and English Church, Albany, p. 14. 
 
ANNALS AND OCCURRENCES 
 
 or 
 
 NEW YORK CITY AND STATE, 
 
 IN THE OLDEN TIME; 
 
 BEING A COLLECTIOI? OF 
 
 MEMOIRS, ANECDOTES, AND INCIDENTS 
 
 COI7CEB17IKG THE 
 
 CITY, COUNTRY, AND INHABITANTS, 
 
 FROSI 
 
 THE DAYS OF THE FOUNDERS. 
 
 IKTESDED TO PRESERVE THE RECOLLECTIONS OF OLDEN TIME, AND TO EXHIBIT 
 
 SOCIETY IN ITS CHANGES OF MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, AND THE 
 
 CITY AND COUNTRY IN THEIR LOCAL CHANGES 
 
 AND IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 IN TWO BOOKS — ONE VOLUME OCTAVO, 
 
 EMBELLISHED WITH PICTORIAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 *« Oh ! dear is a tale of the olden time !" > t t, » * . ■< 
 Sequari vestigia rerum. ', ,* I *'? J »,* 
 
 BY JOHN F. WATSON, 
 I' 
 
 ACTHOB OF THE ANNALS OF PHILADELPHIA, AND MEMBER OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETIES 
 OF PENNSYLVANIA, NEW YORK, AND MASSACHUSETTS. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 HENRY F. ANNERS, CHESNUT STREET. 
 
 1846. 
 
.3 
 
 Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by 
 
 J. F. WATSON, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Eastern District 
 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 :-MMtr (^^ "■ ^ ' 
 
 GEORGE CHATILES, STEREOTTPERj 
 KINO AXT) KAIRD, PRIXTERS, 
 
 > XO. 
 
 GEORGE ST. PHILADELPHIA. 
 
PREFACE, 
 
 It is impossible to contemplate the wonderful progress 
 o^ New York City and State, in its actual advance to 
 greatness, without feeling our hearts stirred with deep 
 emotion, inciting us to gratitude and praise. * * * * 
 But two centuries ago, it began its career as a little Dorp, 
 or village, and now it is the great Commercial Emporium 
 of the Union ! 
 
 It should be the just pride and exultation of aw Ameri- 
 can to belong to such a country ; — and if so, what should 
 offer him more interesting and edifying reading than the 
 history of the infancy and progress to manhood, of such a 
 people ? Embued with such thoughts, we have supposed 
 it might prove profitable to awaken in the breasts of the 
 present generation, a fond regard for the Annals of their 
 Forefathers, — to whose enterprise, skill and industry 
 (under God,) they owe so much of their present enjoy- 
 ments and distinction, as a new people. 
 
 Man has by nature an ardent desire, and an earnest 
 curiosity, to learn the causes of things around him ; — and 
 it is equally the dictate of Parental indulgence, and of 
 Bible instruction, that, "when your children shall ask you, 
 wherefore are these things so, then shall ye answer them." 
 From views and feelings hke these, we have been induced 
 to prepare the present pages illustrative of the early events 
 of the City and Coun^ — of their inhabitants, their man- 
 ners and customs ; — such as things were in the days of 
 rusticity and simplicity, when so wholly unlike the present 
 display of fashion, pomp, and splendour. We aim, there- 
 
 (iii) 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 fore, to lay before our readers such a picture of the past, 
 as may present to their contemplation the most prominent 
 and striking doings and things of the Founders and Set- 
 tlers of the City and State, — intending herein, to restrict 
 our exhibition to those incidents which could most sur- 
 prise, amuse, or interest their mind, — while at the same 
 time, it may increase their store of knowledge concerning 
 Country and Home, — by dehneating those early times, and 
 by-gone days, when New York was but a Provincial 
 town, and the Country a rirgged, woody region, with 
 only here and there an humble village — " few and far be- 
 tween." 
 
 It is by multiplying these local associations of idea, 
 concerning our country, that we can hope to generate 
 Patriotism, binding the heart by forcible ties to the 
 parental soil. 
 
 " Go call thy sons, instruct them what a debt 
 They owe their Ancestors, and make them vow 
 To pay it, — by transmitting down entire 
 Those sacred rights to which themselves were born." 
 
 Philadelphia County, July, 1843. 
 
 The reader is advertised that all references in these 
 pages to occurrences said to have happened some 30, 40, 
 or 50 years ago, are to be regarded as so many years 
 preceding the year 1843, that being the time of finishing 
 the present work. 
 
GENERAL INDEX 
 
 OF 
 
 CHAPTERS AND SUBJECTS 
 
 BOOK FIRST. 
 
 OF NEW YORK, IN GENERAL. 
 
 Preface, of General Facts, - - - - - - ^ 
 
 First settlement of the City of New York, and its Incidents, 
 
 First Settlement of Albany, and Notices of Dutch Settlers, 
 
 First Settlement of Schenectady, ------ 
 
 Early Settlement of Brooklyn and Long Island, - , * - 
 
 Original Exploration of the Country, how conducted, - - 
 
 The First Colonists, Incidents concerning them, 
 Early Inland Settlements ; Their Earliest History and Origin, including Johns- 
 town, Schoharie, Canojoharie, Cherry "Valley, German Flats, and Fort Schuy 
 ler, at Rome, -------- 
 
 General Views of New York, Inland, beyond Utica, - - - 
 
 Inland Settlers and Pioneers, Notices of tliem, - i, * " 
 
 The Indians, their Residences and Wars, - - - - 
 
 Steam Boats, Earliest Incidents of them, - - - 
 
 Watering Places, their Earliest Resort and History, - - 
 
 The Erie Canal, and Former State of its Route, &c, " / " , " 
 
 14 
 26 
 34 
 37 
 42 
 
 45 
 81 
 95 
 110 
 129 
 132 
 136 
 
 BOOK SECOND. 
 
 OF NEW YORK CITY, IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 New York Qity, Particulars of its Origin, . - - 
 
 Introductory and General Views of the City, 
 
 Primitive New York, showing things as they were, 
 
 Memorials of the Dutch Dynasty, - - - 
 
 Ancient Memorials, Recording Curious Facts, - - 
 
 Notices of Early Dutch Times, - - - ~ - 
 
 Local Changes and Local Facts, - - - - . 
 
 Manners and Customs in the Olden Time, 
 
 Remarkable Facts and Incidents, - - _ - 
 
 Gardens and Farms, Earliest Notices of them, 
 
 Apparel, and Former PecuUarities of Dress, - - - 
 
 Furniture and Equipage, - - - - - 
 
 Gazettes of the Olden Time, and their Notices, 
 
 Longevity, - - - - - ■ -- 
 
 Changes of Prices in Diet, &c., - - - ' - 
 
 Superstitions and Popular Credulity, - - 
 
 Miscellaneous Facts, of Curious Character, - ^ - 
 Incidents of the War of the Revolution, - - - 
 
 Residence of British Officers, and their Incidents, 
 Ancient Edifices, Remarkable Characteristics, 
 Reflections and Notices, of Things Present and Past, - 
 Conclusion, --..-. 
 
 Appendix, ....... 
 
 Index, ---.--- 
 
 141 
 143 
 146 
 149 
 154 
 164 
 171 
 204 
 225 
 245 
 247 
 258 
 262 
 289 
 292 
 293 
 294 
 324 
 346 
 350 
 355 
 366 
 369 
 
:• '4 
 
 NEW YORK, IN GENERAL. 
 
 FIRST SETTLEMENT OF THE CITY OF NEW YORK. 
 
 «« The city rear'd in beauteous pride — 
 And stretching street on street, 
 By thousands df ew aspiring sons." 
 
 It was in the year 1609, in the delightful month of September, 
 a month always furnishing pleasant days in our climate, that the 
 celebrate^ Hudson, the discoverer, first furrowed the waters of 
 the present New York harbour with the keel of his adventurous 
 yacht the Half Moon. Then " a still and solemn desert hung 
 round his lonely bark !" How unlike was all which he could 
 then see or contemplate, to what we now behold ! How little 
 could his utmost reach of forethought realize the facts of present 
 accomplishment — a populous and wealthy city ; and a river scene, 
 crowded with numerous vessels freighted with foreign and do- 
 mestic plenty ! Then the site of New York presented only a 
 wild and rough aspect : covered with a thick forest, its beach 
 broken and sandy, or rocky and full of inlets forming water 
 marshes — the natives, there, were more repulsive than their 
 neighbours, being gruff and indisposed to trade. We proceed to 
 facts. 
 
 Whether Hudson actually landed upon New York Island is a 
 little dubious, since he does not expressly mention it in his jour- 
 nal, but speaks of the reserve and gruffness of its inhabitants ; 
 and contrasting their unfriendliness, so unlike all the other natives, 
 who were every where warm-hearted and generous. Of the 
 Wappingi, the people on the western shore of the harbour, he 
 speaks with warm regard ; they were daily visiters and dealers, 
 bringing with them for trade and barter, furs, oysters, corn, beans, 
 pumpkins, squashes, grapes, and some apples. Among these 
 Indians, say at Commimipa and neighbourhood, Hudson landed. 
 
 But although Hudson has not himself mentioned any thing 
 special of his landing in the harbour of New York, we possess a 
 very striking tradition of the event, as told by the Delawares, 
 and preserved for posterity by Heckewelder, the Indian historian. 
 They described themselves as greatly perplexed and terrified 
 
10 •; { '• Firat $etthment of the City of New York. 
 
 "W-^^n l}ieyj^eh0id the approach of the strange object — the ship 
 in the offing. They deemed it a visit from the Manitto, coming 
 in his big house or canoe, and began to prepare an entertainment 
 for his reception. By and by, tlie chief, in red clothes and a 
 glitter of metal, with others, came ashore in a smaller canoe ; 
 mutual salutations and signs of friendship were exchanged; and 
 after a while, strong drink was offered, which made all gay and 
 happy. In time, as their mutual acquaintance progressed, the 
 white skins told them they would stay with them, if they allowed 
 them as much land for cultivation as the hide of a bullock, spread 
 before them, could cover or encompass. The request was granted ; 
 and the pale men thereupon, beginning at a starting point on the 
 hide, with a knife, cut it up into one long extended narrow strip 
 or thong, sufficient to encompass a large place ! Their cunning 
 equally surprised and amused the confiding and simple Indians, 
 who willingly allowed the success of theiV artifice, and backed 
 it with a cordial welcome. Such was the origin of the site of 
 New York, on the place called Manhattan, (i. e. Manahachta- 
 nienks,) a revelling name, importing " the place where they all 
 got drunk !" and a name then bestowed by the Indians as com- 
 memorative of that first great meeting. The natives then there, 
 descendants of the once warlike Minsi tribe of the Lenni Lenape, 
 were the same class of people called by Heckewelder the Dela- 
 wares or Munseys. The Indians, in their address afterwards 
 to Gov. Keift, said, " When you first arrived on our shores you 
 were sometimes in want of food. Then we gave you our beans 
 and corn, and let you eat our oysters and fish. We treated you 
 as we should ourselves, and gave you our daughters as wives." 
 
 The first concern of the discoverer was to proceed up the 
 " Groot Rivier," — the great North River ; the facts of which 
 will be told in another chapter. After Hudson had occupied 
 himself in exploring and returning, twenty -two days, he set sail 
 for Europe ; and his favourable reports gave rise to an expedi- 
 tion of two ships in 1614, under Captains Adrian Blok and 
 Hendrick Christiaanse. 'Twas under their auspices that the 
 first actual settlement was begun upon the site of the present 
 New York, consisting in the first year oi four houses, and in the 
 next year (1615), of a redoubt on the site of the Macomb houses, 
 now on Broadway. To this small Doty or village, they gave 
 the stately name of New Amsterdam. The settlement was wholly 
 of a commercial and military character, having solely for its object 
 the traffic in the fur trade. At the same time another similar 
 settlement was formed at Albany. Colonization and land culture 
 was an after-concern. 
 
 At the time Holland projected this scheme of commercial set- 
 tlement, it was in full wealth and vigour, building annually 1000 
 ships; having 20,000 vessels, and 100,000 mariners. The City 
 of Amsterdam was at the head of the enterprise. Its merchants 
 
First Settlement of the City of New York, ll 
 
 projected the scheme of sending out Capt. Henry Hudson (an 
 Englishman) to discover a northern passage to the East Indies. 
 In this attempt he of course failed ; but as some reparation for 
 the consequent disappointment of his employers — ^' the Directors 
 of the East India Company," he fell upon the expedient of sail- 
 ing southward to Virginia, to make something there by traffic, &c. 
 In so doing he fell upon the eventual and memorable discovery of 
 the Delaware and Hudson rivers. This was in the year 1609. 
 
 In March 1614, the States General gave out their grant, for 
 the purpose of the fur trade, of this new country to "the 
 Amsterdam licensed trading West India Company," intending 
 New York as a part of their fancied West Indies ! Although 
 the Dutch thought little or nothing of colonization, the English 
 then in Holland, exiles for conscience sake, early desired to form 
 a colony at New York, and actually embarked for that purpose 
 in 1620, but were prevented by the fraud of the Dutch captain, 
 as it was alleged, and were actually landed at Plymouth ; forming 
 there the memorable " Pilgrims of Plymouth " — the forefathers 
 of New England. 
 
 In the year 1623, ."the Privileged West India Company," 
 under its new charter of 1621, began its operations along the 
 Hudson, for the first time, with a direct view of colonization. In 
 1623, colonists and supplies were sent out with Capt. Kornelis 
 Jacobse Mey, and were most heartily welcomed by the few 
 previous inhabitants. Before these arrived, they had been two 
 years without supplies and destitute ; so that some of the Staten 
 Islanders had cut up the sails of their boats for necessary clothing. 
 In compliment to Capt. Mey, and in memory of his welcome 
 arrival in the bay of Manhattan, they named the bay Port May, 
 At this time they commenced their Fort Amsterdam, on the 
 Battery Point, southward of their former redoubt ; and finished 
 it, under Gov. Wouter Van Twiller, in 1635. 
 
 It might serve to show the state of the fur trade about this 
 time, to state, that in the first year of Governor Minuit's admin- 
 istration, they collected and exported 4,700 beaver and otter 
 skins, valued at 27,125 guilders, or 11,300 dollars; and that in 
 ten years afterwards, they shipped in one year 13,513 beavers 
 and 1661 otters. 
 
 The settlement and fort continued to bear the name of Nieuw 
 Amsterdam, by the Dutch, down to the time of the surrender by 
 Governor Stuyvesant to the English, in 1664. Then for ten 
 years under the rule of Cols. Nicolls and Lovelace, acting for 
 the Duke of York, it was called New York ; but in August, 1673, 
 a Dutch fleet, in time of war, recaptured it from the British, and 
 while exercising their rule for their High Mightinesses of Holland, 
 to the time of the peace in 1674, they called the place New 
 Orange, in compliment to the Prince of Orange, and the fort they 
 called Willem Hendrick. 
 
12 First Settlement of the City of New York. 
 
 The city being restored to the British by the treaty, was rede- 
 Uvered to the British in October, 1674. The fort then took the 
 name of Fort James, being built of quadrangular form, having 
 four bastions, two gates, and 42 cannon. The city again took 
 the name of New York, once and forever. 
 
 The city was laid out in streets, some of them crooked enough, 
 in 1656. It then contained by enumeration " 120 houses, with 
 extensive garden lots," and 1000 inhabitants. In 1677 another 
 estimate of the city was made, and ascertained to contain 36S 
 houses. In the* year 1674, an assessment of " the most wealthy 
 inhabitants" having been made, it was found that the sum total 
 of 1 34 estates amounted to 95,000/. / 
 
 During the military rule Governor Colve, who held the city for 
 one year under the above-mentioned capture, for the States of 
 Holland, every thing partook of a military character, and the 
 laws still in preservation at Albany show the energy of a rigorous 
 discipline. Then the Dutch mayor, at the head of the city militia, 
 held his daily parades before the City Hall (Stadt Huys), then at 
 Coenties Slip ; and every evening at sunset, he received from 
 the principal guard of the fort called hoofd tvagt, the keys of the 
 city, and thereupon proceeded with a guard of six to lock the city 
 gates ; then to place a Burger-wagt — a citizen-guard, as night- 
 watches at assigned places. The same mayors also went the 
 rounds at sunrise to open the gates, and to restore the keys to 
 the officer of the fort. All this was surely a toilsome service for 
 the domestic habits of the peaceful citizens of that day, and must 
 have presented an irksome honour to any mayor who loved his 
 comfort and repose. 
 
 This sunrise parade of the mayor and his suite, elicited the 
 poetic and graphic effusion of Mrs. Sigourney, and which as a- 
 tribute to the author, and not having been put in print, is now 
 inserted here. 
 
 Lo with the sun, came forth a goodly train, 
 
 The portly Mayor with his full guard of state : 
 Hath ought of evil vex'd their fair domain. 
 
 That thus its limits they perambulate. 
 With heavy, measured steps, and brows of care. 
 Counting its scatter'd roofs with fixed portentous stare ? 
 
 Behold the keys with solemn pomp restor'd 
 
 To one in warlike costume stoutly brac'd. 
 He, of yon Fort, the undisputed lord. 
 
 Deep lines of thought are on his forehead trac'd. 
 As though of Babylon, the proud command. 
 Or hundred-gated Thebes were yielded to his hand. 
 
 See, here and there, the buildings cluster round. 
 All, to the street, their cumbrous gables stretching. 
 
 With square-clipt trees, and snug enclosures bound, 
 (A most uncouth material for sketching) — 
 
 i 
 
First Settlement of the City of New York. 13 
 
 Each with its stoop, from whose sequester'd shade, 
 
 The Dutchman's evening pipe, in cloudy volumes play'd. 
 
 Oh, had these ancient dames of high renown, — 
 
 The Knickerbockers and the Rapaeljes, 
 With high-heel 'd shoe, and ample tenfold gown. 
 
 Green worsted hose, with clocks of crimson rays, — 
 Had they thro' time's dim vista stretch'd their gaze. 
 Spying their daughters fair in these degenerate days, 
 
 With muslin robe, and satin slipper white. 
 
 Thronging to routes, with Farenheit at zero, 
 Their sylphlike form, for household toils too slight. 
 
 But yet to winter's piercing blast, a hero. 
 Here had they marvell'd at such wonderous lot. 
 And scrubbing-brush and broom for one short space forgot. 
 
 Yet deem them not for ridicule a theme. 
 
 Those worthy burghers, with their spouses kind, 
 
 Scorning of heartless pomp, the gilded dream, 
 To deeds of peaceful industry inclin'd. 
 
 In hospitality sincere and grave. 
 
 Inflexible in truths in simple virtue brave. 
 
 Hail mighty City, — ^high must be his fame 
 Who round thy bounds, at sunrise now should walk ; 
 
 Still wert thou lovely, — whatsoe'er thy name. 
 New Amsterdam, — New Orange, or New York, 
 
 Whether in cradle sleep on sea-weed laid. 
 
 Or on thine island throne, in queenly power array'd. 
 
 It may amuse some of the present generation so little used to 
 Dutch names, to learn some of the titles, once so familiar in New 
 York, and now so little understood. Such as, — 
 
 De Heer officier or Hoofd-Schout — High Sheriff. 
 De Fiscael, or Procureur Gen. — Attorney Gen. 
 Wees-Meesters — Guardians of orphans. 
 Roy-Meesters — Regulator of fences. 
 Groot-Burgerrecht and Klein-Burgerrecht — The great and small 
 
 citizenship, which then marked the two orders of society. 
 Eyck-Meester — The Weigh-Master. 
 The Schout, (the Sheriff,) Burgomasters and Schepens — then 
 
 ruled the city, " as in all cities of the Father land." 
 Geheim Schryver — Recorder of secrets. 
 
 B 
 
14 
 
 FIRST SETTLEMENT OF ALBANY. 
 
 " But times are alter'd — trade has changed the scene, 
 A city rears its form where only huts were seen." 
 
 This city began its career cotemporary with New York, having 
 been visited and explored, as the head of navigation, by the dis- 
 coverer, Capt. Hudson, on the 19 th September, 1609; a day 
 long to be remembered and respected as their natal day, as a 
 people, by the present Albanians. In this vicinity he remained 
 with his little ship the Half Moon four days, cultivating friend- 
 ship and trade with the natives, by whom his ship and people 
 were much visited. The Mohawks — Maquas, were dwelling 
 on the western side of the river, and the Mohiccans on the eastern 
 side. The frank and generous natives made them every where 
 welcome, and they in turn offered to make their hearts gay " with 
 wine and aqua vitae ;" so much so, that one of them became 
 much intoxicated, and so astonished the others, " that they knew 
 not how to take it, and made ashore quickly in their canoes." 
 The story of this drunken revel became a memorable tradition, 
 long retained among all the Indian tribes ; and this incident, con- 
 nected with a similar one remembered at New York island, gave 
 rise to the name of Manhattan; i. e. "the place where they all^ 
 got drunk." The descendants of the Delawares often spoke to 
 Hecke welder of the manner in which the white skins first dealt 
 out strong drink from a large hock-hack, (a gourd or bottle,) 
 which produced staggering and happy feelings. 
 
 It was under the visit of Schippers (captains) Blok and Chris- 
 tiaanse in 1614, that it got its first redoubt and first settlement 
 on the island below Albany ferry. To this they gave the name 
 of Casteel Eylandt, (Castle Island,) in allusion to its defence ; 
 having mounted there two brass and eleven stone guns, (these, 
 "stien gustuckers" pieces of arms, meant iron guns, which were 
 to discharge stone shot :) with a little garrison of a dozen soldiers, 
 commanded by an opper-hoofdt or chief: the whole making just 
 as many men as big guns ! This little castle fort was abandoned 
 in 1617, having encountered there an unexpected enemy in the 
 annual flood. They went thence four miles southward, to the 
 shore of a creek called Nordtman's Kill, where they erected ano- 
 ther defence, and there held a memorable treaty with the Indians, 
 which they long remembered and often referred to. 
 
 In 1623 they laid the proper commencement of the present 
 Albany, in the construction there of Fort Orange, and giving to 
 the little village the name of Jiurania — names in compliment 
 
First Settlement of Albany. 15 
 
 and respect to their Prince of Orange. This first fort in Albany 
 was on the river side near to the present Fort Orange Hotel in 
 South Market street. — It seems to have been slightly constructed, 
 for in 1639 it is complained of as in decay ; and as being injured 
 by the action of the hogs. 
 
 Albany was always fruitful in names, sometimes bearing sev- 
 eral at the same time. They might be noticed generally thus, to 
 wit: It was called Beverwyck until 1623; then Fort Orange 
 until 1647; then Williamstadt until 1664; when it first received, 
 by reason of the British conquest, the name of Albany or Alba- 
 nia after the duke. During all the preceding period it bore also 
 the popular nickname of Fuyck, which means hoop-net, in refer- 
 ence to their use of it in fishing. The Indians of the Munsey tribe 
 had given it another name, calling it Laaphawachking, which 
 meant the place of stringing wampum beads, for which the 
 Dutch of Albany were prized. It had also other names among 
 other tribes; thus it was called Skaghneghtady, or Schenectadea, 
 a term signifying " the other side of the river.'' The Mohiccans 
 called it Gaschtenick ; the Dela wares called it Mahicawaittuck ; 
 and the Iroquois, Chohotatia. 
 
 It having been the advanced post for the fur trade, it was of 
 course, for numerous years, the proper Bever wyck for the beaver 
 and otter sales of the Indians. It was the proper market for all 
 which *' the great five nations" could gather from their proper 
 hunting grounds — their Couxsachraga — importing the dismal 
 wilderness. From this cause Albany was, more than a century, 
 a place almost as common to Indian visiters as to whites. 
 
 The second fort, a great building of stone, was constructed on 
 a high steep hill at the west end of State street, having around it 
 a high and thick wall, where they now have a state-house and 
 a fine commanding view over the town below. The English 
 church was just below it, at the west end of a market : and the 
 original old Dutch church, now down, of Gothic appearance, 
 stood in the middle of State street at the eastern end — of which 
 see a picture. 
 
 The original Dutch church, founded in 1 Q5Q, was supplied in 
 1657 by the Rev. Gideon Schoats from Amsterdam, to whom 
 there was soon after sent out a bell and pulpit, for what they 
 then called the little church. When they enlarged this church in 
 1715, they did it (as has been said to have been done with the first 
 Christ Church in Phladelphia,) by building outside of it a new 
 wall — enclosing the whole, and roofing it in before taking down 
 the inner church, so as to lose only three sabbaths of worship in 
 effecting the change. The windows of this new church were 
 richly ornamented with coats of arms. This church, after standing 
 upwards of 90 years at the intersecting angle of State, Market 
 and Court streets, was taken down in 1806, and the stone of it, — ■ 
 
16 " First Settlement of Albany. 
 
 to preserve its remains, was used in the construction of the South 
 Dutch Church, between Hudson and Beaver streets. 
 
 It does not appear that any stone or brick buildings were 
 erected, for many of the earUest years of the settlement — say till 
 1647, when the first stone house was built, near to the Fori, and 
 upon this occasion we are informed that they celebrated the 
 occurrence with an extreme regale of one hundred and twenty- 
 eight gallons of liquor ! Log houses were those in common use. 
 
 Albany was originally surrounded by palisades, as a means 6f 
 defence — some of their remains have been occasionally found, in 
 digging in places, within the last forty or fifty years. 
 
 The town being under the military government of three com- 
 missaries appointed by the governors from year to year, made it 
 in some cases too rigorous for some of the Indian traders, and 
 they, to get from such surveillance, went on to Schenectady JFlats, 
 where they succeeded to intercept considerable of the fur trade 
 intended for Albany. This became a vexatious annoyance to 
 the Albanians, and produced much of ill-will and bickerings 
 between the two settlements. It was a part of the ordinances 
 of the commissaries, that no one could build houses, buy or sell, 
 or keep stores or taverns, without their grant and permission. — 
 This may have seemed a restraint of undue severity ; — but it 
 was doubtless founded upon the necessary precaution of ex- 
 cluding unsuitable settlers. 
 
 Albany was incorporated as a city in 1686, under the adminis- 
 tration of Governor Dongan. 
 
 In 1842, in making some excavations in the street near Fort 
 Orange, they dug out a dozen cannon balls, some of them weigh- 
 ing from twelve to fourteen pounds. They had of course many 
 years of peaceful and harmless slumber, and have now none to 
 tell their tale of former doings. 
 
 Professor Kalm, who visited Albany in 1749, has left us- some 
 facts. All the people then understood Dutch. All th^ houses 
 stood gable-end to the street ; the ends were of brick and the side 
 walls of planks or logs; the gutters on the roofs went out almost 
 to the middle of the street, greatly annoying travellers in their 
 discharge. At the stoopes (porches) the people spent much of 
 their time, especially on the shady side ; and in the evenings 
 they were filled with people of both sexes. The streets were 
 dirty, by reason of the cattle possessing their free use during the 
 summer nights. They had no knowledge of stoves, and their 
 chiimieys were so wide that one could drive through them with 
 a cart and horses. Many people still made wampum to sell* to 
 the Indians and traders. Dutch manners every where prevailed ; 
 but their dress in general was after the English form. They were 
 regarded as close . in traffic ; were very frugal in their house 
 economy and diet. Their women were over-nice in cleanliness, 
 
First Settlement of Albany, 17 
 
 scouring floors and kitchen utensils several times a week ; rising 
 very early and going to sleep very late. Their servants were 
 chiefly negroes. Their breakfast was tea without milk, using 
 sugar by putting a small bit into the mouth. Their dinner was 
 buttennilk and bread ; and if to that they added sugar, it was 
 deemed delicious. Sometimes they had bread and milk, and 
 sometimes roasted or boiled meats. The New Englanders 
 thought the Albanians much too close, and there was no good 
 will to them in turn. 
 
 State of society, manners, customs, fyc, as they existed at and 
 about Jilbany before the Revolution, as told by Mrs. Grant 
 in her Memoirs of Mrs. Schuyler. 
 
 Herein we aim to bring up " the very age and picture of the 
 past." To wit :* 
 
 The Van Rensselaer family held a manor beginning at the 
 Church and extending twelve miles in every direction. He was 
 called the Patroon of Albany. 
 
 On the Mohawk river, forty miles from Albany, was the confed- 
 eracy of the Five Nations, who cultivated rich fields, built castles, 
 and planted maize and beans, &c. They were possessed of elo- 
 quence, and generous and elevated sentiments, heroic fortitude, 
 and unstained probity. 
 
 At Albany, was a palisadoed fort, occupied by one company, 
 who were however scattered through the towri, working at vari- 
 ous trades, for their own profit. 
 
 The Flats, (the Watervliet,) upon which the first Col. Philip 
 Schuyler lived, fourteen miles north of Albany, was a frontier 
 position, and would have been considered dangerous but for his 
 high character and just interests with' the Indians. In the time 
 of Queen Anne, he took with him four of the sachems to visit 
 England, about the year 1709. They were gone a year, and 
 were much pleased with all they saw and considered. 
 
 Education then was difiicult to attain, especially for girls. They 
 were taught to read Dutch in their Bible ; very few could read 
 English, all however could talk it imperfectly. 
 
 Fashion had no influence there. All was simple and unpre- 
 tending, hospitable and kind. They had a universal respect for 
 Religion and morals. 
 
 The women were great gardeners. You could see them going 
 out to their garden labours with a great calash, a little basket of 
 seedg, and the rake on the shoulder. Women in very easy circum- 
 stances, would so work incessantly ; they were also great florists. 
 I 
 
 •Mrs. Grant, once Miss Anne Mac Vicar, was born in 1754— became acquaint-' 
 ed with Mrs. Schuyler in 1762, (at eight years of age,) and died in Scotland 
 in 1838. She was the danghter of an officer in the 55th Regiment, on the Indian 
 frontier, and married in Scotland to Mr. Grant, a Clergyman. 
 3 b2 
 
18 First Settlement of Albany, 
 
 The city was a kind of semi-rural establishment. Every house 
 had its garden, well, and green plot behind. Before every door 
 a tree was planted, many of them of prodigious size and beauty. 
 At every house was an open portico, surrounded by seats, and 
 ascended by a few steps. 
 
 Every family had a cow, fed in a common pasture at the end 
 of the town. In the evening they returned all together of their 
 own accord, with their tinkling bells, hung at their necks, along 
 the wide and grassy street, to their wonted sheltering trees, to be 
 milked at their masters' doors. 
 
 Nothing could be more pleasant to a simple and benevolent 
 mind, than to see thus at one view, all the inhabitants of a town 
 which contained not one very rich or very poor, very knowing 
 or very ignorant, very rude or very polished individual ; — to see 
 all these children of nature, enjoying in easy indolence, a social 
 intercourse, clothed in the plainest habits, and with minds as un- 
 disguised and artless. 
 
 These primitive beings were dispersed in porches, grouped 
 according to similarity of years and incHnations. At one door 
 matrons ; at another the elders of the people ; at a third the 
 youths and maidens, gaily chatting or singing together ; while 
 the still younger, — the children, played round the trees, or waited 
 by the cows, for their share of milk, which they generally took 
 sitting upon the steps ; making their supper of bread and milk, 
 before going to bed. The cows in the meantime were treated 
 with a few vegetables, and a little salt. They patiently waited 
 the night to be milked again in the morning, and then they went 
 off slowly in regular procession to their pasture. 
 
 At the other end of the town was a fertile plain along the river 
 of three miles in length, and near a mile broad, in which every 
 inhabitant had his lot, wherein they raised sufficient of Indian 
 corn for the food of two or three slaves, (the number usually 
 owned by families severally,) and also for the use of the horses, 
 pigs and poultry. Their flour and other grain they purchased 
 from country farmers. 
 
 Then slavery was of the mildest form — their slaves were really 
 happy. They seemed like Abraham's servants, who were all 
 born in the house. Nothing pained them so much as the fear of 
 being sent away, or to be sold for bad conduct, to the West In- 
 dies. All children so born in the house, were solemnly presented 
 when three years old to a son or daughter of the same sex and 
 family; and from that day the strongest attachment subsisted 
 between the black and the destined owner. They were, in fact 
 brought up together. The blacks were indulged in great freedom 
 .of speech, in giving their opinion and advice, &c. It was indeed 
 wonderful to see so little of servility and fear on the one side, 
 and so little harshness or authority, on the other. They were the 
 most devoted and afiectionate and honest servants imaginable. 
 
First Settlement of Albany. 19 
 
 The owners had no idea, then, that slavery was wrong, and still 
 less did the servants themselves think of it. All thought that 
 they saw slavery in their Bibles, and thought that all that could 
 be required of Christians, was to lighten and soften the chains of 
 servitude. Free and civil as was the intercourse between black 
 and white, no case had ever occurred of " amalgamation ;" and 
 no instance of mixed colour had been seen until produced by 
 some in the British army, coming among them. The first in- 
 stance of the kind produced emotions of surprise and dislike. 
 
 They had a custom after the manner of Geneva, of dividing 
 the children of the town into companies : beginning at about five 
 to six years of age, and continuing till they were marriageable. 
 Every company contained as many boys as girls. They kept 
 annual festivals, and every child was permitted to entertain his 
 whole company on his birth-day, at which time the parents were 
 to leave home, and let them have full range of the house and their 
 plays. 
 
 The girls showed early industry ; being fully employed in 
 knitting stockings, or making clothes for the family and slaves ; 
 they even made all the boys^ clothes. Their dress was slight and 
 cheap in summer, and warm in winter. Their dress of ceremony, 
 was only used, when company was assembled. 
 
 The wild pigeons in April used to be very numerous. They 
 begin to fly in the dawn, and are never seen after 9 or 10 o'clock 
 in the morning. They go to the banks of the lakes, where they 
 eat the seed all summer of a plant like the wild carrot. They 
 are then breeding and rearing their young. While they were 
 passing over Albany, every body kept holiday, to shoot them 
 down in vast numbers. After them came the feasting upon the 
 emigrating wild geese and ducks, all coming with the pigeons 
 from the South. 
 
 Contracts for marriage were early and easily formed. Youths 
 married by nineteen years of age. A new married man soon set 
 out upon a trading adventure with the Indians, going up the Mo- 
 hawk with his black assistant in their canoes, enduring much 
 hardship cheerfully, and making money readily by it. In travel- 
 ling inland, they were obliged to depend much upon their skill 
 in hunting and fishing for their supply of provisions. At night 
 they had to go ashore and light their fires, to drive off musquitoes, 
 and to scare the wolves and bears away, of which there was no 
 Jack, " rendering night hideous" by their dismal howls. 
 
 The Albanians were exceedingly social, and visited each other 
 very frequently, besides the regular assembling together in their 
 porches. Dinner, which was very early, was always without 
 ceremony, and in a family way. They loved each other ; but 
 of strangers they were shy, but came to be kind and civil if you 
 did not act intrusively or insolently. Their tea was a perfect re- 
 gale, having many sorts of cakes, sweetmeats, confectionary and 
 
20 First Settlement of Albany. 
 
 pastry. They received many sweetmeats from the West Indies 
 in return for their shipments of lumber. 
 
 They were extremely fond of sleighing in Winter. The young 
 people went out in parties, stopping at any or every house along 
 the road, whether by night or day. They were always well re- 
 ceived though not personally acquainted. They shared their ban- 
 quet wherever they stopped. 
 
 In town, the hoys were all extravagantly fond of sledding 
 down hill on the snow ; descending from the Fort hill in State 
 street, afforded them a long run of a quarter of a mile. All the 
 youth from eight to eighteen, had each a sled. Down such a hill 
 one hundred could be seen at once descending rapidly. The 
 exercise brought out all the young people to their porticos to 
 see the sport, where they would continue to sit, wrapt in furs, 
 till ten or eleven at night. 
 
 They had a practice among the young men to steal a turkey, 
 or a pig, and to have a supper therefrom at some inn. It was 
 necessary to be done with Spartan dexterity, so as not to be dis- 
 covered, and not to commit any other injury. Cases have oc- 
 curred where they have been caught, and they then have made 
 interest with the owner, to join their party, and perhaps to go and 
 prey upon some other. But all this had to be abandoned, when 
 they arrived at matrimony. 
 
 When houses were located in the country, great care was taken 
 to preserve one stately tree in the back yard, on purpose to make 
 shelter for the birds. There the limbs were pollarded (cut), in 
 midsummer, so as when they decayed to leave a little hole for 
 nests. Such a tree was at Col. Schuyler's. They also saved all 
 the horse and ox heads, so as to place them on the tops of the 
 posts of the fences near the house to afford nesting places for the 
 birds. Thus hundreds of birds were domesticated near the houses, 
 to kill off the flies, musquitoes, crickets, &c. Old hats too, were 
 nailed about the negro houses, for nests. 
 
 The barn was an immense building at the Flats. All were 
 built upon the plan of four sides, and the roof highest at the cen- 
 tre. The roofs above were filled with swallows. 
 
 About the year 1750, there came to Albany a regiment of 
 British soldiery, having many gay and licentious young officers. 
 They excited much fear and distrust among the graver people. 
 Even the mass of the young did not like their free and confident 
 deportment. The Dutch minister, Domine Freylinghausen, was 
 much concerned for his moral and quiet people. He preached 
 and spoke against innovations, vain-glory, and pride. Some of 
 the officers however managed to get billeted in sundry families of 
 the lighter and more frivolous sort. In time they succeeded to 
 get up plays and dances in a barn. With this came in an anglo- 
 mania, forming a sect among the young people, who affected 
 a lighter style of dress and manners. From all this however, 
 
First Settlement of Albany. 21 
 
 Madame and the Colonel kept wholly aloof, nor would they wel- 
 come any of the free officers to their mansion. In time, the young 
 colonel of the regiment got into a dilemma with the young lady 
 of the house where he resided, which produced great scandal 
 and much affliction to her distressed and unsuspecting parents. 
 It was a new thing — an unheard of deception. Before this time, 
 there was not a single family that even knew what was meant 
 by a play. 
 
 I here give some incidents in the life of Madame Catalina 
 Schuyler, much of which is much like facts and traits in the 
 life of the distinguished Mrs. Deborah Logan, of Germantown, 
 here preserved as some of the characteristics of society, in the 
 olden time. To wit : — 
 
 Catalina Schuyler, born in 1702, at Albany, was the niece of 
 the first Col. Philip Schuyler, and was married in 1719 to her 
 cousin Col. Phihp Schuyler, son of the former. He died in 1757, 
 and she in 1778-9. The first of the family known to us, was 
 Col. Peter Schuyler, who in 1690, was mayor of Albany, and 
 commander of the northern militia. 
 
 She was early distinguished for a great desire of knowledge, 
 and an even and pleasing temper. At that time it was very dif- 
 ficult to procure education ; few girls, then read English ; and if 
 they did, it was thought an accomplishment. They however 
 generally spoke it ; but in an imperfect manner. Miss Schuyler 
 had an early taste for reading : but her books, though choice, were 
 but few. In early life, she was majestic and graceful, and her 
 countenance extremely fine. In later years, she became heavy 
 and corpulent ; but always dignified and benignant. She had a 
 high regard for the Indians, and spoke their language, many of 
 whom often came and set down in her neighbourhood in " the 
 Indian field," left open for their encampment and use. 
 
 The house was a large brick building, of two or three stories, 
 for it had excellent attics, besides a sunk-story, finished with the 
 exactest neatness. Through the middle of the house was a very 
 v/ide passage with opposite front and back doors, which in sum- 
 mer admitted a stream of air, refreshing to the languid senses. 
 This was furnished with chairs and pictures like a summer parlour ; 
 and here the family usually sat in hot weather, when there was 
 no ceremonious stranger. 
 
 A large portico at the door, was laticed round and furnished 
 with seats ; vines run all through this portico, and in it were a 
 number of litde birds domesticated. While breakfasting or drink- 
 ing tea in the portico, birds were constantly gliding over the table 
 with a butterfly or grasshopper for their young who were chirp- 
 ing above. Nests were all around on the trees ; none were allowed 
 to injure the birds, they were useful to destroy the flies, nmsqui- 
 toes, &c. ; and besides they gave the chorus of their song. 
 
22 First Settlement of Albany. 
 
 In summer the negroes resided in a slight outer kitchen, where 
 food was dressed for the family. 
 
 The winter rooms had carpet ; the lobby had oil-cloth ; the best 
 bed room was hung with family portraits well executed. 
 
 The house fronted the river, on the brink of which under shades 
 of elm and sycamore, ran the great road towards Saratoga, Still- 
 water, and the northern lakes. A little avenue of morilla cherry 
 trees, led from the house to the road and river, not three hundred 
 yards distant. 
 
 ^ The Indian field was the resting place of all the travelling 
 Indians, and marching military. Every summer the place was 
 so occupied ; sometimes there were wigwams erected there ; all 
 manner of garden stuff, fruit and milk, were plentifully distri- 
 buted to wanderers of all descriptions from the Colonel's hos- 
 pitable store. 
 
 Her husband. Col. Philip Schuyler, was the first who raised a 
 corps in the interior of the province. This brought him much 
 into intercourse with British military, and with the governor, &c. 
 Mrs. S. by the good sense and good breeding with which she ac- 
 commodated her numerous and various guests, without visible 
 bustle or anxiety, showed herself worthy of her distinguished lot. 
 
 Mrs. Schuyler, early in life, was delivered of a dead child ; she 
 had none of her own afterwards ; but was constantly adopting 
 and bringing up others. This indeed was the practice of the coun- 
 try ; it was also done by the Indians. 
 
 She was called " Aunt Schuyler'' when advanced in 3^ears, by 
 all who knew her familiarly ; and " Madame Schuyler," by the 
 public in general. The last soubriquet she derived from the 
 French Canadian prisoners, to whom she had showed much kind- 
 ness. 
 
 It was one of her singular merits, that after acting with grace 
 and dignity at New York in the governor's circle, while with her 
 husband making the usual annual visit to New York city, she 
 could return to the homely good sense and primitive manners 
 of her fellow citizens of Albany, free from fastidiousness and dis- 
 gust. Few indeed without study or design, ever better understood 
 the art of being happy and making others so"too. All the chil- 
 dren she adopted and brought up were all married to advantage, 
 as useful and refined women. 
 
 At the liberal table of aunt Schuyler, where were always intel- 
 ligence, just notions, and good breeding to be met with, both 
 among the owners and their guests ; there were to be met British 
 officers of rank and merit ; only such could find a welcome there ; 
 and to be unwelcome there, was a sure disparagement upon any 
 person of pretension and name. 
 
 At the fiats, the self-righted boor learned civilization and sub- 
 ordination ; the high-bred and high-spirited field officer, gentle- 
 ness and respect for unpolished worth. 
 
First Settlement of %/ilbany. 23 
 
 Neither influenced by female vanity, or female fastidiousness, 
 but always taking liberal views of every thing, she might very 
 truly say of popularity, as Falstaff said of Worcester's rebellion, 
 " it lay in her way, and she found it :" for no one ever took less 
 pains to obtain it. She had all the power of superior intellect, 
 without the pride of it. But though her conversation was reserved, 
 for those she preferred, her advice, compassion, and good offices, 
 were always cordially given where most needed. In the large 
 family she had always about her, she was the guiding star, as 
 well as the informing soul, at the same time enjoying and en- 
 couraging innocent cheerfulness. She was eminent in christian 
 virtues and graces, and gave her time to her devotions. Her 
 reading was always solid and improving ; she loved and quoted 
 Milton ; she had always with her some young person " who was 
 unto her as a daughter." She began the morning with reading 
 the Scriptures. After arranging her orders for the day, she re- 
 tired to her closet to read, where she generally remained till about 
 eleven ; then she went with guests into the bower, in the garden, 
 or into the portico to sit and converse on useful topics. In con- 
 versation, she certainly took delight and peculiarly excelled : never 
 engrossing or seeming to dictate therein. Whenever she laid 
 down her book in the course of the day, she immediately took up 
 her knitting. Her advice and opinion was often consulted in the 
 public affairs. 
 
 There was probably no family possessing such uncommonly well 
 trained, active, and diligent slaves. There were two races of them 
 of two excellent mothers, who were severally ambitious to bring 
 up their children to usefulness in the family. Some of them 
 could make good tradesmen, such as wheelwrights, carpenters, 
 and masons on the place. Being well treated themselves, they 
 were all kind and gentle to the inferior animals imder their charge. 
 They all had pets of their own about the place, such as squirrels, 
 raccoons, and beavers. 
 
 Mrs. Schuyler, when her husband died in 1757, had him buried 
 in a family ground near to his own house. The grave she used 
 to visit often, and sit there and meditate. 
 
 The Schuyler family, at the origin of the American war di- 
 vided. Some took to the King, and some to the Independence. 
 Those who adhered to the crown, were rewarded with grants of 
 land in Upper Canada. Madame Schuyler, however, remained 
 in Albany, and with much prudence avoided to take part on 
 either side,* though her bias was for the crown. She died 1778-9. 
 
 Mrs. Schuyler, after the conflagration of her mansion, at the 
 Flats, went to live permanently at her house in town ; and it so 
 
 • Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler, and his services in the Revolution, are well 
 known in our history. Burgoyne destroyed his property at Saratoga, to the 
 amount of £10,000, and was then generously banqueted at his house in Albany 
 while a prisoner. 
 
24 First Settlement of Albany. 
 
 happeAed, as to be the next door to Miss Anne Mac Vicar, the 
 lady who became Mrs. Grant, she then being a child, when their 
 acquaintance began. At that time her leading negresses had 
 become old, and laid by ; sitting up in the kitchen, and chiefly 
 employing themselves in talking and smoking. Madame too had 
 become aged, and had lost many of her former connections. The 
 future,"from the near approach of colonial opposition, was begin- 
 ning to look dubious and cheerless; which was one reason probably, 
 why her active mind turned mostly on retrospection. She loved 
 to recount to young Miss Mac Vicar, (Mrs. Grant,) the tales of 
 other times, because she found in her so good and so interested 
 a listener. Her conversation generally related to the origin and 
 formation of all she saw around her in this new world, and 
 afforded ample food for reflection to considerate minds. 
 
 The earliest English church in Albany, used to be held by the 
 army chaplain. The same ministers used to go and serve occa- 
 sionally in Schenectady. 
 
 To myself, who so well knew the traits of Mrs. Logan^s cha- 
 racter, I saw so many points of resemblance, in the foregoing 
 quoted work of Mrs. Grant's "Memoirs of an" American lady,'' 
 as made me pleased and surprised at almost every page. The 
 foregoing extracts are only a few of the many which could be 
 felt to bear their relation to the manner and habits of Mrs. Lo- 
 gan. They were both superior women — both above the pride 
 and vanity of the world around them — both religious — and both 
 women of easy elegance and refined conversation — both of them 
 owed much to their self-training and useful reading — both had 
 but ordinary means of original education. They lived at a time 
 when schools were only instituted for elementary objects ; and all 
 the future advancement was to depend upon their own use of 
 books, and intercourse with intelligent society. 
 
 The Dutch forefathers were very religious in their views and 
 feelings — always manifesting great reverence for holy things. A 
 lease of 1651, now in existence and in the possession of Stephen 
 Van Rensselaer, " for the old maize land at Catskill," reads thus : 
 — *' The tenant is to read a sermon or portion of the Scriptures 
 every Sunday and high festival, to the christians in the neigh- 
 bourhood, and to sing one or more psalms before and after pray- 
 ers, agreeable to the customs of the church of Holland." Cer- 
 tainly such a reverent regard for the institutions of religion in a 
 new settlement, showed a very considerate and commendable 
 trait in " the Director of Rensselaer Wyck," the grantor of said 
 lease. 
 
 In the Dutch records found in the archives at Albany, is a let- 
 ter dated the 1st of January, 1680, signed by Thomas Ashton 
 commander, Martin Garretse, Derek Wassels, and others, com- 
 inissioners of Albany, directed to Captain Brockholst, then Go- 
 vernor of New York, concerning the Great Comet, which had 
 
First Settlement of *dlbany. 25 
 
 filled them with superstitious dread, wherein they thus set forth 
 their excited alarms, to wit : " Hou'd Sir, According to former 
 practice in this season of ye year, wee have sent this post to 
 acquaint you how all affares are here with us, which is (thanks 
 be to God) all in peace and quietnesse. The Lord continue ye 
 same through ye whole government. Wee doubt not but you 
 have seen ye Dreadful Comet Star, which appeared in ye 
 southwest on ye 9th December last, about two o'clock in ye after- 
 noon, fair sunshine weather, and which takes its course more 
 northerly, and was seen the Sunday night after, about twy-light, 
 with a fiery tale or streamer in ye ivest to ye great astonishm.ent 
 of all spectators, and is now seen every night in clear weather. 
 Undoubtedly God threatens us with dreadful punishments if 
 we do not repent. We would have caused ye Domine to pro- 
 claim a fast — a day oi fasting and humiliation to-morrow, to 
 be kept on Wednesday, if wee thought our power and authority 
 did extend so far: for all persons ought to humble themselves 
 in such a time, and pray to God to withdraw his righteous judg- 
 ments from us, as he did to Ninevah, Wee should be glad to 
 receive your approbation in this m,atter, and to have inonthly, 
 a day of fasting and humiliation, and wee pray you answer by the 
 bearer." 
 
 We perhaps think we are much wiser now — certainly not more 
 reverent and God fearing, however better we may now under- 
 stand the nature of harmless comets. Had it been " withdrawn" 
 as they then prayed, who knows the greater evil which might 
 have ensued ! The Pilgrim Fathers of New England were not 
 less reverent when they saw only purposed judgments in their 
 influenza, of that period, when it, however, afflicted almost spe- 
 cially, their best saints. 
 
 Patroon island, about a mile below Albany, was visited by an 
 unprecedented flood, in May, 1833. It washed off" in some places 
 the entire soil to the depth of several feet ; exposing human 
 skeletons buried after the Indian manner, in a sitting posture. 
 The island contained 160 acres of rich soil, occupied by a dozen 
 families as cultivators of vegetables for the Albany market. 
 
 The state of the Patroon, such as was enjoyed by Van Rens- 
 selaer, was the nature of feudal prerogative. As the Lord of 
 his domain, he held a supremacy in judicial and military matters. 
 The courts administered justice in his name ; and the people took 
 their oath of allegiance and fealty to himself alone. 
 
 4 C 
 
26 
 
 SCHENECTADY. 
 
 This place was the earliest settlement inland from Albany — 
 being sixteen miles distant, and was formed at that place by the 
 Dutch, as the nearest proper landing at the foot of the Mohawk 
 navigation. It was the proper place of the fur trade, where the 
 Indians brought their skins and received their supplies in return. 
 It was also for numerous years, the proper place of shipment of 
 military supplies, going inland up the Mohawk. Even before 
 the settlement of the whites at this place, it was the great con- 
 centration of Indian population, — it having when first known as 
 many as eight hundred warriors, and as many as three hundred 
 of them lived within the space of what now forms only one 
 farm in the neighbourhood. All of the earliest houses were 
 formed like those of Albany after the manner of the Dutch con- 
 struction. The first Dutch settler at Schenectady was named 
 Corlaer — before 1666. Its name signifies "beyond the pine 
 plains." 
 
 Being essentially a Dutch town, and far off from city popula- 
 tion, and city life, they retained their primitive character unaltered 
 for numerous years. They were money making and frugal in 
 their habits ; familiar and hospitable in their social relations, and 
 being daily in intercourse with the Indians, they were assimilated 
 to them in habits and feelings. Their characteristics have been 
 aptly drawn by Judge Miller, who speaking of them says, that 
 the story of their lives is only by tradition and memory — we 
 know that they had industrious habits, resolute minds, proverbial 
 economy and signal integrity ; they were not men of learning as 
 that term is now understood ; they may not have been polite men 
 in the present acceptation of the word ; and very certainly were 
 not fashionable men. None have ever known an old, respectable 
 and sensible Dutchman that had ever been a fashionable, nor 
 has any ever known a young Dutchwoman who ever made her- 
 self disfigured by her costume, or injured her health, for the sake 
 of display. Their raiment as well as their food was plain, ne- 
 cessary and useful, and to this day, the plain, straight coat of the 
 pristine Dutchman, the neat cap, and the ruddy countenance, 
 smihng under the plain sun bonnet of the Dutchwoman, give 
 delight in the recollection. But these men and women are seen 
 now no more, — they are gone, and with them their simplicity, 
 and other interesting qualities which garnished and beautified 
 men and women in the olden time. To such ancestors and 
 matrons, the present generation owe an everlasting debt of gra- 
 titude and respect. They encountered all the difiiculties and 
 

Dutch House, Schenectady, p. 26. 
 
 Dutch Church, State Street, Albany, 1656 to 1806, p. 15. 
 
First Settlement of Schenectady, 27 
 
 hardships common to a new country ; they were a stalwart and 
 hardy set of veterans, who made the forest fall before them. If 
 our condition is now more safe and comfortable, let us remember 
 that these Dutch forefathers have been the instruments and agents 
 of the most of what we now enjoy. 
 
 Schenectady as a frontier post and town had its defences of 
 stockades and palisades, its gates and its block-houses. Prepared 
 for war it was thus enabled to avoid it, even if hostilities had 
 been apprehended. They however had no enemies until they 
 became exposed to the machinations and sinister designs of the 
 French in Canada. These with their Indians, becoming desirous 
 of avenging the successful assault of the Iroquois on Montreal, un- 
 dertook a winter surprise in the year 1690, intending, if successful 
 here, to pursue their attack upon Albany itself. In managing such 
 a winter expedition through the snow, a party go before in snow 
 shoes, so as to beat a track for those who follow. At night, 
 groups would dig holes in the snow, casting the snow excavated 
 on the side next the wind — then they would collect branches of 
 fir-trees for their flooring, make their fire in the centre, wrap 
 themselves in their fur skins, and lay down with their feet 
 towards the fire. In the dead of night of the 8th of February, 
 when the ground was covered with snow, a small expedition of 
 two hundred French and a number of Indians, arrived unappre- 
 hended, and entering the guard gates before the inhabitants 
 could be armed for defence, they forced and fired almost every 
 house, butchering sixty persons of every age and sex, and bearing 
 off several prisoners. The rest fled almost naked in a terrible 
 storm and deep snow. Several of them lost their limbs through 
 the rigour of the cold. It was an awful time ; and long, long 
 was the calamity remembered and related by the few who sur- 
 vived to keep alive the fearful story. Those who most felt for 
 the sufferers, and sighed most for revenge, had an opportunity 
 in the next year, to join an expedition under the command of 
 IVIajor Peter Schuyler of Albany, " the Washington of his day." 
 He conducted about three hundred men, of whom the half were 
 Mohawks and Schakook Indians ; at La Praire they encoun- 
 tered twelve hundred men under De Collieres, and in several 
 conflicts slew thirteen officers and three hundred men, returning 
 home in -safety. This was certainly executing wonders against 
 so superior a force ! 
 
 It is said to have been a fact, that just before the massacre 
 occurred, Colonel Glen tried to convey inteUigence to the Sche- 
 nectadians of the approach of the Frenchmen, while they were 
 still on the other side of the river, and that for this purpose, 
 he used the services of a squaw, who had been in the habit of 
 selling brooms in the doomed village. But when she informed 
 some of the villagers, they were incredulous, as deeming it im- 
 possible that such an invasion, could be meditated in such an 
 
28 First Settlement of Schenectady. 
 
 inclement season and from such a distance. Tradition says, that 
 she paid a visit to a certain widow who was regaling the pastor 
 of the place with chocolate, then a luxury. On entering the 
 house, she gave some offence to the widow by shaking off the 
 snow from her moccasons on the newly scrubbed floor, which 
 quickly sent off the squaw, muttering as she went, " it will be 
 soiled enough before to-morrow V^ The name of the pastor was 
 Tassomaker, and he was the first ever settled in the place. He 
 took the alarm, however, and went away saying nothing ; but 
 following his own fears. He was never seen or heard of after- 
 wards, which led some of the good people to apprehend that he 
 was spirited away. The widow too, somehow, made her retreat, 
 and left descendants who used to relate these facts to subsequent 
 generations. 
 
 A curious memento of the calamity has been singularly pre- 
 served in a family of Albany, being an original manuscript, 
 written by Walter Wilie, one hundred and fifty years ago. It 
 is a relic of the olden' time in itself; and if the poetry flows not 
 in Lydian measures, it was probably equal to the poetic standard 
 of the day and place. The writer designed, that it might long 
 survive him, and it is certainly curious, that his wish has been so 
 well fulfilled, to wit : 
 
 " A ballad, in which is set forth the horrid cruelties practised 
 by the French and Indians on the night of the 8th of last Febru- 
 ary. The which I did compose last night, in the space of one 
 hour, and am now writing, the morning of Friday, June 12th, 
 1690. W. W." 
 
 God prosper long our King and Queen 
 Our lives and safties all, 
 ■ A sad misfortune once there did 
 Schenectady befall. 
 
 From forth the woods of Canada 
 
 The Frenchmen tooke their way, 
 The people of Schenectady 
 
 To captivate and slay. 
 
 They marched for two and twenty dales. 
 
 All thro' the deepest snow ; 
 And on a dismal winter night 
 
 They strucke the cruel blow. 
 
 The lightsome sun that rules the day, 
 
 Had gone down in the West ; 
 And eke the drowsie villagers 
 
 Had sought and found their rests, 
 
 They thought they were in safetie all, 
 
 And dream pt not of the foe ; 
 But att midnight they all awoke. 
 
 In wonderment and woe. 
 
First Settlement of Schenectady. 29 
 
 For they were in their pleasant Beddes, 
 
 And soundelie sleeping, when 
 Each Door was sudden open broke 
 
 By six or seven Men. 
 
 The Men and Women, younge & olde 
 
 And eke the Girls and Boys, 
 All started up in great Affright, 
 
 Att the alarming Noise. 
 
 They then were murthered in their Beddes, 
 
 Without shame or remorse ; 
 And soon the Floores and Streets were strew'd 
 
 With many a bleeding corse. 
 
 The Village soon began to Blaze 
 
 Which shew'd the horrid sight : — 
 But, O, I scarce can Beare to Tell 
 
 The Mis'ries of that Night. 
 
 They threw the Infants in the Fire, 
 
 The Men they did not spare ; 
 But killed All which they could find 
 
 Tho' Aged or tho' Fair. 
 
 O Christe ! In the still Midnight air. 
 
 It sounded dismally. 
 The Women's Prayers, and the loud screams, 
 
 Of their great Agony. 
 
 Methinks as if I hear them now 
 
 All ringing in my ear ; 
 The Shrieks & Groanes & Woeful Sighs, 
 
 They utter'd in their Fear. 
 
 But some ran off to Albany, 
 
 And told the doleful Tale : 
 Yett tho' We gave our chearful Aid, 
 
 It did not much avail. 
 
 And We were horribly afraid. 
 
 And shook with Terror, when 
 They told us that the Frenchmen were 
 
 More than a Thousand Men. 
 
 The News came on the Sabbath Morn 
 
 Just att the Break of Day, 
 And with a companie of Horse 
 
 I galloped away. 
 
 But soone We found the French were gone 
 
 With all their great Bootye ; 
 And then their trail We did pursue, 
 
 As was our true Dutye. 
 
 The Mohaques joynd our brave Partye, 
 
 And followed in the chase 
 Till We came upp with the Frenchmen, 
 
 Att a most likelye Place. 
 c 2 
 
30 First Settlement of Schenectady, 
 
 Our soldiers fell upon their Reare, 
 
 And killed twenty-five, 
 Our Young Men were so much enrag'd 
 
 They took scarce One alive. 
 
 D'Aillebout them did commande, 
 Which were but Thievish Rog-ues, 
 
 Else why did they consent and Goe 
 With Bloodye Indian Dogges] 
 
 And Here I End the long Ballad, 
 The Which you have just redde ; 
 
 And wish that it may stay on earth 
 Long after I am Dead. 
 
 Albany, 12th of June, 1690. 
 
 WALTER WILIE. 
 
 The Dutch of this land, have always been pre-eminent for their 
 attachment to their church — its ordinances and their " Domines." 
 It is therefore but matter of necessary consequence, that we 
 should feel a satisfaction in preserving the little history of their 
 origin and perpetuity. — The church records show — that their first 
 pastor was the Rev^d Petrus Tasschemaker, from Holland, 
 beginning his charge in the year 1684. Before that time only 
 occasional service could be performed, in private houses, by 
 visiters from Albany — and in the meantime the better Christians 
 made their church visits to the Albany church by going and 
 returning in two days. This honoured Domine, as has been told, 
 disappeared mfsteriously in the time of the massacre, and was 
 succeeded in 1702, by the Rev'd Thomas Brower, also from 
 Holland, who continued his services till 1728, when he died. 
 The Rev'd Bernardus Freeman and Rynhard Erkson, also from 
 Holland, served next in order. In 1740, we find the name of 
 Cornelius Van Santvoord, as the settled clergyman, — he coming 
 from Staten Island. He died in 1754, and was succeeded by a 
 Domine of the place named Barent Vroomer, who continued till 
 his death in 1782. — His successors down to the present time were 
 all Americans, to wit : the Rev'd Derick Romeyn, of New Jersey, 
 the Rev'd John H. Myers, also from N. J. The Rev'd Cornelius 
 Bogardus and the Rev'd Jacob Van Vechten, the jDresent pastor. 
 
 The first church was built between the years 1684 and 1698. 
 It was located at the south end of Church street near the head of 
 Water street. In 1733 a more commodious one was erected in 
 the centre of the street, where Union and Church streets intersect. 
 — This venerable pile was, by innovation, razed in 1814 — like a 
 similar church in the street in Albany. Before going down, it 
 fell into secular use — such as a watch house — a school house 
 and market. The bell of this church was remarkable for its 
 silver tones, said to have been because of a good proportion of 
 that metal in its composition. — It is at all events a fact that it 
 gave out a more distant sound, than one of twice its size, since 
 
First Settlement of Schenectady. 31 
 
 used in another and more modern church of another reUgious 
 denomination. 
 
 It is to be told to the honour and good feeUng of Mr. Jan 
 Rinkhout, that he made this church a donation of that tract of 
 land now called the " poor pasture/' — so called because the avails 
 were formerly applied to the use of the poor of the congregation. 
 He reserved to himself a small spot on which he had his hut, 
 partly under ground — the remains of which are still to be seen. 
 The good man himself is now underground — and his soul we 
 trust is in heaven. 
 
 The first English church, called St. George — was erected un- 
 der the auspices of Mr. John W. Brown, who came from Eng- 
 land sometime preceding the year 1762, — when the Episcopal 
 church was founded. Its principal benefactors were Sir Wm. 
 Johnson and John Duncan, Esq. Previous to the Revolution, 
 this church owned a valuable library. This together with the 
 organ and a greater part of the interior work was destroyed by 
 some Indians and a gang of lawless whites. Strange as it may 
 seem, these whites were fVhigs ! — of such as were all passion 
 and little sense ! It was called and considered " the English 
 Church," and as such their rage was against every thing Etig- 
 lish. They of course thought it was under British influence. 
 — They even meditated the destruction of the pastor's — Mr. 
 Doty's property ; but they knew not his place of abode, and as 
 none would inform them, he escaped their ire. Their first pastor 
 was the Rev. Wm. Andrews — he was succeedechin 1773, by the 
 Rev. Mr. Doty — who left his charge in 1777, probably as a Tory. 
 There was no settled minister again until 1791, when the Rev. 
 Ammi Rogers took the charge, and has since been succeeded by 
 the Rev. Mr. Whitmore, the Rev. Cyrus Stebbins, and the Rev. 
 P. A. Proal. 
 
 We are indebted for several of the preceding facts to the indus- 
 try and kindness of Giles F. Yates, Esq. 
 
 In excavating the earth through a little hillock, for the track 
 of the Utica and Schenectady railroad, in the vicinity of Fort 
 Johnson, four miles west from Amsterdam, a number of human 
 skulls and bones were found about two feet below the surface, 
 being evidently the remains of Indians. At the head of the 
 bodies was a copper kettle and a quantity of wampum, a piece 
 of rich Indian blanket, and a silver breast plate. 
 
 As late as the year 1785, a deer was shot in the town of Rot- 
 terdam, by Lewis Peek. Since then none have been seen in this 
 county, although they formerly abounded, as did also wolves and 
 panthers. Only twenty-five years ago a wolf was seen in the 
 neighbourhood of this city. Major J. J. Tonda of Glenville, 
 pursued and killed it. No bear has been seen in the vicinity 
 since 1770, not a single buffalo since 1783, nor a panther since 
 1784. Grouse once numerous have not been seen since 1740. 
 
32 First Settlement of Schenectady. 
 
 The first settler on Norman's Kill, Within the present bounds 
 of Schenectady nigh Princetown, was John Hendrick Van Bale, 
 who received his patent in the year 1672. The Indian name of 
 the creek is To-was-sent-haw, meaning a place of" many dcad.^' 
 The word haw is used as an affix to many Indian words, and 
 implies place, and " Ha-ga" the inhabitants of a place, and thus 
 Caugh-nawaga-haga, means the people of Caugh-nawaga. A 
 Norman family of the name of De Foix, corrupted to De Fox, 
 gave the name to Norman's creek, and also to Fox's creek. 
 This family at a very early period owned land at both places. 
 
 The first settler at Amsterdam, was Albert H. Vedder, who 
 went there in 1 784. The Indians called the place Chuck-ta-nunda. 
 
 Such names as Amsterdam and Rotterdam, evince their Dutch 
 origin, just as the Haldeburgh, shows that of the Germans. 
 
 Scenuscios, an Indian of the Oneida tribe, lived many years 
 on the Bouwlandt. His wigwam stood on the land of Van Otto. 
 He died in the year 1781, at the age of 96 years; he was the 
 father of the celebrated Skenando, who lived to 110 years. 
 
 Sechehowan, a chief of the Mohawk tribe, spent the whole of 
 a long life in the Bouwlandt. He was the last of the Sachems, 
 was very brave and intelligent, and was much attached and ser- 
 viceable to the whites. He died in 1783, upwards of 100 years 
 of age. In dying he said, now I am going ; the whites may come 
 and take all ! His grave still known, is on the west of Schulen- 
 berg creek, near the residence of Bartholomew Schermerhorn, Esq. 
 
 The cone-roof 'd cabins melt away, 
 And pale-fac'd strangers bear the sway ! 
 
 " Mill creek," which now seems a creek, was originally a 
 canal, dug 110 years ago. The object was to furnish a mill-site 
 near the town of Schenectady, and for a long time, it sufficiently 
 answered that purpose. 
 
 At the time of the great freshet in 1832, nearly the whole of 
 the Bouwlandt was overflowed, a deep hole was made in the 
 Erie canal, near the city, and at the bottom, at 20 feet below the 
 surface of the flats, was found a stratum of leaves, more than six 
 inches thick. A similar deposit was found in digging a well for 
 Judge De Graff". At a few rods distance, on the south side of 
 the river, at the depth of 20 feet, trunks and bodies of trees are 
 still to be seen, projecting into the water, and showing, probably, 
 the shifting of the banks in ancient times. 
 
 In the Bouwlandt, at the foot of the verge of the hills skirting 
 the flats, near the residence of John J. Van Eps, Esq., a moundhdiS 
 been noticed for many years. In levelling it for building in 1832, 
 the workmen came across a human skeleton of great stature. It 
 was seated in the centre of the mound, with his face to the east, 
 (why the east ?) and by its side was an earthen vessel in fine 
 preservation ; it was 18 inches high, rested upon four feet of two 
 
First Settlement of Schenectady, 33 
 
 inches length, and would have been preserved as a curiosity, had 
 not the foolish workmen broken it up in the hopes of , finding 
 money ! 
 
 As a proof of the entire Dutch character of Schenectady, we 
 here add the names of sundry streets, as originally called. We 
 feel a penchant for their preservation in this way. The reading 
 of them seems to bring us back to the freshness of olden time. 
 Longen gang was the ancient name of the present Maiden lane. 
 It was long the place and scene of their horse and foot races. It 
 was also famed as the night resort of sp hooks and spectres dire. 
 Aghter straat was the name of the present Green street. Nisk- 
 ayuna straat is now Union street. The " old Fort," (once the 
 new Fort,) was at corner of Cherry and Church streets. Sundry 
 localities or quarters, for there were not many streets, may be 
 thus designated as Hoechjen, viz : ^'Maihemas'^ should be Mar- 
 thamet, (i. e. aunt Martha,) " Boshe-boys^^ should be Bathsheba, 
 and ^'Honsum^^ should be Hanson. Judge Tomlinson's comer 
 was called Wilhelmus Vaders Hoeckjen. The Mohawk Bank 
 corner, Garret Simondse Hoeckjen. Helenamet Hoeckjen was 
 the quarter at the west end of Front and Washington streets. 
 This last place was also called Gouden Hoeckjen, meaning the 
 Golden, because the richest people generally resided there. — 
 [There was a similar Golden place in New York City — such as 
 Gouden berg, i. e. Golden Hill ?] The principal points of the 
 city called ^' Hookey s^^ were also thus designated, viz., Honsum^s 
 Hookey, at the corner of Church and State streets, where the old 
 men assembled, leaning on their staves, smoking their pipes, and 
 discussing the topics of the day. How different from any present 
 topics ! Shuter's Hookey, corner of Washington and State streets 
 — still retains its ancient appellative. Thank the moderns for this ! 
 De Noord Hoek and Be Zuyd Hoek — (north and south corners,) 
 and Caleb Beck's corner or Hookey, is now the corner of Union 
 and Church streets. For all these illustrations of names of by- 
 gone days, we are indebted to the gentleman before named, Giles 
 F. Yates, Esq. 
 
 In the year 1748, during the French and Indian war, one 
 Daniel Toll, a farmer, being out three miles from Schenectady 
 in search of his stray horses, was fired on and killed by Indians. 
 His servant giving the alarm, there went out sixty young men 
 from the town in pursuit ; but while they were viewing the 
 body, the Indians in ambush, surprised them and killed half of 
 the party. Their corpses were returned to their homes in the 
 same evening. What a time of deep mourning it must have 
 been to families to lose so many young men at once, from a town 
 of small population ! 
 
 In June 1759, a party of Indians assaulted a woman, servant, 
 and child, between Fort Johnson and Schenectady, and attacked 
 some men in a boat on the Mohawk. The woman was scalped, 
 
 5 
 
34 First Settlement of Brooklyn and Long Island. 
 
 and reached Schenectady, and the child and servant were borne 
 off as prisoners. 
 
 On one occasion, of about a century ago, a young couple who 
 were to have been married, and were to pass the Tomhanic creek 
 to meet their parson, were prevented from joining their minister 
 by the sudden flood of the creek, and they were actually married, 
 by the reading of the marriage ceremony, with the parties divid- 
 ed on the two sides of the creek. 
 
 EARLY SETTLEMENT AND INCIDENTS AT 
 BROOKLYN AND LONG ISLAND. 
 
 " These are Ihy annals, briefly told." 
 
 Brooklyn, originally spelt Breucklyn, and meaning broken 
 land, was first settled by George Jansen de Rapaelje, and other 
 Frenchmen, who located themselves at the place called the Waal 
 boght or Waloon bay. His compatriots were Le Escuyer, Du- 
 regee, Le Sillier, Cershaw, Conscilleur and Musserol, members 
 of the Hugonaut emigration. The earliest deed for land there 
 is from Governor Keift, in 1638, to Abraham Ryckern ; ,and the 
 oldest recorded grant is to Thomas Basker, in 1639. This must 
 be considered as among the first of the permanent Dutch settle- 
 ments on Long Island. The Dutch commenced their settlements 
 on Long Island at the west end as early as 1625. The English 
 about the same time at the east end. 
 
 In 1659, the inhabitants made a call of the Rev. Henry Solinias 
 as their pastor, sent out from Holland. Their first church was 
 built in 1666, and stood about forty years, when another was erect- 
 ed on the same site, and stood till 1810, when a new one was 
 built on Jerolemon street, which is again superseded by another 
 of more costly character. 
 
 Brooklyn was originally connected with Governor's Island at 
 Red Hook point, so that cattle were once driven across the pre- 
 sent Buttermilk channel. This channel has probably been since 
 deepened by the extension of the wharves on the East River. 
 
 The Dutch on Long Island were always careful to obtain their 
 lands there, by purchases from the Indians. Several of such 
 deeds are to be found recorded, and therein show, that there 
 were originally on the Island, several tribes of different national 
 or distinctive names. 
 
 The redoubts at Brooklyn, formed by the Americans in 1776, 
 before the British landed from Staten Island, near the present 
 Fort Hamilton, formed a line of intrenchments, from a ditch near 
 the late toll-house of the Bridge company, at the Navy Yard, 
 
First Settlement of Brooklyn and Long Island, 35 
 
 down to Fort Green, then called Fort Putnam, and from thence 
 to Freek's mill-pond. A strong work was erected on the lands 
 of Johannes Deberoice and of Van Brunt ; a redoubt was thrown 
 up on Boemus' hill, opposite Brown's mill ; and another was on 
 the land of John Johnson, west of Fort Green. Poniesburg, now 
 Fort Swift, was fortified, and a fort was built on the land of Mr. 
 Hicks, on Brooklyn heights. At the same time Chevaux de frise 
 was sunk in the main channel of the river below New York. In a 
 short time all this expensive and toilsome preparation of defence, 
 went for nothing, when yielding to the superior appointments 
 and strength of the enemy ! Sucli is la fortune de la guerro ! 
 
 While Gen. Washington was present, he occupied as his quar- 
 ters a low Dutch house of 1699, on the Gowanus road, near the 
 shore, and a mile and a half from the South ferry. The same 
 now owned by Mr. Cortelyou. 
 
 Brooklyn is deservedly remembered as the depository of the 
 bones of 11,000 American prisoners sacrificed to the cruelties of 
 war. For further particulars concerning the Prison ships moored 
 at the Wallabout, and their suffering and dying inmates, see the 
 Chapter concerning the Incidents of the War. 
 
 Gravesend, was settled in 1 640 by emigrants from Massachu- 
 setts, who had before gone there from England. These were 
 soon joined by Lady Deborah Moody, and her son, Sir Henry 
 Moody. She was a woman of wealth, who with her associates 
 were obliged to leave Lynn and other places of Massachusetts, 
 because of their religious sentiments, such as her discountenancing 
 infant baptism, &c. After her arrival her house was several times 
 assailed by the Indians. She was held in much estimation by 
 Gov. Stuyvesant. The original records of this town are still pre- 
 served from the year 1645. 
 
 Smithstown, was settled by Richard Smith, from Gloucester, 
 in England. He settled first at Boston, in 1630, then at Narra- 
 ganzett. In 1656, he came to this town on Long Island. He 
 had great interest with the Indians, and acquired large tracts of 
 their land, which was afterwards confirmed to him by Governor 
 Andros, in 1677. His will of 1691, on record, shows a large es- 
 tate, and numerous names of legatees and relatives. They became, 
 indeed, so numerous, as to take distinctive family divisions, such 
 as the Bull Smiths, (from the family use of a bull for riding pur- 
 poses ;) the Tangier Smiths, because once connected with Tangier. 
 There were also the Rock Smiths, and the Blue Smiths. Thus 
 showing even in that early day, the present perplexing difficulty 
 of identifying the abounding progeny of the Smiths ! 
 
 Gardiner^ s Island, a place of 3300 acres, was settled by Lyon 
 Gardiner, in 1641. He was by birth a Scotchman, who had at- 
 tached himself to Cromwell, he v/ent to Holland, there married 
 a Dutch girl, then went out to Saybrook Fort, where he had com- 
 
36 First Settlement of Brooklyn and Long Island. 
 
 mand, thence went to his island at Long Island. It has been 
 made remarkable by having been a favourite visiting place of 
 Capt. Kidd, the pirate ; there he buried and hid some of his trea- 
 sure, which became known to Gardiner, and was given up by 
 him to the commissioners of Governor Bellamont, after Kidd's 
 arrest and imprisonment at Boston. On one occasion Kidd pre- 
 sented Mrs. Gardiner with a cloth of gold, which has been pre- 
 served in the family. The original receipt given to the Gardiner 
 family for the treasure surrendered, is sufficiently curious at this 
 day to be here copied, as it tends to show the kind of treasure for 
 which the " money diggers" have been so long and so fruitlessly 
 employed. To wit : — 
 
 *d true account of all such gold, silver, jewels, and merchan- 
 dize, late in the possession of Capt. fVm. Kidd, which had 
 been seized and secured by us -pursuant to an order from 
 his Excellency, Richard, Earl of Bellamont, bearing date 
 July 7, 1699. 
 Received, the 17th instant, of Mr. John Gardiner, viz. 
 
 Ounces. 
 
 . . . 633 
 
 11 
 
 124 
 
 241 
 
 y precious stones, 4 1 
 
 \2h 
 
 No. 1. One bag of dust, gold, 
 
 2. One bag of coined gold, 
 
 and one in silver, . 
 
 3. One bag of dust, gold, 
 
 4. One bag of silver rings and sund 
 
 5. One bag of unpolished stones, 
 
 6. One piece of crystal, cornelian rings, two agates, 
 
 two amethysts, 
 
 7. One bag of silver buttons and lamps, 
 
 8. One bag of broken silver, 
 
 9. One bag of golden bars, 
 
 10. One do. do. do. 
 
 11. One bag of dust, gold, 
 
 12. One bag of silver bars, 
 Samuel Sewall, Nathl. Byfield, 
 Jeremiah Dummer, Andw. Belcher 
 
 :i 
 
 173^ 
 
 353i 
 238^ 
 59^ 
 309 
 
 Co?nmiss'rs, 
 
 If the proper owners of the foregoing certified treasure could 
 but appear to tell their separate tales of woe, in their several 
 losses of wealth and life, by the hands of the pirates, what an 
 array of ghosts would appear. 
 
 Flushing. — This ancient village was begun in 1644. Soon 
 after it was visited by the Quakers, sundry of whom settled there. 
 George Fox preached there in 1672, under the two great oaks 
 still there, at the Bowne house. The Episcopal church was 
 formed there in 1720, under the auspices of the Society for the 
 Gospel in Foreign Parts. 
 
 It has lately come to pass that by opening a railroad half through 
 
The Original Exploration of the Country. 37 
 
 the length of Long Island, to the Babylon watering place, they 
 have reached the wild pine lands, filled with " herds of tranquil 
 deer." This, strange to tell in four hours move from New York, 
 and we are sorry to add, with the prospect of their extermination, 
 there having been as many as eight hundred of these foresters 
 slain there within the last year !— all is going. 
 
 THE ORIGINAL EXPLORATION OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 " My soul, revolving periods past, looks back 
 On all the former darings of that vent'rous race." 
 
 The memorable landing day of the discoverer and his crew 
 was on the 3^ September, 1609. On that day, so soft and genial 
 as a grateful summer season, as Capt. Hudson was ranging the 
 line of our Jersey sea-bound shore, in going northward from the 
 mouth of the Delaware, which he had just before discovered, he 
 beheld far a-head in the northwestern sky, the Highlands of 
 Nave-sink, and not long after the lofty and woody lands of Staten 
 Island ; both at once designating the locality and conferring the 
 name of " the Great River of the Mountains." Such conspicu- 
 ous objects seen far off at sea, and mounting upward into the 
 calm blue sky, were too attractive and unusual not to invite a 
 nearer approach and closer inspection. Their hearts beat high 
 with vague and mysterious conceptions about the unknown — 
 Terra Incognita. Examination alone could allay or repress the 
 feverish curiosity of the mind, and to sail inward to the land, and 
 to visit this new region of the west, became at once the object 
 and the desire of every mariner. Little thought they, however, 
 as they passed the sea-beach strand of Monmouth county, and 
 looked ashore upon the rude and blank margin of Long Branch, 
 of the improvement and fashionable resort to which it was des- 
 tined ; and still less did they imagine they were to find and ex- 
 plore a great river, which was to. take the name and confer an 
 immortality of fame upon its discoverer and explorer. Thus 
 events in time, sometimes trivial in themselves, become by the 
 force of circumstances the counters of whole ages. 
 
 The first land so made, on the day aforesaid, was Sandt Hook 
 — Sandy Hook. There he observed the waters were swarming 
 with fish, and he soon after sent his boat's crew with a net to 
 procure a supply. The tradition has been that in so doing they 
 first made ashore on Coney Island, (wishing perhaps to see the 
 opposite side of the bay,) and that there Hudson was at first 
 received by the natives, the Matouwacks. There they found 
 vast numbers of plum-trees loaded with fruit, and manv of them 
 
 D 
 
38 The Original Exploration of the Country. 
 
 surrounded and covered by grape vines. While the ship, the 
 Half Moon, was at her anchorage at the Horse-shoe harbour, she 
 was much visited by the natives of the Jersey shore, a race of 
 Dela wares called Sanhikans ; they rejoicing greatly at the arri- 
 val of the strangers, and bringing them for their acceptance green 
 tobacco, dried currants or whortleberries, &c. The shores were 
 lined with natives, wearing mantles of furs and feathers, and 
 having copper ornaments and pipes. The crew on going ashore, 
 were received with great cordiality, and were conducted ipr obser- 
 vation some distance into the woods of Monmouth county. Dur- 
 ing the week which was passed at this anchorage, a boat was 
 sent with an exploring party to sound and examine the passage 
 of the Narrows, called by them the Hoof den, or head lands ; but 
 the men, in returning, were unexpectedly attacked by two passing 
 canoes of 26 Indians, in which rencontre one Colman, an English- 
 man, was killed, and two others wounded, by their arrows. The 
 Indians were supposed to have acted in alarm, and seemed to 
 have had no design of conquering, but made off as hastily as 
 they could. Possibly they were of the same race who dwelt on 
 York Island, and who, from their dread of reprisal, may have 
 been afterwards so reluctant to free intercourse and trade. Col- 
 man was buried at the Hook, at the place called Colman's 
 Point. 
 
 The country thus discovered took the name of New Belgium 
 (Nova Belgica) and New Netherland (Nieuw Nederlandt). The 
 North River was called by Hudson, not after his own name, as 
 we since should designate it, but "the Great River" — Groot 
 Rivier. After the year 1623, it was sometimes named in writings 
 the Mauritius, in honour of Prince Maurice; by others it was often 
 called Manhattan river. But its most prevalent name in common 
 acceptation was the Noordt Rivier (North River), both as a distinc- 
 tion to the Delaware river, which they called their South River, 
 and as discriminating it from the Oost Rivier — East River. To the 
 Indians it was known as the Cohohatatea and Shatemuc, and 
 Heckewelder says it bore the name of Mohicannittuck, meaning 
 the River of the Mohiccans, who dwelt all along its eastern side. 
 
 Staten Island was also called Staaten Eylandt by the Dutch, and 
 Aquehonga Manacknong by the Indians residing there. They 
 were Mohiccans, a tribe of the Lenni Lenape or Delawares. 
 Seals were once numerous back of the Island, and in New York 
 harbour, near to the Communipaw side. Robins' reef near there 
 (originally spelt Robyns rift), meant the seals' place ; " Robyn" 
 being the name of a seal. Governor's Island was originally 
 called Nooten Eylandt, or Nut Island, in reference to its abun- 
 dance of nut trees ; and was formerly nearly joined to Long Island 
 by a low intervening morass and a small dividing creek. 
 
 On the morning of the 12th SeptembeV, Capt. Hudson entered 
 the mouth of the " Groot Rivier" and cast anchor, when 2S 
 
The Original Exploration of the Country. 39 
 
 canoes, full of men, women, and children, came off to them ; but 
 from fear of treachery they were not permitted to board. At 
 noon his ship went onward two leagues higher. And now, having 
 begun the memorable exploration of the river, we shall endeavour 
 to mark his daily progress of ascent and descent, and carefully 
 note the names of Indian tribes, and the names which they 
 bestowed on localities ; for as their names were always expres- 
 sive of things about the place, their preservation may some day 
 serve to elucidate some dubious question in history. 
 
 In two days more Hudson reached the high and wild regions 
 of West Point, where, looking around upon the elevation of 1 500 
 feet, he records that " the land grew very high and mountainous." 
 These mountain regions bore the name of Mateawan ; and there 
 the Indians held the traditionary tale of the fearful mammoth, 
 called by them the Yagesho, which sometimes dismayed these 
 highland Wabingi. The scenery was grand and sublime. " He 
 perceived (says Moulton) at one time the narrow stream upon 
 which he had entered, abruptly struggling with the angles of the 
 hills, through broken rocks, under overhanging precipices, or 
 along the base of perpendicular iron-bound summits, whose oppo- 
 site sides indicated a former union which' some convulsion of nature 
 had severed. Here a perpendicular presented, there a declivity ; 
 here terrace rose upon terrace, there rocks upon rocks ; the whole 
 a wild and magnificent scene." How their hearts must have 
 throbbed with pure sublimity of emotion, seeing such rugged and 
 horrific wilds, contemplating their own loneliness, so far in an 
 unknown and dubious region ; fearing dangers, yet delighted 
 with actual vision, with scenery so grand and picturesque ! 
 
 By the 15th September he had passed the high mountains 
 between Peekskill and Newburgh, making 50 miles in one day, 
 and observing " great store of salmons in the river" (now all 
 gone). He came at night to the place of the present Catskill 
 Landing, where he found " a very loving people and a very old 
 man, by whom he and his crew were very well used." The man- 
 ner of this reception may be interesting now to contemplate. 
 Hudson was taken ashore in one of their canoes with an old man, 
 a chief The house he entered was neatly made of bark of trees, 
 well finished within and without. He saw much of Indian corn 
 and beans drying, enough to load three ships ; mats were spread 
 to sit on, and eatables were immediately brought to them in 
 wooden bowls. Two men were quickly sent off with bows and 
 arrows for game, and soon returned with two pigeons. They 
 also killed a/«/ dog, and skinned it with shells. Pumpkins, grapes, 
 plums, and tobacco, grew about the place. 
 
 The next day, the 17th, Hudson anchored in the neighbourhood 
 of the present Hudson city, little dreaming then of his ever giving 
 name to the place or to the river. About this place he lingered 
 some time, as being near the head of navigation, and still more 
 
40 The Original Exploration of the Country. 
 
 he rested near the same place on his return, by reason of head 
 winds ; just as if there was some mysterious connection between 
 his choice of a stopping-place and the choice made by posterity, 
 in the year 1784, of a city in the same place to bear his dis- 
 tinguished name ! It was in this vicinity that their eyes were 
 gratified with the sublime heights of the Kaatberges, where the 
 highest, the Round Top, lifted its awful form 3,800 feet. 
 
 After making the necessary soundings, by boat, over the Over- 
 slaugh, the yacht reached in safety the Castle Island just below 
 Albany. She was of course of easy draft, and must have been 
 a small vessel, though called a ship ; probably of the burthen of 
 sixty tons. 
 
 On the 1 9th September he again weighed anchor, and ascended 
 six miles higher up ; thus making his highest point of ascension 
 equal to the upper end of the present Albany. The particulars 
 of his stay there are related under the article concerning that set- 
 tlement. 
 
 On the 23d, Hudson started on his return from Albany. In 
 their descent they stopped in the neighbourhood of the present 
 Red Hook, and caught within an hour " two dozen of mullets, 
 breames, basses, and barbils.^^ When they anchored off the 
 present Poughkeepsie, they were visited by some natives bring- 
 ing with them Indian corn. 
 
 By the 29th he had arrived at the head of the Highlands, 
 called by him " the northernmost of the mountains," where he 
 anchored in or near the bay of the present Newburgh ; and then 
 he could not forbear to make the remark, since so obvious to 
 others, that " here was a very pleasant place to build a towne.'* 
 Newburgh, so beautiful in its aspect and surrounding scenery seen 
 from the river, has every thing to delight the eye. At this place 
 he was visited by the Wabingi. 
 
 The next stopping-place was in the vicinity of Stony Point, 
 and at the mouth of Haverstraw Bay. Here the natives, the 
 proper Highlanders, came in numbers to the ship, expressing their 
 admiration at what they saw of the great canoe and the white 
 skins. One of them, in his eagerness to get something away 
 which might gratify curiosity at home, had attempted clandes- 
 tinely to enter the cabin windows, when the mate with heedless 
 cruelty struck off his hand with a sabre, and the poor fellow fell 
 back into the water and was drowned. 
 
 The next day, the 2d of October, they reached the neighbour- 
 hood of Fort Washington, where they were assailed with the 
 arrowy of some assembled natives, who came off in canoes. 
 Firearms and cannon were discharged in return, by which nine 
 of the Indians were killed ; a deplorable severity. 
 
 On the 4th October, Hudson " left the great mouth of the great 
 river," and with full sail put off to sea. Thus terminated about 
 one month of successful exploration, in a fine season, and with 
 
The Original Exploration of the Country. 41 
 
 almost continual fine weather. He was just eleven days in ascend- 
 ing and eleven more in returning. Several times he was grounded, 
 but was readily got off. Such small vessels was the practice of 
 the age. Vessels of from only 20 to 30 tons went out to Virginia, 
 from England. A steam vessel, since, bearing the name of 
 " Hudson,'^ performs now the same voyage in almost as many 
 hours as Hudson then used days ! Such were the results to which 
 he was so unconsciously opening his mtroductory measures. 
 
 As a navigator, Hudson seems to have been prudent, skilful, 
 dignified, and humane ; and well deserved to have lived to have 
 witnessed some of the developments of his eventful discovery. 
 But his noble career was soon closed. After arriving at Dart- 
 mouth in England, on the 7th November, after a safe voyage, 
 and acquiring great fame for his discovery, he embarked again 
 in April 1610, on his favourite expedition — the discovery of the 
 northwest passage to India. In the neighbourhood of Iceland 
 his crew mutinied ; and on Sunday the 21st June, 1611, they 
 forced Capt. Hudson and his youthful son, and seven others, adrift 
 in a shallop ; and, painful to tell, they were never heard of more ! 
 Whether they got to Digg's cape, which was purposed, and massa- 
 cred; or whether involved in inextricable masses of driving ice 
 and perished, heaven only knows. The mutineers, after much 
 peril and sufferings of hunger, and a loss of more than half their 
 number, reached Ireland September 6, 1611. 
 
 None of the name of Hudson appeared to survive and to enjoy, 
 as a family pre-eminence, the honours of this famed navigator, 
 probably because he may have left no male issue. One of his 
 family connection, Wm. Hudson, who settled at Philadelphia at 
 the foundation of that city, was a distinguished man ; once a 
 clergyman in Barbadoes, he became a friend, and left a respect- 
 able family, now extinct in its male issue. 
 
 Another exploration was instituted by the West India Company 
 in sending out, in 1614, two ships commanded by Capt. Adrian 
 Blok and Hendrick Christiaanse. The former arrived first, and 
 his ship having accidentally biu:ned, he built another on the East 
 River ; a first demonstration to the simple natives of the superior 
 skill of the Charistooni — iron workers. With this vessel he made 
 his examinations along that river to Helle-gadt. To the Sound 
 he gave the name Groot Bai — great bay, and examined, as he 
 proceeded, the places along its shores. At the far end he met 
 with Schipper Christiaanse, and both vessels soon after proceeded 
 to their investigations up the great river, the Hudson ; leaving 
 behind them to perpetuate their memory Blok Island and Chris- 
 tiaanse Eylandt, the same since called No Man's land or Martha's 
 Vineyard. They proceeded up to Castle Island, Albany, and 
 there made a settlement. 
 
 It may be mentioned in conclusion, as to the nations and resi- 
 dences of the Indians, that the Mohiccans (Mohicanni) dwelt on 
 6 d2 
 
42 The First Colonists, 
 
 the eastern side of the Hudson, from the Tappan sea up to its 
 head. The Mohawks (spelt Maquas and Mackwaas) held all the 
 western side, from the head waters to the Kaatskill mountains. 
 The Wabingi, called Wappingers in later years by the English, 
 together with the Sankikani, occupied from thence down to Am- 
 boy bay. The Mohawks on the western side, were in general 
 unfriendly to the Mohiccans on the other side, and eventually 
 became their conquerors. 
 
 The " Racks'' so called, along the river, were Dutch names for 
 Reaches. Thus Martelaers rack meant the Martyr's reach or 
 struggling place ; Lange rack, was Long reach ; and Klauver 
 rack. Clover reach, &c. 
 
 It might perhaps serve to show the former peaceful state of 
 the Hudson waters, to state a fact recorded by Vanderdonck, as 
 a fact known to himself at the time, and sufficiently strange to us 
 now, that in the spring of 1647, two lohales swam up the river 
 many miles : one returned and stranded about 10 or 12 miles 
 from the sea-shore ; the other kept on, and stranded not far from 
 Cahoe's Falls, at what is since called Whale Island, opposite the 
 city of Troy. The oil was secured by the inhabitants, but the 
 flesh long tainted the air of the country. Kalm, in 1749, con- 
 firmed the above in saying it was then a report at Albany 
 that a whale had once got up the river quite to the town ; he 
 also mentioned that porpoises even then occasionally got up 
 there. 
 
 THE FIRST COLONISTS. 
 
 « First in the race, that won their country's fame." 
 
 The earliest colonists who came out for professed purposes of 
 permanent settlement, were those brought out in 1623, in the ship 
 of Capt. Kornelis Jacobse Mey. Soon after, two ships of the 
 West India Company brought out as professed agriculturists, the 
 Waalons from the river Waal, and having for their first governor 
 or director, Peter Minuit. They appear to have settled in 1625 
 upon Long Island, at a bend of the shore at Brooklyn, called 
 Wal-bocht, a word importing the fVaaloo7i bend : a place since 
 noted for being, as its high river bank, the depository of eleven 
 thousand of the American dead, from the prison ships in the 
 time of the war of the revolution. Jan Joris Rapaelje appears to 
 have been their chief man ; and his daughter Sarah, born 9th 
 June, 1625, and afterwards the widow Foley, was long honoured 
 as " the jirst-horn child ;" and for that cause was presented a 
 tract of land by the governor, in consideration of that distinction 
 and her widowhood. 
 
The First Colonists. 43 
 
 The terms of encouragement to agriculturists and settlers was 
 great, and especially to those who should go out to the " Groot 
 Rivier" of Hudson, with the enterprise, force, and capital of 
 Patroons; a name denoting something baronial and lordly in 
 rank and means. They were such as should undertake to plant 
 a colony of fifty souls, upwards of fifteen years old ; taking them 
 out, if needful, in divisions of a fourth each in four years. To 
 such the preference was given in absolute property, of such lands 
 as they should choose, being four miles along the river and as far 
 back as they desired ; and all goods which they should want at 
 any time imported, was to be done for them at $lh a ton. The 
 passengers were to have been transported in the ships of the 
 company, paying only for passage and provisions six stuyvers 
 daily, equal to but \2h. cents per day. Only think what an in- 
 considerable sum to allure emigrants to settle a land such as New 
 York is now known to be. And yet but very few so took up 
 lands as virtual lords of manors ! All other individuals going out 
 as settlers, were free to take up as much land " as they should 
 have ability and property to improve ;" and provided also, that 
 " they should satisfy the Indians for the land they should settle 
 upon.^^ One of the most exceptionable features in the terms, in 
 our sense of morality now, was, that the company would " use 
 their endeavour to supply the colonists with as many blacks as 
 they conveniently can." To this cause the hateful traffic began ; 
 and the Indians who first saw them, pronounced them a race of 
 devils. Killian Van Renselaer, a director and merchant of Am- 
 sterdam, was among the first-named Patroons, who procured his 
 location at and about the present Albany, to which lands he in 
 1630 gave the name of Renselaerwyck. The Patroon himself 
 settled on the first large island below the present Albany, where 
 he laid out a place called Renselaerburgh. Those who can now 
 pass the place in the steamboats should look out the position, and 
 reflect on its change from then to now ! The same family, now 
 resident in Albany, and very wealthy, bear now the name of "/Ae 
 Patroon.^' Michael Pauuw, another director, took up the lands 
 of "'Hohocan Hackingh, lying opposite the island Manhates," 
 New York, to which he gave the name of Pavonia; but as he 
 never made any settlements, his lands reverted. 
 
 Although we are accustomed, after the early declaration of 
 Vanderdonck, to regard Hudson as the first visiter at Manhattan, 
 it is nevertheless, supposed to be true, that one of Verrazzano's 
 vessels had before visited Sandy Hook, as early as 1524, being 
 eighty-five years preceding the arrival of the Half Moon. 
 
 The first trading house of the Dutch being surrounded by a 
 palisade, took the name of the first fort — this was in 1615. Its 
 site was the place now known as Bunker's Hotel, on Broadway. 
 A real fort was erected in 1623-4, in a square form, on the then 
 bank of the North River, along the west side of the Trinity church. 
 
44 The First Colonists. 
 
 Governor's Island, so called because it was always regarded 
 as a perquisite attached to their office, was originally so near to 
 Red Hook, main land, that cattle crossed the channel to and fro 
 at low water. Gov. Keift had a plantation on the island which 
 he leased for 150 lb. of tobacco per year. His farm at Paulus 
 Hook he sold to Planck for £75. 
 
 Fort Amsterdam was finished by Van T wilier, on the then 
 hluff, in 1640. The church within the fort was built under 
 Gov. Keift, in 1642-3, and its first minister was the Rev'd John 
 Megapolensis. He published a short description of the country. 
 He says that strawberries were so plenty in the fields, that they 
 were accustomed to go and lie down among them to eat them, 
 and that good grapes were in much abundance. The Indians 
 went nearly naked in summer, and wore bear and other skins for 
 clothing in winter. 
 
 There are several instances of the Dutch making purchases of 
 lands in- given places from the Indians, sufficient to show that it 
 was their general practice to make terms with the Indians, as 
 proper proprietors of the soil. Staten Island was so purchased. 
 
 The Dutch church, in Garden street, was built about the year 
 1693. The middle church in 1729. 
 
 The Trinity Church was built in 1696. The Friends in the 
 same year built their meeting-house in Crown street, since Lib- 
 erty street. 
 
 Before 1700, the ordinary transactions of the country were paid 
 in produce — six bushels of corn was the price for killing a wolf. 
 A minister was paid £60 a year in wheat or corn, — even decrees 
 in court, were sometimes paid in the same way. The minister 
 at Albany had one hundred and fifty beavers. 
 
 Gov. Petrus Stu3rvesant, arrived from Amsterdam the 27th May, 
 1647. He had been before wounded in Curracoa, and lost his 
 leg, and in lieu of it had a wooden one, banded with silver straps, 
 called his silver leg ! He married when here, Judith Bayard, 
 one of the Hugonot emigrants. 
 
 Doctor Adrian Vanderdonck, in his account of New Nether- 
 lands, where he had resided fifteen years, published in 1653, 
 speaks of sundry facts, to wit : they cultivated vineyards and in- 
 troduced grape of foreign stock, and sent out vine-dressers from 
 Heidelberg— they had also a botanic garden, where much of the 
 wild flowers of the country were gathered. They also tried 
 canary seed, " which did well." The Indian hunting season is 
 about Christmas — deer are then fattest. The woods were made 
 open and clear by the Indian practice of burning the under brush. 
 The Indians constructed long narrow wigwams, to contain many 
 families in the same structure ; the roof was formed of wide bark, 
 one hole in the top to let out the smoke. Their towns or castles 
 were stockaded with logs and palisades. Their general remedy 
 for disease was fasting or sweating. They despised falsehood^ 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 45 
 
 but fell from this as they mixed more and more with the settlers. 
 They went out in large parties for beavers, and staid out from 
 one to two months, bringing home generally forty to eighty skins 
 a man, besides other skins. They used bows and arrows and 
 clubs and large shields. 
 
 The town wall from river to river, raised as a defence along 
 Wall street, was first erected of stones and earth by Gov. Stuy- 
 vesant, in 1653. 
 
 The daily meeting of the merchants was determined by the 
 order of Gov. Lovelace, in 1699, to be near the Bridge, at the 
 foot of Broad ' street. It afterwards became the locality of the 
 Exchange. 
 
 In 1682, the population of New York as officially returned, 
 was upwards of 2000 souls, besides slaves, and 207 houses. 
 
 In 1686, the province contained twenty-four villages, in six 
 circuits, the militia was 4000 and the inhabitants 20,000. About 
 the same timie, slaves were brought from Barbadoes, and sold for 
 produce. 
 
 The first case on record in the Mayor's Court, in 1672, is in 
 Dutch, the others which follow are all in English. 
 
 The word ^'Eos'^ had a meaning to the Dutch of New York a 
 century ago, not since as well understood. It was originally 
 written and printed Baas, and literally means Master — a name, 
 howbeit, which many of our republican labourers feel disposed to 
 reject, although they like well enough to acknowledge a Bos. 
 
 Staten Island, so majestic and grand in its elevation, was the 
 favourite spot of the primitive Dutch settlers. It was first bought 
 from the Indians for Michael Pauw, by a deed on record, dated 
 10 August, 1630. The Indians again sold it in 1638, to Heer 
 Melyn, and afterwards, strange to tell, they again sold it to 
 Baron Van Cappellen. But the colony of Van Cappellen being 
 assaulted and massacred by the Raritan Indians, the Island was 
 confirmed to Heer Melyn. 
 
 EARLY INLAND SETTLEMENTS. 
 
 « Bold master spirits — where they touch'd they gain'd 
 Ascendance, — where they fix'd their foot, they reigned," 
 
 For numerous years after the first settlement, Albany consti- 
 tuted the ultima Thule — the remotest point of interior civilization 
 and improvement. Even as late as the war of independence, the 
 present flourishing towns of Troy and Lansingburghwere scarcely 
 named. Saratoga Springs and Ballstown, now so famed and fash- 
 ionable, were in their native barrens. 
 
46 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 Kinderhook, Esopus, Rhinebeck, were among the earliest 
 Dutch settlements along the banks of the Hudson. They are 
 mentioned as early as 1651 by Joost Hartgers; and in 1656 by 
 Vanderdonck. Esopus having been made a place of depot for 
 our military stores, was assaulted in 1777 by the British General 
 Vaughan, and taken and burnt. 
 
 Old as Kinderhook was, as an early settlement, yet it was visited 
 by hostile Indians, in comparatively modern times. 
 
 In the year 1755, as some half dozen of the inhabitants were 
 working in their corn field at that place, they were fired upon by 
 as many Indians ; our people ran to their arms, whereby two of 
 the Indians were killed. 
 
 Soon after, between 30 and 40 Indians again appeared and 
 were pursued by Robert Livingston and 40 men. At Claverack, 
 there was also a small inroad and assault of Indians. 
 
 As late as the year 1764 the Indians attacked a family near 
 Kinderhook, assaulting six persons in the field when hoeing 
 corn. They had their guns with them, and used some of them. 
 One Gardner fought bravely, and being wounded, was scalped 
 and yet survived it all ! 
 
 Rhinebeck, as well as Strausburgh nigh it, were at an early 
 period much occupied by Germans. The former place, in 1749, 
 had its separate church and German pastor, the Rev. Mr. Hartu- 
 rig. The Germans were encouraged to settle in New York state 
 in the time of Queen Anne. Several got dissatisfied there and 
 moved into Pennsylvania, under some encouragements received 
 from Gov. Sir W. Keith. 
 
 Saratoga springs, are in what was the Mohawk's country. 
 They were discovered by a party of surveyors in 1770, while the 
 country was still a wilderness. Our troops at Saratoga in the 
 revolutionary war used them : but the earliest regular notice of 
 them was in a communication of Dr. Tanney of the army, who 
 in Sept. 1783, writing to a scientific society said, " I think they 
 only want a suitable introduction to the world, and some conve- 
 nient houses for boarders and lodging patients, to render them of 
 important service to the country.'' 
 
 It is supposed that the Indians may have known and used them 
 before the whites. 
 
 The village of Saraghtoga near Albany, was announced in the 
 Gazette of 1745, as having been destroyed by Indians, and as 
 many as ninety persons were missing. A friendly Indian reported 
 that he had seen as many as sixty of these prisoners going off to 
 Canada. Upon this intelligence troops at New York were ordered 
 oiF for Albany. 
 
 Since then how wonderfully important has Saratoga become ! 
 Once a deeply sandy place, now, macadamized and adorned with 
 spreading elms. Once its pine lands were an uncultivated waste, 
 now they have learned to make them into cultivated and profita- 
 
' Early Inland Settlements. 47 
 
 ble farms. Almost every year some new fountain is discovered, 
 and all superior in their kind. The new fountains near the Pavi- 
 lion, are evidences that others of equal excellence will hereafter 
 be discovered. If the consecrated springs of England, though 
 much inferior, had their saints and shrines to give them counte- 
 nance to exact gifts from their grateful beneficiaries, in the form 
 of pilgrims and devotees, as at the pool of St. Nun, the holy well 
 of St. Wenefrede, of St. George, St. ^han,St. Cheyne,St. John, 
 &c., may we not with classic and mythological remembrance 
 invoke Hygeia, to assign to every spring a nymph, or a minor 
 deity ! Whether or not, we shall doubtless see Temples in some 
 form, erected on their sites, where the infirm and the world of 
 fashionables, will crowd to ofier their tributes. 
 
 In the time of the summer visits to Saratoga and Ballstown, 
 steamboats in the top season arrive at Albany, surcharged with 
 gay travellers — " six hundred passengers in the North America" 
 — " 450 in the Erie," &c. 
 
 How it might astonish the former Dutch burghers to arise 
 again and see such wonders as steam vessels and their passengers 
 at their wharves, — canals of 300 miles in length, railroads to the 
 springs, newspapers too, daily ones, every day at their tables from 
 all the cities of the Union, and those of New York city at their 
 tea-tables, the same day they were printed ! All these wonders 
 wrought within the term of a short life ! It is something to have 
 lived in such an era, it even beats the stirring incidents of the 
 Revolution, which happened whilst we were no7i est. 
 
 Lake George, &c. — This little lake and its vicinity, is full of 
 historical recollections and exciting imagery of the past. Its 
 original name of Horicon, being the most poetical, is thus apos- 
 trophised by poetry itself, to wit : 
 
 And here thou art sweet Horicon, the same 
 As when of old thy silvery bosom bore 
 Armies in bright array, in taarch of fame, 
 Of conquest, glory, and of something more — 
 Of Empire — aye : — and long did barb'rous war 
 In blood, wheel round thee his destructive car. 
 
 Along this lake are now the quiet remains of forts and defences 
 — such as Fort George and Fort William Henry. There, had been 
 the gallant Montcalm with his besieging army compelling a sur- 
 render which eventuated in a massacre of our people, by the 
 savage Indians — on this lake. General Abercrombie in 1758, em- 
 barked his 15,000 men for his attack upon Ticonderoga. In later 
 years, our gallant Colonel Allen surprised and captured the same 
 fortress. — Now, all the forts are demolished ; all is hushed in peace 
 and silence, save when boat parties wake the echoes which strongly 
 reverberate along these waters, and among the numerous islets of 
 
46 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 the narrow lake. How few now survive of our soldier defenders, 
 to be witnesses of the present pleasure parties of travellers, who 
 now contemplate these regions as only formed for delight. 
 
 But we could still tell a tale of terror to many of this same re- 
 gion. 'Twas only in the past year, that two men on the East 
 side of the Tongue mountain, killed in the course of three days, 
 eleven hundred and six rattle-snakes, found among the rocks and 
 the prevailing solitudes. 
 
 Some Scotch presbyterians went out early under the auspices 
 of the Livingston family. At the first settlement of Albany, 
 Livingston was secretary to the Dutch government, his family 
 being at the same time, Brownists in Holland, from Scotland. I 
 have seen an autograph letter of his mother to his address, written 
 from Amsterdam when in the eightieth year of her age, and pro- 
 viding therein for his receiving out fifty of that people at a time, 
 as his working men, to serve seven years a-piece for only food 
 and raiment ; all for the sake of freedom of conscience. The 
 Livingston family settled near Hudson city ; and one of the Liv- 
 ingstons (Robert) in later years (1752) took up 300,000 acres of 
 forest land, extending from Esopus to the Delaware river, and 
 proposing to rent them out forever on the condition of fifty bushels 
 of wheat her one hundred acres yearly. 
 
 Hudson city is but a modern affair, having been, till the year 
 1 784 cultivated as a farm. It was then purchased by a few enter- 
 prising persons of capital from the eastward, chiefly for the pur- 
 pose of conducting there the whale fishery to the Pacific ocean. 
 Such was its rapid progress, that in two years there were as many 
 as one hundred and fifty dwelling-houses erected. During the 
 snowy winter of 1786, it was visited daily, it was said, by one- 
 thousand two hundred sleds, bringing in and taking out articles 
 of traffic. It is deemed at the head of tide water and ship navi- 
 gation. 
 
 Newburgh existed before the revolution ; and being a place 
 beautifully situated, and not far from West Point, it was occasion- 
 ally made a place of visit and relaxation by General Wash- 
 ington, and other superior officers serving during that war at 
 that post. 
 
 The Hasbrook House, at Newburgh, acquired an eminence and 
 just fame (though but of one story high,) as having been the hum- 
 ble quarters of General Washington. Thoughlowin roof, itcovered 
 ground enough to contain many rooms. There, was received and 
 entertained by the General and his lady, many distinguished men 
 and officers of the Revolution. A fine engraving has been made 
 of it by Weir, with all its adjacent woodland shade. In the year 
 1834, it was advertised for sale "as built in the Dutch style, and 
 being the ?7io,9^ ancient anddurable building above the highlands," 
 — also as having been " said by General Washington and his offi- 
 cers, to surpass any other situation on the Hudson, for beauty and 
 
Arrival of Hudson at Sandy Hook, 1609, p. 3. 
 
 Hasbrook House, Washington's QuartrrP, p. 4S. 
 
.^ 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 49 
 
 grandeur of prospect." Do any of the picturesque seekers and 
 travellers know it now ? 
 
 Square and rough hewn, and solid in the mass, 
 And ancient, beside yon rock-ribb'd hills — 
 There let me reverent tread, for 
 There the spirits of the dead are still 
 In memory, and in fame and name. 
 Let no rash hand, attempt its 
 Desecration, — for here the great Patriot 
 Once had trod — trod by him. 
 Who fought to make us free ! 
 
 When General Washington was at West Point, and Newburgh, 
 &c., in 1779, he wrote a facetious letter to Dr. Cochran, the Direc- 
 tor General of the Hospitals, which will well serve to show the 
 specimen of the homely fare of his table, and serve as a vestige 
 of the Hasbrook house and its concomitants, to wit : 
 
 "West Point, Aug. 16, 1779. 
 Dear Doctor, 
 
 I have asked Mrs. Cochran and Mrs. Livingston, to dine with 
 me to-morrow ; but ought I not to apprise you of their fare ? As 
 I hate deception, even when imagination is concerned, I will. ^ 
 
 It is needless to premise that my table is large enough to hold 
 the ladies — of this they had ocular demonstration yesterday. To 
 say how it is usually covered, is rather more essential, and this 
 shall be the purport of my letter. 
 
 Since my arrival at this happy spot, we have had a ham, 
 sometimes a shoulder of bacon to grace the head of the table. A 
 piece of roast beef adorns the foot, and a small dish of green beans 
 — almost imperceptible, decorates the centre. When the cook has 
 a mind to cut a figure ; and this I presume he will attempt to- 
 morrow, we have two beef-steak pies or dishes of crabs in addition, 
 one ou'each side of the centre dish, dividing the space and reduc- 
 ing the distance between dish and dish, to about six feet, which 
 without them, would be nearly twelve apart. Of late, he has 
 had the surprising luck to discover that apples will make pies ; 
 and it is a question if, amidst the violence of his ejfforts, we do 
 not get one of apples, instead of having both of beef. 
 
 If the ladies can put up with such entertainment, and submit 
 to partake of it on plates, once tin, but now iron—not become so, 
 by the labour of scouring, I shall be happy to see them. 
 
 Dear sir, yours, 
 
 George Washington." 
 
 Such a letter is a choice relic of the days of self-denial, self- 
 devotion and peril, and presents us with a lively picture of the 
 Hero and his domestic state. But above all, it is almost a solitary 
 7 E 
 
$0 Early Inland Settlements, 
 
 proof of his power to be playful and merry, for the adaptation of 
 female society. 
 
 What a pity if is, that we have not also a description from one 
 or both of the ladies of that " feast of reason and flow of soul," 
 as it really occurred, at such an eventful crisis. What a fine 
 subject for a chapter, from a female witness and observer is thus 
 lost! 
 
 Strange, that so many should have had chances to see such 
 peculiar things, and yet never have had a thought of setting 
 them down upon paper, — but allow them quietly to die with 
 themselves ! But so goes the world ! " What is remembered dies, 
 what is written lives ;" and therefore, so far, this record now. 
 
 The Mohawk river, extending far westward through a narrow 
 and long valley of fruitful soil, presented the earliest allurement 
 for agricultural purposes inland ; and yet it was not until after 
 the war of independence that it began to be sought after by white 
 men. Filled as it now is with a prosperous and wealthy popula- 
 tion ; planted with numerous thriving villages, traced along its 
 margin with the recent grand canal, and made the line of the 
 grand tour to Niagara by numerous passengers from the opulent 
 sea-board cities ; yet it was not far beyond the period of that war, 
 when it was still the beaver country of the aborigines or their 
 wigwam locations ; and the general region of country, their hunt- 
 ing ground, through which ranged bears, foxes, wolves, deer, and 
 other game ; the Indians themselves calling the lands Couxsa- 
 chraga — the dismal wilderness. 
 
 Men are still alive while we write this (in 1830,) who in the 
 time of the revolutionary war, were in the defence of several of 
 its military redoubts as frontier posts. Mr. Parrish, Indian agent, 
 now resident at Canandaigua, was with a predatory party of In- 
 dians as a prisoner when they came into the neighbourhood of 
 the present town of Herkimer, only eighty miles westward of 
 Albany. Col. Fry of Conojohari, above ninety years of age, still 
 alive, was commissary for these outposts in the " old French 
 war." In his vicinity^ at the town of Mohawk, but thirty-six 
 miles west of Albany, at the junction of the Schoharie creek with 
 the river Mehawk, is the old Mohawk town ; and their old church, 
 still there, is the same built as a missionary station in the reign of 
 Queen Anne, having Fort Hunter to cover and defend it from 
 predatory enemies. At this very place the Mohawks were actu- 
 ally dwelling as a nation until the year 1780. 
 
 Not far from the " Little Falls," now so romantic and picturesque 
 by reason of its rocky rapids and the expensive constructions for 
 the canal along its margin, once stood the advance post of Fort 
 Herkimer. An old church near it, by lock No. 28, is still standing, 
 which was used as a place of defence against an Indian assault, 
 even in the time of the Revolution. From the village of Herki- 
 mer up to Canada creek, a distance of fourteen miles, are the very 
 
Early Inland Settlements, 51 
 
 lands, embracing now the present fashionable resort and elegant 
 place of entertainment, called " the Trenton Falls," which were 
 once given by King Hendricks, our good ally, to Gen. Sir Wm. 
 Johnson, who had taken his wife from the Indian race. King 
 Hendricks himself lived at " Indian Castle" on the Mohawk 
 river, sixty-six miles from Albany. As late as the revolution, a 
 son of Sir Wm. Johnson, coming from Canada, made a hostile 
 incursion with his Indians through all these lands, once his 
 father's ! 
 
 At the present flourishing city of Utica, only ninety-five miles 
 west of Albany, once the site of old Fort Schuyler, the settlement 
 is so recent that in 1794 it had but two houses ; and in 1785 the 
 whole region of country had but two families, dwelling in log 
 houses as advance pioneers : says Judge Hugh White, after whom 
 Whitestown is since named, and Moses Foot. From Utica to 
 Canandaigua, they travelled for several years by "blazed paths;" 
 that is, by chipping pieces out of trees, to show the traveller his 
 way through boundless forests. 
 
 Dr. Elezier Mosely, who died in 1833, at the age of seventy- 
 three, was one of the earliest settlers of Whitestown, having come 
 there soon after Judge White had begun the settlement. He had 
 been the first appointed Postmaster at Schenectady, and wishing 
 to have a post from their new place, it would not be granted un- 
 less the inhabitants themselves would bear the expense. This 
 was agreed to, and Judge Piatt, Thomas R. Gold and others of 
 the first settlers, took it under contract for six years ; but at the 
 end of three or four years, so much had the postage increased 
 beyond government expectation, that it bought back the contract, 
 by paying a considerable sum for the indulgence ! 
 
 At first, the western mail was carried from Albany once a week, 
 in a valise on the shoulders of a footman, — the same individual 
 to whom the same route of country has since been so much 
 indebted for Stage conveyances ! 
 
 Such facts sufficiently evince the rapid progress of settlements ! 
 
 When Utica first began its career, John Jacob Astor, and Peter 
 Smith, travelled the ground from Schenectady to Utica, purchasing 
 furs at the Indian settlements on the route. The Indians aided 
 them in carrying them back to Schenectady. They opened a 
 store in New York city for their sale — and when their stock was 
 exhausted, they again penetrated the lonely forests of the frontiers 
 and replenished their store. Astor continued his business many 
 years, but Smith commenced the purchase of land, and died at 
 Schenectady very rich. 
 
 Summers went and came, and wave after wave of emigration, 
 rolled up the long defile of the Mohawk. Mark the change — 
 Judge Smith died leaving millions of acres to his heirs — but lived 
 long enough, to travel from Schenectady to Utica in four hours. 
 And to-day, when the smi's evening rays shall hide from the un- 
 
8^ Early Inland Setllements. 
 
 dimmed eye of John Jacob Astor, behind the blue hills of Jersey, 
 its vertical beams will be falling on his fur traders of our new 
 ultima thule, the mouth of the Oregon. Bishop Berkely never 
 dreamed of such changes, when he penned the line, — 
 
 " Westward the star of empire takes its way." 
 
 The name of the late Judge Peter Smith, — father of the present 
 Gerritt Smith, Esq., of Peterboro', stands in an interesting con- 
 nexion with the first white settlement in central New York, and 
 especially with the small beginnings of the city of Utica. 
 
 In the year 1787, Judge Smith, not yet twenty years of age, 
 left his clerkship in the store of Abraham Herring, an importing 
 merchant in the city of New York, to seek his fortune, inland. 
 He went to Fall Hill, near the village of Little Falls, and opened 
 store. The following year, he built a log store at Fort Schuyler, 
 (now Utica.) The ground for it, which is now a part of that oc- 
 cupied by the celebrated "Bagg's Tavern," he leased of the widow 
 Daymuth, at the annual rent of a pound of bohea tea I There 
 were at that time, three other log, but no frame buildings, at Fort 
 Schuyler. Mr. John Post spent six weeks there the previous 
 year, in selling goods to the Indians : but Judge Smith was before 
 him and all others, in establishing a store at Fort Schuyler. 
 
 Judge Smith frequently referred to "the Kanes," who had 
 stores at Canojoharie and Whitestown, as his most formidable 
 rivals for the trade with the Dutchmen and Indians. The late 
 Elisha Kane of Philadelphia, was one of " the Kanes." Among 
 the stories of olden time, with which he was wont to make him- 
 self and friends merry, was that of Judge Smith's inviting him to 
 dine with him on a hen which he was fattening for the occasion. 
 On arriving at Utica, he found the lonely hen, tied by the leg, 
 and still under the fattening process. 
 
 It is worthy of mention, that in the early times of which we 
 are speaking, while Mr. Astor was associated with his friend 
 Peter Smith, in the purchase of furs from the Indians, and also in 
 the purchase of various tracts of land that Mr. Astor cherishes 
 lively and pleasant reminiscences of their visit to Oneida Castle, 
 and other groups of Indian habitations in its vicinity. It is hardly 
 probable, that it was amongst the dreams of the business-efforts 
 of these young gentlemen, that one of them should acquire one 
 of the largest estates, and the other the very largest estate, ever 
 acquired in this country. 
 
 Judge Smith frankly confessed, that he was indebted to the 
 Oneida Indians for a large share of his wealth. He spoke their 
 language fluently, and had great influence with them. The 
 steady friendship for him of their distinguished chief, Skenandon, 
 who died, very aged, in 1815, induced the Judge to name his 
 eldest son, Skenandon; — a circumstance which added to the 
 family influence with those warm-hearted sons of the forest. 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 53 
 
 The good Abraham Van Eps, of Vernon, is perhaps, the only- 
 survivor of the conspicuous gentleman, who, in the times which 
 we are contemplating, became well acquainted with the Oneidas, 
 and acquired the knowledge of their language. 
 
 The worthy Judge Dean, of Westmoreland, was another of 
 those who were ingratiated with those Indians ; and when my 
 kinsman, the late Dr. Azel Backus, President of Hamilton Col- 
 lege, preached the funeral sermon of Skenandon, Judge Dean, 
 acted as the interpreter of the discourse, to the assembled Indians. 
 
 At Fort Stanwix, called also New Fort Schuyler, still seen in its 
 elevated embankments, — on the site where now the town of 
 Rome is flourishing, at but a few miles beyond Utica, was once 
 sustained a most deadly and protracted conflict with Indians, by 
 the late aged Col. Marius Willet, of New York city. 
 
 Even until now, the Oneida Indians themselves, a little beyond 
 Utica, are settled in their oAvn town, the " Oneida Castle ;" dwell- 
 ing in their own houses, and cultivating their own lands ; occa- 
 sionally saluting the travelling tourists passing the place on the 
 turnpike road, and sending out their racing children to hold up 
 hands for a few pennies. The Onondagoes were settled only 20 
 miles westward of them ; and it was only as late as the year 
 1779, that Gen. Clinton went out with a regiment from Albany 
 against them, surprised their town, killing fourteen, and bringing 
 off thirty-three prisoners. 
 
 As we leave Utica, we enter upon the " New York military 
 lands," containing 28 townships, severally ten miles square ; "the 
 proud and splendid monument of the gratitude of New York to 
 her revolutionary heroes ; giving to each of her soldiers five-hun- 
 dred and fifty acres of lands, now so valuable.'' The very gift 
 of such lands, since the revolution, for services then performed, is 
 itself the evidence of the recent cultivation of all those districts, 
 now so essentially adding to the aggrandisement of this great 
 state. Had the poor soldiers been individually benefited by this 
 generosity, and their descendants have found an easy home on 
 the soil, the reflection would be much more grateful ; but rapa- 
 cious speculators, in most instances, were the beneficiaries ! 
 
 Those military lands extended as far west as the Seneca lake, 
 at which place begins the eastern boundary of that great purchase 
 of the celebrated pioneer, Oliver Phelps, who in 1787 purchased 
 the immense and unexplored wilds of the west, from the line of 
 that lake to the west boundary of the state, comprising a mass 
 of six millions of acres, for the inconsiderable sum, as we now 
 think it, of one million of dollars. To this Cecrops, this primary 
 adventurer, the people of the west owe a lasting monument of 
 gratitude and praise, for his successful efforts in opening to them 
 and their children, their happy Canaan. 
 
 In the year 1788, 0. Phelps first penetrated the wilderness, 
 making his departure from Plerkimer, the then most advanced 
 
 E 2 
 
54 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 settlement. Going thence, one hundred and thirty miles, through 
 wilds and Indian hunting grounds, to an Indian settlement, the 
 present Canandaigua, a name then importing chosen place, where 
 he held a treaty with the Six Nations, and purchasing from them, 
 their grant to the same, as far as to the Genessee river. In the 
 next year he opened his land office in that town, the first in 
 America, for the sale of forest lands to settlers, and giving a model, 
 since adopted, for selling all new lands in the United States, by 
 "townships and ranges." In 1790 Phelps sold out 1:? millions 
 of his grant, to Robert Morris, the celebrated financier, for only 
 Sd.an acre ; and he again sold it to Sir W. Pulteney, whose land 
 office is now opened at Geneva and Bath. In 1796 Robert Mor- 
 ris made a further purchase of about two thirds of the western 
 part, a part of which he sold out to the " Holland Land Com- 
 pany," which company in 1801 opened their land office at Batavia. 
 Canandaigua and Geneva, now such elegant towns, so dehght- 
 fuUy placed by their several picturesque lakes, had all their first 
 houses constructed of logs. But wild as the country was, it was 
 all traversed in the summer of 1792-3, by the present Philip, king 
 of France, and his two brothers, all on horseback, and making 
 their rest for a short time at Canandaigua, at the house of Thomas 
 Morris. Finally, such was the early history of a woody waste of 
 country, so little valued then, and now so populous and produc- 
 tive. Through such regions, original settlers made their way, 
 with families, cattle, provisions, wagons, and carts ; crossing 
 waters without bridges ; sleeping and eating in forests ; and, 
 finally, dwelling without shelter, until they could build a log house 
 and home. The obstacles, and hazards and perils, which beset a 
 pioneer family, going through a wilderness of hundreds of miles ; 
 their constructing of rafts and canoes, at water courses ; their 
 swimming of horses, oxen, sheep, hogs, &c. ; their occasional mis- 
 haps and losses ; their hopes and fears ; altogether, might form an 
 eventful tale of truth. Such a tale has been well told of Laurie 
 Todd, (G. Thorburn of New York) in his " Settlers" — showing 
 the operations of the Pioneers, at Genessee. 
 
 In the very midst of those great purchases of Phelps, and where 
 his earliest efforts were concentred, is now the great and wonder- 
 fully prosperous town of Rochester, filled with wealth, and 
 luxury and elegance : having a population in 1827 of eight thou- 
 sand persons, and not one adult a native of the place / for then 
 the oldest person living, born in the place, was not seventeen 
 years of age ! The site was originally given to 0. Phelps by 
 the Indians, as a mill seat, in allusion to which they called him 
 Kauskonchicos, " waterfall." The very territory in which it was 
 situated, was but forty years ago the hunting ground of such rem- 
 nants of the Six Nations as survived the chastisement of Gen. 
 Sullivan ; and many a veteran warrior is still alive, on the neigh- 
 bouring reservations of Canawagus, Tonewanda, and Tuscarora, 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 55 
 
 &c., to recount to their surviving sons the exploits of his meridian 
 vigour, when not a white man's axe had been lifted in all their 
 forests ! In the time of the revolution, the Six Nations were in 
 alliance with Great Britain, and in hostility with us ; but in 1779 
 they were entirely defeated, and their towns destroyed. 
 
 Rochester, so remarkable in its recent creation, and in its rapid 
 improvement, is already a city. Its water power, so famous, is 
 capable of an exertion to the value of ten millions of dollars 
 annually. It already (in 1835) has twenty-one flour mills, with 
 ninety-five runs of stone, capable of making five thousand bar- 
 rels of flour a day ; thus consuming the incredible quantity of 
 twenty-thousand bushels of wheat. Besides all this, it has many 
 large establishments, working by water power in manufactories. 
 It has one very large manufactory for woolen carpets, one for 
 rifles, one for edge tools. This place, published the first daily 
 paper west of Albany, now it prints two ; and has besides, six 
 weekly prints. The revenue of its post-office, and canal collec- 
 tion office, is now greater than any place west of Albany. 
 
 Buffalo too, now a second time a city, and aspiring to be the 
 * New York of the lake,' was only a frontier fort, at which were 
 assembled in 1796, for the last time, in treaty, with one thousand 
 Indians, the last remains of the once mighty Six Nations. There, 
 they then relinquished to us their feeble claims to their once vast 
 domains ! 
 
 Can we contemplate such wonderful transitions, in so short a 
 term of years, and not exclaim with amazement, " behold, what 
 a land of successful change we possess!" All these changes, 
 wrought, within the lives of numerous patriarchal pioneers, still 
 alive, who live to see turnpikes and canals traversing the same 
 lands where they, for several years, had only "blazed paths;" and 
 comfortable or splendid mansions replacing, throughout all the 
 country, the former log houses, with their wooden chimnies, and 
 their bark or stave roofs ! The same lands have, in the hands of 
 the sons of toil, been made to rise to incalculable value; and all 
 this, effected in a term so short, that the burnt stumps of the 
 "cleared lands," peeping from among the luxuriant fields of grain, 
 like black bears, are still every where visible along the public 
 highways. 
 
 Those who may be favoured to travel through all these west- 
 ern lands, on the route of- the " grand tour" to Niagara ; who 
 see now good turnpike roads, first rate stages and extras, and 
 splendid hotels, wherever they go ; must bear in mind, that all 
 these are the erections of only a few years : that it is only since 
 the peace with Great, Britain of 1816, that such accommodations 
 for travellers were created ; that the roads, in that desperate 
 " border war," were then terribly rude and toilsome, filled m nu- 
 merous places with " cord du roy" annoyances of logs. Niagara, 
 now so splendid, was still " old fort Schlosser :" and the single 
 
56 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 house of entertainment, was a log tavern, where travellers took 
 every thing as rough as the rude scenery of the Niagara itself. 
 Let the traveller contemplate too the splendid enterprise of the 
 Grand Canal, stretching through a former woody waste of 360 
 miles ; see on its bosom the numerous vehicles gliding through 
 the surrounding forest foliage, bearing and scattering riches and 
 plenty, to every village and hamlet along its shores ; then reflect, 
 on the active commerce, now traversing every lake and inland 
 sea, where was lately loneliness and solemn stillness : the heart 
 must exult in the contemplation, it must apostrophise our sires, 
 and say, 
 
 " Ye who toil'd 
 
 Through successive years, to build us up 
 
 A prosperous plan, behold at once 
 
 The wonder done ! 
 
 Here cities rise amid th' illumin'd waste, 
 
 O'er joyless deserts smiles the rural reign; — 
 
 Far distant flood to flood is social joined. 
 
 And navies ride on seas that never foam'd 
 
 With darinsT keel before !" 
 
 We proceed now to give, in specific detail, our several historical 
 notices of the rise and progress of the earliest inland settlements, 
 westward of Schenectady — namely: 
 
 Johnstown, Schoharie, Cherry Valley, German Flats, Her- 
 kimer, and Fort Schuyler, 
 
 JOHNSTOWN, AND SIR WM. JOHNSON AND FAMILY. 
 
 This place, near the Mohawk, was chosen as the home and 
 settlement of Sir Wm. Johnson, created a baronet, with a gift of 
 ^5,000 sterling, in consideration of his usefulness in bringing the 
 last French war to a successful termination. 
 
 Here he built himself a beautiful residence, called Johnson Hall, 
 where he lived many years, surrounded by the Mohawks, who 
 regarded him with veneration and esteem, and always depending 
 upon him for advice and counsel. Col. Guy Johnson had also a 
 separate mansion, where both lived, essentially in the rank and 
 abundance of noblemen. 
 
 Sir Wm. Johnson was born in Ireland, and came to the Mohawk 
 in 1734, in consequence of the call of his uncle, Admiral Warren, 
 then residing in New York, and who from marrying an American 
 lady, had become possessed of a large estate, on or near that 
 river, called Warren's Bush. While settled here, he made it his 
 business to become acquainted with, and to conciliate the regard, 
 of the Indians : he acquired their language, carried on an exten- 
 sive trade with them, was made General Superintendent of 
 Indian affairs, married an Indian girl, the sister of Brant, often 
 wore the Indian dress, and frequently entertained the Indians. He 
 had two daughters, who were educated by a white lady, a resi- 
 dent in his house. One of these was married to Col. Guy John- 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 57 
 
 sou, the other to Col. Claus. His only son became afterwards Sir 
 John Johnson ; and both he, and Col. Guy Johnson, joined the 
 British, in the war against us, in the Revolution, and did us much 
 harm, even by invading and devastating the very country, where 
 they once had many friends and neighbours along the Mohawk. 
 They burned upwards of twenty houses belonging to the whigs ! 
 Such is the estrangement of war, and especially, as in their cases, 
 when assisted by savage Indians ! 
 
 Sir William died just before the Revolution began, but not 
 until he was pained to see and hear of its approach, to wit, in 
 July 1774, in the fifty-ninth year of his age. He dred suddenly, 
 and was buried under the old stone church at Johnstown ; but in 
 1806, his bones were redeposited. In his coffin, was found the 
 ball, with which he was wounded, in his successful conflict with 
 Baron Dreskaw, in 1757, at Lake George. 
 
 Many traditionary accounts, are still given in the neighbour- 
 hood, of the rustic sports encouraged by Sir William, and of the 
 influence which he exerted over the Indians and white inhabitants. 
 Among others, it is related, that he showed his ingenuity and tact, 
 with the celebrated old king Hendrick, who, from a desire to pos- 
 sess a military suit, had told Sir WilUam, that he had dreamed 
 that he had been given such a suit, by him — the suit was therefore 
 given. Sometime after. Sir William told to the old king, in turn, 
 his dream, which was, that he had given him a tract of land, and 
 describing its position : the same in the county of Herkimer, 
 extending from the East to West Canada Creek, being about 
 twelve miles square. The old king said he must have it, but 
 also adding, significantly, *' you must not dream again !" The 
 title was confirmed by the king of England, and in a double 
 sense, was called the " Royal Grant !" Afterwards, these, and 
 all the possessions of the Johnson family, were confiscated by the 
 American Congress, because of their tory adherence, and the num- 
 ber of royalists whom they won to their interest and action in 
 the revolutionary struggle. They were, however, suitably re- 
 warded and honoured by the British government. 
 
 When the Revolutionary war began. Col. John Johnson, under 
 pretext of keeping himself and his Indian interests from violence 
 from the whigs, began to arm his tenants and dependants, to 
 erect defences around Johnson Hall, and when he was urged by 
 the committees of vigilance to desist, and was required by Congress 
 to say explicitly whether he would not allow the enrollment and 
 discipline of the militia, in his district, he coolly answered, that 
 they might take all who would serve ; thus intimating, that he 
 sufficiently understood their attachment to him and his family 
 interests. Not long after, Sir John, was taken for the public secu- 
 rity, to Albany, and held as a prisoner, under his parole. This, 
 he however broke, and made his escape, with a large number of 
 his tenants, to Montreal. 
 8 
 
58 Early Inland Settlements, 
 
 In August 1781, Major Ross, and Walter Butler, came fronn 
 Canada, by the way of Sacondaga, to Johnstown, with five hun- 
 dred men, one hundred and thirty of whom were Indians. To 
 encounter these. Col. Willet moved from his command at Fort 
 Plain, with about three hundred levies, and sending Col. Harper, 
 with a detachment of one hundred men, to gain their rear. At a 
 short distance above Johnson Hall, Col. Willet encountered Ross, 
 with all his force. Willet's men, at first retreated, but were stop- 
 ped by him at the village, where he was joined by two hundred 
 militia, just arrived. Harper now opened his fire on the rear, and 
 the attack being renewed by Col. Willet, the enemy were finally 
 beaten, with the loss of seventeen of their force killed ; the Ameri- 
 cans losing thirteen men. 
 
 Major Ross retreated up the north side of the Mohawk, march- 
 ing all night after the battle. He was pursued by Col. Willet, but 
 not overtaken. The region over which Ross retreated, after he 
 had passed the settlements, lies twenty or thirty miles north of 
 Fort Schuyler (now Utica), and at that time was uncultivated and 
 desolate. His army therefore suffered much from hunger. In 
 this retreat Walter Butler was killed, at West Canada creek, at 
 the place since called Butler ford, by one of a party of pursuing 
 Oneida Indians, who also succeeded, after tomahawking him, to 
 bring away his scalp. This Butler, was of a very savage and cruel 
 temper, far more so than his father. Col. John Butler, who as a 
 tory and Indian leader, had more humanity of character, and was 
 heard to speak in his calm moments, of his regrets at the cruelties 
 occasionally committed, by the Indians and tories. It may be 
 remarked also, that many of the British officers did not approve 
 of the severities of the same classes of warriors. They some- 
 times said, it was the disgrace of their army, to make such savage 
 depredations, and to bear off" women and children as prisoners. 
 
 In the winter of 1781-2, Col. Willet undertook a perilous expe- 
 dition, peculiarly suited to the spirit of the man ; he marched a 
 portion of his men, from Fort Plain to Oswego, passing up the 
 Mohawk on the ice, and going the remainder of his way, in snow 
 shoes. But on reaching that fort, he learned to his grateful sur- 
 prise, that the preliminaries of the peace were signed, and an end 
 thus put to the further struggles of his suffering countrymen. 
 
 The invasion of Ross and Butler made the last incursion of 
 the enemy. Indeed, there remained but little more to be destroyed. 
 The inhabitants had lost nearly all but the soil ; their fields, except 
 in the vicinity of the forts, had mostly become as wild as the sur- 
 rounding wilderness. Famine was often threatening them, and 
 especially in the winter. Their defences however, of places so 
 unproductive were nevertheless of great importance to the towns 
 on the Hudson, thus shielding the citizens from approaches to 
 them, and thus hindering the British from opening communications 
 with New York, so desirable and important. Many of these 
 
Johnson Hall, p. 59. 
 
 Gen'l. Herkimer's House, p. 59. 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 59 
 
 frontier settlers, fell in battles in the regular army, and in skir- 
 mishes and battles with the enemy, at their homes, and many fell 
 silently by the rifle, the tomahawk, and scalping knife. " Their 
 ashes flew, no marble tells us whither !" 
 
 Several of the soldiers, who at the close of the war, were with- 
 out homes, and who had been stationed along the frontier, returned 
 and settled upon the places of their former trials and perils. Who 
 that looked upon central New York then, would have dreamed 
 of its sudden growth, and the rapid displacement of the Indians, 
 so that in less than fifty years, the same land should teem with a 
 million of inhabitants, rich in comforts, and in beautiful embel- 
 Ushments ! 
 
 In the time of Mrs. Grant, the residences of Sir Wm. Johnson 
 consisted of Johnson Castle, and Johnson Hall. The Castle was 
 on an eminence, stockaded round, and slightly fortified. The Hall 
 was on the side of the river, on a most fertile and delightful plain. 
 This last was his summer residence ; and its two wings had loop- 
 holes, like a block house, for the use of musketry. The Castle, 
 contained his store of goods, for trading with the Indians. Sir 
 William was tall in person, well formed, of fine countenance, and 
 sedate ; the latter a very commendable quality in the estimation of 
 the better class of Indians. He was indeed, wholly a man to please 
 them, in all that goes to make a superior man. 
 
 At the time of which we speak, the country was uninhabited, 
 with a few exceptions, from his Fish House, to Johnstown. Near 
 the bridge, at the Fish House, formerly stood a house built by Sir 
 William, where he generally spent the fishing season, surrounded 
 by a few of his European friends, with some of the provincial 
 officers that were attached to his suite, and the head men of the 
 Mohawks. 
 
 The first inhabitants of this section, formed the guard of the 
 English frontier ; and from this exposed situation, they were of 
 necessity, compelled to act as farmer, hunter, or soldier, as the case 
 required. The exciting incidents of such a hfe, laid the founda- 
 tion of that high personal spirit and resolution, that love of adven- 
 ture and liberty, that form such a distinguishing feature in the 
 American character. Such a location, so early formed, very 
 naturally became, as it did in time, the proper capital of Tryon 
 county, and where the first court-house for the county, was built. 
 
 It was the French war, that first brought out the military tal- 
 ents of Sir William, till when, he only seemed to be the country 
 gentleman, and the good liver. His prudence in planning, and 
 the boldness of his execution in war, soon made his name in itself, 
 a host ; and it is a curious fact, that throughout the whole war, 
 wherever he had the command, he never met the enemy but to 
 conquer. 
 
 In 1754, there was advertised in the New York Gazette, as to 
 be leased or sold, 40,000 acres of " Mohawk coimtry land," near 
 
60 • Early Inland SettlemenH, 
 
 Mount Johnson, four miles from the Mohawk river, and sixteen 
 from Schenectady, adjoining to Stone-Rabie,a German settlement, 
 of about sixty able families, who have a Lutheran and Calvin- 
 istic church, and have many Dutch settlements, on the south and 
 east side thereof, and laying out of the general tract of the In- 
 dians, in time of war. 
 
 In 1768, Sir Wm. Johnson, as superintendent of Indian affairs, 
 held a treaty at his residence at Johnson Hall, at which were pres- 
 ent seven hundred and fifty Indians. 
 
 Nancy Landerse, widow, born in Sept. 1733, was still alive 
 at one hundred years of age, in 1833, of the town of Glenn in 
 Montgomery county, living on lands fifty miles from Albany, 
 which she purchased in 1783, on the south side of the Mohawk 
 river. She still possessed health and mental vigour. There is 
 another widow, (Clute) in the same town, as old as herself 
 
 SCHOHARIE. 
 
 This earliest settlement inland, in New York, began its opera 
 tion as early as 1713, when sundry German Palatinates, who had 
 before been encouraged to emigrate to this country, under the 
 auspices of Queen Anne, went on from Albany and Schenectady, 
 over the Helleberg, to Schoharie creek, where they settled the 
 rich alluvial lands, bordering upon that stream. The Queen, by 
 her proclamation of 1709, in Germany, had promised land gratis, 
 and an exemption from all taxes. 
 
 Afterwards, small colonies from here, and from Albany and 
 Schenectady, established themselves in various places along the 
 Mohawk ; and in 1722, had extended as far up as the German 
 Flats, near where stands the present village of Herkimer ; but 
 although these advanced pioneers knew very well, that they were 
 wholly committed to the tender mercies of the Indians, when so 
 remote from white population, they did not dare to venture beyond 
 the neighbourhood of boatable streams, which might serve them 
 in cases of emergency, for a better means of escape, when none 
 had ventured out in that unbroken wilderness, which lay to the 
 South and West of these settlements. 
 
 We are indebted to an old publication, by a Mr. Brown, of 
 Albany, for sundry facts in relation to these first settlers inland. 
 They left their homes in Germany, in a large party, on the first of 
 January 1710 ; going first to England ; a great many died on their 
 passage, which seems to have been long, for they did not reach 
 New York till the 14th of June 1710. About one thousand of 
 them joined the army at Albany, under Col. Nicholson. Others 
 were sent up the Hudson river, to East and West Camps, so called, 
 because they encamped at those places. They remained there 
 till the spring of 1713, when they went as far as Albany, where 
 they were provided with provisions and tools, and proceeded on 
 
Early Inland Settlements, 61 
 
 foot to Schoharie, as their previously determined place of destina- 
 tion. On the third day, they fell into a quarrel among themselves, 
 and some of them actually got to fighting, which led to the place 
 being called " Fegtberg," that is, fight hill, at the place now the 
 town of Berne. The next day they came in sight of the Scho- 
 harie, where they all concluded to rest, and have a general wash, 
 and " lost some of their vermin." In a week after their arrival 
 at Schoharie, they had three children born, which as Jirst boms, 
 deserve the record of their names, viz : Johannes Earhart, Wil- 
 helmus Bouck, and Elizabeth Sawyer. They found the land good, 
 and much of the flats clear. They went to work and planted 
 corn, which they got of the natives. In working the ground 
 with their hoes, they found a potato-like root, which they called 
 earth beans, which they boiled or roasted, and ate as food. 
 
 In the fall of 171 3, Lambert Sternbergh carried a spint of wheat 
 along the Indian foot path, from Schenectady to Schoharie, 
 where he sowed, or rather planted it, over more than an acre of 
 ground, which grew well ; and the next year, he reaped and 
 threshed it, and measured out of it, 83 skipple. This was the first 
 wheat ever raised in Schoharie : and m forty years afterwards, it 
 was reckoned that the settlers carried to Albany as much as 36,000 
 skipples a year. 
 
 With such thrift, the settlers soon began to regard themselves 
 as prosperous and happy. Fertility and industry, gave them 
 plenty to eat and wear ; they wore moccasins, buckskin breeches, 
 and jackets of leather, which they obtained plentifully, from the 
 Indians. Nine of them became the owners of one horse, the first ; 
 for a time, they had no grist-mill, no team, no horses, no roads 
 bigger than the Indian foot paths. They stamped, and also peeled 
 their corn, by the help of ley, and then cooked it to eat. Their 
 wheat they carried on men's backs to Schenectady, to grind, a dis- 
 tance of twenty miles, each man carrying his skipple to his load. 
 Sometimes they would go twenty in a drove, and often, men and 
 women, together. This they had to do for three or four years ; 
 when, thanks to William Fox, he constructed a grist-mill among 
 them. 
 
 They next thought themselves still more happy and prosper- 
 ous, when they began to have stock, used horses, and made and 
 used their own block sleighs, for home concerns, and their wooden 
 shod sleighs, to go even to Albany, but they had no breech collars, 
 (an invention of the Schenectadians) but still went to Albany and 
 back, in Jive days. Their wagons for summer use, were made of 
 blocks, sawed off of a thick water beach tree. All seemed to go 
 on well ; when lo ! trouble of a legal nature came upon them ; 
 and here, Mr. Brown, whom we have been transcribing in the 
 foregoing facts, exclaims upon the stupidity of these German coun- 
 trymen. The case was this : the Queen, believing that by this time, 
 her German settlers might be settled m comfort, sent out her agent 
 
 F 
 
62 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 Nicholas Bayard, (a man of but one eye and ancestor of the 
 Bayard race,) with powers to give to every man, a deed for his 
 lar\ ■ \ use and possession. He had arrived at the house of Hans- 
 be/ry Smith in Schoharie, and had scarcely sent out his requests, 
 when the whole people ran together, in fear and anger, surround- 
 ing the house of Smith, and accusing the agent, of a design to 
 enslave them to tyrannic landholders ! There they were, men 
 and women, some with guns, some with pitchforks, the women 
 with hoes and clubs, demanding the agent, alive or dead ! On refu- 
 sal, they fired sixty balls through the house, exhausting thus all 
 their ammunition ! Mr. Bayard had his pistols, and showed signs 
 of fight. When night came on, they left the house, and Mr. Bay- 
 ard went off, and got back to Schenectady, in the course of one 
 night. He sent them word from thence, that if any of them 
 would come to him there, and acknowledge him as crown agent, 
 and bringing the gift of one ear of corn, they should severally 
 have a free deed, to all that they possessed. But none obeyed. 
 Mr. Bayard feeling testy, went back to Albany and sold the whole 
 land to seven partners, who afterwards went by the name of "the 
 seven partners of Schoharie." Among them were, Rut Van Dam, 
 Lewis Morris, Myndert Schuyler, Peter Vanburgh Livingston. 
 
 These partners, soon began to require them to take leases, and 
 pay rent, or to purchase; and on their refusal, next, to take legal pro- 
 cess, by sending the sheriff, one Adams, to apprehend the chief ob- 
 jectors ; but when he began with the first man, the women rose en 
 masse, headed by Magdalen Zee, and knocked him down, then 
 dragged him through a mud pool near, then hung him on a rail, 
 and carried him four miles ; far worse this, than Shakspeare's 
 merry wives of Windsor ; for these, far more outrageous, then 
 plucked up a fence stake, broke two of his ribs, and struck out one 
 of his eyes, as a suitable reference perhaps, to Mr. Bayard's case, 
 and then left him to lie, or to get off, as he could ! Such was the 
 mistaken tragedy of the primitive Schoharie ! The poor sheriff 
 got on as far as Venbergh, on the third day, and from thence was 
 fetched in a wagon to Albany. After this the Schoharie people 
 dared not to venture to Albany, but were fain to send their wives 
 only, to fetch their needed salt, and that always on the Sabbath to 
 avoid the law. In time they got less fearful, and came men and wo- 
 men together, when the partners had them all arrested, and clap- 
 ped into jail. Upon this, the people of Schoharie resolved to send 
 old Conradt Wise to England, to lay before the Crown the evils 
 of which they deemed themselves the sufferers. But when he 
 arrived, he found all the facts in the case had preceded him, and 
 he was actually put into the Tower, and remained a year, to teach 
 him and them, submission to law. When he returned, he and 
 others, disappointed and disgusted as they were, resolved to leave 
 the scene of contention, and to seek better feelings and another 
 land, in Pennsylvania, where under the auspices of Gov. Keith, 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 63 
 
 who desired to make himself popular, at the expense of the New 
 York authorities, offered them sundry allurements. They then 
 took up their march south-westwardly for the Susquehanna, with 
 an Indian guide, together with their cattle ; having made ca- 
 noes at the river, they floated down the stream, driving the cattle, 
 along the shores of the same ; a terrible march, in so wild a 
 country ; at length they arrived at Tulpehawken creek, where 
 they settled, and where their descendants now live, the richest 
 and best farmers in Pennsylvania. Wiser became a useful Indian 
 agent, and interpreted for the governor, and authorities in Penn- 
 sylvania, was usefully employed on numerous occasions, lived re- 
 spected, and died and was buried, at the place since well known 
 as Womelsdorf. 
 
 What is sufficiently curious is, that twelve of their horses run 
 off in the journey, and after eighteen months, all found their way 
 back to Schoharie, a distance of from two to three hundred miles ! 
 
 Those of the settlers that remained, submitted to buy their 
 lands peaceably of the " seven partners ;" to take Indian deeds 
 for purchases, and to have them confirmed by the governor; now 
 their descendants have the richest farms and are the happiest men 
 in the state, in point of wealth and increase, and hardly know 
 anything of this brief and eventful history of their forefathers' 
 troubles and harassments ! 
 
 In the neighbourhood of this Schoharie settlement, was the 
 earliest and most inland fort of the British, to wit, old Fort Hun- 
 ter, situated at the mouth of Schoharie creek, where was also the 
 old Mohawk town, and a missionary station, with a church for 
 the Indians, founded under the auspices of Queen Anne. Here the 
 Indians made considerable advances in civilization, and did not 
 abandon the place till as late as 1780, when they Avent off and 
 settled in Canada. 
 
 From the preceding period down to the era of the Revolution, 
 the settlers went on prosperously and contented. They then 
 heartily entered into the cause of the Colonies, and appointed 
 their committee of safety, &c. 
 
 In the fall of 1777, the inhabitants began to suffer from the in- 
 roads of straggling parties of Indians : aid was sought from gov- 
 ernment, and three forts were erected, called the Upper, Middle, 
 and Lower forts. The middle fort, was near where the village 
 of Middletown now stands ; they consisted of intrenchments of 
 earth and wood, thrown up in the usual form around some build- 
 ing, which could serve as a shelter for the women and children ; 
 the building in the middle fort, was a stone house, that in the 
 lower fort, was a stone church. They were severally garrisoned 
 with a few continental soldiers, and each was furnished with a 
 small field piece. Many of the inhabitants repaired to the forts 
 at night, and went abroad in the mornings to their employments 
 on their farms, thus indicatmg, how very much a country so little 
 
64 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 in advance of Schenectady, could still be in effect an Indian coun- 
 try, and exposed to their hostilities. 
 
 During two or three years, these forts afforded protection near 
 them, but in the mean time, individuals and famiUes were found 
 missing in the outskirts, and the smoking ruins of their dwellings, 
 and the dead bodies of men, and their domestic animals, were 
 alone left to indicate their fate ; occasionally a prisoner returned 
 to relate the secret of their destruction. 
 
 The tories, who often commanded the Indians, were the most 
 barbarous. This fact, to tell of the white men, is in itself some 
 exculpation of the Indians. In one case, a party of Indians had 
 entered a house, and killed and scalped a mother and a large fam- 
 ily of children ; a smiling infant in a cradle was alone spared, 
 when a party of royalists entering, one of them reproaching the 
 humanity of the Indian leader, took up the infant upon the point 
 of his bayonet, and while it was struggling and writhing in its 
 agonies, exclaimed, 7 A25 too is a rebel! 
 
 Seven Indians, meeting a man of the name of Sawyer, took 
 him prisoner, and having gone some distance, and being laid down 
 and asleep, he succeeded in loosing himself, then taking up one of 
 their hatchets, killed the whole six ! The seventh escaped wound- 
 ed, and Sawyer returned home ! 
 
 In the year 1 778, McDonald, a tory of enterprise and activity, 
 with a company of about three hundred Indians and tories, fell 
 upon the settlement with cruel barbarity. Col. Vrooman being 
 then in command, deemed himself too weak to spare any help 
 from the garrison ; when a Mr. Harper, afterwards an active colo- 
 nel, ordered his horse, and made his way cautiously and securely 
 to Albany, going through the places occupied by the enemy. 
 Having stopped at the house of a tory at Fox's creek in the night, 
 his room was entered by four tories, he terrified them off with 
 his sword and pistols, then fastened his door and kept awake till 
 daylight, when he went off; an Indian followed him, who when- 
 ever he turned upon him, also turned and fled. At Albany he 
 procured a troop of horse, and appeared soon again at Schoharie. 
 The garrison seeing his approach sallied forth, and joined in driv- 
 ing off the enemy. 
 
 In the year 1779, the little settlement on Cobble creek, ten miles 
 west from Schoharie, was assaulted, and defended by Capt. Pat- 
 rick; he was killed, and his men retreated; the inhabitants seeing 
 their flight, also made their escape, although pursued by about 
 three hundred of the enemy ; their escape was favoured by the des- 
 perate resistance of seven of the soldiers, who having gained pos- 
 session of a house, kept up such a spirited fire from the windows, 
 as to check and detain the pursuers. At length thel house was 
 fired, and six of the brave defenders perished in the flames, the 
 seventh was afterwards found a few rods from the house, much 
 burned and horribly mutilated, and having a roll of continental 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 65 
 
 money stuck in his hand, placed there in derision of the cause he 
 had been supporting ! Of the 45 who placed themselves under 
 Capt. Patrick, 21 escaped, 22 were killed, and two were taken pri- 
 soners. The Indians also suffered severely. The tory who com- 
 manded them was afterwards killed by the celebrated Murphy, a 
 man who had belonged to Morgan's rifle corps, and who was on 
 many occasions serviceable to Schoharie. He usually directed 
 their scouting parties, and being peculiarly expert in Indian war- 
 fare, in his manner of firing with a double barreled rifle, a new 
 thing to them, he became their peculiar terror. At one time he 
 was pursued by a party, all of whom he outran save one, whom 
 he turned round and killed — then seizing his rifle he killed 
 another nearest, the rest now sure of their prey, thinkiHg from 
 his fire that he had no other defence, rushed upon him, but he 
 discharging his remaining rifle and killing another, the rest fled, 
 thinking that he was assisted by some invisible spirit, and crying 
 out, that he was the man who could shoot all day. 
 
 In the fall of 1780, the perils and the evils of war, were visited 
 again upon Schoharie, by a force of 800 under the command of 
 Sir John Johnson, consisting of British regulars, loyalists, tories, 
 and Indians. They had designed a surprise, but being timely 
 discovered in their approach, they avoided the middle fort, and 
 began their destruction first upon the houses, barns, and the cap- 
 ture of the cattle. They next attacked the fort consisting of about 
 250 men. Major Woolsey in the command was despondent, and 
 thought of treating for terms, but was prevented by the courage 
 of Murphy and others. The assailants withdrew, and proceed- 
 ing down the creek, destroyed every thing in their progress, and 
 after a faint effort against the lower fort, pursued their course to 
 Fort Hunter, thence upward along the Mohawk, devastating 
 wherever they went, and burning the town of Caughnawaga. 
 
 After so general a destruction of the Schoharie settlement, the 
 place was allowed to repose, and during the years 1781 and 1782, 
 though often alarmed, they had no serious molestation. 
 
 There maybe here added, as a sequel to the foregoing, some facts 
 concerning the personal prowess and activity of Col. Harper before 
 named. While he was in command in Schoharie in 1777, having 
 occasion to visit and explore the state of Cherry Valley, and 
 going alone along the Indian trail, he saw at a distance a com- 
 pany of Indians advancing; not knowing how to escape, he 
 promptly resolved to encounter them, and to make the best shift 
 he could. Concealing his regimentals with his great coat, he 
 saluted their leader, whom he had before known, with a How 
 do you brother? he was answered with, where do you go — his 
 reply was, on a secret expedition — and pretending to have an 
 object in common with theirs, he was allowed to pass. He then 
 made a circuit and found fifteen men, with whom he pursued to 
 the night camp of the Indians ; these he found asleep, and with their 
 9 F 2 
 
66 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 arms stacked near them ; he succeeded to fall upon every man, 
 to bind them with cords, and marched them all to Albany. 
 
 A Col. Fisher residing near Caughnawaga, at the time of the 
 assault upon that settlement, after defending himself in his house 
 with his two brothers, both of whom were killed, fled from it, 
 and was overtaken by the Indians, who tomahawked and scalped 
 him, leaving him, as they supposed, dead. The next day he 
 was found by a friend, and taken to his house. He recovered, 
 lived long after the war, a useful member of society, and a living 
 spectacle of wonder. 
 
 Sir John Johnson sat down for awhile at Fox's Mills, two miles 
 below the upper Mohawk castle ; here he threw up a breast- 
 work. General Van Rensselaer, who was joined by the Cana- 
 joharie mihtia, assaulted his position, driving off" the Indians first, 
 who pursued their return towards the Susquehanna. Sir John 
 defended his position with spirit during the day, and in the night 
 effected his retreat, destroying however, as they went, the whole 
 country on the north side of the river from Caughnawaga to 
 Stone Arabia and Palatine. This with the ravages of Brant on 
 the south side of the river, in the previous August, completed the 
 destruction of the Mohawk settlements. 
 
 Fort Hunter, at the mouth of Schoharie creek twenty-one miles 
 from Schenectady, was so named in honour of Governor Hunter, 
 and was the same place also named Mohawk Castle before that 
 time. At that place, was a church as a missionary station, of 
 which account is given to this effect in the account of Church 
 Missions, London ed. 1730 — to wit: In the year 1710 Mr. Bar- 
 clay, Episcopal minister stationed at Albany, was accustomed to 
 go to a village called the Mohawk Castle, then the most remote 
 place of the English. There he often preached to the Indians 
 coming there to traffic and to get provisions. After a time he 
 set on foot a subscription for establishing and building a church, 
 when the governor, Robert Hunter, contributed largely. The 
 town of Albany gave ^6200, and every inhabitant of the poor 
 village of Schenectady, something also. It was built and opened 
 in 1716. 
 
 There has been no settled pastor in the church since the revo- 
 lutionary war. During the war the building was occupied as a 
 fort. Since then it went to decay, having never been used after- 
 wards as a church. Finally, in 1829-30, it was, by reason of its 
 standing near the site of the canal, unceremoniously demolished. 
 
 Mrs. Getty Vanderzee, who died lately at Greenbush, at the 
 age of 86 years, (mother of S. T. V. Esq. of Troy,) was the last 
 oi four sisters, who, together with other females, assisted by an 
 Ensign Becker, of sixteen years of age, gallantly defended the 
 middle fort at Schoharie, when surprised and assaulted, by a 
 large number of British and Indians, at a time, when the troops, 
 and male inhabitants, were sent to the lower fort — four miles 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 67 
 
 distant. The females, with their childi*en, had gone to the fort 
 for protection, and the major in command, insisting on surren- 
 dering, was resisted by the young ensign, who, with the women, 
 went to work to manage the guns, which they did with such suc- 
 cess, as to prolong the defence, until relief arrived from the fort 
 below, when the enemy was routed, and the fort, and its defend- 
 ers were saved. 
 
 Among the novelties of New York, redeemed from the olden 
 time, maybe mentioned the discovery, in May 1842, of ^'How^s 
 Cave^^ found by Mr. How, on his land, four miles from Schoha- 
 rie court-house, wherein he has entered seven miles, when he was 
 stopped from further research, by a lake, and to traverse which, 
 he will build a boat, to proceed and examine further. The cave 
 has abundance of great halls and chambers, of from one hun- 
 dred to three hundred feet long, twenty to fifty feet wide, and 
 twenty to fifty feet high : ornamented above, and on the sides, 
 with numerous stalactites, of various colours, and fanciful forms, 
 some of which, by the aid of the imagination, present the forms, 
 of men and women, such as Washington, Venus, &c ; some also, 
 resembUng in form and sound, the piano-forte, organ, pipes, &c ; 
 and, to add to the picturesque scenery, there are streams of water, 
 and waterfalls, with their adjuncts, of murmur and roar. One 
 of the enormous stalactites, measures forty feet wide, ten feet thick, 
 and thirty feet high, and one of the domes, is of three hundred 
 feet in extent. It is easy to foresee, that such a cave must become 
 a place of great resort, to summer tourists, and must bring a good 
 revenue hereafter, to the fortunate discoverer. It was found, by 
 observing at its closed entrance, occasional escapes of air ; and 
 by removing sundry loose stones, an easy and safe entrance was 
 made to these chambers of subterranean wonder ! 
 
 CANAJOHARIE. 
 
 In the spring of 1779, General CHnton, with two regiments of 
 the New York line, encamped at Canajoharie — thife defending 
 the valley of the Mohawk from much mischief in that year. 
 
 In the month of August, 1780, the Indian chief, Joseph Brant, 
 at the head of four or five hundred Indians and tories, broke in 
 upon the settlement, at a time when the militia were absent, 
 guarding a number of batteaux, transporting provisions to Fort 
 Schuyler — and succeeded to lay waste the whole countrj^ around 
 Canajoharie — killing sixteen of the inhabitants, and capturing 
 between fifty and sixty prisoners, mostly women and children, 
 twelve of whom they sent back ; of course showing some mercy 
 even in their feelings of revenge and cruelty. They killed and 
 drove away upwards of three hundred head of cattle and horses 
 — burned fifty-three dwelling-houses— as many barns — a church 
 — a grist-mill, and two small forts occupied by the Avomen. This 
 
as Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 had been the previous place of residence of Brant and his parents 
 — :of course he was warring against his former friends and neigh- 
 bours ! He had just before married the daughter of Colonei 
 Croghan, whom he had had by an Indian women. 
 
 In the winter of 1781, requisition was made upon the justices 
 of Canajoharie, for warrants of impressment for twenty sleighs, 
 to be used in transporting provisions to Fort Schuyler, and to be 
 attended by escorts of eighty men. They succeeded to fulfil the 
 requisition ; but it ought not to be forgotten, by the present gene- 
 ration, who now witness such easy conveyance along the same 
 route, that such was then the impediments from the depth of the 
 snow and the want of roads, that they made but two or three 
 miles advance in a day, in some of the days of laborious travel. 
 Such necessary duties imposed upon the inhabitants of the fron- 
 tiers, were very severe and exposing — and on them essentially 
 devolved the labour of transporting and guarding provisions and 
 ammunition, intended for Forts Plain, Dayton and Schuyler. Be- 
 sides this, in the early part of the summer of 1781, there was a 
 constant warfare carried on in the vicinity of the forts — small 
 parties hovered about Fort Plain, and cut olf every soldier or 
 inhabitant, who was so careless or unfortunate as to stray beyond 
 the walls. 
 
 Fort Plain being remarkable as a block house of very superior 
 construction, I here give a picture of it, as it once stood, on the • 
 brow of a hill, above the village. It derived its name, as is sup- 
 posed, from its affording di plain view of the surrounding country. 
 It was made, among other purposes, as a place for the safe retreat 
 of families in cases of extremity. It was made of hewn timber, 
 and contained three stories — the first story was 30 feet diameter : 
 the second was 40 feet, and the third was 50 feet. Besides the 
 port holes seen, there were also perpendicular ones, through the 
 floors, which severally projected five feet — these to fire down 
 upon assailants, when under the over-reaehing and widening top. 
 It had also cannon in the lower tier. At the close of the war, it 
 was used for sometime, as a place of deposit for military stores. 
 It was at this place, that old king Hendrick once had his resi- 
 dence. 
 
 This Fort Plain (Plank fort, originally called,) was commanded 
 in the summer of 1781, by the hero. Col. Marius Willett. On 
 one occasion, his scouts having discovered an Indian trail, fol- 
 lowed it up to the Indian camp of about three hundred men, 
 under command of the tory, John Doxtader, who the day before 
 had destroyed the town of Curry, only a short distance above 
 Schenectady. They returned and gave the information, when 
 Col. Willett and Major M^Kean went off with a force of about 
 one hundred and fifty men — going through a dark night, without 
 a road, to the place just at day light. Then concealing them- 
 selves in the Cedar Swamp, two men were sent forward to pass 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 69 
 
 over a piece of open ground, in the sight of the enemy, and in 
 case of pursuit, to lead in by different courses, to the two com- 
 mands, previously divided, for the purpose of better effect. The 
 stratagem succeeded; and as the enemy pursued, Major M'Kean 
 opened at the proper time, a galling and destructive fire, upon 
 the party nearest him, and the party under Col. Willett fell upon 
 the other body. The camp of the enemy, and all their plunder 
 was taken. The brave Major M'Kean received two wounds, of 
 which he soon after died. The Indians fled toward the Susque- 
 hanna, and were pursued with considerable loss. 
 
 Mrs. Grant tells us, in her memoirs, of her visit to king Hen- 
 drick in 1761, at what was then called Fort Hendrick, ^nd Indian 
 Castle, but in fact, the present Canajoharie. The home of the 
 king stood on rising ground, surrounded by palisades — the mode 
 then of making forts. He was, indeed, a princely figure, and was 
 dressed in his mantle of blue cloth, and silver-laced. He had two 
 rooms on a floor, and in the same room where he was seated, was 
 a pile of maize. While there, his son, a fine lad, playfully brought 
 in his colt, as his pet and plaything. When we read of Indian 
 castles as the names of places, now found in New York, where 
 no castles appear, they must be understood to mark places, 
 where once the Indian chiefs resided, and had them palisaded, 
 as above mentioned, in the case of king Hendrick. He was killed 
 in our colonial service, at Fort Edward. His home above men- 
 tioned, was once the principal seat of the Mohawks, and still 
 abounds with apple-trees of their planting — and producing excel- 
 lent cider. Near it, was Brant's church, so called after that chief, 
 who is said to have left it and its associations, with great reluc- 
 tance. In the same neighbourhood, the British had built a fort, 
 in the French war. We saw this good looking, large church, 
 surmounted with its steeple, but out of use, in 1828, then stand- 
 ing within ten feet of the canal. We saw also, the site of the 
 aforenamed Fort Plain, on a hill, — then a /?eac£/w/ pasture ground, 
 and actually being " close cropt by nibbling sheep." 
 
 Canajoharie derives its name, from a deep hole of foaming 
 water, in the creek formed at the foot of one its falls, and signi- 
 fies a pot or kettle, which washes itself. 
 
 One of the remarkables of Canajoharie is their valuable Sulphur 
 Springs at Sharon, a place, worthy to be herein named, because 
 it is destined, at no distant day, to become very attractive to New 
 Yorkers, and New Englanders, and even to Philadelphians, be- 
 cause so much easier of access, with less of expense, than the 
 heretofore famed Sulphur Springs, so much visited, in Virginia. 
 These springs, from their superior quality of sulphuretted hydro- 
 gen, will be deemed much more efficacious to rheumatic and cuta- 
 neous diseases, than those of Virginia. Already, there is a large 
 hotel on the premises, to provide entertainment for three hundred 
 visiters. Its elevation, and scenery, and healthiness, will com- 
 mand attention. 
 
70 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 CHERRY VALLEY. 
 
 The original patent for this place, was granted in 1738, by 
 George Clark, to John Lindesay and three others. In the next 
 year, it became wholly the property of those two named gentle- 
 men ; and Mr. Lindesay made his settlement on the farm, called 
 Lindesay's Bush, afterwards successively owned by John Wells, 
 and Judge Hudson. The country, at the time, was filled with 
 elk and deer, and had a full proportion of bears, wolves, beavers, 
 and foxes, and for that cause, was the favourite hunting ground of 
 the Mohawks, where they erected their cabins, and hunted their 
 game upon the mountains — they being 1700 feet in elevation 
 above the valley of the Mohawk. There, Mr. Lindesay, with 
 his son-in-law, Mr. Congreve, a British lieutenant, dwelt in 
 lonely solitude — they being fifteen miles from any settlement, and 
 the intervening country could only be travelled by the Indian 
 footpath. 
 
 In the deep snow of 1740, they became wholly isolated, and 
 cut off" from all possibility of supplies, and when likely to starve, 
 they were visited by a friendly Indian, coming to them on his 
 snow shoes, who from time to time, brought them such relief, and 
 necessaries — carried on his back, as preserved the lives of these 
 first settlers. 
 
 In the next year, they were joined by sundry Scotch Irish 
 families, from Londonderry, New Hampshire ; say the Rev. 
 Samuel Dunlap, David Ramsay, William Gallt, James Campbell, 
 William Dickson, &c., in all, about thirty persons. From these, 
 their place of settlement received the name of Cherry Valley, in 
 allusion to the many fine wild cherry trees, then growing there. 
 For a long time, this, then far advanced settlement, became the 
 distinguishing name of a large section of the country, south and 
 west. 
 
 These first settlers, under the influence of the Rev. Mr. Linde- 
 say, became a strictly religious community. They made a log 
 church and school-house, a grist and saw-mill. In the course of ten 
 years, they were joined by John Wells, and two or three other 
 famihes. 
 
 In time, it occurred, that sundry disaffected Indians, of Oquago, 
 began to threaten hostiUty, so that it became expedient to raise 
 a defence of 800 rangers, for Tryon county, and to place a com- 
 pany of them at Cherry Valley, under the command of Captain 
 McKean ; to these were joined the occasional services of the few 
 inhabitants. Some of these went on to join Sir Wm. Johnson, 
 at Fort Edward, in 1757, and survived to come back and tell 
 of their doings, in many years of after life. 
 
 During the harassing periods of the French wars, population 
 continued to increase along the rivers and valleys, and among 
 the rest, sundry settlements had been made, in various positions, 
 
Early Inland Seltlements. 71 
 
 around Cherry Valley — among these, came the family of the 
 Harpers. These, afterwards, removed from the Valley, and es- 
 tablished themselves at Harper's Field, in the present county of 
 Delaware, where they became distinguished for their courage and 
 ardent attachment in the cause of American liberty. At the 
 period of the Revolution, the whole population of Cherry Valley, 
 was short of three hundred. Then came on the tug of war, and 
 then this community came to learn all the terrors and the incidents, 
 from the hostile incursions and ravages of the Indians, and their 
 equally savage allies, the tories — stimulated and excited by such 
 loyalists, as Colonels Guy Johnson, and Claus, Sir John Johnson, 
 John and Walter Butler, and Joseph Brant. All names of terror 
 and affliction to the inland settlers, every where. Deeply and 
 feelingly did they make their names to be feared and remembered, 
 by all the inhabitants, then dwelling beyond Schenectady. 
 
 In the summer of 1776, Capt. Robert McKean raised a com- 
 pany of rangers for the defence of the Valley — a defence of logs 
 and earth, was thrown up around Colonel Samuel Campbell's 
 house and barn, as a place of refuge, and to these were added two 
 block houses — afterwards a proper fort was erected there, at the in- 
 stance of General Lafayette, then at Johnstown. To this, came in 
 many of the inhabitants, from Unadilla and other towns — even 
 the boys of the place, formed themselves into companies of little 
 soldiers. In one of their parades without the fort, they were seen 
 by Brant and his Indians, at a distance, and taking them for real 
 soldiers, he went off, without attempting his intended surprise. 
 They however, met with Lieutenant Wormwood, bearing a mes- 
 sage, who being shot from his horse, was tomahawked by Brant, 
 who was his personal friend, but did not know it was he at the 
 time. In the same year. Brant came with his party, to Springfield, 
 and burnt it, carrying off several prisoners. At one time Brant 
 wrote a letter to Captain McKean— for he could write, having 
 been educated at Wheelock's academy, in which he gave him a 
 kind of challenge. 
 
 In the fall of 1778, the garrison was increased under Colonel 
 Alden, in consequence of intelligence received, that Brant and 
 Waller Butler, were on their way to the place, with five hundred 
 Indians, and two hundred rangers. The place, however, was 
 assaulted by surprise — the advance body of them was composed 
 chiefly of Senecas, at that time the wildest and most ferocious of 
 the Six Nations. Colonel Alden was killed — they massacred the 
 whole family of the Wells', except the late John Wells of New 
 York city. He alone was saved, by being at his school in Sche- 
 nectady. The Rev. Samuel Dunlap, and his daughter, were 
 made prisoners, and protected by an Indian chief— his wife was 
 taken and killed. A Mr. Mitchell, being in the fields, and seeing 
 the Indians, hid himself in the woods, but he was obliged to see 
 his house fired, and afterwards, to find his wife and four children 
 
72 Early Inland Settlements, 
 
 killed. The party which surrounded the house of Colonel Camp- 
 bell, took his wife and four children prisoners, their lives were 
 spared, and they endured a long and painful captivity. Mr. Clyde 
 escaped, with four children, to the woods, and lay concealed under 
 a large log. Thirty-two of the inhabitants, principally women 
 and children, were killed, and sixteen of the soldiers; the terror 
 of the scene was increased, by the conflagration of all the houses 
 and out-houses in the settlement — some few escaped to the 
 Mohawk river, the remainder were made prisoners. They who 
 should like to see the particulars of this tragic affair, may read 
 the facts at large, in Mr. Campbell's interesting history of Tryon 
 county. 
 
 It is but justice to Brant, to say, that in the midst of his sever- 
 ity, he remembered mercy. He earnestly inquired for his friend, 
 Captain McKean, saying that if he could have captured him, he 
 should have been glad, as he should have liked to prove to him, 
 that he respected his valour, and should be glad to show him 
 friendship and mercy. On another occasion, finding a woman 
 alone in a house, he told her to feign herself sick, and get to bed, 
 and that when the Senecas should come, he could say she was 
 only a sick woman. They did come, and passed away, and then 
 he painted the woman and children with his Mohawk paint, as 
 a sign of her protection. He was always jealous of his character 
 as a humane chieftain. Several attacks were made upon the fort, 
 but without success, aiid yet the garrison was not strong enough 
 to make a successful sortie. The Indians went off", with between 
 thirty and forty prisoners, and not long after, sent back the 
 women and children — certainly a merciful action for Indians. 
 Mrs. Campbell, and Mrs. Moore, and their children, they retained, 
 because their husbands had been active partisans against them. 
 After this, all the country was abandoned by the inhabitants, and 
 in the next summer, the garrison also went away, to join Gen- 
 erals CUnton and Sullivan. 
 
 Mrs. Campbell and her children, before named, after a captivity 
 of two years, were exchanged, for Mrs. Butler and children, the 
 family of Col. John Butler, which he had left behind, when he 
 first went off to Canada. At Mrs. Campbell's return, she joined 
 her husband, and lived a while at Troy. It was not till 1784, 
 that they returned to their homes, made waste and desolate, 
 at Cherry Valley. There he was afterwards visited in his log 
 house, by Gen. Washington, Gov. Clinton, Gen. Hand, and many 
 officers of the New York line, then making a tour up the Mohawk 
 — they were all equally satisfied, to take things rough as they found 
 them — all being cheered by hopes of better days to come. While 
 there, they made inquiries for a brave Irishman, of the name of 
 Shankland, who had made a most gallant defence of his house, 
 against sundry Indians, by firing at them from his windows. At 
 last, they succeeded to set it on fire, and supposing that they had 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 73 
 
 been consumed with the building, they went off, but he had got 
 out by a back way, through his hemp field, and now standing 
 up in the midst of these distinguished guests, he went over the 
 details of his perilous fight. Such a group, it has been said, 
 would form a good subject for the pencil. On the occasion of 
 the same visit, was shown the three guns of one Mayall, who 
 when made a prisoner, a little after the peace, by two Indians, 
 feigning friendship — he watched his chance, when crossing a river 
 — struck down the man nearest him on the bank — fired at and 
 wounded the second, then swimming the river, the third Indi.an 
 fired at Mayall, missed and run — when Mayall with his own, 
 and the guns of the two others, came to Mr. Campbell's house, 
 and deposited them as trophies — and well they were qualified to 
 add to the interesting group aheady proposed in the picture. 
 
 At the close of the war, the most of the surviving inhabitants 
 of Cherry Valley, returned to their former homes — the places of 
 many, however, were never re-occupied by the same owners, 
 and many a tear was shed, and many a bitter remembrance was 
 occasioned' by their absence, and the thought of the cause. 
 
 It may possibly interest some, to know that this is the home 
 and the birth place of Cooper, who has so well succeeded to draw 
 the woodsman's life, and the Indian's character. 
 
 THE GERMAN FLATS AND FORT HERKIMER. 
 
 This place constituted the most advanced position of white 
 population, lying on the north side of the Mohawk, sixty miles 
 from Schenectady. It consisted of a village called the German 
 Flats, originally settled by Germans, under the auspices of Queen 
 Anne. There an old Fort had been built, by Colonel Charles 
 Clinton, as early as 1758, and to which was given the name, 
 afterwards, of Fort Herkimer, in honour of General Herkimer, 
 of the militia, who fell in the battle of Oriskany, not far beyond 
 the Flats. There was also another fort on the Flats, called Fort 
 Dayton, which was built in 1776, and named after Colonel Dayton. 
 
 The people of the Flats, were called out for the defence of their 
 country, in the summer of 1777, by a proclamation of General 
 Herkimer, wherein he required the services of every male person, 
 of from sixteen to sixty years of age ; at the same time, all above 
 sixty, were to remain at home, and to gather at a call, for the 
 home defence of the women and children. 
 
 After the battle of Oriskany, in which General Herkimer lost 
 his life, the whole district of the German Flats, was filled with 
 grief and mourning. Almost every family had lost some relatives. 
 " Rachell weeping for her children and they were not." Wives 
 lamenting husbands and sons — sons too of only sixteen years 
 of age, and their valued General, in whom they trusted, was also 
 slain. 
 
 10 G 
 
74 Early Inland Settlements, 
 
 Among the individuals who most distinguished themselves for 
 personal prowess and remarkable success, was the person of 
 Christian Shell, of Shell-bush, in the present county of Herkimer. > 
 He had refused to go into any of the forts, but built his own 
 block house, upon his farm. The first story had no windows, 
 but several loop-holes, through which those within, could fire 
 upon the enemy. The upper story projected over the first, two 
 or three feet, in which were also apertures for fire arms. Being 
 in his field, working with his two sons, he saw the Indians ap- 
 proaching, and got securely in the house, where his wife was 
 already prepared with his arms. As the Indians and tories, sixty 
 in number, neared the house, he fired with a blunderbuss, and 
 caused their recoil. One McDonald he wounded, and then 
 dragged him into his house. The fight was maintained the 
 whole afternoon — his wife, all the time, acting as a true heroine, 
 and "meet helper," was occasionally busy, in sundry sorties, 
 among the wounded, in using the chopping axe — having herself, 
 spoiled five of their guns. The result finally was, that they killed 
 eleven and wounded six. The whole stoiy is told, in very homely 
 poetry, preserved in sixteen stanzas, in Campbell's history — con- 
 cluding with the humble and devout confession. 
 
 " But God was his assistant, his buckler and his shield, 
 He dispersed this cruel enemy, and made them quit the field." 
 
 Remarkable as the story is, it is said to be true. We are sorry 
 to add, that in the succeeding year, the Indians stealthily shot 
 him, while at work in his field, after which, his wife and children 
 moved into one of the forts. 
 
 When the German Flats were assaulted and burned, in 1778, 
 by the Indians, the place consisted of thirty-eight dwellings, on 
 the south side of the Mohawk river, and of as many on the north 
 side — happily, but two persons were killed, as the inhabitants 
 had a previous intimation of the approach of the enemy, and got 
 off in time to save their lives — ^but it was surely an awful time, 
 to be thus driven away and left houseless — a time of suffering 
 indeed. Who can tell the measure of their sufferings, in such a 
 state of exile. 
 
 In 1780, a party of tories and Indians, attacked the small set- 
 tlement of Little Falls, for the purpose of destroying the mills. — 
 These they burned, killed one man, and took off five or six 
 prisoners. 
 
 It was my happiness, to have had the advantage of being ac- 
 companied along the valley of the Mohawk, in the year 1828, by 
 Mr. Parrish, many years the Indian interpreter and agent. He had 
 been captured near the Wyoming settlement, in Pennsylvania, 
 by the Indians, when he was a lad of eleven years of age, and had 
 been led along with the army of predatory Indians and tories, 
 who destroyed the settlements along the Mohawk, in the Revolu- 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 75 
 
 tionary war. Having thus seen, with his own eyes, the things 
 then done, and being seven years a captive, he was quaUfied to 
 give abundant information, of all the things then passing under 
 our notice, in travelling on as far as Canandaigua, where he re- 
 sided. He of course confirmed many of the things written in 
 these pages, and also pointed out to me the big stone housej where 
 Gen. Herkimer once lived. He spoke five Indian languages — 
 was given up at Fort Stanwix to his liberty — was afterwards, for 
 thirty years, interpreter, — and has left a fortune honourably at- 
 tained. He was a fine looking, large man, of gentle manners and 
 disposition. He had a ready manner of imitating all the Indian 
 manners and ways. He died in the year 1836, and in the same 
 year, died Mr. Jones, another interpreter, and Indian captive, 
 from Pennsylvania — a man much valued and esteemed. How 
 they all vanish from the things that be! 
 
 The Col. Willett, who was conspicuous in relieving Gen. Herki- 
 mer's regiment, assaulted in the battle of Oriskany, lived to be 
 quite an oracle and chronicle, concerning the Indian wars along 
 the Mohawk, he having died in New York, in the summer of 
 1830 — say on the 22d of August, the anniversary of his battle 
 with Maj. Ross, and Col. Butler, aged 90 years. It was particu- 
 larly remarkable, concerning him, that the coffin in which he was 
 interred, was made of pieces of wood, collected by himself, many 
 years before, from difierent revolutionary battle grounds. The 
 corpse, in compliance with a written request of the deceased, was 
 habited in a complete suit of ancient citizen's apparel, including 
 an old-fashioned three-cornered hat. Several thousand persons 
 passed through the house, for the purpose of viewing the remains. 
 Thus he that was wondered at in life, was also wondered at in 
 death ! 
 
 FORT SCHUYLER AT ROME. 
 
 This post constituted, at the time, the most advanced military 
 position inland, and was at the head of the Mohawk navigation. 
 The fort was erected in 1776, by Col. Dayton, at the place now 
 called Rome, upon the foundation of old Fort Stanwix, began 
 in 1759, by General Broadstreet. At this time the old Fort Schuy- 
 ler, once at the place now Utica, was gone down, and out of use 
 since the time of the French wars. The new fort, was at the 
 proper carrying place, between that river and Wood creek, 
 whence the boats made their passage, to Oswego, and the lake. 
 
 While the British were advancing, under Burgoyne, towards 
 Albany with the intention to open the communication, by the 
 Hudson river, to New York, other expeditions were meditating, 
 for the purposes of diversion and revenge, to operate along the 
 line of the Mohawk. 
 
 Col. Claus, in Canada, (who had gone from Johnstown, as a 
 
76 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 tory chief,) was using his best exertions, to engage the assistance 
 of all the Indians, endeavouring to persuade them, that with 
 their assistance, he should be fully able to capture new Fort 
 Schuyler. This intimation gave rise to the appointment, of Col. 
 Gansevoort, in April, 1777, with the third regiment to that post. 
 The command of thcBritish force, was given to Gen. St. Leger, 
 who intended, after conquering that post, to pass down the Mo- 
 hawk, and fortify himself at Johnstown ; he arrived before the 
 place, with 1700 men, via Oswego, in August, and soon after 
 began his operations. In the mean time. Gen. Herkimer, a native 
 of the country, was approaching with his militia relief These 
 were assailed on the way, at Oriskany, at a ravine a few miles 
 from the fort, by Col. Butler, commanding the tories, and Col. 
 Brant, the Indian chief, commanding the Indians; and being 
 taken by surprise, they were of course, greatly cut up and dis- 
 persed, and their commander. Gen. Herkimer, slain. In that 
 bloody conflict, there was found the Indian, and the white man, 
 born on the banks of the Mohawk, lying side by side, in the 
 embrace of death. The militia fought with great desperation, 
 and sold their lives in the sternest courage, fighting hand to hand 
 to the last. During the deadly strife, Col. Willett, of glorious 
 memory, sallied from the fort, with two hundred men, and gave 
 such effective aid, as effectually dispersed the assailants. The 
 siege under St. Leger, was continued, during three weeks, when, 
 upon the approach of Gen. Arnold, with a rehef of nine hundred 
 light troops, the British retreated, in precipitation and confusion. 
 Facts stated, by Doctor Younglove, who was made a prisoner at 
 this time, showed, that the Indians inflicted terrible barbarities 
 upon the prisoners taken. He left a long poem, descriptive of 
 his own and their sufferings, to wit : 
 
 " There throug'h the grove their flaming fires arise, 
 And loud resound the torfur^d pris'ners' cries ; 
 Still as their pangs are more or less extreme 
 The bitter groan is heard, or sudden scream." 
 
 Numerous were the families along the Mohawk, who survived 
 to lament the loss of relatives, of husbands and brothers, in the 
 terrible fight of Oriskany. Gen. Herkimer was in fault, to have 
 allowed himself to have been surprised ; but he redeemed his 
 imprudence, by his courage. Early in the battle, which was 
 waged for nearly five hours, the general had his leg fractured by 
 a musket ball ; he sat upon a stone, giving his orders to the last; 
 mortification ensued from his wound, and he died in a few days. 
 A monument, to cost five hundred dollars, was ordered by Con- 
 gress to his merriory, but to this day, it has not been fulfilled ! 
 Will not the rich inhabitants, now along the Mohawk, think of 
 this, and show their patriotic feelings, by yet effecting it ? The 
 aged Col. Frey, till lately alive, at Canajoharie, was among the 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 77 
 
 prisoners taken and spared, and had survived to see the same 
 regions blest with plenty and repose. How he must have won- 
 dered, to compare the present with the past ! 
 
 We learn from Mrs. Grant, in her interesting memoirs, some- 
 what of the importance attached to the line of military posts, 
 placed along the Mohawk, and intended to preserve an open 
 communication, for military supplies going from Albany, to 
 Oswego and the lakes. They were erected as early as the French 
 wars. Some of the engineers, she says, were Swedes ; possessed 
 of polished manners and minds, and whom she often met, as 
 guests, at the house of the Schuyler family, at the Fiats, above 
 Albany. 
 
 About the year 1761, Mrs. Grant, when a child of seven years 
 of age, was started, with her mother, in a military expedition 
 (her father being a British officer,) to go by the Mohawk and 
 fFood creek, to reach the far distant post of Oswego. As they 
 were probably the Jirst females, above the very lowest ranks, 
 who had then penetrated so far into the remote wilderness, it may 
 aiford some interest now, to notice some of the facts and occur- 
 rences in the case. Her child-like mind was delighted with the 
 expectation of seeing wonders, — such as new' woods, new rivers, 
 and new animals, every day. Their military company were 
 conveyed in six batteaux. The second day they arrived at Fort 
 Hendrick, the home of king Hendrick, now called Canajoharie. 
 The toil of lifting the boats from place to place, and of cutting off 
 fallen trees, lying across Wood creek, requiring three days to 
 get along only fourteen miles, was all full of interest and fun to 
 her. The whole scenery was dark, thick woods. There she 
 saw remains of beaver dams, and numerous black and grey squir- 
 rels were mingling with her, in disputing for nuts, profusely 
 scattered on the ground. At the nights they made great fires on 
 the ground, both to cook, and to scare away the wolves and 
 bears, and also to cause any wandering Indians to believe they 
 were a great body, by their many fires. They set fire to their 
 cedar brush, for starting them into flame, by trains of gunpow- 
 der. At one place there seemed to be a general congress of 
 wolves, howling all night, in dreadful chorus. Oswego, then, 
 was wholly wild, and a real Siberia in the winter ; but abounded 
 with fish and fowl, and the woods then were thick, lofty, and 
 interminable. The present writer, when he made a tour by the 
 military road from Oswego to Rome, even as late as 1828, found 
 it then, the very wildest region of New York, and the most occu- 
 pied with the rough and rude mud and mire bridges, popularly 
 called Cord du roy, being logs laid tranverse of the road, in all 
 boggy and wet places. There were wolves and bears still to be 
 occasionally killed there. 
 
 Mrs. Grant remarks, that expert woodmen, in her time, could 
 
 G 2 
 
7S Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 go through deep woods without guide or compass. They could 
 tell the north side of timber, by its being invariably thicker in its 
 bark ; and was also covered with most moss on that side. They 
 knew also, the quality of the soil, by the trees or plants most 
 prevalent. They could tell the approach of a swamp, and with 
 equal certainty, could foresee the vicinity of a river or high 
 ground. Where grew the red oaks, marked a soil of loam and 
 sand; and where chesnut trees abounded, with strawberries, 
 there would be the best place for wheat culture. Where the 
 poplar grew, there the soil would be wet and cold. Where grew 
 hickory, there the soil would be rich, and deep, and there was the 
 best places to procure the plants with which the Indians made 
 their dyes of blue and orange. All the country boys were then 
 possessed of such useful woodland knowledge. It was long a mat- 
 ter of frontier knowledge, that the leaves of the white ash tree, 
 when bound about the legs and ancles, was a protection against 
 rattlesnakes and other venomous serpents. They are made" sense- 
 less by the touch of a branch from such a tree, besides this, the 
 wearing of loose leggings was a purposed guard against their 
 bites. Hogs readily devour serpents without harm. 
 
 Judge Joshua Stow, of Middletown, Conn., who was the first 
 pioneer into Ohio — bordering on the Erie lake, did me the 
 favour, in 1839, — in the seventy-eighth year of his age, to furnish 
 me with a brief description of his progress inland, up the Mo- 
 hawk. He and his party set out in the month of May 1796, for 
 the benefit of the Connecticut Land Company, owning the "West- 
 ern reserve" in Ohio. The company consisted of five surveyors 
 and a physician, and sundry ch-ain and axe men — in all fourteen 
 persons. They started for Schenectady in four flat bottomed 
 boats, of three tons each, having on board a quantity of freight for 
 Indians to be met at Buffalo, in a treaty, besides their camp 
 utensils, provisions, &c. Their progress was slow and arduous 
 up the Mohawk ; when arrived at Fort Stanwix, they lost a man 
 by falling overboard and drowning. They here used a portage 
 of a mile and a half, hauling the boats and goods, by teams, over 
 to Wood creek, and went thence by it to Lake Oneida, and 
 Oswego river, out to Lake Ontario, and thence onward by the 
 Lakes. Their rejoicings were extreme when they reached the 
 Ontario, and had got thus far beyond their fatigue, and into so 
 broad an expanse of waters. On the fourth of July 1796, the 
 party, to their great joy, first set their feet on the virgin soil of 
 Ohio, at Conneaut, — where they did not fail to celebrate the twen- 
 tieth year of our national independence. In the year 1839, he 
 visited the same regions, in good health, and was received by the 
 citizens of Cleveland, and by the inhabitants of the Western 
 Reserve, as an honoured patriarch. But the great interest, intend- 
 ed to be noticed here, is, that such an individual, in his own person, 
 
Early Inland Settlemenls. 79 
 
 should live to revisit, such distant regions, so utterly changed, 
 from their first appearance — being all since improved, throughout 
 the whole route, like enchantment. 
 
 In the year 1768, there was held at Fort Stanwix (Rome) a 
 great convention of Indians to treat and to settle affairs; they 
 were met, to the number of three thousand, by Sir William John- 
 son, and by Governor John Penn, and his secretary, the Rev. Mr. 
 Peters, and Benjamin Chew, Esq., of Philadelphia, and others ; 
 on that secular occasion, Mr. Peters preached to the Indians, and 
 baptized sundry Indians. 
 
 In further illustration of the rapid progress of the country, as 
 redeemed from its recent savage state, we here purpose to 
 notice, a few facts of the wild and ferocious animals occasionally 
 found in what are to be considered as improved and settled dis- 
 tricts — to wit : 
 
 In 1759, an act was passed for destroying tvild cats, in the 
 county of Suffolk, also an act to destroy wolves, in the county of 
 Albany. 
 
 In January 1754, a large bear, seventeen miles west of Scho- 
 harie, encountered a squaw and her child, in the woods, and 
 killed them both. After nearly eating them up, he was killed 
 by a passing Indian. 
 
 In January 1S2S, a party of hunters in the Warwick mountains, 
 (seventy miles north of New York) trailed a bear to a cave 
 there ; after using the usual method of trying to smoke him out, 
 without avail, they sent in their dogs, which were driven out, 
 they then blasted the rock so as to admit the passage of a man, 
 when one John Ward, entered with a torch and made his shot at 
 him, and having missed, he returned, and again entered, and shot 
 him in the fore legs. The bear advanced, and drove him out. 
 Ward entered again, and shot him in the eye. The bear again 
 made at him, and he retreated, and gaining a rifle, shot the bear 
 just as he was making his escape. He measured six feet from 
 the nose to the end of the tail, and weighed three hundred and 
 thirteen pounds. As late as the years 1815, to 1820, the State 
 treasury expended thirty-eight thousand two-hundred and sixty 
 dollars, for killing wolves, in thirty-seven of the western counties. 
 
 In April, 1833, we had a remarkable exemplification of the 
 presence of wolves, even in a settled country, like the northern 
 end of New Jersey, say at Byram township, in Newtown, only 
 about fifty miles from New York City ! There, Adam Drake 
 received three-hundred and sixty dollars, for one day's work in 
 kiUing and capturing wolves ! The case was indeed singular. 
 He had been led out, from the bowlings, to go in search. He 
 found their lair in the rocks — two old ones and nine young ones. 
 For these nine he received five dollars a head from the county, 
 five dollars also from the township of Byram, and thirty dollars 
 also from the township of Green, of which Drake was an inliabi- 
 
8b Earvy Inland Settlements. 
 
 tant. The old ones were shot at, but escaped, the young ones 
 only were killed. 
 
 It may be worthy of special remark, to notice some of the 
 monstrous trees, which have been particularly noticed for their 
 size — to wit: in Genesvsee, in Mr. Wadsworth's meadow, is an 
 oak of twenty-four feet in circumference. Near the mouth of 
 the Walnut creek is a black walnut tree, of twenty-seven feet in 
 circumference, and is very high. In Reading, is a white oak of 
 seventeen and a half feet in girth. In Mentz, there is a hollow 
 buttonwood tree of thirty-three feet round, wherein Mr. Smith 
 preached to thirty-five persons, and which could have held fifty 
 persons. Its diameter was seventeen feet. In Oswego there is 
 another, which is thirty-five and a half feet in circumference. A 
 sycamore tree, which grew on the banks of the Mohawk, re- 
 quired thirty-one yoke of oxen to remove the trunk, after it was 
 cut down. It had been occupied as a booth, or tavern, near 
 Utica, for two years, and is capable of holding forty persons. 
 A similiar one, from New York state, was exhibited in Phila- 
 delphia as a show. At Salina, a tree measures forty-eight feet 
 round.* 
 
 In 1760, an officer, who had gone from Schenectady to Ontario 
 in the month of June, thus describes the difficulties of the water 
 passage, saying, " We embarked in our boats on the 24th June, 
 and reached the lake on the 24th July, continuing their progress 
 all the time ; the navigation was bad in the Mohawk, causing us 
 often to get our batteaux over shoals, by main strength. The 
 passage by Wood creek, was still worse, causing us eight days of 
 hard work in that creek of but forty miles." 
 
 The first regular settlement of Rome, was by emigrants from 
 New England, and much expectation was then entertained of its 
 increase and future greatness, as occupying the position of the 
 carrying place between the waters of the Mohawk and Wood 
 creek, leading to the Lakes. The fort was at first built ,with 
 great cost — said to have been two hundred and sixty-six thousand 
 dollars. It was a square fort, with four bastions, with a covert 
 way and glacis. 
 
 * Probably, the biggest tree in the United States of the Oak kind, is that of a 
 Red Oak eighteen miles from Natchitoches, on the road to Apelousas, which 
 measures forty-four feet in girth, at two foot from the ground, and is sixty feet 
 high to its branches. There is an apple tree, still bearing, at Marshfield, Mas- 
 sachusetts, which was planted by Peregrine White, the y?rs< maZc person born in 
 New England. The house built by the same individual is still standing, probably 
 the oldest edifice in our country. What is still stranger, is, that the house and 
 farm is still owned and occupied by the lineal descendants of the same P. White ! 
 In Danvers, Massachusetts, there is a pear tree, still alive, planted by George 
 Endicott, in 1628. In Eastham, on Cape Cod, is another, planted in 1640, by 
 Gov. Prince. Two pear trees are still living at Hartford, Connecticut, brought 
 out from England and planted in 1633. The pear tree brought out from Hol- 
 land, and planted by Gov. Stuyvesant, on his farm, is now bearing in New York 
 City, 
 
« 
 
 7 ^ 
 
 
Nieu Amsterdam in 1659, p 146. 
 
 Log Cottage and Block House of Inland Settlers, p. 104. 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 81 
 
 GENERAL VIEWS OF NEW YORK — INLAND, BEYOND UTICA. 
 
 The recent and rapid progress of inland settlement in Western 
 New York is, and ever must be, a matter of interest and wonder, 
 to many. We therefore desire to present a condensed view of 
 the facts in the case ; several of which we have derived from 
 Henry O'Reilly, Esq., of Rochester, assisted by Maude's Notices 
 of 1800. Mr. O'Reilly is a gentleman who has been a commend- 
 able observer of inland improvement ; and is therefore peculiarly 
 qualified to be a useful contributor, to wit : 
 
 The principal tracts into which Western New York was earliest 
 divided, were the Holland Purchase, the Pulteney Estate, and the 
 Military tract. The lands in all these tracts are generally sold 
 and occupied, although some minor tracts, bought from the Hol- 
 land company, by associations, are still but sparsely settled. The 
 public improvements, by canals and railroads, will, however, 
 soon leave but little land unimproved, in the southern tier of the 
 western counties, wherein those still wild tracts are chiefly located. 
 
 The Pulteney Estate, is of good size and immense value— com- 
 prising nearly all of Steuben and Ontario counties, the east range 
 of townships in Alleghany county, and the east and principal 
 parts of the counties of Livingston and Munroe. To the intelli- 
 gent and industrious agent, Capt. Charles Williamson, the meed 
 of praise is due for the stimulus to useful improvement. Capt. 
 Williamson began his enterprise in 1792, forcing his passage 
 through a length of wilderness, which the oldest and most ex- 
 perienced woodmen could not be tempted to assist him to explore, 
 although ofiered five times the usual wages ; his only companions 
 were his friend, Mr. Johnstone, a servant, and one backwoods- 
 man. The same year, there was laid out the town of Bath, 
 which came in eight years afterwards, to contain about forty fam- 
 ilies. It was not until 1795, that the country could supply its 
 inhabitants with food ; for, till then, their flour was brought from 
 Northumberland, and their pork from Philadelphia; yet, so 
 rapidly has improvement advanced, and so quick has been the 
 change, from the dark-tangled forest, (whose death-like silence 
 yielded but to the growl of bears, the howl of wolves, and the 
 yell of savages,) to smiling fields, to flocks and herds, and to the 
 busy hum of men, that instead of being indebted to others for 
 their support, they soon came to the profitable condition of 
 making large exportations of their surplus. 
 
 On the first settlement of the country around Bath, those moun- 
 tainous districts were so little regarded, in comparison with the 
 rich flats, of the Genessee country, that few of the early settlers 
 could be prevailed upon to establish themselves there, till Capt. 
 Williamson set the example, and saying, " as nature has done so 
 much for the northern plains, I will be doing something for these 
 11 
 
82 Early Inland Settlements, 
 
 southern mountains." Capt. Williamson made his beginning in 
 Bath, by building himself a small log cabin for his wife and 
 family ; and if a stranger came to visit him, he built up a little 
 nook to put his bed in. In a little time, a boarded or frame house 
 was built for the Captain. His subsequent residence, is a very 
 commodious, roomy house, situate to the right of where he had 
 placed his first cabin, — since, consigned to the kitchen fire. In a 
 few years, Williamson's mills were constructed nearby, for the 
 benefit of the population on Conhocton creek. 
 
 To the same Capt. Williamson, we are indebted, for the choice 
 and beautiful site of Geneva, diX. the northwest end of Seneca lake. 
 He, charmed with the peculiar beauty of the elevated plain 
 which there commands so fine a view of the very picturesque 
 lake, began to lay out his building lots for a town, parallel with, 
 and facing the lake, and with conditions, that no buildings should 
 be erected on the eastern side of the street, so as ever to obstruct 
 the view of the lake. To give encouragement to this settlement, 
 he built a very large and handsome hotel, which he placed under 
 the management of Mr. Powell, an Englishman. 
 
 In 1792, Geneva did not contain more than three or four fam- 
 ilies; and in 1800, there was an accession of sixty families. 
 Among the respectable families, then there, were Messrs. Colt, 
 Johnstone, Hallet, Rees, Bogert, and Beckman ; three of these 
 were lawyers. There were also two physicians, two storekeep- 
 ers, and one or two of several kinds of tradesmen. A hatter 
 there, then made hats entirely of beaver, at ten dollars. 
 
 Canandaigua, near the lake of the same name, had in 1792, 
 but two frame houses, and a few log cabins, and soon advanced -. 
 in population ; say in 1800, to ninety families. This town, by "^ 
 the inconsideration of the first settlers, was placed, unlike Geneva, 
 at a little distance from its beautiful lake, and has so lost forever, 
 all the charm which its superior water scenery could have 
 afforded. Its earliest principal inhabitants were, Thomas Mor- 
 ris, Esq., Judge Atwater, and Messrs. Phelps and Gorham; the 
 two last, great land-holders in the vicinity. 
 
 Rochester, was begun by the purchase, by Capt. Williamson, 
 of the one hundred acre " Allen mill-lot," where he had intended 
 to construct a much larger mill than had been used by " Indian 
 Allen ;" but after holding the site a couple of years, he sold out 
 in 1802, at seventeen and a half dollars per acre, to Roches- 
 ter, Carroll, and Fitzhugh (Marylanders), who in 1812, laid out 
 their purchase, in a village plot, under the name of the senior 
 proprietor, Rochester. 
 
 At the Big Spring, two miles from the Scotch settlement of 
 Caledonia, Capt. Williamson laid out a town in acre lots, where 
 only two families were resident in 1800; while at Caledonia, 
 there were then eighteen families. These settlers purchased their 
 lands at three dollars per acre, and received as an allurement to 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 83 
 
 settle, the gift of a cow to each family, and a supply of wheat 
 for the first year, to be repaid in kind. At the same time the pur- 
 chase money was deferred for five years, and without interest. 
 With such generous terms to settlement and improvement, in so 
 fine a country, how easy was it to increase in substance and 
 wealth ! 
 
 A few persons had penetrated northward, between Avon and 
 Lake Ontario, as early as 1788-90. These were, Israel and 
 Simon Stone, who settled in what is now Pittsford. They were 
 followed by Glover Perrin, who settled in the place which since 
 bears the name of Perrinton ; and by Peter Schaeffer, who located 
 on the flats of the Genessee, near to the present flourishing town 
 of Scottsville, at Allen's creek, a stream named after " Indian 
 Allen," who had resided there before his use of his first mill, at 
 the present Rochester. 
 
 Mr. Orange Stone settled at the place now called Brighton, in 
 1790, and in 1791, Wm. Hincher took residence in the woods, 
 about the junction of the river with Lake Ontario. These two 
 individuals lived twelve miles apart ; and were for several years 
 without any intervening neighbour. Nevertheless, such was the 
 mind of Hincher, that he looked with jealousy upon newcomers, 
 as those who might disturb the privileges of his lonely " neigh- 
 bourhood !" 
 
 Of Schaefier, it was remarked by Maude, who visited him in 
 his lonely sovereignty, in 1800, that this individual, as " a respect- 
 able farmer," was then living in his new boarded house, the 
 only one of that kind, then between the present Avon, and the 
 mouth of the Genessee river, twenty-five miles distant. Schaefier 
 was the oldest settler, " Indian Allen" excepted, then on the 
 Genessee river. When Schaeffer first settled on this river, about 
 the year 1788, there were not more than four or five families 
 between him and Fort Schuyler, (the present Utica,) a distance 
 of one hundred and fifty miles. 
 
 The Genessee landing (now Hanford's,) was settled in 1796, 
 some years before the village of Rochester was projected ; being 
 first occupied by Zadoc Granger, and Gideon King. The late 
 Governor De Witt Clinton, on his western tour in 1810, made a 
 short stop at this landing, at the then only public house, kept by 
 Mr. Hanford, who was at the same time, carrying on considerable 
 of trade with Canada, as a merchant. Much business was then 
 doing with Montreal, having in six months sent there, from that 
 landing, one thousand barrels of flour, one thousand of pork, one 
 thousand of potash, and upwards of one hundred thousand of 
 staves. 
 
 The first impulse to forming a town at Rochester, was caused 
 by the public necessity of constructing a bridge across the Gen- 
 essee river, some twenty miles below the earlier bridge at Avon. 
 To the success of this measure Mr. Enos Stone, (the same who 
 
84 Early Inland Settlements, 
 
 killed in 1811, in his cornfield in Rochester, the largest bear ever 
 seen,) and who is still alive to witness the wonderful advance- 
 ment of the place, was earnestly devoted, by his attendance on the 
 legislature. He had visited the place from his home in Massa- 
 chusetts, in 1794, but did not come to reside till 1807-8. Among 
 the obstacles and demurs which he had to encounter, before the 
 legislature at Albany, it was alleged, that there was then nothing 
 to justify such an expense for an additional bridge. " It is, 
 (said one of the speakers,) a God-forsaken place ! inhabited by 
 muskrats, visited only by straggling trappers, through which 
 neither man nor beast could gallop without fear of starvation, or 
 fever' and ague .'" Such was the stigma cast upon Rochester, 
 before it had a name, and by which its subsequent improvement 
 would have been repressed, had a majority of the legislators been 
 of equal hostility and distrust. Now, what do opponents and the 
 public behold ; a superior city, raised as by enchantment ! A 
 considerable portion of the site then, was marshy, now no longer 
 such, and subject, as will hereafter be noticed, like the rest of the 
 Genessee country, to fever and agues, since dispelled. The 
 bridge was begun in 1810 and finished in 1812, at an expense of 
 twelve thousand dollars, which was taxed upon the soliciting 
 counties of Ontario and Genessee. The river had been previously 
 forded, on the rocky bottom, near the present canal aqueduct. 
 Before the erection of the bridge, accidents would occasionally 
 happen, to those who attempted to ford while a freshet was flow- 
 ing. In the spring of 1812, a farmer, with his team and wagon, 
 were destroyed by being swept over the falls of one hundred feet, 
 near by ; the same place at which " Sam Patch" of notoriety, 
 afterwards jumped into eternity, and '^no mistake," while demon- 
 strating his favorite diving maxim that, " some things can be done 
 as well as others." 
 
 At the time of the first settlements, there were numerous fam- 
 ilies of Indians scattered around this place. Hot-bread, Tommy- 
 Jemmy, Capt. Thompson, Blackbird, and other red men of note, 
 spent part of their time there ; and, as late as 1813, one of the 
 great pagan festivals, (the sacrifice of the dog,) was solemnized 
 publicly at the rising ground where now the Bethel church stands. 
 Then the swamps back of the Mansion-house, were filled with 
 rabbits, partridges, and other game, and deer might be seen 
 almost any day, by watching at the Deer-lick, where is now the 
 horticultural establishment of Reynolds and Bateham. 
 
 When John Q. Adams was visiting Western New York, in 
 the summer of 1843, he so cordially expressed views and feelings, 
 such as I have been endeavouring to inculcate in sundry places, 
 in these pages, that I will not repress the desire I feel to connect 
 some few of his remarks, so kindred with my own. " He regrets, 
 deeply regrets, that he had not earlier visited those regions, so 
 that he might have been better qualified thereby to contrast the 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 85 
 
 present, with what it was ! Then, all was covered with forests, 
 inhabited by wild beasts. Upon the lakes was no commerce, 
 and they had no neighbours with whom to traffic. All was soli- 
 tude; — now made by their fathers into a paradise !" "In travel- 
 ling through the state, it has been impossible for him to forego 
 a constant comparison, with what New York was in other days, 
 and what it is now:^^ — " For (says he,) when I first set foot on 
 New York soil, in 1785, the present great city of the Empire 
 State, had but eighteen thousand inhabitants, and while he tar- 
 ried at John Jay's, that gentleman was laying the foundation of 
 a house in Broadway, at a distance of a quarter of a mile from 
 any other dwelling .'" Such are the men who are best qualified 
 to see the contrast of the times, and to wonder at the enchant- 
 ment by which towns and villages, and rural beauties and im- 
 provements, are created. 
 
 Think too, that twenty thousand persons should have been 
 collected at Rochester, in 1843, to celebrate the annual gathering 
 of the Agricultural Society, and at thai; assemblage, there should 
 have been present from Canandaigua, Mr. Abner Barlow, in 
 the ninety-second year of his age, who, in his own person, was 
 the farmer who sowed the first field of wheat in Western New 
 York ! To be too, at a city now, which makes more flour than 
 any other city in the world ! 
 
 The earliest notice of roads and bridges, may be briefly 
 summed up as follows, viz: 
 
 In 1792, the road from Geneva to Canandaigua was only an 
 Indian path, and on this road, as told by Capt. AVilliamson, there 
 were only two families, then settled. Then Canandaigua, the 
 county town, consisted of only two small frame houses, and a 
 few cabins, surrounded by thick woods. From Canandaigua to 
 the Genessee river, at Avon — twenty-six miles, only four families 
 resided on the road. 
 
 Patrick Campbell, who travelled westward in 1792, says that 
 the whole distance, from the Onondaga Hollow to Cayuga, was 
 in forests ; and that in Marcellus township, he met with only one 
 house, and two newly erected huts. 
 
 On the 22d of March, 1794, three commissioners were appoint- 
 ed, for laying out a road, from old Fort Schuyler (the present 
 Utica), to the Cayuga ferry, in Onondago county, or to the outlet 
 of Cayuga lake, as they might choose ; thence to Canandaigua ; 
 and thence to the settlement at Canawagus (now Avon), on 
 Genessee river. 
 
 The road from Fort Schuyler (Utica), to the Genessee, which 
 in 1797, was little better than an Indian path, is stated by Capt. 
 Williamson, as being in 1799, "so far improved," that a stage 
 started from Fort Schuyler, in September, to arrive at Geneva on 
 the third day, with four passengers. Soon as this line of road 
 
 H 
 
86 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 was settled by law, as many as fifty families settled along it, in 
 the space of four months. In the winter of 1797, two stages ran 
 from Geneva and Canandaigua, to Albany, weekly. 
 
 Cayuga bridge, the longest in America, was commenced by the 
 Manhattan Company of New Yorkj in 1799, and finished in 
 September 1 800 ; being in length a mile and a quarter, with a 
 width for three wagons abreast. The water which there rests 
 on the lake is so clear as to permit you, when riding over the 
 bridge, to see the sporting fish, and the stony and sandy bottom. 
 It is, also, a glorious sight to look out upon the surface of the 
 extended lake. 
 
 In 1815, Samuel Hildreth began to run a stage, and to carry 
 the mail, twice a week, between Canandaigua and Rochester, a 
 distance of twenty-eight miles ; and in the same year, a private 
 weekly mail route was established, between Rochester and 
 Lewistown. 
 
 The directions given to travellers, about the period of 1798, 
 may present a curious contrast to the contents of the " travellers' 
 guides,^' as now published. Capt. Williamson, in a note to 
 Maude's travels, then said : — " You are to proceed from Geneva, 
 by the state road, to the Genessee river, which you will cross at 
 New Hartford (now Avon), at west of which you will find the 
 country settled for about twelve miles ; and all beyond, for sixty- 
 five miles, to the Niagara river, is still in its primitive wilderness 
 state. This road, says he, was so much used last year (in 1797), 
 by people on business, or by the curiosity of some visiting the 
 Falls of Niagara, (now so well understood, by many,) that a 
 station was fixed at the Big Plains, to shelter travellers. 
 From that place, diverged two roads, leading to the same Niagara 
 river : one by Buffalo creek, the other by Tonawanda Indian 
 village, to Lewistown landing and Queenstown, in Canada. The 
 road by Buffalo creek is most used, as it is better, and commands 
 a view of Lake Erie; and the road from this to the Falls, is along 
 the banks of the Niagara river, forming in itself a very interest- 
 ing ride. Then Queenstown contained from twenty to thirty 
 houses. Lewistown then had but two houses ; one of which 
 was the ferry-house, used as the proper landing, and as a portage 
 place, for Fort Schlosser." 
 
 Delightfully pleasant and healthy as we now know that West- 
 ern New York is, we cannot but feel some interest, in looking 
 back upon its proverbial unhealthiness ; and especially upon the 
 terror of its climate, as once entertained, of "the sickly Genessee." 
 
 On the 7th June, 1792, says Dr. Coventry, I arrived with my 
 family at my first residence near the village of Geneva. The 
 seasons of 1793-94 were very sickly in the Genessee country. 
 He remembered a time in the village of Geneva, when there was 
 only a single individual who could leave her bed, and she went 
 about, like a ministering angel, bestowing a drink of cold water 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 87 
 
 to the afflicted. The diseases were occasional dysenteries, and 
 many fevers. In the summer of 1796, he settled at Utica, and 
 found dysentery prevalent there. 
 
 Dr. Ludlow, speaking of the period of 1801, says the diseases 
 of the spring and summer were principally intermittent fevers, 
 partaking of the tertian type, attended with violent inflammatory 
 action. None were exempt. In September and October, remit- 
 tents of a mild form appeared, which continued through Novem- 
 ber, growing more severe as the season advanced. All fevers, 
 except fever and ague, were called by the people '^ Lake or 
 Genessee fevers.''^ Diarrhoea was the prevailing disease of the 
 spring. Goitre, or chronic inflammation of the thyroid gland, then 
 common, has since wholly disappeared. At that time and sub- 
 sequent, phthisis pulmonalis was scarcely known ; and it has 
 been supposed, that it was occasioned by the prevalence of 
 fever and ague, on the principle mentioned as early as Hippo- 
 crates, that intermittents have the power of removing other 
 diseases. So he found it in his practice, through several years, 
 among the early settlers. Time has since removed the decom- 
 posing vegetable matter, and man has graded, drained and paved 
 the road. Since 1828, fevers have so declined, and become so 
 mild, that death from that cause, has been but a rare occurrence. 
 Since then, consumption, that king of terrors, has been gaining 
 an ascendency ; and inland New York, like other and older 
 countries, has become subject to the invasion, and consequent 
 mortality. 
 
 The name of the "Genessee country," says Dr. Ludlow, was 
 strongly associated with ideas of sickness and death. Notwith- 
 standing the glowing descriptions of the beauty and fertility of the 
 land, given by the early pioneers of " Western New York," 
 those who remained at home, especially in New England, could 
 scarcely divest themselves of a feeling of gloom, in contemplating 
 the dangers incident to health and life in the early stages of the 
 settlement westward. It seemed to most of them that, after all, 
 this western region was but a " valley of bones," a premature 
 burying-place, for those loved friends and relations who were 
 tempted to settle in this newly opening territory. And truly, like 
 all new, level, and rich countries, abounding in vegetation, it 
 was subject largely to the diseases of similar districts, the severe 
 forms of intermittent and remittent fevers, cholera morbus, &c. 
 
 Th^ lands, generally described in the forgoing notices, were 
 severally acquired from the Indians, at various periods, as here- 
 after severally mentioned, viz. 
 
 In 1785, the Oneida and Tuscarora tribes, at a treaty held at 
 Fort Herkimer, sold a portion of their territory for eleven thou- 
 sand five hundred dollars, being for the land lying between the 
 Unadilla and Chenango rivers; and in 1788 the Oneidas, at a 
 
88 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 treaty held at Fort Stanwix, ceded all their lands excepting a 
 few reservations. 
 
 In 1788, the Onondagas, at a treaty held at Fort Schuyler, 
 sold all their territory to the state of New York, excepting a 
 reservation around their village. The price was one thousand 
 crowns, and two hundred pounds in clothing, and an annuity for- 
 ever, of five hundred dollars. 
 
 The same year, the Oneidas ceded all the remainder of their 
 lands, for the consideration of two thousand dollars hi money, two 
 thousand dollars in clothing, one thousand dollars in provisions ; 
 and an annuity of six hundred dollars forever. 
 
 The Cayugas, hy their treaty at Albany, in 1789, ceded all 
 their lands, in consideration of two thousand one hundred and 
 twenty-five dollars, and an annuity of five hundred dollars for- 
 ever. Other similar purchases were made from the Six Nations, 
 the Senecas, and Mohawks, at subsequent periods. Generally, 
 " the poor Indians," reserved to themselves, but uselessly, the 
 rights to fishing and hunting, forever, on the lands so alienated. 
 Thus evincing in their last extremities, a fond hope of being 
 allowed to linger about and use, their loved homes. Poor things, 
 they have long since waked from that drekm-of hope! The 
 hunting and fishing, themselves, are gone ! and population and 
 improvement, have crowded out the former owners of the soil, 
 never to return ! " The star of Empire urges west.^^ 
 
 In travelling westward from Schenectady, along the Mohawk, 
 and out to Niagara, as the writer did, in 1828, purposely to 
 " note and observe," it was matter of wonderment to the author, 
 that he should then see a country, so new and young, every where 
 so wealthy in pleasant and stately houses and villages, and so 
 highly cultivated in the fields of the prosperous farmers. All 
 this too, wrought out in the short period elapsing since the termi- 
 nation of the Revolutionary war. 
 
 It was also much to his satisfaction, in going at that time to the 
 Niagara as a looker on, to still find the country beyond Utica just 
 in its act of transit, from the wild to the cultivated state. The 
 fields of grain and grass were still well spotted with black and 
 charred stum.ps, looking like black bears set upon their haunches, 
 and like himself, upon the qui vive for adventure, showing there- 
 by, the places of the recent woods, burned away, to make " the 
 clearings," and settlement. Every now and then we came to 
 neatly finished dwellings, and often to those that were elegant, 
 set along side of the still remaining log houses, from which the 
 owners had but recently removed — the log houses, in the mean- 
 time, serving either for kitchens or outhouses, thus denoting to 
 the eye, the advancement to wealth and consequence of their 
 owners. Except for the presence of the log houses and log barns, 
 every thing looked new and bright and cheerful. The villages. 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 89 
 
 which were frequent, showed good new mansions — fine churches 
 — fine hotels and stores, in a style of grandeur and prosperity. 
 Withal, the style of architecture was very often, peculiarly origi- 
 nal and pleasing, as if the constructors had gone far away from 
 imitation, and from the despotism of fashion prevaiUng in uniform 
 sameness, in the cities, and had set up for independent inventors 
 of new modes for themselves. 
 
 Those who had gone before us, but only one dozen of short 
 years, had seen the same regions, in their rough and rude state. 
 The roads and accommodations had been proverbially rough, 
 even as recent as the last border war, and costing for the trans- 
 portation of the necessaries and munitions of war to the frontiers, 
 most exorbitant prices. The inhabitants then, were busily strug- 
 gling to free themselves from the wild encumbrances of the soil 
 — but now all was nearly over, and the happy occupants were 
 reposing on the fruits and productions of their previous toil. 
 And here it behoves us to remark, that those who shall come 
 after us, even in a few years, shall see few or none of these things, 
 to move their special wonders. We regret to be obliged to say 
 this to the wonder-seekers, but it will he so. They must go soon, 
 or all the road will be artificially modernized by continuous cities 
 and villages, with finished roads, like matters of every day obser- 
 vation at home. The first scenes are fading and passing away, 
 even while we are writing — soon they will be absolutely gone. 
 The same places will look to the travellers, as if they had always 
 been settled, as if always improved and wealthy — such a change 
 to better, will be all the worse to those who may seek for surprise 
 and sensation. And it is to preserve the recollection of things as 
 they were, and to enable the beholder to compare the present 
 and the past, that we feel ourselves excited to make these records 
 and notitia. We know that they cannot see with our eyes, nor 
 feel with our emotions, unless aided by such assistance. 
 
 Was not wild nature in that elder time 
 
 Clothed with a deeper power? Earth's wandering race, 
 
 Exploring realms of solitude sublime, 
 
 Nut as we see beheld her awful face. 
 
 Jri had not tamed the mighty scenes which met 
 
 Their searching eyes ; unpeopled kingdoms lay 
 
 In savage pomp before them — all was yet 
 
 Silent and vast — untrodden, voiceless, lone. 
 
 Only nineteen years preceding our journey, a friend of ours 
 had gone in the Jirst gig that had reached Niagara, and although 
 it was drawn by two horses tandem, he was a whole day in 
 going over a route of sixteen miles, much filled with " Cord du 
 roy" logs. At Niagara, the only public inn, was still a log 
 house. At the Falls they had no artificial steps, for descent to 
 the gulf below. Iris Island, was not then accessible, and there 
 was no house of entertainment on the British side, and none 
 nearer than Chippewa, two or three miles ofi". 
 
 12 H* 
 
90 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 We may appropriately add, in connection with such facts, that 
 in our early life, we had had frequent intercourse with American 
 officers, coming from Fort Schlosser, and the military stations 
 along the Niagara river, doing all their journey slowly and 
 fatiguing] y on horse-back, with their bear-skin saddle cloths, and 
 strapped valises, and always in enough of their uniform, to mark 
 their character, and to bespeak, as they could, some extra atten- 
 tion on the road. And it was a fact, that so little had the public 
 attention been called and stimulated to any of the present wonder- 
 ments of the Falls, that the officers scarcely ever deigned to speak 
 of them, in their ordinary conversations. It conferred no mark 
 of distinction to have seen them, and none of them ever published 
 any account of their travels. 
 
 We have since made ourselves to wonder, by indulging in 
 fervid imaginations, by painting poetic descriptions, and stimu- 
 lating our fancies, until the multitude of pleasure-seekers, and 
 picturesque-searchers, fill the country with their explorations. 
 The stage owners, hotel keepers, store-keepers, and farmers, find 
 their harvest in this, and through the aid of the newspaper press, 
 keep up the measure of florid report and excitement, and those 
 who seek sensation, pursue the path of those who come home 
 and boast of marvels seen and done, by themselves. We may 
 know how far much of this is artificially produced, by the fact 
 of our special movings, in reading page after page, and book after 
 book, of places sacred to character, poetry, and history, in Eng- 
 land, when at the same time, our own disregarded, and of course, 
 quiet American scenes of wood, lake, and mountain, go far before 
 theirs in greatness, and in the sublime of nature. We may quote 
 our warrant for this assertion in their own publications, and in 
 saying, with a recent British publication, that "America certainly 
 surpasses every other country in richness of the picturesque — 
 every mile upon the rivers — every hollow in the landscape — every 
 turn in the innumerable mountain streams, arrest the painter's eye, 
 and here his labour is not, as in Europe, to embellish and idealize 
 the reality, but he finds it difficult to come up to it." In Europe, 
 we connect every thing with its historical or poetical associations, 
 and thus magnify their intrinsic value. There all is engrossed in 
 the consideration and recollection of the past, while here we em- 
 phatically hang all our interests and feelings, upon the future. 
 
 It might justly surprise many, who only see the marks of civili- 
 zation and improvement, along the usual roads, to learn that 
 there is still a region in this state, in all the wildness of nature, 
 covered with woods, to an extent of one hundred and fifty miles 
 long, and one hundred miles wide. Such a tract, in one connec- 
 tion, now lies between the St. Lawrence and Lake Champlain, 
 and between the Mohawk and the Hudson. It is filled with lofty 
 mountains, on whose tops the clouds gather and pour down their 
 rains, and scatter their snows, so that large reservoirs are neces- 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 91 
 
 sary, to hold their superabundant waters. To this end, the wise 
 and beneficent Creator, has hollowed out a number of large and 
 beautiful lakes, interspersed with little islands, where the rivers 
 find their feeders, and their supply for the country through which 
 they pass to the ocean. On the margins of these lakes, reside a 
 few families, wholly cut off from the world, who hold no sab- 
 baths, hear no church-going bells, and who live chiefly by hunt- 
 ing and fishing. Some such families make their way to the towns, 
 to purchase and to barter, by footpaths of forty to fifty miles in 
 extent, and when they have grain to grind, carry it on their 
 backs. Such mountaineers dwell in little huts, covered with bark, 
 and at their boat exercises on the lakes, some of which are twenty 
 and thirty miles in length, and of proportionate breadth, the girls 
 and women are often as expert and efficient as the men. To see 
 such a state of society, so wholly cut off from the modes and 
 forms of civilization, or even from missionary labour, might be 
 worth the attention of travellers, in the search of novelty and 
 surprise. 
 
 In conclusion, if the travelUng of the " northern tour,^' is des- 
 tined measurably to exhaust itself by its own frequency and 
 familiarity of wear and tear, our travelling cits and their appur- 
 tenances of marvelling dames and belles, must betake themselves 
 contentedly and passively, (as summer heat requires,) to the sea- 
 shore, where the ever restless sea, is still unchanged, and where 
 it offers in itself, a glorious emblem, and a profitable study, of the 
 enduring eternity and self-possessed duration, of the great Eternal 
 himself 
 
 New York inland, has been essentially indebted to New Eng- 
 land, for its intelUgent and enterprising population. Judge White, 
 from Middletown, Conn., began the first settlement in and near 
 Whitestown and Utica, and Oliver Phelps offered allurements for 
 Massachusetts men for Canandaigua and westward. In a word, 
 the Yankees, so called, have been almost every thing for western 
 New York, and well the state may glory in " the universal Yan- 
 kee nation." It will not be inappropriate, in this connection, to 
 set down in some extension, the chief characteristics of such a 
 people, much of which we have found drawn to our hand, by 
 the forcible pen of Willis. 
 
 The character of the Yankees has influenced, and continues to 
 influence that of every part of the nation, and their name, from a 
 provincial designation, (probably derived from Yengees, the 
 Indian name for English,) has become, among foreigners, the 
 popular appellation of the whole people. Such is the predomi- 
 nance of their character and civilization, that the other states are 
 becoming like the Yankees, while the Yankees are keeping like 
 themselves. It is in New England, that you find most original, 
 operative, and distinctly marked American character. There 
 should the traveller and observer, begin and end his tour; for 
 
92 Early Inland Settlements. 
 
 whoever leaves the Yankees out of his " United States as they 
 are/' will find he has left Hamlet out of Hamlet's tragedy. 
 
 It is in New England, that you will find Jonathan at home. 
 In the other states there is mixture, greater or less, of foreign 
 population ; but in New England, the population is homogeneous 
 and native — the emigrant does not choose to settle there. It is 
 no lubber land, there is no getting half a dollar a day for sleeping, 
 in Connecticut, Massachusetts, or Vermont. In the west, he 
 may scratch the ground, throw in the seed, and leave the rest to 
 nature. 
 
 Cape Cod, which is but a heap of sand, yet maintains thirty 
 thousand people, and there is not a beggar among them. All the 
 tariffs that could be devised, never would ruin in New England, 
 were they framed ex propria motu of Georgia and South Carolina. 
 While the Yankees are themselves, they will hold their own, let 
 politics twist about as they will. Shut their industry out from 
 one career, and it will force itself into another. They have a 
 perseverance, that will never languish, while any thing remains 
 to be tried, and when a Yankee says "I'll try," the thing is 
 done. 
 
 In European countries, he that is born a peasant, will be a 
 peasant all his life. But on beholding the most rustical clown 
 of all Yankee land, it would not be safe to affirm that he would 
 not be numbered, at some future day, among the most eminent 
 men of the country. There is no burying a man of genius here ; 
 the humblest birth shuts out no one, either from 'the hopes or the 
 facilities of rising to that station for which his native talent has 
 qualified him. Rare indeed, is it to find an individual who cannot 
 read and write. Every one has therefore that modicum of know- 
 ledge placed within his reach, which will enable him to obtain 
 more, should his wishes aspire. Clowns, properly speaking, there 
 are none, among the Yankees ; a Yankee is emphatically a civil 
 man, though his civility may not produce bows and grimaces, 
 and unmeaning compliments — he may be too direct for all this. 
 
 A stirring spirit, stirring deeds, a stirring life, form the common 
 theme of his praise. He puts every man upon his usefulness. If 
 a man be called good in his presence, then comes the question, 
 Good for what ? But with this predominant inclination towards 
 the useful, the Yankee is no despiser of those arts which adorn 
 and embellish life. The liberal sciences and the fine arts, have no 
 where in the country received such encouragement, as in New 
 England. The cities, the towns, the villages, the country seats, 
 the private dwellings, display more elegance and taste than those 
 of any other part of the Union. No wonder then, if the western 
 part of New York, should largely partake of the liberal charac- 
 teristic of their fatherland. It shows the Yankee spirit every 
 where. 
 
 The Yankees, too, are distinguished above all other men, for a- 
 
Early Inland Settlements. 93 
 
 • 
 
 certain capacity, which is called contrivance, a faculty which ena- ,y 
 bles an individual to turn his hand to any occupation, or to devise ' *" A^*. 
 a scheme for any sudden emergency. A Yankee farmer, is a sort 
 of Jack of all trades, he not only delves the soil, and goes to mar- 
 ket, but he is a carpenter, shoemaker, weaver, cooper, soap-boiler, 
 and more trades than these. He turns wooden bowls, makes 
 buckets, sets up shooks, weaves baskets, manufactures brooms, 
 and invents various kinds of washing machines. It is a Yankee's 
 main study, to be " improving" every thing ; his very language 
 breathes this spirit, for among them, he who occupies a house, is 
 said to "improve it." The patent office at Washington, is so loaded 
 with Yankee inventions, as to prove that they would, if they 
 could, improve and help the whole nation. Dr. Lardner, in his 
 lectures in this country, volunteered his testimony, to this charac- 
 teristic, by saying, " this fact is what strikes the attention of every 
 intelligent stranger, coming from Europe. More novelties in 
 mechanics and general science have been presented to me, (says 
 he) in this country, within twelve months, than I have seen in 
 twelve years in England." God grant us ever a full measure of 
 Yankee blood, and Yankee influence, every where. 
 
 From such " improvers," comes the verification of Campbell's 
 poetic prediction : 
 
 " Thy handmaid arts, shall every wild explore. 
 Trace every wave, and culture every shore; 
 On Erie's banks, where tigers steal along. 
 And the dread Indian chants his dismal song. 
 There, shall the flocks on thy green pastures stray, 
 And shepherds dance at summer's closing day." 
 
 Latrobe instances the quickness and facilities of making settle- 
 ments which he had witnessed. An individual bought three hun- 
 dred acres of new land, at one and a quarter dollars an acre. He 
 went to his work in April, and by the latter end of May, he had 
 girdled ten acres of his forest trees — burned the brush- wood, and 
 slightly broke the surface of the ground, and planted it with one 
 bushel and a half of Indian corn. In September of that year, his 
 crop was five hundred bushels ; at the same time, the tops and 
 leaves were equal to one thousand bundles,— being sufficient to 
 winter fifteen head of cattle, which had before found their suffi- 
 cient supply by browsing in the woods. Besides this, the same 
 land had yielded fifty wagon loads of pumpkins, yielding food 
 for man and beast. No wonder if, with such thrift, the primitive 
 settlers have gone on to fortune and plenty ! 
 
 What are we to think of such a country, and such a people, 
 but that God has some special purpose, wherein to exemplify his 
 providence and will, in developing his blessings on this new world, 
 and this new demonstration of his favour to the Saxon race. To 
 that nation of men, who have been most sedulous to preserve and 
 perpetuate Christian institutions. Those of them, who outrage his 
 
94 tlarly Inland Settlements, 
 
 benevolent laws, for selfish purposes, are only exceptions to the 
 general rule, and serve to show in their personal aberrations, how 
 gross may be the violations of truth and justice, where divine 
 blessings are contemned or disregarded. As one has said, " the 
 providences of God have been so pecuUar, and his interpositions 
 so frequent, and so manifest, in behalf of this people, that I can- 
 not doubt that he has planted this vine for some great and good 
 end, an end which he will see carried out to its full accomplish- 
 ment.^' 
 
 A few years ago, and it was thought impossible that we could 
 extend our territory any further, or add any new stars to our flag, 
 and yet has the feeble arm of a Republican government sur- 
 passed all expectation ! We have lived to see a new development, 
 by which our space is annihilated, and when we have filled our 
 territory to the Rocky Mountains, we shall be more compact, and 
 the extremes will be nearer together, thereby, than were the ori- 
 ginal thirteen States ! What new resources and wonders are to 
 arise, who can tell / 
 
 We have sometimes said, and still oftener thought, that such 
 facts as these Annals aim to preserve, should aflbrd interest 
 abroad, even in Europe itself, as showing the early domestic and 
 homebred history of our Anglo-Saxon race, destined perchance, 
 with Britain at home, to anglify, under Providence, the other 
 nations of the globe ! I see some of my thoughts, lately, well 
 expressed in the London Christian Examiner, to wit : — " Trace 
 the principles and institutions of the Pilgrims, in their develop- 
 ment, operation, and results. Not only ^ the little one has become 
 a thousand, and the small one a great one,' but those institutions, 
 civil and sacred, have found throughout, a congenial soil. In 
 these stand the glory of America. Under any other dynasty 
 that country could never have risen to its present position and 
 influence. Oii her present position we must look tvith intense 
 interest ! Her whole history is interwoven with the fate of 
 Europe. America holds no common place. Her conduct and 
 influence, in morals and rehgion, is in unison and co-operation 
 with that of Britain, and is destined to change the whole aspect 
 of society every where : The superstitions and errors of ages 
 are melting away. In her future progress she is destined, in 
 common with Britain, to carry along with her the destiny of the 
 species. The world is not only to receive a new language — a 
 new philosophy — a new religion, but to take its entire type and 
 impression from these two nations. In moral power and resources, 
 America not only rivals, but far exceeds the European states ; 
 England alone excepted. No force can crush the sympathy that 
 already exists, and is continually augmenting, between Europe 
 and the New World. We are deeply interested in the progress 
 of her power and greatness, for, she is descended from ances- 
 tors who, like the fathers of the faithful, for the sake of truth. 
 
Inland Settlers and Pioneers. 95 
 
 went to a land which they knew not ; and like the children of 
 Abraham, have truth in their keeping — in common with us, and 
 are destined to carry it by their commerce, and British principles 
 of civilization, to the end of the earth !" 
 
 In the face of such views, are not Britons then, incidentally 
 interested in examining those traces of our domestic history, 
 those pictures of our rise, progress, and attainment to present 
 greatness, as exhibited in the present work ? Let them examine 
 and consider ! Americans too, of whatever state, and however 
 distant from Philadelphia, or New York, have every where, a 
 direct interest, in this our attempt to show a picture of our nation, 
 in Colonial times, when we were so homogeneous, and all alike 
 — simple in manners, frugal, honest, homebred, contented, and 
 loyal. My two works, although specifically for those two great 
 cities and their States, present a picture of North Americans, in 
 general : Something for the consideration of the whole American 
 people. Let us understand ourselves ! 
 
 INLAND SETTLERS AND PIONEERS. 
 
 " Thus the pavilioned waste of oak 
 Has bow'd beneath the woodman's stroke." 
 
 The pioneers, the primitive settlers of the inland wilds, are in 
 general a race of men possessing little attention or renown, and 
 yet deserving our liveliest respect and gratitude. In this new 
 land they have uniformly been the av ant-couriers of all our 
 enrichment and prosperity. They have gone forward into the 
 depths of the forest, and by subduing and cultivating the soil 
 have made it to bring forth abundantly. By sending the results 
 of their harvests back to the parent cities, they have added to our 
 wealth and commerce. 
 
 When we owe so much, on the score of gratitude, to the 
 patient hardihood of first settlers, we should take some pains to 
 preserve some memorial of their adventures and exposures. We 
 have listened to some of their oral relations with lively interest 
 and emotion ; and as they have no chronicler to preserve their 
 little history, we shall here endeavour to preserve some traits. 
 
 We see two or three families, consisting severally of husbands, 
 wives, and children, associating, in the year 1790, in one of the 
 towns of New England, to form a little community to go into 
 the wilds of the west. They had heard of fruitful soils and cheap ; 
 and having growing and sturdy working boys and girls about 
 them, they resolve to go as far as the Indian town of Canandai- 
 gua ; or if not there suited, to go still further, to the country of 
 the Genessee river. They sell out their little immoveable pro- 
 
96 Inland Settlers and Pioneers. 
 
 perty for the sake of the cash ; they gather about them wagons, 
 carts, farming utensils ; reserve some of their roughest furniture 
 and of least weight of carriage ; lay in their store of salted and 
 smoked meats ; procure baked biscuits ; get Indian meal for 
 "journey cakes;" gather around a whole stock of cows, pigs, 
 sheep, and poultry, not forgetting their house dog and tabby cat. 
 We skip over the intermediate space of travel, wherein they 
 could find huts and cottages at which to stop along their route, 
 to as far as the present Utica, then the place of Fort Schuyler ; 
 from this point the united pioneers enter into the forest. The 
 provisions, furniture, and smallest children are plated in the 
 wagons and set onward. The men, women, and boys and girls 
 follow near by, driving in their wake their bull and cows, pigs 
 and sheep. Hung to the wagons, severally, were the poultry 
 coops, containing ducks, geese, and fowls, the intended parent 
 stock of the future poultry yard. 
 
 In their onward march no road marks the direction of their 
 way, but guided by the "blazing of the trees," (surveyor's marks 
 cut on the sides of trees with a hatchet,) or, when at fault, by 
 their pocket compass, they continue to go on their way westward. 
 By and by they halt to rest, and to feed their cattle and them- 
 selves. Their table, once an ironing board, is set upon four up- 
 right stakes drove into the ground. Their seats are formed by 
 two benches. Biscuits and cold meat form their food. At table, 
 and in their mutual intercourse, they all aim to cheer and encour- 
 age each other with hopes and designs of the future. Soon all 
 are again set onward; water-courses and impediments in the 
 way occasionally occur. Then the men and boys are the chief 
 labourers ; and to manage their cattle and get them over sloughs, 
 &c. is their chief difficulty. By and by they approach the Oneida 
 settlement of Indians, of which they have some forethought by 
 seeing a straggling hunter or two, and after a while hearing the 
 shouts and noisy rejoicings of the tribe. At the sound, fears and 
 apprehensions steal upon the soul. The younger members of 
 the family get closer to their parents ; and the parents themselves 
 are not insensible to the fact, that they have no other security for 
 their safety than the general report of peace and amity. They 
 enter their settlement, are surrounded, mutual wonder exists, 
 civilities are interchanged, and the settlers, not willing to abide 
 for a night among them, go beyond them and encamp for the 
 first night. What a new epoch for a family accustomed to civili- 
 zation to sit down in the gloom of the forest ! They again pre- 
 pare to eat and to feed their cattle. The fire is made for tea, and 
 for fresh journey cake baked before the fire. The bedding and 
 beds are prepared in the wagons. Watches are set to take turns 
 through the night, to preserve the cattle from straying and the 
 sheep from the prowling wolf When all is prepared the whole 
 company surround their homely table, eat heartily and talk 
 
Inland Settlers and Pioneers. 97 
 
 cheerily. Some sing songs, some hymns ; several recount the 
 incidents of the day ; all remember home, and talk of left friends 
 and kindred ; and some surmise the adventures before them. 
 They all retire to rest in due time, save the watch and the dogs. 
 The fatigues of the day make many sleep soundly ; and only 
 now and then a wakeful ear hears the bark of the fox, the distant 
 growl of the wolf, or the shriek of the owl. Soon as the ruddy 
 morn peeps out from the orient east, the company is again all in 
 action, preparing for their morning meal and onward journey. 
 In two days more of similar journey they reach the Indian 
 settlement of the Onondagas — Indians which they feared more 
 than the former only because they were still more in their 
 power, by being still more remote from country and friends. 
 They still, however, received civility and kindness in their rude 
 but well-meant attentions. They brought them some of their 
 game, and this, with successful shooting of their own among the 
 partridges and pheasants seen in their route, gave them the means 
 of a gj;p.nd repast of sylvan food for their supper. They again 
 spent their night much after the manner before-mentioned, and 
 not far from the ranges of those Indians. In a few days they all 
 reach the Indian village of Canandaigua, at which place the great 
 purchaser, Phelps, had preceded them for the sale of his land. 
 In the intermediate space they had had some new adventures; 
 they had seen and shot several wild turkies, and one or two of 
 the party had surprised some deer, and succeeded in killing a couple. 
 These were so many trophies of their woodman character, and 
 gave new life and feelings to the whole. They had too been 
 obliged to make many devious wanderings in search of their way. 
 The route became dubious, and it was only after going off at 
 sundry diverging points that they could feel any assurance that 
 they were near the track they should take. To add to these 
 embarrassments they had encountered wider and deeper water- 
 courses ; such as they could not venture to traverse without some 
 means to float over some of their articles. Here therefore they 
 were obliged to fell trees and construct rafts of timber on which 
 to convey what was needed to the opposite bank. Once in a 
 while they came across a solitary hunter. Savage as he was, it 
 was a cheering sight, because he was human. Man loves man 
 of every form when found in solitude. Occasionally they came 
 across tokens of encampment, known by the signs of former fires, 
 the tramp of cattle, and the fragments of their feast. The very 
 sight of such remains was cheering, and set all the company in 
 good humour and fine spirits. But when once in a long while 
 they could see in the distance the curling smoke of a log hut and 
 a little clearing, their rejoiced spirits triumphed aloud. It hardly 
 mattered who they were, the sight of white faces were so wel- 
 come ; but if they had also gentleness and goodness to recom- 
 mend them, mutual hospitalities were unbounded. 
 13 I 
 
98. . Inland Settlers and Pioneers. 
 
 At Canandaigua one of the families made arrangements to re- 
 main and settle, but the other two families, allured to still stronger 
 hopes by more distant settlement, determined to keep on to the 
 Genessee river. To this they were more especially inclined by 
 the descriptions and the promised guidance of some friendly Se^ 
 necas. Taking leave of their former companions and the few 
 other white settlers found there, they once more put forward in 
 their former method of march, and, under many renewed difficul- 
 ties of going up to the head of streams, or having to pass them by 
 slight bridges or rafts, they at length arrived at the long sought 
 lonely home, placed near the banks of the now beautiful Genes- 
 see. Here began a new era of toil, enterprise, and skill. Their 
 business now was to fell trees and cut their logs for their future 
 dwelling, and to locate it near a spring. At the same time the 
 boughs, in their leaf, were set up pointing like the pitch of a roof, 
 to serve as a temporary shed and shelter for sundry articles taken 
 out of the wagons. The log house of one story being constructed 
 and placed north and south as their domestic sun-dial, and covered 
 over with a stave roof; having a wide chimney made of stones 
 and clay, into which a log of ten feet length could be rolled for 
 fuel ; the doors were left purposely so wide, that the horse could 
 draw in the log by a chain, and leaving his load, pass out at the 
 opposite side. Such a house was destined in time to be a kitchen, 
 when they could construct a better one adjoining. In the mean 
 time one great room below with a ground floor, served "for 
 parlour, kitchen, and hall ;" and the loft above made one general 
 chamber of rest, with here and there a coverlid partition pendant 
 between the different sexes. Now the family being housed, 
 " the clearing," of vital importance to their future support and 
 nourishment, was set upon. Along the outer margin the trees 
 were cut down and rolled inward towards the centre, so as to 
 break the line of communication with the adjacent woods. Then 
 the whole was set into one general conflagration, so as to kill the 
 trees and provide an opening for the rays of the sun upon the 
 land. Smoke and the perils of fire were endured as well as they 
 could. When sufficiently burnt out, the plough and the hoe 
 were set into the soil to prepare for planting corn and other need- 
 ful grain. The women too had their concern to make out their 
 little garden spot, where they might set in their garden seed : 
 such as sallad, beans, peas, onions, cabbages, &c., and their in- 
 tended nursery of apple seeds, and peach, plum and cherry stones ; 
 for in such a state every thing is to begin. As time advanced, 
 all these primary arrangements were enlarged, and comforts 
 were increased. The men and boys laboured all day, and at 
 night the girls spun and the boys knit. Their evening hours 
 were talked down pleasantly with fond remembrances of former 
 homes, and fond hopes of future prosperity. When Sabbath 
 came, they united in hearing the perusal of the family Bible, or 
 
Inland ScUlcrs and Pioneers. 99 
 
 in reading family sermons ; and the hymn book Avas used for its 
 remembered song of Zion. Now they had no church, no merry 
 chime of bells, no pastoral guardian. They felt this the more 
 keenly because of its absence. Three families then constituted 
 the total of all the settlers ; but these were friendly, and mutually 
 helpful when urgent occasion required. The Indians would 
 come occasionally to look on, saluting always with a friendly 
 "//oA," or good be to you. Often deer were started, sometimes 
 shot. Bears were sometimes seen and hunted off. Smaller 
 game were always at hand to shoot, and in the stream the finest 
 fish abounded. 
 
 By and by new settlers came along in families one by one. 
 They were always warmly welcomed and diligently assisted to 
 make their log structures. In the spring and fall was a period 
 of harvest, of honied sweet from the juice of the rnaple tree. 
 The sugar camp, as it was called, made an occasion of cheerful 
 gathering, especially among the children, who loved to partake 
 from the sugar pans. When the winter came, the fall of snow 
 was deep and lasting ; abiding all the winter several feet deep, 
 and requirhig occasionally the use of snow shoes. To make 
 paths and roads in cases of deep snow, they had to arrange their 
 cattle and drive them in lines of two a-breast to the places re* 
 quired. They had then no mills to grind their grain, and made 
 use of a wooden mortar formed from a hollowed log set on end, 
 to which they applied a pestle attached to a sweep like the pole 
 of a well. In giving a domestic picture of such a frontier family, 
 we must not forget to show how the children were sometimes 
 employed. They had no school, but they were not idle ; they 
 had snares and traps about in the woods, where they often suc- 
 ceeded to snare game. Partridges and rabbits they so caught in 
 abundance. Raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries, and huckle- 
 berries, grew in rich abundance, and afforded them delightful re- 
 pasts. They had squirrels and rabbits which they had tamed. 
 The cat, too, was diligent, and often brought in her captures, 
 calling by her known cry the children around, and laying down 
 ground mice, squirrels, &c. At one time the boys found a brood 
 of young raccoons, which being brought home, were all domesti- 
 cated by good-natured puss. By and by their joy was made 
 complete by the arrival of an old soldier escaped from Indian 
 captivity, who gladly made his home among them, and used to 
 amuse their evenings by telling the family circle of his many hair- 
 breadth 'scapes. He loved a story and loved a song ; and with 
 these sweetly he beguiled the hours. Some of his tales of suffer- 
 ing captives among the Indians, were full of pathos and interest, 
 filling the heart and extorting a tear. 
 
 A friend who has been conversant with frontier settlement, 
 describes the same, as being originally well stocked with bears, 
 wolves, deer, and turkies. The flesh of the two last, was not 
 
100 Inland Settlers and Pioneers. 
 
 only a luxury, but a necessary article of food. The wolf occa- 
 sionally made great havoc among the few sheep — committing 
 assaults at the same time upon the wild deer. He has been 
 known to attack cows. The bear confined himself to hogs, and 
 sundry instances are given of his successful capture of these from 
 their pens. He springs suddenly upon his victim, grasps him in 
 his arms, or fore legs, with great force, erects himself upon his 
 hind legs, like a man^ and makes off with his load. The piercing 
 squeal of the distressed hog is the first warning to the owner. In 
 such a manner, the bear will make off faster through a thick 
 wood, than a man on foot can follow. The groans and struggles 
 of the animal in his embrace, become weaker and weaker, and 
 soon entirely cease, being literally hugged to death. 
 
 When a settler came across any partly eaten animal, left by a 
 bear, he was sure to set a trap for him, which would take him 
 within the next twenty-four hours ; because it was his nature to 
 return to feed on the remainder, and to show little or no sagacity 
 in avoiding the snare. For this purpose, a heavy steel trap was 
 used, with smooth jaws, and a long drag chain, with iron claAVS 
 at the extremity. It was not fastened to the spot, because the 
 great strength of the bear, would enable him to free himself, but 
 as he ran, after being ensnared, the claws would catch upon the 
 brush, retarding his flight, and leaving a distinct trail, by which 
 he could be traced and overtaken in a couple of miles, in a state 
 of much exhaustion, and killed. This was done, by first allow- 
 ing the dogs to test their courage and dexterity in his assault, and 
 before the finale should be produced by the ball of the sure rifle. 
 In these battles, if the shackles were upon the hind legs, leaving 
 the fore paws free, there were but few dogs who could venture 
 upon close conflict, a second time. 
 
 It was occasionally a winter affair, to make a gathering of all 
 the male population, far and near, to make a drive, or large hunt, 
 for the purpose of ridding the country of the bear and wolf. At 
 other times it was done upon a smaller scale, by fewer neighbours, 
 for the purpose of capturing a few deer, and turkies. A drive, 
 was conducted by making a circuit of a large tract of wild land, 
 placing the members on the outer circle sufficiently near, to be 
 within calling distance of each other, and then with loud shout- 
 ings, and blowing of tin horns, proceeding inward to a common 
 centre, so as to enclose the destined prey. When within half 
 a mile of the centre, to know which the trees had been pre- 
 viously blazed, they called a halt, and sending round a man or 
 two on horseback to see that all should be equally prepared, at 
 the soimd and call of a common assault, by rushing inward to 
 the centre. By this time the herd of deer might be seen occasion- 
 ally driving in affright from one line to the other. If the drive 
 had been a successful one, great numbers of turkies could be seen 
 flying among the trees, away from the spot. Deer too, as the 
 
Inland Settlers and Pioneers. * lOt 
 
 circle was closing, could be seen sweeping round the ring, pant- 
 ing and terrified, under an incessant fire. Innocent and timid, 
 as seemed these leathern coated, and tear dropping animals, when 
 so closely pressed, they sometimes make for the line at full speed, 
 and if the men there are too numerous or resolute to give way, 
 they actually leap over their heads, and over all the stakes', pitch- 
 forks, and guns raised to oppose them. By a concert of the 
 regular hunters, gaps are sometimes purposely made, to allow 
 them to escape, the better to secure the bear and the wolf. Then 
 the wolf is seen skulking through the bushes, aiming to escape 
 observation by concealment. The bear, at the same time, are 
 seen to dash through the brush, highly enraged, and going from 
 one side of the field to the other, regardless of the bullets which 
 are playing upon them. After the game is mostly killed, a few 
 good marksmen and dogs scour the ground, to stir up what may 
 be concealed or wounded. This over, they all advance to the 
 centre with a shout, dragging along the carcases which have 
 fallen, for the purpose of counting the result of their exploit. 
 Such exposing and exciting incidents, familiar to frontier men, 
 have been fruitful in training a high spirit of soldierly and military 
 prowess. Wolves were taken in steel traps, but not very readily 
 in that way. The easiest means of their capture was in log pens, 
 prepared hke the roof of a house, shelving inwards on all sides. 
 In this was to be placed the half-devoured carcass of a sheep, 
 upon which they had previously feasted. The wolf easily 
 clambered up the exterior side of the log cabin, and entered at 
 the top, which was left open for that purpose, and being once 
 there, he could neither escape nor throw it down. 
 
 Turkies were taken in square pens, made of lighter timber, 
 and covered at the top. They entered at an open door in the 
 side, which was suspended by a string that led to a catch within. 
 This string and catch were covered with chaff, which induced 
 them to enter, and while engaged in scratching about the chaff 
 to get at the grain therein, some one among them would strike 
 the catch and let the door down behind them all. Another mode 
 of taking turkies, was to make them pass in by a very small door 
 in which was laid corn to entice them inward, and when they 
 were in and fed, they would look only upward for a way of 
 escape, as if seemingly forgetting the way by which they came. 
 Probably it is to this cause, that the French, who first received 
 turkies in Europe, from the French of Canada, have used the 
 proverb — ^to be as foolish as a turkey — ^^'un fou comme line 
 dande^^ — whilst we English, say of a silly person, that he is a 
 goose — probably, because a goose will foolishly stoop its head 
 and \o\\%r its neck, in passing under any door, however high. 
 
 At length population and improvement increased. Pleasant 
 villages and cottage clusters were seen in the micjst of the wilder- 
 ness, and houses for the worship of God, and schools for the 
 
 I 2 
 
102 Inland Settlers and Piojieers. 
 
 instruction of children, rose where, not long before, the wild beast 
 had his range or his lair. What had begun as little and lonely 
 dwellings, " few and far between," came in time to be the nucleus 
 around which gathered other settlers and formed a town. At 
 this early period of adventure came out the original settlers, — the 
 two Wadsworths ; men who, from the rough beginnings above 
 described, have come to possess an estate now worth two millions 
 of dollars, having a farm of meadow and upland of 1700 acres, 
 a flock of 8,000 sheep, 600 horned cattle, and all other things in 
 great abundance. What a country, and what a change in a few 
 short years !"* 
 
 How changed the scene, since here the savage trod 
 To set his otter-trap, or take wild honey, 
 Where now so many turn the sod. 
 Or farmers change their fields for money. 
 How short the time, and how the scenes have shifted, 
 Since Wadsworth explored this wild land, 
 ^ . And mid primeval woods, prophetic scann'd 
 This rare position andits destiny . 
 
 We shall here add some illustrations of the difficulties of 
 Pioneers. 
 
 At the first settlement of Binghamton, at Chenago Point, the 
 people used to take the root of the anacum weed, and after dry- 
 ing and grinding or pounding it, to make it into their bread. At 
 the same place, the woods were found so clear, by the practice 
 of burning the underbrush by the Indians, that deer could be seen 
 in them when half a mile distant. Several of the Indians con- 
 tinued to reside there after the whites had come to tl^e neighbour- 
 hood in 1787. 
 
 At the Oquago valley, when the great freshet destroyed the 
 crops of the settlers in 1794, Major Stow, took his bushel of 
 wheat on his shoulder, and walked forty miles, to have it ground, 
 at Wattle's mill, and returned with his flour in the same weari- 
 some manner. The short cakes made from it were shortened 
 with bear's grease. 
 
 In the year 1796, Mr. E. Edwards built the first saw-mill on 
 the Onondaga, and he was also the first that came down the 
 Chenango with a raft. The first grist-mill was built a good 
 while after, by Dr. Wheeler. Previous to this, the inhabitants 
 went down to Castle creek for their grinding; and in case of fail- 
 ure there, they were obliged to go to Tioga Point. 
 
 When the mile bridge across the Cayuga was begun, the shores 
 
 • As late as the years 1810-11, there was only a weekly mail between Canan- 
 daigua and Genessee river; carried on horseback, and part of the time by a wo- 
 man! 'Twas only in 1815 that the settlers about Rochester made up a private 
 fund for a weekly mail to Lewiston; and it was but a year before, that the road 
 itself (along " the ridge") was opened by a grant of the legislature of $5,000 ; 
 before that it was impassable. 
 
Inland Settlers and Pioneers. 103 
 
 of that lake were still possessed by the Indians. The first 
 bridge was laid on mud sills. 
 
 The first settler at Aurora, on that lake, was Roswell Franklin : 
 he with his father settled there in 1787, in a log house of twelve 
 feet square. They had both been in the battle and massacre of 
 Wyoming. There he had seen the butchery of his mother and one 
 sister, another led away prisoner for eleven years, himself a 
 prisoner at Mount Morris three years. Such a pioneer lived to 
 see the door sill of his log house, and the tree stump before his 
 door, which was used for the pounding of corn, preserved as 
 relics, even by the generation, among whom he was still alive in 
 1842. 
 
 When Messrs. Hendy, Miller and Marks, began their log house 
 settlement at Elmira, in 1789, the only road existing in the coun- 
 try for hundreds of miles round was what was called the Indian 
 pathway, leading from Wilkesbarre to Canada. By this path- 
 way the emigrants from the south were accustomed to reach 
 Niagara, &c. 
 
 At that time the Indians were all around the settlers, and 
 would make free at all times to visit the cabins of the whites, and 
 set themselves down unasked, or helped themselves freely of 
 whatever food they saw on the table. It was not always con- 
 venient to so receive them, but it was deemed most politic to 
 overlook their freedom. In the year 1790, there were assembled 
 at Elmira, eleven hundred Indians to negotiate a treaty with 
 Col. T. Pickering. 
 
 One who had been of the number of the western pioneers has 
 well said of such pioneers, that 'they look with less complaisance 
 and pleasure upon the last few years of their lives, than upon 
 those in which the forests were falling beneath their axes ; or in 
 their tow frocks — the insignia of their priestly office — they per- 
 forming obsequies of the monarchs of the wood, at their funeral 
 piles. They are indeed, now made to witness the scenes of 
 more wealth and action, but not of more tranquillity and purity. 
 Their affections then were warm and buoyant, and their confi- 
 dence and regard was mutual. At their convivial assemblies, 
 which they sometimes found time to convene, the simplicity of 
 their social and rude entertainments, served up as they often 
 were upon oaken slabs, supported as they were upon their 
 wooden stakes or pegs, was more than compensated by the full 
 flow of spirits, and the entire absence of all rivalry and envy. 
 
 The first settlers, at Lowville and about Black river, who went 
 therein 1795, from Massachusetts and Connecticut, made their 
 way from Utica, and Fort Stanwix (Rome), by a line of marked 
 trees, to the High falls on Black river ; and thence they floated 
 down with the stream. Their families followed in the succeeding 
 winter shod with snow shoes, mothers making their way with 
 infants in their arms, whilst their husbands and fathers, trod 
 
l©4 Inland Settlers and Pioneers, 
 
 paths through the snow for their cattle and teams. It was not 
 unusual for these settlers to go forty miles to mill, and to carry 
 the grist upon their shoulders. 
 
 A party of emigrants from New England in 1790-91, made a 
 road through the woods from the settlements of Whitestown out 
 to Canandaigua. The winter was the season usually chosen for 
 conveying families, because they were then the surest of sleigh- 
 ing and sledding, and passing the streams on ice bridges. The 
 first settlements along the great road from Utica to Genessee 
 river, were mostly commenced by the year 1800. 
 
 When Judge White first began his settlement at Whites- 
 borough, near Utica, his nearest mill was at Palatine, forty 
 miles off, and the whole of this distance was to be travelled by 
 an Indian path. For lack of animal food, they used to salt down 
 the breast of the wild pigeons by a barrel at a time. The first 
 court for the town was held in a barn. 
 
 When David Tripp first settled at Manlius,in 1790, his nearest 
 neighbour was ten miles off, at Onondaga. At one time the only 
 article of food which his family had for three months, with the 
 exception of wild roots and milk, was a bushel of corn which he 
 had brought from Herkimer, fifty -five miles, on his back. The 
 first wedding in this place, was in July, 1794, upon a training 
 day, and was celebrated in an open yard in front of the inn, 
 while the soldiers formed a hollow square around the parties. 
 The first frame house built in the place, had the floor boards 
 brought from Palatine, and the other boards from a distant mill. 
 The nails were sent for and brought thirty-three miles, from 
 Oriskany, by a lad bringing* forty-six pounds on his back. 
 
 When the canal navigation from Rome to Salina was first 
 opened in 1820, a passenger describes the whole region as passing 
 through a wilderness of sixty miles ; the land nearly the whole 
 distance was low, marshy and cold. The most of the forest was 
 an evergreen, deep and dank, such as the advancing settlers 
 seemed unwilling to enter upon with any hope of cultivation. 
 But now the marshes and swamps are drained by the canal, 
 and its banks now are well filled up with a thrifty population. 
 Salina and Syracuse have since risen like enchantment from the 
 gains of the salt works. 
 
 A gentleman, who visited the New England settlers at Canan- 
 daigua, in 1797, five years after their beginning, found them con- 
 tending with numerous difficulties, with light hearts and buoyant 
 spirits ; while he as a looker on, thought most of the mud knee 
 deep, and the musquitoes and gnats so thick as to baflie his 
 breathing, they were talking of what the country would be by 
 and by, as if it were history already realized ! 
 
 When Ulysses was first settled, a Mr. George Wayburn, there, 
 had a terrible conflict with a she bear, whose two whelps he had 
 previously shot. She somehow tumbled with him down the preci- 
 
Inland Settlers and Pioneers. 105 
 
 pice of Goodwill's falls, and happily at the bottom, the bear fell 
 undermost into a crevice in the rock, which enabled him, with 
 the assistance of his son, although himself much wounded, to 
 dispatch the beast. 
 
 In cutting down a white oak tree at Lyons, in 1834, of thirteen 
 and a half feet girth, there was found in the body of the tree, 
 three and a half feet from the ground, a large and deep cutting 
 by an axe, severing the heart of the tree, and exhibiting with 
 perfect distinctness the marks of the axe. The whole cavity, thus 
 created by the original cutting, was found to be four hundred and 
 sixty years of growth of the wood, i. e. it was concealed beneath 
 four hundred and sixty layers of the timber, which had grown 
 over it subsequently to the cutting. Thus evincing that the 
 original cutting must have been in 1372, which is one hundred 
 and eighteen years before the discovery of America by Columbus ! 
 The tree was cut by James P. Bartle, a respectable informant. 
 The cutting was six inches deep. 
 
 It was in the year 1798, that the present Lord Ash burton, then 
 a gentleman commoner, and the present Louis Phillipe, King of 
 the French, and his brothers, then exiled princes, met unexpectedly 
 in a night scene, upon the present site of Rochester, then in its wild- 
 erness state. The mutual approach, as they severally heard the 
 sound of the foot-treads in the bushes, gave mutual alarm, as they 
 severally feared the unwelcome visitations of the neighbouring 
 Indians. Now how changed the scenes ! and how different the 
 relations of the several members of that rude sylvan gathering. 
 
 It was the practice of the exploring hunters, and woodmen, 
 when laying out for the night, to make a pillow of their pack, to 
 lay on descending ground, so as to raise their heads and to de- 
 press their feet towards their fires. At these fires they cooked 
 their meals, by sticking their venison or their dough upon a 
 pointed stick, staked near to the fire, and which was turned as 
 occasion required, so as to present the whole to the roasting opera- 
 tion. Sometimes they put the dough in the ashes, to bake it. 
 The process made sweet food, even without salt, which was often 
 at three dollars a bushel, before the salt licks were worked. 
 
 So much of Western New York, having been settled by the 
 people of New England, it may not be inappropriate to say a 
 few words of their forefathers the Puritans, themselves : A 
 name once intended for reproach by the worldlings of a licentious 
 age, but when rightly considered, reflecting on the Puritans, 
 and their descendants, a lasting honour ; indeed they were by the 
 diffusion of their principles, the proper founders of our great 
 Republic itself. They willingly forsook all the social comforts 
 of country and home, and encountered all the severities and de- 
 privations of a wilderness life, to gain for themselves and posterity 
 freedom of thought and action. A noble purpose in itself? and 
 not to be overlooked or disregarded by their sons. 
 
 14 
 
106 Inland Settlers and Pioneers. 
 
 But why should any American suppose himself scandalized 
 by the name, character, and general conduct of the Puritans ? 
 The more they are understood, the better and brighter will their 
 memory appear. Churchmen may have been taught to dislike 
 them, for they opposed their hierarchy ; because, during the reign 
 of Elizabeth, and one or two subsequent sovereigns, they main- 
 tained a strenuous opposition to laws, which had for their object, 
 first to make the Queen the head of the church, and the other 
 requiring conformity in all things, to the established religion ; 
 the Puritans in the meantime, resisting them with heroic and 
 daring spirit, and requiring, as their natural right, greater 
 liberty and simplicity, and more purity of worship. We may, 
 with just pride, refer to their character, as written by the Hon. 
 T. B. Macauley (in the Edinburgh Review), himself a Briton, 
 connected with the established church : he saying, " they were 
 the most remarkable body of men which the world ever produced. 
 As a body they were unpopular, and were therefore abandoned 
 to the attacks of the press and the stage ; but it is not from ridi- 
 cule alone that the philosophy of history is to be learnt. To 
 know, serve, and enjoy God, was with the Puritan, the great end 
 of existence. With their minds cleared of every vulgar passion 
 and prejudice, and raised above the influence of danger and cor- 
 ruption, they went through life, like Sir Artegale's iron man 
 Talus, with his flail crushing and trampling down every form of 
 oppression, mingling with human beings, but having no part in 
 human infirmities, insensible to fatigue, to pleasure, to pain. On 
 the rich and the eloquent, on the priests and on nobles, they 
 looked down with pity or contempt; for they regarded them- 
 selves rich in more precious treasure, and eloquent in a sublimer 
 language ; nobles by the right of an earUer creation, and priests 
 by the imposition of a mightier hand. They therefore rejected 
 with disdain the ceremonious homage which others had substi- 
 tuted for the pure worship of the soul. Hence their contempt for 
 all earthly distinctions. Men might sneer at them and deride ; 
 but those had little reason to laugh who encountered them in the 
 hall of debate, or the field of battle. In civil and military aflairs, 
 they displayed a coolness of judgment, and a fixedness of purpose, 
 which were the necessary effect of their zeal ; for the very inten- 
 sity of their feelings on one subject, made them calm and tranquil 
 on every other. The Puritan, indeed, was made up of two 
 different men ; the one, all penitence, and affection, and gratitude, 
 and self-abasement ; [like Cromwell, " with a heart to fear none 
 but his God !"] the other, proud, calm, inflexible, sagacious. He 
 prostrated himself in the dust before his Maker; but [like Crom- 
 well, also,] he set his foot on the neck of his king.'' Such were 
 the Puritans to the eye of the candid politician, and such they 
 were substantially to the eye of the christian. " They had their 
 faults, their false logic and their extravagance, the effects of the 
 
Inland Settlers and Pioneers, 107 
 
 age in which they Uved," but they came to this country the 
 friends oi liberty, oi education, oi religion ; and " in the learning 
 of many of them, and in the wisdom and results of Xheiv plans and 
 labours, they still stand forth a noble race, altogetlier superior to 
 the ancestors of any other nation f No other nation has 
 ever been founded from such elevated motives, and for such noble 
 and benevolent ends. Oppressed and persecuted, where they 
 should have been protected, and then exiled and banished, they 
 resolved, for liberty^ s sake and religioii^s sake, to leave the 
 homes of their fathers. They were the instinctive friends of 
 freedom : twice in their native land, did they save the British 
 constitution from being crushed by the usurpations of the Stuarts. 
 Even Hume, who is sufficiently unfriendly, is compelled to say 
 of them, " that the precious spark of liberty had been kindled 
 and was preserved by the Puritans," and that to them, '' the 
 English owe the whole freedom of their constitution .'" And 
 it is another noble feature in their character, that ere they left 
 their vessel, the May Flower, they wrote out and signed the first 
 written constitution of government, that is to be found in the 
 history of civilized nations ; and particularly recognizing that fun- 
 damental principle of all true Republics, that all should be ruled 
 by the majority ! To that cause, as a cause, they afterwards, 
 repelled those who essayed to come among them to subvert the 
 faith, in which they, as a whole, trusted. It indeed operated 
 harshly ; but they had framed their law, and their opinions were 
 fixed; they perhaps knew not, even conscientiously, how to yield. 
 But yield they did, at length, in so far as religious opinion was 
 concerned. 
 
 A good sermon, looking at these things as they were, was de- 
 livered and published at Rochester, in 1837, by the Rev. Tryon 
 Edwards, who glorying in his descent from such progenitors, and 
 conceiving that God in his providence, had mercifully so provided 
 by them, an asylum for the Anglo-Saxon race, in this new world, 
 thus designates his mercies to them and to us — saying, " on the 
 first arrival of our fathers, the power of the savage was restrained, 
 till by their own increase, they were adequate to the Avork of 
 self-protection. Still later in our history, France coveted our 
 possessions, and for more than half a century, strove to wrest 
 them from us. On the west, she hemmed us in ^ by a chain of 
 fortresses, and on the east, our shores were defenceless to her 
 carnage.' For a time it seemed as if utter destruction awaited 
 us, but George the Second was ' a father to his colonies,' and 
 he that transplanted, sustained us, as is acknowledged in the well 
 expressed motto oif Connecticut, ' Qui transtulit sustulit.^ 
 Among other remembered mercies, as says the same preacher, 
 " we must not overlook the fact of disaster to the great fleet fitted 
 out by the French in 1746, to ravage and destroy along our de- 
 fenceless coast. For weeks it was ^ut up in the ports of France, 
 
108 Inland Settlers and Pioneets. 
 
 by what has been called, ^ an embargo from Heaven.' In cross- 
 ing the ocean, too, it was so shattered by tempests, that only a 
 part of it ever reached our shores; and the first and second in 
 command, were so frustrated and appalled, that they put an end 
 to their lives — the third had no sooner effected a landing for his 
 men, than they were so afiiicted with a pestilence, that their 
 camp, like that of Assyria of old, was full of dead men, and in 
 the sequel, constraining them * to return by the way they came." 
 
 Such were the Puritans, — and may not Yankees feel honoured 
 in such a descent ! What if they had for a time, errors of zeal, 
 and intolerance, for what they deemed certainly right, were not 
 their positive virtues, connected with the lasting good which they 
 conferred upon their posterity, and for the whole human race, 
 sufficient to embalm their memory, in the respect and gratitude 
 of their sons ? Let the public consider. 
 
 We feel as if we cannot but love to expatiate on the character 
 of the Yankee, he is so peculiar. No other man is like him. 
 It has been said of him, that he is made for all situations, and can 
 manage to work his way in all places. Place him on a rock in 
 the midst of the ocean, and with his penknife, and a bunch of 
 shingles, he would work his way on shore. He sells salmon, from 
 Kennebeck, to the people of Charleston ; haddock, fresh from 
 Cape Cod, to the planters of Matanzas ; raises coffee in Cuba ; 
 swaps mules and horses, like Arnold, for niolasses in Porto Rico ; 
 retails ice, from Fresh pond, in Cambridge, in the East Indies ; 
 Takes mutton, from Brighton to New Orleans, and South Amer- 
 ica ; manufactures multicaulis, for the governor of Jamaica ; be- 
 comes an admiral in a foreign nation ; starts in a cockle-shell 
 craft of fifteen tons, loaded with onions, mackerel, and ^'notions^^ 
 for Valparaiso ; baits his trap on the Columbia river ; catches 
 wild-beasts in Africa, for Macomber's caravan ; sells granite, on 
 contract to rebuild St. Juan de Ulloa; is ready Uke Ledyard, to start 
 for Timbuctoo, " to-morrow morning" — exiles himself for years, 
 from home, to sketch in their own wilderness, the wild men of 
 the woods, and astonishes refined Europe, with the seeming 
 presence of the untutored savage. Introduced to Metternich, he 
 asks " what's the news ?" Says, " how do you do marm ?" to 
 Victoria. Prescribes Thompson's eye-water to the mandarins of 
 China, and if he pleases, makes the scouting Southrons, rich with 
 cotton inventions. He is found foremost among those who sway 
 the elements of society — is the school-master for his country, and 
 missionary for the whole heathen world*. He is unequalled in 
 tact, and instead of going over round-about ways, starts across 
 lots, for any desired point. If perpetual motion is ever to be dis- 
 covered, he will be sure to be the lucky contriver — for he is the 
 fac totum for the world. 
 
 Surely such a people are not made to be subdued by any thing. 
 They have too much courage, energy, and heart, to ever be any 
 
Inland Settlers and Pioneers. 109 
 
 thing but their own masters. Such they have been, from the 
 day that they landed in Plymouth; and their spirit and enterprise, 
 has been growing and growing ever since. Show them the in- 
 ventions and arts of any people, and they will be at trying it until 
 they make it better. Look at their manufactories, as in point ! 
 They canU be idle; they can't remain in self-indulgence and re- 
 pose at home — their sterile and stony hills, and mountains, forbid 
 it ; they, besides, ^ee/ their impulse and loco-motive powers pre- 
 dominant, and must be at bettering the world and themselves. 
 Such a people deserve to be welcomed every where ; and that 
 welcome they will have. We have ourself, some Yankee blood, 
 and scruple not thus to own it. To that cause, perhaps, we owe 
 our disposition to busy ourself in many things, and to be prone 
 *Ho note and observe ;" — non sibi, sed patrise et mundo. 
 
 Log cabins and log houses, which hold so prominent a place 
 among all new settlers, have of late been exalted into con- 
 spicuous notice, by the fact of the late President of the United 
 States, General Harrison, having himself dwelt in such a structure. 
 The writer feels his personal respect and regard for them, because 
 his maternal ancestors, were among those first new settlers in 
 New Hampshire, at the head of Connecticut river, which has 
 been so touchingly described, by Bishop Chase, concerning his 
 ancestors at the same place, in 1762 ; — and also, by the eminent 
 statesman, Daniel Webster. His commendation of such houses, 
 and of the worthy pioneers, who went before us in the march of 
 inland improvement and civilization, are sufficiently in point, to 
 deserve a repetition here. His remarks are : — " It did not happen 
 to me to be born in a log cabin, but my elder brothers and sisters 
 were — in a log cabin, raised amid the snow drifts of New Hamp- 
 shire, at a period so early, as that when the smoke first rose from 
 its rude chimney, and curled over the frozen hills, there was no 
 similar evidence of a white man's habitation between it and the 
 settlements on the rivers of Canada. Its remains (says he), still 
 exist, and I make to it an annual visit. / carry my children to 
 it, to inspire like sentiments in them, and to teach them the hard- 
 ships endured by the generations which have gone before them. 
 Taunt and scoffing at the humble condition of early life, (says 
 he), affect nobody in this country, but those who are foolish 
 enough to indulge in them." "For myself, I love to dwell on 
 the tender recollections, the kindred ties, the early affections, and 
 the touching narratives and incidents, which mingle with all I 
 know of this primitive family abode. I weep to think that none 
 of those who inhabited it are now among the living ; and if ever 
 I am ashamed of it, or if I ever fail in affectionate veneration for 
 him who reared it, and defended it against savage violence and 
 destruction, cherished by all the domestic virtues beneath its roof, 
 and through the fire and blood of a seven years Revolutionary 
 war, shrunk from no danger, no toil, no sacrifice, to serve hi» 
 
 K 
 
110 The Indians. 
 
 country, and to raise his children to a condition better than his 
 own, may the name of my posterity he blotted forever from the 
 memory of man." Such sentiments should ennoble any man ; and 
 more especially do they illustrate the character and heart of the 
 man who published them — they show an enthusiasm, and holi- 
 ness oi feeling, devoted to the dead and to the pioneers, which 
 give character and immortality to him who cherished them. Ifeel 
 their full force, and gladly record them here ! 
 
 THE INDIANS. 
 
 " A swarthy tribe 
 Slipt from the secret hand of Providence, 
 They come we see not how, nor know we whence ; 
 Thai seem'd created on the spot — though born, 
 In transatlantic climes, and thither brought, , 
 
 By paths as covert as the birth of thought ! " 
 
 There is in the fate of these unfortunate beings much to awake 
 our sympathy, and much to disturb the sobriety of our judgment ; 
 much in their character, to incite our involuntary admiration. 
 What can be more melancholy than their history ? By a law of 
 their nature, they seem destined to a slow but sure extinction. 
 Every where at the approach of the white man they fade away : 
 We hear the rustling of their footsteps, like that of the withered 
 leaves of autumn ; and themselves, like " the sere and yellow 
 leaf," are gone forever! 
 
 Once the smoke of their wigwams, and the fires of their coun- 
 cils, rose in every valley from the ocean to the Mississippi and 
 the lakes. The shouts of victory and the war dance rung through 
 the mountains and the glades. The light arrows and the deadly 
 tomahawk whistled through the forest ; and the hunter's trace, 
 and the dark encampment, startled the wild beasts from their 
 lairs. The warriors stood forth in their glory. The young listened 
 to songs of other days. The mothers played with their infants, 
 and gazed on the scene with warm hopes of the future. Braver 
 men never lived ; truer men never drew the bow. They had 
 courage and fortitude, and sagacity and perseverance, beyond 
 most of the human race. They shrunk from no dangers, and 
 they feared no hardships. They were inured, and capable of 
 sustaining every peril, and surmounting every obstacle for sweet 
 country and home. But with all this, inveterate destiny has 
 unceasingly driven them hence ! 
 
 « Forced from the land that gave them birth, 
 They dwindle from the face of earth ! " 
 
 In our present notice of the Indians, we desire to go back to 
 the period when first observed by Europeans ; such as they were 
 
Indian Treaty, p. 110 
 
 City of New York, 1842, p. 143. 
 
*%. 
 
The Indians. Ill 
 
 before debauched by their contact with the baser part of our white 
 men. To this end we shall give the following description of 
 them from the personal observation and pen of the celebrated 
 Win. Penn ; to wit : — 
 
 The natives I shall consider in their persons, language, man- 
 ners, religion and government, with my sense of their original. 
 For their persons, they are generally tall, straight, well built, and 
 of singular proportion ; they tread strong and clever, and mostly 
 walk with a lofty chin. Of complexion, black, but by design ; 
 as the gypsies in England. They grease themselves with bear's 
 fat clarified ; and, using no defence against sun or weather, their 
 skins, must needs be swarthy. Their eye is little and black, not 
 unlike a straight looked Jew. The thick lip, and flat nose, so 
 frequent with the East Indians and blacks, are not common to 
 them : many of them have fine Roman noses. 
 
 Their language is lofty, yet narrow ; but like the Hebrew, in 
 signification full ; like short-hand, in writing, one word serveth 
 in the place of three, and the rest are supplied by the understand- 
 ing of the hearer: imperfect in their tenses, wanting in their 
 moods, participles, adverbs, conjunctions, interjections. 
 
 Of their customs and manners there is much to be said, I will 
 begin with children. Soon as they are born, they wash them in 
 water ; and while very young, and in cold weather they plunge 
 them in the rivers to harden and embolden them. The children 
 will go very young, at nine months commonly ; if boys they go 
 a fishing till ripe for the woods, which is about fifteen ; then they 
 hunt, and after having given some proofs of their manhood, by a 
 good return of skins, they may marry ; else it is a shame to think 
 of a wife. The girls stay with their mothers, and help to hoe 
 the ground, plant corn, and carry burdens ; and they do well to 
 use them to that young which they must do when they are old ; 
 for the wives are the true servants of the husbands ; otherwise 
 the men are very affectionate to them. 
 
 When the young women are fit for marriage, they wear some- 
 thing upon their heads for an advertisement, but so as their faces 
 are hardly to be seen but when they please. The age they marry 
 at, if women, is about thirteen or fourteen ; if men, seventeen 
 and eighteen ; they are rarely elder. 
 
 Their houses are mats, or barks of trees, set on poles, in the 
 fashion of an English barn ; but out of the power of the winds, 
 for they are hardly higher than a man ; they lie on reeds or grass. 
 In travel they lodge in the woods, about a great fire, with the 
 mantle of duffils they wear by the day wrapt about them, and a 
 few boughs stuck round them. 
 
 Their diet is maize or Indian com, divers ways prepared ; 
 sometimes roasted in the ashes ; sometimes beaten and boiled 
 with water, which they call homine ; they also make cakes, not 
 unpleasant to eat. They have likewise several sorts of beans 
 
112 The Indians. 
 
 and pease that are good nourishment ; and the woods and rivers 
 are their larder. 
 
 If an European comes to see them, or calls for lodging at their 
 house or wigwam, they give him the best place and first cut. 
 If they come to visit us they salute us with an Itah ; which is 
 as much as to say, good be to yon, and set them down ; which is 
 mostly on the ground, close to their heels, their legs upright ; it 
 may be they speak not a word, but observe all passages. If you 
 give them any thing to eat or drink, well : for they will not ask ; 
 and be it little or much, if it be with kindness they are well pleased, 
 else they go away sullen, but say nothing. 
 
 They are great concealers of their own resentments ; brought 
 to it, I believe, by the revenge that hath been practised among 
 them. 
 
 But in liberality they excel ; nothing is too good for their friend ; 
 give them a fine gun, coat, or other thing, it may pass twenty 
 hands before it sticks : light of heart, strong affections, but soon 
 spent. The most merry creatures that live, feast and dance 
 perpetually ; they never have much, nor want much : wealth 
 circulateth like the blood, all parts partake ; and though none 
 shall want what another hath, yet exact observers of property. 
 They care for little, because they want but little ; and the reason 
 is, a little contents them. In this they are sufficiently revenged 
 on us : if they are ignorant of our pleasures, they are also free 
 from our pains. We sweat and toil to live ; their pleasure feeds 
 them ; I mean their hunting, fishing, and fowling ; and this table 
 is spread every where. They eat twice a-day, morning and 
 evening ; their seats and table are the ground. 
 
 In sickness impatient to be cured, and for it give any thing, 
 especially for their children, to whom they are extremely natural : 
 they drink at those times a Tesan, or decoction of some roots in 
 spring-water ; and if they eat any flesh, it must be of the female 
 of any creature. If they die they bury them with their apparel, 
 be they man or woman, and the nearest of kin fling in something 
 precious with them, as a token of their love ; their mourning is 
 blacking of their faces, which they continue for a year: they are 
 choice of the graves of their dead ; for, lest they should be lost by 
 time, and fall to common use, they pick off the grass that grows 
 upon them, and heap up the fallen earth with great care and 
 exactness. 
 
 These poor people are under a dark night in things relating to 
 religion, to be sure, the tradition of it •, yet they believe in a God 
 and immortality without the help of metaphysics ; for they say, 
 " There is a Great King that made them, who dwells in a glorious 
 country to the southward of them ; and that the souls of the good 
 shall go thither, where they shall live again." Their worship 
 consists of two parts, sacrifice and cantico : their sacrifice is their 
 first fruits ; the first and fattest buck they kill, goeth to the fire, 
 
The Indians. ' 113 
 
 where he is all burnt, with a mournful ditty of him that perform- 
 eth the ceremony, but with such marvellous fervency and labour 
 of body, that he will even sweat to a foam. The other parts is 
 their cantico, performed by round dances, sometimes words, some- 
 times songs, then shouts, two being in the middle that begin, and 
 by singing and drumming on a board, direct the chorus : their 
 postures in the dance are very antick, and differing, but all keep 
 measure. This is done with equal earnestness and labour, but 
 great appearance of joy. In the fall, when the corn cometh in, 
 they begin to feast one another. 
 
 Their government is by kings, which they call Sachama, and 
 those by successicfn, but always of the mother's side ; for instance, 
 the children of him that is now king will not succeed, but his 
 brother by the mother, or the children of his sister, whose sons 
 (and after them the children of her daughters) will reign ; for no 
 woman inherits. The reason they render for this way of descent 
 is, that their issue may not be spurious. 
 
 Every king hath his council, and that consists of all the old and 
 wise men of his nation ; which perhaps is two hundred people ; 
 nothing of moment is undertaken, be it war, peace, selling of land, 
 or traffic, without advising with them ; and which is more, with 
 the young men too. It is admirable to consider how powerful 
 the kings are, and yet how they move by the breath of their 
 people. 
 
 For their original, I am ready to beheve them of the Jewish 
 race ; I mean, of the stock of the ten tribes, and that for the fol- 
 lowing reasons : first, they were to go to " a land not planted or 
 known^^ which to be sure, Asia and Africa were, if not Europe; 
 and he that intended that extraordinary judgment upon them, 
 might make the passage not uneasy to them, as it is not impossi- 
 ble in itself, from the easternmost parts of Asia, to the western- 
 most of America. In the next place, I find them of like countenance, 
 and their children of so lively resemblance, that a man would 
 think himself in Dukes-place or Berry-street in London when he. 
 seeth them. But this is not all ; they agree in rites ; they reckon 
 by moons : they offer their Jirst-frxdts ; they have a kind of feast 
 of tabernacles ; they are said to lay their altars upon twelve 
 stones; their mourning a year, customs of women, with many 
 things that do not now occur. 
 
 The following observations concerning our Indians were made, 
 in 1749, by Professor Kalm, then traveUing among them; to 
 wit: — 
 
 The hatchets of the Indians were made of stone, somewhat of 
 the shape of a wedge. This was notched round the biggest end, 
 and to this they affixed a split stick for a handle, bound round with 
 a cord. These hatchets could not serve, however, to cut any 
 thing like a tree ; their means therefore of getting trees for canoes, 
 15 k2 
 
114 The Indians. 
 
 &c., was to put a great fire round the roots of a big tree to burn 
 it off, and with a swab of rags on a pole to keep the tree con- 
 stantly wet above until the fire below burnt it off. When the 
 tree was down, they laid dry branches on the trunk and set fire 
 to it, and kept swabbing that part of the tree which they did not 
 want to burn ; thus the tree burnt a hollow in one place only ; 
 when burnt enough, they chipt or scraped it smooth inside with 
 their hatchets, or sharp flints, or sharp shells. Instead of knives, 
 they used little sharp pieces of flints or quartz, or a piece of 
 sharpened bone. At the end of their arrows they fastened narrow 
 angulated pieces of stone ; these were commonly flints or quartz. 
 Some made use of the claws of birds and beasts. 
 
 They had stone pestles, of about a foot long and five inches in 
 thickness ; in these they pounded their maize. Many had only 
 wooden pestles. The Indians were astonished beyond measure 
 when they saw the first wind-mills to grind grain. They were, 
 at first, of opinion that not the wind, but spirits within them gave 
 them their momentum. They would come from a great distance, 
 and set down for days near them, to wonder and admire at them! 
 
 The old tobacco pipes were made of clay or pot stone, or ser- 
 pentine stone ; the tube thick and short. Some were made better, 
 of a very fine red pot stone, and were seen chiefly with the 
 Sachems. Some of the old Dutchmen at New York preserved 
 the tradition that the first Indians seen by the Europeans, made 
 use of copper for their tobacco pipes, got from the second river 
 near Elizabethtown. 
 
 There was hardly any district of country where the Indians so 
 fully enjoyed an abundant and happy home as on Long Island. 
 The tribes there were of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware race, 
 bearing the designation of the Matouwax and Paumunake. 
 They had there vast quantities of wild fowl and abundance of 
 sea-fish ; oysters, clams, crabs, muscles, &c. They had the art 
 of catching fish by torch-light, called wigwass by them, in the 
 way we call bobbing. It was their practice to set a fire of pine 
 knots on a platform in the middle of their canoes, the light attract- 
 ed numerous fish, which they struck with an eel spear. Their 
 smoked faces and reddened eyes by the operation, often gave 
 them a grotesque appearance. They would lay up great store 
 of dried clams by stringing them, and sending them far into the 
 country for distant tribes. Besides all this, they were great mer- 
 chants oi wampum or seawant; they procuring and forming from 
 the sea shells all the Indian money used for ornament and traffic. 
 To this day, the soil of the island shows frequent traces of the nu- 
 merous shells once drawn out from the sea and scattered over its 
 surface. The families while so engaged in fishing, had always 
 near them their huts or wigwams by the water side, made close 
 and warm with an entire covering of sea weed. 
 
 Respecting the frequent diet of the Indians in general, we may 
 
The Indians. 115 
 
 say, that besides their usual plantations of corn, pumpkins, 
 squashes, &c. they often used wilds roots and wild fruits ; among 
 the latter were chestnuts, shellbarks, walnuts, persimons, huckle- 
 berries, &c. ; of the roots, they had hopniss (glycine apios), kat- 
 niss (sagittaria sagittifolia), tawho (arum virginicum), tawkee 
 (orantium aquaticum). These roots generally grew in low damp 
 grounds, were a kind of potatoes to them, and were divested of 
 their poisonous or injurious quality by roasting them in the fire. 
 They used to dry and keep their huckleberries like raisins. They 
 would pound hickor^^ and walnut nuts to a fine pulp, and mixing 
 water with it formed a pleasant drink, not unlike milk in sight 
 and taste. They made yoekeg, a mush, liked also by the whites, 
 formed of pounded parched corn and cider mixed. Suckatash 
 they made from corn and beans mixed together and boiled. Their 
 pumpkins they preserved long, by cutting them into slices and 
 drying them. On the rivers they had an art of forming pinfolds 
 for taking fish ; and when they took sturgeons, they cut them in- 
 to strips and preserved them by drying. Fish hooks they some- 
 times made of fish bones and bird claws ; and fish lines they 
 formed from a species of wild grass, or from the sinews of ani- 
 mals. All these were indeed but instances of clumsy invention 
 and rude fare, but their education and hearts were formed to it, 
 and they loved it and were happy ; having every where their 
 table spread by nature to their entire wants and satisfaction. In 
 those days they were hunters more for clothing and amusement 
 than for necessary food. 
 
 The Indians whom we usually call Delawares, because first 
 found about the regions of the Delaware river, never used that 
 name among themselves; they called themselves Lenni Lenape, 
 which means " the original people,^^ — Lenni meaning original, 
 — whereby they expressed they were an unmixed race, who had 
 never changed their character since the creation ; — in effect they 
 were primitive sons of Adam, and others were sons of the curse, 
 as of Ham, or of the outcast Ishmael, &c. 
 
 They, as well as the Mengwe (called by us Iroquois), agreed 
 in saying they came from westward of the Mississippi — called by 
 them Namxsi Sipu, or river of fish ; and that when they came 
 over to the eastern side of that river, they there encountered, and 
 finally drove off, all the former inhabitants, called the Alligewi — 
 (and of course the primitives of all our country !) who, probably, 
 such as survived, sought refuge in Mexico. 
 
 From these facts we may learn, that however unjustifiable, in 
 a moral sense may be the aggressions of our border men, yet on 
 the rule of the lex talionis we may take refuge and say, we only 
 drive off or dispossess those who were themselves encroachers, 
 even as all our Indians, as above stated, were ! 
 
 The Indians called the Quakers Quekels, and " the English," 
 by inability of pronouncing it, they sounded Yengees — from 
 
116 The Indians. 
 
 whence probably, we have now our name of Yankees. In their 
 own language they called the English Saggenah. 
 
 Men whose thoughts are engrossed in the affairs of the world, 
 or in the immediate concerns of self-preservation, may be unmind- 
 ful of others ; but youth, who are free from such cares, can 
 indulge their natural propensity of looking abroad and into the 
 state of others, by an attention to the actual state of the poor 
 Indian. They have repeatedly heard that all the lands of our 
 western interior were not long since the property of the aborigi- 
 nes ; and as they now witness their entire exclusion from all those 
 regions, they naturally enquire where are they, and what has be- 
 come of those who once welcomed to their wigwams and to their 
 hospitaUty our pilgrim forefathers ? It was once their greatest 
 gratification to be accounted the white man's friend and benefac- 
 tor ; for truly they could say, " none ever entered the cabin of 
 Logan hungry, and he gave him no meat ; or cold, or naked, and 
 he gave him no clothes." 
 
 As the race is receding from the civilization and encroachments 
 of white men, and becoming more and more scarce among men, 
 it will become still more the duty and proper kindness of the 
 coming generation to cherish a regard and a veneration for the 
 few scattered fragments of a once mighty people. Already the 
 last feeble remnants are preparing to go into remote exile in the far 
 distant west. We see them leaving reluctantly their long cherished 
 homes, "few and faint, yet fearless still." They turn to take a last 
 look at their deserted towns — a last glance at the graves of their 
 fathers. They shed no tears ; they utter no cries ; they heave 
 no groans. There is something in their hearts which surpasses 
 speech ; there is something in their looks, not of vengeance or 
 submission, but of hard necessity, which stifles both ; which 
 chokes all utterance ; which has no aim or method. It is courage 
 absorbed in despair. 
 
 A mind fully alive to the facts which in the new countries of 
 the west still environ him wherever he goes, can hardly ride 
 along the highway, or traverse the fields and woods, without 
 feeling the constant and welcome intrusion of thoughts like these, 
 to wit : Here lately prowled the beasts of prey ; * there crowded 
 the deep interminable woodland shade ; through that cripple 
 browsed the deer ; in that rude cluster of rocks and roots were 
 sheltered the deadly rattlesnake. These rich meadows were 
 noxious swamps. On those sun-side hills of golden grain crack- 
 led the growing maize of the tawny aborigines. Where we stand, 
 perchance to pause and consider, rest the ashes of a chief or of 
 his family ; and where we have chosen our favourite sites for 
 
 * As late as the year 1815 to '20, the state treasury expended 38,260 dollars 
 for killing wolves in 37 of the western counties ! Could any thing more strikingly 
 exhibit its recent savage state, even where now " unwieldly wealth and cumbrous 
 pomp repose !" 
 
The Indians. 117 
 
 towns or habitations, may have been the selected spots on which 
 were hutted the now departed Uneage of many generations. On 
 yon path- way, seen in the distant view, cUmbing the remote 
 hills, may have been the very path tracked from time immemorial 
 by the roving Indians themselves. 
 
 It is not possible for a considerate and feeling mind, even now 
 to stand upon the margin of such charming and picturesque lakes 
 as the Skaneatteles, the Cayuga, and the Seneca, &c. without 
 thinking how happily the Indians of primitive days were wont 
 to pass their time in such enchanting regions ; but they are all 
 gone, all wasted like a pestilence. A few diminished tribes still 
 linger about our remote borders ; and others, more distant in the 
 rude wilds, still gather a scanty subsistence from the diminished 
 game. It would be to our honour and to their comfort and 
 preservation, could we yet extend to them the blessings of civili- 
 zation and religion. We owe it to ourselves and to them to yet 
 redeem this wasting, injured, faded race. 
 
 " Orush'd race, so long condemned to moan, 
 Scorn'd, rifled, spiritless and lone, 
 From heathen rites, from sorrow's maze, 
 Turn to our temple gates with praise ! 
 Yes, come and bless th' usurping band 
 That rent away your father's land ; 
 Forgive the wrong, suppress the blame. 
 And view your hope, your heaven, the same ! " 
 
 New York, at the time of its discovery and settlement, says 
 Campbell's history, was inhabited by a race of men, distinguished, 
 above all the other aborigines of the continent, for their intelligence 
 and prowess. Five distinct and independent tribes, speaking a 
 language radically the same, and practising similar customs, had 
 imited in forming a confederacy, which, for durability and power, 
 was unequalled in Indian ^history. They were the Mohawks, 
 Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas — called the Iroquois 
 by the French, and the Five Nations by the English. In cases 
 of great emergency, each tribe or nation acted separately, and 
 independently ; but a general council usually assembled at Onon- 
 daga, near the centre of their territory, and determined upon 
 peace or war, and all other matters which regarded the interests 
 of the whole. Acting in^these matters, not unlike our own 
 Congress, under the old confederation. They, therefore, who 
 may visit the present Onondaga and vicinity, may regard that 
 region of country, as being once the consecrated ground, and the 
 familiar home, of a now vanished people ! 
 
 They carried their arms into Canada, across the Connecticut, 
 and even to the banks of the Mississippi, and verging to the 
 Gulf of Mexico. 
 
 After the settlement of the French in Canada, in 1608, and at 
 a time that the Five nations were waging a desperate war, — 
 
m The Indians. 
 
 (long continued, at intervals of time,) with the Hurons and AI- 
 gonquins, settled there, and assisted by the French, — they applied 
 to the Dutch, settled at Albany, and along the Hudson, to assist 
 them in arms and ammunition, — whereby a strong friendship 
 was created, and which produced a long and sincere attachment 
 between them. During this period, the Dutch traders passed up 
 the Mohawk in their little canoes, and carried on, for many years, 
 a profitable barter of their merchandize and munitions of war, 
 for the peltry of the Indians. 
 
 When the English came to the government of the province, by 
 the conquest of 1664, they exerted themselves to acquire and pre- 
 serve the same influence, with the same Indian tribes. Conventions 
 were therefore frequently held at Albany, in which presents and 
 kindly professions were liberally bestowed. In the mean time, 
 the French in Canada, endeavoured to counteract this English 
 ascendency. They attacked the English frontiers, in hopes, by 
 some splendid victory, to detach the Indians from their friends. 
 They also sent Missionaries among them, more desirous of making 
 allies for France, than converts to Christianity; and in 1671, they 
 persuaded the Caughnawagas to leave their settlements on the 
 Mohawk, and to establish themselves in Canada. 
 
 The Dinondadies, a tribe of Canada, in alliance with France, 
 having treacherously killed several of the Ambassadors of the 
 Five nations, when going to meet them in Conference, were 
 visited with a heavy revenge. About twelve hundred warriors, 
 of the Five nations, landed at Montreal in 1688, and killed about 
 one thousand French. The French, in turn, retaliated by making 
 sundry incursions into the Indian country : burning their villages, 
 &c., and especially in 1690, a combined force of French and In- 
 dians, succeeded to surprise and burn the town of Schenectady, 
 in the dead of winter, killing about sixty of the inhabitants, and 
 dispersing the rest under circumstances of much suflfering, as will 
 be found stated under the chapter of that place. 
 
 About the year 1701, a general treaty of peace was made be- 
 tween the French and the Five Nations, which put an end to 
 these long and afilicting wars. 
 
 About the year 1712, the Monecons, or Tuscaroras, an Indian 
 tribe of the Carolinas, came from that country and joined the 
 Indian confederacy, and thus constituting from that time, the Six 
 Nations. 
 
 As the French never abandoned their desire to attach these six 
 nations to their own interests, they succeeded in time to attain 
 sundry indulgencies, such as making forts in their territory, for the 
 alleged protection of their trade and missions, &c. So that when 
 the last French war broke out, in 1754, the four western tribes 
 went over to the French, and took up the hatchet against the 
 English. The Indians, however, as the war progressed, seeing 
 the defeat of the French in sundry engagements, had many of 
 
The Indians. 119i 
 
 them returned, before the close of the war, to the English, by 
 whom they were agahi received as allies. In these results, Sir 
 Wm. Johnson, had much influence, and especially by his victory 
 over the Baron Dieskau, in 1757, and the capture of Fort Niagara. 
 
 A manuscript journal, kept by an officer in Sullivan's Expedi- 
 tion, leads us into an insight of some of the most conspicuous 
 localities of the Indians, viz : 
 
 At CAemwn^, where they destroyed the settlements and grain ; 
 at New town and Butler^s Creek, they destroyed the corn and 
 beans ; at Catharine's town, they destroyed the com, beans, &c ; 
 at Jlpple-tree town, on the east side of Setieca lake, destroyed 
 houses and corn fields. 
 
 Kandaia, — a fine town, half a mile from Cayuga lake, — there 
 found a great plenty of old apple trees, — the houses large and 
 elegant, some beautifully painted : their tombs likewise, especially 
 those of their chief warriors, were beautifully painted boxes, set 
 over their graves, made of planks hewn out of timber. 
 
 Kanadaseago, the capital of the Senecas, near the north end 
 of the same lake, consisted of about sixty houses, and a great 
 plenty of apple and peach trees, — destroyed there much of corn 
 and beans. 
 
 Kashanguash, — about eight miles south, was destroyed. 
 
 Kanandagua, at the outlet of a small lake, had about twenty 
 houses, and were burned. Some of these houses were very neat 
 and had chimnies, as if they had had white people settled among 
 them. 
 
 Hanneyaage, lies at the head of a small lake, and consisted of 
 thirteen or fourteen good houses, neatly built, — here they had 
 much corn and beans. 
 
 Adjuton, near lake Konyoughejough, where they destroyed 
 the corn, and detached Lieutenant Boyd with his riflemen, to re- 
 connoitre the next town, seven miles distant, — but he was cut off, 
 in his return, by five or six hundred Indians, under Col. Butler. 
 [Lieut. Boyd, and his party, were exhumed in 1840, and re- 
 interred, with great civic and military honours, at Rochester 
 Cemetery.] Finally arrived at the flat, on which stood the 
 Capital of the Chenessee, consisting of upwards of one hundred 
 and twenty houses and vast quantities of corn, beans, pumpkins, 
 potatoes, &c. The corn was gathered into the houses, and the 
 whole consumed together. After this, the army took up its return 
 march — having desolated the Indian country, and struck terror into 
 the Indians, enough to incline them sufficiently for future peace. 
 
 The chief localities of the Six nations, may be thus described: 
 The Mohawks dwelt along the river of that name. The Oneidas 
 in that county, on the south side of the lake Oneida — Onondaga 
 hollow contains some of those Indians still. Cayuga lake and 
 river, mark the place of the Cayugas. A few Senecas, still linger 
 about their old home, near lake Erie, and their principal village 
 
120 The Indians. 
 
 was near the Genessee river, twenty miles from Irondequoit bay. 
 The Tuscaroras, were settled about Niagara. In the town of 
 Pompey is a very extensive Indian Cemetery of bodies laid side 
 by side, and often turned up by the plough. The great Council 
 of the Five nations, met yearly at Onondaga. The Journal of 
 C. F. Post, going inland from Philadelphia, to meet there, is a 
 very curious history of such inland travelling, by Indian paths, 
 in colonial times. 
 
 Besides the foregoing, there were Indian towns of magnitude, 
 at the upper and lower Mohawk castles. The former was inhab- 
 ited by the Onheskas. There were also the Tuscarora and 
 Oneida castles, inhabited by friendly Indians. The chief of these 
 last, Skanandoa (i. e. light footed deer,) was a remarkable man, 
 who lived to be an hundred and ten years of age, and lies interred 
 at Clinton, by his own request. His father lived to be ninety-six 
 years old at the Bouwlandt. 
 
 The country of the Onondagas, the Cayugas, and the Senecas, — 
 the three western tribes, was completely overrun and laid waste. 
 A part only of the Indians ever returned to their old settlements. 
 Some of them obtained permission to locate in the extreme 
 western part of the state, and during the winter of 1779-80, they 
 remained in and about Fort Niagara, where from eating salt pro- 
 visions, they took the scurvy, and died in great numbers. 
 
 In contemplating the delightful country and homes, which these 
 Indians were thus compelled to leave forever, and under such 
 thorough devastation, as to destroy all their *' neat houses^' and 
 " cultivated fields,", we cannot but reflect, that all their hostilities 
 and difficulties with us, were produced by the sinister designs of 
 white men, acting deceptively upon their simplicity and fears, for 
 their own selfish ends. With good men and true, the Indians 
 were always just and friendly. They loved and confided, with 
 full purpose of heart ; they coveted nothing, and gave freely ; they 
 hated and revenged when injured, because it was a part of their 
 religious feeling of duty, to avenge the wrongs, as they under- 
 stood them, when inflicted upon any branch of their families. 
 Severe as seemed their cruelties, they expected, on their part, to 
 meet retaliation without a complaint. Of stern virtues they had 
 many, many which could have been usefully learned from them, 
 by their more enlightened white men ! It would be for our own 
 honours, if we would, even now, remember with better feelings 
 towards them, the comforts and the enjoyments to which their 
 lands are now our perpetual contributors. Let none go over 
 them now, in easy and splendid vehicles, without feeling a com- 
 miseration for " the poor Indian," and with the cherished wish to 
 forget their faults, and to rescue and build up once more, their 
 now degraded and wasting population ! 
 
 Cordially we can unite, with Mr. Campbell, in his history, in 
 saying, " when we look over these lands, once the domains of the 
 
The Indians. 121 
 
 proud and noble Iroquois, and remember how, in the days of their 
 glory, they defended our infant colonies from the ravages of 
 the French, and contrast their former state, numerous, powerful, 
 and respected, with their present condition, * scattered and peeled,' 
 we are almost ready to blot out the record of their cruelties." 
 They, like ourselves, it should be remembered, fought for "sweet 
 country and home !" 
 
 " Were not these their own bright waters 1 
 * Rear'd they not their own red-brow'd daughters, 
 Where Qur princely mansions rise 1" 
 
 With the same intelligent author we may also remark, " that it 
 is by no means to be considered as strange, that the Indians, and 
 especially the Mohawks, should have remained attached to the 
 British crown, though earnestly sued by us to participate in our 
 cause ; for they had always been well furnished by that govern- 
 ment, with all the necessaries of life, and with arms and other 
 munitions, both for the chase, and for war ; the chain of friendship 
 between them had been steadily brightened, for more than one 
 hundred years." The Oneidas, and the Tuscaroras, alone joined 
 us, and since then, they too, have fallen far below our best wishes. 
 
 To the foregoing notices of the Indians, we add the observa- 
 tions and remarks made by Mrs. Grant, in her published letters, 
 made by her on the spot, in the colonial times. She has said that 
 " the Mohawks were deemed the wisest, the best, and the most 
 perfect in their morals and conduct of all the Indians. They 
 were always greatly attached to the British crown, strictly adher- 
 ing to the same, under all the allurements offered by the French." 
 
 She had been, in her youth, familiar with the sight of many 
 companies of friendly Indians, visiting at Schuyler's flats, above 
 Albany. While there, they were very industrious in making 
 baskets, ladles, spoons, shovels, rakes, brooms, belts, moccasins, 
 &c., mostly made by the women and children, the men being 
 abroad, engaged in fishing, and smoking their sturgeons and eels, 
 for their winter use. The women were remarkably amiable and 
 sagacious, as were the boys also. It was singular, that none of 
 the females, though coloured themselves, could ever feel any kind 
 of fellowship with the black race, then much employed in white 
 families. The Indians had a remarkable facility in acquiring any 
 language. 
 
 Such Indians as came thus about the white population, were 
 of such families as preferred their mode, to the entire forest life, 
 and where of course the labour of tillage devolved wholly on the 
 women, who were wont to cultivate corn, beans, and tobacco ; 
 their only tools were the hoe, and a kind of wooden spade. The 
 men in the mean time, were catching and drying fish by the 
 rivers or on the lakes. The younger girls were much busied, in 
 summer and autumn, in gathering wild fruits, berries and grapes, 
 16 L 
 
123 The Indians. 
 
 which they had a peculiar mode of drying, to preserve them for 
 the winter subsistence. The great cranberry they gathered in 
 much abundance. The girls, in childhood, had a very pleasing 
 appearance, had fine hair, eyes, and teeth ; hardships and expo- 
 sure, in time, of course broke down their beauty. They married 
 very early, and as a Mohawk had no other help or servant than 
 his wife, she had necessarily to be laboriously employed. The 
 Shumack shrub, which we deem to be poisonous, they used in 
 the state of berries, on which they found a pungent dust, which 
 was at once saline and sour, and which was in effect the salt to 
 their food. 
 
 The Senecas, with their euphonious and agreeable name, 
 were naturally the most severe and blood thirsty of all the Indian 
 tribes; from some unexplained cause, they were always most 
 vindictive and ardent in their spirit of revenge and hostility. It 
 is from such a race, therefore, that we should soonest look for the 
 severities and successes of the tomahawk and scalping knife, 
 weapons of peculiar terror and disgust to the white race. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap, in his history of New York, gives as one of the 
 items of the year 1756, that " Robert Hunter Morris, governor of 
 Pennsylvania, offers to pay for every Indian male enemy, above 
 twelve years of age, one hundred and fifty dollars ; for the scalps 
 of such, one hundred and thirty dollars. For every female prisoner, 
 or boy under twelve, one hundred and thirty dollars. For the 
 scalp of an Indian woman, fifty dollars,'^ and then he adds a 
 case of cruelty, in attempting the murder of a friendly Indian 
 family at Pepeck, in Somerset, New Jersey, with a design to take 
 their scalps to Pennsylvania for the premiums. He concludes 
 with " here we see a part of the fruit of the Pennsylvania pro- 
 clamation." " The Friendly Association" of Philadelphia was 
 formed in that year, on purpose to counteract severe measures, 
 and to preserve a peace with the Indians. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap, I presume, took the case as he found the offered 
 reward in the public prints of the time, but I chance to know 
 something more in the premises. I had seen the manuscript 
 minutes of Council of Pennsylvania, and it is due to truth to say, 
 that there were scruples and demurs to the measure, as the minutes 
 show, that when it succeeded, it was pressed as a necessary 
 retaliatory operation, to quiet the frontier people, and withal it 
 was so far a New York measure, as to have had the sanction and 
 expressed wish of Sir. Wm. Johnson, the great Indian agent and 
 Indian'' s friend, acting in New York for his majesty's service, &c. 
 
 The minutes of Council to which I referred, was dated the 6th 
 of July, 1764, present, John Penn, lieutenant governor, Thomas 
 Cadwalader, and Richard Penn, Esq. It says : " The same 
 council having before agreed to give encouragement for a more 
 successful war on the frontiers, it was agreed to give a reward for 
 scalps, &c., (as above), provided it should be approved by Sir 
 
The Indians. 123 
 
 Wm. Johnson. His answer of 18th June, 1764, says, * I cannot 
 but approve of your desire to gratify the desires of the people in 
 your province, by a bounty on scalps, &c.,' whereupon they 
 resolved to issue a proclamation of the 7th July, 1764, and to 
 publish it in the Gazette." What ever resulted from it does not 
 appear, but after this, I saw demurs and fears expressed by 
 Conrad Weiser and others, to the council, that the reward would 
 induce even friendly Indians to kill white men for their scalps. 
 The thing seems to have had a quiet death, and to have sub 
 silentio passed away. 
 
 In and about the same period of time, and possibly preceding 
 the proclamation of Gov. Morris, " i^ae. famous Captain Rogers," 
 acting under his majesty's commission, on the frontiers of New 
 York, was busily taking his scalps, and at the same time the 
 French were paying for all scalps brought in at Fort du Quesne, 
 on the Pennsylvania frontier. It was truly a barbarous time ! 
 
 In January, 1757, the aforesaid Capt. Rogers, with a scouting 
 party of only thirty men, waylaid a French convoy of sixty sleighs, 
 for Crown Point, which he destroyed. He was pursued by the 
 garrison, and lost twenty of his men, and yet, had the success to 
 bring in eighteen scalps ! 
 
 This Rogers, afterwards a Major, exalted for his success in 
 cruel things, led a party of one hundred and forty men, from 
 Crown Point, in the year 1759, against the Indian town of St. 
 Francis ; he found the unsuspecting village in peace, and two 
 hours before sunrise, when " all were fast asleep," he fell upon 
 them, killing all he could, and then set fire to their houses, burn- 
 ing therein all who might be concealed " in cellars and lofts ;" — 
 he killed all, save about twenty of their women and children, and 
 these, after taking them some distance, he turned off to starve or 
 perish in the woods, because he was expecting a surprise from 
 the enemy ! 
 
 This hero in the Indian campaigns, had his admirers in his 
 day, and a book of his adventures was published. At one time, 
 in the height of his renown, he got into the New York prison for 
 debt, and was said to have prompted some of his soldiers to assault 
 the prison for his release, which was, however, prevented by the 
 interference of the citizens. 
 
 One cannot but perceive the cold blooded apathy with which 
 he needlessly massacred helpless women, children, and aged. He 
 also took scalps as savagely as the untutored Indians themselves. 
 We cannot but cherish different feelings towards the Indians. 
 They were human, and had souls like ourselves. In the pathetic 
 language of Montgomery, the Indians apostrophize us, and say : — 
 
 Art thou a waman ? so am I, and all 
 That woman can be, I have been, or am, 
 A daughter, sister, consort, mother, widow ! 
 
124 The Indians. 
 
 Or, art thou a man ? oh, I have known, have loved 
 And lost all that to woman man can be — 
 A father, brother, husband, son, who shared 
 My bliss in freedom, and my woe in bondage. 
 
 It was the custom of the Mohawks, and probably of all the 
 tribes of the Iroquois, when contemplating a military expedition, 
 to make a representation thereof, by painting on trees or rocks, 
 the figures of the warriors, with hieroglyphics, designating the 
 design of the same. When they went by water, canoes were 
 painted, and as many figures placed in them, as there were men 
 constituting the party — their faces looking toward the place 
 whither they were bound. The remains of such a painting is 
 still to be seen under a jutting rock, on the north side of the river, 
 about a mile and a half above the village of Amsterdam. It was 
 executed about the year 1720, to express a purpose of the Mo- 
 hawks against the French. It was done with red chalk, and 
 represented five or six canoes, with six or seven men in each. 
 
 The Indians, in forming places of abode, were always careful 
 to select spots in the neighbourhood of rivers, lakes, and creeks. 
 This, because they there expected their best chances for food, from 
 fish and wild fowl — there too would come the deer and game, 
 to slake their thirst. From such locations, therefore, it was but 
 natural, that Indians should usually designate their homes, by the 
 names of the streams near which they resided — thus a Connecti- 
 cut Indian, would say that he was from Connecticoota, meaning 
 the " Long River." 
 
 The aborigines not only built their wigwams, and kindled their 
 domestic fires, along the waters, but their roads and other paths, 
 were along and around rivers, creeks, and lakes. Besides, these 
 localities served as land marks, to guide them in their travels, 
 which were always made, of choice, on foot. 
 
 The great national pathway of the Iroquois, may be thus de- 
 scribed — commencing at Schenectady, it ran along the south side 
 of the Mohawk, as far as Wood creek ; from thence, there were 
 several branches, leading to the settlements of the different tribes, 
 residing west of the Mohawk. There was also a branch which 
 crossed that river at Canajoharie, and extended along the north 
 side of that river to Wood creek, where it joined the main path- 
 way. Portions of an Indian path, leading from Schenectady to 
 the Shatemuc, or North river, are to be seen at the present day. 
 This path touched Hunger hill, a branch of the Towassantha, 
 or Norman's kill, and part of the way passed over the land now 
 occupied by the Mohawk and Hudson rail-road company. There 
 were two paths leading from Schenectady to Nachtenac, (now 
 Watervliet and Waterford,) one on the north and one on the south 
 side of the Mohawk. At the eastern extremities of the Toueri- 
 oone Hills in Woostina, a path commenced, and went along the 
 northern bounds of the Schenectady patent to Saraghtoga lake. 
 
The Indians. 125 
 
 Nachtenac and Saraghtoga lakes, were frequented by the Indians 
 for the purposes of angUng. The path to Canada, from Sche- 
 nectady, led past Sanders' lake, Long lake, Saraghtoga lake. Lake 
 George, and Lake Champlain. The Canada creeks, east and 
 west, were both so called, because paths led from these creeks to 
 Canada. 
 
 David Cusick was an educated Indian, the son of a Captain 
 Cusick of the British army, who served imder Sir Wm. Johnson 
 in the French war. His mother was the daughter of a chief of 
 the Tuscarora tribe. David received the elements of his educa- 
 tion in Schenectady, in Mr. Martin's school. He is said to have 
 written a book of the history of the Six Nations, about the year 
 1779, but we know of none, who can now say where it may be 
 foimd. The Tuscaroras together with the Oneidas, were the firm 
 allies of the Americans in the Revolution, and had taken up their 
 quarters on the brow of Albany hill, near where the turnpike 
 now runs. They occasionally accompanied our troops, in sundry 
 campaigns, and were particularly useful as scouts. In the numer- 
 ous expeditions undertaken by the Schenectady militia, to the 
 Heldeberg, Beaverdam, and other places infested by tories, they 
 took an active part. 
 
 Mrs. Catharine Brant, the wife of Brant the sachem, was a 
 princess of remarkable character, who died at the age of seventy- 
 eight, in the year 1837, at the Mohawk village, on the Grand 
 river in Upper Canada. She was the third wife of that dis- 
 tinguished chieftain, and had in her own right, the headship of the 
 Six Nations — so that at the time of Brant's death, in 1807, she 
 had the right, in her own person, to name his successor, which 
 she did in her own son, John Brant — the same who died of Cholera 
 in 1832. Mrs. Brant was a true Mohawk in her Indian attach- 
 ments and feelings, and preferred a residence with her nation, to 
 one with her daughter, Mrs. Col. Wm. J. Kerr, of Brant House, 
 Wellington Square. Her son John, before named, was an edu- 
 cated gentleman, well received in the best company in London, 
 and had a very particular and lengthened letter, from Campbell the 
 poet, recanting sundry of his severe reflections upon the chieftain 
 Brant, and his alleged barbarities in the massacre of Wyoming, 
 about which he acknowledged that he had no certain information, 
 upon which to inculpate him personally. 
 
 Mary Jamison, the "white woman,'^ became a remarkable per- 
 sonage in her connection and influence with the Indians of the 
 Genessee country. She was originally of Irish parentage — was 
 born at sea, on her passage to this country in 1742 — her parents 
 being settled on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, in the time of 
 Braddock's defeat, in 1755. Her family was murdered by the 
 Senecas — herself was spared and brought away — was adopted 
 and finally married to a Seneca chief. While living in the Genes- 
 see valley, in the time of the Revolution, her house was the 
 
 L 2 
 
IM The Indians, 
 
 quarters of Brant and Butler. Her life, full of incident and ad- 
 venture, was taken down in writing in 1823. She finally became 
 rich among the whites, by having conceded to her the Gardow 
 Reservation of ten thousand acres. She left an educated family, 
 and one of her sons was made a surgeon in our navy. She her- 
 self, died in 1833, at ninety years of age. Her character was 
 good — her feelings humane and benevolent. She never gave up 
 her Indian habits, customs, or dress, but to the last, sustained the 
 characteristics of an Indian Queen. She had travelled a great 
 deal in Indian enterprises, and sometimes acted as Interpreter. 
 Her name as the " white woman," was universally known and 
 reverenced among the Indians. 
 
 Another remarkable character among the Indians was the cele- 
 brated Oneida chief Skenandoa. He died in 1816, at the extreme 
 age of one hundred and ten years, and was interred at his request, 
 at Clinton, along side of the grave of his minister. Dr. Kirkland,the 
 Missionary, saying " he wished to be able to lay hold of his skirts 
 in the resurrection." Having heard from my kinsman, the Rev. Dr. 
 Backus, who conducted his funeral, several particulars of this 
 eminent chief, I shall here relate them as worthy of record and 
 remembrance. He had been for some years blind, and in prepa- 
 ration for death, had procured and kept his grave clothes ready 
 for that event. On one occasion when visited, he thus beautifully 
 and poetically discoursed of his long life, and the scenes and 
 changes he had witnessed, saying "I am an aged hemlock, 
 withered at the top, in whose branches have whistled the winds 
 of an hundred winters. The generation to which I belonged 
 have run away from me, and the Great Spirit only knows, why 
 I should remain !" Such language is, we think, equal to Ossian's. 
 
 In his person he was tall, brawny, and well made — his counte- 
 nance was intelligent and beaming with dignity. In youth he 
 was brave and intrepid as a warrior — ^in his riper years he was 
 sagacious as a counsellor. Though terrible in war, he was bland 
 and mild as the zephyr in peace. He was the white man's 
 abiding friend. He watched and repelled Canadian invasions. 
 His vigilance and good conduct saved many lives in the infant 
 settlements along the German Flats, and he served us faithfully, 
 with his tribe, in the Revolutionary war. Individuals and 
 villages, have repeatedly expressed their gratitude for his friendly 
 and available interpositions. The memory of such deserve regard. 
 Let his monument at Clinton be remembered ! 
 
 Of the many tribes of Indians once on Long Island — once thir- 
 teen in number, there now only remains one — say that of the 
 Montauks. Fifteen or twenty individuals of these still linger 
 " wretched and forlorn," about the homes of their fathers, they 
 being settled on a promontory, at the east part of the Island, called 
 Montauk point. They subsist by fishing and cultivating a little 
 land, living out an indolent and pensive state of existence, as if 
 
The Indians. 127 
 
 pondering over the sense of their fallen dependent state, and re- 
 garding themselves as the last of the race. 
 
 In November, 1839, King David, (known mostly as Hannibal,) 
 with his squaw, dwelling at East Hampton, Long Island, were 
 burned to death in their wigwam. Thus perished the last of the 
 royal line of the Montauks — long since dwindled down to a few 
 basket making, miserable half breeds. " What a falling off was 
 there !" Think of the race of the aboriginal owners, now so 
 poor, debased, and scouted as " none to do them reverence," even 
 so near the great metropolitan city, filled with wealth and luxury ! 
 The last of the Pequots, died in 1842, at New London, in the 
 person of Grace Pomham, in the eighty-second year of her age — 
 a very respectable woman. " Lo the poor Indian!"' 
 
 " Oh ! who can tell the story of their wrongs ? 
 The tale to history or to God belongs. 
 We seized their lands, drove back their council fires, 
 And plough'd the dust that lay upon their sires — 
 Entrapp'd by treaties, driven forth to range 
 The distant west in misery and revenge." 
 
 Contemplating the Indians as ruined, and as fallen from their 
 first estate by the influence of the dreadful " fire-water," we are 
 here reminded of Mrs. Sigourney's description of the first cup of 
 evil, presented to the unsuspecting natives, on the visit of Captain 
 Hudson to Albany, in 1609. 
 
 " They throng that water bird to view. 
 Whose mighty wings that near the shore, 
 Perchance, their great Manitto bore 
 
 * * * # 
 
 But by what gifts, what token strong 
 Did Europe's sons, renowned in song 
 Mark their ^rs^ visit to the child 
 Of simple faith and daring wild ? 
 
 " A cup ! — a cup ! — ^but who may tell 
 What deadly drugs within it swell ] 
 Type of the woes that soon must sweep 
 Their blasted race away, 
 Down to oblivion, dark and deep 
 With none their hopeless wrongs to weep, 
 Or mourn their sad decay." 
 
 Depressed and fallen as are the Indian race, they still present 
 a formidable whole, when aggregated, as has been our policy 
 with them on our Western frontiers. There they may yet be 
 induced to combine and concentrate their force, if hereafter made 
 our enemies, either by foreign policy, or by a sense of aggregated 
 power, and so to give us much annoyance. It certainly behooves 
 us to conciliate their feelings, and to promote amicable relations. 
 We state from official documents of 1838, when we give the sum 
 of their whole force at 332,500 souls : and if we assume, that 
 every fifth person may be considered a warrior, we may conclude 
 
128 The Indians. 
 
 that we may have an array of 66,000 fighting men against us, 
 whenever they may be incited to remember former severities, or 
 their too often constrained removals from their former homes. 
 The facts are these, — viz : 
 
 The number of the Indians east of the Mississippi amount to 
 49,365, of which the following are under treaty stipulations to 
 remove to the west of the Mississippi, to wit : The Winnebagoes, 
 4500; Ottawas of Ohio, 100; Pattawatamies of India) la,. 19 50; 
 Chippewas, Ottawas and Pattawatamies, 1500; Cherokees, 
 14,000; Creeks, 1000; Chickasaws, 1000; Seminoles, 5000; 
 Apalachicolas, 400 ; Ottawas and Chippewas in Michigan, 6,500; 
 total, 36,950. Those not under treaty to remove, amount to 
 12,415, viz: New York Indians, 4,176; Wyandots, 575; 
 Miamies, 1100; Meno monies, 4000; Ottawas and Chippewas 
 of the lakes, 2,564. 
 
 The number of Indians who have emigrated from the east to 
 the west of the Mississippi, is 51,327, to wit : Chickasaws, 549 ; 
 Chippewas, Ottawas and Pattawatamies, 2,191 ; Chocktaws, 
 15,000; Quapaws, 476; Creek, 476; Seminoles, 407; Apala- 
 chicolas, 265; Cherokees, 7,911; Kickapoos, 588; Delawares, 
 826 ; Shawnees, 1,272 ; Ottawas, 374 ; Weas, 222 ; Piankashaws, 
 162; Peorias and Kaskaskias, 132; Pattawatamies of Indiana, 
 53 ; Senecas, 251 ; Senecas and Shawnees, 211. 
 
 The number of the indigenous tribes within striking distance 
 of the western frontier is 231,806 ; to be enumerated thus, to wit : 
 Sioux, 21,600; lowas, 1,500; Sacs, 4,800 ; Foxes, 1,600; Sacs 
 of Missouri, 500 ; Osages, 5,120; Canzas^ 1,606; Omahas, 1,600; 
 Ottoes and Missourias, 1000; Pawnees, 12,500; Camanches, 
 19,200; Kiowazes, 2,800; Mandans, 3,200; Quapaws, 450; 
 Minaterees, 2000; Pagans, 80,000; Assineboins, 15,000; Ap- 
 paches, 20,280 ; Crees, 3000 ; Arrepahas, 3000 ; Grosventres, 
 16,800 ; Eutaws, 19,200 ; Crows, 7,200 ; Caddoes, 2000; Poncas, 
 900 ; Arickarees, 2,750 ; Cheyennes, 3,200 ; Blackfeet, 30,000. 
 
 There may be a Providence, working for their good, in our 
 thus concentrating them in the far west. There they may respect 
 themselves, and avow their power to exact terms of independence, 
 which may eventuate in their self-preservation by their admission 
 of the arts and benefits of civilization. We wish them nothing 
 but good ; and would cherish towards them nothing but kindly 
 feelings and regard. As enemies they could give calls for 
 numerous and expensive military forces to keep them in check ! 
 
 The remains of fortifications found in the Indian country, and 
 of such antiquity, as to be beyond their knowledge of their origin, 
 — are very numerous and remarkable, in the interior of New 
 York. 
 
 In Pompey, Onondago County, are vestiges of a town of five 
 hundred acres, protected by three forts, eight miles apart. At 
 Camillus, in the same county, are remains of two forts : one on a 
 
Steamboats. 129 
 
 very high hill, covering about three acres, with a deep ditch, and 
 a wall of ten feet. The other half a mile off, is on lower ground. 
 Pottery and pieces of brick, have been found here. On the east 
 side of Seneca, is some defensive remains, with ditches, &c., all 
 now covered with trees of great age. Fortifications have been 
 traced eighteen miles from Manlius square. On the east bank 
 of Chenago river, are the remains of a fort of great antiquity. At 
 Sandy creek, fourteen miles from Sacketts harbour, is one cover- 
 ing fifty acres, and has much fragments of pottery. Going west- 
 ward we find many : one in the town of Onondago, one in Scipio, 
 two in Auburn, three near Canandaigua, and several between 
 Seneca and Cayuga lakes. Several have been discovered in 
 Ridgeway, in Genessee county. Near the Tonewanda creek, at 
 the double fortified town, so called, are the remains of two forts, 
 being two miles apart, and severally at the two ends of the an- 
 cient town, as minutely traced and described by the Rev. Dr. 
 Kirkland, the missionary. On the south side of Lake Erie, are 
 a series of old forts, from the Cattaragus creek to the Pennsyl- 
 vania line, a distance of fifty miles. Some are from two to four 
 miles apart, and some but half a mile only. These ancient re- 
 mains, so numerous in western New York, proceed from thence, 
 and pass down the valley of the Mississippi, and onward toward 
 Mexico. 
 Surely our country, and its aboriginals, is a wonderful enigma! 
 
 " Slipt from the secret hand of Providence, 
 
 They come, we see not how, nor know we whence ! " 
 
 If they are indeed the lost tribes of Israel, far hence they 
 wandered " into lands they had not known" indeed! and signifi- 
 cantly enough may they have fulfilled the word of the Lord, by 
 Jeremiah xxxi. 30, saying, " set thee up way marks, make thee 
 high heaps (high earth mounds, as in Ohio, &c.,) — set thee 
 towards the high way, so that by the way thou wentest, turn 
 again .' " Will any expect this ! 
 
 STEAMBOATS. 
 
 Against the winds, against the tide, 
 She breasts the wave with upright keel. 
 
 New York is deservedly distinguished as being the first of our 
 American cities which saw the successful use of steamboat power 
 upon its waters. Philadelphia had indeed beheld the efforts of 
 Fitch's steamboat as early as 1788; but as it was not brought 
 into any effective operation under his management, the invention 
 slumbered until it was brought out successfully in the year 1807, 
 under the direction and genius of the distinguished Fulton. At 
 
 17 
 
1 30 Steamboats. 
 
 that time he demonstrated the important fact, tliat the Hudson 
 could be navigated by steam vessels ; having shown to the 
 astonished citizens, his companions in a voyage to Albany, that 
 his first boat made her trip in thirty hours ; a time indeed nearly 
 three times as long as now required, but triumphantly evidencing 
 to the incredulous a new era in the creative powers of man. 
 
 Most amazing invention ! from a cause now so obvious and 
 familiar. It is only by applying the principle seen in every 
 house, which lifts the lid of the tea kettle and " boils over," that 
 machines have been devised which can pick up a pin or rend an 
 oak ; which combine the power of many giants with the plasticity 
 that belongs to a lady's fair fingers ; which can spin cotton and 
 then weave it into cloth ; and which, amidst a long list of other 
 marvels, " engraves seals, forges anchors, and lifts a ship of war 
 like a bawble in the air ;" presenting in fact to the imagination, 
 the practicability of labour-saving inventions in endless variety : 
 so that in time, man through its aid shall half exempt himself 
 from " the curse," and preachers through steam-press printing, 
 shall find an auxiliary efiecting more than half their work. 
 
 One whose genius has done so much for his country as Fulton's, 
 deserves to be well known to her sons; we therefore take a 
 mournful pleasure in repeating the facts as told to us by Judge 
 Story, of the discouragements and incredulity against which it 
 was at first the labour of Fulton to wend his way. I myself 
 (said the Judge) have heard the illustrious inventor relate, in an 
 animated and affecting manner, the history of his labours and 
 discouragements: — "When (said he) I was building my first 
 steamboat at New York, the project was viewed by the public 
 either with indifference or with contempt as a visionary scheme. 
 My friends indeed were civil, but they were shy. They listened 
 with patience to my explanations, but with a settled cast of 
 incredulity on their countenances. I felt the full force of the 
 lamentation of the poet, — 
 
 "Truths would you teach, to save a sinking land, 
 All shun J none aid ynu, and few understdnd." 
 
 As I had occasion to pass daily to and from the building yard 
 while my boat was in progress, I have often loitered unknown 
 near the idle groups of strangers gathering in little circles, and 
 heard various inquiries as to the object of this new vehicle. The 
 language was uniformly that of scorn, sneer, or ridicule. The 
 loud laugh rose at my expense, the dry jest, the wise calculation 
 of losses and expenditures ; the dull but endless repetition of the 
 Fulton folly. Never did a single encouraging remark, a bright 
 hope, or a warm wish, cross my path. Silence itself was but 
 politeness veiling its doubts or hiding its reproaches. At length 
 the day arrived when the experiment was to be got into opera- 
 tion. To me it was a most trying and interesting occasion, I 
 
Steamboats. 131 
 
 invited many friends to go on board to witness the first successful 
 trip. Many of them did me the favour to attend as a matter of 
 personal respect; but it was manifest they did it with reluctance, 
 fearing to be partners of my mortification and not of my triumph. 
 I was well aware that in my case there were many reasons to 
 doubt of my own success. The machinery (like Fitch's before 
 him) was new and ill made ; and many parts of it were con- 
 structed by mechanics imacquainted with such work, and unex- 
 pected difficulties might reasonably be presumed to present 
 themselves from other causes. The moment arrived in which 
 the word was to be given for the vessel to move. My friends 
 were in groups on the deck. There was anxiety mixed with fear 
 among them. They were silent, sad, and weary. I read in their 
 looks nothing but disaster, and almost repented of my efforts. 
 The signal was given, and the boat moved on a short distance 
 and then stopped, and became immoveable. To the silence of the 
 preceding moment now succeeded murmurs of discontent, and 
 agitations and whispers, and shrugs. I could hear distinctly 
 repeated, " I told you it was so ; its a foolish scheme ; I wish 
 we were well out of it." I elevated myself upon a platform and 
 addressed the assembly. I stated that I knew not what was the 
 matter ; but if they would be quiet and indulge me for half an 
 hour, I would either go on or abandon the voyage for that time. 
 This short respite was conceded without objection. I went 
 below and examined the machinery, and discovered that the 
 cause was a slight maladjustment of some of the work. In a short 
 period it was obviated. The boat was again put in motion. She 
 continued to move on. All were still incredolous. None seemed 
 willing to trust the evidence of their own senses. 
 
 Fulton's Steamer. 
 
 We left the fair city of New York ; we passed through the 
 romantic and evervarying scenery of the Highlands ; we descried 
 the clustering houses of Albany; we reached its shores; and 
 
1 32 fVaiering-places. 
 
 then, even then, when all seemed achieved, I was the victim of 
 disappointment. Imagination superseded the influence of fact. 
 It was then doubted if it could be done again, or if done, it was 
 doubted if it could be made of any great value." Such is the 
 graphic history of the first experiment; a memorable and mo- 
 mentous epoch. How affecting and exciting to the inventor in 
 that anxious and perilous moment of trial. We regret to add 
 that he did not live to enjoy the full glory and reward of his 
 invention. He saw his rights both as to merit and reward dis- 
 puted ; but now the whole world awards the meed of praise to 
 this noblest benefactor of the human race. From his struggles 
 against impediments, and his final triumph over incredulity and 
 discouragement, let other great geniuses take lasting courage, and 
 make perseverance to the end their cheering and sustaining motto. 
 
 WATEKING-PLACES. 
 
 " And when loo much repose brings on the spleen, 
 And the gay city's idle pleasures cloy, 
 Swift as my changing wish, I change the scene, 
 And now the country, now the town enjoy." 
 
 The practice of summer travelling among the gentry and their 
 imitators, is quite a modern affair. Our forefathers, when our 
 cities were small, foimd no places more healthy or attractive than 
 their homes ; and generally they liked the country best " when 
 visited from town." From that cause there were very few 
 country-seats in existence ; and what there were, were so near as 
 to be easily visited on foot, " not for the good and friendly too 
 remote" to call. 
 
 As population and wealth increased, new devices of pleasure 
 were formed, and some inland watering-places began to be 
 visited, chiefly, however, at first for the benefit they might be 
 supposed to confer upon the infirm. Next in order came sea 
 bathing, most generally used at first by the robust ; by those who 
 could rough it ; such as could depend upon their own supply of 
 " small stores," and sheets, blankets, &c. Increase of such com- 
 pany in time afl'orded sufficient motive to residents on the favour- 
 ite beaches to make such provision for transient visitors as could 
 not conveniently make their own supply. Thus, yearly, such 
 places of resort grew from little to greater, and by degrees to 
 luxury and refinement. It is still, however, within the memory 
 of several of the aged, when the concomitants of sea-bathing, 
 before the revolution, were rough as its own surges ; and for that 
 very reason produced better evidences of positive benefits to 
 visiters in the increase of robust feelings than they do now. 
 
Wateriiig-places, 133 
 
 "The dash of ocean on the winding shore — 
 How does it cheer the citizen, 
 And brace his languid frame ! 
 
 In this way we have seen the rise of Rockaway house and 
 shore on Long Island ; of Brighton house near Amboy ; and 
 last, but greatest in fame and company, Long Branch. This 
 last was held before the revolution by Col. White, a British officer 
 and an inhabitant of New York city. The small house which 
 he owned and occupied as a summer retreat, is still existing in 
 the clump now much enlarged by Renshaw. In consequence of 
 the war, the place was confiscated and fell into other hands, and 
 finally for the public good. In 1790-1 it was purchased and fit- 
 ted up in improved style for boarders by Mr. McNight, who 
 enriched himself to withdraw and sell out to Renshaw. 
 
 Prior to that period " Black Point,'^ not far off, was the place 
 of bathing. They had no surf there, and were content to bathe 
 in a kind of water-house, covered. The tavern fare there was 
 quite rude compared with present Long Branch luxuries. Cocoa- 
 nut pudding and floating islands, &c., were delicacies not even 
 known in our cities. 
 
 Indeed we cannot but see, that the most of former summer ex- 
 cursions were but for the men. They were generally deemed 
 too distant and rough for female participation. But later improve- 
 ments in conveyances and accommodations have brought in their 
 full measure of ladies, gladdening the company at every place by 
 those feminine attractions which lessen our cares and double our 
 joys. 
 
 In the progress of wealth and luxury, the last device of plea- 
 sure has been the general practice of travelling excursions, now 
 *« boxing the compass" to every point. The astonishingly in- 
 creased facilities of communications, have diminished distances. 
 Steam-boats transfer us to far distant places, before we have fairly 
 tried the varieties of a single day and night of their operation. 
 Post coaches and fleet horses roll us as easy as if on our couches. 
 New England and northern tours occur ; the Grand Canal and 
 Niagara are sought; Carbon Dale, the Morris Canal, Catskill 
 Mountain-house, and the everlasting battlements of the basaltic 
 rocks along the North River, form now the chief attractions. 
 Along the base of these they glide, whilst wending their way to 
 the crowds and festivities found at Balls ton and Saratoga Springs. 
 There the pine and sandy plains are made animate by the city 
 throng. The same wilds which were overrun by assaulting 
 savages in 1745, killing and bearing off" ninety of the country in- 
 habitants, is now made the head-quarters of pomp and fashioiv 
 
 The rage for travelling and public amusements is a topic upon 
 which we feel prone to moralize. In the growing passion for 
 this fashionable mode of expenditure, we see a marked departure 
 tVom the simplicity, frugahty, and industry of our forefathers ; a 
 
 M 
 
134 Watering-places. 
 
 breaking up of their good old home habits ; an infraction of our 
 professions as a plain republican people, whose rule is " modera- 
 tion in all things.'^ 
 
 If only the rich did this, all would be well. They thus benefit 
 others and possibly do not injure themselves. Their restlessness 
 may be as great a benefit to the community as the motions of 
 Prince Esterhazy, at whose every step, pearls drop from his gar- 
 ments. But are there not too many of those who aim to imitate 
 them, who can ill sustain the loss of time and expense ? Do we 
 not often meet with families forsaking the shades and coolness of 
 home for the dense and heated mass of steam-boats, worrying 
 and distressing themselves "to be in the fashion?" They have 
 fired their imaginations with the recitals of former visiters ; have 
 heard them talk of Lake George crystals; of Canadian music 
 and British officers; of the "dark blue Ontario" with its beautiful 
 little brood of lakelets. Some resolve to go to Quebec, just to 
 show they have " as good a right" to see " good society" and the 
 world around them, as their neighbours. Some, too, go because 
 travelling is " so rapid and cheap." They see all kinds of cha- 
 racters on the move for fashionable resorts, and they must join 
 the throng, and " be like others." But here comes the rub : 
 where is the motive for patient industry and careful economy, 
 when the savings of a month are spent in one trip to Saratoga or 
 Trenton Falls ? 
 
 Some, it is true, do really travel for their health, but they 
 should generally set out with a good supply aforehand, or they 
 may return from a losing voyage. Some go for information, but 
 that is a barter trade, in which, if the dealers have little to put 
 away, they cannot expect much in exchange. 
 
 In these travelling excursions, the ladies have latterly come in 
 for a great share of lame as projectors. Many of them have been 
 devised under the influence of curtain lectures and dialogues. 
 " It is, you know, my dear," says madame to her spouse, "too 
 unhealthy and disagreeable to spend the whole summer in the 
 city. It injures the complexions of myself and daughters, and 
 makes us all too bilious and pale to be cooped up within the pre- 
 cincts of a deserted neighbourhood. Besides, there is Mr. A. 
 and Mr. B. and others, all of less means than we possess, and 
 they are already gone off to recruit their strength and refresh 
 their spirits ; now climbing rocks upon the Catskill ; next sipping 
 Congress water, and tripping cotillions at Saratoga ; next whirl- 
 ing through the eddying rapids of the St. Lawrence." The good, 
 the indulgent husband is still reluctant ; he remembers his fall of 
 ftocks ; insurance losses ; his faithless guarantees, &c. ; and faintly 
 pleads inability for the occasion : but for him, example, and the 
 general mover of his circle, overweighs all demurs, and the ladies 
 and daughters go off under protection of a party of friends, 
 leaving the good man to remain at home to see that personal and 
 
Watering-places, 1 35 
 
 family interests are not neglected. As the dog star rages, the 
 epidemic becomes common. Mechanics desert their business; 
 retailers fling aside their yard sticks ; doctors leave their patients 
 to get well without them : lawyers take no cognizance of fees or 
 special pleadings; wives leave husbands; school-masters empty 
 their noisy urchins into the streets, to unlearn as much as they 
 have learnt : all for the sake of " going into the country." Noi 
 is this all : pastors desert their flocks, and the flocks run away 
 from their pastors, leaving the faithful messengers who do remain 
 to preach with countenances melancholy as Jeremiah, to empty 
 seats and bare walls. They might indeed exclaim, "How does 
 the city sit solitary that was full of people ; and how have the 
 houses become desolate that were full of children !" 
 
 The husbands are the chief sufferers in this passion for family 
 travelling. Remaining at home, to guard with care the interests 
 by which the family is sustained, he feels keenly the solitude of 
 his empty halls and chambers ; he stalks gloomily about, catching 
 one meal here and another there. You can almost read it in his 
 countenance that he is a bereaved man ; and when you ask him 
 after the welfare of his family, he answers with a sigh, " they've 
 gone in the country." It was not always so. In soberer days the 
 city was deemed quite as healthy as the country ; and people 
 were aware that the sun beat down as powerfully upon the dust 
 and sand of a country village, or upon the loom and gravel of a 
 highway, as in town. 
 
 These thoughts and notices, thus cast together, on watering- 
 places and travelling excursions, may serve to apprise our young 
 and pleasure-loving friends that there is now a new era, a love 
 of display and motion, not cherished among us until very recently; 
 at the same time, the love of travel and observation, well under- 
 stood, is of most commendable character. 
 
 To those who are intellectually qualified to profit by an observ- 
 ant eye, peering into every thing. 
 
 " Nature, exhaustless, still has power to warm, 
 And every change of scene a novel charm. 
 The dome-crown'd city, or the cottage plain. 
 The rough cragg'd mountain, or tumultuous main. 
 M^ to the thoughtful^ purest joys impart. 
 Delight his eye and stimulate his heart." 
 
 It may be here noticed, that Salt Springs form a conspicuous 
 item in New York state. There are many of great value and of 
 inexhaustible abundance. The principal of them are in the 
 counties of Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Ontario, and Genessee — 
 fifty gallons of the salt water, generally form a bushel of salt. 
 What a treasure, to have such useful essentials of life, so far in- 
 land ! once, salt inland, had to go upon pack horses at great ex- 
 pense. 
 
%H The Erie Canal. 
 
 THE ERIE CANAL. 
 
 « The traveller with wonder sees 
 The white sail gleaming through the dusky trees, 
 And views the altered landscape with surprise, 
 And doubts the magic scenes which round him rise." 
 
 This grand Canal, the proud monument of the enterprise and 
 public spirit of New York, although not properly an affair of 
 sufficient age to demand a special chapter in the present work, 
 yet as it has stretched its long length through a long line of forest 
 waste, which till then lay for many a mile in its pristine gloom 
 and wilderness, it has therefore become a matter of proper inter- 
 est to describe and compare the past with the present. 
 
 A tourist making his pleasant journey along the line of the 
 present canal, seeing thriving villages, productive farms, and a 
 dense population along its margin, could scarcely conceive that 
 this advancement in wealth and civilization had been the work 
 of only fifteen years. 
 
 In the year 1819, when this great work was first set-to with 
 effective operation, the then little settlements were " few and far 
 between ;" the advance settlers but rude and poor ; and the 
 country in general unsubdued and wild. The wolf still prowled ; 
 the catamount still sprang on its prey ; the bear still growled in 
 his den. When we contemplate the present in comparison with 
 the past, so recent too is all this change, the mind is lost in wonder 
 and admiration at the improving power and hand of man. The 
 canal itself has not only grown into a source of immense profit to 
 the state, but it has diffused wealth and comfort throughout all 
 the former waste regions of the West. When we consider too, 
 how many obstacles, both natural and moral, stood in prevention 
 of its incipient beginning, we must feel peculiar gratitude to the 
 ceaseless and untiring efforts of those first projectors and promo- 
 ters, who persevered in its progress and execution. At first, 
 numerous writers and speakers resisted the endeavour ; they pre- 
 dicted it could not be achieved, they deemed it impossible to sur- 
 mount such impediments as lay in its way. Finally, however, 
 we see that they who had the hardihood to offer a new theory, 
 have had the success to make all men think with them and to 
 join in their commendation. The name of De Witt Clinton will 
 long stand pre-eminenf, as a bold and munificent patron of this 
 great and productive enterprise. 
 
 General Washington, foresaw the practicability of canalling to 
 the western waters — for after having made a tour in New York, 
 soon after the close of the war, he wrote to the Marquis of Ches- 
 
The Erie Canal 137 
 
 tallux, in 1 784, in which he said, " I have lately made a tour 
 through the lakes George and Champlain, as far as Crown point, 
 thence returning to Schenectady — thence up the Mohawk to Fort 
 Schuyler, crossed over to Wood creek, which empties into Oneida 
 lake, and affords communication with the Ontario. I then tra- 
 versed the country to the head of the eastern branch of the Sus- 
 quehannah, and viewed the lake Otsego, and the portage between 
 that lake and the Mohawk river, at Canajoharie. I was struck 
 with the vast inland navigation we possess. Would to God, we 
 may have wisdom enough to improve those benefits, with which 
 Providence has so kindly favoured us." 
 
 Besides this, Mr. Thomson, of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 
 built a boat called the White-fish, at Oswego, and proceeding by 
 the waters of Wood creek, came down the Mohawk and the 
 Hudson rivers, out by Sandy Hook, along the sea-coast of New 
 Jersey, and up the Delaware to Philadelphia, where he laid up 
 his boat in the State House yard, as a proof in itself, of the said 
 inland navigation ! 
 
 Christopher Colles, a native of Ireland, in moderate circum" 
 stances, who settled in New York before the Revolution, was 
 the first man who started suggestions concerning connecting 
 canals and inland improvements in Western New York. De 
 Witt Clinton, himself, declares this fact, saying " he was an inge- 
 nious mechanician, and able mathematician. His memorials to 
 the Legislature were presented in 1784-5, and met with a fa- 
 vourable report, although some thought his schemes visionary." 
 Before the Revolution, he had proposed a plan for supplying 
 New York city with good water ; and in 1772, he had given 
 public lectures in Philadelphia, upon the advantages of Lock 
 navigation. Like " poor Fitch," he was ahead of the times ! 
 Colles published a pamphlet in 1785, entitled " Proposals for the 
 speedy settlement of Me Western frontier of New For A;," where- 
 in he said, " by this, the internal trade will be increased, — the 
 country will be settled, and the frontiers secured. By this, 
 (meaning the connecting improvement, of the Mohawk river, 
 &c.,) land carriage will be avoided, and masts, yards, and ship 
 timber, may be brought to New York. By this, in time of war, 
 provisions and military stores may be conveyed." Subsequent 
 events, have proved how far he was right. The subject slept 
 till 1791, when it was again revived by other men, of more per- 
 sonal influence, and at a time more favourable to success. So 
 that a company was chartered for the Mohawk and its Canal, 
 in 1792, which in four years succeeded to open the passage from 
 Schenectady to the Oneida, and intended fo have continued it on 
 to lake Ontario. Mr. Elkanah Watson, was a very efficient 
 agent in these measures, he made surveys of the routes, in 1791 ; 
 and put out publications', ^' which no doubt, had an important 
 influence on public opinion, in favour of canals.^^ It was not, 
 18 m3 
 
13* The Erie Canal 
 
 however, until 1810, that the whole subject was fully grasped : 
 Then De Witt Clinton, as a senator, first advocated " the Canal 
 policy, ^^ with which his name, has since heen so conspicuously 
 coupled, pledging his name and fame upon its importance and 
 practicability. General Schuyler and Governeur Morris, also 
 came in for their full meed of praise therein. In 1808, Mr. Joshua 
 Farman, a member of the Legislature, from Onondago, " being 
 moved, (as he since has said,) by the perusal of Jefferson's mes- 
 sage on internal improvements, and by the article on Canals in 
 Rees' Cyclopedise,'^ presented to the Legislature of New York, 
 " a Resolution for a survey for the best route, by means of a 
 Canal, from the Hudson river to lake Erie." It excited surprise, 
 and even ridicule with some ; but nevertheless, passed by an ap- 
 propriation for a survey. This beginning elicited the valuable 
 commu?iicatio7is of Ellicott, Hawley and Geddes. By these 
 the public mind was instructed, and the subject was kept under 
 consideration. The war intervening, measures were suspended : 
 but "the New York Memorial," by De Witt Clinton, in 1815, 
 gave a new impulse / and the Jict for the Grand Canal, was 
 passed in April, 1817, and the whole was thereby finished ^w^ 
 celebrated in November, 1824 ! What a triumph of human skill 
 in thus subduing natural impediments ! To the curious in all this 
 matter, the whole history of the facts in the case, may be foimd in 
 O'Reilly's " Settlement in the West, and sketches of Rochester." 
 
 To the wonders of this western world, and as a circumstance 
 surprisingly illustrating the march of improvement, may be men- 
 tioned the fact of the 1st of January, 1842, that wheat in the 
 sheaf, and barrel-wood in the tree, on Tuesday morning, were 
 conveyed in barrels as Genessee flour,— by the rail road, from 
 Canandaigua to Boston, four hundred miles ; and the flour was 
 eaten there in the form of bread at a public banqueting, on Wed- 
 nesday evening ! At Albany too, candles made at Bedford, in 
 the morning, were conveyed with the company of visiters, from 
 New Bedford and Boston, and used the evening of the same day, 
 in a rejoicing feast, celebrated in the Albany city ! What a change 
 of circumstances since the old Dutch burghers used to give enter- 
 tainments, and to consider themselves, at the utmost verge of 
 inland civilization ! Cod fish, brought from Boston to Albany, 
 have been sold in the latter place, at four cents per pound : — 
 although, before, they could only be regarded as luxuries, not to 
 be attained so far from the sea ! 
 
 This great canal traverses a country three hundred and sixty 
 miles in length, extending from Albany to Buflalo, a port on 
 Lake Erie, and sometimes called, in the prospective hope of its 
 increase and prosperity, the " New York of the Lakes." 
 
 In marking the prominent facts of this canal, beginning at 
 Albany and going westward, we shall first notice the great diffi- 
 culties overcome at the Cohoes Fall, there lifting the boats, in the 
 
The Erie Canal. 139 
 
 course of two miles, one hundred feet by the aid of twelve locks. 
 This may look like an easy affair now, but consider the men, the 
 labour, and the money it once cost to produce the result. At the 
 Little Falls it again ascends forty feet, by five locks of eight feet. 
 The country here is wildly romantic and rugged ; and patient 
 and persevering was the toil near here to excavate, from the over- 
 hanging and tremendous cliffs of granite, a passage for boats along 
 its impending brow. Thence, ascending fifty-seven feet, by seven 
 locks, it arrives at the dividing ridge near Rome ; a ridge which 
 from its height, forms a barrier which divides the waters that flow 
 into lake Ontario, from those which flow into the Hudson. This 
 " summit height," so called at Rome, is just four hundred and 
 seventeen feet rise from the Hudson, overcome chiefly by fifty-two 
 locks, in the course of one hundred miles. In traversing the 
 country along the valley of the Mohawk, the canal has been 
 made for many miles along the bed of that river, to avoid the 
 great projections and points of hills jutting out into the river oc- 
 casionally, especially at the Cohoes and Little Falls. At one 
 place, four miles eastward of Schenectady, the canal crosses the 
 river by an aqueduct, eight hundred and fifty feet long, and 
 twenty-one feet high. What an object to contemplate for its 
 grandeur, for its triumph as a measure of art. At Rochester 
 another great aqueduct crosses the Genessee, of eight hundred 
 feet in length, resting on eleven arches, and being just five hun- 
 dred feet above the Hudson, and sixty-four feet below the waters 
 of lake Erie. 
 
 The first portion of the canal completed and put into productive 
 use, was the line of one hundred and seventy-four miles from 
 Utica to Rochester, first set in operation in the year 1822. 
 Although so recent, yet it was made through regions so purely 
 in a state of nature, that long sections of the route seemed almost 
 beyond human might to subdue. The Cayuga marshes near 
 Seneca river were still in their primeval waste. There two thou- 
 sand men at a time struggled to force a passage, and only suc- 
 ceeded at the peril of losing several lives, and having one half 
 their number made sick by toil and unhealthy exposure. Now 
 contemplate the same regions, made fruitful, healthy, and pros- 
 perous. There, too, we notice the "Long Level" so called, stretch- 
 ing from Utica to Syracuse, seventy miles, without a lock. A rare 
 circumstance, without a parallel in the world, except so far as 
 nearly equalled by itself at the other extremity of the canal from 
 Rochester to Lockport, where the " Genessee Level" runs sixty- 
 five miles unobstructed by any locks. Arrived at Seneca river, 
 the canal is made to pass through the river, having a towing 
 path of artificial construction along its side of three quarters of a 
 mile in length. By and bye, proceeding westward through a 
 country abounding in lakes, and redeeming and profiting the 
 regions around, we arrive at the striking monument of human 
 
140 The Erie Canal. 
 
 toil and industry — the "high embankment'^ of Irondequat, it 
 being a stupendous mound of earth traversing the creek of that 
 name over a culvert of twenty-four feet cord and two hundred 
 and fifty feet length. At an elevation of seventy feet of embank- 
 ment, extending a mile in length, the beholder, filled with sub- 
 lime emotions, sees himself lifted into mid-air, and peacefully and 
 safely gliding along the bosom of the still canal, looking down 
 many feet to the tops of the forests below him, or extending his 
 eye far and wide into the far-reaching prospect. As we approach 
 Rochester on the Genessee river, one of the great and suddenly 
 constructed towns of the west, we there rise thirty-seven feet by 
 f^YQ locks, and are then entered upon the " Genessee Level," 
 extending to Lockport. At this place the canal encounters the 
 Mountain Ridge, the most difficult object in all the route ; it being 
 seven and a half miles across, and going for three miles through 
 solid rock to the depth of twenty to thirty feet. At Lockport, so 
 called from its numerous locks, great basin, &c., the canal works 
 through a mural precipice of sixty feet, having five sets of locks, 
 set side by side double, of twelve feet lift. At the " summit level" 
 of Lockport, the traveller will desire to halt and pause ; he will 
 regard this as the conquering point of the grand enterprise. He 
 will consider that but a few years since this region was the quiet 
 and rugged retreat of the soaring eagle. It seemed precluded 
 from the approach or the use of man ; but now he beholds a 
 thronged town on the site, having one hundred and eighty of its 
 houses constructed in the first year of the canal ! From the heights 
 of this village he looks down to the foot of the canal, and there 
 sees, in a great basin, numerous boats, the vehicles of commerce 
 and exchange ; or, turning his eyes abroad, he sees to distant 
 regions, hears the roar of the Niagara cataract, and is aware 
 that when improvement shall further advance, and by it level the 
 intervening woods, he shall be enabled to behold the waves of 
 the Ontario and the Erie, and to see upon their bosom the busy 
 barks of commerce, and the swift speeding steamboats. In short, 
 from this eagle-altitude he will behold the most picturesque and 
 sublime prospect the world can produce. The beholder is here 
 placed two hundred and sixty feet above the level of Ontario, 
 and within fifteen miles of its shore ; and the intermediate coun- 
 try is fertile to a proverb. 
 
 Departing from this enchanting region where the imagination 
 is on stretch, and where all around seems like the effect of magic, 
 the traveller is quickly conveyed to Buffalo harbour, the grand 
 termination of this stupendous achievement. An enterprise 
 which, although costing millions in its execution, is destined 
 quickly to refund its cost, and to be a lasting benefactor to the 
 state. Thus " flood to flood is social join'd ;" and our country, 
 from "a waste howling wilderness," is made *Uo blossom and 
 flourish as the rose." 
 
SECOND BOOK. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY IN PARTICULAR. 
 
NEW YORK CITY IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 NEW YORK CITY, 
 
 Let us satisfy our eyes 
 
 With the memorials and the things of fame, 
 That do renown the City ! " 
 
 It is scarcely possible that an observing and considerate 
 spectator, who had seen New York in its lowliness, some forty 
 years ago, should be insensible to its rapidly rising glories now : 
 he must feel grateful emotions of surprise and exultation at the 
 many imposing proofs of her distinguished prosperity. 
 
 Having myself been familiar with the localities of New York, 
 in my boyhood, the numerous changes in given places, every 
 where surprised me, on my visits there in later years. Wishing 
 to preserve some recollections of the things I saw or heard, or of 
 the imaginings which occupied my mind, I determined to give 
 them " shape and form," in the following memorial of men and 
 things. 
 
 While I thus contemplated New York as " from her meridian 
 arch of power," I went back instinctively to its earliest origin as 
 the suburbs of a military station ; there I saw in vision the sparse 
 population of Hollanders, the hardy Pioneers, by whose primitive 
 efforts their present descendants enjoy so much affluence and 
 repose ! I saw, in idea, the first adventurous yacht, the " Half- 
 Moon," first enter this present crowded and busy harbour — then 
 
 " One still 
 
 And solemn desert in primeval garb, 
 Hung round his lonely bark ! " 
 
 In this contemplation, retrospection is touching ! there is poetry 
 of feeling in the subject ! Duller minds may be insensible to the 
 charm of "olden time" affections, without an adapted 5/eww/w5 ; 
 and yet, even these, can be stirred, and by a graphic picture of 
 the past, " sometimes made to wonder that they never saw before 
 what he shows them, or that they never yet had/e// what he im- 
 presses !" 
 
 With views and emotions like these, which, however disre* 
 
 143 
 
144 Introductory and general views of the City, 
 
 garded by some, we shall ever delight to cherish, both con amore, 
 and as an expedient lengthening the measure of our existence, 
 
 " Down history's lengthening, widening way," 
 
 we have been prepared to explore some of the arcana of New 
 York, with some such affections and feelings as Dr. Johnson im- 
 puted to himself, in investigating the construction of Milton's 
 Paradise Lost, saying, " To trace back the structure through all 
 its varieties to the simplicity of its first plan ; to find what 
 was first projected ; whence the scheme was taken ; how it was 
 improved ; by lohat assistance it was executed ; and from what 
 stores the materials were collected. However ohsc.ure this may 
 be in e'/^eZ/J nothing can be more worthy of rational curiosity /" 
 The object then of these researches shall be to present a picture 
 of the city, and of the manners and customs of its inhabitants, as 
 they stood in days tang syne ; when the city was yet small, and 
 the habits of the people, simple, plain arid frugal. In fulfilUng 
 our design, we shall endeavour so to distribute the topics under 
 various heads as will best instruct the reader in the facts to which 
 we solicit attention. In some cases, we shall give the names of 
 sundry aged persons, from whom we derived our information ; 
 intending thereby to vouch to the reader, that the facts or tradi- 
 tions related, have been sufficiently supported by such respectable 
 ancients, as once knew them to be true. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY AND GENERAL VIEWS OF 
 THE CITY. 
 
 As scann'd with bird-eye view. 
 
 The city " stretching street on street," as in her present 
 grandeur and magnitude, enrolled in 1828, a total population of 
 180,000 souls : a collection of about 30,000 houses ; a tonnage of 
 300,400 tons — this is exclusive of 10,500 tons of steamboats ; 
 and an assessed value of property (including thirty-seven millions 
 of personal estate) of 114 millions of dollars;* her hghted and 
 paved streets, lined with houses, extend to Thirteenth street, on 
 the North river side, to the dry dock on the East river side, and 
 to Thirteenth street on the Broadway and Bowery streets. All 
 its modem streets are straight and wide, graduated to easy and 
 gradual ascents or descents ; and where formerly very narrow 
 lanes existed, or crowded edifices occurred, they have either cut 
 
 • In 1841 the assessment was 251 millions of dollars, and its population 
 313,710. 
 
Introductory and general views of the City. 145 
 
 off the encroaching fronts of houses, as in William street and 
 Maiden lane, or cut through solid masses of houses, as in opening 
 Beekman and Fulton streets. They have widened the bounds 
 of the city, both on the North and East rivers, by building up 
 whole streets of houses, at and beyond Greenwich street on the 
 western side ; and at and from Pearl street on the eastern river. 
 The value and magnitude of these improvements, all redeemed 
 from the former rivers once there, are really astonishing to the 
 beholder. 
 
 There is every indication to evince the fact, that New York 
 was in prhnitive days the " city of hills ; " such verdant hills, of 
 successive undulation, as the general state of the whole country- 
 part of the island now presents. Thus, at the extreme south 
 end of the Broadway, where the ancient fort formerly stood, was 
 an elevated mound, quite as elevated as the general level of that 
 street is now before Trinity Church, and thence regularly declin- 
 ing from along that street to the beach on the North River. The 
 hills were sometimes precipitous, as from Beekman's and Peck's 
 Hills, in the neighborhoods of Pearl street and Beekman and 
 Ferry streets, and from the middle Dutch Church in Nassau street 
 down to Maiden lane ; and sometimes gradually sloping, as on 
 either hills along the hne of the water, coursing along the region 
 of Maiden lane. Between many of the hills flowed in several 
 invasions of water : such as " the canal^^ so called to gratify 
 Dutch recollections, which was an inroad of river water up 
 Broad street ; and up Maiden lane, flowed another inroad, through 
 Smith's marsh or valley ; a little beyond Peck's Slip, existed a 
 low water-course, which in high tide water ran quite up in union 
 with the Collect (Kolck) and thence joining with Lispenard's 
 swamp on North River side, produced a union of waters quite 
 across the former city : thus converting it occasionally into an 
 island, and showing a reason for the present lowness of the line 
 of Pearl street as it traverses Chatham street. There they once 
 had to use boats occasionally, to cross the foot passengers passing 
 over from either side of the high rising ground ranging on both 
 sides of Pearl street, as that street inclines across the city till it 
 runs out upon Broadway, vis a vis the hospital. 
 
 These details of mere streets are necessarily dull, and indeed 
 not susceptible of any further interest than as they may serve as 
 metes and bounds within which to lay the foundation of more 
 agreeable and imaginative topics, to grow upon the reader as the 
 subject advances. 
 
 19 N 
 
146 Primitive New York. 
 
 PEIMITIVE NEW YORK. 
 
 We backward look to scenes no longer there. 
 
 We are first indebted for a view of Nieuw Amsterdam in 1659, 
 to Ogilby's America of 1671, as given in that work. In describ- 
 ing the place and the fort, he says, ^' there are about four hundred 
 houses, built after the manner in Holland — the town compact and 
 oval. Upon one side of the town is James Fort, capable to lodge 
 three hundred soldiers and officers — it hath six bastions and forty 
 pieces of cannon — the walls of stone, lined with a rampart of 
 earth, well accommodated with a spring of fresh water.'^ 
 
 "The inhabitants consist mostly of English and Dutch — have 
 a considerable trade with Indians, for beaver, otter, raccoon, and 
 other furs, and also for bear, deer, and elk skins, and are cheaply 
 supplied by Indians with venison and fowl in winter, and with 
 fish in the summer." 
 
 In the same year, 1659, the Rev. John Miller, who was three 
 years chaplain at New York, made a draught of the city, and 
 wrote a small book descriptive of the .place. Wall street being 
 then the defence of the city, is marked with a hne of stockades, 
 and with stone redoubts, or " stone points" on its northern side, 
 at corner of Broad street, and at corner of King street, also as 
 having gates at Broad street, and at Queen street — i. e. Pearl 
 street. At the east river side of Wall street, was the Vly (Fly) 
 block house, and half-moon battery — and at the western end of 
 same street, on the North river side, stood the northwest block 
 house ; a little southward from it, began " the works on the west 
 side, running all along the shore down to the Fort, at the capsey 
 or battery, they being stockades with " postern gate" and two 
 projecting water batteries. At Whitehall slip, is marked " a bat- 
 tery of fifteen guns," and before the Stadt house on East river 
 side, is marked another battery of equal guns. The Trinity 
 church grounds are marked as severally, equal to two squares — 
 from Broad street back to Lombard street, as ^^ the burying 
 ground," — "the ground for an Episcopal church" — and "the 
 plot intended for the Episcopal minister's house." Southward 
 of those grounds, on west side of Broad street, is marked "the 
 Lutheran church, and Minister's house." " The public wells^^ 
 in the several streets, not being many, are all marked — say two 
 in Wall street, three in Broadway, four in Broad street, and two 
 on East river side. 
 
 This Rev. Mr. Miller, who addressed his book to the Bishop 
 of London, says the Province then contains about three thousand 
 families, one half Dutch, the rest English and French. " The 
 
Primitive New York. 147 
 
 Dutch are richest and sparing. The EngUsh neither very rich, 
 nor too great husbands. The French are poorest, and therefore 
 forced to be penurious or close." He speaks of trade and deaUng, 
 as being an affair of management — says they need Ministers, to 
 repress irreUgion and wickedness, to bring in unity of doctrine, 
 and to keep down civil dissensions, &;c. — [See London ed. 1843.] 
 A perspective map of New York, in 1673, as preserved in Du 
 Siraitiere's Historical collection, in the Philadelphia Library, and 
 latterly illustrated by J. W. Moulton, Esq., from his researches 
 among the Dutch records, gives us a pretty accurate conception 
 of the outline features of the city at the time when it became, by 
 the peace of 1674, permanently under British dominion, and 
 thence gradually to wear off its former exclusive Knickerbocker 
 character. 
 
 At that time almost all the houses presented their gable ends 
 to the street ; and all the most important public buildings, such 
 as " Stuyvesant Huys," on the water edge, at present Moore and 
 Front streets ; and the " Stadt-huys," or City Hall on Pearl street, 
 at the head of Coentie's Slip, were then set on the fore-ground to 
 be the more readily seen, from the river. The chief part of the 
 town of that dayi lay along the East river (called Salt river in 
 early days), and descending from the high ridge of ground along 
 the line of the Broadway. A great artificial dock for vessels, lay 
 between " Stuyvesant Huys," above referred to, and the bridge 
 over the canal at its debouche on the present Broad street. Three 
 " Half Moon Forts," called " Rondeels^^ lay at equi-distances for 
 the defence of the place ; the first at Coentie's Slip, and the third 
 at the " Water Gate," or outer bounds of the then city, being the 
 foot of tlie present Wall street, so called from its being then shut 
 in there by a line of palisades along the said street, quite over to 
 the junction of Grace and Lumber streets, where the North river 
 limits then terminated in a redoubt. 
 
 One of the original Philadelphians, Wm. Bradford, the first 
 printer of Philadelphia, has left us a lively picture of the city of 
 New York as it stood about the year 1729, being his publication 
 from an original survey by James Lyne. The one which I have 
 seen (a great rarity considered) at the city commissioner's should 
 be, I should think, but a reduced copy, inasmuch as the MSS. 
 "Annals of Philadelphia," show that in the year 1721, the son of 
 the above Wm. Bradford, (named Andrew) advertises in his 
 " Mercury" the sale of a " curious prospect of New York, on four 
 sheets of paper, royal size." What an article for an antiquary ! 
 
 By the map aforesaid, it is shown in 1729, that there was no 
 street beyond the Broadway, westward, but that the lots on the 
 western side of that street descended severally to the beach ; that 
 from Courtlandt street, northward, all the ground west of Broad- 
 way was occupied by trees and tillage, and called the " King's 
 Farm." The eastern side of the city was all bounded by Water 
 
148 Primitive New York. 
 
 street, having houses only on the land side, and its northern Hmits 
 terminating with Beekman street. At the foot or debouche of 
 Broad street were two great docks, called West and East Dock, 
 as they lay on either side of said Broad street ; they occupied the 
 ground now built upon from Water street, nearly out to South 
 street, and from the east side of Moore street, nearly up to Coen- 
 tie's Slip. Between present Moore street and Whitehall street, 
 lay the " Ship Yard," and all along where now tower stately 
 trees in the Battery promenade, lay numerous rocks forming 
 " the Ledge," having the river close up to the hne of the present 
 State street, fronting the Battery. How wonderful then is the 
 modern extension of this city, by carrying out whole streets, and 
 numerous buildings to places before submersed in Water ! — thus 
 practising with signal benefit, the renowned predilections and in- 
 genuity of their transatlantic ancestors. 
 
 The strongest and best remembered emotion of my youth, was 
 that of first seeing New York harbour when a lad, entering it by 
 the way of the Narrows. It seemed a great amphitheatre of water 
 girdled all around the utmost verge of the watery plain, with 
 rising grounds, forming an even and fading line in the distant 
 clouds. 
 
 New York herself, looked lowest of all the objects in the 
 distance. She seemed sitting as a floating mass of brickwork, 
 environed with reed-like masts, herself concealed behind them, 
 as something hid in the rushes. 
 
 As we approached her still nearer, we saw her rising as from the 
 sea, looming larger and larger upon the vision, and sending forth 
 the gleamings of her spires and towers in the sunbeams, until we 
 think, as noiv, of all her magnitude and splendour, as the "Metro- 
 politan City." Truly, " the harvest of the river is her revenue, 
 and she is the mart of nations, whose merchants and traffickers 
 are as princes : These have replenished her isle !" 
 
 Nothing can be conceived more lovely and exciting than the 
 contemplation of such a harbour, when entered from the sea, in 
 such display as I witnessed her in the well remembered, radiant 
 and early summer morn. The sunbeams hghted up and silvered 
 every object in the landscape, with splendid effulgence — the 
 liquid waves seemed tipped and sparkling with silver and golden 
 light, and at a distance, the green isles, which rested before the 
 city on the bosom of the tranquil waters, seemed like guardian 
 sentinels to the beautiful city. Indeed castellated and fortified as 
 they have since become, they at once evince the treasures of 
 wealth, and the thousands of animated beings which they thus 
 protect and can defend. 
 
 Advancing under gentle sail, we see on the right, the blue 
 heights of Gowanus, topt with dun-coloured morning mist, the 
 Dutch built country houses seem sleeping in quiet repose— along 
 its base we see the light market boats and coasting vessels, steal- 
 
Memorials of the Dutch Dynasty, 149 
 
 ing like apparitions along the silent shore. Before us, stands on 
 proudly the lordly Indiaman, her piles of canvass towering above 
 the white fortresses which garnish the port, bursting forth her 
 volumes of fire and smoke from her iron battery, waking up the 
 still slumbering citizens, and making the shores and the welkin 
 resound with the reverberating roar. 
 
 Far on the left, where opens the noble Hudson, we see the 
 grey heights of Weehawken, which frown over the many white 
 sheeted river vessels, which glide lazily beneath its magic shade. 
 Whilst in almost every direction about us, we see the more ani- 
 mated objects, such as the jocund fishermen just putting off on 
 their day's adventure, and the gay pleasure barge set onward by 
 its chattering oarsmen. In a word, in such a panoramic picture, 
 we have every thing to charm the eye and feast the imagination 
 
 — farewell ! 
 
 Thou still wilt glow as fair as now — the sky 
 Still arch as proudly o'er thee — evening steal 
 Along thy bosom with as soft a dye : 
 All be as now — ^but I shall cease to feel ! 
 
 MEMORIALS OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY. 
 
 "Dwell o'er the remembrance of former years!" 
 
 Having said that the office of the Common Council contains no 
 records of the city, preceding the conquest by the British, I shall 
 add here some tokens of the fact, that there are numerous collec- 
 tions of Dutch records now existing in the archives of state, at 
 
 Albany furnishing a rich mine of antiquarian lore for some 
 
 future explorer. 
 
 The Records thus speak, viz : — 
 
 Fort Jimsterdam (at New York) is repaired and finished in 
 1635. 
 
 Paulus Hook is sold by Governor Keift, in 1638, to Abraham 
 Isaacs Plalik, for four hundred and fifty guilders. 
 
 For scandalizing the governor, one Hendrick Jansen, in 1638, 
 is sentenced to stand at the fort door, at the ringing of the bell, 
 and ask the governor's pardon. 
 
 For slandering the Rev, E. Bogardus,m 1638, (Pastor of the 
 Reformed Church then in the fort) a female is obliged to appear 
 at the sound of the bell at the fort, and there, before the governor 
 and council, to say, " she knew he was honest and pious, and that 
 she lied falsely." 
 
 N 2 
 
150 Memorials of the Dutch Dynasty. 
 
 Torture was inflicted upon Jan Hobbes, who had committed 
 a theft. The evidence seemed sufficient, but it was adjudged he 
 should also make his confession by torture. 
 
 For drawing his knife upon a person, one Guysbert Van 
 Regerslard was sentenced, in 1638, to throw himself three times 
 from the sail-yard of the yacht, the Hope, and to receive from 
 each sailor there three lashes. 
 
 The wooden horse punishment is inflicted, in Dec. 1638, upon 
 two soldiers : they sit thereon for two hours. This was a mili- 
 tary punishment used in Holland. He strode a sharp back, and 
 his body was forced down to it by a chain and iron stirrup, or a 
 weight, fastened to his legs. 
 
 Goat milk and Goats appear as a subject of frequent mention 
 and regulation. 
 
 Cases of slander often appear noticed; such as that Jan Jansen 
 complains of Adam Roelants for slander, whereupon it was 
 ordered that each party pay to the use of poor the sum of twenty- 
 five guilders each. 
 
 Tobacco appears to have been an article of cultivation, and of 
 public concern and commerce. Van Twiller had his tobacco farm 
 at Greenwich. On the 5th of August, 1638, two inspectors were 
 nominated to inspect " tobacco cultivated here for exportation ;" 
 and on the 1 9th August, same year, it is recorded that because 
 of " the high character it had obtained in foreign countries,^' any 
 adulterations should be punished with heavy penalties. [This 
 agrees with the fact at Philadelphia . county ; there they also, in 
 primitive days, sixty years after the above facts, cultivated to- 
 bacco in fields.] 
 
 A cattle fair was established, to be held annually on the 15th 
 Oct. and of hogs on the 1st Nov., beginning from the year 1641. 
 
 Tavern-keepers ; none of them shall Be permitted to give any 
 supper parties after nine o'clock at night. In case of any Indian 
 being found drunk, his word, when sober, shall be deemed good 
 enough evidence against the white person who made him so. 
 
 The oath of allegiance was to be taken by all officers of 
 government as a " test act," by swearing " to maintain the re- 
 formed religion, in conformity to the word of God and the decree 
 of the Synod of Dordretch." Under such solemn obligations to 
 duty, it is scarcely to be wondered at, or even condemned, that 
 the officers in authority, overlooking the mild spirit of the gospel 
 of peace, and adhering to the letter and the oath to the Synod, &c., 
 should be led out to persecution. We therefore find, for we may 
 tell a little of the truth in this matter, that in 1657 sundry Quakers, 
 "for publicly declaring in the streets," were subjected to the dun- 
 geon, &c. ; and Robert Hodgson was led at a cart tail, with his 
 arms pinioned, then beaten with a pitched rope until he fell; 
 afterwards he was set to the wheelbarrow to work at hard labour. 
 

^^/^rt^f^ ^W^l^t^^^- 
 
 p. 151. 
 
Memorials of the Dutch Dynasty. 151 
 
 This continued until the compassion of the sister of Governor 
 Stuyvesant being excited, her intercession with that governor 
 prevailed to set him free. About the same time John Bowne, 
 ancestor of the present respectable family of that name, was first 
 imprisoned and next banished for the offence he gave as a Quaker. 
 It was an ordinance of that day, " that any person receiving any 
 Quaker into their house, though only for one night, should forfeit 
 £50 ! Little did they understand in that day, that " the sure way 
 to propagate a new religion was to proscribe it." 
 
 Good Dr. Cotton, in common with good Paul of Tarsus, were 
 both persecutors, "haling men and women to prison," and say- 
 ing, " If the worship be lawful^ (and they the judges /) the com- 
 pelling to come to it compelleth not to sin ; but the sin is in the 
 will that needs to be forced to christian duty ! So self deceiving 
 is bigotry and intolerance. 
 
 Governor Stuyvesant was decidedly a religious character — he 
 went so far, as such, to obligate himself for half the salary of the 
 Rev. Mr. Selyns, who besides preaching in the little church, on 
 his own farm, was also to instruct his negroes and those of the 
 neighbourhood — a mark of benevolence on his part. 
 
 When the inhabitants of Esopus were assaulted, killed, and 
 made prisoners, by a surprise from the neighbouring Indians, in 
 1663) he ordered a monthly observance of a day of humiliation 
 and prayer, — praying, also, for a stay of the small-pox, and when 
 at the close of the year, the disease was arrested, and the prison- 
 ers released by the Indians, he ordered a day of thanksgiving, 
 after the manner of the New Englanders. 
 
 There are some fine relics of the Gov. Stuyvesant above referred 
 to, still preserved in his family, valuable to a thinking mind for 
 the moral associations they afford. I saw them at the elegant 
 country mansion of his descendant Nicholas William Stuyvesant, 
 to wit : — a portrait of Stuyvesant, in armour, which had been 
 well executed in Holland, and probably while he was yet an 
 admiral there. His head is covered with a close black cap, his 
 features strong and intrepid, skin dark, and the whole aspect not 
 imlike our best Indian faces ; a kind of shawl or sash is cast round 
 his shoulder ; has a large white shirt collar drooping from the 
 neck ; has small mustachios on his upper lip, and no beard else- 
 where shown. As I regarded this q\iiet remains of this once great 
 personage, I inwardly exclaimed : and is this he in whom rested 
 the last hopes of the Netherlanders in our country ? Himself 
 gone down to " the tomb of the Capulets !" His remains " rest 
 in hope" near by, in the family vault, once constructed within the 
 walls of the second built Reformed Dutch church, which, for 
 pious purposes, he built at his personal expense on his own farm. 
 The church is gone, but the place is occupied by the present church 
 of St. Mark. On the outside wall of this latter church I saw the 
 
152 Memorials of the Dutch Dynasty. 
 
 original stone designating the body of him whose rank and titles 
 stood thus inscribed, to wit : 
 
 " In this vault, lies bgried 
 Petrus Stuyvksant, 
 * late Captain General and Commander in Chief of Amsterdam 
 
 in New Netherland, now called New-York, and the 
 
 Dutch West India Islands. 
 Died in Au^st, A. D. 1682, aged eighty years."* 
 
 A fine pear tree stands just without the graveyard wall, in lively 
 vigour, although so old as to have been brought out from Holland 
 and planted there by the Governor Stuyvesant himself I have 
 a picture of o/a? New York in 1673, which is framed with its' 
 wood — as a relic. 
 
 Besides seeing the portrait of the governor and captain general 
 as aforesaid in his array of manhood, I saw also a singular token 
 of his puerility ; no less than the very infant shirt, of fine holland, 
 edged with narrow lace, in which the chief was devoted in bap- 
 tism and received his christening. It perhaps marks the charac- 
 ter of the age, in his family thus preserving this kind of token.t 
 
 I saw also the portrait of his son, done also in Holland, in the 
 seventeenth year of his age. He is mounted upon a rampant 
 charger ; his head covered with a low crowned black hat, a blue 
 coat ; his white shirt sleeves have the cuffs laced and turned up 
 over the cuffs of the coat ; wears shoes with high heels, and his 
 silk hose came up above his knees on the outside of the breeches, 
 and appear there looped up in their place. 
 
 There I also saw portraits of Bayard and his wife. He appears 
 garbed as a priest ; he was father-in-law to Governor Stuyvesant. 
 
 Other relics of the Stuyvesant family might have possibly re- 
 mained, but as the family house, occupied by the uncle of the 
 present Nicholas William, was burnt in the time of the revolution, 
 by some of the persons of Sir Henry Clinton's family, who staid 
 there, it is probable that relics and papers have been lost. A 
 coloured woman died at New York in 1842, aged ninety-six 
 years, who was born in the family of Gerardus Stuyvesant, in 
 the year 1747. 
 
 The first known minister, appointed to the Dutch church in 
 New Amsterdam, was the Rev. Everardus Bogardus ; he officiat- 
 ed in the church erected in 1642, within the fort. Thus making 
 it, as it probably was, in the governmental rulers in the Nether- 
 lands, an affair of military conformity, not unlike the chaplain 
 concerns of modern warfare. At all events, we soon hear of the 
 
 * He was governor seventeen years, from 1647 to 1664. 
 \ Stow says, christening shirts were given in the time of Elizabeth ; after- 
 wards, Apostles' spoons were given as memorials. 
 
Memorials of the Dutch Dynasty. 153 
 
 people taking it into their minds to have another church, to wit ; 
 the old " South Dutch Church," founded in 1693, in Garden alley, 
 and then objected to as being " too far out of towne." A rare 
 demur in our modern views oi distance. 
 
 Besides the church so granted without the fort, they had also 
 conferred " a place for a parsonage and garden." On the latter 
 being improved in all the formal stiffness of cut box and trimmed 
 cedar, presenting tops nodding to tops, and each alley like its 
 brother, the whole so like Holland itself, it became attractive to 
 the public gaze, and so gave popular acceptance to the name of 
 " Garden Alley." The first church of St. Nicholas, though long 
 under the care of its tutelary saint, fell at last a prey to the flames 
 in the fire of 1791, — then succeeds another, and finally again in 
 1835. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Bogardus above named, though intended as an 
 example himself, could not keep his wife exempt from reproach, 
 or from the vigilance of an " evil eye ; for on the 24th of October, 
 1633, (it is still on record at Albany) a certain Hendricks Jansen, 
 (a sapient reformer no doubt) appeared before the secretary, and 
 certified that the wife of the Rev. E. Bogardus, in the public street, 
 drew up her petticoat a little wayP^ Surely this was an idle 
 scandal, when Dutch petticoats were of themselves, too short to 
 cover, even if the matron would. 
 
 The towns, in what is now Queen's county and Gravesend, 
 were originally settled by English people from New England, and 
 from that cause, were usually called by the Dutch authorities, the 
 English towns. As such they were much fostered and encour- 
 aged by the Dutch rulers. 
 
 A number of the Puritans from New England, settled at West 
 Chester, then called, in allusion to their coming from the east, Oost 
 dorp, or East town. 
 
 A number of English residents, from the east, were settled in 
 New Amsterdam; — so that the Dutch rulers in 1654, petitioned 
 the classis of Amsterdam, to procure for them a minister, who 
 should be able to preach to them occasionally in English. Where- 
 upon the Rev. Samuel Drisius was sent out for that purpose. 
 
 About the same time, a considerable number of French Vaudois 
 or Waldenses, came from their persecutions abroad, to settle in 
 the country — some settled on Staten Island, and some in the city. 
 To these the same Mr. Drisius preached also, in French, both in 
 the city and at Staten Island. New York therefore, at this time, 
 had its several mixt proportions of Dutch, French, and English 
 inhabitants. 
 
 20 
 
154 t^ncient Memorials. 
 
 ANCIENT MEMORIALS. 
 
 " I'll note 'em in my book of memory." 
 
 The MSS. documents and recorded facts of New York city and 
 colonial history, are, it is said, very voluminous and complete. 
 Mr. Moulton's history declares there are one hundred volumes 
 of folio, of almost unexplored MSS. among the records of state. 
 What abundant material for research must these afford whenever 
 the proper spirit for their investigation is awakened ! 
 
 I am myself aware that the city itself is rich in " hoar anti- 
 quity,'^ for I have ascertained that numerous books of record are 
 of ready access to such congenial minds as can give their affec- 
 tions to the times by-gone. Many of them are of the old Dutch 
 dynasty, and have had no translator. For instance, there are in 
 the county clerk's office a book of records of 1656 ; another of 
 1657 ; orders of the burgomasters in 1658 ; another of their reso- 
 lutions and orders from 1661 to 1664. There are also some books 
 of deeds, &c. While I write these facts, I do it with the hope 
 that I am addressing myself to some youthful mind who will feel 
 the inspiration of the subject, and resolve to become a student of 
 Dutch, and at some future day to bring out, through his researches, 
 the hidden history of his Dutch forefathers. 
 
 It would be " a work of supererogation" to aim at the general 
 translation of such a mass of papers ; but it is really surprising 
 that hitherto no " ardent spirit," greedy of antiquarian lore," 
 should have been inspired to make his gleanings from them. A 
 judicious mind, seeking only the strange or the amusing of the 
 " olden time," might with a ready facility extract their honey only, 
 and leave the cumbrous comb behind. I myself have made the 
 experiment. I found in the office of the common council the 
 entire city records, in English, from the year 1675 downwards 
 to the present day. From tlie first volume embracing a period 
 of sixteen years, (to 1691,) I was permitted to make the following 
 summary extracts. These, while they furnish in some instances 
 appropriate introduction to sundry topics intended in these pages, 
 will also show that but a very small portion of the whole mass 
 is desirable for the entertainment of modern eyes, and therefore 
 not to be sought after ; it is even satisfying and useful to know 
 how little need be known. 
 
 It is gratifying to say, that since penning the above for the first 
 edition, and thus endeavouring to awaken some attention to the 
 rescue of hidden MSS., two gentlemen have given their minds 
 to the subject. J. R. Brodhead, Esq., has been sent out as agent 
 for the state of New York to search for historical documents in 
 
Ancient Memorials. 155 
 
 Holland, and he writes from the Hague in August 1841, saying 
 that he has succeeded beyond expectation, by being allowed by 
 the government there to copy and make as much as tlu-ee thou- 
 sand pages of MSS., commencing with 1614, coming down to 
 1673, and affording much insight into many obscure and uncer- 
 tain parts of our Annals. He expects also to procure MSS. copies 
 from the papers of the West India Company at Amsterdam, from 
 1623. 
 
 Another gentleman, Wm. Dunlap, Esq., who says he derived 
 his impulse from me, has since searched the old records and made 
 out a new History of New York. In one of his letters to me, he 
 says, that he has examined and extracted from all the records of 
 the corporation of the city up to the formation of the Federal 
 government, but he regrets to say, that he has found a chasm in 
 Leister^ s time ; and all is gone or void from June 1774 to Feb- 
 ruary 1784 — (including all the time of the Revolutionary war! 
 Gov. Tryon acknowledged that he took away the records of some 
 of that time !) — which last period, however, he has supplied from 
 the Tory Gazettes of New York. I shall use some few of his 
 facts after the year 1691. (See page 161.) 
 
 Such co-labourers are not rivals, as some might suppose. They 
 have severally had their department and field of exercise, and I 
 have mine. Mine I know is unique — and much which Mr. 
 Brodhead, may be expected to obtain will belong to formal state 
 papers, and to stately history. A list of some of them will be 
 found in another part of this book as " miscellaneous facts." 
 
 Among the things communicated by Mr. Brodhead, is the fact, 
 under date of 1626, that the authorities at New Amsterdam, had 
 bought the locality of the present New York, from the Indian 
 owners, for the sum of sixty guilders, and that they had then 
 been producing there, their harvest of wheat, rye, barley, oats, 
 buckwheat, canary seed, beans and flax — and that their com- 
 mander Crussen, had touched at the Virginia settlement and 
 there captured twenty five sail of English vessels, mostly fully 
 laden, bringing off eleven of them laden with tobacco and destroy- 
 ing the rest of them. A paper from him of 1659 shows, that many 
 of the " suppressed Waldenses," must then have formed a part 
 of the New York population, because fifty thousand guilders are 
 appropriated by the city of Amsterdam, for their support. Thus 
 early showing their Protestant sympathies and bias. 
 
 I give the following from "the Minutes," consecutively as they 
 occurred ; to wit : 
 
 October, 1675 ; the canoes of the Indians, wheresover found, 
 are to be collected to the north side of Long Island, as a better 
 security to the inhabitants in case of their having any purpose to 
 aid the Canadian enemies. This shows the Indian dread of that 
 day. At the same time it is ordered that all Indians near New 
 
156 %8.ncient Memorials. 
 
 York should make their coming winter -quarters at Hell Gate, so 
 as to be ready for control or inspection. 
 
 It is ordered, that because of " the abuse in their oyle caske'' 
 on the east end of Long Island, there shall be a " public tapper 
 of oyle" in each towne where the whaling design is followed. 
 Thus evincing the former business of whalers in those parts. 
 
 Governor Andros orders, that by reason of the change of 
 government, the inhabitants shall take an oath of allegiance to 
 their new sovereign. There are only thirty-six recorded names 
 who conform ! 
 
 The mayor, on the approach of new year's day, commands the 
 disuse of firing guns. 
 
 The city gates are ordered to be closed every night at nine 
 o'clock, and to be opened at daylight. The citizens in general 
 are to serve their turns as watchmen, or to be fined. No cursing 
 or swearing shall be used by them. They are carefully to go 
 frequently towards ^' the bridge for greater safety.'^ [Meaning, 
 I take it, the bridge at the great dock at the end of Broad street.] 
 Every citizen, for the purpose of guard, is always to keep in his 
 house a good fire-lock, and at least six rounds of ball. 
 
 The rates of tavern fare are thus decreed and ordered : — for 
 lodging 2>d. ; for meals Sd. ; brandy per gill 6^.y French wines, 
 a quart, 1*. Sd. ; syder, a quart, Ad. ; double beere, a quart, 3d.; 
 and inum^d, quart, ^d. 
 
 The mayor proposes that they who own convenient land to 
 build upon, if they do not speedily build thereon, it shall be valued 
 and sold to those who will. This being proposed to the governor, 
 who as military chief, always had a control in the semi-militaire 
 city, the same Avas afterwards adopted. How valueless must 
 have been lots then, since so estimable, which could thus " go a 
 begging' ' in 1675 ! 
 
 In 1676, all the inhabitants living in the streete called the Here 
 Graft, (the same called Gentlemen's Canal once, now Broad street,) 
 shall be required to fill up the graft, ditch, or common shore, and 
 level the same. 
 
 " Tanners' pits" are declared to be a nuisance within the city, 
 and therefore it is ordered they shall only exercise their functions 
 as tanners without the towne. This ordinance will account for 
 the numerous tanneries once remembered in Beekman's swamp, 
 now again driven thence by encroaching population; but the 
 premises still retained as curriers and leather dealers, making the 
 whole of that former region still a proper leathern towne. 
 
 It is ordered, for the sake of a better security of a sufficiency 
 of bread, that no grain be allowed to be distilled. How many 
 wretched families of the present day could now profit by such a 
 restraint, who abound in whiskey and lack bread ! 
 
 It is ordered that innkeepers be fined, from whose houses In- 
 dians may come out drunk j and if it be not ascertained by whom, 
 
Ancient Memorials, 157 
 
 the whole streete shall be fined for the non-detection. A sure 
 means, this, to make every man " his neighbour's keeper." 
 
 A fine of twenty guilders is imposed on all Sabbath breakers. 
 The knowledge of such a fact then may afford a gratification to 
 several modern associations. 
 
 In 1676 is given the names of all of the then property holders, 
 amounting to only three hundred names, and assessed at one dol- 
 lar and a half a pound on £99,695. This is a curious article in 
 itself, if considered in relation to family names or relative wealth. 
 What changes since " their families were young." The English 
 names of John Robinson, John Robson, Edward Griffith, James 
 Loyde, and George Heathcott, appear pre-eminently rich among 
 their cotemporaries. 
 
 In 1676 it is ordered, that for the better security of seasonable 
 supplies, all country people bringing supplies to market, shall be 
 exempt from any arrest for debt. The market-house and plains 
 (the present " bowling green" site) afore the fort shall be used for 
 the city sales. 
 
 It is ordered that all slaughter-houses be removed thenceforth 
 without the city, "over the water, without the gate, at the 
 Smith's Fly, near the Half Moone." Thus denoting " the water 
 gate" near the present Tontine on Wall street, beyond which 
 was an invasion of water, near the former " Vly market" on 
 Maiden lane. 
 
 Public wells, fire ladders, hooks, and buckets are ordered, and 
 their places designated for the use of the city. Thus evincing 
 the infant cradling of the present robust and vigorous fire com- 
 panies. The public wells were located in the middle of such 
 streets as Broadway, Pearl street, &c. and were committed to the 
 surveillance of committees of inhabitants in their neighbourhoods, 
 and half of their expense assessed on the owners of property 
 nearest them. Will the discovery of their remains, in some future 
 day, excite the surprise and speculation of uninformed moderns ? 
 
 A " mill house" is taxed in " Mill street lane." Thus indi- 
 cating the fact of a water-course and mill seat (probably the bark 
 mill of Ten Eycke) at the head of what is now called " Mill 
 street." Thus verifying what I once heard from the Phillips 
 family, that in early times, when the Jews first held their worship 
 there, (their synagogue was built there a century ago) they had 
 a living spring, two houses above their present lots, in which 
 they were accustomed to perform their ablutions and cleansings 
 according to the rites of their religion. 
 
 In 1676, all horses at range are ordered to be branded and en- 
 rolled ; and two stud horses are " to be kept in commons upon 
 this island." 
 
 Tar for the use of vessels, is to be boiled only against " the 
 wall of the Half Moon," meaning the Battery wall. 
 
 All the carmen of the city, to the number of twenty, are ordered 
 
 
 
158 jincient Memorials. 
 
 to be enrolled, and to draw for 6d. an ordinary load, and to 
 remove weekly from the city the dirt of the streets at 3d. a load. 
 The dustmen showed much spunk upon the occasion, and com- 
 bined to refuse full compliance. They proposed some modifica- 
 tions; but the spirit of "the Scout, Burgomasters, and Shepens," 
 was alive and vigorous in the city rulers, and they forthwith 
 dismayed the whole body of carmen, by divesting all of their 
 license who should not forthwith appear as usual at the public 
 dock, pay a small fine and make their submission. Only two 
 so succumbed, and a new race of carmen arose. Those carmen 
 were to be trusty men, worthy to be charged with goods of value 
 from the shipping, &c. : wherefore all Indian and negro slaves 
 were excluded. 
 
 An act is passed concerning the revels of " Indian and negro 
 slaves" at inns. At the mention of Indian slaves the generous 
 mind revolts. What ! the virtual masters of the soil to become 
 "hewers of wood and drawers of water," to their cherished 
 guests ? Sad lot ! 
 
 ForcM from the land that gave them birth, 
 Or else to slave for others wealth. 
 
 In 1683 twelve pence a ton is assessed on every vessel for 
 their use of the city dock, " as usually given," and for " the use 
 of the bridge ; " understood by me to have been as a connecting 
 appendage to the same dock. 
 
 Luke Lancton, in 1683, is made " collecter of customs" at the 
 custom-house near the bridge, and none shall unload " but at the 
 bridge." The house called Stuyvesant Huys," at the north-west 
 corner of present Front and Moore streets, was in ancient days 
 called " the custom-house." 
 
 The^ Indians are allowed to sell fire-wood, then called " stick 
 wood," and to vend " gutters for houses ;" by which I suppose 
 was meant long strips of bark, so curved at the sides as to lead 
 off water : else it meant for the roof of sheds, even as we now 
 see dwelling-houses roofed along the road side to Niagara. 
 
 An act of reward, of the year 1683, is promulged for those 
 who destroy wolves. 
 
 A record of 1683, speaking of the former Dutch dynasty, says 
 the mayor's court was used to be held in the City Hall, where 
 they, the mayor and aldermen, determined " without appeal." It 
 alleges also, that " they had their own clerk, and kept the records 
 of the city distinctly." Thus giving us thQ desirable fact, that 
 " records" in amplitude, have once existed of all the olden days 
 of Lang Syne ! they spell the name of the island " Manhatans." 
 
 Then none might exercise a trade or calling unless as an 
 admitted " freeman." Then they might say with the centurion, 
 " with a great price bought I that privilege." 
 
 If a freeman, to use "handy craft," they paid 3/. 12^., and for 
 
Ancient Memorials, 159 
 
 " being made free," they paid severally 1/. 4.s. None could then 
 trade up the Hudson river unless a freeman, who had had at least 
 three years' residence ; and if any one by any cause remained 
 abroad beyond twelve months, he lost his franchise, unless indeed 
 he " kept candle" and paid " Scott and Lott" .... terms to imply 
 his residence was occupied by some of his family. Have we 
 moderns bettered the cautious policy of our ancestors in opening 
 our arms to every " new comer ?" We tariiF goods, but put no 
 restraint on men, even if competitors. Do any think of this ? 
 
 In 1683 it was decreed that all flour should be bolted, packed, 
 and inspected in New York city. This was necessary then for 
 the reputation of the port in its foreign shipments. Besides, the 
 practice of bolting as now done at mills, by water power, was 
 unknown. In primitive days the "bolting business" was a 
 great concern by horse power, both in New York and Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 The governor arid his council grant to the city the dock and 
 bridge, provided it be well kept and cleaned ; if not, it shall forfeit 
 it ; but no duty shall be paid upon the bridge as "bridge money." 
 
 In 1683 the city bounds and wards are prescribed along certain 
 named streets. The third or east ward was bounded "along 
 the wall," and "' againe with all the houses in the Smith Fly, 
 and without the gate on the south side of the fresh water." 
 Meaning in the above, " the wall" of palisades along Wall 
 street ; and by the " fresh water," the Kolch or Collect fresh 
 water. 
 
 In 1683 a committee, which had been appointed to collect 
 ancient records respecting the city privileges of former times, 
 made their report thereon, and therein name the " City Hall and 
 yards," " Market house" and " Ferry house." It says, Wm. 
 Merritt had offered " for the ferry to Long Island" the sum of 
 20/. per annum for twenty years ; to erect sheds, to keep two 
 boats for cattle and horses, and also two boats for passengers. 
 The ferriage for the former to be Qd. a-head, and for the latter 
 Id. Think of this, ye present four cent " labour-saving^^ steam- 
 boats. Ye shun the Dutchman's penny toil, but raise the price. 
 
 A committee, in 1683, report the use of 6,000 stochadoes of 12 
 feet long, at a cost of 24/., used for the repair of the wharf; i. e. 
 at the dock. 
 
 They ascertain the vessels and boats of the port, enrolled by 
 their names, to be as follows : — three barques, three brigantines, 
 twenty-six sloops, and forty-six open boats. Some of their 
 names are rare enough. 
 
 An ordinance of 1683 orders that "no youthes, maydes, or 
 other persons may meete together on the Lord's Day for sporte 
 or play," under a fine of \s. No public houses may keep open 
 door or give entertainment then except to strangers, under a fine 
 of 10^. Not more than four Indian or negro slaves may assemble 
 
160 n^ncient Memorials. 
 
 together ; and at no time may they be allowed to bear any fire- 
 arms — this under a fine of Qs. to their owners. 
 
 A city surveyor " shall regulate the manner of each building 
 on each street," (even crooked and " up and down" as it then 
 was), so that uniformity (mark this) may be preserved. Are we 
 then to presume they had no scheme or system, who now com- 
 plain of "winding narrow streets," and "cow paths" in the 
 mazy and triangular city ? 
 
 In 1683 markets were appointed to be held three times a-week, 
 and to be opened and sh^t by ringing the bells. Cord wood, 
 under the name of " stick wood," is regulated at the length of 
 four feet. 
 
 A haven master is appointed to regulate the vessels in the 
 mole, (the same before called the dock,) and is to collect the dock 
 and bridge money. 
 
 A part of the slaughter-house (before appointed) by the Fly, 
 is appointed in 1683 to be a powder house, and its owner, 
 Garrett Johnson, is made the first keeper at 1*. ^d. a barrel. Of 
 course, then locating it at the Vly, as far enough beyond the 
 verge of population to allow of "a blow up." 
 
 In 1683 several streets therein named, are ordered to be paved 
 by the owners concerned, and directs they shall plank up and 
 barricade before their doors where needful to keep up the earth. 
 
 In 1684 the city requests from the king's government, the ces- 
 sion of all vacant land, the ferry, City Hall, dock, and bridge. 
 
 An order of king James recognized and recorded in 1685, pro- 
 hibiting all trade from New York colony "with the East Indies," 
 that being even then a claimed " privilege of the company of 
 merchants of London." This proscribed East India commerce 
 had more import than meets the eye, for it virtually meant to 
 prohibit trade (unless by special grant) with the West Indies. 
 
 In 1685 the Jews of New York petition to be allowed the 
 public exercise of their religion, and are refused on the ground 
 that " none are allowed by an act of assembly so to worship, but 
 such as profess a faith in Christ." Experience has since proved 
 that we are nowhere injured by a more liberal and free toleration. 
 Laws " may bind the body down, but cannot restrain the flights 
 the spirit takes." 
 
 In 1686 a committee is appointed to inspect what vacant land 
 they find belonging to Arien Cornelissen ; and this entry is ren- 
 dered curious by a recorded grant of 1687, preserved in the re- 
 cords of the office of the city comptroller, to this effect, saying — 
 sixteen acres of the Basse Bowery (by which I understand low 
 or meadow farm) is hereby granted unto Arien Cornelissen for 
 the consideration of one fat capon a year. Who now can tell the 
 value of that land for that small and peculiar compensation ? 
 
 In 1691 it is ordered that there shall be but one butcher's sham- 
 bles kept, and that to be on the green before the fort. The next 
 
Ancient Memorials. 161 
 
 year another (place for shambles I presume) is allowed under the 
 trees by the Slip. At the same time it is ordered that fish (as at 
 a market) be sold at the dock over against the City Hall. Thus 
 referring to the Hall as then known on Pearl street, at the head 
 of Coentie's Slip, under which was also a prison. 
 
 The clerk of the mayor's court, in 1691, is charged to inquire 
 after, and to collect and preserve the books and papers of the city, 
 and to keep them safely with an inventory thereof. May not 
 this record present an index hand to guide to some discovery of 
 such historical rarities ? 
 
 The mayor rents a shop or shops in the Market-house. One 
 John Ellison is named as paying 3/. for such a shop. 
 
 In 1691 it is ordered that the inhabitants by the waterside, 
 " from the City Hall to the Slip," are to help build the wharf to 
 run out before their lots ; and every male negro in the city is to 
 help thereat with one day's work. 
 
 The hucksters of that day, even as now, were very trouble- 
 some in forestalling the market, and laws were made to restrain 
 them. 
 
 The bakers, too, had their ordeal to pass, and the regula- 
 tion and limit of bread-loaves is often under the notice of the 
 council. This ends my extracts, from first MS. Vol. 
 
 The following facts I have derived from the further researches 
 and industry of my friend, Wm. Dunlap Esq., as referred to on 
 page 155, to wit: 
 
 1692. Ordered, that the poisonous and stinking weeds before 
 every one's house, be plucked up, under three shillings penalty. 
 
 A market house for meat, is ordered to be built at the end of 
 the Heergraft street — [foot of Broad street.] 
 
 A piece of land at the foot of Golden Hill, is leased to a man 
 and his wife, during their lives, for six shillings a year, provided 
 they build a small house, and leave it to the corporation at their 
 death. How many thousand dollars would the same locality 
 bring now ! 
 
 Ordered that the lots between the Burgers path, [back of Co- 
 entie's slip,] and the block house, be divided into thirteen, and 
 exposed to sayle, — and in another order, it is declared that all 
 the land in front of the Fly, (meadow, or swamp land) from the 
 block house unto the hill next to Beekman's, be sold. A block 
 house once in New York, will be a new thing to many. Wall 
 street, in 1744, as then seen by Abeel, had block houses and 
 palisades along Wall street, from river to river. 
 
 1693. On an apprehension of a French war, it is ordered, by 
 Governor Fletcher, that a platform be made on the rocks, under 
 the fort, whereon may be erected a battery to command both 
 rivers. At the same time, all the freemen with their servants to 
 work on the defences, including " all Indians, negroes and others 
 not listed in the militia." 
 
 21 2 
 
162 Jincient Memorials. 
 
 The houses enumerated this year, are five hundred and ninety- 
 four, and " lands had advanced to ten times their former value.'* 
 
 1697. Upon an occasion of absolving the militia from the night 
 guard, during the winter, it was ordered that four citizens perform 
 the same. It was also ordered, that during the dark nights, the 
 house-keepers shall put Hghts in their windows, fronting on the 
 streets, and during the dark time of the moon, every seventh 
 house-holder should hang out a lanthorn and candle on a pole, 
 every night. 
 
 1699. On occasion of letting the Ferry for seven years, it was 
 determined, that the lessee should provide two great boats, or 
 scows, for cattle, &c., and two small boats for passengers — the 
 fare for a single person, to be eight stivers in wampum — or a 
 silver two-pence ; a horse, one shilling, &c. 
 
 1702. The dock and slips of the city are rented to James 
 Spencer, carpenter, for twenty-five pounds — he to clear the dock 
 and slips and keep them clean,. and build a wharf enclosing the 
 dock. 
 
 1704. The Rev. Mr. Vesey, missionary and first minister of 
 Trinity church, opened a catechising school for Blacks, His 
 name appears often, as receiving five pounds for the Corporation 
 Sermon. Now they prefer dinners. It is from him that we have 
 the name of Vesey street. 
 
 The city corporation occasionally orders cord-wood for the 
 field, and some six or eight gallons of wine, to raise a cheering, 
 and a bonfire, for public celebrations. 
 
 The common council, in taking their oath of office, swear that 
 they do not believe in transubstantiation, — that the bread and 
 wine in the Lord's supper, is not converted into the body and 
 blood of Christ, — they also abjure the invocation of the Virgin, 
 and the sacrifice of the Mass. 
 
 The 25th of December, 1705, is recorded as the coldest day 
 ever known. The Hudson river was frozen over several days. 
 
 There is frequent mention of Indian slaves. 
 
 1716. A law was passed for regulating midwives — they were 
 to be sworn to faithful service, to commit no frauds in changing 
 children ; not to be accessary to any pretended deliveries ; not to 
 assist in any frauds, or concealments of births — and never to 
 speak of the secrets of their office. 
 
 Public whipping of "slaves, negroes and Indians," was as 
 common as exuberant spirits and mischiefs could make them. 
 If found out too late at night, or too many together, in noisy 
 gambols, or if gaming for and with copper pennies — then to be 
 whipped, and the owner to pay the church wardens three shillings, 
 — what a fund for the merciful gospel ! The public whipper to 
 have five pounds a quarter. 
 
 1730. Notice is given, that whoever inclines to perform the 
 foot-post to Albany this winter, is to make application to Richard 
 
•Ancient Memorials. 163 
 
 Nichols, the post-master. Only think of a fooi-posi, all the dreary 
 V, ay to Albany, in mid -winter ! What a wretch ! 
 
 1731. Two complete fire engines ordered out from England, 
 and hooks and ladders are to be made. This probably indicates 
 the first attempt at public measures for the suppression of fires. 
 
 This year, the small-pox was very prevalent, and very fatal — 
 causing great dread, and causing upwards of five hundred deaths, 
 in a little more than two months. 
 
 1733. Mr.* Silas Wood, gives the population of the province 
 this year to be 50,291, of which Long Island possessed one third, 
 say, 17,820 ; 7231 of the preceding were slaves. New York city 
 contained, 8628 souls. Think of the increase in one cenlury,and 
 what may it be in another ! 
 
 In 1735, " the first stone of the platform of the new battery on 
 White Hall rocks, was laid by the governor, and was called 
 George Augustus' Royal battery. This probably was the renewal 
 of a former inferior battery, ordered by Gov. Fletcher, in 1693. 
 
 1744. It was ordered, that all house-holders should, every 
 Friday, rake and sweep together all the dirt and filth, lying in 
 the streets before their respective houses, and then cause the same 
 to be carried away, or cast into the river. 
 
 \1A1. Such was the dread of small-pox, that the governor 
 had to prohibit its inoculation, temporarily, whilst fearing an 
 invasion, lest the country people fearing the disease, should not 
 come to the assistance of the city. 
 
 1757. Such was the dread of impressment even in and near 
 New York harbour, that Governor Hardy, for the sake of his 
 own good living in the city, was obliged to encourage marketing 
 from the country, by making his proclamation, that all boatmen, 
 and marketmen, who came to or from the city, " shall not be im- 
 pressed while bringing provisions and other necessaries," &c. 
 Cases of impressment are occasionally mentioned. Perhaps it 
 was from a dread of such encroachments on personal freedom, 
 that led to the practice of women rowing the market boats, at 
 New York, in the provincial times ! 
 
 The 15th of January, 1761, the Narrows were frozen over, — 
 on the 18th of June, 1764, the light-house on Sandy Hook, was 
 lighted for the first time, — how difficult must have been the pas- 
 sage before that help and guide ! 
 
 Such are the amusing as well as instructive incidents of the 
 ancient days in New York, from which " the thinking bard" 
 may " cull his pictur'd stores." Through such mazes, down "hoar 
 antiquity," 
 
 "The eye explores the feats of elder days." 
 
 It may well encourage to further research to know the fact, 
 that I considered myself as gleaning from that first volume,* all, 
 
 • Referred to on page 155. 
 
164 Notices of Early Dutch Times. 
 
 in the few preceding pages, which I deemed the proper material 
 for the amusements of history. If we would make the incidents 
 of the olden time familiar and popular, by seizing on the affec- 
 tions and stirring the feelings of modern generations, we must 
 first delight them with the comic and strange of history, and after- 
 wards win them to graver researches. " Anecdotes of men and 
 things ( says Blackwood) will have a charm, as long as man has 
 curiosity." They who cater for such appetites, should always 
 consider that there is a natural passion for the marvellous in every 
 breast ; and that every writer may be sure of his reader who 
 limits his selections to facts which mark the extremes of our rela- 
 tive existence, or to objects "on which imagination can delight 
 to be detained." But there are means of inquiry exclusive of 
 memorials and records; such as the recollections and observa- 
 tions of living witnesses, respecting " men and manners" of other 
 days, and of things gone down to oblivion. These they retain 
 with a lively impression, because of their original interest to 
 themselves ; and for that reason they are generally of such cast 
 of character as to afibrd the most gratifying contemplations to 
 those who seek them. 
 
 From a lively sense of this fact, I have been most sedulous to 
 make my researches among the living chronicles, just waning to 
 their final exit. These can only be consulted now, or never. 
 From such materials we may hope to make some provision for 
 future works of poetry, painting, and romance. It is the raw 
 material to be elaborated into fancy tales and fancy characters 
 by the Irvings, Coopers, and Pauldings of our country. By such 
 means we generate the ideal presence, and raise an imagery to 
 entertain and aid the mind. We raise stories, wherein " sweet 
 fiction and sweet truth alike prevail." 
 
 NOTICES OF EARLY DUTCH TIMES. 
 
 " Such once ; — no longer such — are passed away." 
 
 In endeavouring to rescue from oblivion, some of the early 
 traits of character which marked the age of the founders, we 
 may, with Moulton's history, notice but to condemn it — that 
 " affectation of squeamishness in some, who now revolt at the 
 idea of coming in contact with the rude founders of our country, 
 as if such facts of our domestic history were beneath the dignity 
 of history, so called : they would restrict it only to great person- 
 ages and great events; and thus by too much generalization lose 
 in individual interest more than could be gained in abstract 
 philosophy and politics." 
 
Stadt Huys, at Coenties Slip, 1642 to 1700, p. 176 and 351. 
 
 
 Ferry House, corner of Broad and Garden Streets, p. 182. 
 
Notices of Early Dutch Times. 165 
 
 We shall therefore endeavour to exhibit something character- 
 istic of the times, the doings, and the famihar concerns, of those 
 Dutch burghers. 
 
 The Dutch Reformed were always thorough church-going 
 members, and fully fraught with ardent zeal for all the faith of 
 Calvin. They therefore gave no countenance to Lutherans, 
 Jews, Quakers, &c. But when the English came to rule, it suffi- 
 ciently chagrined them to see Governor Lovelace so lax, as in 
 1674 to authorize the Lutheran congregation to erect a church, 
 and to "seek benevolence from their brethren here and on the 
 Delaware.^' It was about this time that Edmundson, a friend 
 from England, was allowed to preach to such as would assemble. 
 He held his first meeting at an inn, where the magistrates also 
 attended, probably as much to check and restrain errors as to 
 profit themselves. The celebrated Geo. Fox was also in the 
 neighbourhood, preaching on Long Island, and particularly to a 
 congregation under a great oak tree, still standing at Flushing, 
 the property of the Bowne family. All this toleration was 
 strikingly different from the previous rule under the Dutch gov- 
 ernor Stuyvesant. He had ordered the head of the above-named 
 family out to Holland for trial, for the public performance of his 
 religious views as a Quaker. About that time the public peace 
 had been disturbed by those Quakers, whom the Friends them- 
 selves sometimes censured as " ranters." Such a one, as the re- 
 cords state, " pretending to be divinely inspired, came into the city 
 and made terrible hue and cry in the streets and on the bridge, 
 crying woe, woe, to the crowne of pride and the drunkards of 
 Ephraim : Twoo woes past, and the third coming, except you 
 repent. Repent — repent, as the kingdom of God is at hand !" 
 He also entered the church, making a great noise, for the purpose 
 of disturbance, as their manner was. Finally, he was prosecuted, 
 flogged, and banished. ^ 
 
 The Dutch Reformed Church — ^^Uhe Gereformeerde Kerck," 
 was erected within the fort by Gov. Keift in 1642, being a stone 
 structure, with split oaken shingles, then called " wooden slate." 
 The cause and manner of its establishment has been curiously 
 related by De Vries, saying, " as I was every day with Comdr. 
 Keift, I told him, that as he had now made a fine tavern — the 
 Stadt-herberg, at Coentie's slip — that we also wanted very badly 
 a church ; for until then we had nothing but a mean barn (in 
 appearance) for our worship ; whereas in New England, their 
 first concern was a fine church, and we ought to do the same. 
 Wherefore, I told him I would contribute a hundred guilders, 
 and he as governor, should precede me. Whereupon we agreed, 
 and chose J. P. Kuyster and I. C. Damen, with themselves, as four 
 Kerck-Meesters to superintend the building.' John and Richard 
 Ogden contracted to build the same of stone for 2500 guilders, 
 say £416. It was to be seventy-two feet by fift^^'-two feet, and 
 
166 Notices of Early Dutch Times. 
 
 sixteen feet high. After its construction, the town bell was re- 
 moved to it. There it was a kind oifac iotum, and may possibly 
 account for the present partiality for campanalary music still so 
 fostered and prevalent in New York. All mechanics and labourers 
 began and ended work at the ringing ; all tavern-keepers shut 
 house after the ringing ; courts and suitors assembled at the ring- 
 ing ; and deaths and funerals were announced by the toll. An 
 earlier church was built on the Battery ground, which was pulled 
 down in 1642, when the above one was built. The earliest church 
 records are lost — but records of baptism exist, and have been con- 
 tinued ever since 1620. The earliest list of enrolled members, 
 begins in 1649, at which time, three hundred names appear. 
 
 New York, like other colonies, had also its plague of witchcraft. 
 In 1665, a man and wife were arraigned and tried as witches, 
 and a special verdict of guilty was brought in by the jury against 
 one of them. In 1 672 the inhabitants of West Chester complained 
 to the governor and council against a witch which had come 
 among them ; she having been before imprisoned and condemned 
 as a witch at Hartford. In 1673 a similar complaint was also 
 made ; but the military governor, Capt. Colve, a son of the ocean, 
 not under this land influence perhaps, treated it as idle or super- 
 stitious, and so dismissed the suit. We thus see that Salem was 
 not exclusive in her alarms ; but that New York, Connecticut, 
 Pennsylvania, and Virginia, each severally had their trials of 
 witchcraft. 
 
 The city schoolmasters were always, ex officio, clerks, choristers, 
 and visiters of the sick. 
 
 In the early times, reed and straw roofs and wooden chimneys 
 were so common in ordinary houses, that they had regularly ap- 
 pointed overseers to inspect them and guarcf them against fires. 
 
 They were accustomed to plant May-poles on New Year's and 
 May-days. Sometimes they planted a May-pole, adorned with 
 ragged stockings, before the door of a newly- wedded bridegroom. 
 
 The Dutch were remarkable in their choice of high sounding 
 names for their vessels ; an old record, describing a collection at 
 one time in New York, gives such names as the following, to wit : 
 The Angel Gabriel, King David, Queen Esther, King Solomon, 
 Arms of Renselaerwyck, Arms of Stuy vesant. The Great Christo- 
 pher, the Crowned Sea Bears, the Spotted Cow, &c. 
 
 Wm. P. Van Rensselaer, Esq. of Beverwyck, has in his posses- 
 sion the wedding ring which belonged to the wife of the first 
 Patroon, preserved with family regard since 1627 — and Gen. Van 
 Cortland has a gold watch, which came out with his forefathers. 
 
 New York was once distinguished for its manufacture and 
 trade in Indian wampum, called seaivant, deriving the material 
 from Long Island, which place the Indians called Seivanhacky, 
 importing the Land of Shells. They made the chief of it from 
 periwinkles and quahaugs, (clams), and sometimes from the 
 
Notices of Early Dutch 7\mes. 167 
 
 inside of oyster shells.* This, when rounded into proper shape, 
 became the proper money of the Indians; and with this, all who 
 purposed to trade with them for furs, &c. provided themselves at 
 New York. A letter of Governor Penn's is on record, wherein 
 he speaks of his having sent there from Philadelphia to make 
 "his purchases of wampum, at great prices." For numerous 
 years, while coin was scarce or unnecessary, it was the custom 
 to pay oflf the company's officers, and even the clergy too, in sea- 
 want or beavers. The current value of the sea want was six 
 beads of the white, or three of the black, for an English penny. 
 The value and importance once attached to this seemingly strange 
 money in our consideration now, may be seen set forth, in 1641, 
 in an ordinance of the city council sanctioned by Governor Keift, 
 saying, " that a great deal of bad sea want, nasty rough things, 
 imported from other places," was in circulation, while " the good 
 splendid sea want, usually called Manhattan's seawant, was out 
 of sight or exported, which must cause the ruin of the country f' 
 Therefore, it is added, that " all coarse seawant, well stringed, 
 should pass at six for one stuyver only ; but that the well polished, 
 at four for a stuyver." In 1657, they were publicly reduced from 
 six, to eight for a stuyver, which is two-pence. The wampum 
 was used greatly by the Indians to decorate and ornament their 
 persons. The women strung theirs, and hung them round their 
 necks, and sewed them on their mocassins and mantles. 
 
 The Dutch bore several names among the Indians. They 
 called them Swannakwak or Sivanekens ; also Jlssyreoni, the 
 cloth makers ; Charistooni, the iron workers ; Sankhicanni, the 
 fire workers, in allusion to their use of matchlocks. 
 
 The lands on York Island, without the bounds of the town 
 walls, along 'Wall street, appertained to the company, and were 
 either used for public grazing grounds, for the town cows, sheep, 
 or swine, or else for the governor's farms, under the names of 
 Bouwerys. The Bouwery or farm sold to Governor Stuyvesant 
 in 1631, now so invaluable as building lots in the hands of his 
 descendants, was originally purchased by him for 6,400 guilders 
 (1,066/.), and having besides the land, " a dwelling-house, barn, 
 reek lands, six cows, two horses, and two young negroes." 
 
 On another farm the company erected a wint molen (wind- 
 mill) for the use of the town. Its site was by the Broadway, 
 between the present Liberty and Courtland streets. The first 
 having decayed, it was ordered, in 1662, that there be another on 
 the same ground " outside of the city land-port (gate) on the 
 company's farm." 
 
 There was once a water mill near the Kolch, havmg its outlet 
 
 • Heckewelder says, "The universal name the Monseys had for New York 
 was Laapawachkingf the place of stringing wampum beads. Those Indians say- 
 ing, that once the Indians there were every where seen stringing beads and 
 wampum which the whites gave them." 
 
168 Notices of Early Dutch Times. 
 
 of water to the North river. In order to obtain more water for 
 the mill, the use of the valleys was granted to the miller ; and as 
 the race he had dug admitted the salt water occasionally into the 
 kolch of fresh water, to its injury, he was required by law, in 
 1661, to hang a waste gate so as to bar the passage of the salt 
 water. 
 
 Washington Irving, when he wrote his facetious notices of New 
 York manners, in his Knickerbocker, accurately depicted life, as 
 it passed in the early colonial days, saying, — " In those good 
 days of simplicity and sunshine, a passion for cleanliness was the 
 leading principle in domestic economy, and the universal test of 
 an able house-wife; a character which formed the utmost ambition 
 of our unenlightened grandmothers. The front door was never 
 opened except on marriages, funerals, new years' days, the festival 
 of St. Nicholas, or. some such great occasion. It was ornamented 
 with a gorgeous brass knocker, curiously wrought, sometimes in 
 the device of a dog's, and sometimes of a lion's head, and was 
 daily burnished with such assiduity, that it was sometimes worn 
 out by the very precautions taken for its preservation. The whole 
 house was constantly in a state of inundation, under the discipline 
 of mops and brooms and scrubbing brushes ; and the good wives 
 of those days were a kind of amphibious animal, delighting ex- 
 ceedingly, to be dabbling in water. 
 
 " The grand parlour was the sanctum sanctorum, where the 
 passion for cleaning was most indulged. In this sacred apartment 
 no one was permitted to enter, excepting the mistress and her 
 confidential maid, who visited it once a week, for the purpose of 
 giving it a thorough cleaning and putting things to rights, always 
 taking the precaution of leaving their shoes at the door, and 
 entering lightly on their stocking feet. After scrubbing the floor 
 and sprinkling it with fine white sand, which was curiously 
 stroked into angles and curves with a broom ; after washing the 
 windows, rubbing and polishing the furniture, and putting a new 
 bunch of evergreens in the fireplace, the window shutters were 
 again closed, to keep out the flies, and the room carefully locked 
 up, until the revolution of time brought round the weekly clean- 
 ing day. 
 
 " As to the family, they always entered in at the gate, and 
 most generally lived in the kitchen. To have seen a numerous 
 household assemble around the fire, one would have imagined 
 that he was transported back to those happy days of primeval 
 simplicity, which float before our imaginations like golden visions. 
 The fireplaces were of a truly patriarchal magnitude, where the 
 whole family, old and young, master and servant, black and white, 
 nay even the cat and dog, enjoyed a community of privilege, and 
 had each a right to a corner. Here the old burgher would sit in 
 perfect silence, pufling his pipe, looking in the fire with half-shut 
 eyes, and thinking of nothing, (in happy absence from care,) for 
 
Notices of Early Dutch Times. 169 
 
 hours together ; the goede vrouw, on the opposite side^ would 
 employ herself diligently in spinning yarn, or knitting stockings. 
 The young folks would crowd around the hearth, listening with 
 breathless attention to some old crone of a negro, who was the 
 oracle of the family, and who, perched like a raven in a corner 
 of the chimney, would croak forth for a long winter afternoon, 
 a string of incredible stories about New England witches, grisly 
 ghosts, and hair-breadth escapes, and bloody encounters among 
 the Indians. 
 
 " In these primitive days, a well regulated family always rose 
 with the dawn, dined at eleven, and went to bed at sundown. 
 Dinner was invariably a private meal, and the fat old burghers 
 showed incontestible symptoms of disapprobation, and uneasi- 
 ness at being surprised by a visit from a neighbour on such 
 occasions. But though our worthy ancestors were thus singu- 
 larly averse to giving dinners, yet they kept up the social bands 
 of intimacy, by occasional banquetings, called tea-parties. These 
 fashionable parties were generally confined to the higher classes, 
 that is to say, such as kept their own cows, and drove their 
 own wagons. The company generally assembled about three 
 o'clock, and went away at six, unless it was in winter time, 
 when the visit was a little earlier, that the ladies might get home 
 before dark. Sometimes the table was graced with apple-pies, 
 or saucers full of preserved peaches and pears, but it was 
 always sure to boast of dough-nuts, or oly koeks, with plenty 
 of fried ham, cut up in convenient morsels, and well charged 
 with gravy. 
 
 " The tea was served out of a majestic delft tea-pot, ornamented 
 with paintings of fat little Dutch shepherds and shepherdesses, 
 tending pigs, with boats sailing in the air, and houses built in the 
 clouds, and sundry other ingenious Dutch fantasies. The beaux 
 distinguished themselves by their adroitness in replenishing this 
 pot, from a huge copper tea-kettle, which might make the beaux 
 of the present day sweat merely to look at it ! To sweeten the 
 beverage, a lump of sugar was laid beside each cup, and the 
 company alternately nibbled and sipped with great decorum. 
 
 " In such parties, the utmost propriety and dignity of deport- 
 ment prevailed. No flirting, no coquetting, no gambolling of 
 old ladies, nor hoyden chattering and romping of young ones, 
 no self-satisfied struttings of wealthy gentlemen, with their brains 
 in their pockets, nor amusing conceits, and monkey divertisements 
 of smart young gentlemen with no brains at all. On the contrary, 
 tlie young ladies seated themselves demurely in their rush -bot- 
 tomed chairs, and knit their own woollen stockings ; speaking 
 but little, and chiefly in brief answers to questions put to them, 
 few and far between. As to the gentlemen, each of them tran- 
 quilly smoked his pipe, and seemed lost in contemplation of the 
 22 P 
 
170 Notices of Early Dutch Times. 
 
 blue and white tiles with which the fireplaces were decorated ; 
 wherein sundry passages of scripture were piously portrayed. 
 
 " The parties broke up without noise and without confusion — 
 all carried home in their own carriages, that is to say, by the 
 vehicles nature had provided them. The gentlemen gallantly 
 attended their fair ones to their respective abodes, and took leave 
 of them with a hearty smack at the door ; which, as it was an 
 established piece of etiquette, done in perfect simplicity and 
 honesty of heart, (the lady owing something for the attention,) 
 occasioned no scandal at that time, nor should it now from us, 
 when thus contemplating the past. 
 
 " Even the female sex, — those arch innovaters of modes and 
 forms, seemed for a while to conduct themselves with incredible 
 sobriety and comeliness. Their hair, untortured by the abomina- 
 tions of art, was scrupulously pomatumed back from their fore- 
 heads, with suet tallow, and covered with a little cap of quilted 
 calico, which fitted exactly to their heads. Their petticoats of 
 linsey-woolsey, were striped with gorgeous dyes. These were 
 indeed rather short, but what they needed in length, was made 
 up in numbers, which generally equalled that of the gentlemen's 
 small clothes ; and what was still more praiseworthy, they were 
 all of their own manufacture, of which circumstance, as may well 
 be supposed, they were not a little vain. 
 
 " The gentlemen of those days, were well content to figure in 
 their linsey-woolsey coats — domestic made, and bedecked with 
 an abundance of large brass buttons. Half a score of breeches, 
 heightened the proportions of his figure ; his shoes were orna- 
 mented by enormous copper buckles ; a low crowned broad 
 brimmed hat overshadowed his florid visage, and his hair dangled 
 down his back in a long queue of eel skin. 
 
 " Ah, never to be forgotten age, 
 Where every thing was better than it has been e'er since !" 
 
 We may close this article with some little notices and recollec- 
 tions of Dutch manners, as they appeared in their last remains 
 when receding from the innovations of later times, to wit : 
 
 Capt. Graydon, who was a prisoner on Long Island in the war 
 of independence, and was quartered at Flat Bush, speaks of his 
 neighbours as a quiet inoffensive people ; as too unaspiring and 
 contented to have ever made a revolution from their own impulse. 
 Their religion, like their other habits, were all plain and unosten- 
 tatious : A silent grace before meat was their general family 
 habit. The principal personage in every Dutch village was the 
 " domine''^ or minister ; and their manner of preaching was 
 extremely colloquial and familiar. Their most frequent diet was 
 clams, called clippers ; and their unvaried supper was supon 
 (mush) ; sometimes with milk, but more generally buttermilk, 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 171 
 
 blended with molasses. Their blacks, when they had them, 
 were very free and familiar ; sometimes sauntering about among 
 the whites at meal time, with hat on head, and freely joining 
 occasionally in conversation, as if they were one and all of the 
 same household. 
 
 The hospitality and simple plainness of New York city, down 
 to the period of 1790 and 1800, was very peculiar. All felt and 
 praised it. Nothing was too good, and no attention too engross- 
 ing for a stranger. It was a passport to every thing kind and 
 generous. All who were introduced, invited him to their home 
 and board. As wealth and pride and numbers came in, it wo-re 
 off more and more ; till now it follows selfishness and reserve 
 like other great cities. 
 
 LOCAL CHANGES AND LOCAL FACTS. 
 
 «« To observe and preserve." 
 
 A GENTLEMAN of eighty years of age, in 182S, told me of his 
 digging out the trunk of a walnut tree, at nine feet depth, at his 
 house at the Coenties slip, near Pearl street. 
 
 He well remembered, in early life to have seen a natural spring 
 of fine fresh water at the fort, at a position a little north-west of 
 Hone's house. There was also a fresh water well once at N. 
 Prime's house near the Battery. 
 
 He saw the old fort cut down about the year 1788-9, when 
 they found beneath the vault the ancient Dutch church, once 
 there, the leaden coffins of Lord Bellermont and lady. Vansant 
 and Jane way were charged to remove them to St. Paul's church. 
 
 He saw a linseed oil factory worked with wind sails, on a 
 high hill of woods, about a quarter of a mile north-east of the 
 Kolch. This was about the year 1790. 
 
 About the same time he saw a beautiful meadow and flourish- 
 ing grass cut on the declining hill back of the City Hall towards 
 the Kolch. 
 
 The " tea water fountain " out by Stuyvesant's field, is now 
 very good, and was in great repute formerly. The region of 
 country near the prison, on the East river, has now excellent 
 water. There " Knapp" gets his " spring water" for the city 
 supply. 
 
 A lady of about eighty-six years of age in 1828, said she well 
 remembered when the locality of the present St. Paul's church 
 was a wheat field. 
 
 She also spoke of her remembrance of a '* ferry house" in 
 
172 Local Changes and local Facts. 
 
 Broad street, up above "Exchange Place/^ (then Garden alley) 
 to which place the Indians used to come and set down in the 
 street near there, and make and sell baskets. 
 
 The place called " Canvas Town," was made after the great 
 fire in 1776. It lay towards the East river, and from Broad 
 street to Whitehall street. It was so called from the temporary 
 construction of the houses, and their being generally covered 
 with canvas instead of roofs. Very lewd and dissolute persons 
 generally were their tenants, and gave them their notoriety and 
 fame. 
 
 While the old fort existed, before the revolution, it contained 
 within its bounds the mansion of the governors (military chief- 
 tains) and their gardens. There governors Dunmore, Tryon, &c. 
 dwelt. New York was a military station, and as such it had 
 always a regiment of foot and a company of artillery ; also a 
 guard ship in the bay. 
 
 Mr. Abram Brower, aged seventy -five in 1828, informed me 
 that the lots fronting the Vly market were originally sold out by 
 the city corporation, at only one dollar the foot. 
 
 He said the market in Broadway (the Oswego I presume) was 
 once leased to a Mr. Crosby for only 20*. for seven years. 
 
 He remembered when only horse boats ferried from Brooklyn, 
 with only two men to row it, in which service they sometimes 
 drove towards Governor's Island, and employed a whole hour. 
 Only one ferry was used on the North river side, and then not 
 to go across to Jersey City as now, but down to the Blazing Star. 
 Those who then came from Bergen, &c. used the country boats. 
 
 He said the Dutch yachts (then so called) were from one to 
 two weeks in a voyage to Hudson and Albany. They came to, 
 usually every night, "slow and sure." Then all on board spoke 
 the Dutch language. [The mayor, Thomas Willet, in 1665, 
 informs the corporation " he intends for Albania with the first 
 opportunity, and prays his leave of absence."] 
 
 The last Dutch schoolmaster was Vanbombeler ; he kept his 
 
 school till after the revolution. Mr. Brower himself went to a 
 
 Dutch school, to his grandfather's, Abram Delanoye, (a French 
 
 -k} Hugonot, via Holland), who kept his school in Courtlandt street. 
 
 Elective offices, when they went by merit, and not by partisan 
 efforts, were of enduring character, to the individual concerned. 
 Thus to instance one case, in the family of the Bogerts ; Henry 
 Bogert was elected assistant Alderman of the west ward, annu- 
 ally for sixteen consecutive years, from 1734 to 1750 ; and John 
 Bogert, Jr. (grandfather of the present James Bogert, Jr.) was 
 elected Alderman for Montgomery ward, annually for eleven 
 consecutive years, from 1755 to 1766, when he retired from public 
 and mercantile life to his country seat at Harlem. Another 
 John Bogert, of the same family, was elected assistant alderman 
 for the fourth ward for the years 1797-98, when he became an 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 173 
 
 alderman, and was re-elected annually, for four successive years, 
 and then declined any further election. Edward Holland was 
 mayor from 1747 to 1756, and John Crugan was mayor from 
 1757 to 1765. Simon Johnson was recorder, from 1747 to 1768. 
 
 The first Methodist preaching in New York was at a house hi 
 William street, then a rigging loft. There Embury first preached; 
 and being a carpenter, he made his own pulpit, — a true puritan 
 characteristic. 
 
 Mr. Brower, when a boy, never heard of " Greenwich," the 
 name was not even known ; but the Dutch, when they spoke of 
 the place, called it Shawbackanicka, an Indian name as he sup- 
 posed. " Greenwich street" was of course unknown. 
 
 He knew of no daily papers until after the revolution. Wey- 
 man and Gaine had each a weekly one corresponding to their 
 limited wants and knowledge. The first daily paper was by 
 F. Child & Co., called the New York Daily Advertiser, began 
 in 1785. 
 
 He saw Andrews hanging in gibbets for piracy ; he was hung 
 long in irons, just above the Washington market, and was then 
 taken to Gibbet Island and suspended there; — year 1769. 
 
 I notice such changes as the following : — 
 
 Maiden lane, called Medge Padje, is greatly altered for the 
 better; formerly that street was much lower near its junction 
 with Pearl street ; it was much narrower, and had no separate 
 foot pavement; its gutter ran down the middle of the street. 
 Where the lofty triangular store of Watson is seen up said street, 
 was once a low sooty blacksmith shop, Olstein's (a rarity now in 
 the sight of passing citizens,) and near it a cluster of low wooden 
 buildings. 
 
 In Pearl street, below Maiden lane, I have seen proof positive 
 of the primitive river margin there ; several of the cellars, and 
 shallow ones too, had water in them from that original cause. 
 
 I perceive that Duane street, from Broadway, is greatly filled 
 up ; from one and a half to two stories there is made ground ; 
 the south corner of Duane street, at Broadway, is sixteen feet 
 filled up, and the same I am told in Broadway. South of this 
 was originally a hill descending northward. 
 
 Where Leonard street traverses the Broadway and descends a 
 hill to the Collect, was well remembered an orchard but a few 
 years ago. Some of the Collect was still open fourteen or fifteen 
 years ago (it is said), and was skated upon. 
 
 The original Collect main spring still exists on Leonard street, 
 having a house now over it, lettered " supply engine." 
 
 The Kolch waters still ooze through the new made filled in 
 ground, into the cellars, especially in wet seasons. 
 
 When they dug out some of the Kolch ground, some used the 
 earth as turf, thinking it had that quality. 
 
 The Collect street runs through the leading line or centre of 
 
 p2 
 
I.i 
 
 174 Local Changes and local Fads. 
 
 the old Kolch channel, and has under its pavement a sewer to 
 lead off the water. This street is the thoroughfare of so much 
 water, as to make it necessary to incline this street deeply to the 
 middle as a deep gutter way. Indeed, so much water, " deep and 
 broad," floAvs along it like a sullied brook, that it might be well 
 called Brook street ; helped, as the idea is, by the numerous foot 
 planks, as miniature bridges, laid across it at intervals for the con- 
 venience of foot passengers. 
 
 About the year 1 784-5, property near New York went down 
 greatly ; few or none had money to buy with. About the year 
 1785-6, alderman Wm. Bayard wished to raise cash by selling his 
 farm, of one hundred and fifty acres, on the western side of Broad- 
 way and near the city. He devised the scheme of offering them 
 in lots of twenty-five by one hundred feet ; only twenty -five dol- 
 lars was bid, and but few of them were sold. It was well for 
 him, for very soon after, feelings and opinions changed ; and they 
 who had bought for twenty-five dollars, sold out for one hundred 
 dollars ; and then, the impulse being given, the progressive rise 
 has had no end. 
 
 A kinsman, G. T., told me, in 1828, that the out lots of the city 
 " went up" about twenty-one years before, when from the cir- 
 cumstances of trade, &c. they began to fall much, and soon after 
 to rise again more than ever. He bought lots four years before at 
 the rate of ^850, which would now bring him iB 1,800. Twenty- 
 one years ago he bought lots for ^2,000 reluctantly, which he in 
 six months after sold for ^4,000. That purchaser kept it till four 
 years ago at its minimum price, and sold it for ^2,000 ! Some of 
 his property, which five years ago he would have freely sold for 
 ^2,000, would now be valued at ^12,000. The lot at the corner 
 of Broadway and Maiden lane was sold for ^27,600, equal to 
 ^22 per square foot. This is, however, a rare circumstance, hav- 
 ing had the accident of attaining to much front along the newly 
 extended Broadway. 
 
 The Stuyvesants, Rutgers, Delancys, and others have attained 
 to great riches by the rapid and unexpected growth of New York, 
 voraciously calling on such " out town" landlords for their farms 
 at any price ! Old Mr. Janeway, who died lately, at fourscore, 
 saw his few acres near the Chatham street and Collect, grow in 
 his long life and possession from almost nothing to a great estate. 
 " While they slumbered and slept," their fortunes advanced with- 
 out their effort or skill. Much the fact impresses the recollection 
 of "Ecclesiasticus;" he saith, "There is one that laboureth and 
 taketh pains and maketh haste, and is so much the more behind, 
 (as many poor bankrupts know,) and there is another that is slow 
 and hath need of help, wanting ability, yet he is set up from his 
 low estate!" 
 
 The head of Chatham street, where it joins the Bowery road, 
 although now a hill, has been cut down in modem times twelve 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 175 
 
 feet. From this point, following the line of Division street, and 
 thence down to the river, on the line of Catherine street, was for- 
 merly Col. Rutger's farm ; it was opened as city lots, about thirty- 
 five to thirty-eight years ago. 
 
 I found the once celebrated " tea water pump," long covered 
 up and disused, again in use, but unknown, in the liquor store of 
 a Mr. Fagan, 126 Chatham street ; I drank of it to revive recol-r 
 lections. 
 
 I have been surprised to find, in so magnificent a city, such a 
 mean collection of hovels, of feeble wooden fabric, as I see in the 
 rear of the great City Hall and the stately houses along Chambers 
 street ; they lay on the line of Cross street, descending a present 
 hill, formerly much higher and more rugged, having only foot- 
 paths for clambering boys. The mean houses at the foot of the hill 
 or street, are now half buried in earth by the raising of the street 
 ten feet ; up to this neighbourhood, came once the little Collect ; 
 it forms the site generally of what was formerly Jane way's little 
 farm. 
 
 The Magazine street, here, (because of the powder house once 
 close by) now named Pearl street, in continuation, as it runs to- 
 wards the Hospital on Broadway, shows, I think, strong marks 
 of having been at the period of the revolution, the utmost verge 
 of city hopes. The range of Beekman and Vesey streets, had 
 once bounded their expectations ; and lastly, they extended to the 
 natural lines of Pearl street as it crosses the city, and was there 
 formed at the foot of the hills on its southern side. Before the 
 Magazine street was formed, it was so essentially the imaginary 
 line which bounded the Police of Justice, &c., that it was usual 
 to designate the limits by the vague name of " fresh water" side 
 of the city. Thus referring to the great Kolch and its course of 
 marshes, as separating all beyond in a terra incognita. 
 
 The houses No. 13 and 15 on Elm street, near the corner of 
 Duane street, are singular evidences of modern innovation. They 
 were originally good two story houses, and are now filled up in 
 Elm street, nearly to their roofs. 
 
 In the rear of No. 48 Frankford street, is now a very ancient 
 tan yard. This street down to Ferry street, and from William 
 street over to Jacob's street, is the region of what was formerly 
 tan yards, and originally Beekman's swamp. An old man near 
 there, said he remembered to have shot ducks there formerly. 
 The father of another had told him he often gathered huckle- 
 berries ; and fifty to sixty years ago it was common to exercise 
 there in skating. 
 
 Mr. Lydigg told me that when the tanneries about here accu- 
 mulated great hills of tan, it was the material for the fortifications 
 of the boys, (preparing for the revolution by sham fights). Here 
 great tan redoubts, piked with cow horns, were defended bravely 
 by the Pearl street and Fly boys against the invading urchins 
 
176 Local Changes and local Facts, 
 
 from Broadway. Sometimes the open field was resorted to on 
 the present Park, where missiles of thwacking force were dealt 
 with vigorous arm. 
 
 * Mr. Jacob Tabele, aged eighty-seven in 1828, said that in his 
 early days he heard much speaking of Dutch among the people 
 and along the streets. He saw no lamps in the streets when a 
 boy. 
 
 The powder house he remembered. A powder house, called 
 the Magazine, on a rising ground (a kind of island) at the Collect. 
 
 In Nicholas Bayard's woods he often shot numerous pigeons. 
 
 He remembered they used to burn lime from oyster-shells on 
 the Park commons. This agrees with what Mr. Brower said, 
 who imputed the name of Collect to the low Dutch for burnt 
 lime : but it is more probable Kolch was the true name, from its 
 meaning " fresh water" there. 
 
 He remembered ship yards between Beekman's and Burling's 
 Slips. 
 
 There were once some small houses of wood, where is now 
 St. Paul's Church. 
 
 He has seen river water flow through the sewer up the Maiden 
 lane as high as Olstein's blacksmith shop on the triangular 
 square. 
 
 There was a very high hill, once called " Bayard's Mount," 
 on which the Americans built a fort, and called it Bunker Hill, . 
 in the time of the revolution, now cut down. It stood on present 
 Grand street, a little east of Centre market. 
 
 He remembered the " ferry house" so called, high up Broad 
 street ; had heard that the creek once run up there. The sign 
 was a boat with iron oars. It was an inn with such a sign in 
 his time. 
 
 He remembered seeing the block houses in a line of pahsades, 
 quite across the island ; they went in a line from the back of 
 Chambers street. They were of logs of about one story high. 
 They being empty, were often used by Indians who made and 
 sold baskets, &c. there. So said Ebbets also. 
 
 He remembered when boats could freely pass along the space 
 now occupied by large trees on the Battery ground. 
 
 He well remembered the ancient City Hall (Stadt Huys) at the 
 head of Coenties slip ; said he often heard it had been used as a 
 fort in Leisler's civil war, against the real fort at the Battery. He 
 had often seen a ball then shot at it, and which was left in the 
 side wall of the house, (pulled down by Tunis Quick in 1827,) 
 on the south-west corner of Pearl street and Coenties slip. The 
 ball is now in the possession of Dr. Mitchell, as a relic. 
 
 There were market houses at everyone of the slips in his time; 
 the one at the foot of Wall street, nigh the Tontine, was called 
 the Meal market. 
 
 Said he often heard of Lindley Murray (the grammarian) having 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 177 
 
 leaped across Biirling's slip, (about twenty-one feet,) with a pair 
 of fowls in his hand as he came from market. He believed it, 
 and others spoke of it to me as true, and that his lameness after- 
 wards was imputed to his efforts. 
 
 Mr. Table said there were but few streets paved. Broadway 
 and other streets had all their gutter ways in the middle. 
 
 He remembered the Oswego market in Broadway, opposite to 
 Liberty street. When demolished, another was placed at the 
 west end of Maiden lane. 
 
 The Bear market was the only one on the North river side. 
 It took its name from the fact of the first meat ever sold in it 
 having been bear meat, killed as the bear was swimming from 
 the neighbourhood of Bergen shore. 
 
 William street, from John street northwards, used to be called 
 Horse and Cart street, from an inn near there having such a 
 sign. 
 
 Mr. Grant Thorburn, the seedman, told me that when they 
 were digging in Broadway to lay the Manhattan pipes, they 
 came to the posts of the city gate once at Wall street. The deed 
 for his premises, once the Friends meeting-house, speaks of its 
 being located " outside of the wall of the city," thus referring to 
 the wall once along " Wall street." He also showed me a rarity 
 in the first directory ever made for New York, say in the year 
 1786. The very names of that day are curious; so few then 
 who were foreigners. Such was the novelty or uselessness of a 
 directory then, when every man knew his neighbour, that no 
 other was attempted till the year 1793 ; that one Mr. Thorburn 
 also possesses. 
 
 Mr. Thorburn's seed house is a curiosity itself — a rare concep- 
 tion on his part; and presenting to the eye of a walking passenger 
 along the streets, a little rus in urbe. 
 
 This Mr. Grant Thorburn, may be regarded as somewhat of a 
 curiosity, and a character in himself — especially in his relation to 
 the olden time, and his cordial attachment to the past. Besides 
 being in his own person, the proper " Lawrie Todd" of western 
 New York, he is often a pleasant noticer of the passing changes 
 of men and things in and about New York city. We quote from 
 some of his reminiscences : — He came to this country from Scot- 
 land, in 1794, and engaged in New York at nail making, as then 
 wrought by the hand, and since wholly superseded by cutting 
 machines, turning him for the time, out of his employment and 
 bread ! He says he saw at his arrival all things in the Dutch 
 character, such as Dutch houses, goods, and manners, also Dutch 
 words, Dutch men, and Dutch lasses. The great majority of 
 vessels then were advertised as bound for Amsterdam and Rotter- 
 dam, and but few then for Liverpool and London. Then the 
 Bear market (since the Washington) was supplied principally 
 from Haverstraw, Hackensack, Bergen, and Communipaw, and 
 23 
 
^178 Local Changes and local Facts. 
 
 \ 
 
 unless you could talk a good portion of Dutch, it was of little use 
 to go there to traffic. Then Paus and Pinkster were of univer- 
 sal observance. Then for the time being, all made it an idle day 
 — boys and negroes might be seen all day standing in the market 
 place, laughing, joking, and cracking eggs. In the afternoon, the 
 grown up apprentices and servant girls, used to dance on the 
 green in Bayard's farm in the Bowery. One of his contemporaries 
 told him how the apprentices of his day, were all wont to save 
 their earnings, on purpose to have their full of frolic at Paus. 
 He had himself, only some five years before, saved up his fifteen 
 dollars for such an occasion, but when the time came, he heard 
 that lots were selUng out of town, where Leonard street since 
 runs, for only fifteen dollars ; he resolved to forego his intended 
 frolic, and by his forbearance for one season of joy and fun, to 
 buy a lot. But before he reached the place of purchase, he was 
 overruled by another, to join him in his paus-day, and so lost 
 in his fifteen dollars of money spent, which if invested, would 
 have brought him three thousand dollars now. Think of the 
 change, and such changes have been profited in by many. At 
 that time there was only one Doctor in New York who " kept a 
 gig" — he par excellence was Dr. Charlton. The first man to 
 make coach springs in New York was one WilUams from Eng- 
 land, who came to work in the same shop with Mr. Thorburn — 
 he made money and did well for himself until he joined Tom 
 Paine's society and infidelity, and then he became an outcast, 
 and an alms-house pauper. Mr. Thorburn, in surveying the 
 present and considering the past, makes his conclusion, that the 
 solid comforts of social life in New York, have diminished pro- 
 portion ably to the advancements in refinements and luxuries — 
 others think so too. 
 
 An ancient house at the corner of Beaver lane and Broadway, 
 of original two stories high, has its cellar wall exposed out of 
 ground, thus showing the cutting down of Broadway six to eight 
 feet at least. If we keep the idea of that elevation, we may form 
 some idea of the primitive elevation of the ground whereon the 
 fort stood ; aged men have told me they thought the highest ele- 
 vation of the parapet walls was about equal to the walls of pre- 
 sent houses near there. 
 
 Mr. Daniel J. Ebbets, aged seventy-six in 1828, who has been 
 a very observant youth and is now an intelligent gentleman of 
 lively mind, has helped me to many facts. 
 
 He says, the present Bowling Green was once an oblong square, 
 and was well surrounded with large locust trees. 
 
 As late as the year 1787, he had assisted to draw a seine on 
 the beach, where runs the present Greenwich street, say from 
 Beaver lane to Battery : there they caught many fish and much 
 of herring : the beach was beautiful ; there boys and horses were 
 wont to bathe and sport in the wave. A street to be there never 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 179 
 
 entered the head of the sportive youth. A large rock (see it on 
 Lyne's map) stood out in the middle of present Greenwich street, 
 then in the water, on which was a kind of rude summer house, 
 much to the mind and fancy of the boys ; affording them a resort 
 of much frolic and youthful glee. 
 
 Then Mr. Ebbets saw no commerce, or vessels along the North 
 river side. The Albany sloops all went round to East river, 
 and all their sailors talked Dutch, and all understood it enough 
 for their business. 
 
 He was familiar with the plot of the old fort, and described it 
 thus ; — first the green bank, which was sloping, was about four- 
 teen feet high, on which was erected a wall of about twenty feet 
 additional height. An old linden and two apple trees on the city 
 side, were as high as the walls. Some barracks lay along the 
 line of State street. 
 
 The Broadway, in 1772, extended only as high as the Hospital. 
 Where the Hospital is, was " Rutger's orchard." 
 
 There was a rope walk (Vanpelt's) a little north of Courtland 
 street, running from Broadway to the North river. All the old 
 deeds on north side of Courtland street, speak of fifteen feet of the 
 said walk as in their lots. Another ran parallel to it from oppo- 
 site the present Bridewell prison ; and in its place, or near it, was 
 formerly a range of British barracks ; [as I think since, in the 
 line of the present Scudder's Museum.] 
 
 The "brick meeting," built in 1764, on Beekman street, near 
 Chatham street, was then said to be in popular parlance, in " the 
 fields." There Whitefield was heard to preach. 
 
 Back of the above-mentioned barracks, and also behind the 
 present jail, was a high hill, and on its descent a negro burying 
 groun d ; and thence further down, it was a fine meadow. 
 
 The British army gave the name of " the Mall" to their parade 
 ground fronting the Trinity church. 
 
 There were very fine sun fish and roach fish caught in the 
 Collect pond. 
 
 The City Hall at the head of Broad street, (afterwards the 
 Congress Hall) besides holding the courts, was also a prison. In 
 front of it, on the head of Broad street, he remembered seeing 
 there a whipping post, and pillory, and stocks. He has seen 
 them lead the culprits round the town, whipping them at the cart 
 tail. They also introduced the wooden horse as a punishment. 
 The horse was put into the cart-body, and the criminal set thereon. 
 Mary Price having been the first who had the infamous distinc- 
 tion, caused the horse ever after to be called, " the horse of Mary 
 Price." 
 
 So recently has a part of Water street been filled up, that he 
 could now lead to the spot there, where could be found the body 
 of a vessel deep under present ground. 
 
 He verified the fact in Moulton's book, of a canal (or channel) 
 
180 Local Changes and local Facts. 
 
 of water running out of the present Beaver street, into the Broad 
 street canal, in primitive times. He said that half way between 
 Broad street and New street, in Beaver street, there had been 
 dug up two bars of lead, evidently dropped overboard from some 
 boat. At same place was a cedar post, upright, having on it the 
 lines of the ropes of boats once tied to it. 
 
 The Mineral Spring, No. 8 Jacob's street, quaintly enough 
 called "Jacob's Well," is a real curiosity, whether regarded either 
 as an illusion or as a reality. The enterprise was bold to bore 
 there one hundred and thirty feet, and the result is said to be that 
 they found a spring having the properties of the Saratoga and 
 Congress waters. Some distrust it, but the proprietors say, twenty- 
 five thousand persons used it in a year. It is a part of Beekman's 
 swamp. 
 
 The house in Peck's slip, north side, a yellow frame. No. 7, 
 was pointed out to me by an aged person, as being in his youth 
 the nearest house to the river, which was then so near, he could 
 jump into the river then ranging along Water street, near to it. 
 He said also that " Walton house," close by on Pearl street. No. 
 324, had its garden in its rear quite down to the river. He said 
 the hill called Peck's Hill, from Walton house to the Franklin 
 Bank, (at the union of Cherry and Pearl streets) was originally 
 a much higher hill. 
 
 I went out to the Dry Dock and Steam Mill, for sawing, &c., 
 on the river margin of " Stuyvesant's Swamp," or flats. It is a 
 very wide extended wet flat, over which tides used to overflow, 
 now sluiced out. Some low grass meadows appear ; but gene- 
 rally it is a waste, coming now into incalculable value to that 
 family as building lots. The adjacent hills furnish abundance of 
 coarse sand and gravel material for filling up, which is now busily 
 pursued in the lines of the intended streets. Some of the ancient 
 oaks are scattered around, and many stumps showing the recent 
 woods about here, wherever not submerged in water. At the 
 point or hook, a little beyond the Dry Dock, I saw a small 
 moimt, on which, in the revolution, was a small redoubt, near 
 which lay the King Fisher sloop of war. 
 
 I observed great digging down of hills and removals of earth 
 going on, all about the Stuyvesant mansion house and farm. 
 
 Mr. Nicholas S told me they often came to Indian graves, 
 
 known as such by having oyster-shells interred with the bones, 
 and sometimes some fragments of frail pottery. 
 
 Just beyond " Peter's Field" and mansion, extending up to 
 the Fever Hospital at Bellevue, is a great bend or bay, which is 
 now all filling up with innumerable loads of earth from the 
 adjacent high grounds; the whole having a long wharf in front, 
 calculated to extend down to the Dry Dock, all of which is to be 
 laid out in streets and city lots. It is an immense and spirited 
 undertaking, affording constant business for the labouring poor. 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 181 
 
 Canal street is a grand undertaking, effecting a great benefit, by- 
 draining through a great sewer the waters which once passed by 
 the former canal to the Collect. The street is broad and the 
 houses genteel ; but as this region of ground was once swampy, 
 it is liable now to have wet or damp cellars throughout the range 
 of Lispenard's swamp to the northward, and from Lafayette 
 theatre, (which is laid on piles) down to the North river. Chapel 
 street, which runs southward from Canal street, follows the line 
 of a former water-course (connecting with the canal formerly and 
 now by a sewer) quite down to Leonard street, and has been all 
 made ground, filled in over the sewer. 
 
 From the inlets to those sewers is emitted a strong offensive 
 smell of filth and salt water, only however perceptible at the 
 apertures, and never known to have any deleterious effect on 
 health. 
 
 Mr. Wilke, president of the bank, told me he once stood sen- 
 tinel as a volunteer on the sand beach, close to the present old 
 sugar-house still standing nearly in the rear of the present City 
 Hotel, on Broadway. Thus proving, what I had before heard 
 from Mr. Swords and others, that at the rear of Trinity church- 
 yard, a little beyond where Lumber street is now, the boys used 
 to swim. 
 
 Mr. Wilke also told me he knew the parties who in 1780 fought 
 a duel in the rear of the hospital ground. 
 
 In visiting Thomas Rammey, a good chronicle, I learned from 
 himself and wife several facts, to wit : — 
 
 Rammey had Hved in Cross street ; while there, he dug up 
 remains of the old Magazine, and he could see evidence that 
 water sometimes had enclosed it, [as Lyne's ancient map had 
 shown.] His mother-in-law, if alive, would be one hundred and 
 six years of age in 1828. She often talked of the block-houses 
 and paUsades across the city, behind the present City Hall ; said 
 the Indians occupied many places outside of their line, and used 
 there to make baskets, ladles, &c. for sale. Many of them hut- 
 ted outside the present Hospital, towards the North river. 
 
 She well remembered they were used at times, in high waters, 
 to have a ferry boat to cross the people in Chatham street, over 
 where it crosses Pearl street, where it is still low ground. Lyne's 
 map of 1729 marks this same place with a bridge. 
 
 She had recollection of the wife of Gov. Stuyvesant used to 
 go out to his farm near the flats, and there see numerous fish 
 caught. 
 
 She remembered and spoke much of the Negro Plot — said 
 it made terrible agitation — saw the Negroes hung back of the 
 site of the present jail, in the Park. A wind-mill once stood near 
 there. 
 
 The Jews' burying-ground was up Chatham street, on a hill, 
 where is now the Tradesman's Bank. 
 
 Q 
 
iSd Local Changes and local Facts, 
 
 She said that water once ran from the Collect both ways ; i. e. 
 to the East river as well as to the North river. Sometimes the 
 salt water came up to it from the North river in the winters, and 
 raised the ice. 
 
 In her time the strand or beach on the East river was along 
 present Pearl street generally ; and at the comer of Pearl street 
 and Maiden lane, dwelt her brother-in-law, who used to keep 
 his boat tied to his stoop to ferry him off by water. 
 
 She said Maiden lane got its name from the practice of women, 
 the younger part generally going out there to bleach their family 
 linen : all of which was then made at home. It had a fine creek 
 or brook, and was headed by a good spring. Sometime after- 
 wards, minor springs remained for a time in cellars there, and 
 one was in Cuyler's house till modern times. The hills adjacent, 
 clothed in fine grass, sloped gradually to the line of Maiden lane, 
 and there she bleached with many others. 
 
 She said Broadway went no higher than St. Paul's church. 
 
 She said "Chapel Hill," where is now Dr. Milnor's church, 
 on Beekman street, was a very high mount and steep, from 
 which the boys with sleds used to slide down on the snow, quite 
 to the swamp below. With this agrees the fact told me by Mr. 
 James Bogert, that his father, in later times, used to ride up to it 
 as a high apple orchard. 
 
 Mr. Rammey said that behind the City Hall once stood an old 
 alms-house, built in 1710, and taken down about the year 1793 ; 
 perhaps the burials behind it gave rise to the remark made to me 
 by Dr. Francis, that along the line of Chambers street are many 
 graves. 
 
 He says he used to be told that the real " ferry house" on 
 Broad street, was at the north-east corner of Garden street, now 
 Exchange Place, and is lately taken down, [and so several others 
 have suggested to me] ; and that the other, (No. 19) a little 
 higher up, (the north end of the Custom-house store) was only a 
 second inn, having a ferry boat sign, either in opposition, or to 
 perpetuate the other. He said the boats were flat bottomed, and 
 used to come from Jersey. To me I confess it seems to have been 
 a singular location for a ferry, but as the tradition is so general 
 and concurrent, I incline to think it was so called from its being 
 a resort of country boats coming there to find a central place for 
 their sales. I have heard the names of certain present rich families, 
 whose ancestors were said to come there with oysters. 
 
 A man actually born in the old ferry house, at the corner, and 
 who dwelt there forty years, described it as a very low one story 
 house, with very high and steep pediment roof; its front on 
 Broad street ; its side along Garden alley had two dormer win- 
 dows in the roof, much above the plate ; shingle roof covered 
 with moss ; one hundred years probably of age ; had an iron 
 boat, and oars and anchor for a sign ; the " Governor's house" 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 183 
 
 adjoined it in the alley. An old lady close by.confirmed all this. 
 ^picture of the whole scene is annexed. 
 
 Mr. David Grim, an aged citizen, to whom we are indebted 
 for much valuable data given to the Historical Society, has esti- 
 mated in detail the houses of the city in 1744, as then 1141 in 
 number, of which only 129 houses were on the west side of the 
 Broadway to the North river inclusive : thus evidencing fully, 
 that the tide of population very greatly inclined to the East river. 
 
 Mrs. Myers, the daughter of said D. Grim, said she had seen 
 the British barracks of wood, enclosed by a high fence. It ex- 
 tended from Broadway to Chatham street,along present Chambers 
 street, exactly where is now the Museum. It had a gate at each 
 end ; the one by Chatham street was called " Tryon's Gate," 
 after the name of the governor, from which we have derived since 
 there, the name of " Tryon's Row." 
 
 About the year 1788 the whole of the ancient fort, near the 
 site of the present Battery, was all taken down and levelled 
 under the direction of Messrs. J. Pintard, Vansant, and Jane way, 
 as city commissioners. The design was to prepare the site to 
 erect thereon a house for General Washington as President of 
 the United States ; but as the Congress removed to Philadelphia, 
 he never occupied it, and it therefore became the " governor's 
 house" in the person of Governor Clinton. 
 
 In taking down the ancient Dutch chapel vault, they came to 
 the remains of Lord and Lady Bellermont, in leaden coffins, 
 known by family escutcheon and inscriptions on silver plates. 
 These coffins, with the bones of several others, were taken by Mr. 
 Pintard, who told me, to St. Paul's church ground, where they 
 all rest now in one common grave, without any notice above 
 ground of " storied urn or animated bust." The silver plates 
 were taken by Mr. Vansant for a museum ; but he dying, they 
 fell into hands which with much bad taste, converted them into 
 spoons ! A story much like this is told of the use made of the 
 coffin plates of Governor Paulus Vanderbrecke and wife, placed 
 first in G. Baker's museum, and afterwards in Tammany Hall. 
 Lord Bellermont died in 1701. Mr. Dunlap, in his history of 
 New York, vol. i. page 244, gives some facts concerning this. 
 
 This brief notice of the once renowned dead, so soon divested 
 of sculptured fame, leads me to the notice of some other cases 
 where the sculptor's hand could not give even brief existence 
 to once mighty names ; I refer to the king's equestrian statue of 
 lead in the centre of the Bowling Green, and to Pitt's marble 
 statue in Wall street, centre of William street. Both are gone, 
 and scarcely may you learn the history of their abduction. So 
 frail is hitman glory ! 
 
 The latter I found, after much inquiry and search, in the 
 Arsenal yard on the site of the Collect. It had before been to 
 Bridewell yard. The statue is of fine marble and fine execution, 
 
l^ Local Changes and local Facts, 
 
 in a Roman toga, and showing the roll of Magna Charta ; but 
 it is decapitated, and without hands — in short, a sorry relic ! Our 
 patriot fathers of the revolution, when they erected it, swore it 
 should be as eternal as " enduring marble ;" they idolized the 
 man as their British champion, 
 
 " In freedom's cause with generous warmth inspired." 
 
 But the fact was, while the British army occupied New York, 
 their champion lost his head on some unknown occasion, and 
 has never since been heard of! The statue itself was taken 
 down soon after the peace, both as an inconvenience in the street, 
 so narrow there in the busy mart, and also as a deformity. 
 Alexander M'Cormick, Esq., who dwelt near the statue, told me 
 it disappeared the night of St. Andrew, when, as it was whispered, 
 some British officers, who had been at their revels, struck it off 
 in revelry rather than in spite. No inquisition was made for it 
 at the time; one hand had before been struck off, it was supposed, 
 by boys. A story was told among some whigs, that the tories 
 had struck off the head in retaliation for the alleged insult offered 
 to the king, by drawing his statue along the street to melt it into 
 bullets for the war. My friend John Baylie was present in July, 
 '76, and saw the degrading spectacle. He saw no decent people 
 present; a great majority were shouting boys.* 
 
 Before the revolution, and even sometime afterwards, William 
 street was the great mart for dry goods sales, and chiefly from 
 Maiden lane up to Pearl street. It was the proper Bond street 
 too for the beaux and shopping belles. Now Broadway has its 
 turn. 
 
 Pearl street then had no stores, but it was the place of good 
 dwellings ; then Broadway had no stores or business, and had 
 but a few scattered houses about the region of the new City Hall. 
 
 Before the revolution, the only road out of town was by the 
 Bowery road, and was once called " the high road to Boston." 
 
 The Bowling Green was before called " the Parade.'' 
 
 Mr. Thomas Swords, aged sixty-six in 1828, told me he re- 
 membered to have seen the remains of an old redoubt by Grace 
 and Lumber street (corner), the same which was presumed once 
 to have terminated the northern line of the city along Wall street. 
 It was a hill there ; there American prisoners were buried in time 
 of the revolution ; and he has seen coffins there in the wasting 
 banks of the mount ; at the foot of it, was the beach along the 
 North river. 
 
 The grandfather of Mr. James Bogert told hiiii that oyster 
 vessels used to come up Broad street to sell them ; and in later 
 times, water used to enter cellars along that street from the canal. 
 
 David Grim, in his very interesting topographical draft of the 
 
 • The statues of Pitt and George III. were both put up in 1770. 
 
Local Changes and local Facts, 185 
 
 s 
 city as it was in 1742-4, (done by him when seventy-six years 
 of age, in the year 1813,) is a highly useful relic and gift of the 
 olden time. His generous attention to posterity in that gift to 
 the Historical Society is beyond all praise, as a work in itself sui 
 generis, and not to be replaced by any other data. He was a 
 chronicle, who lived to be eighty-nine, and to wonder at the 
 advancements and changes around him ! I here mark some of 
 his facts : — 
 
 He marks the " Governor's Garden" near the fort, as ranging 
 along the line of Whitehall street, next the fort, and there turning 
 an angle of the fort and enclosing westward to the river. This 
 also agrees with the report of others, who told me of seeing deer 
 kept by the governor in front of the fort on the ground of the 
 Water Battery. 
 
 Mr. Grim marks the line of a narrow canal or channel in Broad 
 street, as open above the present Pearl street, and there covered 
 by the bridge or Exchange House, or both. 
 
 He marks the localities of public wells in the middle of the 
 streets. 
 
 He marks Rutgers' farm as lying north-west of the Collect, and 
 Winthorn's farm as south-east of the same. 
 
 At the foot of Courtland street he marks the then only wharf. 
 We know it was built there for the king's purposes, having there- 
 on an arsenal reaching up to Dey street. 
 
 Mr. David Grim told his daughter of there having been a 
 market once held at the head of Broad street. This agrees with 
 what G. N. Bleeker, Esq., told me, as from his grandmother, 
 who spoke of a market at Garden street, which was in eflfect the 
 same place. 
 
 Bake well's City Portrait of 1747, a fine perspective, marks the 
 great dock at the foot of Broad street as having a long dividing 
 wharf projecting into it from Broad, and set on piles, which leads 
 me to the idea of " the bridge " so often named there. It was 
 probably the landing place for the unloaded goods from vessels 
 in the east and west mole on both sides of it. 
 
 A low market house on arches, having a large dial plate on its 
 roof in front, is set at the foot of Broad street. 
 
 The city corporation grants to Trinity church, in 1703, as I 
 saw of record in Mr. Bleeker's office, the grounds there " for a 
 burying place for the inhabitants of the city forever ; and upon 
 any of the inhabitants of said city paying therefor to the Rector, 
 &c. 3^. for each corpse above twelve years of age, and 1^. Qd. for 
 any under twelve years of age, and no more." This last emphatic 
 word may seem peculiar when we reflect how very special and 
 exclusive those grounds have been so long occupied. 
 
 In the minutes of council of 1696, 1 saw that a sewer of 1100 
 feet length was recommended to be made in the Broad street. 
 24 q2 
 
186 Local Changes and local Facts. 
 
 I saw in the city commissioner's office, that the population of 
 New York, in 1730, was only 8638 ; and in 1825, it was 166,086. 
 
 David Grim told Mr. Lydigg that he had seen the river water 
 over Chatham street and Pearl street, and extending from the 
 East to the North river ; along the line of the Collect as I presume. 
 
 Mr. Brower and others have explained to me, that all along 
 the present Grand street, as it approaches to Corlear's Hook, was 
 formerly very high hills covered with apple and peach trees. 
 Much too of the present level of Harman street, leading into 
 Grand street, was formerly hills of sixty feet height. The ma- 
 terials of these hills so cut down furnish excellent gravel for new 
 streets, and especially the means of extending their grounds out 
 into the rivers. 
 
 The first bank in New York, called the Bank of New York, be- 
 gan the 9th of June 1784, opened from 10 to 1, and from 3 to 5 
 each day-A. McDougall, President, Wm. Seton, Cashier, discounts 
 not longer than 30 days, and once a week ; gold taken by weight 
 
 Hudson's Square is a beautiful embeUishment of New York, 
 redeemed from a former waste, once a sand beach. The large 
 growth of the trees and the abundance of grateful shade, make 
 it, in connexion with the superiority of the uniform houses which 
 surround it, a place of imposing grandeur. The continuous long 
 lines of iron palisades, both round the square and before the areas 
 of every house, and up the several door steps, give a peculiar 
 aspect of European style and magnificence. 
 
 The residences of Col. Rutgers and Col. Willett, though origi- 
 nally located far out of town, on the East river side, have been 
 surrounded by the encroaching population ; but as the encroach- 
 ments have not been permitted to close very close upon them, 
 they are still enabled to retain some grounds around them of rural 
 appearance. Col. Willett's house was formerly on a knoll situated 
 on the margin of Stuyvesant swamp. Soon all such recollections 
 will be obliterated by the entire diiferent face of things now begin- 
 ning to appear there. 
 
 David Grim said he remembered when carmen first took about 
 the tea water ; it was but one-third of present prices. The water 
 formerly, was good at the wells and some of the street pumps. 
 
 He remembered when only one lamp was used in the street — 
 say at the corner of Wall and William streets. 
 
 Mr. Brower told me, street lamps came into use about ten 
 years before the revolution. The carts at that time were not 
 allowed to have any tire on their wheels. 
 
 The carriage of the mail between New York and Philadelphia, 
 even since the revolution, was a very small matter ; it was hardly 
 an affair to be robbed, for a boy, without any means of defence, 
 took the whole in saddle-bags on horseback, three times a week. 
 Then they wondered to see it enlarged, and took it on a sulkey ; 
 and by and by, " the wonder grew," that it should still more en 
 
Local Changes and local Fads. 187 
 
 large, and they took off the body and run it in a large bag on a 
 platform set on the wheels. It was then long deemed as at its 
 7ie plus ultra ; whereas now it is a load of itself for a four horse 
 stage ! At that time the post always went to and fro from the 
 " Blazing Star," vis-a-vis Staten Island, now unknown as a great 
 thoroughfare. 
 
 General Washington's residence in New York was at the house 
 now the Franklin Bank ; to that house he once went in proces- 
 sion. The house was kept by Osgood, and was then No. 1 in 
 pre-eminence. 
 
 The house No. 176 Water street, was the first in New York 
 to change leaden sashes for wooden ones; leaden ones were 
 general. Even Trinity church had its leaden frames put in after 
 the fire of 1778. 
 
 Dr. Hosack's map, showing the grounds of New York as in- 
 vaded by water from the rivers, marks " Rutgers' Swamp," as 
 united to the East river by a little creek a little to the eastward 
 of Rutgers' slip. 
 
 At Corlear's Hook he also marks much marsh ground, uniting 
 to the river by a small creek. 
 
 Beekman's swamp is also united to the East river by a little 
 creek next south-west of Peck's slip. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap, has graphically described the impediments of tra- 
 velling between the cities of New York and Philadelphia, as seen 
 in his own time, and earlier ; for instance, " a commodious stage 
 boaty'' would start with passengers and goods, from City Hall 
 slip, twice a week, for Perth Amboy ferry, thence by a stage 
 wagon to Cranberry and Burlington, and thence again by stage 
 boat to Philadelphia ; all this in three days, barring accidents. 
 But accidents would occur. The stage boats were small sloops, 
 managed by a man and boy, or at most by two men, and passing 
 by " the outside passage," that is by the Narrows ; it sometimes 
 occurred that they were driven out to sea. If the weather was 
 very bad they went "inside" by the Kills. 
 
 Another way to Philadelphia, was by crossing the bay to Staten 
 Island, in a petty auga, with lee-boards, and managed only by 
 one man. Such a man was sometimes inebriate or stultified. 
 When arrived at Staten Island, you crossed to the ferry at 
 Arthur Roll's sound, by a scow, and thence you were carried to 
 the "Blazing Star" inn, at Woodbridge. At Brunswick, you 
 again ciossed in a scow ; at Trenton again in a scow ; then at 
 Neshaminy on a floating bridge, and on the third or fourth day, 
 you were in Philadelphia. 
 
 The third and most common route, was to cross the North river 
 to Paulus Hook in a boat, thence through the marshes to Hacken- 
 sack river, across which ybu passed in a scow, then to Passaic 
 river, and ferried over, thence as before mentioned, to Philadel- 
 phia, in about three days 
 
188 Local Changes and local Facts, 
 
 The perils of the passage from the " Blazing Star," (meaning 
 the sign of a comet,) being four or five miles from the ferry at 
 Staten Island, may be illustrated by the fact, that the Baron De 
 Kalb, when he was a colonel in January 1768, was the only one 
 of nine persons crossing in the scow, who was not so frozen as to 
 lose life or limb ; some losing toes, others feet, fingers, &c. ; the 
 scow sunk on a sand island, leaving them out all night. He 
 alone would not go to the fire when rescued, but put his feet and 
 legs into cold icy water, took some refreshment, went to bed, and 
 got up unhurt. A Mr. George died before they were relieved. 
 
 In the year 1785, the first stages were begun between New 
 York and Albany, to run with four horses, on the east side of 
 the North river, at four pence per mile, under a special act of the 
 legislature, in an exclusive grant for ten years, to Isa Van Wyck, 
 T. Hall and J. Kinney. 
 
 The canal in Broad street, went up o iginally to the hill called 
 Verlettenberg, since corrupted to Flattenbarrack hill ; the word 
 berg implied a hill, and verletten meant to stop. The ferry 
 once there, at the head or stop of tide water, furnished a means 
 to bring country folks and marketing from Brooklyn and Gow- 
 anus, &c., up to the heart of the city. All the sides of the canal 
 were once dyked with posts, at twelve feet from the houses, 
 some of which have been since found there. 
 
 The cold winter of 1780, presented the following incidents, viz : 
 
 On the 15th of January, great numbers of the inhabitants pass- 
 ed to and fro on the ice, on the East river. 
 
 On the 24th, the Hudson was crossed on the ice. 
 
 On the 29th, several persons passed to and fro, between New 
 York and Staten Island ; at one time eighty sleighs with pro- 
 visions, escorted by one hundred soldiers, passed over the same 
 field of ice. 
 
 A thaw occurred on the 1 5th of February, and on the 24th, 
 the navigation became entirely open. 
 
 Hugh Gain, in his Universal Register of 1787, gives the popu- 
 lation of New York before the fire, at 30,000 inhabitants, and 
 4200 houses. 
 
 About the year 1800, New York had its most fashionable pop- 
 ulation in Wall and Pine streets, between Broadway and Pearl 
 streets ; and also on Pearl street from Hanover Square, (now Old 
 slip) to John street ; some along State street ; and also in Broad- 
 way, from below Wall street to the Battery. 
 
 While the late speculations in lots was rife, in and near New 
 York, a Frenchman was induced to become a purchaser of some- 
 thing or nothing, near the Wallabot. In time, he visited his 
 seller, to say he had been to examine " the grand lot vot he had 
 sell him, and he find no ground at all, no ting he find but vataire;" 
 he therefore asks the return of his purchase money, and is answer- 
 ed, that that is no buisiness of his. " Den I ask you to be so good 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 189 
 
 to take off de East river, off de top !" Upon being told, that that 
 was not to be expected of him, the Frenchman says he will have 
 no alternative but to drown himself there in despair, and is coolly- 
 answered, that he may go arid so use his water privilege ! We 
 need scarce add, that the lots still remain under water! 
 
 I add the following facts, to show comparatively, the progres- 
 sive changes of New York, in population and wealth, to wit : 
 Population of the city, 
 
 In 1756, 10,381 inhabitants. In 1820, 123,706 inhabitants. 
 « 1771, 21,863 " « 1830, 203,007 " 
 
 " 1790, 33,131 " " 1840, 312,710 " 
 
 " 1810, 96,373 " " 1845, 366,785 « 
 
 Value of taxable property in the city, 
 
 Real Estate. Personal. Total. 
 
 In 1830, ^87,608,000 ^37,685,000 ^125,293,000. 
 
 In 1836, 233,744,000 75,759,000 309,503,000. 
 
 In 1844, 171,937,000 64,024,000 235,961,000. 
 
 Governor's Island, originally called Nutting Island, because of 
 the quantity of hazel and other nuts growing there, and furnish- 
 ing the winter's supply to the citizens. In later times, says Knick- 
 erbocker, it was cultivated in gardens for the use of the colonial 
 governors — " once a smiling garden of the sovereigns of the pro- 
 vince." 
 
 It was originally a part of Long Island, however it may now 
 appear to the eye on beholding so wide a separation by deep 
 water. This widening and deepening of the Buttermilk channel 
 has been caused by the filling in of the south side of the city. 
 
 An old gentleman alive in 1828, remembers that as late as 
 1786, the Buttermilk channel was then deemed unsafe, even for 
 boats to pass through it, because of the numerous rocks there. It 
 was however so. used for a boat channel, through which boats 
 with milk and buttermilk, going to New York market from Long 
 Island, usually made their passage. My mother told me that when 
 she first entered New York harbour — then a girl — she was sur- 
 prised to see all the market boats traversing the East river, rowed 
 by robust women without hats or bonnets .... their heads fit- 
 ted with close caps . . . two rowers to each. How diiferent this 
 from the present state of females ! 
 
 The same gentleman who told of the channel as he noticed it 
 in 1786, had his attention called to it then by a Mr. Van Alstine, 
 upwards of eighty years of age, who said that he remembered 
 when Governor's Island was separated from Long Island, only by 
 a narrow creek, which was crossed upon logs, raised above the 
 high tide, and having staked logs for a foot way through the marsh 
 then there on each side of the creek. 
 
 In making excavations at South Brooklyn, for the Atlantic 
 dock in 1842, they found at the depth of twenty feet a good many 
 
190 Local Changes and local Facts. 
 
 roots of trees, in the positions in which they had once grown on 
 the spot, and below them they found peat. 
 
 Wm. Richards, of Philadelphia, famous there for pickling stur- 
 geon, went to New York, before the revolution, to plant lobsters 
 in that neighbourhood ; before which time they chiefly imported 
 them from Rhode Island. He had a vote of thanks of the Assem- 
 bly, many years afterwards. Lobsters after this, probably became 
 naturalized about Harlem. 
 
 In 1756, the first stage is started between Phiadelphia and 
 New York, by Mr. Butler . . . three days through. 
 
 In 1755, the mail was changed from once a fortnight to once a 
 week. 
 
 In 1756, the first British " packet boats," commence from New 
 York to Falmouth; each letter to pay four penny-weight of 
 silver. 
 
 All newspapers went free of postage before the year 1758. It 
 was then ordered that, by reason of their great increase, they 
 should pay 9d. a year for fifty miles, and 1^. Qd. for one hundred 
 miles. 
 
 In 1765, a second stage is announced to travel between New 
 York and Philadelphia, to go through in three days, being a co- 
 vered Jersey wagon, oX 2d. 3. mile .... owned in Philadelphia. 
 
 In 1766, another stage called "the Flying Machine," to go 
 through in two days, is advertised, with " good wagons, and seats 
 on springs," at Sd. a mile, or 20^. through. This was also owned 
 in Philadelphia. 
 
 Mr. McCormick, of Wall street, remembered when "Burnetts 
 Key" extended from Wall street up to Maiden lane, in one entire 
 line of front, and projecting out from Water street, beyond any 
 other line of wharves. It was the bathing place of the city boys 
 and of himself. 
 
 In 1702, New York was visited with a very mortal sickness. 
 Isaac Norris' MS. letter says, "the great sickness . . . Barbadoes 
 
 Distemper or Yellow Fever as we had it in Philadelphia three 
 
 years before. Some hundred died there, and many left the town, 
 so that as we passed it, it was almost desolate." 
 
 In 1743, a yellow fever, as it was called, visited New York .... 
 "not imported" — but like it was at Philadelphia three years 
 before ; — they had black vomit and spots. Vide R. Peters' MS. 
 
 In digging for a lamp post, at the north-east corner of Reed 
 street and Broadway, they were surprised to get up several 
 human bones, and thus leading to the recollection of the former 
 fact, that between that place and Chambers street, was once the 
 area of the Negroes' burying grou nd ; — it was on a descending 
 hill, inclining northward. A row of low log houses once stood 
 there. 
 
 In Lynes' survey of New York of 1729, he marks a lane called 
 "old Wind-mill lane," lying between present Courtland and 
 
Local Changes and local Fads. 191 
 
 Liberty streets, extending from Broadway to present Greenwich 
 street, and thence north-westward to\^ards the river side, where 
 the Wind Mill must have stood. It was then the most northern 
 street on the west side of Broadway — all beyond was the King's 
 farm. 
 
 The same survey fills up the head of the present Broadway, 
 with a long ropewalk and a long line of trees, reaching from the 
 present Barclay street as high as the hospital. 
 
 At that time there was at the foot of the present Chambers 
 street, on North river, a distinguished public garden and bowling 
 green. Such greens, seem to have been much in vogue. 
 
 Among the names of streets changed, are these : — the present 
 Pine street was called King street ; Pearl street was Queen street ; 
 Cedar street now, was little Queen street; Liberty street was 
 Crown street, — importing that the crown was supplanted by our 
 self-rule since ! The western end of Garden street, was a hill 
 called Flatten-barrack — a celebrated place for boys, in winter to 
 sled down hill ! The present Beaver street, east of Broad street, 
 was Princess street ; the present Stone street, also east of Broad 
 street, was Duke street ; John street now, east of William street, 
 
 was called Golden Hill from the Dutch of Gowden Berg 
 
 The hill once there at its intersection with Cliff street, gave rise 
 to the name of the street along the Cliff. William street, at its 
 
 southern end was called South street say from Maiden lane 
 
 to the East river. *' 
 
 On the subject of names of places, an amusing chapter could 
 be written. Judge Benson has done something on this subject. 
 For instance, Flatten-barrack hill, is simply deduced by corrup- 
 tion from the name of Verletten who owned the herg, i. e. the hill. 
 To English ears, Verletten-berg, came to sound like Flatten-bar- 
 rack, and they added Hill to it, not knowing that barrack, for berg, 
 was already expressed. Just as the English sailors and others in 
 the East Indies, called the Surajah Dorohla, Sir Roger Dowlass. 
 
 New York and Judge Egbert Benson. The Judge died at 
 Jamaica, Long Island, in August 1833, in his 87th year. He was 
 the last survivor of the provincial congress of the State of New 
 York of 1775. He had been much in public life, and always 
 respected and esteemed. He was born in New York city in really 
 Dutch times. When six years old he went to a Dutch school at 
 the corner of Marketfield and Broad streets, and was taught his 
 catechism in the Dutch language. His father's house stood in 
 front of where the Fulton Bank now stands. They used in the 
 Dutch churches an hour glass near the clerk, to ascertain the 
 length of the sermon, which was always limited to one hour. 
 They made the collections in a bag, with a bell to give notice of 
 the approach of the deacon (gatherers). Judge Benson remem- 
 bered the line of palisadoes across the Island from its point on 
 the East river from James' slip to its point on the North river at 
 
192 Local Changes and local Facts. 
 
 the foot of Warren street, with its gates and block houses erected 
 in 1746, for a defence from the French and Indians from Canada, 
 and of a field of barley growing upon the west side of Broad- 
 way, as far south as the palisadoes, the space between which and 
 the present Fulton street, was known as the Kings farm. He 
 remembered when the site of Columbia college was a race course ; 
 and when the first lamps were placed in the city. He was at the 
 opening of St. George's church ; and assisted in planting the row 
 of trees now growing in front of Columbia college nearest the 
 building. He was a representative to the first American congress 
 of 1781, and he and James Madison when still living, were the 
 last surviving members of that illustrious body.* His memoir 
 for the Historical Society, 1815, was published in 1825. 
 
 Government Offices. 1785. (from Directory.) 
 
 Treasury Office, No. 49 Great Dock St., Walter Livingston? 
 Commissioner of Treasury there. 
 
 Quarter Master General's office. No. 18 Wall street, by Wm. 
 Denning. 
 
 General Hospital Department. No. 7 Cherry street, by Edwd. 
 Fox. 
 
 Clothier General Department, No. QQ William street, by Joseph 
 Bindon. 
 
 Mr. Isaac Collins told me of " Lispenard's pond," of fresh 
 Water ; it was in Lispenard's meadow between North Seventh 
 street, and Green street and between Broadway and Greenwich j 
 it was filled up about the year 1800. The boys used it for play 
 and for sailing their little boats. He remembered a swamp near 
 the Collect, which still had the stumps of great cypress trees in it. 
 He said Bunker's Hill, so high and so commanding in its prospect, 
 should never have been removed. It would now have been a 
 noble observatory for a grand panorama. 
 
 A gentleman has kindly contributed sundry reminiscences — 
 wherein he says : 
 
 It makes me feel old, and a little sad, as I take my usual walk 
 lip Broadway every day before dinner, to think of the numbers 
 of well dressed young gentlemen that pass me by, in whose 
 memories there is no trace of the actual state of that exquisite 
 promenade, as it existed above the Hospital eighteen years ago. 
 How many pairs of feet are now to be seen every morning arrayed 
 in Benton's best Wellingtons, that never skated upon the mea- 
 dows I How many curled heads that now sport Mr. St. John's 
 
 * When we contemplate the ability of such men to leave us enlarged notices 
 of their observations, of their early times, — so much more competent to tell facts, 
 necessarily unknown to me as a much younger man; one cannot but be pained 
 to consider how very little they have done in this matter for us. I actually took 
 the pains in 1828, to write him a long letter, to urge him to communicate what 
 he could, — the same I did to the late Judge R. Peters, but neither of them acted. 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 195 
 
 short naps in the neighbourhood of Canal street, were never 
 uncovered by one of those sudden gusts that used to sweep down 
 from the dreary waste of the Collect, to the utter discomfiture 
 of the pedestrians crossing the stone bridge / How many gallants 
 now saunter along at midnight through the purlieus of Bond 
 street and Le Roy Place, fearless of danger, and carry no recollec- 
 tion of that terrible winter in which so many good citizens were 
 knocked down soon after dusk, even as far south as Broome 
 street; when no man would venture beyond Broadway towards 
 the North river by night without carrying pistols, and the watch- 
 men marched on their beats in couples ; one to take care of the 
 other. 
 
 I remember the first troop of circus riders that ever favoured 
 the good people of New York with their flipflaps and somersets ; 
 their leaps over any indefinite number of horses, and marvellous 
 exhibitions of ground and lofty tumbling. I was a boy then, 
 and went to school just on the outskirts of the city, in Broome 
 street. Not far from the school-house, and as near as I can 
 recollect, on or about the spot where Baggot's glass cutting work- 
 shop was standing two or three years ago, there was a high steep 
 hill that towered above the few neighbouring houses ; this was a 
 general play ground iox all the schoolboys and loafers in that part 
 of the city ; and many a tough battle we had, for the honour of 
 our respective establishments. I remember the very spot, (totally 
 hidden from sight now by scores of brick tenements) where I was 
 standing with some ten or a dozen of my schoolfellows, when 
 the tidings were brought by one of our scouting explorers, that 
 " something was going on down at the Collect." Back of the 
 houses upon the east side of Broadway, as far as Mulberry street, 
 it was then all waste ground from Anthony street up to 
 Grand; the deep and offensive quagtnire that had gotten, 
 nobody knows how or why, the name of The Collect, filled up 
 the central portion of this space ; besides this, there was a little 
 shanty dignified with the name of a market, somewhere about 
 Leonard street and not far from Broadway ; the rest of the 
 ground boasted no other edifice than some two or three dozen 
 pig-styes, scattered in picturesque confusion over its surface. 
 
 No sooner was the intelligence made known that " something 
 uncommon was going on at the Collect^^ than off we started, 
 full speed, to spy out the wonder : there were no corners to turn 
 then, or lamp posts to run against, in our way ; we made a bee- 
 line from Bunker^ s Hill to the plain of the pig-styes, and there 
 sure enough, we found sundry carpenters hard at work erecting 
 a stage, not far from the market. The structure was simple 
 enough, it was merely a platform about six feet high, ten or 
 twelve wide, and about twenty yards long. What it was for, 
 it puzzled our wisdom to guess ; but a very brief space un- 
 ravelled the mystery. The job was almost completed when we 
 25 R 
 
194 Local Changes and local Facts. 
 
 came up, and after lounging about for some fifteen or twenty 
 minutes, staring with all our eyes, and uttering more conjectures 
 than were propounded touching the last comet, we were struck 
 dumb with amazement by the approach of a band of splendidly 
 clad horsemen, in the midst of whom rode a princess, as we 
 supposed, gaily attired in habits of very unclean satin, bedizened 
 with tinsel ; a tiara of damaged plumes upon her head, and her 
 cheeks glowing with rouge of the most brilliant intensity. We 
 had heard of the glories of circus-riding ; suspicions of the delight- 
 ful truth therefore flashed on our minds, which was soon height- 
 ened to certainty, by the appearance of one of the horsemen, 
 whose striped garments, fools-cap, and antic manoeuvres, pro- 
 claimed him the clown of the company. 
 
 There was no ring for the display of horsemanship ; and what 
 gave the affair a peculiar charm in our eyes, no churge for behold- 
 ing the feats of the professors ; they relied for their remuneration 
 upon the generosity of the spectators, which was appealed to in 
 their behalf by the princess of the glittering garments, in personal 
 applications enforced by the presentation to each individual, of 
 the tambourine which constituted the orchestra. The performance 
 consisted of leaps, tumbles, flipflaps and somersets, enlivened by 
 the occasionally grins and practical jokes of the clown. Our 
 hearts warmed to the fellow from the beginning, for the horse- 
 whip of the director or manager of the troop was very often 
 applied to his shoulders ; a species of discipline with which we 
 were familiar at school, and which therefore made a direct appeal 
 to our sympathies ; of course, we supposed that the lash was laid 
 on in good earnest, and so, for any thing I know, it was. I re- 
 member perfectly well the indignation I felt, whenever he got a 
 cut that made him skip like the servants in " Taming the Shrew'^ 
 when Petruchio lays about him ; and equally well the very 
 essential flogging I was favoured with when I went home, for 
 loitering more than an hour beyond my usual time of returning 
 from school ; a misdemeanour for which I did not deem it expe- 
 dient to allege my attendance upon the equestrian exhibition, as 
 an excuse or satisfactory reason. 
 
 The gentlemen of the spring-board and leaping-pole of whom 
 I have already made honourable mention, gathered so many 
 coppers (varied with a decent allowance of kicks now and then) 
 in the exercise of their abilities, that their director was soon 
 encouraged to make preparations for a more permanent habita- 
 tion among us. Whether it was that the efiiuvia from the 
 Collect were too much for their sensitive olfactory nerves, or that 
 the want of an enclosure was found inconvenient by reason of 
 the indiscriminate character of the beholders, whom the fame of 
 their doings attracted, I know not ; but certain it is that in the 
 course of a very few weeks they decamped from the plain of the 
 pig-styes, and established their head quarters in what was then 
 
Local Changes and local Facts, 195 
 
 nothing more than a large lot with a high fence surrounding it ; 
 although now it defies competition for neatness and beauty among 
 all the pleasuring places in Christendom. There must be a 
 great many now in New York who remember the time when a 
 lover of rural beauties would have been just as likely to find a 
 rare shrub, a beautiful flower, a brilliant parterre, or an ice-cream, 
 on the craggy top of the Devil's Pulpit, as within the inclosure 
 that then formed the boundary between Niblo^s garden and 
 Broadway. The house wherein so many dinners and exquisite 
 suppers have been demolished ; so many canvass-backs browned, 
 and so many blue pointers tickled to death ; in which so many 
 champagne-corks have been popped, and so many furious head- 
 aches engendered, was not then erected ; and in its stead, a fence 
 some eight or ten feet in height, stared with a most forbidding 
 aspect upon the high-road to Boston, (for that part of Broadway 
 was then nothing more than a road,) and seemed to defy with 
 a sturdy moroseness, every attempt to spy out the doings that 
 might be in progress within. In the side fronting on Prince 
 street, then as now, was a large gate, secured by a padlock of 
 clumsy dimensions; and a villanous row of sharp spikes extended 
 along the top, to the utter discomfiture of the hopes of every am- 
 bitious climber. 
 
 This then was the spot selected for the display oi equestrian 
 feats ; a stage was erected ; and so was a shanty or booth in 
 one of the corners, wherein thirsty souls might indulge their 
 bibulous inclinations, in the intervals of the performance. A 
 ring too was formed ; and strange were the rumors that went 
 abroad through the younger part of the population, touching the 
 wonderful works of the trained quadrupeds and their desperate 
 riders. The tambourine that at first had served in the double 
 duty of orchestra and collection-box, had now grown up into a 
 band, consisting of three drums (one a bass), a trumpet and two 
 fifes ; and a precious disturbance they kicked up every evening. 
 The performance commenced every day (except Sunday) at 
 about four, and was kept up till dusk ; thus lying in wait, as it 
 were, for all the urchins returning from school who happened to 
 dwell any where in the neighbourhood. Among these, for my sins, 
 I was one ; and though it seldom happened that I could command 
 the required amount of coin to purchase admission, and the knot 
 holes in the fence were all carefully stopped (to prevent peeping 
 without paying), I never could go on my way without lingering 
 round the charmed spot, in the doubtful hope of a clandestine 
 enjoyment by some unforeseen combination of circumstances ; at 
 the more than probable risk of an introduction to the rattan 
 when I got home for the "dallying dear delay'^ of my return. 
 
 At the time of which I am writing, the number of traps for 
 stray silver and bank notes in New York, was much less than it 
 is now : the only theatre was opened (if I remember right) but 
 
196 Local Changes and local Facts. 
 
 three times a week ; the Castle Garden was nothing more than 
 a fortress grinning with thirty-two pounders upon the vessels 
 that sailed up the bay ; Peale's museum was not ; an opera was 
 a thing unheard of, and soirees musicales were among the things 
 yet to be invented. Vauxhall was in all its glory ; but nobody 
 ever dreamed of going there except upon Sunday evenings, 
 and those rare occasions upon which Mr. Delacroix was going to 
 do something wonderful — perhaps four or five times in the year. 
 Barrere was making a fortune very quietly with his little concern 
 in Chatham street, where his ice creams and his fountain that 
 threw up a quart of water in twenty-four hours, were the admira- 
 tion of all the world. 
 
 The popular periodical, the New York Mirror, under the above 
 head, gives an article which we give in part below. It may amuse 
 and interest our readers, as giving a brief picture of the innova- 
 tions and revolutions in things which fashion and change is every 
 where impressing upon our country in the form of improve- 
 ment. 
 
 " The city of the Knickerbockers is fast disappearing from the 
 world of realities, and their homes are following them to the vast 
 shadow of oblivion. Tiled roofs and high peaked gable ends 
 have already undergone the fate of the cocked hats, the eel-skin 
 queues, and the multitudinous small-clothes that once gave assur- 
 ance of a race of Dutchmen in this venerable city ; all are gone, 
 and in a few short years there will be none even to remember 
 that such things were ! St. Nicholas has abandoned his once 
 favourite metropolis, and how should it be otherwise, since there 
 is not a Dutch chimney corner left for him to nestle in ?" 
 
 " It is a melancholy thing to see the desolation that is wrought 
 by fashion. How it sweeps away all relics of the venerable past, 
 cutting short the term for which they might be spared by the fell 
 scythe of the inevitable destroyer, time, and anticipating even his 
 too speedy operations. Where is the mansion of the Stuyvesants ? 
 We had fondly hoped, that if but for the sake of the immortal 
 Peter, that hallowed edifice could be suffered to remain until its 
 crumbling walls should yield to the slow corrosion of the ele- 
 ments, that generations yet unborn might gaze upon it with 
 respect as the dwelling of a hero. It is gone ; the hand of vio- 
 lence has fallen upon it, and the hallowed ground on which it 
 stood, now groans beneath the weight of a tall mansion, whose 
 large chimneys " flout the pale blue skies," and Whose air of 
 lightness forms a perfect contrast with the massive and solemn 
 grandeur of the time-worn edifice it has supplanted." 
 
 " The Walton house indeed remains ; but where are the beau- 
 tiful little snuggeries that even within the last ten years gave so 
 dignified an air to the narrow precincts of Garden street? It 
 seems but yesterday that we were wont to make a weekly pil- 
 grimage through Broad street on Sunday, after church, for the 
 
^-^fe 
 
 Gov. Stuyvesant's Old Mansion, m'iicv'cryy p. 130 a^d l^C, 
 

Local Changes and local Facts, 197 
 
 single purpose of beholding those remaining tokens of a genera- 
 tion long since passed away ; and now we look for them in vain. 
 Two were levelled with the ground in 1827, the oldest bearing 
 on its front, in sprawling iron letters, the date of 1701, and the 
 other of 1698; and there was one still older, built in 1689, to 
 which we always felt a strong temptation to take off our hat in 
 passing, — as to the oldest of the Knickerbockers. They are all 
 gone now. We remember a nest of these Dutch tenements at 
 the corner of Broad and Garden streets — the effigies of which are 
 given in the cut that accompanies this article, and they too are 
 gone." 
 
 In December, 1835, 1 visited the smoking ruins of "the great 
 fire." My notices of what I saw and thought, I committed to a 
 small MS. book of thirty pages 8vo. It might prove a useful and 
 interesting picture of that event, at some future age. A centennial 
 for instance. 
 
 When the forefathers of the present race of inhabitants were 
 sufferers by the great conflagrations of 1776 and 1778, they felt 
 as if ruin was perpetual, but behold how soon the evil was healed, 
 and what was severely felt as a partial evil then, became a uni- 
 versal future good. This last conflagration swept off the last re- 
 mains of the earliest settlers, and all the visible labours of the 
 Diitch. Farewell now — a long farewell, to the city of the Dutch ! 
 Farewell to " the Scout, Burghermasters, and Shepens" no longer 
 there ! They and their houses all gone ! Farewell to your 
 Rondeels and Stadt buys; to your compact and mazy streets, no 
 longer to be named in fame or song — farewell forever to your 
 ancient, but now burnt out and effaced streets ; such as Princess 
 street, Duke street, Dock street, Mill street, and the great and 
 little Queen streets. All now to be reconstructed in modern form 
 and grandeur, and especially by towering stores of four, five and 
 even six stories in height — a measure but too likely to produce 
 other inextinguishable fires. 
 
 Since I wrote the above, in 1835, it comes to pass in 1841, that 
 such high houses cannot be insured, unless at extra rates, and thp 
 consequence has been that twenty houses in Piatt street are 
 resolved to be reduced from five to four stories, as a means to 
 increase their income to the owners at a less insurance ! so it 
 should be. Losses by fires in ten years precednig the introduc- 
 tion of Croton water, amounted to twenty milUons of dollars. 
 But in one year, from August 1842 to August 1843, the total loss 
 with the use of that water, was only ig246,404, in buildings and 
 goods. 
 
 On the l"9th of July 1 845, ten years after the " great fire," there 
 came to be another exhibition of a tremendous conflagration, in 
 an adjoining quarter of the city, as is shown in the diagram. The 
 first fire being shown in the border lines, and the last fire in the 
 dark area, wherein were consumed three hundred and forty -five 
 
 R 2 
 
198 Local Changes and local Facts, 
 
 houses ; the houses and goods destroyed, estimated to be worth 
 five milUons of dollars ; the other at thirty millions. 
 
 Mr. Dunlap, in leading his readers " about town," (in his pub- 
 hcation,) says : We will proceed first along what is called the East 
 river, and go northward and eastward. The portion of Water 
 street, between " Old slip" and " Coflee-house slip," was unbuilt 
 on its outer or eastern side, (and called Rotten-row,) the water 
 occupying the space, from the "Coffee-house slip" to Fly or 
 " Vly-market slip," or " Long Island ferry." That which is Water 
 street now, was called " Burnet street." It was built on both 
 sides, and had a block somewhat similar to Crugar's wharf, (above 
 mentioned) also projecting in the river or harbour. From " Fly- 
 market slip," we find a similar projection serving as the founda- 
 tion and continuation of Water street to " Burling slip ;" from 
 whence, as we go north-east, the water occupied the east side of 
 Water street, except as piers or wharves occasionally projected 
 into it. That part of Water street which was then so called, 
 commenced at " Peck's slip" extending eastward till intersecting 
 Cherry street, which last terminates at what was afterwards 
 " New slip," but then was the commencement of the " ship yards." 
 Thus far, made the end of the town, in that direction. Going back 
 therefore again to " Crugar's wharf," we will proceed in the other 
 direction, going south-west, on which side we find the tide water 
 flowing up to what is now Pearl street, and a long pier projecting 
 into it. South-west of this pier were two basins called east and 
 west dock. Further on was a small block, which was separated 
 from the Battery by " Whitehall slip." 
 
 The Battery on the low point of the island, was founded on 
 rocks, whose black faces appeared between the ramparts and the 
 water, except at some very high tides. This rocky margin was 
 continued round the point unto the commencement of Broadway, 
 at the same spot it now does. Number One Broadway was long 
 known as Kennedy house. The same is still standing, but much 
 enlarged. In the Bowling Green, before it, stood a leaden statue 
 gilt, of George III., erected on occasion of the Stamp act repealed. 
 South of this place, on an eminence, stood Fort George, which 
 overlooked the Battery, and overhung the little narrow street 
 called Pearl street, which has given its name to what was once 
 (four consecutive streets) Dock street, Hanover Square, Queen 
 street, and Magazine street, superseding and engrossing them all 
 by its own name. The governor's house and garden were within 
 the precints of the fort, where were quarters and barracks for 
 soldiers. Pearl street, in 1767, (to retrace the order before 
 mentioned) extended from the Battery to Whitehall, thence Dock 
 street to Old slip, thence Hanover Square to Coffee-house slip, and 
 thence Queen street, ending in Chatham road or row. This was 
 a row on the east side of what is now Chatham street. The 
 west or north-west side was open from where Pearl street now 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 199 
 
 crosses Chatham, to the old jail, lately metamorphosed into a 
 Grecian temple. This open space was occupied by a rough bank 
 and a hill called Windmill hill. 
 
 The inhabitants then kept their cows in the town, and cow- 
 herds received them in the morning, and drove them to pasture, 
 returning them in due time in the evening. (What a rural char- 
 acter then !) The cow pastures were on the east, upon a line 
 with the present Grand street, on the west, as low down as the 
 hospital. Behind the tea water pump, was the Kolk or Collect, 
 extending to the vicinity of Bayard's mount, afterward called 
 Bunker Hill. This mount, as I understand him, he elsewhere 
 says, would have presented one of the finest elevations for a pano- 
 ramic picture, imaginable ! It is cut down, but should have 
 been reserved as public. To the east of Chatham row, the town 
 was partially built on low swampy ground, intermingled with 
 water, to " the ship yards," (a kind of water habitations.) Nearly 
 opposite the place where Queen street ended, (as above told) in 
 Chatham road, was the celebrated tea water pump, from which 
 the inhabitants were supplied by carts, and attended by men and 
 women distributing water as regularly as they do milk now. 
 Beyond this pump, began farms and gardens along the Bowery 
 or Boston road, the only road northward. 
 
 Returning back to Kennedy's house, at the beginning of Broad- 
 way, we proceed along the North river side, thus — behind his 
 house and several adjacent ones, up Broadway, were gardens, 
 whose walls of termination rested on the beach, and were washed 
 by the tide water ! From Trinity church northward, the build- 
 ings were mean, until we come to St. Paul's chapel, beyond 
 which were public houses, gardens, fields, orchards, and swamps. 
 Streets extended from Broadway down to the river, then ranging 
 where Greenwich street now is located. 
 
 At the water end of Broad street, were the east and west 
 dock, the Albany pier and basin. Here stood the Merchant's 
 Exchange of brick. A bridge or planked walk extended from it, 
 up the street, covering the former tide-creek or sewer there, 
 extending up to above Garden street, where stood " the ferry 
 house," immortalized in Cooper's Water Witch. Many Dutch 
 houses on this street were still remaining. 
 
 The Collect's water communicated with those of the low 
 grounds on the other side of the road, called Lispenard's meadows, 
 under a bridge, and the skaters of that day passed at pleasure 
 from one collection of waters to the other, i. e. from Pearl street, 
 (as now called) over to the sand beach on the North river. There 
 was seen the present king of England, trying to skate, supported 
 by generals, admirals, &c. " But times have altered. Trade has 
 changed the scene !" 
 
 The newspapers, at first, in New York, did not rest their sales 
 upon subscribers, but upon those who would call and buy; from 
 
Z06 Local Changes and local Fads. 
 
 this cause, you could hear at Gaine's publication office, opposite 
 the Coffee House, a man bawling out before the house, " News, 
 news, bloody news, great news," &c. This was particularly the 
 case, while the British army held New York. How different 
 now ! 
 
 Colma7i's Island, he says, is the same now Coney Island ; he 
 says that Colman was buried there when killed ; he does not 
 explain whi/ his account differs from mine, as "at Colman's 
 point at the Hook.*' 
 
 Dutch houses. He remembered when the greatest part of 
 Broad street was so built. 
 
 Jacob Leisler, was a militia captain, his opposition as well as 
 the people, was to the Governor Dongan as a Roman Catholic, 
 so placed purposely by the Duke of York, made King James II. 
 He and the people declared for King William. Those in oppo- 
 sition, were those in pay and power on the king's side. Leisler 
 was a man of. property, and although he helped the side of King 
 William, that court did not countenance him, because they 
 wanted his place for its own favourite. Gov. Slaughter who came 
 out, brought Leisler to a mock trial, and had him unjustly 
 executed. [Read Dunlap's book.] 
 
 Leisler was buried in the old Dutch church, in Garden street, 
 by the people, and Gov. Slaughter was buried in Gov. Stuyve- 
 sant's vault, in St. Mark's church. 
 
 The Dutch church in Garden street, was built in time of Gov. 
 Fletcher, between 1692 and 1697. My account said it was built 
 Jirst in 1643. Trinity was also built at the same time. 
 
 Maiden Lane, " Madge Padje^^ its slip was called the Count- 
 ess's slip, after the Countess of Bellermont, (1700) when it was 
 made. I have seen elsewhere that Coenties slip meant Countess ! 
 
 Gold street, was called Gouden Bergh by the Dutch ; i. e. 
 Golden Hill, and probably referred to rich residents there, as was 
 the case at Schenectady, in a similar name there. 
 
 Cliff street, was from Dirk Vander Cliff. 
 
 John street, was called so from John Harpindingh ; a part of 
 it was called Golden Hill. He was a man of property, and gave 
 the ground on which was built the North church. 
 
 The Negro Plot of 1740, is treated as a panic and not a reality, 
 yet the excitement was extreme. Blacks accused one another 
 from the hope of pardon. They made out that Mr. Ury, an 
 Enghsh clergyman and schoolmaster, was a Popish priest in 
 disguise, and hung him and seventeen blacks, and thirteen blacks 
 were burnt alive ! The whole excitement was just like the Salem 
 witchcraft, a wild delusion of men's minds, and it chiefly arose 
 from the excited dread of Popery. The burning was at the inter- 
 section of Pearl and Chatham streets, and the hanging was on 
 the Island, where the Arsenal now is, on Elm street. 
 
 Sir Danvers Osborne, who came out governor in 1753, soob 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 201 
 
 afterwards hung himself by his handkerchief in a garden. He 
 had lost his wife in England, and was melancholy. Mr. Delancy 
 as lieutenant-governor, then acted awhile. 
 
 Sarah Wilson, the convict, 1771. She had been a favourite maid 
 of Miss Vernon, who was a maid of honour to the Queen. Sarah 
 Wilson found occasion to steal the Queen's jewels ; the consequence 
 was, she was disgraced, and transported, and became the servant 
 of Wm. Duval, of Frederick county, Maryland. She run away 
 from him, and set herself up as the Princess Susannah Caroline, 
 sister to the Queen of England ! In this fraud she succeeded for 
 a time, until published and discovered by her master, Duval, of 
 Bush Creek, Maryland. The whole story is amusing as told by 
 Dunlap. She united at one time, in Virginia, with the notorious 
 Tom Bell, who had been a convict servant to a storekeeper in 
 Burlington, N. J. 
 
 Gen. Horatio Gates, was an Englishman, was captain with 
 Braddock, and afterwards captain and aid to Gen. Monckton, the 
 governor of New York, and both went out with the expedition 
 of 1763, to Martinique. He died near New York city, at Rose Hill 
 house, where he lived. He had a place in Virginia, where he 
 married his first wife, and where some say he died, called Tra- 
 veller's Rest. 
 
 Early Theatre, in Beekman street, April 16, 1764, as per its 
 advertisement : " To be let, the Play-house at the upper end of 
 Beekman street, very convenient for a store, being 90 feet long, 
 by 40 feet wide, inquire of Wm. Beekman." (In the year 1766, 
 during the Stamp Act excitement, the mob tore this building 
 down. This was done because the players had heen forewarned 
 that amusements and expenses did not suit the solemnity and the 
 public distress of the times.) 
 
 Impressment, Sfc. Four fishermen, supplying the New York 
 market, in June, 1764, were seized by a press-gang in the har- 
 bour, and carried aboard the tender. But the people seized the 
 barge of the captain when at the wharf, and bore it to the fields, 
 the present Park, and burned it in triumph, at the same time going 
 to the tender and getting the men released. In the same year, in 
 April, a vessel arrived from Bristol and was boarded for her men ; 
 they fiercely resisted, so much so, that the man of war fired upon 
 her. Besides this harassing kind of insolence in our very har- 
 bours, the men of war were accustomed to cause the sloops and 
 boats passing them, to strike their colours. On one occasion, a 
 pleasure boat going from Whitehall to Elizabethtown, with Mr. 
 Rickets and his friends, his wife and children, was fired into for 
 such neglect, and the ball struck the nurse having a child in her 
 arms, and killed her ! It made much excitement then. 
 
 Stamp Act resistance. They burnt the coach of Gov. Colden, 
 and himself in effigy. The people went by night to a brig, having 
 boxes of stamps on board, took them in a boat up the East river, 
 26 
 
202 Local Changes and local Facts, 
 
 and there burned them at the ship yards. The alleged objection 
 to Golden was, as they said, that he had had the cannon spiked. 
 His effigy was set astride upon a cannon, and so burned in 1766. 
 
 Tea Duty resistance. On the 21st of April, 1774, the long 
 expected tea ship, the Nancy, arrived. The Sons of Liberty 
 waited upon the captain, and compelled him to weigh anchor and 
 go home again ! A Captain Chambers, an American, having 
 brought eighteen chests on his private account, was obliged to 
 give them up to the people, who cast them into the water at the 
 Coffee-house slip. 
 
 The Statue of Lord Chatham, Wall street, was erected on 
 the 7th of September 1770, "as a public testimony of the grate- 
 ful sense of the colony of New York, for the many eminent 
 services rendered to America, and particularly in his promoting 
 the repeal of the Stamp Act, 1770." At the same time, they 
 erected the statue of George HI., in the Bowling Green, on the 
 21st of August 1770, the birthday of his father the Prince of 
 Wales. In the case of Pitt's statue, it was an artifice to make 
 him unduly popular as our friend, so that he might the better 
 sway our sentiments in making us credit his assertions that " the 
 Parliament had the right to bind us in all cases." In enforcing 
 this doctrine, he died (says John Adams) a martyr to his idol, 
 "the sovereignty of Parliament !" Mr. Dunlap insists, that he was 
 not our friend. The statue was voted by town meeting on 23d 
 June, 1766. 
 
 Trinity Church Yard. In digging for the new and enlarged 
 foundation of the new Trinity church, several ancient vaults 
 have been opened. Among the relics were the silver plate and 
 remains of the Countess of Glifton ; interred about 100 years 
 
 since, those of the Hon. Mr. aged seven years, and a 
 
 number of others. A record of burials at this church is preserved 
 from the 3^ear 1702 (with the omission of the time of the revolu- 
 tion) making 160,000 bodies, thus making as many bodies beloiv 
 ground as now (in 1840) dwell alive above ground in New York. 
 
 Communepauw. This remarkably queer sounding name, near 
 New York city, now so little known in its origin and meaning to 
 the New Yorkers themselves, is derived from the name of Mr. 
 Pauw, the original Patroon of that part of the Jersey shore, 
 which he had patented to him as Pavonia. A part of which 
 formed an early Commune in sight of and near to the city, and 
 was thence understood as the chief or first Commune of Pauw, 
 i. e. Communepauw, and since popularly called Communipaw. 
 
 Flushing. This ancient village was begun in 1644. Soon 
 after it was visited by the Quakers, sundry of whom settled there. 
 George Fox preached there in 1672, under the two oaks now 
 there. The Episcopal church was formed there in 1720, under 
 the auspices of the Society for the propagation of the Gospel in 
 foreign parts. 
 
Local Changes and local Facts. 203 
 
 Here and there we still find a tract of country, some green spot 
 on the desert of civilization, which recalls the days of the Knicker- 
 bockers and their primitive and simple habits. On Long Island 
 and in Bergen county, by the sedgy margin of the winding Hack- 
 ensack and the willowed banks of the Passaic, an old mansion, 
 such as marked the whereabouts of the ancients, still exists, fast 
 anchored to its platform, where deeply embowered in venerable 
 trees, it points its sharp roof to the skies. When we meet with 
 such on York Island, or Long Island, we may still greet ourselves 
 with the hope of finding old Dutch hospitality amid the descend- 
 ants of ancient families. Here are paths leading through beds 
 of pinks, and hollyhocks, and the ever-blooming rose. Here 
 are the jessamines, the honeysuckle and the sweet brier, winding 
 their emulous tendrils and blossoms around the door-posts ; and 
 here the trumpet creeper and its dark luxuriant foliage and car- 
 mine blossoms. Within is seen the wainscoting of the old hall, 
 the family clock in the corner, the massive carved cornice plate 
 and furniture, all betokening an air of other days. There you 
 may still expect to find an unaffectedness of manners, cordial hos- 
 pitality of reception and directness of purpose, and the beautiful 
 simplicity of costume in the females of the family, such as may 
 be found in the Dutch belles of New Utrecht, Flatbush and 
 Gravesend. 
 
Manners and Customs. 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 «' A different face of things each age appears, 
 And all things alter in a course of years." 
 
 I AM indebted, for the following ideas of " Men and Manners 
 once," as seen in the middle state of life generally, to facts im- 
 parted to me by the aged, to wit : — 
 
 The Dutch kept five festivals, of peculiar notoriety, in the year : 
 say Kerstydt, (Christmas); Nieuwjar, (New Year), a great day 
 of cake ; Paas, (the Passover) ; Pinxter, (i. e. Whitsuntide) ; 
 and San Claas, (i. e. Sainst Nicholas, or Christ-kinkle day). 
 The negroes on Long Island, on some of those days, came in 
 great crowds to Brooklyn and held their field frolics. 
 
 The observance of New Year's day (Nieuw jar) is an occasion 
 of much good feeling and hospitality, come down to the present 
 generation from their Dutch forefathers. No other city in the 
 Union ever aims at the Hke general interchange of visits. Cakes, 
 wines, and punch abound in every house ; and, from morning till 
 night houses are open to receive the calls of acquaintances, and 
 to pass the mutual salutations of a " happy New Year," &c. 
 
 It was the general practice of families in middle life, to spin 
 and make much of their domestic wear at home. Short gowns 
 and petticoats were the general in-door dresses. 
 
 Young women who dressed gay to go abroad to visit, or to 
 church, never failed to take off" that dress and put on their home- 
 made as soon as they got home ; even on Sunday evenings when 
 they expected company, or even their beaux, it was their best 
 recommendation to seem thus frugal and ready for any domestic 
 avocation. The boys and young men of a family always changed 
 their dress for a common dress in the same way. There was no 
 custom of offering drink to their guests ; when punch was offered, 
 it was in great bowls. 
 
 Dutch dances were very common ; the supper on such occa- 
 sions was a pot of chocolate and bread. The Rev. Dr. Laidlie, 
 who arrived in 1764, did much to preach them into disuse; he 
 was very exact in his piety, and was the Jirst minister of the 
 Dutch Reformed Church who was called to preach in the English 
 language. 
 
 ''" The negroes used to dance in the markets, where they used 
 tomtoms, horns, &c., for music. They used often to sell negro 
 slaves at the coffee-house. 
 
 All marriages had to be published beforehand, three weeks at 
 the churches, or else, to avoid that, they had to purchase a license 
 of the governor : — a seemingly singular surveillance for a great 
 
Manners and Customs. 205 
 
 military (MQi\ We may presume he cared little for the fact 
 beyond his fee. 
 
 Before the revolution, tradesmen of good repute worked hard ; 
 — there were none as masters, mere lookers-on ; they hardly ex- 
 pected to be rich ; their chief concern in summer was to make 
 enough a-head to lay up carefully for a living in severe winter. 
 Wood was even a serious concern to such, when only 2s. 6d. to 
 3s. a load. 
 
 None of the stores or tradesmen's shops then aimed at any 
 rivalry as now. There were no glaring allurements at windows, 
 no over-reaching signs, no big bulk windows ; they were content 
 to sell things at honest profits, and to trust to an earned reputation 
 for their share of business. 
 
 It was the Englishmen from Britain who brought in the painted 
 glare and display. They also brought in the use of open shops 
 at night, an expensive and needless service ! — for who sells more 
 in day and night, where all are competitors, than they would in 
 one day if all were closed at night ? 
 
 In former days the same class who applied diligently in busi- 
 ness hours, were accustomed to close their shops and stores at an 
 early hour, and to go abroad for exercise and recreation, or to 
 gardens, &c. All was done on foot, for chaises and horses were 
 few. 
 
 The candidates for the Assembly, usually from the city, kept 
 open houses in each ward, for one week ; producing much ex- 
 citement among those who thought more of the regale than the 
 public weal. 
 
 Physicians in that day were moderate in their charges, although 
 their personal labour was great. They had to make all their 
 calls on foot, none thought of riding. Drs. Baylie and M'Knight, 
 when old, were the first who are remembered as riding to their 
 patients. Dr. Atwood is remembered as the first physician who 
 had the hardihood to proclaim himself as a man midwife ; it was 
 deemed a scandal to some delicate ears, and Mrs. Granny Brown, 
 with her fees of two to three dollars, was still deemed the choice 
 of all who thought "women should be modest!" 
 
 " Moving day" was, as now, the first of May, from time im- 
 memorial. 
 
 They held no "fairs," but they often went to the " Philadel- 
 phia Fairs," once celebrated. 
 
 At the New Year and Christmas festivals, it was the custom 
 to go out to the ice on Beekman's and such like swamps to shoot 
 at turkeys ; every one paid a price for his shot, as at a mark, and 
 if he hit it so as to draw blood, it was his for a New Year or 
 Christmas dinner. A fine subject this for Dr. Laidlie's preaching 
 and reformation ! 
 
 At funerals, the Dutch gave hot wine in winter ; and in sum- 
 mer they gave wine-sangaree. 
 
 S 
 
206 Manners and Customs. 
 
 I have noticed a singular custom among Dutch families; — 
 a father gives a bundle of goose quilts to a son, telling him to 
 give one to each of his male posterity. I saw one in the posses- 
 sion of Mr. James Bogert, which had a scroll appended, saying, 
 "this quill, given by Petrus Byvanck to James Bogert, in 1789, 
 was a present in 1689, from his grandfather from Holland. 
 
 It is now deemed a rule of high life in New York that ladies 
 should not attend funerals ; it was not always so. Having been 
 surprised at the change, and not being aware of any sufficient 
 reason why females should have an exemption from personal 
 attention to departed friends, from which their male relatives 
 could not, I have been curious to inquire into the facts in the case. 
 I find that females among the Friends attend funerals, and also 
 among some other religious communities. 
 
 I have been well assured that before the revolution, genteelest 
 families had ladies to their funerals, and especially if the deceased 
 was a female ; on such occasions " burnt wine" was handed 
 about in tankards, often of silver. 
 
 On one occasion the case of the wife of Daniel Phoenix, the city 
 treasurer, all the pall-bearers were ladies ; and this fact occurred 
 since the revolution. 
 
 Many aged persons have spoken to me of the former delightful 
 practice of famihes sitting out on their "stoopes'^ in the shades of 
 the evening, and there saluting the passing friends, or talking 
 across the narrow streets with neighbours. It was one of the grand 
 links of union in the Knickerbocker social compact. It endeared 
 and made social neighbours ; made intercourse on easy terms ; 
 it was only to say, " come sit down." It helped the young to 
 easy introductions, and made courtships of readier attainment. 
 
 I give some facts to illustrate the above remarks, deduced from 
 
 the family of B with which I am personally acquainted. It 
 
 shows primitive Dutch manners. His grandfather died at the age 
 of sixty -three in 1782, holding the office of alderman eleven years, 
 and once chosen mayor and declined. Such a man, in easy cir- 
 cumstances in life, following the true Dutch ton, had all his family 
 to breakfast, all the year round, at day-light. Before the break- 
 fast he universally smoked his pipe. His family always dined at 
 twelve exactly. At that time the kettle was invariably set on the 
 fire for tea, of Bohea, which was always as punctually furnished 
 at three o'clock. Then the old people went abroad on purpose 
 to visit relatives, changing the families each night in succession, 
 over and over again all the year round. The regale at every 
 such house was expected as matter of course, to be chocolate 
 supper and soft waffles. 
 
 Afterwards, when green tea came in as a new luxury, loaf 
 sugar also came with it ; this was broken in large lumps and laid 
 severally by each cup, and was nibbled or bitten as needed ! 
 
 The family before referred to actually continued the practice 
 
Manners and Customs. 207 
 
 till as late as seventeen years ago, with a steady determination 
 in the patriarch to resist the modern innovation of dissolved sugar 
 while he lived. 
 
 Besides the foregoing facts, I have had them abundantly con- 
 firmed by others. 
 
 While they occupied the stoopes in the evening, you could see 
 every here and there an old Knickerbocker with his long pipe, 
 fuming away his cares, and ready on any occasion to offer another 
 for the use of any passing friend who would sit down and join 
 him. The ideal picture has every lineament of contented comfort 
 and cheerful repose. Something much more composed and hap- 
 py than the bustling anxiety of " over business" in the moderns. 
 
 The cleanliness of Dutch housewifery was always extreme ; 
 every thing had to submit to scrubbing and scouring ; dirt in no 
 form could be endured by them : and dear as water was in the 
 city, where it was generally sold, still it was in perpetual requisi- 
 tion. It was their honest pride to see a well-furnished dresser, 
 showmg copper and pewter in shining splendour, as if for orna- 
 ment rather than for use. In all this they widely differed from 
 the Germans, a people with whom they have been erroneously 
 and often confounded. Roost fowls and ducks are not more dif- 
 ferent. As water draws one it repels the other. 
 
 It was common in families then to cleanse their own chimneys 
 without the aid of hired sweeps ; and all tradesmen, &c., were 
 accustomed to saw their own fuel. No man in middle circum- 
 stances of life ever scrupled to carry home his one cwt. of meal 
 from the market ; it would have been his shame to have avoided 
 it. 
 
 A greater change in the state of society cannot be named than 
 that of hired persons. Hired women, from being formerly lowly 
 in dress, wearing short gowns of green baize and petticoats of 
 linsey-woolsey, and receiving but half a dollar a week, have, 
 since they have trebled that wages, got to all the pride and 
 vanity of" showing out" to strangers as well drest ladies. The 
 cheapness of foreign finery gives them the ready means of wast- 
 ing all their wages in decorations. So true it is that, 
 
 " Excess, the scrofulous and itchy plague, 
 Taints downward, all the ^duated scale !" 
 
 The Quarterly Review has preserved one fact of menial im- 
 pudence, in the case of the New York girl telling her mistress, 
 before her guests, that " the more you ring the more I won't 
 come !" 
 
 General Lafayette, too, left us a compliment of dubious import 
 on his late formal entre at New York, when seeing such crowds 
 of well-dressed people, and no remains of such as he had seen in 
 the period of the revolution — a people whose dress was adapted 
 to their condition — he exclaimed, " but where is the people? " 
 
 p2 
 
208 Manners and Customs. 
 
 emphatically meaning, where is the useful class of citizens, " the 
 hewers of wood and drawers of water?" 
 
 " All are infected v/ith the manners and the modes 
 It knew not once." 
 
 Before the revolution, every man who worked in any employ 
 always wore his leathern apron before him, never took it off to 
 go in the street, and never had on a long coat. 
 
 We are glad to witness the rise of new feelings among the 
 Dutch descendants, tending to cherish, by anniversary remem- 
 brances, the love and reverence they owe their sires. For this 
 object, as they have no " landing day," they resort to their tute- 
 lary protector, Saint Nicholas: on such occasions decorating 
 themselves or hall with orange coloured ribbons, and inscribing 
 " Oranje Boven," and garnishing their table with "Malck and 
 Suppawn," with rullities, and their hands with long stemmed 
 pipes. 
 
 We are sorry we do not know the history better than we do, 
 of a saint so popular as he is, with only his name of St. Claes to 
 help him. He seems however to be the most merry and jocose 
 in all the calendar. The boys all welcome him as "the bountiful 
 Saint Nick," and as " De Patroon Van Kindervreugd ;" i. e. the 
 patron of children's joy. 
 
 " A right jolly old elf, with a little round belly, 
 Which shakes when he laughs, like a bowl of jelly." 
 
 All we know from Knickerbocker, is, that the figure of 
 Hudson's Guede Vrouw represented him as attired " in a low 
 brimmed hat, a large pair of Flemish trunk hose, and a very long 
 pipe." 
 
 In 1765, the best families in New York entered into certain 
 sumptuary laws to restrain the usual expenses and pomp of 
 funerals. 
 
 General Manners of the Americans. Lafayette, in his letter 
 to his wife, immediately after his arrival in our country (at George- 
 town, S. C. in 1777), says, " The country and its inhabitants are 
 as agreeable as my enthusiasm had painted them. Simphcity of 
 manners, kindness, love of country and of liberty, and a delightful 
 equality every where prevail. The wealthiest man and the 
 poorest are on a level, and although there are some large fortunes, 
 I challenge any one to discover the shghtest difference between 
 the manners of these two classes respectively towards each other. 
 Every thing here is very much after the English fashion, except 
 that there is more simplicity, equality, cordiality, and courtesy 
 than in England. The American women are very pretty, simple 
 in their manners, and exhibit a neatness, which is every where 
 cultivated even more studiously than in England. What most 
 charms me, is, that all the citizens are brethren. In America 
 
Manners and Customs. 209 
 
 there are no poor, nor even what we call peasantry. Each indi- 
 vidual has his own honest property, and the same rights as the 
 most wealthy landed proprietor. The very inns are very differ- 
 ent from those of Europe ; the host and hostess sit at table with 
 you, and do the honours of a comfortable meal ; and on going 
 away, you pay your bill without higgling." [The whole picture 
 is picturesque and pleasing, and honourable to the memory of our 
 fathers and their day.] 
 
 About the year 1793-4, there was an extravagant, impolitic 
 affection for France, and hostility to every thing British, in our 
 country generally. It required all the prudence of Washington 
 and his cabinet, to stem the torrent of passion which flowed in 
 favour of France, to the prejudice of our neutrality. Now the 
 event is passed, we may thus soberly speak of its character. It 
 may be remembered with what joy the people ran to the wharves 
 at the report of cannon, to see arrivals of the Frenchmen's prizes 
 — we were so pleased to see the British union down ! When 
 French mariners or officers were met in the street, they would 
 be saluted by the boys, with " Vive la Republique."' The streets 
 too, at night, resounded with French national airs, sung by our- 
 selves — such as " Allons, enfans de la patrie." " Dansons le Car- 
 magnole," &c. Many, too, put on the national cockade of red, 
 blue, and white. Liberty poles, surmounted with red liberty 
 caps, were often set up. We remember the French frigate 
 PAmbuscade, as making her stay in New York harbour, and at 
 night, the officers and men in launches would go ud and down 
 the harbour, with bands of music, singing the national airs. At 
 the same time, the Boston frigate (British), lay off the Hook, and 
 sent in her challenge, for the PAmbuscade to come out and fight 
 her. It was accepted ; and many citizens went out in pilot boats, 
 and saw the action and drawn battle. Then appeared the song, 
 
 "Brave Boston from Halifax sailed, 
 With Courtney, commander, who never did fear, 
 Nor returned from a fight, vt^ith a flee in his ear — 
 As they steered for the Hook, each swore by his book, 
 No prayers should their vengeance retard, 
 They would plunder and burn, they would never return. 
 Unattended by Captain Bompard !" &c. 
 
 All the facts of that day, as we now contemplate them, seem 
 something like the remembrance of our dreams. It was a time, 
 when the people seemed maddened by impulse of feeling — such 
 as we hope never to see aroused again for any foreigners. They 
 were fine feelings to ensure the success of a war actually begun, 
 but bad affections for any nation, whose interests lay in peace and 
 neutrality. Washington bravely submitted to become unpopular, 
 to allay and repress this dangerous foreign attachment. 
 
 About this time, almost every vessel arriving, brought fugitives 
 from the infuriated negroes in Cape'Frant^ois, Port au Prince, &c. ; 
 27 s2 
 
210 Manners and Customs. 
 
 or from the sharp axe of the guillotine of France, dripping night 
 and day with the blood of Frenchmen, shed in the name of liberty 
 and the sacred rights of man. The city thronged with French 
 people of all shades from the French colonies, and from old 
 France, giving it the appearance of one great hotel or place of 
 refuge for strangers hastily collected from a raging tempest. The 
 characteristic old school simplicity of the citizens, in manners, 
 habits of dress, and modes of thinking and speaking on the sub- 
 jects of civil rights and forms of government, by the square and 
 rule of reason and argument, began to be broken in upon, by the 
 new enthusiasm of la mode Frangaise. French boarding houses, 
 marked Pension Frangaise, multiplied in every street. Before 
 such houses, groups of both sexes were to be seen seated on 
 chairs, embarrassing the street walkers, and the French in full 
 converse ; their tongues, shoulders, and hands in perpetual motion 
 — " all talkers and no hearers.^' Mestizo ladies, with complexions 
 of the palest marble, jet black hair, and eyes of the gazelle, with 
 persons of exquisite symmetry, were to be seen escorted along 
 the pavements by white French gentlemen, both dressed in the 
 richest materials of West India cut and fashion ; also coal black 
 negresses in flowing white dresses, and turbans of "muchoir de 
 madras," exhibiting their ivory dominos, in social walk with 
 white, or mixed Creoles ; altogether forming a lively contrast to 
 our native Americans, and the emigres from old France, most of 
 whom still kept to the stately old Bourbon style of dress and 
 manner; wearing the head full powdered a la Louis, golden 
 headed cane, silver-set buckles, and cocked hat, seemingly to ex- 
 press en silence, their profound contempt for the pantaloons, silk 
 shoestrings, and " Brutus crop." The French West Indians, as 
 well as many of ourselves, wore the pantaloons with, feet to them, 
 let into the shoes. Their ladies dressed generally en chemise — a 
 loose flowing exterior, which strikingly aided to expose their supe- 
 rior figures and forms. Such chemise dresses, our young ladies 
 soon learned to adopt and follow. They made then no mistakes 
 in imagining the real symmetry of our belles. 
 
 It was wonderful how little these French people mixed in our 
 society. They formed but few alliances with us; and finally dis- 
 appeared like birds of passage, going we knew not where. While 
 they remained, they gave an air of French to every thing. They 
 introduced us to the use of their confectionaries and bon-bons — 
 jewelry and trinkets — dancing and music. In music they excelled. 
 Their boarding houses, daily and nightly, resounded with the 
 violin and clarionet, and from their example, we adopted cotil- 
 lions, and laid aside aU former British modes of dancing. The 
 Frenchmen were great promenaders, being much abroad in the 
 streets as walkers, and much in the country as shooters — they 
 shot and ate all manner of birds, practically thinking that all de- 
 pended upon the cooking. They were great shots upon the wing 
 
Manners and Customs. 211 
 
 — indeed, they learned us so to shoot with their double-barrelled 
 guns, expensively finished. These were new to us, and we 
 adopted them. Before then, we were more of fishers than shooters, 
 or sought our bird game on the water. From them we first be- 
 gan to cultivate the study of French, and the use of the piano — 
 many of them serving as our instructors. From them we learned 
 to adopt gold watches and gilded framed looking-glasses and pic- 
 tures. They always dressed with great freshness and cleanliness ; 
 but their housekeeping was with proverbial neglect and slovenli- 
 ness. They had no aim at nice floors, burnished furniture, or 
 cleanly kitchens. They had no love to clean water, but on their 
 persons ; and from that cause, they first introduced us to the use 
 and support of public baths. They taught us also to much change 
 our table diet — to use soups, sallads, sweet oil, tomatoes, ragouts, 
 fricasees, and perfumes. They had bread bakers, for " French 
 bread" of their own, leavened in their own peculiar way, and 
 French restaurants to furnish ready cooked dishes, fortheir dinners. 
 From them we learned the use of matresses and high bedsteads, 
 the love of musical entertainments and orchstera singing. In a 
 word, they inoculated us with Frenchified tastes and affections. 
 
 Courtship and Marriage. A friend having sent us recollec- 
 tions of courtship and marriage as witnessed in colonial times, say 
 some ten or twelve years preceding the war of the revolution, we 
 find it so confirmative of sundry facts, scattered in these pages, 
 that we feel tempted to give the article entire. 
 
 It was originally written in 1828, to portray to a young niece, 
 (whom we shall call Miss Betsey) what an old bachelor gentle- 
 man of eighty, had witnessed of the courtship and wedding of his 
 brother, the grandfather of the young lady addressed. 
 
 He begins by saying, — 
 
 My dear little Bess : — 
 
 Your intended marriage has crowded my old heart with many 
 recollections of former times ; and I could not resist the tempta- 
 tion of proving that I am yet far from the useless days of second 
 childhood, by giving you some account of your grandfather's 
 courtship and wedding, so that you may have the pleasure of 
 contrasting it with your own. At same time I wish to portray, 
 incidentally, so far as the subject may admit, the kind of people 
 we generally were ; and how we did and lived, when we were 
 the liege subjects of his majesty George III. 
 
 Your grandfather had, as the saying is, been. ' set vp^ in busi- 
 ness, in a small shop slenderly stocked with pins, tape, broaches, 
 buttons, &c., about one year. He religiously took down his 
 shutters, opened his door, swept out his warehouse, and dusted 
 his goods himself, every morning, by the time grey dawn broke ; 
 for those were the days when men grew rich by rising early and 
 doing their own business, not by sleeping as they do now, until 
 breakfast, leaving their concerns in the hands of thoughtless boys. 
 
21^ Manners and Customs. 
 
 No indeed ! When I was a young man, we had no capital but 
 our reputation for industry and punctuality. Honesty and labour 
 were as much in fashion then, as dandy coats and starched cravats 
 are now-a-days ; and no sensible matron would allow her daugh- 
 ter to be courted by a young man who was not his own servant. 
 To do your grandfather justice, he was ever considered a very 
 thrifty young man : and as he had been very diligent in business, 
 and was fully twenty-five years old, he did not think it being very 
 dissipated for him to engage in a sleighing party at North End. 
 This opinion was strengthened when he learnt that the whole 
 expense would not exceed a dollar. 
 
 The hour for starting, one p. m., was rapidly approaching; 
 when your grandfather sallied forth, equipped, to meet his friends 
 at the appointed rendezvous. His second best cocked hat was 
 tied under his chin by a blue cotton handkerchief, while his young 
 queue protruded from behind, as stiff as if it had been griped by the 
 icy fingers of Jack Frost himself, instead of being strictly enveloped 
 in eel skin. An extensive camlet cloak, with a minute cape, six 
 inches in breadth, wrapped up his body, and covered his snuff"- 
 coloured coat and small clothes, and stockings, drawn over shoes, 
 and all, to keep out the snow. Yarn mittens protected his hands, 
 and a woollen tippet was warmly tucked around his neck. People, 
 formerly, Betsey, dressed in unison with the weather and the 
 occasion. 
 
 The sleigh, the only double one then in town, a vast collection 
 of unpainted boards, capable of containing a moderate load of 
 thirty, drawn by a variegated team of six horses, and driven by 
 black Caesar, of immortal memory as charioteer, waiter, and fid- 
 dler, was at the door. Immediately the party, consisting of gen- 
 tlemen, who so far as dress was concerned were facsimiles of 
 your progenitor, and ladies enveloped in linsey-woolsey cardinals, 
 the hoods of which were of such ample dimensions that their 
 heads looked like so many beer casks, seated themselves in the 
 vehicle. And away they went, animated by the jingle of one or 
 two cow-bells, to take a cup of hot tea and have a dance at 
 
 Madame T 's, at H . Csesar, on their arrival, tuned 
 
 his three-stringed fiddle ; the gentlemen appeared in their square- 
 toed pumps, and the ladies shook off" their pat lens to display their 
 little feet in peak-toed high-heeled slippers. And at it they went, 
 dancing and skipping for dear life, until 8 o'clock, when they 
 hurried to town, for to be abroad after 9 o'clock on common 
 occasions, was then a sure sign of moral depravity. 
 
 But Bess, I have not spun out this long story about the sleigh 
 ride for nothing : — The pith of the matter is to come now. On 
 this eventful eve, your grandfather was shot indeed by Dan Cupid, 
 
 or rather by Prudence B 's eyes. He came home sighing 
 
 and simpering, and looking very much like a fool. . He dreamed 
 all night of that taper arm so closely confined in tight brown silk, 
 
Manners and Customs. 213 ' 
 
 of that slender waist, with the broidered stomacher — and oh ! 
 more than all, of that sweet * blue een,* and that auburn ringlet, 
 which the gypsey had allowed to escape unpowdered. The next 
 day he went about sighing like a blacksmith's bellows. And Sun- 
 day after Sunday, he travelled down to the North church, rigged 
 out in his best attire, with his cornelian broach, paste buckles, lace 
 frill-worked cravat and all, to get a peep at the blooming Pru- 
 dence. And, verily, I fear that her sylph-like form obtained 
 
 more of John's attention than. Dr. B 's sermon. Thus he 
 
 went on, until he thought his circumstances would allow him to 
 offer his heart and hand to the fair damsel. 
 
 Now Betsey, I suppose you are all on tiptoe expecting to hear 
 of a moonlight walk, a stolen kiss, a stammered confession and a 
 blushing answer. But you will be disappointed. Love had a 
 much greater sense of propriety in those days. His votaries then 
 had to. deal with rigid old fathers and prudential mothers instead 
 of thoughtless girls. Your grandfather set himself down one morn- 
 ing at his desk, mending his pen, spread out a broad sheet of 
 paper, and after various trials, indited in a hand like copper-plate 
 an humble letter to the parent of his beloved Prudence, stating 
 the amount of his property, his yearly profits, &c., and requesting 
 permission to pay his addresses to his daughter. John was, as I 
 have already said, esteemed a very prudent young man, so that 
 
 Mr. B felt no hesitation in returning an affirmative answer, 
 
 and probably moreover he chuckled a little at th6 idea that Pru- 
 dence was to make out so well. 
 
 Fortune had smiled kindly on brother Jack's love thus far, and 
 now was coming the trying, interesting hour when he was to 
 make his first official visit. He shut up his shop full five minutes 
 before dark. He swallowed his tea in such haste as almost to 
 excoriate his tongue. His cravat was tied and re-tied twenty 
 times, his hair as often touched with pomatum and powder ; and 
 his three cornered scraper was sleeked down like a well curried 
 pony. In a word, he spent more time at his toilet on that 
 eventful eve, than during his whole life previous. At last he 
 started for the house of his fair charmer. Thrice he essayed to 
 knock, and thrice he essayed in vain. I verily believe he would 
 have spent half the night in mustering up the requisite courage 
 for a gentle love-tap, had I not helped his modesty with a thun- 
 dering jerk of the knocker, and then run away and left him to 
 answer for himself. 
 
 John was ushered up stairs into a fearful circle to begin his 
 courtship. When the door of the parlour was opened, one side 
 of the fireplace displayed a bevy of Prudence's maiden aunts, 
 bristling in all the frigidity of single blessedness, knitting most 
 vehemently, and casting, every time a new roiv was to be begun, 
 sharp and scrutinizing glances at the young spark, over their 
 round eyed spectacles. On the other side was Mr. B , 
 
214 Manners and Customs. 
 
 stretched at his ease in an arm-chair, in a black cap instead of his 
 wig, wrapped in a blue gown, with his breeches unbuttoned at 
 
 his knees, quietly smoking his pipe. Mrs. B , in her chintz 
 
 dress and mob cap, was at his side, engaged in making patch- 
 work ; whilst the lovely Prudence sat quite erect by her mamma, 
 with her pincushion and house-wife dangling from her waist, and 
 her eye cast down, diligently pricking her fingers instead of her 
 sampler. Courting was a sober business in old times. Your 
 grandfather seated himself much nearer the spinsters, than his 
 deary. He showed his affection very properly by keeping at a re- 
 spectful distance. He passed the evening in talking politics and 
 the scarcity of money, with his future father-in-laAV, in assisting 
 his future mother-in-law to arrange her party-coloured squares ; 
 in picking up the balls of yarn, as they were respectively dropped 
 by the maiden aunts ; now and then casting sly sheep's eyes at 
 Prudence, at every instance of which familiarity the aforesaid 
 maiden ladies dropped a stitch ! As soon as the bell rung nine, 
 he gave one tender squint at your grandmother, and took his 
 leave. 
 
 This was the old-fashioned way of paying attentions ; and this 
 your grandfather performed every night, excepting when he was 
 allowed to escort Miss Prudence to some neighbouring tea-party. 
 Betsey, are you not shocked at the degeneracy of modern times ? 
 Only think, that now young ladies and gentleman, as soon as 
 they are engaged, and this often before they are out of their teens, 
 are permitted to walk all alone by moonlight, and have a parlour 
 to themselves a whole winter's evening. 
 
 Alack-a-day, as your great aunt Thankful says, what is the 
 world coming to ! 
 
 Matters proceeded in this quiet and proper way for some time, 
 until the final question was put, and the night of the wedding 
 appointed. Ample time, however, was allowed for the consulta- 
 tions of the three aunts, — the seventy times seven examinations 
 of the same articles, before a vote for their purchase could be 
 obtained. John was obliged to neglect his business sadly, and to 
 ambulate from one end of the town to the other, with the spin- 
 sters, Mrs. B , and Prudence, to "look at" andirons, can- 
 dlesticks, pots, kettles, &c. But Betsey, as I fear the same endless 
 preparation is as necessary to marriage now, as it was then, I 
 will avoid the charge of garrulity, and hasten on with my story. 
 
 It was a clear, cold December night, the night of the wedding. 
 
 The best parlour in Mr. B 's mansion reflected from its 
 
 well waxed oaken pannel work, the light of a dozen sconces. A 
 glowing fire blazed in the spacious chimney, the jambs of which 
 were ornamented with scripture stories of Samson, Daniel, 
 Joseph, and the prodigal son, represented in sky blue on squares 
 of china, and made more engaging by the judicious introduction 
 of the costume of the eighteenth century. The vast looking-glass 
 
Manners and Customs. 215 
 
 duly set in real mahogany frame, gave such likeness of the blaze 
 that you would hesitate whether to warm yourself by the real 
 or imagined fire. The solid leather bottomed chairs flanked the 
 equally substantial iron-footed tables, like so many sturdy old 
 patriots. In short, in every part, what was wanting in grace and 
 beauty, was supplied wiih weight and comfort. 
 
 Presently the company began to assemble. There were then 
 no hackney coaches. Ladies and gentleman both made use of 
 nature's carriages; and cousin after cousin, belle after belle, 
 
 came trotting along to Mr. B 's in their pattens with as 
 
 much glee as if they had been drawn by four royal grays. All 
 at last were collected, and waiting only for the parson. Old Mr. 
 
 B in his full bottomed wig, velvet coat and breeches, gold 
 
 buckles, waistcoat reaching to his knees, conversed with his bro- 
 ther merchants on the usual topics. Mrs. B in her plain 
 
 brocade and snowy cap, only rivalled by her neck handker- 
 chief, was seen ever and anon to wipe away a truant tear. The 
 maiden aunts, stiff as pokers, were giving to sister spinsters most 
 minute accounts of Prudence's domestic arrangements, and were 
 particularly eloquent in relating the many w^onderful bargains 
 they had made in conducting the purchases. The young men in 
 their Sunday suits, throwing off" clouds of flour every time they 
 moved their heads, stood dangling their steel watch-chains, and 
 making formal speeches to the young ladies who sat, with their 
 cushioned head gear, bolt upright, flirting their two foot-fans, 
 and blushing and simpering with maiden propriety. At last Dr. 
 
 B appeared, full dressed with gown, cassock and bands, — 
 
 with a wig, that seemed to consist of a whole unsheared sheep- 
 skin. For a parson to have attended a wedding in a simple 
 black coat and pantaloons, sixty years ago, Betsey, would have 
 been deemed rank heresy, indeed 1 have been inclined to think 
 that half the power of ministers in my day lay in their wigs. 
 
 The presence of the divine was a signal for the appearance of 
 Caesar, in a green coat beautifully studded with steel buttons 
 
 (probably the courting coat of Mr. B , for the coats lasted 
 
 out generations, in old times), bright red breeches, blue stockings, 
 and yellow vest ; followed by Cleopatra and her flaming copper- 
 plate gown, and hoop to imitate the ladies. The former sustained 
 a mahogany tray, shining like his face, sprinkled all over with 
 those very little teacups, which I believe made their last appear- 
 ance in your baby-house, Betsey ; the latter bore a twin waiter 
 loaded with nut-cakes, symbols, and bread and butter. This 
 ebony procession appeared and disappeared three several times ; 
 and then the bridal party entered. First came two pretty maidens, 
 who longed I dare say to be in Prudence's shoes, in white dimity, 
 with the eternal upheaved top-knots, escorted by another gentle- 
 man and myself, in blazing scarlet. Next came the happy pair ; 
 Prudence slightly suflused, with her eyes bent towards the ground 
 
216 Manners and Customs. 
 
 —not her head, for loaded as it was, the slightest inclination of it 
 might have produced a motion somewhat like that of a top-heavy 
 cornstalk witch ; John, moving and looking as awkward as a boy 
 whose free limbs have been shaken for the first time into jacket 
 and trowsers. But stop, I am too general It will never do, not 
 to be particular on such a subject as wedding dresses. 
 
 To begin with the lady ; her locks were strained upward over 
 an immense cushion, that sat like an incubus on her head, and 
 then plastered over with pomatum, and sprinkled with a shower 
 of white powder. The height of this tower was somewhat over 
 a foot. One single white rose bud lay on its top like an eagle on 
 a haystack. Over her neck and bosom was folded a lace hand- 
 kerchief, fastened in front by a bosom pin rather larger than a 
 dollar, consisting of your grandfather's miniature set in virgin 
 gold. Her airy form was braced up in a satin dress, the sleeves 
 tight as the natural skin of the arm, with a waist formed by a 
 bodice, worn outside, from whence the skirt flowed off", and was 
 distended at the ankles by an ample hoop. Shoes of white kid, 
 with peaked toes, and heels of two or three inches elevation, 
 inclosed her feet and glittered with spangles, as her little pedal 
 members peeped curiously out. There, Betsey, a London milli- 
 ner could not have described a bridal garment more accurately. 
 Now for the swain. Your grandfather slept in an arm-chair the 
 night before his wedding, lest the arrangements of his peri- 
 cranium, which had been under the hands of a barber the whole 
 afternoon, should be disturbed. His hair was sleeked back and 
 plentifully befloured, while his queue projected like the handle 
 of a skillet. His coat was of a sky blue silk, lined with yellow ; 
 his long vest of white satin, embrodiered with gold lace ; his 
 breeches of the same material, and tied at the knee with pink 
 ribbon. White silk stockings and pumps, with locks and ties of 
 the same hue, completed the habiliments of his nether limbs. 
 Lace ruffles clustered around his wrists, a portentous frill worked 
 in correspondence, and beanng the miniature of his beloved, 
 finished his truly genteel appearance. 
 
 The party soon arranged themselves, and Dr. B , with a 
 
 dreadful solemn air, united the lovers in the holy bonds of matri- 
 mony. The three maiden aunts, probably reflecting upon their 
 
 lonely state, snivelled audibly. Mrs. B put a handkerchief 
 
 to her eyes, and Mr. B gave a loud hem as if to clear his 
 
 throat. After the ceremony, the parson made a long and serious 
 address to the young couple, during which the old ladies looked 
 meaningly at the young damsels, who pertly pouted with their 
 pretty hp?, and played with their pretty feet rather impatiently 
 upon the floor ; whilst the young beaux hunched each other with 
 their elbows and grinned slightly. The speech over, and when 
 all the company had saluted the bride with loud and hearty 
 kisses, which sounded like the irregular discharge of small arms, 
 
Manners and Customs. 217 
 
 Caesar's fiddle began to speak audibly. The new married pair 
 slided through a minuet, and then the whole company danced 
 and romped until supper was announced. 
 
 And such a supper ! I might as well attempt to give an idea 
 of the flavour of venison on paper, as of this supper. At each 
 end of the table, attended by a pair of ducks lay a glorious turkey, 
 flat on his back as if inviting dissection. Next came two luscious 
 hams, with graceful overshadowing box ; then sausages, garnished 
 with fried apples ; then smoked two tender surloins of beef; then 
 the golden salmon ; in short, the table groaned under a load of 
 flesh, fish, and fowl of all sorts and kinds 
 
 At each corner rested a huge pumpkin pudding, surrounded with 
 numerous satellites of tarts, and in the very centre of the board 
 stood jellies, and the wedding cake, with its snowy covermg of 
 sugar, studded with flowers and ginger, full as large round as a 
 bushel basket. Strict justice was done the repast. The ladies 
 ate as though they lived by eating, the gentlemen as though they 
 were hungry, the parson as if he loved it. Many jokes were 
 cracked. Many a good wish to the new married pair was drank, 
 and the company departed in high spirits. Caesar drove the 
 
 bride and bridegroom, in Mr. B 's one horse square top 
 
 chaise, to their own dwelling, where they lived long and happy, 
 although Prudence neither played upon the piano nor read Ita- 
 lian. 
 
 If, Bess, this narrative affords you as much pleasure in reading 
 of olden times, as it has your uncle in recalling them, I am satis- 
 fied. 
 
 P. S. Your grandmother spoke out the obey so as to be dis- 
 tinctly heard all over the room. 
 
 With a view to illustrate and better confirm our notices of 
 manners and customs, we here give sundry interesting remarks 
 from the pen of Charles F. Hoffman, Esq., as presented to the 
 New York Historical Society, saying ; 
 
 It has always been a curious subject with me, when speculat- 
 ing upon the growth and development of our national character, 
 to trace the influence of sectional peculiarities, and determine if 
 possible how far the striking social features which characterize 
 some of the States, are represented in the general national por- 
 trait. 
 
 But the interest — if any be allowed to attach to the theme — 
 the interest of the inquiry becomes much more real when the 
 early manners and customs of the present state of New York 
 are the subject of investigation ; for the vast influx of immigra- 
 tion since the revolution, has not only obliterated her peculiar 
 colonial character, but the very memory of it is rapidly passing 
 away. The Massachusetts-man, the Virginian and South Ca- 
 rolinian, are still identified with their fathers, in both private 
 and historical association ; while New York, alike in the grave 
 28 T 
 
218 Manners and Customs. 
 
 writings of the annalist and in the habitual mention of the daily- 
 press, is scarcely recognized as having more than a territorial 
 existence previous to the revolution. The popular phrase of "our 
 Pilgrim fathers," has become perfectly domesticated in the pub- 
 lic lecture-rooms of New York; and no one thinks of discussing 
 a question of morals in the newspapers, without referring to " the 
 customs of our Puritan ancestry.'^ Both these phrases, indeed, 
 have more than once, of late years, been used in our state legis- 
 lature, to add force to some eloquent appeal. Now, while it 
 might be in very questionable taste to carp at or arraign the natu- 
 ral associations of those who compose, if not the largest, yet 
 perhaps the most intelligent, and possibly the most valuable por- 
 tion of our fellow citizens throughout the state generally, yet 
 this covering up and obliteration of our ancient story is not alto- 
 gether well ! New York, though she had no Speedwell nor May- 
 flower freighted with precious hearts, daring the wilderness for 
 conscience's sake — New York was still planted, and earlier 
 planted, by men as bold to confront the perils of a new climate 
 or the horrors of savage warfare, as those who landed at Ply- 
 mouth — by men, too, who penetrated beyond the mountains, and 
 estabUshed their little colonies a hundred and fifty miles from the 
 sea-shore, without thinking that they did anything extraordinary 
 enough to transmit their names to posterity. 
 
 But it is with neither of these memorable bands of adven- 
 turers that we now have to do. My aim is only to call your 
 attention to the distinctive character of the people of New York 
 — their character, whether good or bad, but still distinctive, as it 
 existed previous to the revolution. 
 
 In those old colonial days, when the now popular dogmas 
 about "the pure Anglo-Saxon race" had not been broached, 
 except in the student's closet, the chance traveller who visted the 
 banks of the Hudson observed the happy fusion of national pre- 
 judices and the general ease and uniformity of sentiment which 
 prevailed among the descendants of the different European stocks 
 by which that noble valley was originally planted ; but, while 
 recording that the general system of opinions here was far more 
 liberal and tolerant than that prevailing in the neighbouring colo- 
 nies, those who have stated the fact leave us to make up our 
 own judgment as to the cause. We may ascribe the amiable trait 
 to the social intercourse and frequent intermarriages of the differ- 
 ent races already alluded to ; we may attribute it to the homely fact, 
 that most of the settlers of New York came hither to enjoy life, 
 not to establish creeds ; to secure a domestic fireside, not to make 
 converts to new political truths ; or, lastly, we may look for the 
 cause in the nature of their favourite pursuits, and the mollifying 
 effect, upon manners, of many a simple old festal custom. 
 
 All of these influences, most probably had a combined effect in 
 producing the result. The facility with which both the French 
 
Manners and Customs. 219 
 
 and the English intermingled with their Dutch predecessors in 
 the colony, is easily accounted for, by our knowledge of the long 
 residence in Holland of most of the French, and many of the 
 British immigrants, before corning hither to establish themselves ; 
 and the same cause will account for Dutch being equally with 
 English, the general language of the colony, long after the latter 
 race had begun to preponderate in numbers. Oddly enough, 
 however, while their Puritan brethren were drawing tighter and 
 tighter the rein of religious authority in New England, it was to 
 the English here that the people of New York were indebted 
 for their first lessons in general toleration, a toleration not the 
 less remarkable at that day, because the Roman Catholic faith 
 was not included ; and it is singular that the historians of New 
 England should affect to trace any of the precious leaven of 
 political Puritanism among the people of New York, not only 
 previous to the revolution, but so early as the year 1698, a period 
 when more than one influential English family of this province 
 was grievously suspected, of " popery ;" and ^hen in the city of 
 New York especially, Jesuits were supposed to be prowling 
 around every corner. 
 
 But what were the principal pursuits of our forefathers ? How 
 did their habits of life which I have already alluded to in this 
 connection influence their general tone of character ? The bold 
 deeds of Miles Standish, and the celebrated names Mianlonimo 
 and Philip of Pokanoket, have made the Indian wars of New 
 England familiar to every schoolboy, — familiar as are the savage 
 forays into Kentucky, of a much later day. But so little has the 
 legendary story of New York been illustrated, until the appear- 
 ance of Campbell's Annals of Tryon County, and the more recent 
 and valuable work upon the times of Brant and the border wars 
 generally, by another member of this Society, that few seem 
 aware that the province of New York was for nearly the full 
 space of a century, a straggling camp of partisan soldiery, ever on 
 the alert to meet and repel invasion. 
 
 Whether the French, after drawing their Avonderful line of 
 forts, which extended through the western wilderness, from 
 Quebec to New Orleans, whether they really ever hoped to cut a 
 path to the Atlantic by the way of the Hudson, it is now difficult 
 to say. But long previous to the date of Leisler's ill-starred 
 attempt to expel them from Canada, and down to the time when 
 Wolfe triumphed at Quebec, the old chronicles which record the 
 formidable descent of Count Frontinac, the massacre of Schenec- 
 tady, and other inroads of Hurons and Adirondacks led on by 
 French officers, tell us repeatedly of sudden taxes levied, and men 
 warned to hold themselves ready in arms, even in this city, 
 apparently so remote from the scene of the never-ending border 
 struggle. To the military character thus fearfully fostered through 
 several generations, not less than to the general love of sylvan 
 
220 Manners and Customs. 
 
 sports, engendered perhaps by the pursuit of the fur trade, many 
 of the most characteristic traits of our forefathers are safely 
 attributable. 
 
 The wars with New France, as Canada is called by the pro- 
 vincial writers of that day, commenced at an early period of New 
 Netherland's history, and though ostensibly suspended when the 
 parent countries were at peace with each other, yet the incessant 
 forays between the New York and Canadian Indians ; between 
 the famous Five Nations, or Iroquois of New York, and the 
 Hurons and Adirondacks of the St. Lawrence, was in fact a 
 struggle between the French and English, to secure possession of 
 northern and western New York. A grasping desire for territory 
 on the part of the French, and a bitter jealousy of their rivalship 
 in the fur trade, upon the part of the New Yorkers, impelled the 
 colonists on either side, to share personally in these Indian quar- 
 rels, without troubling themselves much about the danger of 
 compromising poUtically the mother countries which pretended 
 to sway them. In a word, the pursuit of the fur trade afforded 
 them, as it has done in later days, an admirable cover for that 
 respectable species of land-piracy which permits bands of men to 
 cut each other's throats, and fight out their national quarrels in 
 the wilderness, without necessarily involving their country's flag, 
 by the practice of such wholesale hostility against each other. 
 And, after all, how did it matter much that the New York trader 
 who was traversing the Mohawk and Oswego with a boat load 
 of muskets and gunpowder, to exchange for furs with his Iroquois 
 friends, should lend his hardy crew to them for a day or two, 
 while the Burgeois of Montreal, who coasted Lake Ontario with 
 his batteaux, had his voyagenrs already clad and painted like 
 Indians, in honest expectation of such a contingency ! 
 
 The large immigration of disbanded German soldiers in Queen 
 Anne's time, and the influx a few years later of Scotch Jacobites, 
 who had been in arms for the Pretender, brought a representation 
 of new races of not ungenial habits, to coalesce with the earlier 
 colonists of New York ; and it was owing to the half military, 
 half marauding temper these induced, that tjie breaking out of 
 the Revolution found so few neutrals in New York — so many 
 that took up arms either on one side or the other, fighting with 
 such desperation to the close, that in no other province did the 
 struggle wear so completely all the fearful features of a civil war 
 as in this. 
 
 It is now curious to look at the other side of the picture, as we 
 have it authentically transmitted to us. According to the intelli- 
 gent Mrs. Grant, of Laghan, (whose delightful Reminiscences of 
 early New York, are probably familiar to most of us,) there were 
 in her day but few youth of character or respectability, who had 
 not made one or more expeditions to the frontiers, serving at 
 least one campaign, in what might then be called the Aboriginal 
 
Manners and Customs. 22\ 
 
 Flanders of America. Yet, the great simplicity of manners, the 
 peace, security, and abundance which prevailed in the Valley of 
 the Hudson, gave to that favoured region a character of almost 
 pastoral tranquillity. "This singular community," says the 
 observing Scotch woman, " seemed to have a common stock, not 
 only of sufferings and enjoyments, but of information and ideas.'' 
 Some pre-eminence in point of knowledge, there certainly was, 
 yet those who possessed it seemed scarcely conscious of their supe- 
 riority. The daily occasions which called forth the exertions of 
 mind, sharpened sagacity, and strengthened character; avarice 
 and vanity were there confined to very narrow limits ; of money 
 there was very little, (wampum beads being actually at one time 
 a common medium of exchange,) and dress was, though in some 
 instances valuable, not subject to the caprice of fashion; the 
 beasts of prey that haunted their enclosures, (for wolves and 
 bears especially abounded in this colony,) and the enraged sav- 
 ages that always hung threatening on their boundaries, made 
 them more and more endeared to each other. In this calm infancy 
 of society the rigors of law slept, because the fury of turbulent 
 passions had not yet awakened it. Fashion, that whimsical 
 tyrant of adult communities, had not yet erected her standard ; 
 " yet no person," says Mrs. Grant, " appeared uncouth or ill- 
 bred, because there was no accomplished standard of comparison ; 
 their manners, if not elegant and polished, were at least easy and 
 independent, while servility and insolence were equally un- 
 known." Belted in, as it were, by the formidable Iroquois on 
 their northern and western borders, and acknowledging those 
 martial tribes as their chief bulwark against the allied Hurons 
 and French of Canada, they were thus brought in immediate 
 contact with those whom the least instance of fraud, insolence, or 
 grasping meanness, might have converted from even valuable 
 friends into resistless enemies. They were thus, we are told, 
 compelled at first to " assume a virtue if they had it not," while 
 the daily pressure of circumstance, at last rendered that virtue 
 habitual. 
 
 With regard to the New York women of that day, the same 
 writer bears particular testimony that while their confined educa- 
 tion precluded elegance of mind, the simplicity of their manners 
 wa^ as far removed as possible from vulgarity. " At the same 
 time," she observes, "these unembellished females had more 
 comprehension of mind, more variety of ideas, more, in short, of 
 what may be called original thinking, than could be easily ima- 
 gined." Indeed it was on the women that the task of religious 
 instruction chiefly devolved ; and the essentials rather than the 
 ceremonials of piety, being instilled by them, the mothers of the 
 colony were thus regarded with a reverence which gave a simple 
 earnestness to their character when mixing in secular concerns. 
 
 Of the domestic, or rather the out-of-door pursuits of these 
 
 t2 
 
222 Manners and Customs. 
 
 simple housewives, there is one charming picture has come down 
 to us. While the custom of the male head of the household 
 cherishing some ancient tree planted immediately in front of the 
 door-way, was almost universal in both town and country, alike 
 in Albany and New York, as well as in every rural settlement, 
 each dwelling was adorned with its little garden, which was under 
 the special care of the mistress of the family. The garden spot, 
 devoted equally to flowers and esculent vegetables, was thought 
 to evidence equally the advance of her taste and the condition of 
 her housekeeping. After describing these gardens as " extremely 
 neat, but small, and not by any means calculated for walking in," 
 the European resident exclaims, " I think I yet see what I have 
 so often beheld in both town and country, a respectable mistress 
 of a family going out to her garden in an April morning, with her 
 great calash, her little painted basket of seeds, and her robe over 
 her shoulders, to her garden labours. These were by no means 
 figurative ; a woman in very easy circumstances and abundantly 
 gentle in form and manners, would sow and plant, and rake in- 
 cessantly." These fair gardeners (we are also told) were likewise 
 good florists, and displayed much emulation and solicitude in their 
 pleasing employment. 
 
 In connection with this glimpse of not uninteresting homely 
 habits it may be worth while to recur to the condition of slavery 
 in early New York. So utterly is this institution now eftaced 
 from among us, that it has become difficult to realize how much 
 is due to the far-seeing statesman and pure patriot, through whose 
 instrumentality, chiefly, abolition was effected within our borders. 
 Yet in no colony of our present Union did slavery more generally 
 prevail than in that of New York; for while the social distinctions, 
 depending upon taste and education, were quietly respected, there 
 was here no division of society into two great classes, as at the 
 south ; where one great landed proprietor could count hundreds 
 of human beings as his serfs, while another of the same blood, 
 was sunk almost below the servile tiller of the soil, by the very 
 fact of his owning no property in any man but himself For, 
 while the number of slaves in any New York family rarely ex- 
 ceeded a dozen, there was hardly a dwelling in the colony that 
 di,d not shelter some of these family appendages. Slavery was 
 indeed here literally " a domestic institution." " There were no 
 field negroes," no collection of cabins remote from the house, 
 known as "the negro quarters." The slaves lived under the 
 same roof, and partook of the same fare as the rest of the family, 
 to which they belonged. They were scrupulously baptized, too, 
 and shared the same religious instruction with the children of the 
 family. There was no especial law, we are told, preventing the 
 barter of slaves ; but a natural sentiment, which had grown into 
 a custom, as compulsory as any law, prevented the separation of 
 families ; and above all, the sale of any child without the permis- 
 
Manners and Customs. 223 
 
 sion of the mother, who would often exercise her own caprice in 
 designating its future master. The exchange of slaves was also 
 almost invariably limited to family relatives. When a negro 
 woman's child attained the age of three years, it was solemnly 
 presented, the first new-year's day 'following, to the son, or 
 daughter, or other young relation of the family, who was of the 
 same sex with the child so presented ; and when in after years, 
 the youthful master went out to seek his fortunes upon the fron- 
 tiers, a thousand instances are related of the fidelity and devotion 
 of these sable squires, amid the perils of the wilderness. There is 
 one remark which I will venture to make, in connection with this 
 branch of our subject, because its truth may be, even at this late 
 day, verified in Rockland, Orange, King's, Queen's and other 
 counties of this state, where the full-blooded descendants of these 
 negro slaves are still found with their African features and com- 
 plexions, wholly unchanged. In this colony alone was it cus- 
 tomary, among the rural population, (after the fashion of dealing 
 with the household serfs of northern Europe, in the olden time,) 
 to seat the menials at the lower end of the family board, but not- 
 withstanding this familiar contact with the race, amalgamation, 
 as I have already hinted, was utterly unknown to our forefathers. 
 The mulatto mixture was introduced here from other states. As 
 a happy confirmation of the truth of this observation, derived 
 from other sources, I may mention that after writing thus far, I 
 found, upon referring to the work from which I have already so 
 freely quoted, the valuable testimony of its writer, given in the 
 following words : 
 
 " It is but justice to record a singular instance of moral delicacy, 
 distinguishing this settlement (the colony of New York) from 
 every other in the like circumstances. Though from their simple 
 and friendly modes of life, they were from infancy in habits of 
 familiarity with their negroes, yet being early taught that nature 
 had placed between them a barrier, which it was in a high degree 
 criminal and disgraceful to pass, they considered a mixture of 
 such distinct races with abhorrence, as a violation of her laws. 
 This greatly conduced to the preservation of family happiness 
 and concord. It may be thought remarkable that our forefathers, 
 while deducing not only their general code of morality, but this 
 special creed as to the preservation of castes, from the Bible, like- 
 wise pretended to find in the same good book the most unques- 
 tionable authority for holding the black race in bondage. They 
 imagined that they had found the negro condemned to perpetual 
 slavery, and thought nothing remained for them but to lighten 
 the chains of their fellow Christians after having made them 
 such." 
 
 Of law, we are drily told by a contemporary, the generality 
 of those people knew very little ; of philosophy, nothing at all, 
 save as they found them both in the Bible, the time-cherished 
 
224 Manners and Customs. 
 
 possession of every family ; and often their only literary treasure. 
 We have now the laws, the poetry, and philosophy, of which 
 they were so deplorably ignorant ; yet the law-giver, the poet, 
 and the philosopher, might perhaps perversely decide that the 
 spirit which gives vitality to these elements of social elevation, 
 was hardly more diffused than formerly. They either and all 
 of them might declare that Order, the first and highest law of 
 Heaven itself — that Truth and Naturalness, the basis of all 
 poetry — that Happiness, the ultimate aim of all philosophy — 
 though by no means so well understood as now, were practised 
 nearly as well ; were enjoyed almost as generally as in our en- 
 lightened day. 
 
 Men acted then, not because public opinion constrained, but 
 because their own honest and well trained natures impelled them. 
 "Public opinion" — that name of the most tremendous engine of 
 a people's power, and most subtle weapon against individual 
 freedom — that engine, whose formidable energies have made New 
 England gloriously powerful as she is — that weapon, whose mis- 
 chievous meddling with private rights is marring the manly inde- 
 pendence of Americans, and letting out its social worth from the 
 heart of the nation — public opinion, as we understand it, was 
 wholly unknown to our fathers. 
 
 To those familiar with the racy humour of Knickerbocker's 
 history — whole pages of which we have seen quoted in a grave 
 work of historical reference, as presenting a true picture of New 
 York society and manners previous to the Revolution — to those, 
 I say, who are disposed to take this very witty, but not altogether 
 well-judged caricature of our forefathers, as a veritable though 
 exaggerated picture of the times preceding the Revolution, the 
 views in which we have indulged may seem lifeless and unattrac- 
 tive. 
 
 Yet, while it would not have been difficult, with the mere aid 
 of many a sketch, work, and manuscript in the collection of the 
 Historical Society, to prepare a paper that might have some cu- 
 rious interest for many, I have preferred taking a more general, 
 though less entertaining view of my subject. I wished to call 
 the attention of more philosophic minds to the actual condition 
 of the people of New York before the schoolmaster was abroad. 
 I wished to awaken some interest in the manners and customs 
 of a race of men who seem to me to have been full as respectable 
 in their day, on the score of character, as we claim to be in ours, 
 on the score of mere intellectuality — a race of men who I con- 
 fess, are full as interesting to me from their honest individuality, 
 so to speak, as are those creatures of enlightened public opinion 
 which are called the " intelligent mass," in our day. Nor would 
 I be understood as either preaching up conservatism, or yearning, 
 with antiquarian affection, for the usages and modes of opinion 
 which belonged to times gone by. My first object has been 
 

 Diagram of Great Fires, 1835 and '45, p. 197. 
 
Remarkable Fads and Incidents. 225 
 
 merely to remind you that the people of those times are not 
 unworthy of your study, and that their claim to remembrance 
 may be more fully acknowledged than now, in those coming 
 years when we may vainly seek to fan the embers of expiring 
 tradition. My second object has been, to interpose a doubt which 
 must often have occurred to all thinking men, whether the boasted 
 intelligence and improved external mechanism of the society in 
 which we live is really such an improvement upon the social plan 
 by which the character of our forefathers was developed, that we 
 are willing to forego their memory, save as it may minister to our 
 curiosity. 
 
 KEMARKABLE FACTS AND INCIDENTS. 
 
 — — -" To strike our marvelling eyes, 
 Or move our special wonder." 
 
 In filling up a chapter of this kind, we foresee that it will be 
 necessarily so various and desultory, as to proclude any classifi- 
 cation. It will be all such facts and things as may best serve 
 to surprise, amuse and inform the present generation. Though 
 old in themselves, they will be novelties to many now, — a present 
 picture, — though in fragments, and in mosaic of a buried age. 
 
 In the year 1735, animosity ran pretty high between the mili- 
 tary governor and his council on the one part, and the mayor and 
 council on the other part. On this occasion, Zanger the printer, 
 took the part of the latter, which was considered "vox populi" 
 also ; the consequence was, he was put under arrest and trial. 
 The popular excitement was strong, and feelings extended even 
 to Philadelphia. Andrew Hamilton, there a celebrated lawyer 
 and civilian, volunteered to aid Zanger, and went on to New 
 York, and there effected his deliverance with great triumph. 
 Grateful for this, the corporation of the city voted him " a golden 
 snuff-box, with many classical inscriptions, and within they 
 enclosed him the freedom of the city." The box might now be 
 a curiosity. 
 
 I was shown the locality of an incident which has had more 
 readers than any other popular tale of modern times. No. 24 
 on Bowery road, is a low wooden house, the same from which 
 the heroine of " Charlotte Temple" was seduced by a British 
 officer. The facts were stated to me, and the place shown by 
 Dr. F. 
 
 In 1769 was a time of fierce and contentious election for 
 
 Assemblymen ; the poll was kept open for four days ; no expense 
 
 was spared by the candidates ; the friends of each party kept 
 
 open houses in every ward, where all regaled and partook to the 
 
 29 
 
226 Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 
 
 full ; all citizens left off their usual business ; there were only 
 1515 electors, of which 917 were freeholders; all non-resident 
 voters were sought for earnestly in the country and brought to 
 the city polls. John Cruger, James Delancy, Jacob Walton, and 
 John Jauncey, were the successful candidates by majorities gene- 
 rally of 250 to 270 votes. 
 
 On an occasion of an election, Mr. Alexander M'Dougal (after- 
 wards Gen. M'D.) was the author of an address "to the public,'^' 
 signed " Legion," wherein he invoked the public assembling of 
 the people at the fields near De la Montange's, (which is in 
 modern parlance in the Park, near Peale's museum,) " in order 
 effectually to avert the evil of the late base, inglorious conduct 
 by our general assembly, who, in opposition to the loud and 
 general call of their constitutents and of sound policy, and to the 
 glorious struggle for our birthrights, have dared to vote supplies 
 to the troops without a shadow of pretext. Therefore, let every 
 friend to his country then appear." 
 
 For this stirring appeal M^Dougal was taken under arrest by the 
 sergeant at arms of the assembly, who placed him in the county 
 gaol. While he was there confined, forty-five persons " Sons of 
 Liberty," (for " forty-five" persons was a talismanic number 
 then) went to visit him in prison, to salute and cheer him. Not 
 long after, " forty-five" female " Sons of Liberty," headed by 
 Mrs. Malcomb, (wife of the general) made their visit also to cheer 
 the state prisoner, and to applaud " his noble conduct in the cause 
 of liberty." It was this leaven that was carrying on the fermen- 
 tation thus early for the revolution. 
 
 The gaining of the election caused the New Yorkers, in 1770, 
 to recede from their non-importation covenants, and the Whigs of 
 Philadelphia resolved to buy nothing of them " while governed 
 by a faction." 
 
 The winter of 1755 was so pecuUarly mild, that the navigation 
 of the North river kept open all the season. Mr. David Grim, 
 saw from that cause. Sir Peter Hackett's and Col. Dunbar's 
 regiment go up the river to Albany in that winter. 
 
 The winter of 1779-80, on the other hand, was the extreme of 
 cold, producing " the hard winter." Two great cakes of ice closed 
 up the North river from Paulus Hook ferry to Courtland street. 
 Hundreds then crossed daily. Artillery, and sleds of provisions, 
 were readily passed over : and even heavy artillery was borne 
 over the frozen bridge to Staten Island. 
 
 My friend James Bogert, then a small lad, was with his uncle, 
 the first persons who were ever known to have crossed the East 
 river on the ice, at or near Hell Gate, 
 
 The winters of 1740-41, 1764-5, 1779-80, and 1820-21, 
 formed the four severest winters in 100 years ; and were the only 
 winters in which the North river could be crossed on the ice. 
 The cold, on the 25th January 1821, was seven degrees below 
 
Remarkable Fads and Incidents. 227 
 
 zero ; being one degree lower than any former record. The 
 cold in January 1765, was at six degrees below zero. 
 
 " Then the parching air burnt frore, 
 And cold performed Uie effect of Jire /" 
 
 I saw in the Historical Society Library, something very rare 
 to be found in this country : they are sixteen volumes folio of 
 MS. Journals of the House of Commons, in Cromwell's rule, 
 say from 1650, to 1675, said to have been presented through the 
 family of the late Governor Livingston. I suspect, however, they 
 came through the family of Governor Williamson, because a 
 great part of Col. De Hart's library went by will to De Hart 
 Williamson in 1801. Mrs. D. Logan had before told me of 
 having seen those volumes in the possession of Col. De Hart, of 
 Morristown, N. J. about the year ISOO. She could not learn 
 how they came into this country, although she found it was 
 believed they were abducted by some of Cromwell's friends 
 (who went out first to New England, and afterwards settled 
 near Morristown) to prevent their use against those who might 
 remain in England. Their ample margins had been partially 
 used by a commanding officer of our army there, when paper 
 was scarce, to write his orders !* 
 
 Captain Kidd, the celebrated pirate, was once married and 
 settled at New York. As the trial of Kidd, which I have seen 
 and preserved, states on the authority of Col. Livingston, that he 
 had a wife and child then in New York, my inquiring mind has 
 sometimes, looking among the multitude, said. Who knows, but 
 some of these are Kidd's descendants ? ' I observe, however, that 
 the name is not in the New York Directory ; Col. Livingston 
 recommended him to the crown officers " as a bold and honest 
 man." He had probably been a privateersman aforetime out of 
 New York, as we find the records there stating that he there paid 
 his fees (in 1691) to the governor and to the king. Another 
 record also states some process against one of his seamen, as 
 deserted from him. 
 
 In 1695 he arrived at New York from England, with the 
 king's commission, and soon after began and continued his pira- 
 cies for four years. In 1699 he again arrived within the Long 
 Island Sound, and made several deposits on the shore of that 
 island. Being decoyed to Boston, he was arrested, sent to Eng- 
 land, and executed at Execution Dock on the 23d March, 1701. 
 
 To this day it is the traditionary report that the family of 
 J at Oyster Bay, and of C at Huntington, are en- 
 
 ♦ An elaborate notice of these volumes has been made by James Bowdoin, 
 Esq., for the Historical Society, of Massachusetts, and I have since ascertained 
 that they accord Vrith the jprinUd Journals. It is nevertheless strange that they 
 are here. 
 
228 Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 
 
 riched by Kidd's spoils ; they having been in his service, by force 
 it is presumed, and made their escape at Long Island at Eaton- 
 neck, which gave them the power afterwards of attaining " the 
 
 deposits" above referred to. Both J and C- became 
 
 strangely rich. 
 
 The records of Philadelphia show that, contemporaneous with 
 this time, " one Shelly, from New York, has greatly infested our 
 navigation with Kidd's pirates." 
 
 In the "History of the Pirates," Boston edition, we find 
 some additional facts concerning Captain Robert Kidd and his 
 associates. The king's commission to Kidd, while he affected to 
 be a leojal Privateersman, incidentally named the pirates whom 
 he was intended to seek and capture ; they were " Captains 
 Thomas Too, John Ireland, Thomas Wake, and Captain Maze, 
 and other subjects, natives or inhabitants of New York and 
 elsewhere in America, they being Pirates upon the American 
 seas," &c. None of their histories appeared in the book. Some 
 of them were natives of New Jersey nearest to New York. 
 With Kidd were executed at London as his accomplices, Nich. 
 Churchill and James How of New Jersey, and Gabriel Loff, 
 Hugh Parrott, Abel Owens, and Darby Muilins. It was proved 
 that Kidd had killed his gunner " William Moor" in a quarrel. 
 It will not fail to be observed in the foregoing, and similar cases 
 of names, that none of them are of the true Holland race. It is 
 however believed, that the New Yorkers as Dutchmen, were 
 keen enemies of the Spaniards, who had so long oppressed and 
 wasted their father-land. They might have been willing to con- 
 nive at unlawful aggressions on their possessions in the West 
 Indies and in South America ; Even the English colonists, every 
 where, had no aversion to their being roughly scourged, as ene- 
 mies in many wars. 
 
 In 1712 a pirate brigantine appeared off Long Island, com- 
 manded by one Lowe, a Bostonian ; lie was a successful fellow, 
 who had captured Honduras. About the same time one Evans 
 also comes on the coast. 
 
 The next year two pirates looked into Perth Amboy and New 
 York itself. 
 
 Lowe commanded the " Merry Christmas," of three hundred 
 and thirty tons, and his consort was commanded by one Harris. 
 [Another pirate. Captain Sprigg, called his vessel "the Bachelor's 
 Delight."] They bore a black flag ; while off the Hook, they 
 Avere engaged by the Greyhound of his Majesty's navy. He 
 captured the least of them, having on board as prisoners thirty- 
 seven whites and six blacks ; all of whom were tried and executed 
 at Rhode Island, and all bearing our common English names. 
 Captain Solgard, who thus conquered, was presented with the 
 freedom of the city in a gold snuff-box. Lowe, in indignation, 
 
Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 229 
 
 afterwards became cruel to Englishmen, cutting and slitting their 
 noses. He had on board during the fight, as the prisoners told, 
 £150,000 in silver and gold. 
 
 The gazettes of this period teem with their adventures. In 
 that time the pubUc mind was engrossed with the dread of them, 
 and they had accomplices often on shore to aid them and divide 
 the spoil. 
 
 In 1724 William Bradford, in New York, publishes the general 
 history of the pirates, including two women, Mary Reed and 
 Anne Bonny. 
 
 First discovery of New York harbour by the English. It is 
 not told, and perhaps not known to any American historian, that 
 New York harbour and the mouth of the Hudson, were discovered 
 by the English, before seen or known by Hudson. My edition 
 of " Modern History," being a continuation of the Universal 
 History (in 3 vols. 8vo., concerning America,) London edition, 
 1763, vol. 2, p. 240, says, "A ship was equipped by two enter- 
 prising public spirited noblemen, the Lords Southampton and 
 Arundel, to prosecute discoveries, the conduct of which was en- 
 trusted to Capt. Weymouth. The adventurer set sail in the 
 month of March 1605, and arrived the following Whitsunday 
 at the mouth of Hudson's river, on the coast of North America, 
 to which, for this reason, he gave the name of Pentecost har- 
 bour. At first his voyage was successful, he traded with the 
 natives for furs, and obtained a considerable cargo ; but his men 
 kidnapping some of the Indians, he wdiS forced Xo quit the coast 
 abruptly, to avoid the effects of their resentment, and take his 
 departure for England.'' 
 
 It may be remarked also, that the French have also had some 
 show of claim to discovery, by the Dauphin in April 1524, one 
 of Verranzo's ships. He entered the harbour about the lati- 
 tude of 41° described somewhat like New York — there he re- 
 mained and traded with the natives till the 5th of May. See 
 Hakluyt's voyages. 
 
 The same vol. 2nd, p. 546, says, " It is difficult, and indeed 
 immaterial, to settle the claims of prior possession, amongst the 
 colonists of America. Capt. Hudson, an Englishman, is said to 
 have been the first who discovered this country, and about the 
 year 1608 he sold it to the Dutch. [This time don't agree with our 
 records that his discovery was in September 1609.] This trans- 
 action was certainly very questionable, as it had not the sanction 
 of James I., without which it was thought it was not in the power 
 of a private subject to dispose of so important and so fine a tract 
 of country. The Dutch however proceeded to settle it ; the court 
 of England complained of this settlement, and of their placing a 
 governor over it — protesting against it." Sir Samuel Argal, 
 while acting as governor in Virginia, as deputy to Lord Dela- 
 war, (p. 245) " was indefatigable in making discoveries on the 
 
 U 
 
230 Remarkable Facts and Incidents, 
 
 coasts of New England, Nova Scotia, and Acadia ; from whence 
 he had driven some parties of French, who had attempted to 
 make settlements — Sir Samuel claiming all this coast as the right 
 of the crown of England. It being represented that Mr. Argal 
 bent his whole application to the discovery of new countries, 
 without making the proper advantage of those already in posses- 
 sion, he was recalled (1611). It was perhaps owing to the above 
 mentioned characteristics of Sir Samuel Argal, that it is said, vol. 
 2, p. 346 : " Sir Samuel Argal, in his way from Virginia to 
 New Scotland (Nova Scotia), attacked and destroyed the planta- 
 tions of the Dutch, by order, it is to be presumed, from the court 
 of England." " IJpon this, the Dutch applied to king James for 
 a confirmation of Hudson's conveyance ; but all they could ob- 
 tain, was leave to build some cottages for the conveniency of 
 their ships, touching for fresh water, in their way to Brazil?^ 
 "This permission afforded them pretexts for enlarging their 
 settlements, till at last, New Netherlands became a flourishing 
 colony." 
 
 Early Notices. In 1670, Dan'l Denton of England, who had 
 been residing among the first English settlers at Jamaica, Long 
 Island, published in London, his " brief relation of New York," 
 as it had appeared to him under its then recent change, from the 
 Dutch to the British rule. From it as a scarce work, (reprinted 
 by the Historical Society of Penna.,) I make sundry extracts, de- 
 pictive of things as they were, viz. He writes, he says, to give 
 satisfaction to those who may be desirous to go thither. Land, 
 he says, is procured by forming a company sufiicient to make a 
 town, which the governor readily confirms, wherever they may 
 choose to locate it. A part of the first land they leave to lie in 
 common as pasture land, until more population may make it use- 
 ful to divide the remainder. It seems to be all a gratis concern, 
 for the sake of population and' improvement. The things most 
 needful for the new comers, is said to be clothing ; for with that, 
 they can supply themselves with cattle and corn ; and with any 
 sorts of English goods, such as implements of husbandry, nails, 
 hinges, glass &c., they can command everything. The tradesmen 
 there of all kinds, have enough to do, and all live happily. There 
 they do much in raising their own flax, making their own linen, 
 their woollen cloth, and linsey-woolsey. I may say, (says he,) 
 and that truly, that if there be any terrestrial happiness to be had 
 by people of all ranks, especially of an inferior rank, it must cer- 
 tainly be here : here any one may furnish himself with land and 
 live rent free ; yea with such a quantity of land, that he may 
 weary himself in the walking over his fields of corn, and all sorts 
 of grain. And let his stock of cattle amomit to hundreds, he need 
 not fear their want of pasture in the summer, or fodder in the 
 winter, the woods then affording sufficient supply. In the sum- 
 mer season, the grass grows spontaneously as high as the knees, 
 
City of Nieu Orange, as sketched in 1673, p. 11 and 147. 
 
Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 231 
 
 and some places as high as the waist, interlaced with pea vines 
 and other weeds, which cattle much delight in. Grape vines 
 abound, forest trees afford shade, and brooks and ponds are all 
 about at hand, for cattle in their ranges. Such a free and open 
 land once, free to all who would come and take, might make 
 many of us now ejaculate a wish that we had been born then, 
 to have put in for our share of the common chance. Mr. Denton 
 says, here, those on whom fortune hath frowned in England, 
 should come — here gain an inheritance of lands, and stock of 
 cattle — here live happily while they live, and then leave a benefit 
 to their children after them. Happy land, says he, where nature 
 hath made such rich provison of all sorts of game, of wild beasts, 
 and wild fowl, where he may furnish his house with venison, 
 turkies, geese, heath-hens, swans, ducks, pigeons, partridges, 
 quails, &c., and when wearied with the pleasure of hunting, he 
 may go a fishing, where the rivers are so furnished, as that he may 
 fully supply himself with fish, before he can leave off the recrea- 
 tion. Travel where you will, you see no poor and know of no 
 beggars. In such a land, you travel without fear of robbers ; 
 and if you chance to come across an Indian town, they will be 
 sure to give you freely of their best. Such is the healthfulness 
 of the country, that families for twenty years have not been met 
 with sickness — indeed the very air of the atmosphere is invigorat- 
 ing, sending forth such a fragrance from its flowers, herbs, and 
 vegetation, as readily to be noticed at sea before they can make 
 the land. The flowers give such supply to honey bees, that you 
 can scarcely see a house, which is not on the south side, begirt 
 with its hives of bees, which here increase after an incredible 
 manner. Truly here is indeed a terrestrial Canaan, flowing with 
 milk and honey. Truly the inhabitants as well as the land are 
 blessed — ^blessed with peace and plenty ; in their fields and 
 ground, in their cattle, in their basket and in their store : Every- 
 thing is a picture of blessedness. 
 
 Surely, some of the present pains-taking modems, who are 
 talking of our vaunted improvements, might sigh for such a 
 former state of repose and plenty. On some such impulse of 
 feeling the author even then, apostrophizes his generation, and 
 says, "how free are those parts of the world from the pride and 
 oppression, with their miserable effects, with which many, nay 
 almost all parts of the world are troubled, which being ignorant 
 of that pomp and bravery which aspiring humours are servants 
 to, and striving after almost everywhere ; where a wagon or cart 
 gives as good content as a coach, and a piece of home-made cloth 
 better than finest lawns or richest silks — where if their low roofed 
 houses may seem to show closed doors against pride and luxury, 
 they do, nevertheless, stand open wide, to let charity in and out 
 either to assist each other, or relieve a stranger !" Do any now 
 
232 Remarkable Fads and Incidents. 
 
 covet or envy the picture, — let them go and try to emulate it, by 
 going to Oregon. That is now what New York once was. 
 
 The author, even then, admired that so fine a country should 
 be so little known abroad. He gives as a reason, that the former 
 Dutch did not encourage the English ; that they also chiefly in- 
 clined to the pursuit of the beaver trade, to the neglect of agricul- 
 tural improvements — that they also made themselves unpopular 
 by exacting the tenth of all which men produced off their land. 
 Soon as it was changed to EngUsh rule, the country as he thought, 
 began to improve, for then he says, "several towns of a consider- 
 able greatness were begun and settled by people out of New 
 England, and every day, more and more came to view and settle." 
 
 New York, he says, is then built most of brick and stone, and 
 covered with red and black tile ; and seen at a distance, as an 
 elevated site, it is of pleasing aspect. The inhabitants consist 
 mostly of English and Dutch, and have a considerable trade with 
 the Indians, for beavers, otters, and other furs, as also for bear, 
 deer, and elk skins. They produce some tobacco, as good as of 
 Maryland. Long Island, is then spoken of as " inhabited from 
 one end to the other," while up the North river, there's no settle- 
 ments save at Esopus (" Sopers") and Albany. The west end 
 of Long Island, then, had four or five Dutch towns, the rest being 
 all English, to the number of twelve, besides villages and farm- 
 houses." Strawberries then abounded, "so much so in June, 
 that the fields and woods were dyed red, which the country peo- 
 ple perceiving, would go forth with wine, cream, and sugar ; and 
 instead of a coat of mail, every one takes up a female behind 
 him on horseback, and starting for the fields, set to picking the 
 fruit, and regaling themselves as long as they last. They have 
 also cranberries, raspberries, plums of various sorts, and huckle- 
 berries. In May, the woods and fields were curiously bedecked 
 with roses, and an innumerable multitude of delightful flowers ; 
 all of which, the natives say, administer relief to sundry diseases." 
 
 " Upon the south side of Long Island, in the winter, lie store of 
 whales and grampuses, which the inhabitants with small boats, 
 begin to make a trade of, catching them to no small benefit. There 
 is also an innumerable multitude of seals, lying all winter upon 
 broken marshes, sand bars, and beaches, which might be caught 
 and made into excellent oil, if there were but skilful men to un- 
 dertake it." Now, we must notice that there are no seals there. 
 
 The author has considerable to note of Indians, but nothing of 
 sufficient circumstance to be herein stated. He speaks of their 
 love of rum — their making their wives their husbandmen — their 
 superstition in their powows. They buried their dead sitting 
 upright, and deposited with them their favourite articles. They 
 made much use of greasing and painting their bodies, and having 
 but little clothing. They seemed even then, in his opinion, a de- 
 based and wasting race. 
 
Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 233 
 
 The Rev. " C. W." of the Protestant Episcopal church, put out 
 a little journal of two years' residence in New York, which he 
 visited in the year 1678. The London edition of 1701, I have 
 seen, and made my extracts thus, viz. 
 
 He sailed the 27th May, 167S, in the Blossom, from old Eng- 
 land, with Gov. Andros, and arrived at New York in the then 
 ordinary passage on the 7th August ! Speaks highly of the 
 healthiness of the place. Of the natives (Indians) much com- 
 mends their fine forms, and says the women so hardily bear their 
 children — instances the case of one Harman the Indian, in Mar- 
 bletown, in the county of Ulster, formerly called Sopus, whose 
 squaw, to harden herself, would go out after delivery to bring in 
 on her back a bundle of sticks. The Indians grease themselves 
 to preserve their skins from blistering in the summer sun, and as 
 their best armour against musquitoes, and against the winter's 
 cold. Their hairs on the chin they pluck out. Their breech flaps 
 they tie with a snake skin round their middles. He tells the 
 value of skins, says beavers bring 10^. per pound ; an ox-hide 
 3d. a pound wet, 6d. dry. Negroes bring 30 to ^640 a head, the 
 same which cost 12 or ^6 14 in Barbadoes. T/ie price of provi- 
 sions thus — Long Island wheat 3*. a skipple {i. e. three parts of 
 a bushel), Sopus wheat half a crown a skipple. Bread I8s. per 
 cwt. Pork £3 per bbl., beef 30*. Both Indians and Dutch are ob- 
 stinate and incessant smokers of tobacco. The latter are great 
 eaters of sallads and bacon, and very often buttermilk. Tobacco 
 is 25fl?. a pound. All smoke with short campaigne pipes. Their 
 best ale is made of wheat malt. Their quaffing liquors are rum 
 punch and brandy punch. Their sweet wine is fiall. The Indians 
 bruig in all varieties of game, selling a venison for 3s. Their 
 dogs are young wolves stolen when young. About Christmas 
 is the whaling season here — two boats of six men each make up 
 the company ; then the whales come on from the north-east ; a 
 whale of sixty feet length yields about forty to fifty barrels of oil. 
 Of bears, he says the Indians seek them in companies of two or 
 three to be secure incase of only wounding them, when one 
 person would be attacked. But, says he, I was once, with good 
 diversion with some others, where in an orchard of Mr. John 
 Robinson's of New York they followed a bear from tree to tree, 
 upon which he would swarm like a cat. He came down back- 
 wards. He says that pennyroyal bruised and held to the smell 
 of a rattlesnake will soon kill it ! They also say the same plant 
 will expel a dead child, and it is also a remedy for a venomous 
 bite, applied to the wound. Their wigwams are made of bark 
 set upon poles. They bring many oysters and fish to market in 
 their canoes. The fort at New York is one of the strongest in 
 North America, and when taken by the Dutch was the fault of 
 Capt. Manning, who suffered it, in the absence of the governor; 
 for which he was condemned an exile to a small island, called 
 30 V 2 
 
294 Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 
 
 from his name Manning Island, where / have heen several 
 times, with the said captain, whose entertainment was commonly 
 a bowl of rum punch. The Dutch women almost always wear 
 slippers (down at heel). They have another custom peculiar, 
 which is that they feast freely and merrily at the funeral of any 
 friend, eating and drinking very plentifully, as I have seen. 
 
 The betrothed Indian woman, covers her face like Rebecca, a 
 whole year before she is married. Her husband does not lie 
 with his squaw, whilst the child has (not) done sucking, which is 
 commonly two years, for they say the milk will not be good, if 
 they get children so fast. They bury the body sitting upon their 
 heels, and put with them their weapons and wampum, &c. like 
 those in Ezek. 32 : 27. They make thread of Indian hemp. They 
 were smart at cutting trees with a flint axe. They eat the lice 
 they find in one another's heads, and say they are wholesome ! 
 All the companies he met of them, out of town, all bowed head 
 and knee ta him, calling him the Sacka-makers' Kakin-do-ivet, 
 i. e. the governor's minister. Their war paint is black, for peace 
 red. Their tribes near on Long Island were at Rockaway ; 2d, 
 Sea-qua-ta-cy, to the south of Huntingdon ; 3d, Unckal-chau-ge ; 
 4th, Setauch, Setauchet North ; 5th, Ocqua-bang Southold ; 6th, 
 Shin-n-cock, Southampton the greatest tribe ; 7th, Mun-tauck, to 
 the eastward of East Hampton. Top-paum has one hundred and 
 fifty fighting men. The West Chester Indians have seventy-five 
 fighting men. The Na-usin or Neversinks are but few. 
 
 At New York he was minister and teacher to the English, 
 there were also two others, a Lutheran, the other a Calvinist Low 
 Dutchman, very shy and averse to each other's creeds, called 
 Domines, who spoke Latin fluently, to the shame of our A. M. 
 himself! The English observed one of their customs the New Year, 
 and many presents were sent to him from the English residents 
 there, a measure he thought to be equally kind and singular. 
 
 New York in 1678, as seen by Gov. Andros's chaplain. He said 
 that Fredk. Phillips was deemed the richest Mun Heer there, and 
 that he had whole hogsheads of Indian money, or ivampum. Per- 
 sons could then buy plantations at two to three pence an acre ; 
 all covered with wood, under a permit from the governor. So 
 much encouragement for settlers ! but if inclined to merchandize, 
 then to pay £3 12^. \ld. fees, or six beavers, (for the privilege 
 of trading,) and they may turn cent for cent, on what they may 
 import from London ; fifty per cent, is but an indifferent advance 
 considered ! So he took his shipments, — what he paid £43 for in 
 furs, he received ^680 for in London. Horses there were rarely 
 shod, and their feet became like flints, by running in the woods. 
 The city was as large as some Market towns in England, all 
 being built the London way. The garrison, side of a high situa- 
 tion, and a pleasant prospect. The diversion, especialty in the 
 winter by the Dutch, is aurigation, i. e. riding about in wagons, 
 
Rtmarkahle Facts and Incidents. 23o 
 
 and upon the ice, it is admirable to see men and women, as if 
 Jlying upon their skates,from place to place, with marketing upon 
 their heads and backs. He concludes, that its seasons and heal- 
 thiness are so bracing and so delightfully felt, that he could invite 
 cordially English gentry, merchants and clergy to go thither even 
 if they be of hypohcondriacal consumption : only, if it were not 
 for the passage — oh the passage thither is hie labour, hoc opus 
 est ! The ship may founder, or she may be taken by a Pickeroon. 
 He went home to England in a Quaker's ship, and should have 
 fared ill enough with the nauseous old water, had not the gov- 
 ernor's lady kindly provided him with a rundlet of Madeira. 
 
 Smuggling before the Revolution. I have been told by respect- 
 able commercial gentlemen, who were in business at New York 
 before the revolution, that it was a common every day affair to 
 smuggle contraband goods ashore, at many places on Long Island 
 and Staten Island. They would even unload in day time with- 
 out any fear of informers, who were held to be odious, and were 
 visited with tar and feathers too. The measure itself, was entirely 
 in harmony with the will of the people, who considered that in 
 proportion to their success, they would profit by the lowness of 
 the prices. Besides, they all deemed it to be unreasonable, that 
 they should be taxed to raise funds to be sent and spent abroad. 
 In that Avay, much of the tea, gin, china, and sundry dry-goods, 
 came out from Holland ; other goods came from St. Eustatia as 
 an intermediate port. Some of the best names, now known in 
 New York as independent men, attained their wealth in the 
 Dutch contraband commerce. The king's officers, too, felt the 
 unpopularity of their position, and seemed well disposed to con- 
 nive at things not actually seen by themselves. For instance, 
 several vessels used to unload by night and day at a cove on 
 Staten Island, within a mile of Amboy, where the king's officers 
 of the customs, were estabUshed. The inside of the sound along 
 Long Island, was also a frequent and favourite place of discharge. 
 The teas which came from England, were of course subject to 
 duties, and paid highly — and every family thought themselves 
 interested to have them low. [The fact may serve to teach our- 
 selves, even now, that the best way to secure good faith towards 
 our own revenue, will be to make them moderate and acceptable 
 to the mass of the people : else we offer a lure to create and foster 
 corruption.] 
 
 It was not considered infamous then, as now, because the peo- 
 ple thought themselves oppressed by the exclusive measures of 
 the parent country, in monopolizing trade. It was considered 
 that the duties were not for ourselves, but for remote crown offi- 
 cers and favourites. Informers therefore were held in great de- 
 testation, and were almost sure to meet with tar and feathers, or 
 worse. Kelly and Kitchener at New York, having informed 
 against the mate of a vessel, who had invested his wages in wine 
 
236 Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 
 
 to make a little profit, were seized by the populace and paraded by 
 them through the streets in a cart, their faces and clothes smeered 
 with tar and sprinkled with feathers. The same was done to a 
 person at the drawbridge at Philadelphia, in 1769. At Newport 
 the people seized an informer, placed him in the pillory, and 
 then gave him tar and feathers. At Boston, a person informing 
 against a vessel from Rhode Island which had landed a cask of 
 wine, was seized and his naked skin well tarred and feathered, 
 and paraded about in a cart holding in hi^T hand a lighted lanthorn. 
 
 We give a pleasant description of St. Nicholas' day, in which 
 is happily depicted many of the passing changes of the times : 
 
 SAINT NICHOLAS' DAY. 
 
 A safe arrival to Saint Nicholas to night 
 
 Through all the windings of dark Anthracite. 
 
 I fear not one Dutch chimney can be found 
 
 In which the saint may turn his carriage round — 
 
 That magic coach, so famed in olden times, 
 
 And drawn by tiny steeds from distant climes ; 
 
 Ah, well I recollect the ample space. 
 
 Where little people did their stockings place, 
 
 Then sit delighted round the hickory blaze 
 
 And watch the chimney with expectant gaze. 
 
 Discussing all they thought the dawn would show, 
 
 And wondering where' Saint Nicholas next would go. 
 
 And when the anxious night was passed 
 
 And the wished morning came at last, 
 
 Then each with haste the knot untied 
 
 And open flew the stocking wide. 
 
 Disclosing such a bounteous store, 
 
 No little mortals would desire more ; 
 
 And oh, what smiling, happy dimpled faces, 
 
 What laughing, shouting, capering and grimaces, 
 
 What ships and tops, and bounding balls. 
 
 And sugar'd fruits, and toys and dolls, 
 
 What pleasure sparkling in each youthful eye. 
 
 How free from care — how full of ecstasy — 
 
 But children now, have so much wiser grown 
 
 That all their simple pleasures are unknown. 
 
 And little urchins who may read my rhymes 
 
 Will call them silly traits, of by-gone times. 
 
 Saint Nicholas, must marvel much to see 
 
 Such alterations in old Albany, 
 
 And when he looks, the gable ends to spy, 
 
 A gilded dome will strike his wandering eye 
 
 Instead of Holland bricks, and simple tiles, 
 
 Ionic temples from the Grecian Isles ; 
 
 Our great grand sires could hardly tell the models, 
 
 But people now a days, have wiser noddles. 
 
 Old Pearl, I knew, a pleasant quiet street. 
 
 Snug houses and neat stoops, where friends would often meet. 
 
 The men with pipes, cock'd hats and fine long queues, 
 
 The girls with white short gowns, stuff petticoats and high heel shoes, 
 
 And knitting at the side, and fingers going. 
 
 And now and then a tender glance bestowing. 
 
Remarkable Facts and Incidents, 237 
 
 Soon as the old Dutch bell rung out for eight, 
 
 Tlie bolt was drawn upon the little gate, 
 
 The table set — and for our supper 
 
 Supaan and milk, and bread and butter. 
 
 And Pearl street claims the mead of praise 
 
 For changing all these good old ways ; 
 
 Now she has courts, with grass and roses, 
 
 (Not pinkster blumies, nor Dutch posies,) 
 
 With seats of learning classical and pure. 
 
 Pity such columns cannot long endure. 
 
 I own my vision was at first astounded 
 
 By church and houses, somehow so confounded. 
 
 And something on the top I see 
 
 Like what the French call fleur de lis. 
 
 But altogether 'tis imposing, 
 
 And I'm no critic's skill disclosing. 
 
 But merely as an idle passer by 
 
 Note down what happens to attract my eye. 
 
 Then there are squares, and parks and pailings. 
 
 No wooden stiles — but iron railings, 
 
 And mansions towering in height. 
 
 With plate glass windows, clear and bright — 
 
 Marble and granite — ^and such domes. 
 
 Old Dutchmen scarcely know their homes. 
 
 And Knickerbockers of the day 
 
 Are sometimes seen to lose their way. 
 
 A study too is all the fashion 
 
 Call'd bumps — denoting any passion. 
 
 And these are found to my surprise 
 
 On cheek, and mouth, and nose and eyes , 
 
 Now little hills upon the face 
 
 I humbly think quite out of place. 
 
 But mountains on the head are seen. 
 
 And no doubt rivers flow between ; 
 
 All these to every crani-lover 
 
 Some strange propensities discover. 
 
 Saint Nicholas would wonder most of all. 
 
 Were he to see the City Hall. 
 
 Dutch worthies there have been forgot. 
 
 And in their place, is Walter Scott. 
 
 Now Holland's history proclaims 
 
 A list of great and brilliant names. 
 
 And Holland's sons should love to show. 
 
 How much to these great names they owe. 
 
 Here let me make this declaration, 
 
 Good men I love of every nation, 
 
 I like the Scotch — a clever race. 
 
 But think Sir Walter out of place. 
 
 My time is limited, and I, 
 
 Must bid my ancient friends good bye, 
 
 I came to celebrate the day. 
 
 And to our Saint, my homage pay, 1835. 
 
 St. Nicholas was bom on the 6th of December, in the year 343, 
 at Patura a city of Lycia, of reputable parents, who early initiated 
 him in the doctrines of the Christian faith, which he practised in 
 so exemplary a manner as to reach the ear, and to receive the 
 
238 Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 
 
 patronage of Constantine the Great, and through him became the 
 head of the church, or Bishop of Myra. 
 
 His legendary Ufe abounds too greatly with absurd statements 
 of miraculous powers, to warrant recital, beyond what is abso- 
 lutely necessary in explanation of the origin of some of the 
 patronages which superstition formerly assigned to him, and 
 which are yet credited by those of the Latin and Greek churches. 
 
 When he was an infant, and consequently dependent upon the 
 sustenance with which Providence has so bountifully provided 
 the female parent, he never could be induced to receive such 
 natural support, on Wednesdays or Fridays; a virtuous and 
 exemplary attention to the ordinances of the church, which 'tf 
 marked him— justly, could we but believe the fable, " as a pattern 
 for future infants," and caused him to be regarded as their 
 peculiar saint and patron, under the endearing title of " Child 
 Bishop." 
 
 Numerous free schools were established for the instruction of 
 youth, under the patronage of St. Nicholas, their great friend. 
 And before the reformation, the election of what was known by 
 the title of Boy Bishop, or Episcopus Puerorum in the cathedrals 
 in England, has been considered to have had its origin from the 
 alleged attachment of the saint to the rising generation. He is 
 styled in several of the legends as " the glorious confessor." His 
 was the peculiar honour of being worshipped by those of almost 
 every country " whose march was on the mountain wave, and 
 whose home was on the deep." In illustration of this fact, there 
 was scarcely a place of any note on the coast of Europe, or 
 adjoining the principal rivers, but what traces of temples of wor- 
 ship could be found, that were put under his protection, and 
 enriched by offerings from mariners, fishermen and others, as 
 well as by merchants trading beyond sea. 
 
 Dutch taste. — The last specimens of the old Dutch taste in 
 building have now, says the New York Transcript, nearly dis- 
 appeared from our city ; but they are still to be seen in great 
 abundance a few miles out in the country. This is particularly 
 the case on Long Island, among the farmers, as may be seen in 
 Brooklyn, Flatbush, Gravesend, &c. There may be seen houses 
 with bevel roofs, from a story to a story and a half high, with the 
 gable end to the street, and the shingles on the said gable end 
 tastefully rounded at their lower ends, and looking all along their 
 lower edge like the herring-bone of a quilted petticoat ; while on 
 both sides of the houses are wide projecting eaves, sufficient to 
 defend two companies of men, rank and file, from the hardest 
 shower. So much for the houses. The barns are low, with high 
 roofs, and almost invariably painted red. In allusion to this latter 
 taste, a gentleman, the other day, asked a descendant of one of 
 the old original settlers, why it was that the barns were always 
 painted of that colour. He replied, " It is the Dutch coat of arms." 
 
Remarkable Facts and Incidents, 239 
 
 " The Dutch coat of arms ? Well, what does that mean ?" 
 " Why, it means that white paint costs a shilling a pound, while 
 the red only costs fourpence." 
 
 This explanation appeared very rational, and the questioner 
 was satisfied. For our part, we like to see these ancient speci- 
 mens of the Knickerbocker taste. They exhibit economy, and 
 they are, moreover, as it were connecting links with the tastes, 
 feelings, and notions of the olden time, which the rage of modern 
 improvement is doing its best to drive entirely into the ocean of 
 oblivion. 
 
 THE FEDERAL PROCESSION AND SHIP HAMILTON, 
 
 AS THEY PASSED ALONG THE STREETS IN NEW YORK, IN 1788, 
 
 TO CELEBRATE THE ADOPTION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. TO WIT. 
 
 In the seventh division there appeared a frigate of thirty-two 
 guns, twenty-seven feet keel, and ten feet beam, with galleries 
 and every thing complete, and in proportion, both in hull and 
 rigging ; manned with upwards of thirty seamen and marines in 
 their different uniforms ; commanded by Commodore Nicholson, 
 and drawn by ten horses. 
 
 
 n 
 
 -I I,-,.. ,, ,..,. -..,„ H 
 
 At the hour appointed for the procession to move, thirteen guns 
 were fired from the ship, as a signal for marching. She then got 
 under way, with her topsails a-trip and coursers in the brails, 
 proceeding in the centre of the procession. When abreast of 
 Beaver street she made the proper signal for a pilot, by hoisting 
 a jack at the foretop-mast head, and firing a gun. The pilot boat 
 appearing upon her weather quarter, the frigate threw her main 
 topsail to the mast ; the boat hailed, and asked the necessary 
 questions ; the pilot was received aboard and the boat dismissed. 
 The frigate then filled and moved abreast of the fort, where the 
 crew discovered the President and members of Congress. She 
 immediately brought to and fired a salute of thirteen guns, which 
 was followed by three cheers, and politely answered by the gen- 
 tlemen of Congress. The procession then moved ; when the ship 
 came opposite to Mr. Constable's, the crew discovered at the 
 window Mrs. Edgar, who had generously honoured the ship with 
 
240 Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 
 
 the present of a suit of silk colours ; immediately they manned 
 the ship and gave three cheers. When she arrived abreast of 
 the old slip, she was saluted by thirteen guns from his most Cath- 
 olic Majesty's packet, then in the harbour, which was politely 
 returned. She then made sail and proceeded through Queen street 
 to the fields, when squalls came on, and the wind ahead, she beat 
 to windward by short tacks, in which the pilot displayed his skill 
 in navigation, heaving the lead, getting ready for stays, putting 
 the helm a lee, by bracing and counter-bracing the yards, &c. 
 In the fields, she had to descend several hills, in rising which 
 she afforded a delightful prospect to the spectators, her top- 
 sails appearing first and then her hull, in imitation of a ship at 
 sea ; exhibiting an appearance beyond description splendid and 
 majestic. When she arrived at her station abreast of the dining 
 tables, she clewed up her top-sails and came to, in close order 
 with the rest of the procession, the officers going ashore to dine. 
 At four o'clock she gave the signal for marching, by a discharge 
 of thirteen guns, when the procession moved by the lower road. 
 The manner in which the ship made her passage through the nar- 
 row parts of the road, was highly interesting and satisfactory, 
 being obliged to run under her foretop-sail, in a squall, and 
 keep in the line of procession ; this was accomplished with great 
 hazard, by the good conduct of the commander and the assiduity 
 of the seamen and pilot ; she arrived at her moorings abreast 
 of the Bowling Green at half past five, amidst the acclamations 
 of thousands ; and the different orders in the procession, as soon as 
 they were dismissed, honoured her with three cheers, as a mark of 
 approbation for the good conduct of the Commodore and his crew. 
 
 The ship Betsey and her voyage round the world. 1797-9. 
 By Captain Edmund Fanning. 
 
 This elegant little ship of ninety odd tons (first rigged as a brig) 
 which was built in 1792, was a matter of great interest to the 
 good city of Gotham in her day. She was constructed in superior 
 style for a Charleston packet, under Captain Motley, and what 
 was strange to the Gothamites of that day, and may be still 
 stranger to us now, she was built so ?//> in the town, as to have 
 been launched across three streets, and to have occupied three 
 days in the launching. She was built on blocks set in Cheapside 
 street, a fancy or convenience of the master builder to build her 
 before his own door, and was first launched into George street 
 (now called Market street), then down into Cherry street, then 
 across to Water street, and finally over the dock into the East 
 river! Her first voyage in 1797 to go round the world, under 
 Captain Fanning, was a company concern for commercial enter- 
 prise in the South seas and Pacific ocean, and resulted in her 
 coming home at the end of two years with a valuable cargo of 
 silks, teas, china, and nankeens from China, with a healthy crew 
 of young fellows, all decked in china silk jackets and blanched 
 
Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 241 
 
 chip-hats, trimmed with blue ribbons. The ship presented a 
 daily sight at the Flymarket wharf, where hundreds were daily 
 visiters, to see the ship of war in beautiful miniature with her bat- 
 tery tier, fore and aft. The whole voyage was a fortunate 
 adventure, and resulted in 1000 dollars apiece to the seamen, and 
 sundry gifts of silks, nankeens, &c. 
 
 In the year 1800 he made his second voyage in the corvette 
 ship Aspasia of twenty-two guns, under commission of the 
 United States, having five lieutenants and eight midshipmen, &c., 
 and discovering several new islands, and opening new places of 
 trade and profit. 
 
 It was to this style of fortunate exploration and beginning, 
 that we are indebted for our subsequent successful adventures in 
 the Pacific ocean, and South seas, as told more at large in the 
 published " Voyages round the world" of the same Captain 
 Fanning, who has been called by the British Reviewers a second 
 Cook.* It was he who by his first and subsequent voyages set 
 in motion our annual fleets of whale ships, to seek cargoes of 
 sandal wood, seals, fur, beach-la-mer, birds' nests, mother of pearl, 
 pearls, sharks' fins, turtle shell, and all the cargoes of oil, &c., 
 thus enriching our citizens, creating and employing hardy and 
 experienced seamen, and bringing into the national treasury 
 millions of dollars of revenue ! Finally, it is the same master spirit, 
 who by his memorials and personal applications and explanations 
 to Congress and the national rulers, has been actively employed 
 in getting up and finally accomplishing, the departure of the 
 national exploring expedition to the south pole, &c. He died at 
 New York in 1841, at the age of seventy years. 
 
 Steam Packets to Europe. On the 22d and 23d April, 1838, 
 arrived at New York, the famed new steam packets, the Syrius, 
 and Great Western, the former of 700 tons, from Cork, in eigh- 
 teen days, and the latter, of 1 300 tons, from Bristol, in sixteen 
 days. Their arrival was greeted, with much pomp and ceremony, 
 by the citizens and public authorities, — vide the Gazettes of the 
 day. They treated it however as too much of a new wonder, 
 and as a first successful experiment, loading the British officers 
 of the vessels with honours, as if they had performed a new 
 thing. This was overlooking facts in the case. There had been 
 a steam packet of their own arrived about three weeks before, 
 which had gone out to the West Indies, her first voyage, safely, 
 and went from Jamaica to Norfolk and Baltimore. She was of 
 smaller size, and excited but little attention, called the City of 
 Kingston, of 325 tons, schooner rigged. It is however due to 
 ourselves as Americans to say, that as many as eighteen years 
 before, the New Yorkers had themselves made the successful 
 
 * His work had been republished with commendation in England, and also 
 translated into French, and published in France. 
 
 31 X 
 
242 Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 
 
 experiment of traversing the Atlantic and northern seas in the 
 steam ship Savannah, commanded by Captain Moses Rogers. 
 She sailed from New York in March 1819, went to Savannah, 
 left Savannah the 25th May, arrived at Liverpool the 20th June, 
 left there 23d July for St. Petersburg, moored off Cronstadt the 
 5th September, left there the 10th October, and arrived again at 
 Savannah on the 30th November. All this without accident or 
 harm. She stopped four days at Copenhagen, and four days at 
 Arundel in Norway. She was visited by the emperor of Russia, 
 and also by the king of Sweden, Bernadotte, and each, making 
 Captain Rogers a present, as a token of their approbation of his 
 skill and enterprise. The Savannah afterwards went to Constan- 
 tinople, where Captain Rogers also received a present from the 
 Grand Seignor. The present from the emperor of Russia might 
 seem singular : It was a silver teakettle, a first noticed generator 
 and condenser of steam ! These facts of steam ship enterprise, 
 should forcibly remind us of " poor Fitch," as he called himself, 
 when he wrote to Mr. Rittenhouse, in June 1792 (one of his 
 shareholders), saying, "• This, sir, will be the mode of crossing 
 the Atlantic in time, whether I shall bring it to perfection or 
 not ! ! !" 
 
 Closing of the Hudson, by ice, to wit : — On Feb. 3, 1790, and 
 1802 ; Jan. 12, 1795 ; Jan. 23, 1796 ; Jan. 6, 1800 ; Jan. 3, 1801 ; 
 Jan. 12, 1804; Jan. 9, 1806; Jan. 4, 1808; Jan. 19, 1810: 
 Jan. 5, 1825; Jan. 11, 1830; Dec. 31, 1832. The earliest times 
 of closing in the foregoing period was on the 30th Nov. 1820. 
 The earliest opening of the river when it was free of ice, was 
 the 8th Feb. 1828. The latest was April 4, 1836. [The facts 
 were noted at the New York University.] 
 
 Yankee Doodle. It may interest some to know that we have 
 reasons enough to satisfy ourselves, that this now popular national 
 air, was first bestowed upon us, by British officers, in colonial 
 times. They applied it chiefly on the people of the Eastern 
 States, as being once the willingly confessed " children of Oliver 
 Cromwell," whose name and politics they professed to approve. 
 He in his time had been nicknamed Nankee Doodle by the cava- 
 liers, in verses set to the jig tune of Lydia Locket ; they saying 
 in the former case, . 
 
 " Nankee doodle come to town 
 Upon a little pony, 
 With a feather in his hat 
 Upon a maccaroni," &c. 
 
 When hostilities were beginning at Boston, our affected military 
 masters there, began to parody the foregoing, by jeering us with 
 verses like these, viz : 
 
 " Yankee doodle came to town 
 For to buy a fire-lock, 
 We will tar and feather him ; 
 And so we will John Hancock.''^ 
 
Former Trinity Church, razed 1840-1, p. 243. 
 
Remarkable Facts and Incidents, 243 
 
 The word Yankee was, we suppose, substituted for the former 
 Nankee, as expressing the name which the Indians had used as 
 their pronunciation of English, which they usually called Yengee. 
 
 The Americans, aware that the term Yankee was bestowed 
 on them as a term of derision, felt moved to strike up that air 
 when they compelled the retreat of the British from Lexington, as 
 if they intended to say, mark what we Yankees can do ! The 
 same, they did when they compelled their surrender at Saratoga 
 and Yorktown. — More extended facts and illustrations on the 
 present subject, may be seen in the Annals of Philadelphia. 
 
 Uncle Sam, is another national appellation applied to us, by 
 ourselves, and which, as it is growing into popular use, and was 
 first used at Troy, New York, it may be interesting to explain, 
 to wit : The name grew out of the letters E. A. U. S. marked 
 upon the army provisions, barrelled up at Troy, during the last 
 war with England, under the contract of Elbert Anderson ; and 
 implied his name, and U. S. the United States. The inspector 
 of those provisions, was Samuel Wilson, who was usually called 
 by the people. Uncle Sam. It so happened that one of the 
 workmen, being asked the meaning of the initials on the casks, 
 &c., waggishly replied, they meant Elbert Anderson and Uncle 
 Sam — Wilson. The joke took ; and afterwards, when some of 
 the same men were on the frontiers, and saw the same kind of 
 provisions arriving to their use, they would jocosely say, here 
 comes Uncle Sam. From thence it came to pass, that whenever 
 they saw the initials U. S., on any class of stores, they were 
 equally called Uncle Sam^s ; and finally, it came by an easy 
 transition, to be applied to the United States itself. 
 
 Great Trinity Church Cause. — By an advertisement in this 
 day's paper, says the New York Herald, the parties to the great 
 suit in Chancery, respecting the property of Trinity Church, are 
 called upon by G. Sullivan, Esq., counsel in the case, to listen 
 and hear the decision of the Court of Errors next month. 
 
 This is one of the most remarkable causes ever tried in this 
 State. The property in question was formerly called the " Queen's 
 Farm," and extended to a great extent over the present site of 
 oiu: city. Anneke Jants, a fine, fat, hearty Dutch vrou, owned 
 it about a century ago. Trinity Church has been in possession 
 since that time. The property is now valued at thirty millions 
 of dollars, and its yearly revenue at three millions, which by 
 charter is far beyond what Trinity Church is authorized to hold. 
 Numerous and vital interests in this city are pending on the deci- 
 sion. If the Court of Errors should decide in favour of the heirs, 
 a great many very fashionable people who now live out of Trinity 
 Church, will have to give up their splendid establishments, and 
 betake themselves to other avocations — while some of the pretty 
 descendants of Anneke Jants will start up with large fortunes, 
 and bear the bell away in Broadway, in the soirees and saloons. 
 
244 Remarkable Facts and Incidents. 
 
 A great claim had been made upon Trinity Church lots, in the 
 city, by unthought of heirs. In April, 1839, Smith Harponding, 
 a journeyman printer, entered suit against the Reformed Dutch 
 Church, for the value of twenty-five millions of dollars ! being 
 the value of a tract of sixteen acres, bounded by Broadway, 
 Maiden-lane, Fulton, Nassau, and John streets ; his documents 
 were voluminous. His suit however, failed afterwards. 
 
 While this chapter is passing through the press, we copy the 
 following from a New York paper, without vouching for its truth, 
 to wit : 
 
 Origin of steam navigation, Mr. John Hutchins, of Wil- 
 liamsburgh, has got out a Hthograph representing the first Steam- 
 boat ever constructed, with a brief account of the locality and 
 accidents attending the enterprise. The boat was that of John 
 Fitch, and was constructed on the pond known as " the Col- 
 lect," which covered what is now the heart of the sixth ward 
 of our city, on which are located the Halls of Justice, City Prison, 
 &c. The water was in some places fifty feet deep, but in good 
 part shallow, and surrounded by boggy, swampy ground, such as 
 may now be found on the upper part of the Island. A stream 
 ran thence to the North river, nearly on the line of our present 
 Canal street. On this pond, Mr. Fitch launched his boat, the 
 first rude progenitor of our modern steamboats, in the summer of 
 1796 or '7 — say fifty years ago. Two men and a boy were with 
 him the boy, John Hutchins, who survives to tell the stor3^ 
 This boat had both paddlewheels and propellers, after a fashion. 
 The paddlewheels splashed the water badly, the idea of covering 
 them with a box not having yet been suggested. It would propel 
 itself say twice around the pond, at the rate of four or five miles 
 an hour, and then stop to take in water and heat it so as to make 
 more steam. This was six years before Fulton built his first boat 
 in France, and ten years before he built one in this country. The 
 boat was finally abandoned by the projectors, and gradually 
 broken up and carried off for firewood, by the neighbouring 
 squatters. 
 
Gardens, Farms, fyc. 245 
 
 GARDENS, FARMS, ETC. 
 
 "Yes, he can e'en replace agen, 
 The forests as he knew them then!" 
 
 Mr. Abram Brower, aged seventy-five, in 1828, says that in 
 his youth he deemed himself " out of town" about where now 
 stands the Hospital on Broadway. Blackberries were then so 
 abundant as never to have been sold. 
 
 Jones had a " Ranelagh Garden" near the hospital ; and 
 " Vauxhall Garden," where they exhibited fire-works, was at the 
 foot of Warren street. 
 
 At Corlear's Hook all was in a state of woods, and it was usual 
 to go there to drink mead. 
 
 The Jirst " Drovers' Inn," kept so near the city, was a little 
 above St. Paul's church — kept by Adam Vanderbarrack, [spelt 
 Vanderbergh by D. Grim, who said he had also a farm there.] 
 
 Bayard's spring, in his woods, was a place of great resort of 
 afternoons ; it was a very charming spring, in the midst of abun- 
 dance of hickory-nut trees ; tradesmen went there after their after- 
 noon work. It lay just beyond Canal street, say on the south side 
 of present Spring street, not far from Varrick street. 
 
 In the year 1787, Col. Ramsay, then in Congress, considered 
 himself as living "out in the country" at the "White Conduit 
 house," situate between Leonard and Franklin streets. 
 
 " Tea Water Pump Garden," celebrated for its excellent pump 
 of water, situate on Chatham street near to Pearl street, was 
 deemed a "far walk." It was fashionable to go there to drink 
 punch, &c. 
 
 A real farm house in the city, stood as an ancient relic until 
 eighteen years ago, in such a central spot as the corner of Pine 
 and Nassau streets. Mr. Thorburn saw it, and was told so by its 
 ancient owner. 
 
 The old Dutch records sufficiently show, that in primitive days 
 all the rear of the town was cast into farms, say six in number, 
 called "Bouwerys;" from whence we have "Bowery" now. 
 Van Twiller himself had his mansion on farm No. 1, and his 
 tobacco field on No. 3. No. 1, is supposed by Mr. Moulton's 
 book, to have been "from Wall street to Hudson street ;" and 
 No. 3, " at Greenwich, then called Tapohanican." A deed of 
 Gov. Keift to Gov. Van Twiller in 1638, calls it "a tobacco farm 
 at Sapo Kanickan." No. 4, was near the plain of Manhattan, 
 including the Park to the Kolck ; and No. 5 and 6 to have lain 
 still farther to the northward. 
 
 X 2 
 
246 Gardens, Farms, ^*c. 
 
 The ancient bon-vivants remember still " Lake's Hermitage" 
 as a place of great regale ; the house and situation is fine even 
 now ; situated now near the sixth avenue, quite in the country, 
 but then approached only through " Love Lane." 
 
 The ancient mansion and farm out on the East river, at the 
 head of King's road, once the stately establishment of Dr. Ge- 
 rardus Beekman, is made peculiarly venerable from the grandeur 
 of its lofty and aged elms and oaks ; its rural aspect and deep 
 shade attracted the notice of Irving's pen. It was used too as the 
 selected country residence of General Clinton in the time of the 
 war. 
 
 Robert Murray's farm-house in this neighbourhood should be 
 venerable from its associations. There his patriot lady entertained 
 Gen. Howe and his staff with refreshments, after their landing 
 with the army at " Kip's Bay," on purpose to afford Gen. Put- 
 nam time to lead off his troops in retreat from the city, which he 
 effected. She was a Friend, and the mother of the celebrated 
 Lindley Murray. 
 
 The garden of " Aunt Katey," and called also " Katey Mutz," 
 was spoken of by every aged person, and was peculiarly notable 
 as a " Mead Garden." It was called by some " Windmill Hill," 
 in reference to its earlier use ; and also " Gallows Hill" by others, 
 as once a place of execution. Its location was on " Janeway's 
 farm," about the spot where is now the Chatham Theatre. A 
 part of the garden met the line of the ancient palisades. The 
 whole hill, which was large, extended from Duane down to Pearl 
 street, along the line of Chatham street ; near her place was 
 once " the City Gate." " Soft waffles and tea" were the luxuries 
 there, in which some of the gentry then most indulged. 
 
 The angle whereon the Park Theatre now stands, belonged 
 originally to the square of the Park ; that corner of the square 
 was once called "the Governor's Garden," (so David Grim said) 
 in reference to such an intended use of it. 
 
 A garden of note was kept vis-a-vis the Park, where is now 
 Peale's museum, and named " Montague's Garden." There the 
 " Sons of Liberty,-^' so called, convened. 
 
 A drawing of the Collect as it stood about the year 1750, done 
 by David Grim, which I saw with his daughter Mrs. Myers, 
 places a garden at the west side of the little Collect, which he 
 separates from the big or main Collect by an elevated knoll, like 
 an island, on which he marks the Magazine, and a negro hang- 
 ing in gibbets ; between this knoll and the big Collect is drawn a 
 marsh ; a winding road is marked along the south side of the 
 little Collect. 
 
Apparel, 247 
 
 APPAREL. 
 
 « We run through eVery change, which fancy 
 At the loom has genius to supply." 
 
 There is a very marked and wide difference between our 
 moderns and the ancients in their several views of appropriate 
 dress. The latter, in our judgment of them, were always stiff and 
 formal, unchanging in their cut and fit in the gentry, or neghgent 
 and rough in texture in the commonalty ; whereas the moderns, 
 casting off all former modes and forms, and inventing every 
 new device which fancy can supply, just please the wearers 
 "while the fashion is at full." 
 
 It will much help our just conceptions of our forefathers and 
 their good dames, to know what were their personal appearances. 
 To this end, some facts illustrative of their attire will be given. 
 Such as it was among the gentry, was a constrained and pains- 
 taking service, presenting nothing of ease and gracefulness in the 
 use. While we may wonder at its adoption and long continu- 
 ance, we will hope never again to see its return. But who can 
 hope to check or restrain y^/^Aion, if it should chance again to set 
 that way ; or who can foresee that the next generation may not be 
 more stiff and formal than any which has passed, since we see, 
 even now, our late graceful and easy habits of both sexes already 
 partially supplanted by "monstrous novelty and strange dis- 
 guise !" Men and women stiffly corseted ; long unnatural 
 looking waists ; shoulders and breasts stuffed and deformed as 
 Richard's, and artificial hips ; protruding garments of as ample 
 folds as claimed the ton when senseless hoops prevailed. 
 
 A gentleman of eighty years of age has given me his recol- 
 lections of the costumes of his early days to this effect, to wit : 
 — Men wore three-square or cocked hats, and wigs ; coats with 
 large cuffs, big skirts lined and stiffened with buckram. None 
 ever saw a crown higher than the head. The coat of a beau had 
 three or four large plaits in the skirts, wadding almost like a 
 coverlet to keep them smooth ; cuffs very large, up to the elbows, 
 open below and inclined down, with lead therein; the capes 
 were thin and low, so as readily to expose the close plaited neck- 
 stock of fine linen cambric, and the large silver stock-buckle on 
 the back of the neck ; shirts with hand-rufiies, sleeves finely 
 plaited, breeches close fitted, with silver, stone, or paste gem 
 buckles; shoes or pumps with silver buckles of various sizes 
 and patterns ; thread, worsted, and silk stockings ; the poorer 
 class wore sheep and buckskin breeches close set to the limbs. 
 
C4S Apparel 
 
 Gold and silver sleeve-buttons, set with stones or paste of various 
 colours and kinds, adorned the wrists of the shirts of all classes. 
 The very boys often wore wigs ; and their dresses in general 
 were similar to those of the men. 
 
 The women wore caps, (a bare head was never seen,) stiff stays, 
 hoops from six inches to two feet on each side ; so that a full 
 dressed lady entered a door like a crab, pointing her obtruding 
 flanks end foremost ; high heeled shoes of black stuff, with white 
 silk or thread stockings ; and in the miry times of winter they 
 wore clogs, gala shoes, or pattens. 
 
 The days of stiff coats, sometimes wire-framed, and of large 
 hoops, were also stiff and formal in manners at set balls and assem- 
 blages. The dances of that day among the politer class were 
 minuets, and sometimes country dances ; among the lower order 
 hipsesaw was every thing. 
 
 As soon as the wigs were abandoned and the natural hair, was 
 cherished, it became the mode to dress it by plaiting it, by queu- 
 ing and clubbing, or by wearing it in a black silk sack or bag, 
 adorned with a large black rose. We here give the protraits of 
 head-dresses of men and women, such as they appeared, as the 
 fashion, at about the year 1800. 
 
 In time, the powder with which wigs and the natural hair had 
 been severally adorned, was run into disrepute only about twenty- 
 eight to thirty years ago, by the then strange innovation of "Bru- 
 tus heads ;" not only then discarding the long-cherished powder 
 and perfume, and tortured frizzle-work, but also literally becom- 
 ing " round heads" by cropping off all the pendant graces of ties, 
 bobs, clubs, queues, &c. The hardy beaux who first encountered 
 public opinion by appearing abroad unpowdered and cropt had 
 many starers. The old men for a time obstinately persisted in 
 adherence to the old regime; but death thinned their ranks, and 
 use and prevalence of numbers at length gave countenance to 
 modern usage. 
 
JippareL 249 
 
 From various reminiscents we glean, that laced ruffles, depend- 
 ing over the hand, was a mark of indspensable gentility. The 
 coat and breeches were generally desirable of the same material 
 — of "broad cloth" for winter, and of silk camlet for summer. 
 No kind of cotton fabrics were then in use or known. Hose 
 were therefore of thread or silk in summer, and fine worsted in 
 winter ; shoes were square-toed, and were often " double chan- 
 neled." To these succeeded sharp toes, as piked as possible. 
 When wigs were universally worn, grey wigs were powdered ; 
 and for that purpose sent in a wooden box frequently to the barber 
 to be dressed on his block-head. But " brown wigs," so called, 
 were exempted from the white disguise. Coats of red cloth, even 
 by boys, were considerably worn ; and plush breeches and plush 
 vests of various colours, shining and smooth, were in common 
 use. Everlasting, made of worsted, was a fabric of great use for 
 breeches, and sometimes for vests. The vest had great depend- 
 ing pocket flaps, and the breeches were short above the stride, 
 because the art, since devised, of suspending them by suspenders, 
 was then unknown. It was then the test and even the pride of 
 a well formed man, that he could by his natural form readily 
 keep his breeches above the hips, and his stockings, without gar- 
 tering, above the calf of his leg. With the queues belonged friz- 
 zled side-locks and tout pies, formed of the natural hair, or, in 
 defect of a long tie, a splice was added to it. Such was the gene- 
 ral passion for the longest possible whip of hair, that sailors and 
 boatmen, to make it grow most, used to tie theirs in eel skins. 
 Nothing like surtouts were known; but they had coating or cloth 
 great coats, or blue cloth and brown camlet cloaks, with green 
 baize lining to the latter. In the time of the American war, 
 many of the American officers introduced the use of Dutch 
 blankets for great coats. The sailors used to wear hats of glazed 
 leather, or woollen thrums, called chapeaus ; and their " small 
 clothes," as we would now call them, were immensely wide 
 " petticoat-breeches." The working men in the country wore 
 the same form, having no falling flaps, but slits in front ; and they 
 were so full in girth, that they ordinarily changed the rear to the 
 front when the seat became prematurely worn out. At the same 
 time numerous working men and boys, and all tradesmen, wore 
 leather breeches and leather aprons. 
 
 Some of the peculiarities of the female dress were these, to wit : 
 Ancient ladies are still alive, who often had had their hair tortured 
 for hours at a sitting in getting up for a dress occasion, the proper 
 crisped curls of a hair curler. This formidable outfit of head 
 work was next succeeded by " rollers," over which the hair was 
 combed above the forehead. These again were superseded by 
 " cushions" and artificial curled work, which ?ould be sent to 
 the barber's block, like a wig, " to be dressed," leaving the lady 
 at home to pursue other objects. 
 32 
 
/ 
 
 250 Apparel. 
 
 When the ladies first began to lay off their cumbrous hoops, 
 they supplied their place with successive substitutes, such as these, 
 to wit : first came " bishops," a thing stuffed or padded with 
 horse hair ; then succeeded a smaller affair, under the name of 
 Cue de Paris, also padded with horse hair. How it abates our 
 admiration of the *' lovely sex" to contemplate them as bearing 
 a roll of horse hair under their garments ! An old satire said, 
 
 " Thus finish'd in taste, while on her you gaze, 
 You may take the dear charmer for life, 
 But never undress her, for out of her stays. 
 You'll find you have lost half your wife." 
 
 Next they supplied their place with silk or calimanco, or russell 
 thickly quilted and inlaid with wool, made into petticoats ; then 
 these were supplanted by a substitute of half a dozen of petticoats. 
 No wonder such ladies needed fans in a sultry summer, and at a 
 time when parasols were unknown, to keep off the solar rays. I 
 knew a lady going to a gala party, who had so large a hoop, that 
 when she sat in the chaise, she so filled it up that the person who 
 drove it (it had no top) stood up behind the box and directed the 
 reins. 
 
 Some of those ancient belles, who thus sweltered under the 
 weight of six petticoats, have lived now to see their posterity, not 
 long since, go so thin and transparent a la Frangaise, especially 
 when between the beholder and a declining sun, as to make a 
 modest eye sometimes instinctively avert its gaze. 
 
 Among some other articles of female wear we may name the 
 following, to wit : Once they wore a " skimmer hat," made of a 
 fabric which shone like silver tinsel ; it was a very small flat 
 crown and big brim, not unlike the present Leghorn flats. Another 
 hat, not unlike it in shape, was made of woven horse hair, wove 
 in flowers, and called " horse hair bonnets," an article which 
 might be again usefully introduced for children's wear as an 
 enduring hat for long service. I have seen what was called a 
 bath bonnet, made of black satin, and so constructed to lay in 
 folds that it could be set upon like a chapeau bras ; a good article 
 now for travelling ladies. " The mush-mellon" bonnet, used 
 before the revolution, had numerous whalebone stiffeners, in the 
 crown, set at an inch apart in parallel lines, and presenting 
 ridges to the eye, between the bones. The next bonnet was the 
 " whalebone bonnet," having only the bones in the front as 
 stiffeners. " A calash bonnet" was always formed of green 
 silk; it was worn abroad, covering the head, but when in rooms 
 it could fall back in folds like the springs of a calash or gig top ; 
 to keep it up over the head it was drawn up by a cord always 
 held in the han5 of the wearer. The " wagon bonnet," always 
 of black silk, was an article exclusively in use among the Friends, 
 was deemed to look, on the head, not unlike the top of the " Jersey 
 
Apparel. 251 
 
 wagons," and having a pendent piece of like silk hanging from 
 the bonnet and covering the shoulders. The only straw wear was 
 that called the " straw beehive bonnet," generally by old people. 
 
 The ladies once wore " hollow breasted stays," which were 
 exploded as injurious to the health. Then came the use of 
 straight stays. Even little girls wore such stays. At one time 
 the gowns worn had no fronts ; the design was to display a finely 
 quilted Marseilles, silk or satin petticoat, and a worked stomacher 
 on the waist. In other dresses a white apron was the mode ; all 
 wore large pockets under their gowns. Among the caps was the 
 " queen's night-cap," the same always worn by Lady Washing- 
 ton. The " cushion head-dress" was of gauze, stiffened out in 
 cylindrical form with white spiral wire. The border of the cap 
 was called the balcony. 
 
 A lady of my acquaintance t?ms describes the recollections of 
 her early days preceding the war of Independence. Dress was 
 discriminative and appropriate, both as regarded the season and the 
 character of the wearer. Ladies never wore the same dresses at 
 work and on visits ; they sat at home, or went out in the morning, 
 in chintz ; brocades, satins, and mantuas were reserved for even- 
 ing or dinner parties. Robes or negligees, as they were called, 
 were always worn in full dress. Muslins were not worn at all. 
 Little misses at a dancing-school ball (for these were almost the 
 only fetes that fell to their share in the days of discrimination) 
 were dressed in frocks of lawn or cambric. Worsted was then 
 thought dress enough for common days. 
 
 As a universal fact, it may be remarked that no other colour 
 than black was ever made for ladies* bonnets when formed of 
 silk or satin. Fancy colours were unknown, and white bonnets 
 of silk fabric had never been seen. The first innovation remem- 
 bered was the bringing in of blue bonnets. 
 
 The time was when the plainest women among the Friends 
 (now so averse to fancy colours) wore their coloured silk aprons, 
 say, of green, blue, &c. This was at a time when the gay wore 
 white aprons. In time white aprons were disused by the gentry, 
 and then the friends left off their coloured ones and used the 
 white. The same old ladies among Friends, whom we can 
 remember as wearers of the white aprons, wore also large white 
 beaver hats with scarcely the sign of a crown, and which was 
 indeed confined to the head by silk cords tied under the chin. 
 Eight dollars would buy such a hat when beaver fur was more 
 plentiful. They lasted such ladies almost a whole life of wear. 
 They showed no fur. 
 
 In the former days, it was not uncommon to see aged persons 
 with large silver buttons to their coats and vests ; it was a mark 
 of wealth. Some had the initials of their names engraved on 
 each button. Sometimes they were made out of real quarter 
 dollars, with the coinage impression still retained ; these were 
 
251t j9ppareL 
 
 used for the coats and the eleven-penny-bits for vests and breeches. 
 My father wore an entire suit decorated with conch-shell buttons, 
 silver mounted. 
 
 On the subject of wigs, I have noticed the following special 
 facts, to wit : — They were as generally worn by genteel Friends as 
 by any other people. This was the more surprising, as they reli- 
 giously professed to exclude all superfluities, and yet nothing 
 could have been offered to the mind as so essentially useless. 
 We here give a portrait of a public Friend, such as he was in 
 costume, done from life. 
 
 In 1737 the perukes of the day, as then sold, were thus described, 
 to wit : — " Tyes, bobs, majors, spencers, fox-tails, and twists, 
 together with curls or tates (tetes) for the ladies." 
 
 In the year 1765 another peruke-maker advertises prepared 
 hair for judges' full bottomed wigs, tyes for gentlemen of the bar 
 to wear over their hair, brigadiers, dress bobs, bags, cues, scratches, 
 cut wigs, &c. ; and to accommodate ladies he has tates (tetes), 
 towers, &c. At same time a stay-maker advertises cork stays, 
 whalebone stays, jumps and easy caushets, thin boned misses' 
 and ladies stays, and pack thread stays. 
 
 Some of the advertisements of the olden time present some 
 curious descriptions of masquerade attire, such as these, viz : — 
 
 Year 1722 — runaway, a servant clothed with damask breeches 
 and vest, black broadcloth vest, a broadcloth coat of copper 
 colour, lined and trimmed with black, and wearing black stock- 
 ings. Another servant is described as wearing leather breeches 
 and glass buttons, black stockings, and a wig. 
 
 In 1724 a runaway barber is thus dressed, viz : — wore a light 
 wig, a grey kersey jacket lined with blue, a light pair of drugget 
 breeches, black roll-up stockings, square-toed shoes, a red leathern 
 
Apparel 253 
 
 apron. He had also a white vest and yellow buttons, with red 
 linings. 
 
 Another runaway servant is described as wearing *^a light 
 short wig/' aged 20 years ; his vest white, with yellow buttons 
 and faced with red. 
 
 A poetic effusion of a lady of 1725, describing her paramour, 
 thus designates the dress which most seizes upon her admiration 
 as a ball guest : — 
 
 *' Mine, a tall youth shall at a ball be seen, 
 Whose legs are like the spring, all clothM in green, 
 A yellow ribband ties his long cravat, 
 And a large knot of yellow cocks his hat." 
 
 A gentleman of Cheraw, South Carolina, has now in his 
 possession an ancient cap, worn in the colony of New Netherlands 
 about 1 50 years ago, such as may have been worn by some of 
 the chieftains among the Dutch rulers set over us. The crown is 
 of elegant yellowish brocade, the brim of crimson silk velvet, 
 turned up to the crown. ^ It is elegant even now. 
 
 In the year 1749 I met with the incidental mention of a singu- 
 lar overcoat worn by Captain James as a storm coat, made 
 entirely of beaver fur, wrought together in the manner of felting 
 hats. 
 
 Before the revolution no hired men or women wore any shoes 
 so fine as calfskin, that kind was the exclusive property of the 
 gentry; the servants wore coarse neats-leather. The calfskin 
 shoe then had a white rand of sheepskin stitched into the top 
 edge of the sole, which they preserved white as a dress shoe as 
 long as possible. 
 
 It was very common for children and working women to wear 
 bfeads made of Job's-tears, a berry of a shrub. They used them 
 for economy, and said it prevented several diseases. 
 
 Until the period of the revolution, every person who wore a 
 fur hat had it always of entire beaver. Every apprentice, at re- 
 ceiving his '^ freedom," received a real beaver at a cost of six 
 dollars. Their every-day hats were of wool, and called felts. 
 What were called roram hats, being fur faced upon wool felts, 
 came into use directly after the peace, and excited much surprise 
 as to the invention. Gentlemen's hats, of entire beaver, univer- 
 sally cost eight dollars. 
 
 The use of lace veils to ladies' faces is but a modern fashion, 
 not of more than twenty to thirty years standing. Now they 
 wear black, white, and green ; the last only lately introduced as 
 a summer veil. In olden time none wore a veil but as a mark 
 and badge of mourning, and then, as now, of crape, in preference 
 to lace. 
 
 Ancient ladies remembered a time in their early life when 
 the ladies wore blue stockings and party-coloured clocks of very 
 striking appearance. May not that fashion, as an extreme ton 
 
254 Apparel. 
 
 of the upper circle in life, explain the adoption of the term " Blue 
 stocking Club ?" I have seen with S C , Esq., the wed- 
 ding silk stockings of his grandmother, of a lively green, and great 
 red clocks. My grandmother wore in winter very fine worsted 
 green stockings, with a gay clock surmounted with a bunch of 
 tulips. 
 
 Even spectacles, permanently useful as they are, have been 
 subjected to the caprice of fashion. Now they are occasionally 
 seen of gold — a thing I never saw in my youth ; neither did I 
 ever see one young man with spectacles — now so numerous. A 
 purblind or half-sighted youth then deemed it his positive dispa- 
 ragement to be so regarded. Such would have rather run against 
 a street post six times a-day than have been seen with them. In- 
 deed, in early olden time they had not the art of using temple 
 spectacles. In early years the only spectacles ever used were 
 called " bridge spectacles,' ' without any side supporters, and held 
 on the nose solely by nipping the bridge of the nose. 
 
 My grandmother wore a black velvet mask in winter with a 
 silver mouth-piece to keep it on by retaining it in the mouth. I 
 have been told that green ones have been used in summer for 
 some few ladies, for riding in the sun on horseback. 
 
 Ladies formerly wore cloaks as their chief overcoats; they 
 were used with some changes of form under the successive names 
 of roquelaus, capuchins, and cardinals. 
 
 In the old time, shagreen-cased watches, and turtle shell and 
 pinchbeck, were the earliest kind seen ; but watches of any kind 
 were much more rare then. When they began to come into use, 
 they were so far deemed a matter of pride and show, that men 
 are living who have heard public Friends express their concern 
 at seeing their youth in the show of watches or watch chains. 
 It was so rare to find watches in common use, that it was quite 
 an annoyance at the watchmaker's to be so repeatedly called on 
 by street-passengers for the hour of the day. Gold chains would 
 have been a wonder then ; silver and steel chains and seals were 
 the mode, and regarded good enough. The best gentlemen of 
 the country were content with silver watches, although gold ones 
 were occasionally used. Gold watches for ladies was a rare oc- 
 currence, and when worn, were kept without display for domes- 
 tic use. 
 
 The men of former days never saw such things as our Maho- 
 medan whiskers on christian men. 
 
 The use of boots has come in since the war of Independence ; 
 they were first with black tops, after the military, strapped up 
 in union with the knee buttons; afterwards bright tops were 
 introduced. The leggings to these latter were made of buckskin 
 for some extreme beaux, for the sake of close fitting a well 
 turned leg. 
 
 It having been the object of these pages to notice the change 
 
AppareL 255 
 
 of the fashions in the habiliments of men and women from the 
 olden to the modern time, it may be necessary to say, that no at- 
 tempt has been made to note the quick succession of modern 
 changes, precisely because they are too rapid and evanescent for 
 any useful record. The subject, however, leads me to the gene- 
 ral remark, that the general character of our dress is always ill 
 adapted to our climate ; and this fact arises from our national 
 predilection as English. As English colonists we early introduced 
 the modes of our British ancestors. They derived their notions 
 of dress from France ; and we, even now, take all annual fashions 
 from the ton of England ; a circumstance which leads us into 
 many unseasonable and injurious imitations, very ill adapted to 
 either our hotter or colder climate. Here we have the extremes 
 of heat and cold. There they are moderate. The loose and light 
 habits of the east, or of southern Europe, would be better adapted 
 to the ardour of our midsummers ; and the close and warm ap- 
 parel of the north of Europe might furnish us better examples for 
 our severe winters. ^ 
 
 But in these matters (while enduring the profuse sweating of 
 90 degrees of heat) we fashion after the modes of England, which 
 are adapted to a climate of but 70 degrees. Instead, therefore, 
 of the broad slouched hat of southern Europe, we have the nar- 
 row brim, a stiff stock or starched buckram collar for the neck, a 
 coat so close and tight as if glued to our skins, and boots so closely 
 set over our insteps and ancles, as if over the lasts on which they 
 were made. Our ladies have as many ill adapted dresses and 
 hats ; and sadly their healths are impaired in our rigorous winters, 
 by their thin stuff-shoes and transparent and light draperies, afford- 
 ing but slight defence for tender frames against the cold. 
 
 Mr. A. B., aged 75, in 1828, told me the following facts, viz : 
 
 Boots were rarely worn, never as an article of dress ; chiefly 
 when seen they were worn on hostlers and sailors ; the latter al- 
 ways wore great petticoat trowsers, coming only to the knee and 
 there tying close ; common people wore their clothes much longer 
 than now ; they patched their clothes much and long ; a garment 
 was only " half worn'' when it became broken. 
 
 The first umbrellas he ever knew worn, were by the British 
 officers, and were deemed effeminate in them. Parasols, as 
 guards from the sun, were not seen at all. As a defence from 
 rain, the men wore "rain coats," and the women, "camblets." 
 It was a common occurrence to see servants running in every 
 direction with these on their arms, to churches, if an unexpected 
 rain came up. As a defence in winter from storms, the men 
 were "great coats" daily. It was a general practice (as much 
 so as moving on the first of May), to put on these coats on the 
 tenth of November, and never disuse them till the tenth of May 
 following. 
 
 Gentlemen of the true Holland race, wore very long body coats, 
 
256 Apparel. 
 
 the skirts reaching down nearly to the ancles, with long and broad 
 waists, and with wide and stiff skirts ; they wore long flaps to 
 their vests ; their breeches were not loose and flowing, although 
 large, but were well filled up with interior garments, giving name 
 to the thing as well as to families, in the appellation of Mynheer 
 Ten Broeck. 
 
 A female child of six years, in full dignity of dress, was attired 
 thus, viz : — a white cap of transparent texture, setting smooth 
 and close to the head : on the left side of it was a white ostrich 
 feather, flattened like a band close to the cap ; the cap had a nar- 
 row edge of lace. From, the neck dropped a white linen collar, 
 with laced edges. A gold chain hung on one shoulder only, and 
 under the opposite arm. A white stomacher, with needle orna- 
 ments, and the edges laced. The body braced with stays. A 
 white apron, very full at the top and much plaited, and edged all 
 round with small lace. A silk gown of thick material of dove 
 colour, very full plaited, and giving the idea of large hips ; (indeed 
 all the Dutch women affected much rotundity in that way.) Broad 
 lace was sewn close to the gown sleeves, along the length of the 
 seam on the inside curve of the arms, so as to cover the seam. 
 The sleeve cuffs were of white lace, large, and turned up. This 
 picture from life was given by an artist who understood the 
 detail. 
 
 Mrs. M* Adams, a venerable lady whom I saw at the age of 
 ninety-three, spoke of a circumstance occurring in New York in 
 1757, respecting Gen. Gates' first wife : she was generally reported 
 as riding abroad in meii's clothes, solely from the circumstance 
 of her wearing a riding habit after the manner of English ladies, 
 where she had been born and educated. It proved that the man- 
 ners of the times did not admit of such female display, and per- 
 haps it was more masculine than we now see them on ladies. 
 
 The price of fine cloth before the revolution, was " a guinea a 
 yard;" and. all men, save the most refined, expected, after 
 wearing it well on one side, to have it vamped up new as a 
 " turned coat." Among common men, the practice was universal. 
 Thus showing how much better cloths were then than now, in 
 durability. 
 
 All elderly gentlemen had gold-headed canes. It was their 
 mark of distinction. Seeing that they were once so general, it is 
 matter of curiosity now, to ask what may have become of the 
 many, now no longer seen ! It was usual to see them in the 
 churches and other public places, used ostensibly as a support to 
 the chin when sitting; but often times from motives of vanity, as 
 a badge of expensive ability. It was a pride of the same kind, 
 which gave favour and use to gold snuff-boxes, and to the free 
 proffering of their contents, to the persons near. Silas Deane, it 
 is remembered, had one, a present from royalty, which he was 
 very proud of displaying with its diamonds. This was so mani- 
 
Appard, 257 
 
 fest to Charles Thompson, his familiar friend, that he once broke 
 out upon him in full laugh for his manner of urging it upon his 
 notice ! 
 
 In former days, the mechanics, working men, and country peo- 
 ple attending markets, were universally accustomed to appear 
 abroad in leather breeches, leathern aprons, and baize vests of 
 red or green. The working boys did the same. 
 
 A modern apprentice now must have his suit of fine broadcloth, 
 his hat of the finest fur and latest fashion, his boots of the best 
 cut and style, &c. ; but formerly, all this was quite diflerent. Ima- 
 gine to yourself, a young man of eighteen, then, of good propor- 
 tions, handsome face, blooming with health and beauty, dressed 
 in a pair of deerskin breeches, blacked or buft up every week for 
 his Sunday appearance at church — his legs at same time covered 
 up to the knees with blue yarn knit stockings, and his feet encased 
 in a pair of coarse leathej; shoes, well greased, and surmounted 
 with a pair of brass buckles. Observe that he wore a speckled 
 or checked shirt all the week, and a white one on Sunday, which 
 was always carefully taken off as soon as he got home from 
 church, was folded up and laid by for the next sabbath service. 
 Imagine that the leather breeches, after long wear got greasy and 
 horny as they grew old, and were only flexible, so long as they 
 were on, and kept warm by the superflux of youthful heat. Sup- 
 pose, that in the morning of a cold day in January, when snow 
 had blown in at his bed-chamber window, scattering its fleece 
 about his garret, and loading his breeches, stiflening them up to 
 a standing capability, and he shaking out the snow and pulling 
 them on ! Such was once his lot ; and such he once encountered 
 without fear or murmur ; when he could rise warm from his straw 
 bed and woollen rug, subduing by his own warmth the stubborn 
 stiffness of the leather, and going down stairs with a whistle, to 
 kindle the fires for the house, and for his master. 
 
 In those days, none were anxious for the safety of the house 
 against night robbers ; street doors were universally left on the 
 latch till bed-time and retirement ; or were habitually left open 
 for ready ingress or egress, the family in meantime, frequently 
 passing the evenings on their street stoops or porches. 
 
 33 Y2 
 
258 Furniture and Equipage, 
 
 FURNITURE AND EQUIPAGE. 
 
 " Dismiss a real elegance a little used, 
 For monstrous novelty and strange disguise." 
 
 The tide of fashion, which overwhelms every thing in its on- 
 ward course, had almost effaced every trace of what our forefathers 
 possessed or used in the way of household furniture or traveling 
 equipage. Since the year 1800, the introduction of foreign luxury, 
 caused by the influx of wealth, has been yearly effecting succes- 
 sive changes in those articles, so much so that the former simple 
 articles which contented, as they equally served the purposes of, 
 our forefathers, could hardly be conceived. Such as they were, 
 they descended acceptably unchanged from father to son and son's 
 son, and presenting, at the era of our Independence, precisely the 
 same family picture which had been seen in the earliest annals 
 of the town. 
 
 Formerly there were no side-boards, and when they were first 
 introduced after the revolution, they were much smaller and less 
 expensive than now. Formerly they had couches of worsted 
 damask, and only in very affluent familes, in lieu of what we 
 now call sofas or lounges. Plain people used settees and settles, 
 — the latter had a bed concealed in the seat, and by folding the 
 top of it outwards to the front, it exposed the bed and widened 
 the place for the bed to be spread upon it. This, homely as it 
 might now be regarded, was a common sitting room appendage, 
 and was a proof of more attention to comfort than display. It 
 had, as well as the settee, a very high back of plain boards, and 
 the whole was of white pine, generally unpainted and whitened 
 well with unsparing scrubbing. Such was in the poet's eyes 
 when pleading for his sofa, — 
 
 " But restless was the seat, the back erect 
 Distress'd the weary loins that felt no ease." 
 
 They were a very common article in very good houses, and 
 were generally the proper property of the oldest members of the 
 family, unless occasionally used to stretch the weary length of 
 tired boys. They were placed before the fire-places in the win- 
 ter to keep the back guarded from wind and cold. Formerly 
 there were no Windsor chairs ; and fancy chairs are still more 
 modern. Their chairs of the genteelest kind were of mahogany 
 or red walnut, (once a great substitute for mahogany in all kinds 
 of furniture, tables, &c.,) or else they were of rush bottoms, and 
 made of maple posts and slats, with high backs and perpendicular. 
 Instead of japanned waiters as now, they had mahogany tea 
 
Furniture and Equipage. ^9^ 
 
 boards and round tea tables, which, being turned on an axle 
 underneath the centre, stood upright like an expanded fan or 
 palm leaf, in the corner. Another corner was occupied by a 
 beaufet, which was a corner closet Avith a glass door, in which 
 all the china of the family and the plate were intended to be 
 displayed for ornament as well as use. A conspicious article in 
 the collection was always a great china punch bowl, which fur- 
 nished a frequent and grateful beverage, — for wine drinking was 
 then much less in vogue. China teacups and saucers were about 
 half their present size ; and china tea-pots and coffee-pots, with 
 silver nozzles, was a mark of superior finery. The sham of plated 
 ware was not then known, and all who showed a silver surface 
 had the massive metal too. This occurred in the wealthy families 
 in little coflfee and tea-pots ; and a silver tankard for good sugared 
 toddy, was above vulgar entertainment. Where we now use 
 earthen-ware, they then used delf-ware imported from England; 
 and instead of queen's-ware (then unknown,) pewter platters and 
 porringers, made to shine along a "dresser," were universal. 
 Some, and especially the country people, ate their meals from 
 wooden trenchers. Gilded looking-glasses and picture frames of 
 golden glare were unknown ; and both much smaller than now, 
 were used. Small pictures painted on glass, with black mould- 
 ings for frames, with a scanty touch of gold leaf in the corners, 
 was the adornment of a parlour. The looking-glasses in two 
 plates, if large, had either glass frames figured with flowers en- 
 graved thereon, or was of scalloped mahogany or of Dutch 
 wood scalloped — painted white or black, with here and there 
 some touches of gold. Every householder in that day deemed it 
 essential to his convenience and comfort to have an ample chest 
 of drawers in his parlour or sitting room, in which the linen and 
 clothes of the family were always of ready access. It was no sin 
 to rummage them before company. These drawers were some- 
 times nearly as high as the ceiling. At other times they had a 
 writing desk about the centre, with a falling lid to write upon 
 when let down. A great high clock-case, reaching to the ceiling, 
 occupied another corner ; and a fourth corner was appropriated 
 to the chimney place. They then had no carpets on their floors, 
 and no paper on their walls. The silver-sand on the floor was 
 drawn into a variety of fanciful figures and twirls with the sweep- 
 ing brush, and much skill and even pride was displayed therein 
 in the devices and arrangement. They had then no argand or 
 other lamps in parlours, but dip candles, in brass or copper candle- 
 sticks, was usually good enough for common use ; and those who 
 occasionally used mould candles, made them at home in little tin 
 frames, casting four to six candles in each. A glass lantern 
 with square sides furnished the entry lights in the houses of the 
 affluent. Bedsteads then were ma de, if fine, of carved mahogany, 
 of slender dimensions ; but, for common purposes, or for the fami- 
 
260 Furniture and Equipage. 
 
 lies of good tradesmen, they were of poplar, and always painted 
 green. It was a matter of miiversal concern to have them low 
 enough to answer the purpose of repose for sick or dying per- 
 sons — a provision so necessary for such possible events, now so 
 little regarded by the modern practice of ascending to a bed by 
 steps, like clambering up to a hay mow. 
 
 A lady, giving me the reminiscences of her early life, thus speaks 
 of things as they were before the war of independence : — marble 
 mantels and folding doors were not then known ; and well enough 
 we enjoyed ourselves without sofas, carpets, or girandoles. A 
 white floor sprinkled with clean white sand, large tables and 
 heavy high back chairs of walnut or mahogany, decorated a 
 parlour genteelly enough for any body. Sometimes a carpet, 
 not, however, covering the whole floor, was seen upon the dining 
 room. This was a show-parlour up stairs, not used but upon 
 gala occasions, and then not to dine in. Pewter plates and dishes 
 were in general use. China on dinner tables was a great rarity. 
 Plate, more or less, was seen in most families of easy circum- 
 stances, not indeed in all the various shapes that have since been 
 invented, but in massive silver waiters, bowls, tankards, cans, &c. 
 Glass tumblers were scarcely seen. Punch, the most common 
 beverage, was drunk by the company, from one large bowl of 
 silver or china ; and beer from a tankard of silver. 
 
 The use of stoves was not known in primitive times, neither in 
 families nor in churches. Their fire-places were as large again as 
 the present, with much plainer mantel-pieces. In lieu of marble 
 plates round the sides and top of the fire-places, it was adorned 
 with china Dutch-tile, pictured with sundry scripture pieces. Dr. 
 Franklin first invented the " open stove,'^ called also " the Frank- 
 lin stove," after which, as fuel became scarce, the better economy 
 of the " ten plate stove," was adopted. 
 
 The most splendid looking carriage ever exhibited among us, 
 was that used as befitting the character of that chief of men, 
 General Washington, while acting as President of the United 
 States. It was very large, so as to make four horses, at least, an 
 almost necessary appendage. It was occasionally drawn by six 
 horses, Virginia bays. It was cream coloured, globular in its 
 shape, ornamented with cupids supporting festoons, and wreaths 
 . of flowers, emblematically arranged along the pannel work ; — 
 the whole neatly covered with best coach-glass. It was of Eng- 
 lish construction. 
 
 Some twenty or thirty years before the period of the revolution, 
 the steeds most prized for the saddle were pacers, since so odious 
 deemed. To this end the breed was propagated with much care. 
 The Narraganset pacers of Rhode Island were in such repute 
 that they were sent for, at much trouble and expense, by some 
 few who were choice in their selections. It may amuse the pre- 
 sent generation to peruse the history of one such horse, spoken of 
 
Furniture and Equipage. 26l 
 
 in the letter of Rip Van Dam of New York, in the year 1711, 
 which I have seen. It states the fact of the trouble he had taken 
 to procure him such a horse. He was shipped from Rhode Island 
 in a sloop, from which he jumped overboard when under sail 
 and swam ashore to his former home. He arrived at New York 
 in 14 days passage, much reduced in flesh and spirit. He cost 
 £32, and his freight 50 shillings. This writer Rip Van Dam, 
 was a great personage, he having been President of the Council 
 in 1731 ; and on the death of Governor Montgomery that year, 
 he was governor ex officio, of New York. His mural monument 
 is now to be seen in St. Paul's church. 
 
 Mr. A. B., aged seventy-five, told me that he never saw any 
 carpets on floors, before the revolution ; when first introduced, 
 they only covered the floors outside of the chairs around the 
 room ; he knew of persons afraid to step on them when they 
 first saw them on floors ; some dignified families always had 
 some carpets, but then they got them through merchants as a 
 special importation for themselves. Floors silver sanded in 
 figures, &c., were the universal practice. The walls of houses 
 were not papered, but universally whitewashed. 
 
 Mahogany was but very seldom used, and when seen, was 
 mostly in a desk or " tea-table." The general furniture was 
 made of " billstead," another name for maple. 
 
 The first stoves he remembered came into use in his time, and 
 were all open inside in one oblong square ; having no baking 
 oven thereto, as was afterwards invented in the "ten plate 
 stoves." 
 
 He thinks coaches were very rare ; can't think there were more 
 than four or five of them ; men were deemed rich to have kept 
 even a chaise. The governor had one coach ; Walton had another ; 
 Colden, the lieutenant governor, had a coach, which was burnt 
 before his window by the mob ; Mrs. Alexander had a coach, 
 and Robert Murray, a Friend, had another, which he called his 
 " leathern conveniency," to avoid the scandal of pride and vain 
 glory. 
 
262 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 GAZETTES OF THE OLDEN TIME AND THEIR 
 NOTICES. 
 
 "These mark the everyday affairs of life." 
 
 Although the old Gazettes of colonial days, have been but very 
 tame chroniclers of their times, as compared with the present sur- 
 charged sheets, pregnant with everything \ yet they all tend 
 more or less, incidentally ^ to show forth something characteristic 
 of their age, and of their then "everyday affairs of hfe." 
 
 The following pages, extracted from several Gazettes of the 
 times referred to, will more fully illustrate what we mean : and 
 by way of more fully describing the little vehicles of intelligence 
 used by " the gentlemen of the olden time," we shall begin the 
 present chapter with the thorough exhibition of all the local 
 facts to be derived at one time, from a single journal of the day. 
 Though long past and dead, it still talks to us of the age in which 
 it lived. 
 
 We use first the New York Gazette, revived in the weekly 
 Post Boy of 4th March 1750-1, No. 246; printed and sold by 
 James Parker at the new printing office in Beaver street. The 
 paper is printed on cap sized paper, and is ten shillings a year. 
 Little as it was, it must have been a well prized and welcome 
 visiter, when it only presented itself with limited information, but 
 once a week. 
 
 Its first page contains the proclamation of Governor Belcher, 
 of Nova Csssarea (i. e. New Jersey), dissolving the then refractory 
 assembly, which refused supplies, and quoting from his letter 
 from the lords commissioners of trade, that they were resentful 
 at ''the state of rebellion in which the colony is so unhappily in- 
 volved." Frank words, and rough enough to the Jersey Blues, 
 full twenty-six years before their open rebellion, was actually 
 sustained and finally finished. 
 
 The little Gazette has several short advertisements printed all 
 round its margins, in a transverse direction to the column matter. 
 From among these, I give the following specialties, to wit : 
 
 " The Public Whipper being lately dead, twenty pounds a 
 year is offered to a successor at the Mayor's office." 
 
 " Good Foot-linen-wheels, are advertised for sale, made at 
 Oyster-bay, and sold in Beekman street near the new English 
 churchy None of the present generation are aware that little 
 wheels to move by the tread of the foot, to spin linen-thread, 
 were once so designated, to distinguish them from big wheels 
 turned by the hand to spin woollen yarn. 
 
Gazettes of the Olden T^me and their Notices. 263 
 
 Plays. "This evening will be presented the Bold stroke for a 
 Wife, with Daemon and Phillis, for the benefit of Miss George." 
 
 " Three negroes — a man, woman, and girl, to be sold by R. 
 Griffiths.'' 
 
 " A large stable and chaise house behind Whitehall slip, facing 
 Copsy battery, for the use of receiving such by the ferry boats, 
 is to let." The word copsy is now obsolete. It was spelt capsey, 
 and meant the turning point at the battery. 
 
 Among the other advertisements in the columns, we notice the 
 following, as marking, local names and localities, now no longer 
 familiar to the ear — to wit : 
 
 "To be sold, a plantation of 15 acres, of John Minthorne's, 
 in the out ward, and bouo^ed on the east side oi fresh water, and 
 pleasantly situated." 
 
 The present Shrewsbury river is called Navesink's river. 
 
 " Twelve acres of salt meadow on the East river side, back of 
 alderman Stuyvesandt's, is to be sold at auction at the Spring 
 Garden." 
 
 " Half of the ground on the south side of Crown street, com- 
 monly known by the name of Barberie's Garden, is for sale." 
 
 " Godfrey's sea quadrant improved, and other mathematical 
 instruments, are made and sold by Anthony Lamb." A special 
 honour to Mr. Godfrey's important invention, which we were 
 glad to see thus announced. 
 
 Houses situated at the water end of Broad street, are termed 
 as " lying near the Long bridge," and good " for merchants or 
 shop keepers." 
 
 Several persons give notice of " intending" or " designing for 
 England." 
 
 A Mr. Charles Dutens, teacher of French and jeweller, gives a 
 long advertisement, full of self-conceit and egotism, and sprinkled 
 throughout with scraps of Latin, for the use of young ladies and 
 gentlemen, whose love of learning might incline them to take 
 lessons from him in French, at his house near the Long Bridge 
 at Broad street, where he also makes and vends finger and ear 
 rings, solitaires, stay hooks and lockets, and sets diamonds, rubies 
 and other stones. " Science and virtue (says he,) are two sisters, 
 which the most part of the New York ladies possess," meaning 
 their qualities; and to induce them to credit his assertion, he gives 
 at length a dream which he had, as a cause that " he came to 
 the fancy to set forth the present advertisement." 
 
 New York Mercury, by Hugh Gaine, on Hunter's Key, began 
 in 1752, in cap, next year demi size, furnishes facts as follows, to 
 wit: 
 
 1753. The negro fellow who committed the murder oi his 
 master, Jacob Van Naneste, loas burnt at Millstone, New Jersey, 
 on Wednesday last. He stood the fire with the greatest intrepidity, 
 and said " they had taken the root, but left the branches." 
 
264 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 A very good assortment of Iron ware, is advertised at the 
 store of Rip Van Dam. 
 
 An advertisement of January, 1753, reads thus: — This is to 
 acquaint gentlemen and others, who have a mind to transport 
 themselves, wares, or merchandise from New York to Philadel- 
 phia, or from Philadelphia to New York, that there is now a 
 stage boat, well fitted, kept by (Vm, Vandrills, who proposes 
 (wind and weather permitting,) to sail from ^ew York to Amboy, 
 every Monday and Thursday, and thence by wagon to Burling- 
 ton, and thence take passage to Philadelphia. 
 
 Middling and single refined London and Boston loaf sugar, is 
 advertised. " Nutten Island" is named also the " Meal market," 
 " White Hall," '* The Long bridge" across Broad street. 
 
 The new Presbyterian church steeple in Philadelphia, is adver- 
 tised to be made by lottery, saying, " A work of this kind (corner 
 of Arch and Third streets), which is principally ornamental, is to 
 be encouraged by all well-wishers to the beauty of Philadelphia.^^ 
 (It was common then to advertise lotteries there, for several 
 places distant.) 
 
 Hoop Petticoats, are thus noticed, March, 1753. " Their petti- 
 coats which began to heave and swell before you left us, are now 
 blown up into a most enormous concave, and rise more and more 
 every day ! The superfluity of head dress lately abandoned, 
 seems to have fallen from their height, only to extend the 
 breadth of their lower parts. They pretend that these wide 
 bottoms are airy, and proper for the season. Others pretend that 
 their whalebones and hoops are to keep off" the undue approaches 
 of our sex. The first time I saw a lady dressed in one of these 
 petticoats^ I could not- forbear blaming her in thought, for walk- 
 ing abroad when so near her time to stay at home, but soon 
 recovered myself, by the observation that all the modish part of 
 the sex were as far gone as herself I It is generally thought how- 
 ever, that the fashion was introduced by some crafty lady, to 
 conceal some mishap, by having many imitators. In the mean- 
 while one cannot but be troubled to see so many well shaped 
 virgins bloated up, and waddled up and down like big bodied 
 women. Should this measure become general, we should soon feel 
 the want of street room. Congregations already begin to be pinched 
 for room ; and should the men fall into the scheme of trunk- 
 breeches, by way of reprehension or reprisal, man and wife could 
 no longer sit in the same pew !" 
 
 The Common Council notify, that all persons indebted to the 
 city corporation for quit rents, shall pay in the same to the city 
 chamberlain or treasurer. 
 
 The dress of an Engraver and JeiMller, of twenty-five years 
 of age, runaway, is thus given : — A blue coat with black mohair 
 buttons, blue lapelled waistcoat, the lapells lined with black velvet, 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices, 265 
 
 a pair of black leather breeches with solid silver buttons, and 
 brown wig. 
 
 Search is made in all the wards by the constables, for small- 
 pox, and only three cases found; a circumstance of much joy 
 to all. 
 
 A writer in the Gazette of April, 1753, noticing the intended 
 new College, deprecates its falling into the hands of any ascendant 
 sect, and stating the Presbyterians are aiming for it, says, " I 
 shall think it strange if our legislature shall sufier themselves to 
 be either jockied or bullied, as they did by other sects in the case 
 of the New Jersey college, under the pretence of a Catholic 
 establishment. [It woulff be a curious history, which could show 
 the true cause, why all the colleges have been so universally in 
 the hands of clergymen. " So did not St. Paul."] 
 
 Four horses started for the New York subscription plate on 
 the course near " Greenwich."*^ 
 
 The London Company of Comedians, in July, 1753, address 
 the magistrates and the public, praying the grant of permission to 
 play, and saying they were encouraged to go to New York as 
 early as 1750, and that thereupon Mr. Hallam undertook to send 
 out Mr. Robert Upton, in October, 1750, to perform, erect a 
 building, and settle permission, &c. For this purpose he had 
 funds from Mr. Hallam ; but he nevertheless joined himself to a 
 set of pretenders, and did nothing for Mr. Hallam & Co. In 
 April, 1752, Mr. Hallam & Co., being solicited by several gentle- 
 men in London, and sundry Virginia captains, they embarked and 
 arrived at York river, Va., the 28th of June. There they had the 
 grant of the governor to perform, and remained with much 
 applause, eleven naonths ; but now being arrived at New York, 
 they find great obstacles^ in their way, although they had been 
 persuaded to visit it as a polite city, where the muses could find 
 shelter, and not that the instructive and elegant entertainment of 
 the stage, was to be utterly banished ! They pray a reconsider- 
 ation, and that they may be permitted to show their ability to 
 support the dignity, decorum, and regularity of the stage. 
 
 Green mould candles for sale, at the Old Slip market. [Pro- 
 bably made of the bayberry.] 
 
 Charles Sullivan's tavern, at the Fresh water, in the out ward 
 of the city. 
 
 Frail Ladies. " Last Thursday, (July, 1753,) twenty-two 
 frail ladies, taken out of several houses of ill repute in this city, 
 were committed to the workhouse, and next day five of them 
 were condemned to receive fifteen lashes each, before a vast con- 
 course of people. All were then ordered to leave the city.'' 
 
 The Post Office, at the Bowling Green, Broadway, will be 
 
 open every day, save Saturday afternoons and Sundays, from 
 
 eight to twelve A. M., and from two to four P. M., except on 
 
 post nights, when attendance will be given till ten at night, by 
 
 34 Z 
 
266 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices, 
 
 A. Golden, deputy postmaster, and afterwards postmaster. N. B. 
 No credit in future. 
 
 Ran away, A. Fitz Morris, a taylor, twenty-three years old, 
 from Ireland, had a light coloured wig, mouse coloured coat, and 
 blue linings, gold twist buttons, black stockings, woollen shag 
 breeches. Another runaway, is said to have " his hair scalpea 
 like a wig.^' 
 
 Wire Dancer. Mr. Dugee performs on the wire and slack rope, 
 by permission, at a new house built for that purpose, in Mr. 
 Adam Van Denberg's garden. 
 
 Red Clover seed, offered for sale near the Half Moon Battery, 
 near Whitehall slip. [This shows an early use of clover.'] 
 
 Play bill, 22d of October, 1753. By a company of comedians 
 from London, at the New Theatre, in Nassau street, (by his 
 honour's authority.) Love for Love, afterpiece, Tom Thumb the 
 Great, Hallam's family ; Box 6s. Pit 4s. Gallery 2s. The next 
 play was Richard the Third, and the Devil to Pay. They go to 
 Philadelphia. 
 
 French, Low Dutch, Latin and English, taught by Tho. Ross. 
 
 Patrick Audley, Taylor, from Great Britain, makes gentlemen's 
 laced and plain clothes, burning dresses, pantine sleeves, racoloes 
 for clergymen and others, ladies' Josephs. 
 
 The New Exchange is now opened as a coffee-room, by Keen 
 & Lightfoot, [near the meal market, I believe]. 
 
 A Public Library is to be formed by a subscription of gentle- 
 men, April, 1754. 
 
 " Roger Magrah is moved up near the Horse Sf Cart Inn, in 
 the street that Alderman Cortlant lives in." 
 
 The New York College, opened in May, 1754 ; is helped by a 
 lottery, and the price of tuition, under^ Samuel Johnson, princi- 
 pal, a former missionary, is twenty-five shillings per quarter. 
 Numerous discussions concerning the sect to govern this college, 
 appeared in the Gazettes. Some claimed for the Church, others 
 for the Presbyterians. [Why either of them ? and why not a civil 
 institution? Wm. Livingston, Esq., afterwards governor of 
 New Jersey, was a frequent writer on the side of the latter, titled 
 the Watch Tower.] 
 
 Patrick Flanley, an Irish runaway, is thus advertised; had a 
 grey homespun coat, lined with blue shalloon, fawn skin vest, 
 hair outside, and purple sheepskin breeches. 
 
 M. Derham, milliner from London, arrived with her wares, &c. 
 
 The Hon. Shirley Washington, Esq., arrived at New York, 
 as commander of his majesty's ship Mermaid, of twenty guns, 
 from England. I see also a Captain Washingtoii, commander 
 of a privateer. I notice also, a Captain Kid often arriving at 
 Philadelphia from Nova Scotia. 
 
 Albany is thus noticed by a writer in September, 1754, saying : 
 It is much to be feared, that the French, before a declaration of 
 
Exchange, Wall Street, burned 1835, p. 266. 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 267 
 
 war, may attack us, and if they do, they will too probably take 
 the city of Albany, whose inhabitants are more renowned for 
 the artifices of traffic and the thirst of gain, than for a military 
 spirit. 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Graham, of Rumbout precinct, in Dutchess county, 
 " continues to teach Latin, Greek and Hebrew, very cheap.^^ 
 
 Of Female Dress. " These foreign invaders first made their 
 attack upon the stays, so as to diminish them half" down the 
 waist, exposing the breast and shoulders. Next to the caps ; 
 cut off the flappets and tabs, bored and padlocked the ears. Next 
 came the Avide hoops and French pocket holes ; and last of all, 
 have lately shortened the rear, so that the heels and ancles are 
 exposed, even to the very gusset and clock ! 0, shame .♦ shame !" 
 
 It is worthy of remark, that all of the names, usually found 
 among the gentry of the state of New York now, generally 
 professional men, are all to be found in the advertising columns 
 of these old Gazettes, as men of business. There we read of 
 " De Lancey, Robinson & Co., at their store in Duke street." 
 '^ Gerard W. Beekman's dry goods store ;" " Robert G. Livings- 
 ton has for sale ;" " To be sold by Le Roy & Rutgers ;" '* To be 
 sold by Philip Livingston ;" " James Jauncey has for sale ;" 
 "For sale by S. G. Lansing, near Coenties market f^ " N. W. 
 Stuyvesant, auctioneer." The truth is, concerning such business 
 men, that they were at the top of society ; the lawyers and doc- 
 tors then served for much smaller fees, and had not any pre- 
 eminence. It is only of later years, that lawyers have got so much 
 into public councils and state affairs; before the Revolution, they 
 were much restricted to small local affairs ; international law was 
 not required and was not studied. Maritime law, and insurance 
 policies, now so much understood, were then scarcely known. 
 They have since got rich out of these incidents of commerce, and 
 now take precedence of their actual makers. Merchants and 
 riches once headed all things. 
 
 Fencing and Dancing is taught by John Rievers, at the cor- 
 ner of Stone street. 
 
 */i Grand Ball, upon the occasion of St. Andrew's day, was 
 given by the Scotch Society, at the Exchange room, and King's 
 Arms tavern. Many officers of the army were present; the 
 ladies made a most brilliant appearance, and it is thought that there 
 was scarcely ever so great a number of elegantly dressed fine 
 women seen together in North America. The officers were 
 peculiarly delighted and surprised with so many interesting ladies, 
 more than they had ever met together in our country. 
 
 It appears that the new gaol was built by a lottery ; the draw- 
 ing was published of it, April, 1758. A lottery is also made to pay 
 ^eilOO, debt of the city of Albany by the war. The twenty-six 
 hundred men to be raised by New York for the war, were each 
 to have a pair of buckskin breeches. 
 
268 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 The ways of Trade. Nov. 1760. Public notice is given by the 
 custom house, that " some of our traders from foreign ports, have 
 been for some time hovering in the sound and on the coast, with 
 a view to discharge their cargoes duty free ; all good citizens are 
 invited to aid the authorities and give information, &c.'' 
 
 A proclamation from the governor of New Jersey, says, It is 
 believed provisions and lumber are intended to be smuggled off 
 for the use of the enemy, hy some. 
 
 To Let, the house at White Hall, now in the possession of Lord 
 London, enquire of Frances Moore, nigh the Bowling Green. [She 
 was probably the widow of Col. Moore, the original proprietor.] 
 
 1759. Greenwich, to be sold by A. Sarzedas, a pretty country 
 seat, nigh the North river, about three miles from the city, gener- 
 ally known by the name of Greenwich, containing four acres, 
 all in garden. 
 
 South-east Storm, 14th February, 1759. Joseph Whipple, Esq., 
 deputy governor, going to his lodging in the evening, by reason 
 of the great damage done to the Long wharf, fell in and was 
 drowned. He had a great funeral train. 
 
 The curse of cowardice. The papers are all well filled with 
 calls to " gentlemen volunteers, and gentlemen sailors," to enlist 
 in Sir this, and Sir that's regiment, &c., and also several adver- 
 tisements for deserters. Among the other allurements to enlist- 
 ment, I notice a kind of sermon for sale, called " the curse of 
 cowardice,'^ being a discourse on Jer. xlviii. 10. " Cursed be he 
 that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully ; and cursed be he 
 that keepeth back his sword from blood." The author says, " Ye 
 young and hardy men, whose very faces seem to speak that God 
 and nature formed you for soldiers, ye that love your country, 
 enlist ; for honour will follow you in life or death. Ye that love 
 your reUgion, enlist ; for your religion is in danger. Can Pro- 
 testant Christianity expect quarters from heathen savages and 
 French papists ?" 
 
 Q Xh aged negro man on Long Island, died at Smithtown, in 
 pufFolk county, say, negro Harry, in December, 1758, at least one 
 hundred and twenty years of age when he died. He remembered 
 New York, he said, when there were but three houses in it, (and 
 now consider, that now in 1834, there are persons alive on Long 
 Island who could have seen that man !) He could do a good 
 day's work when past one hundred years. He was purchased 
 at New York by Richard Smith, the first proprietor of Smithtown, 
 and descended down to his grandson. Captain Richard Smith, of 
 the same town, who is himself past sixty years of age in 1759. 
 He had been a slave one hundred years in Smith's family, and 
 supposed himself one hundred and forty years old ! 
 
 The New York Insurance Office, opened at the house of the 
 widow Smith, adjoining the Coffee-house, another at the Coffee- 
 house is called " the old insurance office." August 21, 1759. 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 269 
 
 Places. ^'At Whitehall ^X the Ao^^5c of the late Col. Moore;" 
 "at his house in the fly ;^^ Bayard street;" "Canons Dock;" 
 "Rotten Row;" "Wynkoop street;" "Royal Exchange;" 
 "Smith Street;" "Coenties market;" "on Golden hill;" "the 
 Long bridge ;" " the great Dock near the change ;" " Dock 
 street ;" " Pot Baker's hill." 
 
 1 760. " Scotch carpets," a variety of them for sale by Matthew 
 Wilders — another also advertises "an assortment of carpets." 
 [These were their first appearance most probably, as sand was 
 used long after.] 
 
 Marriages announced, March 1 7. Married on Tuesday night 
 last, Mr. Jacob Walton of this city, merch't, to Miss Polly Cruger, 
 daughter of Henry Cruger, Esq., an eminent merchant of this 
 place ; an agreeable young lady, possessed of every good quality 
 to render the marriage state completely happy, with a large for- 
 tune." — [The mode then of noticing.] 
 
 A Windmill for sale, in the out ward of the city, near the Bow- 
 ery lane, having two pair of stones, inquire of John Burling. 
 
 Mary Alexander, relict of the Hon. James Alexander, deceased, 
 and mother to the present Earl of Stirling, died at New York, 
 April 1760. She was for many years past, a very eminent trader 
 in this place ; afterwards her shop goods are advertised to be sold 
 oflf. Lord Stirling was two years after made one of his Majesty's 
 council in New York. 
 
 For sale, a neat assortment of women's and children's stays — 
 also hoops and quilted coats ; also men and women's shoes from 
 England. 
 
 The transport vessels at New York, have much difficulty to 
 engage their crews from their fears of impressment, wherefore 
 Gen. Amherst engages to give such men a certificate of protection 
 provided they enhst for the transports dX £Q per month. 
 
 Persons in Albany, advertise their stores of goods in the city 
 Gazette. 
 
 Nicholas C. Bogert, has removed his store from his father's, to 
 the house of Capt. Michael Bogert near the fly market, next door 
 to Mr. Bassetts, where he has for sale a general assortment of 
 goods for cash or short credit. Cornelius Bogert was drowned 
 at the flat rock battery, in bathing. 
 
 Prices. Nut wood 355. a cord, oak wood 22s. — wheat 6s. 6d. 
 
 Paper Hangings. A new article of genteel patterns, just ar- 
 rived and for sale by G. Noel, bookseller. 
 
 Irish beef and Irish butter for sale by Greg and Cunningham ; 
 also Bristol ale. 
 
 Doctor Guischard, surgeon from Paris, advertises that " he is 
 experienced in women's delivery, and will with the help of the 
 Lord,^' prove himself serviceable in their extremity. 
 
 A parcel of fine young slaves just imported in the schooner 
 Catherine from the coast of Africa, and for sale at Moore's wharf, 
 
 z 2 
 
270 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 by Thomas Randall and J. Alexander. [They used to be sold also 
 at public auction on board vessels, and also at the Coffee-house.] 
 
 At this time there are three weekly newspapers in New York. 
 
 Lotteries for many places are from time to time advertised to 
 draw upon Biles' Island — one for St. John's church, Elizabeth- 
 town — one for Shrewsbury church, &c. &c. 
 
 Doings at Perth Amhoy, July 7, 1760; upon the arrival there 
 of Gov. Boone to take his government, he was escorted by the 
 troops of horse of EUzabethtown and Woodbridge ; at the line 
 of the city he was met by the mayor, recorder, aldermen, and 
 common council and conducted into town, afterwards his Excel- 
 lency walked in procession to the City Hall, where he was pro- 
 claimed. He afterwards gave an elegant entertainment, and in 
 the evening the town was illuminated. [Who would now think 
 of such things of the present little Amboy.] 
 
 The arrival of ships of war and transports, or of departures of 
 such, are frequent, also numerous occasions of British generals 
 and regiments and troops coming and going at New York or the 
 adjacent colonies, is frequent during the Canada war, making 
 New York quite a military camp. 
 
 Cotton goods advertised for sale by Thomas Watkins, [a new 
 article, I think] a neat assortment of printed cottons, calicoes, 
 and chintz — boys and girls' worsted and cotton hose — cotton and 
 linen checks — cotton in bales. [A Liverpool paper of 1834, states 
 that the first bag of cotton imported into that place, was brought 
 from the United States in January 1785, by the Diana, and she 
 brought only that one bag.] 
 
 I never see Broadway noticed as a street; but as often as 
 houses there are advertised, they are said to be near or opposite 
 to some one. It was then a place out of business. 
 
 The governor, James Delancy, Esq.,. died suddenly "at his 
 seat in the Bowery, near this city." 
 
 u Perry street^ The burghers of this street " are said to 
 have petitioned to enlarge the canal or drain in the said Ferry 
 street,'''' [This must mean Broad street.] The ferry stairs was 
 at fly market. 
 
 James Rivington, bookseller from London, has just opened in 
 Hanover Square, Sept. 1760, and is called "Me only London 
 bookseller in America." He afterwards became "the tory printer" 
 in the war of the revolution. 
 
 Henry Whitman, near the Oswego market, makes ^^Philadel- 
 phia buttons and buckles," as cheap and good as can be purchased 
 in Philadelphia. Many counterfeits have been sold here, but 
 he will warrant his not to break. 
 
 1761. January 12, Sunday. Funeral sermons were preached in 
 all the churches in the city, on the death of his late Majesty George 
 n. All the public actions of society then bespeak much loyalty. 
 
 The New York, New England, Nova Scotia, and Quebec, &c., 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 271 
 
 Coffee-house, which has been kept for fifty years past in Thread- 
 needle street, behind the Royal Exchange, is now to be removed 
 for a short time, until the party walls of the house can be rebuilt, 
 by Thomas Lever. 
 
 The Hon. Gen. Moncton " dwells in the commodious house in 
 Beaver street.'' 
 
 Tincture of golden rod is much praised, it cures quickly grey 
 flux — it also destroys the gravel by quickly dissolving all gravel 
 in the kidneys. 
 
 The General Assembly of this colony, are to meet March 24th. 
 at the house of Tennis Somerndyck. [This was perhaps in con- 
 sequence of "repairing the City Hall" in the next year, 1762.] 
 
 H. Levy offers for sale, hyson tea, coffee, chocolate — English 
 made shoes. 
 
 To be sold, a likely breeding negro wench, who is now big 
 with child, for which reason she does not suit her master. [Plain 
 direct language truly.] 
 
 Evert Fels, inviter to the funerals, is removed from Broadway 
 down to the North river, next to the King's stores. 
 
 A curricle but little used, for sale with a pair of blood horses, 
 at Larey's livery. 
 
 The light-house at Sandy Hook, is to be erected oti ground at 
 Sandy Hook, which is to be purchased with £3000, to be raised 
 by a lottery. A second lottery was made for ^63000 more to 
 build the light-house. 
 
 Lost, between New York and Greenwich, a green purse con- 
 taining a gold jacobus, a half and quarter Johannes, and three or 
 four pieces of eight. 
 
 Umbrellas of all sorts, men and boys felts and castors, and 
 other goods for sale, by John Hamersly & Co., near Coenties 
 market, [meaning the market near Coenties house.] 
 
 The General Assembly of New Jersey is now sitting (July) at 
 Burlington for the despatch of business. [Can any one now tell 
 which was their hall, and where the Governor's house.] The 
 same question might be asked also of like houses at Perth Amboy. 
 
 A lottery for raising £2800 to pave such parts of Philadelphia 
 streets, as the managers may choose, is advertised — the whole 
 scheme and agent's name, at New York. 
 
 A shark of 12 feet in length was caught at "the ferry stairs" 
 [at foot of Fly market I think]. 
 
 British camps were sometimes formed on Long Island, and 
 sometimes on Staten Island; on the latter, Gen. Otway's regiment 
 encamped in August, 1761, arrived from Albany — Gen. Amherst 
 also staid there. 
 
 Persian and plat carpeting — thread and cotton hose for sale, by 
 H. Van Vleck. [They go ahead of Philadelphia in such luxuries]. 
 
 The Theatre. Permission has been given by the lieutenant- 
 governor, to Mr. Douglass, to build a theatre. 
 
272 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 Impressment is so much feared, that people are afraid to visit 
 New York harbour as usual with provisions. The Mayor there- 
 fore publishes an assurance from Capt. Darby, that none such 
 shall be taken. 
 
 Oct. 29. Sir Jetfery Amherst was installed as knight, at Staten 
 Island. The cause and the occasion was this. The troops, 
 eleven regiments, returned from the war on the Canada frontiers, 
 under Gens. Monckton, Amherst, and Otway, and were encamped 
 from August to November, upon the centre of Staten Island, 
 where they formed a market and invited sellers ; while there, 
 orders came from England to Major Gen. Monckton, to invest 
 Gen. Amherst with the order, which he did in a public manner 
 before the army, by putting the ribbon over Sir Jeffery's shoulder. 
 Gen. Monckton was immediately after installed as Governor of 
 New York, and a procession made for him in New York, and at 
 night the city was illuminated. New York is often like a 
 military camp, always troops and frigates going and coming. In 
 this matter the society there, must have always been very differ- 
 ent from Philadelphia. Gen. Monckton and all the troops went 
 away from Staten Island on the 15th of November, with a fleet 
 of one hundred sail, for the West Indies. What a sight ! 
 
 Some unusual names of streets, viz : " Petticoat lane near the 
 fort," Chapel street, " Rotten Row near the dock," at another 
 place called Rorten Row, "Synagogue alley," "the New Dock." 
 
 " Pennsylvania Stoves, newly invented," both round and 
 square, to be sold by Peter Clopper. 
 
 The new Theatre in Chapel street, (now Beekman street,) 
 opened November IS, 1761, with the tragedy of the Fair Penitent, 
 box 8s. pit 5s. gallery 3s. The next night, " the Provoked Hus- 
 band," Douglass' company. 
 
 " The Trinity Church farm.'' Two lots thereon, fronting the 
 upper part of Broadway, near the almshouse, to be sold under its 
 lease of eleven years to come ; having thereon two tenements, 
 and in the rear fronting on Murray street, one other house, by 
 John Dowers. 
 
 Fort George. Died in Fort George, Alice Colden, lady of the 
 lieutenant-governor. 
 
 Harpsicords and Spinnets imported and for sale, by Thomas 
 Harrison, organist of Trinity church. 
 
 A variety of paper hangings, imported from London, and for 
 sale by J. Desbrosses. [These were used for window curtains, 
 very little or none for walls.] 
 
 Elizabeth Pitt, mantua maker from London, works in the 
 newest fashion ; and Elizabeth Colvell, milliner, has just received 
 a fresh supply of goods from London, and also an assistant young 
 woman from London. 
 
 " As the streets are to be lighted hereafter, conformable to law. 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices, 273 
 
 we may expect much improvement in our police safety/' &c. 
 [This meant probably, some streets.] 
 
 John Higgins, and John Anderson, were executed " at Fresh 
 watery^ for passing counterfeit money. The same Fresh water 
 is named in the act of December, 1761, for prevention of fires, 
 saying, " no pitch, tar, or shingles, shall be put in any place to the 
 southward of Fresh water , [meaning, I presume the Kolch.] 
 
 Severe cold weather, March 18th, "such a long continuance 
 of severe cold at this season, has not been witnessed for many 
 years." 
 
 The copper mines at Second river, in New Jersey, sustained a 
 great loss by the conflagration of the fire engine house and the 
 works belonging thereto, and about two thousand cords of wood. 
 "The loss to Mr. Schuyler must be ten thousand pounds!" It 
 was afterwards burnt a second time, at great loss. 
 
 April 26. His excellency. Sir Jeffery Amherst, upon the anni- 
 versary of St. George, gave a ball to the ladies and gentlemen 
 of this city, at Crawley's new assembly rooms. The company 
 consisted of ninety-six ladies, and as many gentlemen, all very 
 richly dressed ; and it is said the entertainment was the most 
 elegant ever seen in America. 
 
 Money Diggers. In May, 1762, Nicholas Bayard, ofiers a 
 reward of ^5, to be informed who it is that comes by night to 
 his farm, near the city, and digs great holes in his land, to the 
 damage of his people and cattle. If they be money diggers, he 
 says, he will allow them the indulgence of a search, if they will 
 come to him personally, and dig by daylight, and fill up again. 
 He will also give them two spades and one pick-axe, left behind 
 in their supposed fright. 
 
 The memoirs of Major Robert Rogers, a partisan officer of 
 celebrity in the Indian wars near Canada, since 1755, in three 
 volumes, 8vo., for twenty shillings. It might be a curious his- 
 tory. His name often appears in enterprising scouts. Where is 
 the book now to be found ? [I believe he became a tory.] 
 
 May, 1762. An act is passed for raising ^3000, to repair the 
 city hall. 
 
 Lawrence Kilbrun, continues portrait painting, in Crown street. 
 
 Thomas Jackson, teaches Latin and Greek, at the head of 
 New street, opposite the Presbyterian church. 
 
 Wm. Clajon is teacher of French, in Beaver street. 
 
 A public and weekly concert of music is held by Leonard and 
 Dieuval, music masters. 
 
 Marriages. April 26. On Tuesday night last, Mr. Nicholas 
 Bayard, Jr., of this city, merchant, was married to Miss Livings- 
 ton, daughter of Mr. Peter Van Brough Livingston, of this place, 
 merchant ; a very agreeable young lady, endowed with all the 
 good qualities necessary for rendering the connubial state per- 
 fectly agreeable. [This was then the mode.'] 
 35 
 
274 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices, 
 
 Rogers & Humphreys open the While Hall Coffee-house, 
 commodiously situate at White Hall, where all the foreign and 
 home gazettes, will be kept on iile. 
 
 [^Philadelphia July 1. Abraham Taylor, Esq., alderman and 
 deputy collector, and holding various olfices among us for thirty 
 years, on the occasion of his going to reside in England, was 
 entertained by an hundred of the principal gentlemen of the city, 
 at the State House. John Taylor, Esq., Middleown, N. J., is 
 named, 1750, to sell laws of New Jersey.] 
 
 Six privateers, brigs and schooners, are fitted out at New York, 
 against the Spaniards, in a short time. 
 
 French and Latin taught to young persons of both sexes, and 
 boarded also, by the Rev. Frederick Rothenbuhler, minister of the 
 Reformed Swilzer church, in New York. 
 
 Original manner of taking up lands in Neio York, by patent, 
 viz : " Whereas his majesty, king James H., by his letters patent 
 under the great seal of the province of New York, bearing date, 
 the 17th October, 1685, did grant and confirm unto Francis Rum- 
 bout, Jacobus Kip, and Stevanus Van Cortlandt, all that tract or 
 parcel of land, situate on the east side of Hudson river, and on 
 the north side of the Highlands, beginning from the south side of 
 the Fish Kill, and from thence northward along said Hudson river 
 five hundred rods beyond the Great Wappenger's Kill, being the 
 northerly bounds, and from thence into the woods, four hours 
 going, or sixteen English miles, &c., [running afterwards four 
 hours going in another direction.] There are as many as half a 
 dozen such large tracts, equally early granted to other companies 
 of men, at other places, and which came to be advertised in 1762, 
 on a call for a division of the tracts, by heirs, claiming under an 
 act just passed by the council, for such purpose. [It would seem 
 as if many persons, associated in families often or twelve names, 
 for very small gifts, to take up unsettled back lands, along the 
 North river, as big as twenty miles square, and so in after years, 
 made their descendants rich gentry. Their names are often 
 published.] 
 
 Morrison, peruke maker from London, dresses ladies and gen- 
 tlemen's hair in the pohtest taste ; he has a choice parcel of 
 human, horse, and goat hairs to dispose of 
 
 Gen. Monckton, who last year was made governor of New 
 York, went off immediately afterwards with the fleet and army, 
 to the West Indies, where he conquered JMartinico and the Lee- 
 ward Islands, and subsequently the Havannah, and then returns 
 back to New York within a single year, and repossesses his gov^- 
 ernment ! Such governors, and the troops and vessels of war, 
 usually at and near New York, must have had a powerful effect 
 in making the top-society there of a military cast. It is published 
 in the Gazette, the amount of " the first division of the prize 
 money," resulting from the Havannah enterprise alone, producing 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 275 
 
 £317,000, of which the navy and army took equal, divisions, and 
 one cannot but wonder to see how quickly a commander-in- 
 chief is excessively enriched ; the fact, may tend to explain 
 why we so often hear of immensely overgrown fortunes in Great 
 Britain, with a general mass of population so very poor ! In this 
 case. Gen. Monckton's personal share amounts to £86,000, nearly 
 400,000 dollars, while the actual helot, the poor private, receives 
 but fifty-seven shillings, or twelve dollars ! Many of our own 
 citizens, both in Philadelphia and New York, enlisted for and 
 went out in this expedition. It is probable that Gen. Monckton 
 eventually realized a million of dollars, as his share in all the 
 service of the year, and with such a fund he was able to make 
 some dashing display in the little city of New York. While on 
 this subject, we will add, what is known but to few, some further 
 brief notice of the scale of prize money awarded in the afore- 
 mentioned division, showing throughout, the scheme of greatly 
 enriching one man, at the expense of many ; for even generals, 
 if subordinate, suddenly fall to much inferior sums, thus : the 
 lieutenant-general gets £17,000, a major-general £4,900, any 
 field officer £380, captains £130, sergeants £6, corporals £4, and 
 privates 57s. 6d. There were fourteen men of war taken at the 
 Havannah. [In the war of the revolution, a Col. Monckton fell 
 at the battle of Monmouth, of whom the song said, — " Monck- 
 ton's laurels fell that day, to grace the brow of gallant Wayne !"] 
 Gov. Monckton resigned, and went home in June, 1763. 
 
 Rivington & Brown, advertise among other articles, finest 
 tooth powder, neatest tooth-pick cases, but no tooth brushes or 
 picks are mentioned. 
 
 Michael De Bruls, forms and offers for sale, when wholly 
 engraved, two water views, and two land views of the city of 
 New York, with references in English and Dutch, to be twenty- 
 one by twelve inches, and to be accompanied by pamphlets of 
 explanation. If any copies exist now, they would l3e curious. 
 
 The race courses are often noticed as at Harlaem, and some- 
 times round " the Beaver pond," at Jamacia, L. I. 
 
 1763. James De Lancey, advertises land in the Bowery, and 
 at Corlear's Hook, for gardeners, &c., for terms of twenty-one, 
 forty-two, or sixty-three years, several acre lots. Some of their 
 low prices then would be strange now, by comparison. 
 
 Two hundred lots of ground joining the Stoccadoes, west of 
 Broadway, and along the North river, are advertised to be let for 
 twenty-one, forty-two, or sixty-three years, by the church war- 
 dens of Trinity church. It might be interesting now to know by 
 what means and bequests they became owners. 
 
 James Gilliland, earthen, delf, and glass warehouse, in Wall 
 street, has the following named articles, viz : enamelled and cab- 
 bage tea-pots, cut and ground decanters, tumblers, punch glasses, 
 and wine glasses. 
 
276 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices, 
 
 The noted iun and tavern in the Bowery lane, near the wind- 
 mill, at the sign of the Bull's head, (where the slaughter house is 
 now kept,) lately kept by Caleb Hyatt, is now occupied by 
 Thomas Bayeux, who is well provided with all conveniencies 
 for travellers. 
 
 Mr. Steel has removed the King^s Arms tavern, from opposite 
 the Exchange, to the Broadway, at the lower end, opposite the 
 fort. I have preserved some good facts, as at this tavern. 
 
 Spring Garden, near the college, now kept by John Elkin ; 
 breakfasting from seven to nine. Tea in the afternoon, from three 
 to six. The best of green tea, and hot French rolls. Pies and 
 tarts will be drawn from seven to nine. Mead and cakes. Gen- 
 tlemen and ladies may depend on good attendance. 
 
 The common council, by order of 15th August, 1763, declare 
 that whereas, several persons, who lately purchased at public ven- 
 due for a term of years, several lots leased out in the common 
 lands of this city, have since signified, that their purchase is 
 found to be too high, to permit them to make any proper improve- 
 ments, without a positive loss, therefore it is ordered that instead 
 of paying double rent after the expiration of the first term of 
 twenty-one years, the said lots shall be leased for the term of 
 forty -two years, at the same price as they engaged the first term 
 of twenty-one years. The same lots, if now offered for sale, 
 what advance would thpy not bring ? 
 
 In August, 1763, the common council determines the prices of 
 market sales. We are surprised, that they could thus impose 
 limited prices upon countrymen, to wit : for pork 4:\d., for pigs 
 5fi^., 'for veal 5d., mutton 3hd., for a goose 1^. Qd., for turkey 4.?., 
 duck 9d., oysters 2s. per bushel, opened oysters 35. per gallon, 
 clams Qd. per hundred, bass 2d., &:c. In a few months after, they 
 rescinded part of the above, so far as to leave the prices of domes- 
 tic and wild fowl undetermined. 
 
 To be sold, fourteen years lease of a house and large lot of 
 ground, pleasantly situated in the fields, or Vineyard No. 4 ; a 
 very convenient place for any sort of public business, enquire of 
 Neal Shaw, rope maker, next door to the premises. 
 
 The Bake house, at the corner of John street and Broadway, 
 is advertised for sale, and has a bolting house and new cistern 
 annexed, for sale by G. Van Bomel. 
 
 The act to regulate the markets, speaks of them thus : At the 
 market house at the slip, called Coenties dock, [this is sometimes 
 spelled Coenjes and Coenjies,] at the mansion house, at the old slip, 
 commonly called Burger's path, at the mansion house at or near 
 Countess' key, commonly called Countess' slip, and at the man- 
 sion house in the Broadway, commonly called Broadway market. 
 
 Dr. Clossy's anatomical lectures, begin on Friday evening, 
 November 25th, 1763. 
 
 Died, at Jamaica, Long Island, (called also Nassau Island,) 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 277 
 
 John Crockeser, an extremely aged person. He had been a 
 soldier in the fort at New York, in Governor Leister's time, (the 
 civil war) and while a young man, he had often shot squirrels, 
 quails, &c., on or near Pot Baker's hill, in this city, which was 
 then a wilderness. He had lived so long, that it had outrun his 
 computation. [Think of a man alive in 1763, of course seen by 
 persons still alive, and he had seen New York city in its infancy, 
 and now it is so mighty !] 
 
 Gold and silver lace buttons, and gold and silver garters, for 
 sale by E. Graham, tailor. 
 
 The farm or plantation, in the Bowery lane, of twenty acres 
 of rich land, the estate of Robert Benson, deceased, is for sale. 
 
 We are informed that Dr. George Muirson has established two 
 hospitals for inoculation of the small-pox ; on Shelter isla7id, 
 near the east end of Long Island. [This shows the terror at that 
 day of the small-pox, and here the diseased were intended to be 
 isolated from all possibility of infecting others.] 
 
 Wanted immediately, a well behaved, ingenious lad, of four- 
 teen or fifteen years of age, of respectable parents, who can write 
 a good handy and understands arithmetic, to be an apprentice 
 in this city, to a Doctor^s business. Does not this mean, in his 
 drug shop, as physicians once kept each their own drugs and 
 shop. James Murray was at same time, " druggist and whole- 
 sale apothecary, from London." 
 
 It strikes me as a fact of some interest, and as a curiosity in 
 itself, that in my reading through various years of old newspapers, 
 that it should never have occurred to any one mind or writer, 
 even incidentally, to speak of their then sense of the actual 
 changes passing upon society and the country, compared with 
 their primitive days, as either remembered by the most aged, or 
 as handed down by tradition. No passing events seem ever to 
 have elicited such thoughts ; not even the publication of the 
 deaths of their peculiarly aged; whom, as in the case of Smith's 
 negro Harry, or of John Crockeser, who had seen New York 
 when it was only a newly started village. Surprise is expressed, 
 and surprise only ; it draws out no remembered tales or traditions. 
 1 presume, that the cause then, was like the cause now among 
 the thousands ; they thought only of their present sense of an 
 established and settled country and manners, and thought, if 
 they thought at all on the subject, time past, is buried in oblivion, 
 and is too remote to be worth the research. In families, and in 
 domestic circles, the younger branches could be amused for a 
 time, with the tales of the grand-daddy's and mammy's of their 
 day, and while they thought to retain them in the memory, they 
 lost them all, for want of some written record. 
 
 [The file of Gazettes for the years 1764-5, were missing !] 
 
 The papers are daily charged with measures and proceedings of 
 men in the colonies concerning the Stamp act. They are generally 
 
 2 A 
 
278 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 called "Sons of Liberty." Every number of the Gazette is 
 headed with this sentence as its motto. " The united voice of 
 all his majesty's free and loyal subjects in America. — Liberty and 
 Property, and no Stamps." 
 
 Jan. 13, 176S, immediately after Capt. Haviland arrived, a 
 company of armed men went on board at night near Cruger's dock, 
 and after obhging the men to give up the keys, they seized ten 
 boxes of the Stamp papers, which they conveyed in a boat to 
 the ship-yard, where they made a bonfire of them, together with 
 some tar barrels. 
 
 Mr. Van Schaick of Albany having applied to be a Stamp 
 master, he was waited upon by the people there to require his 
 renunciation, and they not receiving satisfactory assurances, they 
 assembled soon after in force and seized his person, putting a 
 halter round his neck and dragging him through the town, until 
 he adroitly slipped the noose and made his escape into the fort, 
 whereupon the people being much incensed, went back to his 
 house and demolished his furniture, equal to four or five hundred 
 pounds ! [This story was soon after corrected, saying that only 
 the furniture was destroyed, but no violence done to his person.] 
 
 The Sons of Liberty met every Tuesday evening at the house 
 of Mr. Howard, (headed by Sears and M'Dougall, both sea-cap- 
 tains,) and had their regular correspondence with the Sons of 
 Liberty in the neighbouring colonies. 
 
 The first Resolve— of the six, which formed their compact, 
 reads — " Resolved, that we will go to the last extremity, and ven- 
 ture our lives and fortunes, effectually to prevent the Stamp act 
 from ever taking place in this city and province." 
 
 The plan of bringing live Jish to the New York market origi- 
 nated with a society of gentlemen who clubbed to fit the smack 
 Amherst for that purpose ; her example induced many individuals 
 to do the same, so that in this year, the supply, ybr the first time, 
 was plentiful enough to induce the company to break up and sell 
 their vessel. 
 
 Windsor chairs^ made and sold by Wm. Gautier, to wit : — high 
 back'd, low back'd and sackback'd chairs and settees, also dining 
 and low chairs. [These were probably the first of their kind.] 
 
 A house on Long Island at Jamaica, of large dimensions, is 
 advertised for sale, the whole having sash windows, and newly 
 wholly repaired. [Sash windows were a new affair then. Leaden 
 frames were used before.] 
 
 Carriages. Elkanah and Wm. Deane, from Dublin, profess to 
 open as a new affair the construction of all manner of carriages 
 at five per cent, below importation prices, and have brought out 
 their workmen at great expense. Profess to make coaches, 
 chariots, landaus, phaetons, post-chaises, curricles, chairs, sedans, 
 and sleighs, also to gild and japan, and carve and paint, &c. 
 
 Hats. Nesbitt Deane, from Dublin, makes finest beaver hats, 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 279 
 
 for clergymen and other gentlemen, black, white and green hats, 
 riding hats, and flat crowned ditto, ruflled and plain for ladies and 
 children. Beaverets and castor hats. He turns and dresses old 
 hats. [Only think of turned hats !1 
 
 ^' The Fresh Water" — for sale, the house where Thos. Gallaudet 
 now lives in, at Fresh Water, on the left hand side of the main 
 street or road leading into the Bowery, on the rising of the hill, 
 directly opposite the Jews' burying ground. 
 
 The news of the Stamp act repealed on 3d March 17G6, give 
 great joy every where. Of these, many public demonstrations 
 are given. The joy in England was equally great. 
 
 Theatre. On the 5th May, it was advertised, that at the thea- 
 tre in Chapel street,'* would be performed the comedy of the 
 "Twin Rivals, and the King and the Miller of Mansfield." 
 N. B. As the packet has arrived and brought good news respect- 
 ing the repeal, it is hoped the public has no objection to the 
 performance, which is given by permission of his excellency the 
 Governor. [It appears however that some of the people were 
 offended, for the next paper contains the fact, that they actually 
 demolished the house !] It is related " that many of the inhabi- 
 tants, who deemed it highly improper that such entertainments 
 should be exhibited in a time of such public distress, when so 
 many poor could scarcely find means of subsistence, talked so 
 freely of their intended opposition to the play, that many were 
 prevented from going." After the play began, the multitude burst 
 open the doors and entered with tumult. The audience escaped 
 as they could, and many lost their hats, a boy had is scull frac- 
 tured and was trepann'd. The crowd quickly pulled down the 
 house, and carried the pieces to the commons, and consumed 
 them in a bonfire." [I take the above as told in the Gazette, to 
 be a version, nearer to the truth, of the same fact told by me in 
 my Historic Tales of New York, p. 176.] 
 
 On the occasion of the final repeal of the Stamp act, by its 
 supplement, it was celebrated in New York with great demon-, 
 strations of joy. The Sons of Liberty met at their usual rendez- 
 vous, Howard's in the Park as I believe] where they invited all 
 the citizens to unite with them, " in consequence of which a great 
 number assembled in the fields, where a royal salute was fired 
 and at every loyal toast at Howard's seven cannons were fired ; 
 at night there was a general illumination. 
 
 The king's birthday on the 4th June, which so soon followed, 
 was seized upon as a suitable occasion to prove at once their 
 loyalty and gratitude for the recent repeal. All the city authori- 
 ties waited upon the governor to drink the king's health. The 
 battery and men-of-war guns were fired. Two large oxen were 
 
 * Now Beekmans street, then called Chapel street because of St. George*s 
 chapel there. 
 
2 so Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 roasted on the commons [the Park] before numerous spectators, 
 a large stage was erected having the roasting ox at each end, 
 on which was placed twenty- five barrels of strong beer, three 
 hogsheads of rum, sugar and water to make punch, bread, &c.; at 
 one end of the common was a pile of twenty cords of wood with 
 a tall mast in the middle, to the head of which was hoisted twelve 
 tar and pitch barrels, and placed on a round top. At the other 
 end of the common were fixed twenty -five pieces of cannon and a 
 lofty flag-staff and colours. [The moderns have never since wit- 
 nessed such a bonfire !] There was a general illumination at 
 night. The governor and all the officers of state and militar^^ 
 dined together and drank toasts, which are pubhshed, — loyal but 
 free. The dinner was given by the principal inhabitants. [It 
 was done I think at Howard's, at the commons.] Pitt, the Earl 
 of Chatham, is always extolled. 
 
 " To you, blest Patriots, we our cause submit, — 
 Illustrious Camden, Britain's guardian Pitt,^^ 
 
 At Woodbridge N. J. they roasted an ox near the great 
 " Liberty Oak," which was handsomely decorated, and many 
 colours were displayed in different parts of the square. The 
 ladies genteelly dressed, also graced the entertainments of the 
 day, dined principally upon plum puddings in honour to the 
 queen, and afterwards regaled themselves with plum cakes, 
 tea, &c. In the evening the town was illuminated and a large 
 bonfire made near to the Liberty Oak. — "As near as the safety 
 of that ancient tree would admit of" 
 
 •Attorneys and Scriveners. Charles Morse, attorney at law, at 
 Pot-baker^ s Hill, also, John Coghili Knapps, from London, at 
 his office Rotten Row. The places, may now sound strangely 
 among the New York profession. The last was of Inner Temple, 
 and educated at Oxford. 
 
 Statue of Pitt. At a meeting of citizens at the Coffee-house, 
 the 23d June '66, it was resolved to request their representatives 
 in the General Assembly to provide a statue of Brass to the 
 memory of the Right Hon. Wm. Pitt, the great friend of American 
 freedom, especially shown upon the occasion of the Stamp act 
 repealed. [So they granted £7000 to procure a statue of Pitt from 
 London. It was set up in Sept. 1770, of marble, in Wall street] 
 
 Renelagh Gardens. By John Jones, are laid out at great ex- 
 pense, for breakfasting and evening entertainments for ladies and 
 gentlemen, judged to be far the most rural and pleasing retreat 
 near the city. A complete band of music is engaged to perform 
 every Monday and Thursday evening during the summer. A 
 commodious hall is in the garden for dancing, with drawing rooms 
 neatly fitted up, good pasturage at same place. 
 
 Dancing is taught by John Trotter in Chapel street, next door 
 to the play house, [meaning where it was, or else it had been 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices, 281 
 
 rebuilt,] and also at Mrs. Demot's on Flat I en-Bar rick hill, [then 
 the alley descending from Broadway opposite to Exchange street.] 
 
 Concerts of Music, are given by Edward Bardin, innkeeper 
 at the King's Arms garden in the Broadway [near the fort,] 
 three times a week in the evening, in a neat and commodious 
 room in the garden ; tickets 1*. This place was much visited 
 by the military. 
 
 James Daniel, wig-maker and hair-dresser, also operates on the 
 teeth, a business so absolutely necessary in this city, [This 
 seems like the first appearance of a a dentist ! 
 
 A whale forty-nine feet in length, was killed by two persons 
 fishing, who saw it swimming about near Coney Island. They 
 killed it with an old sword. Mr. Coffer at the ferry at Brooklyn 
 bought it for thirty pounds, and brought it up to his ferry. 
 
 A lobster weighing eighteen pounds was sold for 2s. 6d. 
 
 What is now called the Park, used to be called the Fields, for 
 instance, " at Howard's noted tavern in the Fields'* — on Broad- 
 way. 
 
 John De la Somet, died at Fauquier in Virginia, in Oct. 1766, 
 aged one hundred and thirty years ; he had been banished from 
 France for his religion, in 1684, and was soon after brought out 
 with many other Frenchmen to Virginia, to settle the Brentin 
 lands. He was hearty to the last, and was the frst of his numer- 
 ous progeny of his name, that had died in Virginia ! 
 
 St. Paul's church was opened in Nov. 1766, its first sermon by 
 Dr. Auchmuty. 
 
 A linen manufactory was set up near the Fresh Water, many 
 women were employed spinning by hand. Its productions were 
 carried weekly to the market. It was deemed patriotic to en- 
 courage it. [It began three years before.] 
 
 Robert Woffendale, Surgeon Dentist, lately arrived from 
 London, performs all operations upon the teeth, gums, sockets 
 and palate ; also fixes artificial XeeX\i so as to escape discernment. 
 
 1767. A lottery is granted by the colony of New Jersey to 
 raise five hundred pounds to defray the expenses of running a 
 straight road through the province between New York and Phila- 
 delphia. 
 
 Cheap land, 10,000 acres at 2s. 6d. per acre clear of quit rent, 
 situate on the branch of the river Delaware, about fifty miles to 
 the northward of upper Minisink. It is good land, has much low 
 land along the two rivers, Delaware and Popaghton, has been 
 patented sixty years, and now for sale by James Parker, New 
 York. We cannot but wonder, what that tract might bring to his 
 heirs, if it had been retained in the family to this day ! Ameri- 
 can officers received grants of five thousand acres. How certain 
 to enrich their families ! [There was a Receiver General for 
 quit rents] 
 
 A stated meeting of the Hand in Hand Fire Company. The 
 36 2 a2 
 
282 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 clerk will notify the place of meeting and inspect the buckets, 
 bags, belts, hand-barrows, baskets, &c. 
 
 The Liberty Pole, on the city parade, called " the Common," 
 was found cut down in March 1766, and produces an angry 
 paragraph, saying it is suspected to have been done by some 
 soldiers to otfend the Sons of Liberty, and they are therefore 
 forewarned, that as it was instantly set up again with a covering 
 of iron near the base to prevent a simihar insult, nothing but 
 bloody work can be expected from a repetition ! It was cut 
 down, while the friends of Liberty were commemorating the 
 repeal of the Stamp act. The act was believed to have been 
 done by the British soldiery. Many efforts they made to destroy 
 it secretly, and the people were equally vigilant to prevent it. 
 
 It was in this strife that the people seized upon Cunningham 
 the Provost, then a sergeant, and whipped him, and thus caused 
 his vengeful spirit afterwards to us. 
 
 Stage Wagons to Philadelphia. Persons may now go from 
 New York to Philadelphia and back again in five days, and re- 
 main in Philadelphia two nights and one day to do their business 
 in, fare 20.9. through ; there will be two wagons, and two drivers, 
 and four sets of horses. John Mercereau, proprietor at Blazing 
 Star. The company to go over to PaulUs Hook ferry the evening 
 before, and to start thence the next morning early. 
 
 The wood-cut of the wagon, is a really Jersey wagon form. 
 
 1767. The anniversary of the king's birth-day (June), was 
 celebrated beyond all former pomp, the fire-works were magnifi- 
 cent, there was a general illumination, and particularly at the 
 Fort George and at Gen. Gage's dwelling, (of the Royal Arms.) 
 Elegant entertainments were given at Fort George and head 
 quarters by Sir Henry Moore, governor, and Gen. Gage, at 
 which were all the officers of the army and navy, the civil officers 
 of the city, and the principal gentlemen. A salute of twenty-one 
 guns was given from the Liberty Pole, and from the fort and 
 armed vessels. 
 
 Several articles occur in the Gazette of a wish and a design to 
 have a national paper currency for the provinces, to be furnished 
 by England, as something needed in America for the stability of 
 trade. 
 
 The theatre in St. John^s 5/ree/ opened the 7th Dec. '67, with 
 the comedy of the Stratagem. Hallam and Douglass' Co. — 
 Boxes 8.S. pit 5.9. gallery 35. The plays do not appear to excite 
 any printed animadversions. They are called the American 
 company. 
 
 1768. The journeymen tailors, "about twenty of them" 
 struck for wages, and advertised themselves as opening a " house 
 of call," where they would receive orders, to send men to work in 
 private families at 3-9. 6a?. a day and their diet to be found them. 
 
 When the Presbyterians opened their " new brick church" on 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 283 
 
 the 1st Jan. it was called " their new church on the Green^^ in 
 aUusion to its being then open to the common^ now called the 
 Park. [" Cowfoot hill at the upper end of Queen street" is 
 named.] 
 
 « Numerous articles appear for and against the theatre, while 
 the American company is playing. 
 
 Mr. J. Kidd, is named as one of the inhabitants of Philadelphia, 
 , a merchant. 
 
 A Snow, from London to Wayland, with convicts^i^ short of 
 provisions and had to eat their shoes and leather breeches, several 
 died. There were upwards of one hundred prisoners on board. 
 She got drove off the coast and actually arrived at Antigua. 
 
 The cold at New Orleans the beginning of Jan. exceeded any 
 ever before remembered. 
 
 John Baker, Surgeon Dentist, announces his arrival at New 
 York, May 1768, via Boston from Europe ; he fills up teeth with 
 lead or gold ; makes artificial teeth and fixes them with gold, &c. 
 
 There is much public discussion upon the right or utility of 
 introducing Bishops into this country. The disputants are angry. 
 The whigs resist their order, here. 
 
 Medical lectures, held at King's College Nov. '68, to wit: — 
 The Theory of Medicine, by Dr. Middleton. Anatomy, by Dr. 
 Glossy. Theory and practice of Surgery, by Dr. Jones, and 
 Practice of Physic, by Dr. Bard. 
 
 Christopher Steter advertises that he had belonged to a benefit 
 club kept at David Grim's house in Chapel street, and as a mem- 
 ber, had paid fees ; first a tax on matrimony of 5s. to the box, 
 4s. fee when a son was born, and 2s. when a daughter was born. 
 He complains that the monies collected were misapplied in feasts 
 &c., among the officers ! 
 
 Irish potatoes, dry and good, are advertised as arrived and for 
 sale. A very frequent fact is, the sailing of vessels to Ireland, 
 to Dublin, Newry, Londonderry and Cork; two or three are some- 
 times up for each of these places at a time. 
 
 The auctioneers were several — say, Nich. W. Stuy vesant & Co., 
 M'Davitt, Moore & Lynsen, Abeel & Neils, A. & J. Bleekers. 
 
 Domestic manufactures of wool and flax, are encouraged by 
 the society for American productions. They award premiuns. 
 Families are named which have produced seven hundred yards 
 of domestic fabrics. 
 
 Wm. Livingston, Esq., attorney at law (afterwards governor of 
 New Jersey) in his proper name, publishes his demurs to the 
 admission of Bishops, in his " answers to the Bishop of Llandafi^'s 
 sermon."* 
 
 * We may see by Gov. Livingston's life, since published, that feelings of dis- 
 trust then mutually felt by churchmen and dissenters in the colonies, were 
 then agitating the same elements, which began the revolution. " Close examina- 
 
284 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 January 1769. Michl. Poree, Surgeon Dentist, advertises, to fit 
 natural and artificial teeth, from a single one to a whole set, like- 
 wise cleanses teeth, and draws stumps. [First practice there.] 
 
 The theatre in John street, will be opened by the American 
 Co., by permission of the governor, on Monday the 9th Jan'y. 
 
 Married, Capt. Saml. Partridge, to Miss Elizabeth Hubbert, — 
 " a lady of great merit, with every accomplishment to render the 
 marriage state happy." [The mode in that day of advertising.] > 
 
 Mrs. Fisher, advertises her services as midwife, near White- 
 hall. 
 
 Public Vendue, is advertised, to sell goods on the bridge near 
 the Coffee House. 
 
 Stays. Richard Norris, from London, makes all kinds oi stays 
 and stumps, turned and plain, with French and Mechlenburg 
 waistcoats, laced overcoats, German jackets and flips. — Ladies 
 uneasy in their shape, he fits without any incumbrance ; growing 
 Misses inclined to coats and risings in their hips and shoulders, 
 he likewise prevents, by means approved by the society of stay- 
 makers in London. 
 
 The New York Chamber of Commerce was instituted May 
 1768, " and hear all proposals for the better regulating, encouraging 
 and extending trade and commerce." A. Van Dam, Secretary. 
 
 Non-importation agreements are made and signed by the mer- 
 chants. 
 
 A house and lot to sell on " Cowfoot Hill.'^ So queer a name ! 
 also " Pot-baker's hill !" 
 
 An act is passed to prevent the destruction of deer by blood- 
 hounds or beagles, in the counties of Albany, Ulster and Orange. 
 
 Mary Morcomb, mantua maker from London, at Isaac Garniers 
 opposite to Batloc street, in the Broadway, makes all sorts of 
 negligees, Brunswick dresses, gowns, and other apparel of ladies, 
 also covers Umbrellas in the neatest manner. 
 
 Oysters. To prevent the destruction of oysters in South bay, 
 by the unlimited number of vessels employed in the same, it is 
 ordered that but ten vessels shall be allowed, and that each half- 
 barrel tub shall be paid for at 2d. according lo the town act of 
 Brook Haven. 
 
 The death of the Gov. Sir Henry Moore, who died at Fort 
 George, is thus celebrated. The paper is marked with mourning 
 borders. He was interred in the chancel of Trinity church : the 
 corpse was preceded by the 16th Regt. ; his Majesty's council 
 
 tion (says the life) shows us that these two factions contained the germ of the 
 whig and tory parties of the revolution." " There were exceptions on both sides, 
 but a sreat majority of the DeLancey's faction (churchmen's side) remained in 
 New York after 1776 under the British protection. O. DeLancey was made a 
 Br. General in their ranks." James DeLancey was head of the Episcopalians 
 in New York. Their leading interest in the College was much resisted by the 
 Presbyterians. The former wanted an Episcopal governor and Bishop from 
 England. Trinity church got amply favoured. 
 
Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 2S5 
 
 supported the pall. Gen. Gage and Lord Drummond followed 
 among the mourning relatives, and in the suite were the physi- 
 cians, the judges and civil officers of the city, members of Assem- 
 bly, the field officers, captains of ships of war, the general staff, 
 the gentlemen of the Law, Faculty of the College, and the princi- 
 pal inhabitants of the city. The train of artillery brought up the 
 rear. Minute guns were fired during the procession. Twenty boys 
 of the Charity school bore lighted flambeaux, and the church was 
 illuminated. This funeral was in the evening, in English style. 
 
 Mrs. Lydia Robinson, of seventy years of age, who followed 
 the practice of midwifery for thirty-five years at New London 
 and its vicinity, in the delivery of twelve hundred children, never 
 lost one woman in her practice ! What doctors could excel 
 this ! 
 
 Jeremiah Rensselaer, Esqr., " the Lord of the Ma7ior of Rens- 
 selaerwyck, died lately at Albany, much lamented." 
 
 Wm. Prince, on Long Island, advertises a great collection of 
 fruit trees. 
 
 1770. The "No. 45." This was of great signification in its 
 time, and might now be wholly unintelligible, but for the follow- 
 ing illustration, to wit. A true female friend to American liberty 
 lately (in Feb. '70) presented Capt. JVPDougaPs mariners with a 
 fine saddle of venison, marked with the important Q^ No. 45 
 in allusion to the 45th page of the votes and proceedings of our 
 House of Assembly, in which the paper that furnished the occa- 
 sion for that gentleman's commitment is printed at length. The 
 trial of Capt. McD., was deemed very interesting to the public. 
 It was said of him at the time, that " this worthy gentleman will 
 be justly celebrated by posterity^ as the first who has suffered 
 actual imprisonment for asserting the cause of American liberty. 
 He was finally discharged without trial. 
 
 Anthy. Rutgers' place near the city is said to comprise six acres 
 of upland and twelve acres of fresh meadows. The upland con- 
 tains half in garden, and the other half in fruit trees. Advertised 
 to sell or let, " lying in the meadows near Fresh Water," to be 
 sold in lots. 
 
 In July, about half of the whole community of dealers and 
 traders in New York, publicly recede from their non-importation 
 agreement, and their names are given. 
 
 Lord Dunmore, afterwards so celebrated in Virginia, arrives 
 in October, as Governor of New York, £2000 a year salary. 
 
 A fair is opened, for four days at New York, in November, 
 according to an act of the legislature, for cattle, grain, provisions, 
 and merchandize. 
 
 W. C. Hulet, teaches dancing, violin, flute, and small sword. 
 
 1771. The Vauxhall gardens comprise thirty-six lots on lease 
 for sixty-one years to come, from Trinity church, is for sale, by its 
 Luidlord, Saml. Francis. [This same man became, I believe, Gen. 
 
286 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 Washington's steward at New York city, and afterwards, after the 
 peace, opened the Indian Queen in Philadelphia.] 
 
 1772. Montanny's negro man, a drunkard, who had been sent 
 to the Bridewell to receive the usual punishment, was found 
 dead the same night ! The punishment in such cases, was a plen- 
 tiful dose of warm water (three quarts) and salt enough to ope- 
 rate as an emetic ; with a portion of lamp oil, to operate as a 
 purge ! 
 
 Robert Home, musical instrument maker from London, on 
 Golden hill, near Burling's slip, makes and repairs musical instru- 
 ments. 
 
 James Rivingston, bookseller and publisher, facing the Coffee- 
 house bridge. 
 
 Governor Tryon, who succeeds Lord Dunmore, visits Philadel- 
 phia, in October ; and a Uttle before, the latter passed through 
 Philadelphia on his way to Virginia and his government there. 
 
 The military force of the city, of the militia, consisted of seven 
 independent companies, viz., the Grenadiers, two companies of 
 the Governors' Guards, the Rangers, and the corps of Artillery. 
 These together, sometimes made good display before the governor 
 and the citizens. 
 
 [All the foregoing close with the year 1772, and their interest 
 seems to diminish as we approach nearer and nearer to our own 
 times. It is rather strange that in so many pages of many specu- 
 lations and many minds combined, that there should be so little 
 reference to a former age, of traditionary accounts and reminis- 
 cences ; nothing for instance, in any form, about the former pirates, 
 nothing of Blackbeard or Kidd ; and nothing of all the ballads ! 
 They all seem to live in a state of sleepy and dreamy forgetful- 
 ness.] 
 
 "Rotten Row," before named often, as described to me as 
 seen by Thos. Crowell, was a regular range oi good houses front- 
 ing the river, having an open river bank in front, without any 
 wharves or slips, and extending from the Old Slip, up to the 
 Coffee-house. They ranged fronting of Hanover Square, and laid 
 eastward of present Pearl street. It formed a great dock, or 
 haven of four hundred feet width, in which were laid numerous 
 Bermuda sloops, heads on shore, and several there were laid sides 
 on shore, for purposes of caulking and pitching their bottoms. The 
 present generation know nothing of these things ! Mr. Crowell told 
 me this in 1836 at eighty- four years of age, he could not explain 
 why called Rotten row. But I much more incline to believe 
 it was named after the same name, then in London. Mr. Crow- 
 ell's father was a lieutenant in a war vessel before the revolution. 
 
 Printing concerns. We suppose that the first printing press 
 set up in New York, was that begun in 1693 by Wm. Bradford, 
 who went there from Philadelphia. It was his grandson Bradford, 
 who became afterwards Attorney General of the United States. 
 
Gazettes 0/ the Olden Time and their Notices. 287 
 
 We infer that Bradford was the earliest printer, because, the 
 publication entitled " The conditions for new Planters in the terri- 
 tories of his Royal Highness, the Duke of York ;" done upon a 
 half sheet of cap paper, and bearing the date, 1665, was " printed 
 at Cambridge, in Massachusetts." 
 
 Bradford began the ^rst weekly paper at New York, on the 
 16th of October, 1725, and John Peter Zanger, who went to 
 New York in 1726, and began his paper, the Weekly Journal, in 
 1733. Bradford was a loyalist, and took the side of power ; but 
 Zanger sided with the natives, and became most popular with 
 the people, who in truth, started him purposely, that they might 
 thus canvass the measures of the governor and council.* He 
 was prosecuted by the crown officers for his attacks on them, and 
 encountered a trial in 1735, in which he was acquitted, which 
 made much stir at the time. Mr. A. Hamilton, the ablest lawyer 
 of Philadelphia, went on as a volunteer to defend him, and the 
 city council of New York, as a token of their gratification at his 
 success, presented him the freedom of the city in a gold snuff- 
 box with devices. It might be a pleasure now to see it. 
 
 The first book printed in New York, was a small thin folio of 
 the laws of the colony, by Bradford. His newspaper of 1725, 
 was also the Jirst Gazette. 
 
 When we contemplate printing as it was, and press work now, 
 as it is, in connection with the intended foreign sneer, of " who 
 reads an American book," we cannot but feel emotions of wonder 
 and self gratulation. We have now only to look at such a print- 
 ing establishment as the Harpers^ in New York — self-made men, 
 who now publish all kind of useful works, and have a capital 
 employed therein, of one and a half millions of dollars. Such an 
 office for book printing is well worth a visit as a curiosity to 
 every literary man. They give employment to 1600 persons, 
 400 of whom are engaged in the machinery. They use an edi- 
 fice equal to seven or eight large five story houses, and use up 
 70 reams of paper daily. The machinery and tools of the bindery 
 are valued at ^13,000 ; 50 barrels of flour and 40 barrels of glue 
 are used up annually for paste ; 60,000 pounds of type are found 
 in the composing rooms. 
 
 Besides such an establishment, we may notice too, the printing 
 house of Dickenson at Boston, and the "Methodist Book Con- 
 cern" in New York, both of them great concerns, and only second 
 to that of the Harpers. The Boston publishing office of Dicken- 
 son, covers an area of 14,000 square feet, and is lighted by 100 
 windows, having 10 power presses worked by steam, and 11 by 
 hand. The Methodist concern runs 12 double cylinder presses. 
 Can we now be asked, " who reads an American book ?" 
 
 * The governor and council being offended at his strictures, they imprisoned 
 Zanger, and ordered three of his papers to be burnt by the sheriff. 
 
288 Gazettes of the Olden Time and their Notices. 
 
 It was about the year 1818, that a part of the Daily press of 
 our country began to reprint for corrupt minds, from the Bow- 
 street intelligence of the London print. The example thus fur- 
 nished, soon produced a morbid taste among ourselves, an appe- 
 tite for this kind of gross fare. We soon became such apt 
 scholars, that we have long since been able to furnish our own 
 stock of police news, sufficiently loathsome and pernicious to 
 minister to this branch of depraved taste. Alas, that it is so, and 
 that it is so much countenanced. It is from such fountains of 
 corruption, that so many foreign exhibitors of demoralizing spec- 
 tacles, and lecturers on corrupting subjects, find their encourage- 
 ment and support. The favourable reports of duels, presented 
 in the hardihood of self-complacency by the parties themselves, 
 is another of our growing evils produced by the action of the 
 press, and by the too frequently tolerated action of the army and 
 navy, leading by their influence to the imitation of our citizens. 
 It was not always so — scarcely any duels occurred in our revolu- 
 tionary war, and yet who has ever doubted of the equal courage 
 and self-respect of the officers of that period. 
 
 The restrictions set upon our mechanics before the revolution 
 are in general but very little known now to the mass of the peo- 
 ple. The mother country purposed to engross the making and 
 vending of almost all we used. Even our very minds were put 
 under her dictation and teaching, and we were scarcely permitted 
 to think, but in such kind of literature as she chose to command 
 and bestow. In this way, we had our primers and testaments, and 
 Dilworth's spelling-books and arithmetics. We made no books 
 for ourselves ; and since we have, in more modern times, essayed 
 to form our own literature, we have seen it frequently abused by 
 foreign reviewers, &c., as defective and imbecile. Some of our 
 own people have so far subscribed to this selfish and perverted 
 design, as to give little value to our home productions, until they 
 had previously, by unbecoming subserviency, gained first the 
 foreign passport of approbation ! 
 
Longevity. 
 
 289 
 
 LONGEVITY. 
 
 «' The frosts of ninety years have passed 
 Upon these aged heads, 
 They seem a fine old relic cast. 
 From days that long have fled." 
 
 John S. Hutton, aged 109 years, and silversmith, of Philadel- 
 phia, as he related the particulars of his life to the late C. W. 
 Peale, was born in New York, in 1684. He was originally bound 
 apprentice to a sea captain, who put him to school to learn the 
 art of navigation. At that time he became intimate with a boy 
 who worked at the white-smith trade, with whom he amused 
 himself in acquiring the use of the hammer, by which means he 
 obtained a facility in working at plate-work in the silversmith's 
 business. He followed the seafaring life for thirty years, and then 
 commenced the silversmith's trade. He was long esteemed in 
 Philadelphia one of the best workmen at hollow work; and 
 there are still pieces of his work in much esteem. He made a 
 tumbler in silver when he was 94 years of age. 
 
 Through the course of a long and hazardous life in various 
 
 climes, he was always plain and temperate in his eating and 
 
 drinking, and particularly avoided spirituous liquors except in one 
 
 instance, while he was serving as lieutenant of a privateer in 
 
 37 2B 
 
290 Longevity. 
 
 Queen Anne's war. That occasion gave him a lasting lesson of 
 future restraint ; for having made a descent on the Spanish main 
 and pillaged a village, while they had all given themselves to 
 mirth and revelry, they were intercepted in their return to their 
 boats, and all killed save himself and one other, who were 
 made prisoners and held in long confinement. 
 
 His first wife was Catharine Cheeseman, of New York, by 
 Avhom he had eight children, 25 grandchildren, 23 great grand- 
 children, and great great grandchildren. 
 
 At the age of 51 he married his second wife in Philadelphia, 
 Ann Vanlear, of 19 years of age, by whom he had 17 children, 
 41 grandchildren, and 15 great grandchildren — forming in all a 
 grand total of 132 descendants, of whom 45 were then dead. 
 Those who survived were generally dwelling in Philadelphia. 
 His last wife died in 1788, at the age of 72. Mr. Hutton deemed 
 himself in the prime of his life when 60 years of age. He never 
 had a headache. 
 
 He was always fond of fishing and fowling, and till his 81st 
 year used to carry a heavy English musket in his hunting ex- 
 cursions. He was ever a quiet, temperate, and hard-working 
 man, and even in the year of his death, was quite cheerful and 
 good humoured. He could then see, hear, and walk about — had 
 a good appetite, and no complaints whatever, except from the 
 mere debility of old age. When shall "we behold his like again!" 
 
 In his early life he was on two scouts against the Indians ; he 
 used to tell, that in one of these excursions they went out in the 
 night, that they took a squaw prisoner, who led them to where 
 the Indians lay, of whom they killed the most, before they could 
 get to their arras. The circumstance induced the Indians to 
 come in and make their peace. 
 
 He knew the noted pirate. Teach, called Blackbeard ; he saw 
 him at Barbadoes after he had come in under the Act of Oblivion 
 to him and other pirates. This was a short time before that 
 pirate made his last cruise and was killed in Carolina. 
 
 The father of Hutton was John Hutton, of Bermuda in Scot- 
 land, where many of the family reside. His grandfather by his 
 mother's side, was Arthur Strange ways, Avho died at Boston, at 
 the age of 101 years, while sitting in his chair. 
 
 J. S. Hutton died at Philadelphia, on the 20th of December, 
 1792, in the 109th year of his age. His long life and numerous 
 children, made him a patriarch indeed ! " In children's lives he 
 feels his resurrection, and grows immortal in his children's chil- 
 dren !" He was deemed so rare an instance of lusty old age, 
 that Mr. C. W. Peale was induced to take his portrait as now 
 seen in the Museum, as he appeared in the last year of his life, 
 and from which the present portrait is taken. He was borne to 
 his grave by his fellow craftsmen — all silversmiths. 
 
 Died at New York, September 1834, of cholera, a poor coloured 
 
Longevity. 291 
 
 woman aged 109 years — she lived and died in Orange street. 
 There was at the same time, a colom'ed man aged 104 years, liv- 
 ing in Washington street. 
 
 In July 1835, Mr. Joseph R. Hughs, living at Otsego, aged 
 100 years, travelled from there to Boston, by the stages and 
 steamboats, to be present at the celebration of Independence ; he 
 was born at Boston in 1735, and appeared in health and spirits. 
 
 In June 1838, died John Lusk, in Warren county, Tennessee, 
 aged 104 ; he was born on Staten Island, November 5, 1734 — had 
 been a soldier in the French war, and was at the death of Wolfe, 
 and in the American revolution — had never been sick — walked 
 seven miles and back, when he was past 100 years. 
 
 In the 4th of July procession of 1838, at Newark, N. J., Thomas 
 Belton, an old soldier of the revolution, was seen among the 
 walkers, aged 104 years. At the same time he was made to visit 
 Mrs. Gouge, from New York city, then aged 105 years, and much 
 they talked cheerily together. 
 
 James B. Stafford, formerly a merchant of New York — once 
 a midshipman in the Alliance frigate, died at Allentown, N. J. 
 19th of August 1838, aged 102 years. 
 
 Capt. Alexander Coffin, mayor of the city of Hudson, died 11th 
 of January, 1839, aged 99 years, in his full faculties. 
 
 Asa Cole, an old soldier of the revolution, died at Livingston 
 county, on 2nd of April, 1839, aged 100 years. 
 
 Henry LeForge, a native of New York state, died at Hamden, 
 Conn., the 15th of August, 1839, aged 100 years. 
 
 An aged coloured woman, 113 years of age, was alive at 
 Gravesend, L. I., in 1840, at the house of Mrs. Maria Still well — 
 was in health — still milked cows, and was as well to do anything 
 as when she was 100 years of age. 
 
 The Rev. Isaac Levis, D. D., a native of Long Island, died at 
 Greenwich, Conn., 1840, in the 95th year of his age. He was 
 converted at Yale College, under the preaching of Whitfield. 
 
 The Rev. Benjamin Harvey, near Utica, preaches every Sab- 
 bath, after he is upwards of 100 years of age, and in 1844, when 
 he was 109 years of age, sends me a full letter, describing him- 
 self and the incidents of his long life. 
 
 The oldest among the old of New York, was Anthony Vanpelt, 
 who died there in 1830, at the great age of 130 years. 
 
200 Changes of Prices. 
 
 CHANGES OF PEICES, 
 
 " For the money cheap — and quite a heap." 
 
 It is curious to observe the changes which have occurred in the 
 course of years, both in the supply of common articles sold in the 
 markets, and in some cases, the great augmentation of prices : — 
 for instance, Mr. Brower, who has been quite a chronicle to me 
 in many things, has told me such facts as the following, viz : — he 
 remembered well when abundance of the largest "^ Blue Point" 
 oysters could be bought, opened to your hand, for 2s. a hundred , 
 such as would now bring from three to four dollars. Best sea 
 bass were but 2d. a lb., now at Qd. Sheep-head sold at ^d. to 1^. 
 3d. a-piece, and will now bring two dollars. Rock fish were 
 plenty at Is^. a-piece for good ones. Shad were but 3d. a-piece. 
 They did not then practice the planting of oysters. Lobsters then 
 were not brought to the market. 
 
 Mr. Jacob Tabelee, who is as old as eighty-seven, and of course 
 saw earlier times than the other, has told me sheep-head used to 
 be sold at Qd., and the best oysters at only l5. a hundred ; in fact 
 they did not stop to count them, but gave them in that proportion 
 and rate by the bushel. Rock fish were sold at 3d. a pound. 
 Butter was at 8 to Qd. Beef by the quarter, in the winter, was at 
 3d. a pound, and by the piece at 4d. Fowls were about 9d. a- 
 piece. Wild fowl were in great abundance. He has bought 
 twenty pigeons in their season for 1^.; a goose was 2^. Oak wood 
 was abundant at 2s. the load. 
 
 In 1763 the market price of provisions was established by laiVi 
 and published in the gazette ; wondrous cheap they were, — viz ; 
 a cock turkey, 4.s. ; a hen turkey 2^. Qd. ; a duck 1^. ; a quail 
 lhd.\ a heath hen, \s. 3d. ; a teal, Qd. ; a wild goose, 2s. ; a brandt, 
 Is. 3d.', snipe. Id. ; butter, 9d. ; sea bass, 2d. ; oysters, 2^. per 
 bushel ; sheep-head and sea bass, three coppers per pound ; lob- 
 sters, Qd. per pound ; milk, per quart, four coppers ; clams, 9d. 
 per hundred ; cheese, Aid. 
 
 Those celebrated " Blue Points," were destro^^ed by an intend- 
 ed kindness. A law was passed to exempt them from continual 
 use, and by not being continually fished up thus got imbedded in 
 mud and wholly died out ! 
 
Superstitions, 293 
 
 SUPERSTITIONS. 
 
 "Stories of spectres dire disturb'd the soul." 
 
 The aged men have told me that fortune-tellers and conjurors 
 had a name and an occupation among the credulous ; Mr. Brower 
 said he remembered some himself. Blackbeard's and Kidd's 
 money, as pirates, was a talk understood by all. He knew of 
 much digging for it, with spells and incantations, at Corlear's 
 Hook, leaving there several pits of up-turned ground. Dreams 
 and impressions were fruitful causes of stimulating some to thus 
 " try their fortune" or " their luck." 
 
 There was a strange story, the facts may yet be recollected by 
 some, of " the haunted house," somewhere out of town ; I have 
 understood it was Delancey's. 
 
 But a better ascertained case is that of "the screeching woman;" 
 she was a very tall figure of masculine dimensions, who used to 
 appear in flowing mantle of pure white at midnight, and stroll 
 down Maiden lane. She excited great consternation among many. 
 A Mr. Kimball, an honest praying man, thought he had no occa- 
 sion to fear, and as he had to pass that way home one night, he 
 concluded he would go forward as fearless as he could ; he saw 
 nothing in his walk before him, but hearing steps fast approach- 
 ing him behind, he felt the force of terror before he turned to 
 look ; but when he looked he saw what put all his resolutions to 
 flight — a tremendous white spectre ! It was too much ; he ran or 
 flew with all his might, till he reached his own house by Peck's 
 slip and Pearl street, and then, not to lose time, he burst open his 
 door and fell down for a time as dead. He however survived, 
 and always deemed it something preternatural. The case stood 
 thus : — When one Capt. Willet Taylor of the British navy coveted 
 to make some trial of his courage in the matter, he also paced 
 Maiden lane alone at midnight, wrapped Hke Hamlet in his " inky 
 cloak," with oaken staff" beneath. I3y and by he heard the sprite 
 full-tilt behind him intending to pass him, but being prepared, he 
 dealt out such a passing blow as made " the bones and nerves to 
 feel," and thus exposed a crafty man bent on fun and mischief. 
 
 In 1680, there was a great stir about the great Comet star, 
 which caused the commissioners at Albany to write to Gov. 
 Brockholst, to appoint days of fasting, prayer and humiliation, 
 that God might withdraw such a threatening judgment. 
 
 2 B 2 
 
SM Miscellaneous Facts. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS FACTS. 
 
 «« All pay contribution to the store he gleans." 
 
 The Indians, in the year 1746, came to the city of New York 
 in a great body, say several hundreds, to hold a conference or 
 treaty with the governor. Their appearance was very imposing ; 
 and being the last time they ever appeared there for such purposes, 
 having afterwards usually met the governor at Albany, they 
 made a very strong impression on the beholders. David Grim, 
 then young, who saw them, has left some MS. memoranda re- 
 specting them, which I saw, to this effect : — They were Oneidas 
 and Mohawks ; they came from Albany, crowding the North 
 river with their canoes ; a great sight so near New York ; bring- 
 ing with them their squaws and pappooses (children); they encamp- 
 ed on the site now Hudson's Square, before St. John's church, 
 then a low sand beach ; from thence they marched in solemn 
 train, single file, down Broadway to Fort George, then the resi- 
 dence of the British governor, George Clinton. As they marched, 
 they displayed numerous scalps, lifted on Poles by way of flags 
 or trophies, taken from their French and Indian enemies. What 
 a spectacle in a city ! 
 
 In return, the governor and officers of the colonial government, 
 with many citizens, made out a long procession to the Indian 
 camp, and presented them there the usual presents. 
 
 The Indians were remembered by Mr. Bogert's grandmother 
 to be often encamped at " Cow-foot Hill," a continuation of Pearl 
 street ; there they made and sold baskets. 
 
 An Indian remains, such as his bones and some ornaments, 
 were lately found in digging at the corner of Wall and Broad 
 streets. Half-Indian Jack died at Hersimus, N. J., on the 2d Feb- 
 ruary, 1831, at the extreme age of 102 years. In the revolu- 
 tionary war he acted as a spy for the British. 
 
 The palisades and block houses erected in 1745, were well 
 remembered by Mr. David Grim. There was then much appre- 
 hension from the French and Indians ; ^68,000 was voted to defray 
 the cost. Mr. Grim said the palisades began at the house now 
 57 Cherry street, then the last house out on the East river towards 
 Kip's Bay ; thence they extended direct to Windmill Hill, [that 
 is, near the present Chatham theatre,] and thence in the rear of 
 the poor house to Dominie's Hook at the North river. 
 
 The palisades were made 9f cedar logs, of fourteen feet long 
 and ten inches in diameter : were placed in a trench three feet 
 deep, with loop-holes all along for musketry ; having also a breast- 
 work of four feet high and four feet wide. There were also three 
 
Miscellaneous Facts. 295 
 
 block houses of about thirty feet square and ten feet high ; these 
 had in each six port-holes for cannon ; were constructed of logs 
 df eighteen inches thick, and at equi-distances between the three 
 gates of the city, they being placed on each road of the three 
 entrances or outlets ; one was in Pearl street, nearly in front of 
 Banker street ; the other in rear of the poor house ; and the third 
 lay between Church and Chapel streets. 
 
 This general description of the line of defence was confirmed 
 to me by old Mr. Tabelee, aged eighty-seven. He described one 
 gate as across Chatham street, close to Kate-Mutz's garden, on 
 Windmill Hill. The block house on the North river, he supposed 
 stood about the end of Reed street. 
 
 The great fires of '76 and '78, are still remembered with lively 
 sensibility by the old inhabitants. They occurred while the Bri- 
 tish held possession of the city, and excited a fear at the time 
 that the " American Rebels" had purposed to oust them, by their 
 own sacrifices, like another Moscow. It is, however, believed to 
 have occurred solely from accident. Mr. Brower thought he was 
 well informed by a Mr. Robins, then on the spot, that it occurred 
 from the shavings in a board-yard on Whitehall slip ; but Mr. 
 David Grim, in his MS. notes, with his daughter, is very minute 
 to this effect, saying : — The fire began on the 21st of September, 
 1 776, in a small wooden house on the wharf, near the Whitehall 
 slip, then occupied by women of ill fame. It began late at night, 
 and at a time when but few of the inhabitants were left in the 
 city, by reason of the presence of the enemy. The raging ele- 
 ment was terrific and sublime, it burned up Broadway on both 
 sides until it was arrested on the eastern side by Mr. Harrison's 
 brick house; but it continued to rage and destroy all along the 
 western side to St. Paul's church ; thence it inclined towards the 
 North river, (the wind having changed to south-east) until it run 
 out at the water edge a little beyond the Bear Market, say at the 
 present Barclay street. 
 
 Trinity church, though standing alone, was fired by the flakes 
 
2^6 Miscellaneous Fads. 
 
 of fire which fell on its steep roof, then so steep that none could 
 stand upon it to put out the falling embers. But ^t Paul's church, 
 equally exposed, was saved, by allowing citizens to stand on its 
 flatter roof and wet it as occasion required. 
 
 In this awful conflagration four hundred and ninety-three houses 
 were consumed ; generally in that day they were inferior houses 
 to the present, and many of them were of wood. 
 
 Several of the inhabitants were restrained from going out to 
 assist at night from a fear they might be arrested as suspicious 
 persons. In fact, several decent citizens were sent to the Provost 
 Guard for examination, and some had to stay there two or three 
 days, until their loyalty could be made out. In one case, even a 
 good loyalist and a decent man, sometimes too much inclined 
 " to taste a drop too much," (a Mr. White) was by misapprehen- 
 sion of his character, and in the excitement of the moment, hung 
 up on a sign post, at the corner of Cherry and Roosevelt streets. 
 Mr. N. Stuyvesant told me he saw a man hanging on his own sign 
 post, probably the same person before referred to by Mr. Grim. 
 
 Mr. Grim has given to the Historical Society a topographical 
 map showing the whole line of conflagration. 
 
 The next fire, of August, 1778, occurred on Cruger's wharf, 
 and burnt about fifty houses. On that occasion the military 
 took the exclusive management, not suffering the citizen-firemen 
 to control the manner of its extinguishment. It was afterwards 
 ordered by the commander in chief that the military should help, 
 but not order, at the suppression of fires. 
 
 The Slips, so called, were originally openings to the river, into 
 which they drove their carts to take out cord wood from ves- 
 sels. The cause of their several names has been preserved by 
 Mr. D. Grim. 
 
 Whitehall slip, it has been said, took its name from Col. Moore's 
 large white house, or hall ; it adjoined the slip, and was called 
 *^ Whitehall." But much more probably it was named after 
 Whitehall, London. 
 
 Coenties slip, it has been said, took its name from the combina- 
 tion of two names— say of Coenract and Jane Ten Eycke — called 
 familiarly Coen and Anties. This may have been the popular 
 story, but Countess slip is more probable. 
 
 The Old slip was so called, because it was the first or oldest in 
 the city. 
 
 Burling's slip was so called after a respectable family of that 
 name, living once at the corner of Smith's Vly (now Pearl street) 
 and Golden Hill. 
 
 Beekman's slip, after a family once living there. 
 
 There was only owe slip on the North river side, which was 
 at the foot of Oswego street, now called Liberty street. 
 
 Corlear's Hook, which means a point, was originally called 
 Nechtant by the Indians, and was doubtless from its locality a 
 
Miscellaneous Facts. 297 
 
 favourite spot Avith them. There Van Corlear, who was trum- 
 peter at the fort under Van Twiller, had laid out his Uttle farm, 
 which he sold in 1752 to WilUam Beekman, for ^750. 
 
 The Negro Plot of 1741 j was a circumstance of great terror and 
 excitement in its day ; aged persons have still very lively tradi- 
 tionary recollections of it. One old man showed me the corner 
 house in Broad street, near the river then, where the chief plotters 
 conspired. Old Mr. Tabelee says, new alarms were frequent 
 after the above was subdued. For a long time in his youth citi- 
 zens watched every night, and most people went abroad with 
 lanterns. 
 
 Mr. David Grim, in his MS. notices, says, he retained a per- 
 fect idea of the thing as it was. He saw the negroes chained to 
 a stake and burned to death. The place was in a valley, between 
 Windmill Hill, (Chatham theatre,) and Pot-Baker's Hill, (now 
 Augusta street, about its centre,) and in midway of Pearl and 
 Barclay streets. At the same place they contiimed their execu- 
 tions for many years afterwards. 
 
 ■ John Hustan, a white man, was one of the principals, and was 
 hung in chains on a gibbet, at the south-east point of H. Rutger's 
 farm on the East river, not ten yards from the present south-east 
 corner of Cherry and Catharine streets. Since then the crowd of 
 population there has far driven off his " affrighted ghost," if 
 indeed it ever kept its vigils there. 
 
 Cassar, a black man, a principal of the negroes, was also hung 
 in chains on a gibbet, at the south-east corner of the old powder 
 house in Magazine street. Many of those negroes were burnt 
 and hung, and a great number of others were transported to other 
 countries. 
 
 We must conceive, that on so dreadful a fear, as a general 
 massacre, (for guns were fired, and "many run to and fro,") the 
 whole scenes of arrest, trial, execution, and criminals long hung 
 in chains, must have kept up a continual feverish excitement, 
 disturbing even the very dreams when sleeping. Thank God, 
 better times have succeeded, and better views to fellow men. 
 
 " I would not have a slave to tremble when I" wake, 
 For all the price of sinews bought and sold !" 
 
 Homan Catholics, and the cry of " church and state in danger," 
 was often witnessed on election and other occasions in New York ; 
 also, " high and low church" were resounded. " No Bishop" 
 could be seen, in capitals, on fences, &c. A man did not dare to 
 avow himself a Catholic, it was odious ; a chapel then would 
 have been pulled down. It used to be said, " John Leary goes 
 once a year to Philadelphia to get absolution." How different 
 now ! 
 
 Hallam's company of players, the first on record, played at 
 New York in 1754. 
 
 38 
 
298 Miscellaneous Fads. 
 
 William Bradford, fifty years government printer at New 
 York, died at the age of ninety-four, in the year 1752 ; he had 
 been a printer a few years at Philadelphia in the time of the 
 primitive settlement. 
 
 In 1765 two women, named Fuller and Knight, were placed 
 one hour in the pillory for keeping bawdy-houses. If this were 
 again enforced, would not much of the gaudy livery of bome be 
 set down ? 
 
 A gazette of 1722 hints at the declining whalery along Long 
 Island, saying, " There are but four whales killed on Long Island, 
 and little oil is expected from thence." 
 
 But they have, soon after, a generous recompense ; for in 1724 
 it is announced that at Point Judith, in ^pond there, they took 
 700,000 bass, loading therewith fifty carts, 1000 horses, and sun- 
 dry boats. 
 
 In the old Potters-field there was formerly a beautiful epitaph 
 on a patriot stranger from England, a Mr. Taylor, who came to 
 join our fortunes, to wit : — 
 
 Far from his kindred friends and native skies, 
 Here mouldering in the dust, poor Taylor lies ; 
 Firm was his mind, and fraught with various lore, 
 And his warm heart was never cold before. 
 He lov'd his country, and that spot of earth 
 Which gave a Milton, Hampden, Bradshaw birth ; 
 But when that country — dead to all but gain, 
 Bow'd her base neck and hugg'd the oppressor's chain, 
 Lothing the abject scene, he droop'd and sigh'd — 
 Cross'd the wild waves, and here untimely died. 
 
 Doctors' Riot. — About the year 1787, the^re was much excite- 
 ment in the city of New York against the whole fraternity of 
 doctors, called "the Doctors' Riot ;" it was caused by the people's 
 lively ofience at some cases of bodies procured for dissection. The 
 mob gathered to the cry of " down with the Doctors," and so 
 pushed to the houses of some of the leading practitioners : their 
 friends got before them, and precipitate retreat ensued. In the 
 sequel the most obnoxious sought their refuge in the prison,, 
 where the police being quelled, there were some violent assaults. 
 Their friends and the friends of the peace, ranged on the prison 
 side, made some defence ; Col. Hamilton stood forward as cham- 
 pion, and John Jay was considerably wounded in the head from 
 a stone thrown from the mob ; it laid him up some time. 
 
 A singular fact occurred a few years ago, on the occasion of 
 the explosion of Mr. Sand's powder magazine at Brooklyn. 
 An aged citizen, then at the Bull's Head Inn at the Bowery, 
 wearing a broad brimmed hat, perceived something like gun- 
 powder showering upon it ; the experiment was made on what 
 he gathered thereon, and it ignited ! This is accounted for as 
 coming from the explosion, because the wind set strong in that 
 
Miscellaneous Facts. 299 
 
 direction, and it is ascertained by firing a fusee over snow, that 
 if it be over-charged, the excess of grains will be found resting 
 upon the snow. 
 
 Yellow Fever. This is to be regarded as first occurring with 
 any notable malignity and fatality, in 1791. It had indeed 
 occurred, once before, in about 40 years preceding — say in 1743. 
 
 In 1798, the Yellow Fever visited the city with peculiar severity, 
 beginning near Coenties slip. At first its influence was regarded 
 as the action of common cold : but in time, other views were 
 entertained. About two thousand persons became its victims ; 
 and one third of the inhabitants fled from the city. 
 
 In 1803, was another recurrence of Yellow Fever, beginning 
 at the Coffee-house slip, and quickly after in other parts of the 
 city ; causing in its progress through the season, the deaths of 
 five hundred persons in the city. The alarm was great, and 
 caused the removal of the mass of the inhabitants. 
 
 In 1805^, it again appeared, on the eastern side of the city, 
 principally below Burling's slip. The deaths in the city were 
 about two hundred, showing it was not of such fearful character, 
 as formerly. 
 
 In 1822, it appeared on the North river side, not however of 
 extensive mortality. And being much restricted to a locality in 
 and about Rector street; the inhabitants were generally contented 
 to open ofiices and stores and do their business in Greenwich 
 village.. 
 
 The Cholera of 1832, caused the deaths of three thousand five 
 hundred of the inhabitants, from July to October. A mortality 
 of more fearful consequence, than even Yellow Fever. 
 
 Papacy. In the year 1700, the Assembly passed a law, to 
 hang every popish priest who should come voluntarily into the 
 province. The historian who related this fact fifty years after- 
 wards, observed that the law was then in full force, and added, 
 " as it ever ought to ^e." 
 
 Dress of gentlemen. A witness describes what he saw in 
 1782. John Hancock wore a blue damask gown (in June), w^hite 
 satin embroidered vest, black satin small clothes, white silk stock- 
 ings, and red morocco slippers — his head was surmounted with 
 a red velvet cap — when at Philadelphia in congress, with John 
 Adams, he wore a suit of scarlet. James Bowdoin, the governor 
 of Massachusetts, in 1785, of a review day at Cambridge, wore 
 a grey wig, cocked hat, ivhite broad-cloth coat and vest, red small 
 clothes, and black silk stockings. Thomas Jefferson wore the 
 white coat and red breeches, also. 
 
 New York city is to be the city of 13,000 acres, this is just ascer- 
 tained to be the whole measurement of the Island. Its former 
 bounds diS an Island, so at first named, is now all effaced by fill- 
 ing up. The Kolch and Lispenard's swamp, was once the Island 
 bounds, and it is calculated that about 1000 acres more will be 
 
300 Miscellaneous Facts. 
 
 redeemed from the water lots on the two rivers. It is calculated 
 that this area of 14,000 acres, will give accommodation to one 
 and a half million of inhabitants, and this population, great as it 
 seems, it is expected by some now, may be attained in the period 
 of a century. The area of even one thousand acres in a city plot, 
 is of very vague conception in the mind ; it is, however, the pre- 
 sent area, in the triangle formed by running Canal street from 
 river to river, and extending from it to the Battery point. What 
 a city, even in idea only, must be a city fourteen times as large 
 as that space ! The present actual bounds of the city, comprise 
 4500 acres, equal to one third of the whole area ; and the present 
 population is 270,000, of whom 27,500 are foreigners not natu- 
 ralized. 
 
 First voyage to China. "This voyage was effected in the 
 year 1785, in an Albany sloop, commanded by Captain Dean," 
 who is now alive (in 1836,) at West Chester, N. Y. The ship 
 Empress, of China, Captain Green, went to China in 1784, and 
 returned in 1785, [first voyage]. I have a plate of the China, 
 brought by him — the last article of the whole set. 
 
 General Washington, in the first year of his Presidency under 
 the new constitution, 1789, resided in the Franklin House, at the 
 head of Cherry street. On new-year's day, 1790, he was waited 
 upon by the prhicipal gentlemen of the city. The day was un- 
 commonly mild and pleasant. After being severally introduced 
 and paying the usual compliments of the season, the citizens 
 mutually interchanged their kind greetings and withdrew, highly 
 gratified by the friendly notice of the President, to most of whom 
 he was personally a stranger. In the evening Mrs. Washington 
 held her levee. It was about full moon, and the air was so bland 
 and serene, that the ladies attended in their light summer shades. 
 Introduced by the aids and gentlemen in waiting, after being 
 seated, tea, coffee, plain and plum-cake, were handed round. Fa- 
 miliar and friendly conversation ensued, and kind inquiries, on 
 the part of Mrs. Washington, after the families of the exiles, with 
 whom she had been acquainted during the revolutionary war. 
 To a lady, standing at the side of the President, near to Mrs Wash- 
 ington, she remarked, " of all the incidents of the day none has so 
 pleased the general," (by which title she alwa^^s designated him.) 
 " as the friendly greetings of the gentlemen who visited him at 
 noon." To the inquiry of the President, whether it was casual 
 or customary, he was answered that it was an annual custom, 
 derived from our Dutch forefathers, which had always been com- 
 memorated. After a short pause, he observed — " The highly 
 favoured situation of New York, will, in process of years, attract 
 emigrants, who will gradually change its ancient customs and 
 manners ; but let whatever changes take place, never forget the 
 cordial, cheerful observance of new-year's day." 
 
 About a year since a friend of ours visiting the metropolis, 
 
Portrait President Washington, p, aOtTand 334* ' ' ' * ' "* 
 
Miscellaneous Fads. 301 
 
 spent an hour with Mr. Custis at his residence, and heard from 
 him a graphic and eloquent description of the final departure of 
 Washington from New York. The scene has often been narrated, 
 but it bears a peculiar interest, when coming from the lips of an 
 eye witness. Our friend has kindly furnished us with a descrip- 
 tion taken at the time ; and although probably deficient in the 
 vivid eloquence of the narrator, it is still worthy of preservation. 
 The account which Mr. Custis gives of the appearance and extent 
 of New York at the time, is highly curious and interesting : 
 
 " We then staid at McCombs House near the Battery," said 
 Mr. Custis, " which is now called Bunker's, and that was nearly 
 the extent of the compact part of the city. St. Paul's church 
 was quite out of town, and I used to play on a fine green common, 
 where the Park theatre now stands. Instead of paved streets 
 in that vicinity, there were fenced fields, in which I could sport 
 as freely as if on my own estate. I could now point to the spot 
 where Washington embarked, and bade his final adieu to his 
 army and the citizens of New York, although I am sure it must 
 be entirely changed in appearance during the time which has 
 since then elapsed. — It was a point at Whitehall, just oif the Bat- 
 tery, and instead of the wharf now bound with stately ships, the 
 shore was then naked as the waves which murmured on its 
 banks. I remember the morning as if yesterday ; it was a clear, 
 cool, bracing day in December, and as the General left the house, 
 he took my hand, and I thought I never saw him look so sad. We 
 arrived at the appointed place of departure — I see the spot plainly 
 before me — the crowd was immense, the army being drawn up 
 in lines which faced the General as he passed them ; the eyes of 
 the multitude were steadily bent upon him, but not a whisper 
 among the whole was audible. When Washington arrived at the 
 spot, he paused, and for a moment surveyed the scene. I saw 
 his heart was too full for utterance, and his eyes seemed bursting 
 with suppressed tears ; still, he calmly looked on all around ; but 
 it could not long be thus. Nature was at length supreme — the 
 General hastily approached one of the officers who was standing 
 with several of the staff" near him, and falling on his neck, gave 
 way to his feelings in a flood of tears. He then embraced each 
 of his officers separately ; with an almost convulsive grasp, and 
 as he thus bade his long loved and loving companions adieu, the 
 tears seemed each moment to start afresh. Not a word was yet 
 spoken, the sigh or sob alone broke the silence of the solemn 
 scene. At length, when the last officer had been embraced, the 
 General seemed for a moment to gain a self-possession, and with 
 a firm step turned towards the boat in waiting; he stepped on 
 board, and almost sunk upon the seat ; it was but for an instant, 
 for as the boat shoved off", he stood upright, and quickly raising 
 his hat with that grace and dignity which seemed peculiarly to 
 belong to him, he surveyed once more his officers, his army, and 
 
 2C 
 
302 Miscellaneous Facts. 
 
 his friends, and after pausing a moment, he murmured with an 
 emphasis I can never forget, so full of mingled sorrow and afflic- 
 tion, so deep and earnest, so soul-felt in its accents, the single word 
 ' Farewell !' and waving his hat, the fresh gushing tears pre- 
 vented his further action or utterance. At that moment a shout, 
 such as I have never heard before nor since — one simultaneous 
 shout burst from the shore, and so loud, and deep, and full was 
 it, that it drowned the echo of the heavy guns — the large 28 
 pounders, which at the same moment were fired from a short 
 distance above ; a dull heavy noise was all I could distinguish ; 
 and as the shout of the multitude was wafted over the parting 
 waves, and the cannon's smoke rose upwards, the General once 
 more waved his hand, and the boat shot rapidly from the shore. 
 This was the last time he ever saw New York." 
 
 Having thus introduced the name of Washington, it occurs to 
 us to give a few additional notices of that great man, extracted 
 from our MS. pages of memoranda concerning him, because they 
 have hitherto induced so little of the same kind of notice from 
 others — to wit : 
 
 Sundry circumstances in the early life of Washington, while a 
 Colonel in the western wilderness, have not been, as we think, 
 sufficiently noticed as marking him, even from the beginning, as 
 " the man of destiny" — as one providentially preserved for the 
 subsequent salvation of his country. For instance, in the case of 
 his exposure of person in the battle of Braddock's defeat. His 
 letter to his mother of 18th July 1755, says, "the Virginia troops, 
 to which I belonged, showed a great deal of bravery and were 
 nearly all killed. I luckily escaped without a wound, though I 
 had four bullets through my coat, and had two horses shot under 
 me. The General's two aids being early wounded, I was the 
 only person then left to distribute the General's orders." At the 
 same time he requests to inform his brother John that " he has 
 not been killed, as has been before reported in a circumstantial 
 account." He adds — " by the all-powerful dispensations of Pro- 
 vidence, I have been protected beyond all human probability or 
 expectation, while death was levelling my companions on every 
 side." Such remarkable perils, and such acknowledgments of a 
 divine protection therein, are things which should be impressively 
 considered, as we imagine. 
 
 Besides the foregoing, it came to pass, afterwards, that when 
 •Washington was out in Ohio, in 1770, to explore some wild lands 
 near the Kenawha river, he then met an aged Indian chief, who 
 told him that during the battle in Braddock's field, he had singled 
 him out at several times, to bring him down with his rifle, and 
 liad ordered his young warriors to do the same ; but none of the 
 balls took effect. He was then convinced, he said, that the young 
 hero was under some special guardianship of the Great Spirit, and 
 he had therefore desisted from firing. He had now come a long 
 
Miscellaneous Facts. 308h 
 
 way to pay his personal homage to so peculiar a man, as one 
 saved by heaven. Surely, if the " poor Indian" could thus dis- 
 cern the protection from above, much more readily should we, 
 Avho profess to miderstand and appreciate the interference of a 
 God, who " rules in the affairs of men." 
 
 In the year 1753, Major Washington, returning from his visit 
 to Fort Le Boeuf, roughing it all the way like a perfect woods- 
 man, urging his lonely way through the depths of the forests, in 
 the depth of the stern winter, he fell into a fearful dilemma, which 
 ordinarily would have cost the life of any other individual. He 
 had left his horses and heavy baggage, and for the sake of greater 
 dispatch, had undertaken to foot his way with his friend, Mr. 
 Gist, for his companion. Washington was tied up in his watch 
 coat, with his better clothes off, and his papers and provisions tied 
 in a pack slung to his back, [think of that once, of the great Gene- 
 ral Washington, President of the United States, &c.] and thus 
 they urged their lonely way through the waste of v/ilderness, 
 each with gun in hand, and momentarily exposed to Indian sur- 
 prise. That surprise came from a party of French Indians lying 
 in wait. One of them iSred upon them, not fifteen steps off, but 
 missed, and then they seized him. [Mark it, that they were too 
 humane to kill an enemy in possession !] At night they let him 
 go — they in mean time, walking all night, as their best security 
 for getting beyond the reach of the party, on the morrow. This 
 walking, they continued all next day, (having no rest,) when 
 they reached the river, two miles above Shannopins, which they 
 had hoped to find frozen, from the keenness of the cold which 
 they had thus braved. The ice there, however, was driving in 
 vast quantities, and they had no way to pass it, but on a raft, 
 which they, themselves, were obliged to construct, with only one 
 poor hatchet. In such a necessary, and hurried work, they were 
 diligently employed all day, — exposed to cold in their persons ; 
 and with continual apprehensions from the pursuing Indians, 
 probably very near them. On such an occasion, we may well 
 imagine, that a man so considerate as Washington, may have 
 remembered the prayers, which he had been taught by a mother's 
 piety and care, in his youth. Can we suppose that he did not 
 ejaculate something from the heart, for Divine support and pro- 
 tection ! He was protected : For soon after they had embarked 
 on their frail log -float, " they got jammed up in the ice, and every 
 minute were expecting their raft to sink, and themselves to 
 perish !" Just at their extremity, when Washington was setting 
 his pole to save his- position, he was jerked out into ten feet 
 water ! They had no alternative, but Jo make their way to an 
 island, leaving their raft to its fate. There, they had to pass the 
 whole night, still without sleep, in mid-winter ! — their clothes 
 being soaked with iced water, and stiffly frozen ; so frozen too, 
 that his companion, Mr. Gist, had all his fingers, and some of 
 
304 Miscellaneous Facts. 
 
 his toes frozen ! Mark the providence ! Washington, though 
 equally or more exposed, was not frozen, and the very severity 
 of the freezing, made them a formidable and safe bridge of ice, 
 by which they safely passed over to the main land, on the next 
 morning; and soon after reached the wigwam of Queen Alla- 
 quippa, where they were refreshed and comforted. Surely, as 
 many of us as may regard Washington as bestowed upon us, for 
 great national purposes, must herein see and confess that hand 
 divine, which led his footsteps in his youth, and sustained and 
 guided him in future years, through a long, and perilous, and 
 eminent life. "What nation so blest, whose God is the Lord!'* 
 We know of nothing in the whole career of Washington, which 
 has been to us so touching, as the contemplation of these earliest 
 scenes in his life. Scenes however, which have been least noticed 
 by others, possibly because he had not then attained to his merited 
 distinction. We cannot think of his rugged and severe backwood 
 struggles, his exertions for life and just honour, without thinking 
 how little, even he, could then have foreseen of his country's 
 Independence, and himself as the appointed leader. 
 
 We are very naturally led, from the contemplation of the pre- 
 mises, to consider that Washington, though not professedly a 
 religious character, must have always been under the influence 
 of religious principles. His appeals to Providence, in his letters 
 to his mother, and his habitual and solemn attention to public 
 worship, might sufficiently evince this ; but as we possess sundry 
 direct facts, of his habitual and special attentions to personal 
 prayers to the Almighty, we shall perhaps perform a grateful 
 service to many by here relating them, to wit : 
 
 Gen. Sullivan, in his late publication, states, that it was con- 
 sidered by all his military family, that he had a time every day 
 set apart, for his retirement and devotion. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Jones, of the Presbyterian church at Morristown, 
 has declared that he administered the communion to Gen. Wash- 
 ington, bj/ his request, at the public table, while he was there, in 
 the command of the American army. 
 
 Jacob Ritter, of Bucks county, Pennsylvania, a public friend, 
 told me that he had a neighbour, whose house Washington 
 visited one day, while he was in command at Whitemarsh, and 
 while at that house, the father and son, as they told Mr. Ritter, 
 heard Gen. Washington in his chamber, at his prayers, praying 
 extemporary, for himself, and the happiness and prosperity of the 
 nation, &c. 
 
 The Wampole family, where Gen. Washington quartered, when 
 with his command in Montgomery county, told me, that they 
 knew of his habitual retirement to his chamber to pray, and that 
 they sometimes overheard him so engaged. 
 
 The New York Mirror, of May 1S34, gives an account of 
 Washington being benighted and stopping at the house of a poor 
 
Miscellaneous Facts. 305 
 
 man, near the Highlands, and that the family related that they 
 heard him pray at length, for himself, and his country. 
 
 The late Isaac Potts, a well known public friend, at Valley 
 Forge, when at one time in the woods near by, came across the 
 horse of Washington tied to a sapling, and soon after discovered 
 the general on his knees in audible prayer, " praying most fer- 
 vently." Mr. Potts used to relate that it so deeply affected him, 
 as never to be forgotten, and that he went home, telling his wife 
 with many tears, and deep emotion, of the circumstance, saying 
 too, at the time, " if there be any on earth to whom the Lord 
 will listen, it is to George Washington :" adding as his belief, " our 
 nation will yet have its independence ;" for he doubted not that 
 " God had so willed it." 
 
 The late Joseph Eastburn, who was a lay-minister in the 
 Presbyterian church, in Philadelphia, related to his friend, Mr. 
 Richard Loxley, that while he, Eastburn, was on camp duty near 
 Princeton, he heard when entering a thicket, the audible utter- 
 ance of some solemn voice, and seeking further for the cause, 
 found Gen. Washington upon his knees in prayer. He retired 
 hastily, fully satisfied in his own conviction, that he was a great 
 man who feared God, and trusted in his worship. In after 
 years, when Mr. Eastburn had become religious, and when 
 Washington had become President of the United States, it became 
 matter of concern to Mr. Eastburn, that the President should 
 sanction the theatre by his presence. He supposed, it was a 
 measure deemed inoffensive by churchmen ; but venerating the 
 man, and wishing only his best interests, he could not forbear to 
 open his mind to the President by a letter, offering him therein, 
 his reasons for asking him as a Christian man, to avoid the drama. 
 Mr. Eastburn believed that it had the effect, to cause him to go 
 no more ; for he never after heard of its occurrence. The for- 
 bearance, if it was only such, was an amiable concession, at least, 
 to the opinion and good will, of a well intentioned interference. 
 
 We know it to be a fact, that Gen. Washington, while Presi- 
 dent, was accustomed to ask a blessing before meat at his own 
 table, doing it in a standing posture, and only departing from the 
 service, when a clergyman might chance to be present, to whom 
 to offer the duty. 
 
 The profile likeness which we give of Washington, in this 
 work, is done from an original executed by Saml. Folwell, of 
 Philadelphia, and has been noticed in the Gazette United States, 
 as the best, as to spirit and truth of expression, ever taken. It 
 was in truth an off hand happy hit, done by the artist, when un- 
 known to ^' the beheld of all beholders." Done as he appeared 
 before Congress at Philadelphia. Inasmuch as it is like no other 
 man, so it is only like himself. 
 
 " Rotten Row" (in New York city), must have been named 
 after that name of a place in London. The same too must have 
 39 2 c 2 
 
306 Miscellaneous Facts. 
 
 been the cause of the name of " Whitehall" and its sHp, &c. They 
 affected London names, such as " the Mall/' " the White Conduit 
 house," " Greenwich," &c. 
 
 In the New York Gazette of 1763, there is an advertisement, 
 notifying that Mrs. Steel has removed the King's Arms tavern, 
 from opposite the Exchange to the Broadway, at the lower end 
 opposite the fort. 
 
 Storm and Flood. In 1822 there was a great N. E. storm of 
 wind and rain, which flooded numerous houses and stores along 
 the river side. One as great or greater, again occurred on Satur- 
 day night and Monday morning, of the 15th and 17th December, 
 1833. " From Whitehall to Catharine street, the wharves were 
 all overflowed, the adjacent cellars filled with water, and boats 
 from the vessels in the harbour sailing over the wharves. A sail 
 boat had passed up Maiden lane from South to Front street. 
 Many vessels were injured, some sunk, and along the whole coast 
 considerable losses of vessels occurred. It was like the great Sep- 
 tember gale of 1831. 
 
 In many places people crossed the streets in boats, and when 
 the tide was at its highest, the following extraordinary announce- 
 ment was placed on the bulletin of the Courier : 
 
 " Arrived this day at one o'clock, at the corner of Water street 
 and Maiden lane, row-boat Ontario, Capt. French, in ballast; 
 will receive passengers and freight for one hour, or as long as the 
 tide will serve. Barker French." 
 
 The cold at Albany, 1835 — Sunday, January 4th, was "the 
 coldest day known there for the last half century." 
 
 At the Mansion-house of Gen. Van Rensselaer, at 6 A. M. 32 
 degrees below zero. 
 
 At Gen. Van Rensselaer Jr., at 7§ A. M., 32 degrees below 
 zero. 
 
 At Edward Brown's, in Steuben street, at 7 A. M. 31 § degrees 
 below zero — at 8 A. M. at 30^ degrees. This thermometer was 
 4 degrees lower than the cold day of 1817. 
 
 The above were the lowest parts of the town. 
 
 At the Academy which was high ground, at 7 A. M. it was 
 23 degrees below zero ; at 9 A. M. 20 degrees below zero ; and 
 at 10 A. M. 17 degrees below zero. 
 
 At sunrise, to wit: — at Boston, 15 degrees below zero; at 
 Portsmouth, 20 degrees below zero ; at New Haven, 23 degrees 
 below zero ; at Hartford, 25 degrees below zero ; at Goshen, N. Y. 
 32 degrees below zero; at Newark, N. J., 7 degrees below zero ; 
 and at Philadelphia, 3 degrees below zero. 
 
 Holt's Hotel. What a mammoth, and what a change of char- 
 acter ; dines 200 persons — 250 is ordinary, 2500 daily at all its 
 tables ; has all its rooms filled, and 250 beds engaged at night ; 
 kills an ox every day ; puts 700 pounds of meat at a time on its 
 fire spit, which is itself turned by steam. It only seems strange, 
 
Miscellaneous Facts, 307 
 
 that any people of usual domestic feelings and sympathies, should 
 ever fall into such a scheme of living so much in crowd and 
 bustle. This Holt was a rich butcher, worth 100,000 dollars, 
 and in two years his house ruined him, and was sold out at 
 1 70,000 dollars loss. 
 
 Seals visited New York in spring, 1833, and went chiefly to 
 Robins' (Seals) reef at low water — their former old haunt. 
 
 Three seals were seen in April 1833, at Chester, Pa,, and one 
 was taken. 
 
 The inn of''' the King^s Arms^'* was an old and noted tavern ; 
 it stood in Broadway between little Prince and Crown streets. 
 This place before the revolution, was much visited by the officers 
 quartered in Fort George, and by those who resided near the 
 market-place. It was of antiquated form — had been erected as 
 early and visited by Lord Cornbury in his time — He being a 
 spendthrift who liked the voluptuous indulgences of a tavern. 
 The front was of grey stone, narrow windows and arched, but 
 those of the dining room were large and went down to the floor, 
 and so serving to admit the guests from the piazza along the 
 front, which looked out upon the North river, and affording a 
 distant and fine river scenery. Before the house was a fine row of 
 catalpas trees, now seldom seen at or near New York. The top 
 was surmounted by a cupola, a table, and seats, and a good tele- 
 scope for a good look out. The inn-keeper (it is said) was Snod- 
 grass. Because of its fine view of river scenery, it was always 
 held in high repute as a good look-out post ; delighting the eye 
 and enchanting the imagination. I have in my possession, a long 
 and interesting legendary story about this house and its guests. 
 
 Statue of Pitt, Earl of Chatham. This finely executed statue, 
 which was voted in the year 1766 by the assembly of New York, 
 on an appropriation of ^67000, to be done in brass, as a compli- 
 ment to his character, and in memory of his exertions to effect 
 the repeal of the odious stamp act, was set up in marble, in Wall 
 street near the present Exchange, where it remained for several 
 years. At length it got mutilated by losing its head — struck off 
 by some night party in a freak of mischief, as it was said. It 
 was removed after a while, as an unsightly object, and as an 
 inconvenience in so narrow and so much used a street. What 
 is curious, is, that such a costly sculpture, should by any means 
 become a cast-away, and Idiy neglected as I have since seen it, un- 
 known to the mass of the citizens, in the yard of the public arse- 
 nal. It is said since, that a tory party got up the vote for the 
 statue, and that the Earl was not in fact, at any time, devoted to 
 our exemption from parliamentary bondage. Granting all this, 
 why should we war upon the arts ; and why should not some 
 gentlemen of liberal minds and right feelings, opposed to a war 
 with the dead, unite to give the statue a new head, and place it 
 in some conspicuous public place, for the single purpose of pre- 
 
308 Miscellaneous Facts, 
 
 serving such an expensive token of a once pervading interest in 
 the views and feelings of our forefathers ? Our views are of 
 course only conservative. Should not the Society of Artists take 
 this matter into their consideration ? 
 
 Colonial times and manners. — We ought, perhaps, to make 
 the general remark concerning the present work, that we have 
 omitted several matters and things, which might equally go to 
 illustrate the manners and customs of New York society at and 
 before the period of the revolution ; not herein told or related, 
 because they were already published in the Annals of Philadel- 
 phia and Pennsylvania, which work is intended to be as much 
 a matter of separate interest, as if the present work was not pub- 
 lished. We have however herein borrowed from that work, some 
 items concerning apparel, furniture and equipage ; and concerning 
 these, we have to remark, that there seems an earlier attention 
 in New York to the adoption and use of what was foreign and 
 modish. Induced no doubt, through the influence of the gaiety, 
 fashion, and expensive habits of the foreign military and marine so 
 constantly arriving or quartering among them ; and leading to much 
 society and intercourse with our ladies and their families. We 
 thus notice there, earlier uses of carpets and papered walls, and of 
 foreign milliners and dress-makers, Windsor chairs, glass utensils, 
 jewelry, dentistry, use of watches, umbrellas, stage plays, balls, 
 &c. Their earliest carriages were imported in 1766, from Dublin, 
 with workmen to repair or make others, among which are named 
 landaus, curricles, sedans, and even sleighs, " with gildings, carv- 
 ings, and japan" to suit. All these were new things then, to suit 
 best English society of modish habits and means ; and not those 
 Dutch inhabitants, who regarded none of those things. As riches 
 came, luxuries and all their concomitants followed ; so that even 
 till now the New Yorkers have therein the ascendency and lead ! 
 Few regard cost now : there all modish things find countenance 
 and place. All that which once marked simple republican habits 
 and views, are no longer regarded as necessarily due from their 
 avowed principles, nor practically needful from those who, how- 
 ever republican in bias or profession, have the means by acquired 
 wealth, to adopt that which is courtly and refined, in monarchical 
 Europe. The simple and frugal times of colonial days, are all, 
 forever gone ! " Tempera mutantur, et nos mutamur in illis." 
 
 When the British were in full power and glory in New York, 
 before the Revolution, the ladies showed a great deal of respect 
 to the trappings of the officers, so much so, that at balls and other 
 gala occasions, it was common to call the gentlemen of the party, 
 the mohairs, in allusion to their plainer dress. 
 
 Funerals. When Philip Livingston, Esq., (father of Gov. Wm. 
 Livingston of N. J.,) merchant, died in 1749, his funeral regale 
 and expenses, after the manner of the times, cost £500. On that 
 occasion two ceremonies were performed, one at his manor 
 
Miscellaneous Facts, 309 
 
 among his tenantry, and one in New York city. At each place a 
 whole pipe of wine was spicediox the guests. The bearers at the 
 several places were presented with mourning rings, silk scarfs 
 and handkerchiefs. The eight bearers in New York had each 
 the gift of a monkey spoon, (that is having a monkey carved on 
 the handle,) and at the manor all the tenantry had a gift of a 
 pair of black gloves and a handkerchief In a later period. Gov. 
 Wm. Livingston, wrote in the Independent Reflector of 1753, his 
 objections to extravagance in funerals, and his wife, it was said, 
 was the first who ventured as an example of economy, to substi- 
 tute linen scarfs, for the former silk ones. 
 
 The Dutch Forefathers of Neio York. Mr. Sedgwick, in his 
 life of Gov. Livingston, makes the judicious and true remark, 
 that " it is somewhat surprising that we should not be more proud 
 of our partial descent from a nation, at one time so conspicuous 
 in European history. Thus, we are accustomed to speak of the 
 unostentatious and commercial habits of the Dutch settlers of 
 New York, in a tone which is rarely applied to the citizens of the 
 mother country." The same author suggests " whether or no, 
 opinions on this subject have not been influenced by Mr. Irving's 
 mock history ; and if so, it is the first time, that acknowledged 
 fiction has been adopted as fact !" The last assigned cause, is too 
 recent, to account for the feeling. It was better accounted for, 
 " in the unostentatious habits" of the former people. They sought 
 no fame, and had none. They were frugal, unpretending, 
 domestic and happy. Such a race of " worthy burghers" were 
 too tame to be gloried in ! but all who came out under govern- 
 ment patronage as British, came with pomp and circumstance, 
 and trappings of official association. All they did showed out 
 with style and eclat. They had all the tinsel of glory ; and this 
 readily caught the eye and captivated the imagination of the 
 multitude. New York and Albany, as the perpetual head-quarters 
 of the civil and military British rulers, readily took the lead with 
 whoever wished to rank themselves as " best society," even in 
 the colonial days. Whatever those two cities seemed to value 
 most, came to be the leading rule of estimation in the opinion of 
 the multitude everywhere. 
 
 " The Province House,^^ at the Battery, wherein dwelt Gov. 
 Tryon, was consumed by fire at midnight, on the 17th December, 
 1773. The family escaped with difficulty. The Governor's 
 daughter leaped from the second story window, and her maid 
 Elizabeth Garrett, afraid to follow her, was burned to death ! 
 Greater mischief would have occurred, but for the snow on the 
 adjacent buildings. £5000 was voted to the Governor in con- 
 sideration of his loss, &c. He seems to have been popular among 
 them then. 
 
 Cooper^ s Tale of the fVater ^7/f^, profiting, as I presume, by 
 my facts concerning the ancient Ferry House at the head of 
 
310 Miscellaneous Facts. 
 
 Broad street, thus graphically depicts the place and appurtenances, 
 10 wit : " A deep narrow creek penetrated the island, at this point, 
 for the distance of a quarter of a mile. Each of its banks had a 
 row of buildings, as the houses line a canal in the cities of Hol- 
 land. As the natural course of the inlet was necessarily respected, 
 the street had taken a curvature not unlike that of a new moon. 
 The houses were ultra-Dutch, being low, angular, fastidiously 
 neat, and all erected with their gables to the street. Each had 
 its ugly and inconvenient entrance, termed a stoop, its vane or 
 weathercock, its dormer-window, and its graduated battlement- 
 walls. Near the apex of one of the latter, a little iron crane pro- 
 jected into the street. A small boat of the same metal, swung 
 from its end, a sign that the building to which it appended was 
 the Ferry House.^' 
 
 " An inherent love of artificial and confined navigation had 
 probably induced the burghers to select this spot, as the place 
 whence so many craft departed from the town, since it is certain 
 that the two rivers could have furnished divers points more 
 favourable for such an object." 
 
 " At the time of the departure of the periagua, at sunrise, fifty 
 blacks were seen in the street, dipping their brooms into the creek 
 and flourishing water over the side-walks, and on the fronts of 
 the low edifices. This light, but daily duty was relieved by 
 clamorous collisions of wit, and hj shouts otf merriment, in which 
 the whole street would join, as with one joyous and reckless 
 movement of the spirit." " Here and there, a grave burgher, 
 still in his night-cap, might be seen with a head thrust out of an 
 upper window, Ustening to these light-hearted ebullitions of the 
 noisy race, and taking note of all the merry jibes, that flew from 
 mouth to mouth, with an indomitable gravity." 
 
 " The periagua, as the craft was called, partook of a European 
 and an American character. It possessed the length, narrowness, 
 and clean bow of the canoe, from which its name was derived, 
 with the flat bottom and lee board of a boat constructed for the 
 shallow waters of the low countries." 
 
 [At this place, on board such a passage boat, he describes the 
 '^ Skimmer of the Seas," the commander of the buccaneering 
 " Water fVitch,^' as taking his passage with others, going over 
 to Staten Island. This in the time of Queen Anne, and with the 
 privity of Lord Cornbury the ex-governor, still detained by his 
 debts and obligations at New York.] 
 
 Rich men in New York. In the summer of 1841, died two 
 conspicuous millionaires, made rich chiefly by the rise of their real 
 estate in and near Wall street, viz : Henry Breevort with two 
 millions, and Mr. Jerroleram with one million. These in early life 
 were market gardeners. 
 
 John Jacob Astor, so very rich, is a German who began among 
 us with a store of German toys, can now build a Hotel for half a 
 
m!!iL^__: ■ „..iL;!§piiiigipi!iin!i!iiijgHifflir' 
 Last Dutch House in Broad Street, p. 196 and 350. 
 
 Provost, British Prison, — Park, p. 327 and 351. 
 
t' 1 • 
 
 * c • 
 
 « -.' • « 
 
Miscellaneous Facts. 311 
 
 million and give it to his son ! The brother of J. J. Astor was a 
 victualler, and is now very rich also. All the family are frugal. One 
 of the Stuvyesants, now inheriting a part of the Stuvyesant marsh 
 meadows, could sell it out for one million of dollars ! Wm. Bay- 
 ard's farm place, which could have been bought in 1800, for 
 fifteen thousand dollars, was sold out in 1833 for sixty thousand 
 dollars, to men who sold the same in lots for two hundred and 
 sixty thousand dollars. These facts are maddening to some 
 rapacious minds, wherefore sales of lots have been made on this 
 island and over on Brooklyn, so far beyond population as would 
 take a century to use ! In Jan. 1835, the sales of lots, by 
 Bleekers as auctioneers, amounted to upwards of five millions of 
 dollars ! Reaction may be feared, in some seven years hence, 
 when the chief amount of purchase is to be paid. So different is 
 paying from buying. 
 
 Rise of property ! in Brooklyn. Its increase of value in lots 
 and land ! In 1834 the farm of Jacob Bergen at Red Hook, two 
 miles from Brooklyn ferry, sold for five hundred thousand dollars ; 
 it consisted of one hundred acres of hilly and sandy soil ; and 
 the farm of John Skillman, at the Wallabout, consisting of sixty 
 acres, and two miles from the same Brooklyn ferry, has been sold 
 for fifteen hundred dollars per acre, say ninety thousand dollars. 
 Mr. John Mason, President of the Commercial Bank, has fifty 
 acres, now eight hundred lots, adjoining to the Bank and Chemical 
 works, for which he gave seven thousand dollars forty years ago, 
 and could now get for them half a million of dollars ! It was a 
 farm, on which he lent his money on mortgage. Mr. Mason was 
 originally a poor man and a tradesman of New Jersey. 
 
 The premises of Grant Thorburn [the old meeting-house of 
 Friends] in Liberty street, which he bought in 1825 for twenty- 
 six thousand dollars, without the money to pay for it too, sold in 
 his hands in ten years, in 1835, for one hundred thousand dollars. 
 The good man, who believes in Providence [as decretal] thinks it 
 has to be so, and none is more worthy to enjoy it, with thank- 
 fulness. 
 
 Liverpool and Havre Packets. The man is still alive in full 
 health, who commanded a schooner of one hundred and twenty 
 tons, the only vessel in the trade between New York and Liver- 
 pool. 
 
 In 1819, the ship Stephania, of three hundred and fifty tons, 
 was built for the Havre trade, deemed then to be over large, and 
 now they are forming ships of seven hundred tons for the same 
 service in 1834. 
 
 *dn ancient sword of the Knickerbockers, was lately found, and 
 put in the Hartford Museum, impressed 1554 in gold, and having 
 the words in Dutch " May God be with us." It was taken out 
 of the bank of the Connecticut river in Windsor at eight feet 
 
312 Miscellaneous Facts. 
 
 depth, and may have been so covered by the change of the river 
 bed, as it lay nearly at the level of the river. 
 
 Robert Fulton. This great steam inventor is enrolled in the 
 city directory of Philadelphia in the year 1785, thus: " Robert 
 Fulton, miniature painter, corner of Second and Walnut streets." 
 
 The Growth of our Country. Within a few years (1833) an 
 old gentleman has gone down to his grave, in New York, — Mr. 
 John Munro, in the 98th year of his age. He was a descendant of 
 the Hugonots, who fled to this country at the revocation of the 
 edict of Nantz, in 1686. He was of the third generation from the 
 original emigrants. His name was Maureau ; but then emigrants, 
 in many places, anglicized their names when it was convenient, not 
 thinking that the time would come when they would be proud 
 of having been descended from a French emigrant. The mention 
 of this worthy old gentleman in this place was to call to our mind 
 the growth of our country during the life of one individual. At 
 his birth the thirteen colonies did not contain over a million of 
 inhabitants ; the city of New York about twelve thousand ; the 
 city of Boston about the same number ; Philadelphia, although 
 it had been settled but little more than half a century, had rapidly 
 increased in population, and was quite as large as either of them. 
 The whole commerce of the colonies was not then so much, in 
 point of revenue, as has been taken in two days, from the com- 
 merce of New York, within these last ten years. From the 
 custom-house returns from the 29th of September, 1749, to 29th 
 of September, 1750, there were entered two hundred and thirty- 
 three vessels, including coasters, and there were cleared out two 
 hundred and eighty of the same description — probably more than 
 two-thirds of these were coasters, running from this port to 
 Charleston, (South CaroUna,) or from this port to Boston. The 
 commerce to England and Holland was chiefly confined to the 
 exportation of furs, and to the importation of articles of domestic 
 necessity. At that time the Park was quite out of town, and 
 where Bond street now is, would have been considered a journey 
 into the country. Albany was an old settlement, but just beyond 
 it all was a howling wilderness. There was nothing but a blazed 
 way at that time to Lake George, which in a few years after- 
 wards became the seat of war. 
 
 At that period the revenue of the port of London was not so 
 much as that of the port of New York at this day ; and the island 
 of Great Britain did not then equal this country in population 
 now. At the period of the birth of the old gentleman we have 
 mentioned, there was but one periodical journal printed in this 
 city. This ivas issued November, 1733, and of course was then 
 only in its second year. This newspaper was called the New 
 York Weekly Journal, and was well conducted, it is said. It 
 was well established, as one of the historians of that age informs 
 
Miscellaneous Facts, 313 
 
 us, " by the citizens of New York, as a medium through which 
 they might pubhsh strictures on an arbitrary government." In 
 1735 there was an attempt to put down the freedom of the press. 
 " The government of New York, now in the hands of Gov. 
 Crosby, was arbitrarily administered. Free strictures being made 
 on him and his council, in the Weekly Journal, the council order- 
 ed the three numbers of that gazette to be burnt by the sheriff. 
 John Peter Zanger, the printer, was at length, imprisoned by a 
 'warrant from the governor and council ; and after a severe 
 imprisonment of thirty-five weeks, was tried for printing those 
 offensive papers. Andrew Hamilton, an eminent lawyer of 
 Philadelphia, though aged and infirm, learning the distresses of 
 the prisoner and importance of the trial, came to New York to 
 plead Zanger's cause, and made so able a plea that the jury 
 brought in the prisoner not guilty. The common council of the 
 city of New York, for this noble and successful service, presented 
 Mr. Hamilton his freedom of the corporation in a gold box." 
 Thus we see the struggles our predecessors had to pass through 
 for the freedom of the press. Their conduct is worthy imitation. 
 The subject might be extended to volumes. 
 
 Capt. Robert Kidd. I have since seen an old London edition 
 account of this sea rover, from which I derive some additional 
 facts, to wit : At the time of his engagement in the Adventure 
 galley, he had the reputation of a man of courage and energy, 
 having been commander of a privateer in the West Indies, in 
 the beginning of King William's war ; afterwards he became a 
 smuggler, and traded among the pirates in a little rakish vessel 
 that could run into all kinds of water. As he knew all the haunts 
 and lurking places of the pirates, he was recommended by Lord 
 Bellermont, then governor of Barbadoes, to be a fit man to put 
 down piracy, on the principle of setting a rogue to catch a rogue. 
 He got, however, no encouragement from King William, and 
 therefore he went out upon private enterprise, though under a 
 king's commission. Kidd died hard, for the rope with which he 
 was first tied up broke, and he fell to the ground. - He was tied 
 up a second time more eftectually. This gave rise to the popular 
 story of Kidd's being twice hung. The same work spoke thus of 
 the pirates and people at and about New York, in the year 1695, 
 viz : " The easy access to the harbour, the number of hiding 
 places about its waters, and the laxity of its newly organized 
 government, made it a great rendezvous of pirates, where they 
 mi^^ht dispose of their booty and concert new depredations. 
 There they sold their rich luxuries and spoils of the Spanish pro- 
 vinces at small prices, to the wary and thrifty traders of New York. 
 To them at least they were welcome visitors, and for that reason 
 crews of these desperadoes might be seen swaggering in open day 
 about the streets, elbowing the quiet inhabitants, or squandering 
 40 2D 
 
314 Miscellaneous Facts, 
 
 their money in taverns, and exciting neighbourhoods with midnight 
 brawls and revelry. In time it became matter of scandal and a 
 public pest, and the government at home was urgently applied 
 to, to suppress the evil in the colonies." [The foregoing extracts, 
 are confirmed in the Pirate's Own Book, Boston edition, 1837.] 
 
 Capt. Kidd " was called Robert, and was executed as Robert.''^ 
 Tradition says that the Sachem's Head and the Thimble island 
 were his rendezvous ; one of these rocky islands on the Sound is 
 called Kidd's Island. He deposited on Gardiner's Island, the 
 same given up to Gov. Bellermont, and of which there is now a 
 schedule in the hands of the Gardiner family at this day.* It is 
 said that a pot of eighteen hundred dollars was ploughed up two 
 years ago, in a corn-field at Martha's Vineyard, supposed to be 
 Kidd's money. At Kidd's island is a cave, where it is said the 
 pirates used to hide and sleep ; inside is cut " R. K." supposed 
 for Robert Kidd ; a hole in the rocky floor chiselled out is called 
 their punch bowl for carousal. Another little islet is called " Money 
 island," and has been nmch dug for treasure. Gov. Fletcher has 
 had the reputation of countenancing the pirates, and Nichols, one 
 of his council, has been handed down, by tradition, as their agent. 
 In 1S44, they found, as is said, Kidd's vessel sunk in 1699 in 
 the North river, near Caldwell's, and got up a gun, and expected 
 to find also some treasure. 
 
 Capt. Kidd's Vessel. In the summer of 1844, they succeeded 
 by use of divers and diving bells, &c., to discover up the North 
 river, a little above Verplank's Point, at Caldwell's landing, the 
 remains of Capt. Kidd's ship, it is said, which was blown up and 
 sunk about the time of his arrest. This has been chiefly ascer- 
 tained by the assiduity of A. G. Thompson of Wall street, a de- 
 scendant of Gardiner, of Gardiner's Island, to whom Kidd entrust- 
 ed a part of his money. They have succeeded to fish up a 24 
 pound carronade of old-fashioned construction, and are using dili- 
 gence to unearth the vessel itself, and to find out her treasure if any 
 there be. The vessel exceeds 150 feet in length, supposed to be 
 equal to the class of frigates then. It would be a real curiosity to 
 get now a sight of her construction ! She now rests but a little dis- 
 tance from low water mark, off" the mouth of the race. It is said 
 that this ship, ascertaining while at Gardiner's Island, (their ren- 
 dezvous,) that two ships were sent for her capture — she to escape 
 them went up the North river, where they blew up this ship, and 
 dispersed the men with what treasure they could bear off". This 
 declaration does not fully accord with former facts related ; but 
 still, as it now comes up, that the aforesaid Mr. Thompson has 
 been for several years, seeking after the hulk of such a vessel, 
 
 • That original paper calls him however, Wxllxam Kidd, and so have some 
 other accounts. 
 
Miscellaneous Fads, 315 
 
 and has at length purchased the land where she rests, there may- 
 be reason for believing that the descendants of the Gardiner family- 
 have had their sufficient reasons for believing in something like 
 the present version of the story. The other story was in the 
 main, that Kidd siurrendered himself voluntarily to Gov. Beller- 
 mont, with a hope that the treasure, which he designated as being 
 in the care of Gardiner (worth about 200,000 dollars), might be 
 a sufficient douceur to secure his acquittal with that officer, and 
 so leave Kidd free, to join his wife and child, and to dwell in 
 New York among the magnates and wealthy class, in guilty 
 splendour. There is something truly interesting and exciting, in 
 contemplating the possible recovery and exhibition now of such 
 a relic, of a century and a half of concealment. We cannot but 
 wish success to the full discovery. [In boring since, they think 
 they have got into a cask of silver, and are therefore resolved to 
 persevere by making a coffer dam, &c.] 
 
 Broadhead^s Jincient Records, concerning New York. These 
 voluminous MS. records in eighty volumes, are the results of 
 Mr. Broadhead's researches in England, France and Holland, as 
 an agent of the state of New York, sent out under an appropria- 
 tion of twelve thousand dollars to procure whatever he could 
 concerning the early colonial history of the province. In the 
 pursuit of this object, he was occupied three years. The very 
 catalogue of his several papers, copied and returned to our coun- 
 try, occupies three hundred and seventy-six pages octavo. Such 
 subjects as chiefly arrested my attention therein, as being most 
 within the compass of my views, I have hereinafter set down, 
 and which while they may show somewhat of the general char- 
 acter, of the papers collected, may also serve as a reference, to 
 such of our readers as may feel an interest to inspect them further 
 for themselves. It might be remarked concerning such papers, 
 that although sundry of them might seem of little value in them- 
 selves, yet as a connecting link to others, as a whole, they rise in 
 value by their necessary aggregation. It is even something 
 satisfying, to know how little need be known. The search 
 appears to have been very thorough and successful ; and only 
 failed in one particular, in not getting any papers of the West 
 India company prior to the year 1700, up to which time, all the 
 previous papers, by an order of the year 1821, were sold at 
 public auction as useless lumber, a sad oversight for New York 
 interests ! — 
 
 The following comprise none from, the Paris records in 17 
 vols., because I saw but little that seemed to induce my reference 
 thereto. Unless to mention that in 1689, there are several papers 
 stating schemes, then entertained by the French ministry, for 
 conquering New York, therein showing how cordially they de- 
 sired to make us an a n^/o- American, Galo nation. But the power 
 that directs the whirlwind and the storm, overruled to another 
 
316 Miscellaneous Facts. 
 
 course ! Many of the other papers, relate to posts and Indians, 
 and to border wars. 
 
 From Broadhead's Calendar of Documents which refers to the 
 volumes and pages severally, we select thus, viz : 
 
 From the Holland papers, in sixteen volumes. 
 
 Years. Pages. 
 
 Report by Capt. Cornelius Hendrickson, of his discoveries in New 
 
 Netherland, -..-.. 1616 32 
 
 Letter of P. Shagen, stating the purchase of Manhattan Island, from 
 
 the Indians, - - - - - - 1626 36 
 
 Memorial of tlie States General to King Charles I., stating title to 
 
 New Netherlands, &c., ..... 1632 37 
 
 Privileges &c. to be granted to Dutchmen, settling in New Neth- 
 erland, ....... 1634 40 
 
 Memorials against directors Kieft and Stuyvesant, - - 1648 48 
 
 Remonstrance from Vanderdonck and others, giving an inter- 
 esting historical account of New Netherland from its disco- 
 very till 1649, ...... 1649 51 
 
 Memorials of S. Claeson, and C, Melyn, complaining of Stuyve- 
 sant, - - - - - - - 1650 53 
 
 Compilation concerning New Netherland, showing first disco- 
 veries, &c., - - - . . . 1655 && 
 
 Arrest of Sabastian de RaefF, &c., pirates in New Netherland, 1655 67 
 
 Letter of States General to West India Company, respecting the 
 
 Swedes, .... - . - 1656 68 
 
 Sales of Lands by Indians, on the Schuylkill, - - . 1656 69 
 
 Memorial of inhabitants on Schuylkill to Director Stuyvesant, 1651 69 
 
 Declaration of Mattehoorn and other Indians, concerning lands 
 
 on South River, - - - - - - 1657 69 
 
 Depositions concerning Swedes on South River, - - 1656 69 
 
 Capitulation and conditions of Fort Casimir, by Sven Schute, to 
 
 Stuyvesant, ...... 69 
 
 Account of the situation of New Netherland, who were first dis- 
 coverers and settlers, ..... 73 
 
 Letters from Magistrates of Gravesende, Hiemstede, Long Island, 1653 74 
 
 Letter of the States General, to the villages in New Netherland, 1664 75 
 
 Van Gogh's memorial to the King of England, concerning Eng- 
 lish aggressions in New Netherland, ... 1664 77 
 
 Remonstrance of inhabitants of New Netherland to the Governor 
 
 General against resisting the English, ... gl 
 
 Resolution that a preacher and 300 colonists be sent to New 
 
 Netherland, - - - - - - 93 
 
 Resolution to give 200 guilders each, to 25 families of Menonists 
 
 going to New Netherland, .... - 94 
 
 The Exchange Bank to pay 50,000 guilders to the Waldenses, 1656 95 
 
 From the London papers, in forty-seven volumes. 
 
 Years. Pages. 
 An act of the States General, permitting all oppressed christian 
 
 people to erect a colony in America, under Stuyvesant, - 1661 106 
 Letter of Mr. Maverick to Col. Nicholls, concerning New York 
 
 — of whales in the harbour — of Nutt Island and its trees, - 1668 113 
 Robert Hodge's account of the taking of New York by the 
 
 Dutch, - - 1673 114 
 
 W. Hayes' affidavit concerning the taking of New York by the 
 
 Dutch - - 1673 115 
 
 Observations of W. Greenhalgh, in a journey to the Indians, - 1677 117 
 
 / 
 
Miscellaneous Facts. 317 
 
 Years. Pages. 
 Governor Andros' account of the general concerns of New York, 1677 117 
 Relation of G. Van Sweeringen, of the seating of Delaware bay 
 
 and river, by the Dutch and Swedes, . - _ 1684 121 
 
 Letter of the Council to Gov. Dongan, in favour of French pro- 
 
 testants, - - - - - - - 1687 124 
 
 Letter of the King to Gov. Dongan, directing him to prosecute 
 
 pirates, - - - - - - - 1687 125 
 
 Letter from the Council of New York, stating the overthrow of 
 
 the government — Capt. Leisler, - - - _ 129 
 
 Letter of Capt. Leisler to the King and Queen, his proceed- 
 ings, &c. ------ - 1689 130 
 
 Letter of P. Reveredge, concerning French families in New 
 
 York, 
 
 Extravagant and arbitrary proceedings of Jacob Leysler, &c. 
 Relation of occurrences to Major Schuyler and christian Indians, 
 Letter from Wm. Penn, to Gov. Fletcher, ... 
 
 Major D. Wessel's journal of his mission to the Five Nations, - 
 Letter of Gov. Fletcher— conduct of Pennsylvania — people of 
 New York go there, . . . . - 
 
 List of reputed Papists in the city of New York, 
 Letter of Lord Bellermont to the Admiralty, about pirates, 
 Mr. Weaver's statement about pirates — elections in New York, 
 Number of inhabitants in the counties in New York, 
 Letter of Lord Bellermont, says lawyers in New York are of 
 scandalous character, ..... 
 
 Board of Trade to Lord Bellermont — ships of war — pirates. 
 Journal of J. Glenn and N. Bleecker at Onondaga, 
 The Board of Trade, respecting Capt. Kidd, &c.. 
 Letter of the King ordering pirates to be sent to England, 
 John Key's accusation against Lord Bellermont, 
 Secretary R. Livingston's observations, in his voyage to Onon- 
 daga, ....... 156 
 
 Letter of Lord Bellermont, concerning parties — Indians — French 
 
 —Capt. Kidd— Mr. Penn, - - - - - 1700 158 
 
 Articles of agreement between Lord Bellermont and Robert Liv- 
 ingston, and Capt. William Kidd, and bond of Capt. Kidd, 1700 159 
 Letter of Lord Bellermont, concerning Capt. Kidd — Gillam the 
 
 pirate, ..-.-.- 160 
 
 Letter of Secretary of State, concerning distressed protestants from 
 
 Holstein, desiring to get to America, ... 1708 174 
 
 Letter of Gov. Hunter, settling the Palatines on Hudson river, 1710 179 
 Statement of the Church in New York, with remarks, - - 1712 183 
 
 Letter of Gov. Hunter — population of New York — conspiracy of 
 
 slaves, 1712 183 
 
 Letter of Gov. Hunter — Indians — pirates, &c. ... 1717 188 
 An account of negro slaves imported into New York in six years, 
 
 2395, 1726 199 
 
 An account of the inhabitants of New Jersey, ... 1726 200 
 Petition of A. Rutgers, for grant of the swamp in New York, 1731 203 
 Letter of Gov. Cosby, concerning manufactures in New York, 1732 205 
 Instructions of Lord Delaware as Governor of New York and 
 
 New Jersey, 1737 211 
 
 List of the number of inhabitants of New York, and of militia, 1737 213 
 Letter of Mr. Clarke, concerning Papist conspiracy to burn New 
 
 York, - - . - - - - 1741 2:6 
 
 Information of S. Boyle of Morris county, N. J., concerning *^e 
 
 Moravians, - - - - - - 1747 222 
 
 2 d2 
 
 1689 
 
 131 
 
 1690 
 
 131 
 
 1691 
 
 135 
 
 1692 
 
 138 
 
 1693 
 
 13d 
 
 1693 
 
 144 
 
 1696 
 
 144 
 
 1698 
 
 149 
 
 1698 
 
 150 
 
 1698 
 
 151 
 
 
 151 
 
 1699 
 
 153 
 
 1699 
 
 154 
 
 1699 
 
 154 
 
 1700 
 
 155 
 
 1700 
 
 156 
 
Years. Pages. 
 
 1749 
 
 228 
 
 1749 
 
 230 
 
 1753 
 
 238 
 
 1754 
 
 240 
 
 
 241 
 
 
 243 
 
 ,1754 
 
 242 
 
 1755 
 
 243 
 
 
 246 
 
 ) 1755 
 
 252 
 
 I 
 
 253 
 
 1759 
 
 255 
 
 1760 
 
 256 
 
 1764 
 
 263 
 
 
 265 
 
 
 266 
 
 318 Miscellaneous Facts. 
 
 Letter of Gov. Clinton, concerning factions — hostile Indians, 
 List of the number of inhabitants in New York, 
 Conrad Weisser's journal with the Mohawks, - 
 Letter of Major Washington to Gov. Hamilton, - 
 i Letter of T. Cutler, to the Bishop of Oxford, concerning Dissent- 
 ers, books, &c., ----- 
 
 Letter of Rev. S. Johnson, to the Bishop of Oxford, church dis- 
 regarded, &c., ------ 
 
 Secret instructions to Gen. Braddock, - - - Nov. 
 
 Letter of Gov. Shirley, commends Braddock's plans. 
 Letter of Rev. S. Johnson to archbishop, of irreligion, college, &c. 
 Croghan's Journals, with Indians on Ohio, - - 17 " 
 
 Letter of Archbishop Seeker, to Rev. Dr. Johnson, disasters in 
 American Ecclesiastical establishments, - - - 
 
 Letter of W. Smith, concerning condition of the church. 
 Petition of the Earl of Stirling, for satisfaction for Long Island, 
 Petition of Sir James Jay, to the king, asking a grant of land, - 
 Letter of Mr. Colden to the Earl Halifax, on influence of the law- 
 yers in New York, ------ 
 
 Same to Secretary Conway, opposition to stamp act, difficulties. 
 Same to do. do. lawyers promote the sedition, to 
 
 send out Judges, ------ 267 
 
 Same to Secretary Conway, New York influence, and leads 
 
 other colonies, a crisis, - - - - - 268 
 
 Letter from Gov. Fitch of Conn., to Sir H. Moore concerning 
 
 militia. 
 Letter of Sir H. Moore, concerning manufactories in New York, 
 Letter of Lord Dunmore, arrived at New York and well received. 
 Trinity church quit rents for land, &c., - - - - 
 
 Letter of Gov. Tryon, ferment in New York respecting tea. 
 Same to Lord D., — Colonies revolt, will never submit. 
 Same to do. must embody royalists, and have a viceroy. 
 Same to do. remove the records onboard ship, - 
 Same to Lord Germain, enlistments, independence, &c.. 
 Same to do. New York taken, Staten Island loyal, 
 
 conflagration of New York, and "Mr. Washington privy 
 thereto," ------- 302 
 
 Same to Lord Germain, 3030 persons in New York swear alle- 
 giance, - - - - - - 1777 302 
 
 Letter of Gov. Tryon, to Mr. Knox, must excite Indians against 
 
 rebels, ------- 303 
 
 Letter of Lord Germain to government, of prisoners taken by 
 
 sea, 1778 305 
 
 Letter of Gov. Tryon, concerning royalist privateers and letters 
 
 of marque, ------- 1778 305 
 
 Same to Lord Germain, to give rewards for congressmen, to ex- 
 cite the Indians, and to ravage the coasts, - - - 1778 306 
 Letter of Gov. Tryon — and receipt of the New York records, - 307 
 
 Same depredations urged, embodying refugees - 1779 307 
 
 Letter of Gov. Robertson to Lord G. — , speaks of Cornwallis's 
 
 surrender, and that the royalist inhabitants will repair it ! - 309 
 
 It must strike the reader, as it did ourself, that such state 
 documents, once preserved with such great concealment and 
 secrecy, should come out at last, by lapse of time, to be no 
 longer matter of scruple to be thus made known. Showing thus, 
 
 1766 
 
 269 
 
 1767 
 
 272 
 
 1770 
 
 283 
 
 1771 
 
 285 
 
 1773 
 
 290 
 
 1775 
 
 297 
 
 1776 
 
 300 
 
 1776 
 
 300 
 
 1776 
 
 301 
 
Miscellaneous Facts. • 319 
 
 that the present generation, can feel themselves virtually exempt 
 from credit or blame for any given actions of their forefathers. 
 
 E. B. O^Callaghan's History of New Netherland. We use 
 the occasion to say a few words from E. B. O'Callaghan's recent 
 work, the " History of New Netherland," wherein he has very 
 successfully brought out a large fund of historical facts, concern- 
 ing New York, while under the Dutch government. He shows 
 from his abundant materials, what we had before alleged, that 
 there was much to be gathered from our own MS. records at 
 Albany. These he has used with much industry and research ; 
 and thereby, for the first time, fills up that blank, which former 
 historians, such as Smith and others, from their ignorance of the 
 Dutch language, had neglected to explore, and which, at the 
 same time, they took the liberty to say, was not sufficiently avail- 
 able or useful, to be elaborated into profitable history. Like 
 Chalmers, all contented themselves, with barely alluding to the 
 history prior to 1664, as being a thing unknown : and that as to 
 the Enghsh subsequent government, "they had prudently copied 
 what had been already established by the Dutch ;" but what 
 was the character of the things copied and not changed, or what 
 the people who had been transferred, they found it convenient to 
 say just nothing ! All this hiatus has been now supplied by the 
 commendable labours of Mr. O'Callaghan. 
 
 For the benefit of such readers as may feel curious to know how 
 far he may have brought out such facts, as we have been sedulous 
 to gather in our present Annals, we here make a running record 
 of such items, as most won our attention and regard. They are 
 indeed extremely brief, so much so, that a very few pages, if 
 copied, would comprise the whole, to wit : First appearance and 
 description of the country, its trees, fruits, plants, wild animals, 
 birds, fish, reptiles ; the natives, their habits, customs, mode of 
 living, &c. ; names of first forts and settlements erected ; arrival 
 and settlement of the Walloons ; early English settlers ; some 
 intercourse with the Puritans ; jealousy between Enghsh and 
 Dutch settlers ; some notice of the patroons ; first clergyman and 
 schoolmaster ; two or three English vessels try to force a trade 
 up the North river, and quarrels ensue ; a new fort, church, and 
 some houses erected, and sundry improvements; some early 
 notices of Long Island ; and English settlements at Oyster bay, 
 opposed ; Indians sometimes jealous and hostile ; for that cause, 
 days of fasting and prayer are appointed ; boats going up North 
 river are attacked ; Mrs. Moody is attacked and Mrs. Hutchinson 
 killed ; expeditions to Staten Island and Greenwich, and Schout's 
 bay occur ; their success, and severity on the captives ; five hun- 
 dred Indians are slaughtered ; taxes for expenses are imposed 
 and resisted by some ; first settlers at Rensselaerwyck and Bevers- 
 wyck are named ; a small church, and minister there ; explora- 
 tions for minerals; a quarrel occurs between the Rev. Mr. 
 
320 Miscellaneous Facts. 
 
 Bogardus and director Kieft ; some Dutchmen receive grants of 
 land on the Delaware, and tlie Schuylkill is purchased of the 
 Indians; notice of slaves, as they were ; finally comes a brief 
 notice of the state of morals, religion, and education. The fore- 
 going-, are topics, it is to be remarked, which are generally told 
 only incidentally, and mostly with no enlargement, possibly, as no 
 more may have appeared of record, a circumstance which hardly 
 affords an occasion to make any suitable extracts. For instance, 
 " the state of morals and rehgion," as above stated, appear 
 briefly in these words, to wit : " Religion and education felt the 
 baneful effects of these evil influences, (the bickerings between 
 the dictatorial and imperious Kieft, and the republican habits of 
 the Dutch.) So that the church which had been commenced in 
 1642, remained unfinished a long while, as if the country were 
 indeed without timber or sawmill. In the mean time, the 
 director uses the moneys which had been appropriated therefor, 
 (in fines, &c.,) for his own urgent calls. In the same way, the 
 fund for a public school, had also been misapplied." The fore- 
 going precedes, and comes down to the time of the government 
 of Gen. Stuyvesant, and ends the volume ; to which another 
 volume by way of conclusion, is intended to be brought out 
 hereafter. 
 
 It is to be inferred, that as Mr. O'Callaghan could only derive 
 his facts from formal state papers, found in the archives of office 
 at Albany, they were not of a nature to present curious or amus- 
 ing incidents of early society, in manners, habits, dress, and social 
 relations, such as would furnish picturesque and graphic delinea- 
 tions of things as they were once there. It will therefore behoove 
 those who know the facts in the case, to consider whether more 
 can be done or not. We cannot however, but be obliged to Mr. 
 O'Callaghan, for what he has elicited, since he gives the course 
 and leading points of general history, such as were before hidden 
 from our view and contemplation. 
 
 It is surely to be regretted, that so large a work should afford 
 so little of what should be deemed the domestic everyday history 
 of the community and their doings. The completest things in 
 this way, are to be found in the appendix when furnishing copies 
 of original papers preserved in the Van Rensselaer family. Such 
 as is found in the agent Van Curler's letters to the patroon, 
 wherein he writes thus, to wit : He therein calls the settlers on his 
 lands, "the boors," and the patroon, "his honour," "noble 
 patroon," " my Lord," and "' Lord patroon," always in a very 
 deferential and reverent manner ; has something, but briefly, to 
 say of raising horses and cows as breeders, of building houses 
 " for the boors," with reed and thatched roofs, of planting and 
 raising tobacco, of building a small church, thinks he has found a 
 diamond ! finds that the vines planted, have failed and perished 
 by the frost, talks of sending wheat for ^ale to Virginia, says the 
 
Miscellaneous Facts. 321 
 
 price of seawant increases in value, and the article is much needed ; 
 says the sheep die off surprisingly, and that the wolves destroy 
 them also ; that the swine range in the woods, that excellent 
 turkeys are brought in by the Indians ; he admires the beauty of 
 the country lying along the Mohawk river; speaks of stone 
 arriving, and thinks they may find means to procure them in the 
 country at less expense. The tiles sent out, he describes as 
 crumbling away ; gives forms of his leases of lands, and the stock 
 which the boors must raise and keep, they to pay in timber, furs, 
 and grain. [The Van Rensselaer family have now a gold snuff 
 box, presented to their ancestor by Charles II., a rare family relic 
 certainly.] 
 
 Colonial Paper Monet/. When this was in use, it became 
 quite a business with some to make and pass counterfeit money. 
 It was actually manufactured in Dublin, and sent out to agents to 
 dispose of It so happened, particularly in Jersey. Gov. Franklin, 
 the last of the king's governors, was most successful in ferreting 
 them out of their dens and concealments. One Ford, about the 
 year 1763, (the time of the appointment of Gov. Franklin,) asso- 
 ciated with one King, had their home in an obscure swamp, from 
 which they used to come occasionally to Amboy, Elizabethtown, 
 &c., appearing as plain farmers, and disposing of their money. 
 This they did to several creditable people, and people of property, 
 at low prices, as seduced accomplices! In time, they were much 
 superseded by a gang of confederated counterfeiters and coiners 
 from New England, who operated about Woodbridge, Middle- 
 town, Amboy, &c. In time, the increase of business in this way, 
 led to increased vigilance among the people and magistrates, and 
 Ford, King & Co., were apprehended in 1774, tried, and broke 
 jail and got off, but several of the good yeomanry, participators, 
 were exposed, tried and pardoned ; say six respectable heads of 
 families ! It made a time of general and deep excitem,ent. One 
 of the decent culprits was a magistrate, another was a serious 
 deacon, and in such good standing, that none would credit his 
 malconduct until he voluntarily confessed it, and that not until 
 after his minister had publicly prayed for his deliverance from 
 "malicious scandal," and had actually given public thanks for his 
 deliverance, upon a false report of " his release !" In the year 
 1768, when the counterfeiting business was in a measure super- 
 seded by the new comers from New England, Ford, King, and 
 Cooper, robbed the state treasury at Amboy of £6000. The 
 perpetrators were unknown until 1774, when Cooper, then under 
 sentence of death for counterfeiting, declared the facts in the 
 case. 
 
 Continental Money. It may interest many to see a brief 
 notice of the history and progress of our continental money,— 
 because so few of the present generation, have ever been rightly 
 informed respecting its operations and details. It is in itself some 
 41 
 
322 Miscellaneous Fads, 
 
 thing, properly appertaining to an illustration of our chapter of 
 " the War of Independence," and as such we here give it, to wit : 
 
 In June, 1775, was made the first emission of 2,000,000 of 
 dollars. Before the close of that year, 3,000,000 more were issued. 
 In May, 1776, 5,000,000 more were issued, in the autumn of that 
 year 5,000,000 more, and in December, 5,000,000 more. Such 
 frequent and large emissions began to reduce their value in the 
 confidence of the people. In the mean time, the power of taxing 
 was virtually denied to the Confederation. They could only 
 recommend the measure to the States. 
 
 The whole amount issued during the war was 400,000,000 
 dollars ! but the collections made by the continental government 
 in various ways, cancelled from time to time about one half 
 of it, so that the maximum of valuation at no time exceeded 
 ^200,000,000 ; nor did it reach that sum, until its depreciation 
 had compelled Congress to take it in, and pay it out at 40 dollars 
 for one of specie. 
 
 It kept nearly at par for the first year ; as it was then but about 
 equal to the amount of specie held in all the colonies. But the 
 quick succession of increase tended to depreciate it, till it reached 
 500 for 1, and finally 1000 for 1, — when it ceased to circulate for 
 any value at all. 
 
 Congress, after a time, exchanged forty for one, by giving the 
 holders loan -office certificates at par, and had offered to redeem 
 the whole in the same way at 1000 for 1, when it was down at 
 that price ! but as those loan-office certificates had themselves 
 gone down to 2s. 6d. on the pound, or eight dollars for one, very 
 few were found to avail themselves of the offer. That was their 
 misfortune, to have been so distrustful, or so needy ! 
 
 Public securities of similar character, bearing various names, 
 such as loan-office certificates, depreciation certificates, final settle- 
 ments, &c., were also given to the public creditors, for services, 
 supplies, &c., and thus constituted Ihe public debt at the end of 
 the war. All these were worth but eight for one, until the 
 adoption of the present constitution in 1789, when they were 
 funded and rose to par, and thus made fortunes for many ! 
 
 The whole revolutionary debt, as estimated on the journal of 
 Congress, the 29th April, 1783, not including the paper money, 
 stood thus, viz : 
 
 Foreign debt to France and Holland, at 4 per cent., ^7,885,085 
 Domestic debt, in various certificates, as above, 34,115,290 
 
 At four and six per cent, interest, ^42,000,375 
 
 Making an interest of ^2,415,953 per annum. 
 
 To the foregoing the Secretary of the Treasury after- 
 wards added, for claims held by several of the States ^21,500,000 
 
Miscellaneous Facts. 323 
 
 and then funded the whole, putting a part on interest at six per 
 
 cent., postponing another part without interest for ten years, and 
 
 the remainder bearing an immediate interest at three per cent. 
 
 The foregoing, with arrears of six years interest being added, 
 and with some other unsettled claims, made the whole debt 
 amount to ninety-four millions, which soon went up to par ! 
 
 The statesmen of the Revolution were well disposed to pay 
 their paper obligations, and alleged, that they also had the ability 
 to do so : but against these, stood the inability of the people to 
 pursue the profitable employments of peaceful times, and there- 
 fore their inability to pay taxes, even if the Congress had had the 
 power to impose them. They could only recommend the measure 
 to the States. They had all agreed at one time to exact an impost 
 of 5 per cent., on all imported goods, but Rhode Island resisted 
 the measure to the last, and without unanimity it could not be 
 adopted ! 
 
 The campaign of 1778 and '79, with an army of thirty to forty 
 thousand men, was sustained by emissions of paper money to the 
 amount of 135,000,000 of dollars. Thus "making it by wagon 
 loads !" In the same time, the amount of specie received into the 
 public treasury was but 151,666 dollars, a weight but about a ton 
 of coal if all put into a cart for its carriage ! 
 
 It has been said that so great a sinking of paper money, was 
 not so injuriously felt among the people as might be imagined ; — 
 and it has been reasoned thus, viz. : The largest sum by which 
 they could have been affected, might be estimated at 300,000,000 
 at 20 for one, which is only half of the rate fixed by Congress. 
 This would give 15,000,000 of sound money ; and this, having 
 been a currency for six years, gives an annual average of 
 2,500,000 ; which, to a population of 3,000,000, would make, in 
 point of fact, a poll tax of but about one dollar to each ; or if they 
 be estimated by families of six persons each, would be an annual 
 loss, to such severally, of but five dollars each ! So easy is it by 
 figures to diminish losses, which we of the present generation 
 have never felt ! Yet it was a painful and onerous loss to our 
 forefathers, now all gone beyond its influence ! 
 
 Those who are minutely curious on this matter may consult, 
 with profit, a late paper in the proceedings of the Philosophical 
 Society of Philadelphia, by Samuel Breck, Esq. 
 
 In the course of the use and depreciation of such money, it 
 became in time a matter of fun with many to show their levity 
 of spirit, at their loss thereby, by pasting it up, as ornaments in 
 their workshops, and sometimes, by pasting much of it together 
 to form head caps and vestments of it, for street display, &c. Yet. 
 poor as it was in the end, it was for its time, the sign of that 
 money, wherewith they worked out their independence. Abun- 
 dant as it once was, few of the bills are now to be found ; and 
 
324 
 
 Incidents of the War at New York. 
 
 therefore, to make the present exhibition of a bill of the first 
 emission, becomes in itself a curiosity, and as such is here given to 
 the inspection of the reader. 
 
 No. 1776. 
 
 SEVEN DOLLARS. \ 
 This Bill entitles the \ 
 Bearer to receive Seven \ 
 Spanish milled Dollar s^ 
 or the value thereof in 
 Gold or Silver, accord- 
 ing to a Resolution of 
 Congress, passed at Phil- 
 ddelphia, November 29, 
 1775. 
 
 J. Packer, 
 R. Tuckniss. 
 
 SSIATOIOO a^JLIJ^n 3HX 
 
 — 
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE WAR AT NEW YORK. 
 
 -" this to show 
 
 Mankind, the wild deformity of war!" 
 
 New York city having been held during the term of the revo- 
 lution as a conquered place, and also as the chief military post 
 of British rule, it becomes matter of interest and curiosity to the 
 present generation to revive and contemplate the pictorial images 
 of those scenes and facts which our fathers witnessed in those 
 days of peril and deep emotion. I give such as I could glean. 
 
 The spirit of opposition in us began before the revolution 
 actually opened. 
 
 The first theatre in Beekman street, (now where stands the 
 house No. 26,) was pulled down in 1766, on a night of entertain- 
 ment there, by the citizens, generally called "Liberty Boys." 
 The cause arose out of some offence in the play, which was 
 cheered by the British officers present, and hissed and condemned 
 by the mass of the people. About the same time the people 
 seized upon a press barge, and drew it through the streets to the 
 Park commons, where they burnt it. 
 
 After the war had commenced and New York was expected 
 to be captured, almost all the Whig families, who could sustain 
 
Incidents of the War at New York. 325 
 
 the expense, left their houses and homes to seek precarious 
 refuge where they could in the country. On the other hand, 
 after the city was possessed by the British, all the tory families 
 who felt unsafe in the country made their escape into New York 
 for British protection. Painfully, family relations were broken ; 
 families as well as the rulers took diflferent sides, and " Greek met 
 Greek" in fierce encounter. 
 
 Mr. Brower, who saw the British force land in Kipp's bay as 
 he stood on the Long Island heights, says it was the most im- 
 posing sight his eyes ever beheld. The army crossed the East 
 river, in open flat boats, filled with soldiers standing erect ; their 
 arms all glittering in the sunbeams. They approached the Bri- 
 tish fleet in Kipp's bay, in the form of a crescent, caused by the 
 force of the tide breaking the intended line of boat after boat. 
 They all closed up in the rear of the fleet, when all the vessels 
 opened a heavy cannonade. 
 
 The British troops, under Sir Wm. Howe, landed, on Sunday 
 the 15th Sept., 1776, at the point of rocks a few hundred yards 
 from the ancient Kipp house, they being protected in their land- 
 ing, by the cannon of the ships of war. They then had a skir- 
 mish with the Americans in the rear of that house. 
 
 The old Kipp house, being one of respectable grandeur in that 
 time, and the family absent as whigs, was taken for the use of 
 British officers of distinction. Therein have dined and banqueted. 
 Sir Wm. Howe, Sir H. Clinton, Lord Percy, Genl. Knyphausen, 
 Major Andre, &c. In 1780 the same house was occupied as the 
 quarters of Col. Williams of the 60th Royal Americans — a regi- 
 ment which had been raised as early as 1755 for the old French 
 war. It is remembered, that at that house, Maj. Andre once gave 
 for his song at the dinner repast — 
 
 " Why, soldiers, why, 
 Should we be melancholy boys, 
 Wfiose business ^tis to die," &c. 
 
 That was his last dinner at New York, and in ten short days 
 thereafter, he was himself a prisoner, and devoted for destruction 
 as a spy ! 
 
 The old Kipp house, constructed of Holland brick, was erected 
 in 1641, and is still standing as a remarkable relic of the past, 
 and as having been owned by the same respectable family to the 
 present day ! Soon it must go, with all the rest, to follow the rage 
 of innovation and change ! Americans, as yet, can't consent to 
 the perpetuity of old things ! Formerly devoted to the necessary 
 change of every thing around us, as a new country requiring 
 improvement, we have gone into the extreme of making all things 
 new, even after the time for making them is fully past ! 
 
 I shall herein endeavour to mark the localities of position occu- 
 pied by the British, especially of residences of distinguished 
 
 2 E 
 
326 Incidents of the War at New York. 
 
 officers, and also of those suffering prison-houses and hospitals 
 where our poor countrymen sighed over their own and their 
 country's wo. 
 
 All the Presbyterian churches in New York were used for 
 military purposes in some form or other. I suspect they were 
 deemed more whiggish in general than some of the other churches. 
 The clergymen of that order were in general throughout the war, 
 said to be zealous to promote the cause of the revolution. The 
 Methodists, on the contrary, then few in number, were deemed 
 loyalists, chiefly from the known loyalism of their founder, Mr. 
 Wesley. Perhaps to this cause it was that the society in John 
 street enjoyed so much indulgence as to occupy their church for 
 Sunday night service, while the Hessians had it in the morning 
 service for their own chaplains and people. 
 
 The British troops were quartered in any empty houses of the 
 Whigs which might be found. Wherever men were billeted, 
 they marked it. 
 
 The middle Dutch church in Nassau street, was used to impri- 
 son 3000 Americans. The pews were all gutted out and used as 
 fuel. Afterwards they used it for the British cavalry, wherein 
 they exercised their men, as a riding school ; making them leap 
 over raised windlasses. At the same place they often picketed 
 their men, as a punishment, making them bear their weight on 
 their toe on a sharp goad. At the same place, while the prison- 
 ers remained there, Mr. Andrew Mercein told me he used to see 
 the " Dead Cart" come every morning, to bear off six or eight of 
 the dead. 
 
 The old sugar-house, which also adjoined to this church, was 
 filled with the prisoners taken at Long Island ; there they suffered 
 much, they being kept in an almost starved condition. 
 
 This starving proceeded from different motives ; they wished 
 to break the spirit of the prisoners, and to cause their desertion, 
 or to make the war unwelcome to their friends at home. On some 
 occasions, as I shall herein show, the British themselves were 
 pinched for supplies ; and on other occasions the commissaries 
 had their own gain to answer, by withholding what they could 
 from the prisoners. I could not find, on inquiry, that Americans 
 in New York were allowed to help their countrymen unless by 
 stealth. I was told by eye witnesses of cases, where the wounded 
 came crawling to the openings in the wall, and begging only for 
 one cup of water, and could not be indulged, the sentinels saying, 
 " we are sorry too, but our orders have been, ^ suffer no commu- 
 nication in the absence of your officer.' " 
 
 The north Dutch church in William street was entirely gutted 
 of its pews, and made to hold two thousand prisoners. 
 
 The Quaker meeting in Pearl street was converted into an 
 hospital. 
 
 The old French church was used as a prison. 
 
Incidents of the War at New York. 327 
 
 Mr. Thomas Swords, told me they used to bury the prisoners 
 on the mount, then on the corner of Grace and Lumber streets. It 
 was an old redoubt. 
 
 Cunningham was infamous for his cruelty to the prisoners, even 
 depriving them of life, it is said, for the sake of cheating his king 
 and country by continuing for a time to draw their nominal 
 rations ! The prisoners at the Provost, (the present debtors' prison 
 in the Park,) were chiefly under his severity, (my father among 
 the number for a time.) It was said he was only restrained from 
 putting them to death, five or six of them of a night, (back of the 
 prison-yard, where were also their graves,) by the distress of cer- 
 tain women in the neighbourhood, who, pained by the cries for 
 mercy which they heard, went to the commander-in-chief, and 
 made the case known, with entreaties to spare their lives in future. 
 This unfeeling wretch, it is said, came afterwards to an ignomi- 
 nious end, being executed in England, as was published in Hall 
 and Sellers' paper in Philadelphia. It was there said, that it came 
 out on the trial that he boasted of having killed more of the 
 king's enemies by the use of his 0W7i means than had been 
 effected by the king's arms ! — he having, as it was there stated, 
 used a preparation of arsenic in their flour. 
 
 Loring, another commissary of prisoners, was quite another 
 man, and had a pretty good name. Mr. Lennox, the other, being 
 now a resident of New York, I forbear any remarks. 
 
 There was much robbing in the city by the soldiery at times. 
 In this. Lord Rawdon's corps and the king's guards, were said 
 to have been pre-eminent. 
 
 The British cast up a line of entrenchments quite across from 
 Corlear's Hook to Bunker's Hill, on the Bowery road, and placed 
 gates across the road there. The Hessians, under Knyphausen, 
 were encamped on a mount not far from Corlear's Hook. 
 
 Mr. Andrew Mercein, who was present in New York when 
 most of the above mentioned things occurred, has told me several 
 facts. He was an apprentice with a baker who made bread for 
 the army, and states, that there was a time when provisions, even 
 to their own soldiery, were very limited. For instance, on the 
 occasion of the Cork provision fleet overstaying their time, he has 
 dealt out sixpenny loaves, as fast as he could hand them, for " a 
 hard half dollar a-piece !" The baker then gave ^20 a cwt. for 
 his flour. They had to make oat meal bread for the navy. Often 
 he has seen 7*. a pound given for butter, when before the war it 
 was but 2^. 
 
 When Cornwallis was in difficulties at Yorktown, and it 
 became necessary to send him out all possible help, they took the 
 citizens by constraint and enrolled them as a militia. In this ser- 
 vice Mr. Mercein was also compelled, and had to take his turns 
 at the fort. There they mounted guard, &c. in military attire, 
 just lent to them for the time, and required to be returned. The 
 
328 Incidents of the War at New York. 
 
 non-commissioned officers were generally chosen as tories, but 
 often without that condition. Mr. Mercein's serjeant was whig- 
 gish enough to have surrendered if he had had the proper chance. 
 There were some independent companies of Tories there. 
 
 It was really an affecting sight to see the operations of the 
 final departure of all the king's embarkation ; the royal band 
 beat a farewell march. Then to see so many of our countrymen, 
 with their women and children, leaving the land of their fathers 
 because they took the king's side, going thence to the bleak and 
 barren soil of Nova Scotia, was at least affecting to them. Their 
 hearts said, " My country, with all thy faults I love thee still." 
 
 In contrast to this, there followed the entry of our cheered and 
 weather-beaten troops, followed by all the citizens in regular 
 platoons. 
 
 (( 
 
 Oh! one day of such a welcome sight, 
 Were worth a whole eternity of lesser years. 
 
 Then crowded home to their own city, all those who had been 
 abroad, reluctant exiles from British rule ; now fondly cherishing 
 in their hearts, " this is my own, my native land." 
 
 The Hessian troops were peculiarly desirous to desert so as to 
 remain in our country, and hid themselves in every family where 
 they could possibly secure a friend to help their escape. 'Twas 
 a lucky hit for those who succeeded, for they generally got ahead 
 as tradesmen and farmers, and became rich. The loss to Eng- 
 land in the " wear and tear" of those Hessians formed a heavy 
 item. It is on record that the Landgrave of Hesse was paid for 
 15,700 men lost, at £30 a head, 36471,000 (being more than two 
 millions of dollars) ; paid to his agent, Mr. Van Otten, at the 
 Bank of England, in 1786. 
 
 It is estimated that 11,000 of our Americans from the British 
 prisons, were interred at the Wallabout, the place of the present 
 Navy Yard. In cutting down the hill for the Navy Yard, they 
 took up as many as thirteen large boxes of human bones; which, 
 being borne on trucks under mourning palls, were carried in pro- 
 cession to Jackson street on Brooklyn height, and interred in a 
 charnel-house constructed for the occasion, beneath three great 
 drooping willows. There rest the bones of my grandfather, borne 
 from the StromboUo's hospital ship three days after his arrival. 
 
 " Those prison ships where pain and penance dwell, 
 Where death in tenfold vengeance holds his reign. 
 And injur'd ghosts there unaveng'd complain." 
 
 Two of the burnt hulks of those ships still remain sunken near 
 the Navy Yard ; one in the dock, and one, the Good Hope, near 
 Finder's Island — all " rotten and old, e'er filled with sighs and 
 groans." 
 
 Our ideas of prisons and prisoners, having ourselves been never 
 
Incidents of the War at New York. 329 
 
 confined, are too vague and undefined in reading of any given 
 mass of suffering men. To enter into conception and sympathy 
 with the subject, we must individuaUze our ideas by singling out 
 a single captive ; hear him talk of his former friends and happy 
 home ; see him pennyless, naked, friendless, in pain and sickness, 
 hopeless, sighing for home, yet wishing to end his griefs by one 
 last deep sigh. With Sterne's pathos, see him notch his weary 
 days and nights ; see the iron enter his soul ; see him dead ; then 
 whelmed in pits, neglected and forgotten. Such was the tale, if 
 individually told, of 11,000 of our suffering countrymen at New 
 York. 
 
 • In February 1781, David Sprout, commissary of naval pri- 
 soners, puts forth a letter to Abraham Skinner, the American 
 commissary of prisoners, wherein he endeavours to palliate and 
 exculpate the British from alleged severity and cruelty to prisoners 
 at New York ; he says he put up bills in the ships to tell each 
 man his allowance " of good, sound, wholesome provisions," and 
 begged their own officers to see them attended to. The sick and 
 (Jying on board the Jersey, proceeded, he says, from their own dirt, 
 nastiness, and want of clothing — says that in the Good Hope, a 
 bulk head by his orders was made, so as to berth the officers abaft 
 and the men before it, and two large stoves were furnished — that 
 to the hospital ship, the same equipment was made, and every sick 
 or wounded person furnished with a candle and bedding, and 
 surgeons were appointed to take care of them ; after which, " the 
 prisoners maliciously and wickedly burnt this best prison ship in 
 the world." He adds that he has offered to exchange prisoners 
 man for man, but the Congress, he says, requires first the return 
 to America of such prisoners as had been taken on the coast, and 
 sent to England. One is glad to see even such a show of huma- 
 nity as the letter plausibly enough set forth ; nevertheless the 
 men suffered, died, and were whelmed in pits to the number of 
 11,000 ! This speaks loudest and bitterest. 
 
 Our officers had far better fare ; they had money or credit ; 
 could look about and provide for themselves : could contrive to 
 make themselves half gay and sportive occasionally. Capt. Gray- 
 don of Philadelphia, who has left us amusing and instructive 
 memoirs of sixty years of his observing life, having been among 
 the officers and men (2,000) captured at Fort Washington near 
 New York, and held prisoners, has left us many instructive pages 
 concerning the incidents at New York while held by the British, 
 which ought to be read by all those who can feel any interest in 
 such domestic history as I have herein endeavoured to preserve. 
 
 Having thus introduced Capt. Graydon to the reader, I shall 
 conclude this article with sundry observations and remarks de- 
 rived from him, to wit : — 
 
 After our capture (says he,) we were committed, men and offi- 
 cers, to the custody of young and insolent officers; we were 
 42 2e2 
 
330 Incidents of the War at Neiv York. 
 
 again and again taunted as " cursed rebels," and that we should 
 all be hanged. Repeatedly we were paraded, and every now and 
 then one and another of us W£ls challenged among our officers as 
 deserters; affecting thereby to consider their common men as good 
 enough for our ordinary subaltern officers. Unfortunately for 
 our pride and self-importance, among those so challenged was 
 here and there a subject fitted to their jibes and jeers. A little 
 squat militia officer, from York county, with dingy clothes the 
 worse for wear, was questioned with " What, sir, is your rank ?" 
 when he answered in a chuif and firm tone, " a keppun sir ;" 
 an answer producing an immoderate laugh among " the haughty 
 Britons." There was also an unlucky militia trooper of the same 
 school, with whom the officers were equally merry, obliging him 
 to amble about for their entertainment on his old jade, with his 
 odd garb and accoutrements. On being asked what were his 
 duties, he simply answered, " it was to flank a little and bear 
 tidings." It must be admitted, however, that there were, at the 
 same time, several gentlemen of the army into whose hands he 
 afterwards fell, or with whom he had intercourse, who were alto- 
 gether gentlemanly in their deportment and feelings. 
 
 At this beginning period of the war, most things on the Ameri- 
 can side were coarse and rough. Maryland and Philadelphia 
 county put forward young gentlemen as officers of gallant bearing 
 and demeanor ; but New England, and this, then seat of war, 
 was very deficient in such material. In many cases subaltern 
 officers at least could scarcely be distinguished from their men 
 other than by their cockades. It was not uncommon for colonels 
 to make drummers and fifers of their sons. Among such the eye 
 looked around in vain for the leading gentry of the country. 
 Gen. Putnam could be seen riding about in his shirt sleeves, with 
 his hanger over his open vest : and Col. Putnam, his nephew, 
 did not disdain to carry his own piece of meat, saying, as his ex- 
 cuse, " it will show our officers a good lesson of humility." On 
 the whole Capt. Graydon says, " I have in vain endeavoured to 
 account for the very few gentlemen, and men of the world, that 
 at this time appeared in 3xmsfro7n this country, which might 
 be considered as the cradle of the revolution. There was here 
 and there a young man of decent breeding in the capacity of an 
 aide-de-camp or brigade major; but any thing above the con- 
 dition of a clown in the regiments we came in contact with, was 
 truly a rarity." Perhaps the reason was, that when the people 
 had the choice of their officers, they chose only their equals or 
 comrades. A letter of Gen. Washington to Gen. Lee, makes 
 himself merry with such mean officers ; and Gen. Schuyler, who 
 was of manly and lofty port, was actually rejected for that reason 
 by the New England troops as their commander. [Vide Mar- 
 shalPs Washington.] Even the Declaration of Independence, 
 
Incidents of the War at New York. 331 
 
 when read about this time at the head of the armies, did not receive 
 the most hearty acclamations, though ostensibly cheered for the 
 sake of a favourable report to the world. Some under voices 
 were heard to mutter, " now we have done for ourselves." It 
 was a fact, too, that at this crisis whiggism declined among the 
 higher classes, and their place was seemingly filled up by numbers 
 of inferior people, who were sufficiently glad to show uniforms 
 and epaulettes as gentlemen who had never been so regarded 
 before. 
 
 As the prisoners were marched into the city, they disparagingly 
 contrasted with their British guard. Our men had begun to be 
 ragged, or were in thread-bare flimsy garments ; whereas every 
 thing on the British soldier was whole and complete. On the 
 road they were met by soldiers, trulls, and others, come out from 
 the city to see " the great surrender of the rebel army.'' Every 
 eye and every person was busy in seeking out " Mr. Washing- 
 ton." There he is, cried half a dozen voices at once. Others 
 assailed them with sneers. When near the city, the officers were 
 separated from the men, and conducted into a church, into which 
 crowded a number of city spectators. There the officers signed 
 paroles, and were permitted afterwards to take their lodgings in 
 the city. The men were confined in churches and sugar-houses, 
 where they suffered much. 
 
 The number of American officers who were thus brought into 
 New York was considerable, and many of them boarded together 
 at Mrs. Carroll's, in Queen street, a winning cheerful lady, who 
 had enough of influence and acquaintance with Col. Robertson, 
 the commandant of the city, to get hold of a good deal of news 
 calculated to interest and serve her lodgers. In the city at this 
 time were such American officers as Colonels Magaw, Miles, 
 Atlee, Allen, Rawlins, &c. ; Majors West, Williams, Burd, De^ 
 Courcey, &c. , and Captains Wilson, Tudor, Davenport, Forrest, 
 Edwards, Lennox, Herbert, &c. 
 
 Such officers took full latitude of their parole, in traversing the 
 streets in all directions with a good deal of purposed assurance. 
 One of them, on one occasion, wearing his best uniform, to the 
 great gaze and wonderment of many, actually ventured disdain- 
 fully to pass the Coffee House, then the general resort of the 
 British officers. At other times, when the Kolch water was 
 frozen over, and was covered with British officers, who thought 
 themselves proficients in skating, it was the malicious pleasure of 
 some of our officers to appear and eclipse them all. The officers 
 occasionally met with cordial civilities and genteel entertainment 
 from British officers with whom they came in contact ; for, in 
 truth, the latter valued their personal gentility too much to seem 
 to be in any degree deficient in politeness and courtesy when they 
 met with those whom they thought sufficiently polished to appre- 
 
332 Incidents of the War at New York. 
 
 ciate their demeanor. Yet it was obviously the system of the 
 British army to treat them as persons with whom to maintain an 
 intercourse would, on their part, be both criminal and degrading. 
 
 Our officers, it seems, but rarely visited their countrymen-pri- 
 soners, saying, as their reason, " to what purpose repeat our visits 
 to these abodes of misery and despair, when they had neither 
 relief to administer nor comfort to bestow. They rather chose to 
 turn the eye from a scene they could not ameliorate." It was not 
 without remark, too, that there was an impediment to their release 
 by exchange maintained by the American rulers themselves, who 
 were either unable or unwilling to sustain a direct exchange, 
 because they foresaw that the British soldiers, when released, 
 would immediately form new combatants against them ; whereas 
 our own men, especially of the militia, were liable to fail back into 
 non-combatants, and perhaps, withal, dispirit the chance of new 
 levies. Perhaps the stoical virtues of the rigorous times made 
 apathy in such a cause the less exceptionable. On the other hand, 
 the British wished the prisoners to apostatize; and nothing was 
 so likely to influence defection as the wish to escape from sick- 
 ness and starvation. 
 
 Dr. D wight has told us of his observations on the incidents of 
 the war, as he had witnessed them near the lines, in the year 
 1777. The lines of the British were at King's bridge, and those 
 of the Americans at Byram's river. The inhabitants were exposed 
 to depredations from both sides, and were often plundered, and 
 always liable to exactions. They in fact feared all whom they 
 saAV, and loved nobody. 
 
 It was a curious fact to a philosopher, and a melancholy one 
 to a moralist, to hear their conversation. To every question, they 
 gave such an answer, as would please the inquirer ; or if they 
 despaired of pleasing, such an one as would not provoke him. 
 Fear being apparently the moving passion in all they did or said. 
 
 They were not civil but obsequious; not obliging but sub- 
 servient. They yielded with a kind of apathy, and very quietly 
 gave what you asked. If you treated them kindly, they received 
 it coldly ; not as kindness, but as a compensation for injuries 
 done them by others. 
 
 Their houses, in the mean time, bore the marks of injury and 
 neglect. Their furniture was extensively plundered, or broken in 
 pieces. The walls, floors, and windows were out of order, both 
 by violence and neglect ; and they were not repaired because 
 they had not the means to pay, and besides, they knew not how 
 soon they might be again injured. Their cattle were gone. Their 
 enclosures were burnt, or if not of materials for fuel, they were 
 thrown down. Their fields were covered with a rank growth of 
 weeds and wild grass. The great road leading from New York 
 to Boston, which had once been all life and bustle, with horses 
 
Incidents of the War at New York. 333 
 
 and carriages thereon, was become all solitary, unless occasionally- 
 animated with the presence of a scouting party, or when some 
 few of a family might be seen moving stealthily to visit some 
 suffering neighbour or relative. 
 
 Such a picture of the miseries and desolations of war, though 
 but rarely told, is but a common picture of facts in similar cases, 
 in the progress of the revolutionary war. There was indeed less 
 of such evils around Philadelphia, but in the southern states, the 
 actual evils were greater ; and in Virginia along the seaboard, 
 and up James and York rivers, the whole country was lastingly 
 injured by the stealing and enticement away of their negro popu- 
 lation. The fields lay uncultivated, houses decayed, and where 
 the plantations were once fruitful and the inhabitants prosperous, 
 the whole land mourned, and became comparatively waste. At 
 the same time a very obvious change for the worse, came over 
 the manners and morals of the people. 
 
 In New York, in Oct., 1776, was seen such a fleet of armed 
 and transport Britons, as was never seen together in that port, or 
 in any part of America ! The ships were stationed up the East 
 river as far as Turtle bay ; and near the town, the multitude of 
 masts carried the appearance of a wood. Some were also moored 
 up the North river, others in the bay, between Red and Yellow 
 Hook ; some again were off Staten Island, and several off Powles 
 Hook, towards the kills. The men of war were moored chiefly 
 up New York sound, and made with the other ships, a most im- 
 posing and magnificent impression of power and naval glory. We 
 have but little or just sense of the stout hearts of the revolution, 
 who could venture then to resist so overwhelming an exhibition 
 of power ready to subdue us ! 
 
 The British, when speaking of the conflagration of the city, 
 imputed it to the Americans themselves, calling it " the savage 
 burning of the city by the New England incendiaries;" and 
 saying, " they had long threatened the performance of this villan- 
 ous deed." The Philadelphians had an idea, those that remained, 
 that their city was also to be burned on the approach of the 
 British there, and to quiet their apprehensions. Gen. Putnam had to 
 put forth a declaration, that no such purpose was intended by him. 
 
 Gen. Washington, it has been said, was himself, favourable to 
 the burning of New York city, as a useful means of annoying 
 the enemy. 
 
 In June, 1776, a conspiracy was said to have been detected in 
 New York, conducted by tories, to murder all the staff officers, 
 including Gen. Washington, and to blow up the magazines, &c. 
 The mayor of the city was said to be concerned, and confined, 
 also Gilbert Forbes, a gunsmith, &c. It was said that Gov. Tryon, 
 then on board the fleet, was the prompter and paymaster. A 
 soldier of Washington's guard was executed in the fields near the 
 
334 Incidents of the War at New York, 
 
 Bowery lane, for his participation in this matter, and the published 
 account of this affair in Town's Philadelphia Evening Post, 
 added, that " more are expected to be executed !" 
 
 Whilst the General held command in that city, he held his 
 head quarters at or near Richmond Hill. 
 
 The large hotel at the corner of Broad and Pearl streets, was 
 the place in which Gen. Washington first dined on entering New 
 York, at the termination of the war. It was then kept by Saml. 
 Fraunces, a dark coloured Frenchman, who had before kept 
 Vauxhall Garden, and who, after the peace, kept the Indian 
 Queen hotel in Philadelphia. 
 
 We give in this work, a peculiarly striking likeness of Gen. 
 Washington, such as he appeared when president. It was taken 
 at Philadelphia, by S. Folwell, a miniature painter there, who had 
 done it for his own satisfaction and preservation. It was to me 
 quite a discovery to have lately got the original from which the 
 profile here given has been accurately copied. Competent judges 
 have deemed it the most spirited and true to the life, of anything 
 ever attempted. It is the man as he was ! 
 
 What makes it the more remarkable is, that it was done from 
 observation, at a time, when the president himself was not aware 
 of it. It W8LS a happy hit, and therefore a suitable curiosity for 
 this work. 
 
 Bunker Hill, at New York, has been described in a London 
 magazine of 1781, saying it was so called by the Americans; it 
 being, in the revolution, three quarters of a mile out of town ; a 
 hill with a fort upon it. The Americans then " had a line of 
 redoubts a little out of New York, extending across the island, 
 from the East to the North river," but they were not used by the 
 British. " The British had their defences on the island, thus : 
 coming from Kingsbridge on the heights which overhung it, stood 
 Charles redoubt, but their chief defence began on the brow of 
 Laurel hill, on which were batteries over batteries, close by the 
 narrow path, the only pass too, so that their cannon could destroy 
 everything approaching from the main land. Next comes Fort 
 Washington, called Knyphausen afterwards by the British, next 
 is McGowan's pass, where a few troops could stop an army. The 
 fort at the point was then a square with four bastions, and within 
 it was the governor's house. Below the walls, on the water's 
 edge, was a line of fortifications, the batteries made of stone, and 
 the merlons of cedar joists, filled with earth. They mounted 
 ninety-two cannon. In the year 1776, when the PhcEnix and 
 Rose frigates pushed up the North river, the Americans made a 
 tremendous fire from this battery, and the others along the North 
 river, from as many as two hundred cannons." 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton, while at New York, " had no less than four 
 houses ; he being quite a monopolizer. At times, when viaible, 
 
Incidents of the War at New York, 335 
 
 he is seen riding full tilt to and from his different seats. In this, 
 he was the ape of royalty." 
 
 The same magazine says, " now when almost every disaster 
 has occurred to us, we may probably have Sir Henry Clinton at 
 home. He allows Washington to environ him with his inferior 
 force ! As Howe lost us Burgoyne, he has lost us Lord Corn- 
 wallis !" 
 
 "On Sept. 15, 1776, the British army embarked at Newton 
 creek, (Long Island,) and landed at Kipp's bay. Then the 
 Americans evacuated New York. As Gen. Vaughan was ascend- 
 ing the heights of Inclenberg, he was wounded in the thigh. At 
 that time. Gen. Howe encamped with his right at Horen's Hook, 
 and his left at Bloomingdale. The Americans then posted them- 
 selves at Fort Washington and Kingsbridge." 
 
 " Admiral Graves, who ought to have been ready to go out to 
 meet De Grasse, had his vessel to prepare.^^ " Sir H. Chnton 
 has always been too indecisive and unsettled, although he had 
 12,000 regulars and 6000 able militia. But Washington and 
 Rochambeau knew his character well when they crossed the 
 Croton and North rivers, and did their business effectually by 
 showing themselves one morning near Kingsbridge, and sending 
 the French baker boys round to the mouth of the Raritan to pre- 
 tend there to raise a bakery for the French army ! This was enough 
 to cause him to send off to Corn wallis at York, to demand his aid !" 
 
 Facts of Prison Ships, Brooklyn. We are indebted to some 
 notitia, made by J. Johnson, Esq., of Brooklyn, for sundry facts 
 concerning Brooklyn and the prison ships, viz. " From printed 
 journals, published at New York at the close of the war, it 
 appeared that 11,500 American prisoners had died aboard the 
 prison ships. Although this number is very great, still, if the 
 number who perished had been less, the commissary of naval 
 prisoners, David Sprout, Esq., and his deputy, had it in their 
 power, by an official return, to give the true number taken, 
 exchanged, escaped, or dead. Such a return has never appeared 
 in the United States. 
 
 " David Sprout returned to America after the war, and resided 
 in Philadelphia, where he died. The commissary could not 
 have been ignorant of the statement published here, on this 
 interesting subject. We may, therefore, infer that about that 
 number— 11,500, perished in the prison ships. 
 
 " A large transport, named the Whitby, was the first prison 
 ship anchored in the Wallabout. She was moored near " Rem- 
 sen's mill," about the 20th October, 1776 ; and was then crowded 
 with prisoners. Many landsmen were prisoners on board this 
 vessel ; she was said to be the most sickly of all the prison ships. 
 Bad provisions, bad water, and scanty rations, were dealt to the 
 prisoners. No medical men attended the sick. Diseases reigned 
 unrelieved, and hundreds died from pestilence, or were starved, 
 
336 . Incidents of the War at New York. 
 
 on board this floating prison. I saw the sand beach, between a 
 ravine in the hill and Mr. Remsen's dock, become filled with 
 graves in the course of two months ; and before the first of May, 
 1777, the ravine, alluded to, was itself occupied in the same way. 
 
 " In the month of May, 1 777, two large ships were anchored 
 in the Wallabout, when the prisoners were transferred from the 
 Whitby to them ; these vessels were also very sickly, from the 
 causes before stated. Although many prisoners were sent on 
 board of them, and none exchanged, death made room for all. 
 
 " On a Sunday afternoon, about the middle of October, 1777, 
 one of the prison ships was burnt : the prisoners, except a few, 
 who it was said, were burnt in the vessel, Avere removed to the 
 remaining ship. It was reported, at the time, that the prisoners 
 had fired their prison — which, if true, proves that they preferred 
 death, even by fire, to the lingering sufferings of pestilence and 
 starvation. 
 
 "In the month of February, 1778, the remaining prison ship 
 was burnt at night ; when the prisoners were removed from her 
 to the ships, then wintering in the Wallabout. 
 
 " In the month of April, 1778, the old Jersey was moored in the 
 Wallabout, and all the prisoners (except the sick) were transferred 
 to her. — The sick were carried to two hospital ships, named the 
 Hope and Falmouth, anchored near each other, about 200 yards 
 east from the Jersey. These ships remained in the Wallabout 
 until New York was evacuated by the British. The Jersey was 
 the receiving ship — the others truly the ships of Death ! 
 
 " It has been generally thought that all the prisoners died on 
 board the Jersey. This is not true : many may have died on 
 board of her, who were not reported as sick ; but all the men 
 who were placed on the sick list were removed to the hospital 
 ships, from which they were usually taken sewed up in a blanket, 
 to their long home. 
 
 " After the hospital ships were brought into the Wallabout it 
 was reported that the sick were attended by physicians ; few, 
 very few, however, recovered. It was no uncommon thing to 
 see five or six dead bodies brought on shore in a single morning ; 
 when a small excavation would be dug at the foot of the hill, 
 the bodies cast in, and a man with a shovel would cover them, 
 by shovelling sand down the hill upon them. Many were buried 
 in a ravine of the hill ; some on the farm. The whole shore, 
 from Rennies Point to Mr. Remsen's door-yard was a place of 
 graves ; as were also the slope of the hill, near the house ; the 
 shore, from Mr. Remsen's barn along the mill pond to Rappleye's 
 farm ; and the sandy island, between the flood-gates and the mill 
 dam : while a few were buried on the shore on the east side of 
 the Wallabout. Thus did Death reign here, from 1776, until the 
 peace. The whole Wallabout was a sickly place during the war. 
 'J'hc atmosphere seemed to be charged with foul air from the 
 
Incidents of the War at New York, 337 
 
 prison ships, and with the effluvia of the dead bodies, washed out 
 of their graves by the tides. 
 
 " We beheve that more than half of the dead buried on the 
 outer side of the mill pond were washed out by the waves at 
 high tide, during north-easterly winds. The bones of the dead 
 lay exposed along the beach drying and bleaching in the sun, and 
 whitening the shore ; till reached by the power of a succeeding 
 storm, as the agitated waters receded, the bones receded with 
 them into the deep — where they remain, unseen by man, await- 
 ing the resurrection morn J when again joined to the spirits to 
 which they belong, they will meet their persecuting murderers at 
 the bar of the Supreme Judge of ' the quick and the dead.' 
 
 " We have ourselves examined many of the skulls lying on 
 the shore. From the teeth they appeared to have been the 
 remains of men in the prime of life. 
 
 " The prisoners confined in the Jersey, had secretly obtained 
 a crow-bar, which was kept concealed in the berth of some confi- 
 dential officer, among the prisoners. The bar was used to break 
 off the port gratings. This was done, in windy nights, when good 
 swimmers were ready to leave the ship for the land : in this way 
 a number escaped. 
 
 " Capt. Doughty, a friend of the writer, had charge of the bar 
 when he was a prisoner on board of the Jersey, and effected his 
 escape by its means. When he left the ship he gave the bar to a 
 confidant to be used for the relief of others. Very few who left 
 the ship were retaken : they knew where to find friends to conceal 
 them, and to help them beyond pursuit. 
 
 " A singularly daring and successful escape was effected from 
 the Jersey, about four o'clock one afternoon, in the beginning of 
 December, 1780. The best boat of the ship had returned from 
 New York, between three and four o'clock, and was left fastened 
 at the gangway, with her oars on board. The afternoon was 
 stormy 5 the wind blew from the north-east, and the tide ran 
 flood. A watch word was given, and a number of prisoners 
 placed themselves, carelessly, between the ship's waist and the 
 sentinel : at this juncture four eastern captains got on board the 
 boat, which was cast off by their friends. The boat passed close 
 under the bows of the ship, and was a considerable distance from 
 her before the sentinel on the forecastle gave the alarm, and fired 
 at her. The second boat was manned for a chase : she pursued 
 in vain ; one man from her bow fired several shots at the boat, 
 and a few guns were fired at her from the Bushwick shore ; 
 but all to no effect — the boat passed Hell-gate in the evening, and 
 arrived safe in Connecticut next morning. 
 
 " A spring of the writer was a favourite watering place for the 
 
 British shipping. The water boat of the Jersey watered from 
 
 the spring daily, when it could be done." Our prisoners were 
 
 usually brought on shore to fill the casks, attended by a guard. 
 
 43 2 F 
 
338 Incidents of the War at New York, 
 
 The prisoners were frequently permitted to come to the house to 
 get milk and food ; and often brought letters privately from the 
 ship. By these the sufferings on board were revealed. 
 
 " Supplies of vegetables were frequently collected by Mr. 
 Remsen, (the benevolent owner of the mill,) for the prisoners ; 
 and small sums of money were sent on board by the writer's 
 father to his friends, by means of these watering parties." 
 
 New York Prisons and Prison Ships. The numerous prison- 
 ers taken at Long Island and at Fort Washington, brought a 
 great and sudden accession of American sufferers to the city. 
 These filled the common prison, the hospital, the college, the 
 churches, and sugar-houses. The Pennsylvanians who were then 
 captured, thought they were sacrificed too readily to the jealousy 
 of the eastern men ! The Quaker meeting-house in Pearl street, 
 was used as an hospital. " In the gloomy, terrific abode, (the 
 Provost prison,) says Mr. Pintard, were confined many American 
 officers and citizens of distinction, as well as common men, waiting 
 with sickening hope and tantalizing expectation, the protracted 
 period of their exchange or liberation." It was the practice of 
 Captain Cunningham, (the Irish bully,) to give them the worst of 
 provisions, in lieu of good ones, and to put the difference of value 
 in his own pocket ! — making himself rich on the woes of others. 
 
 The sufferers in the prison ships fared still worse ; they were 
 chiefly under the charge of Lorhig, a refugee from Boston, and 
 one David Sprout, a Scotchman, and a couple of assistants. The 
 severities they meted out to the poor prisoners, is feelingly told 
 in a scarce publication, by the Rev. Thos. Andros, who when a 
 youth, was in a privateersman out of New London. He had 
 been in the old Jersey with 1200 prisoners at a time, and he sup- 
 poses that 1 1,000 must have perished from her hulk, of dysentery, 
 small-pox, and yellow fever. Near her were two hospital ships, 
 so crowded that they could receive no more, and therefore the 
 sick and the healthy had to remain together. From such a place, 
 there was no hope of escape with life, but by money ; those who 
 could find means to bribe the under officers in charge, could 
 readily find men as treacherous to their trusts, as inhuman to 
 the sufferers. Another published account of their sufferings, 
 appeared in the Connecticut Journal of 30th January, 1777, 
 written by a sufferer, who saw and felt by his own experience all 
 those evils, so touchingly depicted of the Black Hole of Calcutta. 
 
 American Prisoners in New York. In the month of December, 
 1777, the various receptacles of prisoners in New York, disgorged 
 their wretched contents. A large portion of those released were 
 sent into the adjacent country to seek relief where they could find 
 it. A number of them were so debilitated by famine and disease, 
 that they fell down and died in the streets of New York, before 
 they could reach the vessels at the water side, in which they 
 were to have been passed over to Jersey. When they were 
 
Incidents of the fVar at New York, 339 
 
 landed, a considerable part of them were sent forward in wagons, 
 as being unable to travel on foot. Those who were able to walk, 
 followed the wagons ; and such another company of miserable 
 human beings, pallid, emaciated, begrimed with dirt and smoke, 
 and in every way squalid in the extreme, the eye of man has 
 seldom beheld. Such was the description which I had from a 
 clergyman of Paterson, N. J., who saw them when a boy, and 
 who saw a dozen of the poor sufferers laid down at his father's 
 door, to engage his humanity in their keeping. In such a caravan 
 of suffercjrs, my own father, came home from the New York 
 Provost, but carrying health and determined spirit.* 
 
 It has always been to me a strange and unexplained thing, 
 why the American families, in New York, did not do more than 
 they did for the prisoners, while the British merchants in London 
 subscribed twenty thousand dollars for the American prisoners in 
 England. We hear nothing of similar doings by New Yorkers 
 at home ! They could not have been all tories, and all hard- 
 hearted, and yet somehow they were sadly neglected. 
 
 The British Fleet in the North river at New York, were 
 driven off in great haste by a sub-marine explosion, produced 
 under the Asia man of war, by the skill and enterprise of two 
 clever Connecticut men. 
 
 Mr. Bushnell of Saybrook invented it, and Captain Ezra Lee, 
 of Lyme, (where he died in 1840,) was the intrepid navigator. 
 He was gone all night out under the bottoms of the several ships, 
 trying to affix his vertical screw to their copper bottoms. Early 
 in the morning, however, despairing of success, he fired off near 
 to the Asia. It was seen by Gen. Washington and his suite from 
 the top of his residence, in New York, and soon after Capt. Lee 
 returned in safety. The British were driven down to the Hook, 
 from sheer fear of such invisible and mysterious assailants, and 
 thus we got rid of the unwelcome visitors for a time. 
 
 West Point and British doings about it, in the time of the 
 Revolution. Col. W. L. Stone, has written a good article, called 
 the "language of flowers," wherein he tells the tale of the 
 beautiful and accomplished, and finally abandoned daughter of 
 Major Moncrieffe, of the British engineers, having managed to 
 get herself surprised and captured, so as to be placed in the 
 family of Gen. Putnam, then commander of West Point. While 
 there, she used to amuse the general with her drawings and 
 groupings of flowers, which were so chosen and disposed as to 
 picture to her father's experienced eye the plans and state of the 
 Fort, &c. Col. Burr, however, who was his aid, and her admirer, 
 thought he discerned the stratagem, and affecting to admire it, 
 
 * To be in a common prison then, was a too common incident. Thus Judge 
 Stockton, LL. D., a member of Congress, was taken and so imprisoned. Judge 
 Fell, of Bergen county, and Col. Ethan Allen were also there. 
 
340 Incidents of the War at New York. 
 
 seized upon it, demanded of her to name her price for it, to which 
 she answered "her safe return to New York,'' which was 
 granted. 
 
 This same young lady had some other remarkable incidents in 
 her life. She was married against her Avill for money to an 
 Irish officer of the name of Coghlan. [The last act in office, of 
 the Rev. Dr. Auchmuty of Trinity Church.] They lived unhap- 
 pily and separated, and she became successively the mistress of 
 several noblemen, and of the late Duke of York. Her father 
 Major Moncrieffe, settled in New York after the peace, and died 
 there in 1791, from the bursting o-f a blood-vessel of the heart ; 
 and what is remarkable is, that this daughter then living in Lon- 
 don, dreamed at the same time (10th Dec.) that she saw the 
 funeral procession of her father, and that a bleeding heart was 
 placed upon the coffin. So strong was this vision impressed upon 
 her mind as a reahty, of his death, that she actually went 
 into deep mourning immediately. She lived long, and died 
 neglected and poor — poor thing ! " The way of the transgressor 
 is hard ! " 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton and his cortege of aids and favourites, made 
 a daily gallop up Broadway to the fields, and then back again. 
 
 There might be seen the Hessian, with his towering brass 
 fronted cap, mustachios coloured with the same blacking which 
 coloured his shoes, his hair plastered with tallow and flour, and 
 reaching in whip form to his waist. His uniform, blue coat and 
 yellow vest and breeches, and black gaiters. The Highlander, 
 with his low checked-bonnet, his tartan or plaid, short red coat, 
 his kilt above his knees, and they exposed, his hose short and 
 party coloured. There were also the grenadiers of Anspach, with 
 towering black caps : the gaudy TValdeckers, with their cocked 
 hats edged with yellow scallops. The German Yagers, and the 
 various corps of English, in glittering and gallant pomp. Such 
 were they seen day by day, where now fashion and business 
 daily take their promenades. 
 
 The British officers performed at the John-street theatre ; it 
 opened in Jan., 1777, and continued several years. Dr. .Beau- 
 mont, surgeon-general, was both manager and principal low 
 comedian. Col. French played Scrub. Women's characters were 
 performed by the youngest officers. Lieut. Pennefeather was 
 Estifania. Major Williams of the artillery, was the hero of 
 tragedy, the Richard and Macbeth ; and his mistress performed 
 Lady Macbeth, and was also used in comedy. Captains Delancey, 
 Seix, Loftus, Bradden, Andre, Stanley, &c., performed. 
 
 New York City, It was the policy of Gov. Tryon, and other 
 official persons, to speak of New York as a loyal or tory town, 
 and the force and time which they were enabled to preserve 
 there, gave the British peculiar chances of preserving a favour- 
 able bias at that place. The tories and refugees, were most 
 
Incidents of the War at New Yoi^, 341 
 
 numerous on the seaboard side of the Jerseys. Dr. FrankHn*s 
 son, the governor of New Jersey, was an active man in promoting 
 tory and refugee enterprises against us. 
 
 Richmond Hill, now called Richmond Hill Theatre-Inn, 
 This was originally built for Abraham Mortier, a wealthy gen- 
 tleman, paymaster-general to the British colonial forces. It was 
 on an eminence, surrounded by a park or woods, and was so 
 occupied by Gen. Washington as his head -quarters in the revo- 
 lution, and at other times by one of the British generals com- 
 manding in New York. It was then far out of town, and all 
 around was rural ; now it is all city, and built upon. The house 
 itself, let down from its eminence, stands at the corner of Varick 
 and Charlton streets, and is used as a tap-room or tavern to the 
 theatre close by it. It was by going through the thick woods 
 north of this house, that some of the American troops made their 
 escape, under Col. Burr. 
 
 Kennedy House, No. 1 Broadway, was built before the revo- 
 lution, for, and occupied by, Capt. Kennedy of the British navy. 
 It was once the head quarters of Gen. Putnam, while he held a 
 short command at New York, afterwards of the British command- 
 ing generals. 
 
 Defences back of Brooklyn. These consisted of lines and 
 redoubts, constructed by Gen. Lee, and occupied by Gen. Put- 
 nam ; we lost them, very much by a want of concert among our 
 own officers. 
 
 Corlear's Hook was surrounded by batteries, used by the 
 Americans. 
 
 Bayard^s Mount, was a small cone-shaped mount, on which 
 we erected a small fort, near the corner of Mott and Grand streets. 
 It looked down upon the distant city, having the Kolch between. 
 
 The House and Garden of Nicholas Bayard, were on the 
 north side of the Kolch, and not far from the aforesaid mount. 
 To the west of these, were swamps and woods, and to the north- 
 east, were orchards and woods. Now all these places are in the 
 thickly setded city part of New York ! 
 
 The Great Conflagration of Neio York in 1776. This was 
 probably an affair of accident, one however recommended by 
 our Gen. Greene, and rejoiced in by many patriots ; and perhaps 
 for that reason believed by the British to be an affair of design, 
 to dislodge them from their comforts and influence. Gen. Howe, 
 in writing to his government concerning it, says that matches and 
 combustibles had been prepared with great art, and applied by 
 incendiaries in several places. Many (he says) were detected, 
 and some killed upon the spot by the soldiers.* At that time all 
 
 * Gen. Washington's letters to Congress, on the 2d and 8th of Sept., 177fi, 
 (since published,) show that he thought its burning rather advisable, to prevent 
 the British from having such good quarters. 
 
 2 F 2 
 
343 Inmdents of the War at New York, 
 
 the houses from the present City hotel, up to St. Paul's, uere of 
 wood, and small. Many low people, used the remains of the 
 houses to make temporary hovels, covered with canvass, and 
 therefore nicknamed, Canvass-town. 
 
 Devotion to the Revolutionary struggle. When Gov. Trum- 
 bull of Conn., early in the war, made a call of patriotism upon 
 the exempt from militia duty, to volunteer their services; the 
 town of VVaterbury made up a company of 24 aged men, whose 
 united age amounted to 1000 years, and they were the first of 
 their regiment who reached New York, in January, 1777. They 
 were all married men with families, leaving behind them their 
 - wives with 149 children ; one of them of the age of 5S, had had 
 ^* 19 children and 12 grandchildren. 
 ,V^ •■ I knew a reverend gentleman and a scholar, in Morris county, 
 
 N. J., who said that he and other boys at his school, were anxious 
 to arrive at their eighteenth year, on purpose that they might be 
 enrolled in the militia, and thus be obliged to go into service 
 against the will of their parents. They looked to the coming of 
 age, as to a day of freedom. He and others went and served 
 their term, and rejoiced in all the exposures of action. It was a 
 common feeling, and high spirits and buoyant hearts enjoyed the 
 peril. They did not seek for commissions, but only desired to 
 encounter and defeat or repel the enemy. I knew a young school- 
 master of Bucks county, who actually enlisted in Wayne's regi- 
 ment, and was made a sergeant, from his pure love of country 
 and his desire to help as he could, in a time of need. Many 
 however, faltered and chilled as the war prolonged, and they 
 were vexed with the conduct of sundry selfish men. Even the 
 celebrated Col. Burr, at the age of sixteen, left his college and 
 went as a volunteer in Arnold's winter expedition against 
 Quebec. All those who went into the naval service, never stop- 
 ped to make terms beforehand, for themselves or families in case 
 of their being wounded or killed. It is really wonderful, the 
 spirit which sustained and impelled the whigs then. All of Col. 
 Small wood's Maryland regiment, dressed in hunting shirts, 
 were young farmers of good estates near Baltimore. 
 
 It is a fact deserving of peculiar recollection and interest, that 
 in the revolutionary struggle, there was no man and no family 
 which did not enter into its spirit and feeling with the deepest 
 concern. This was peculiarly the case with all conditions of men, 
 who were of fighting age, because none of such were exempted 
 from the service of the war, either by being drafted (if not already 
 volunteers), or by costs for substitutes. The very nature of the 
 militia service, by which the war for seven years was sustained 
 in all the states, and their short and frequent service therein, 
 brought out the whole population in the course of time, so that 
 all, eventually, had more or less of its peril and endurance. From 
 this cause, every family in the Union was brought within its influ-' 
 
Incidents of the War at Neiv York. 343 
 
 ence, and felt deeply its bereavements and vicissitudes. In this 
 matter it was probably like no other known war for its universal 
 hold on the people. 
 
 From such causes, it was a fact, for several years after the 
 war had ended, that, travel where you would, by sea or by land, 
 or wherever you stopped by the way at inns, &c. you constantly 
 saw men saluting each other in the most cordial and affectionate 
 terms, as " old soldiers," and falling into stirring recognitions and 
 recitals of their perils together, in given battles and campaigns. 
 Every body you met, wherever you journeyed, had something to 
 say of their recollections and reminiscences of the past, and all 
 such had always welcome audiences from all others present. It 
 was then an ordinary affair in all of our cities and villages, to 
 meet with men bearing bodily signs of being halt or maimed 
 thereby. It was also very common to see several acting as beg- 
 gars, claiming to have been old soldiers, and wearing some relic 
 of military array, such as a cap and buck's tail, to arrest public 
 sympathy and contribution. 
 
 It was so, that even that portion of the people who were ex- 
 empt from military service, such as the aged, the women, and 
 the tories, were all brought into full feeling with the arduous 
 struggle, by their necessary sympathies with those who had to 
 put forth their efforts, either for or against the final termination. 
 Thus we learn from Dr. Rush's work on the mind, that there was 
 an actual disease induced, known, and understood in several of 
 the states, as the " Tory rot" and " the Protection fever," em- 
 bracing within its range, " those friends of Great Britain, and 
 those timid Americans, who took no public part in the war." 
 Many of them died of it. fVe must not forget these things. 
 
 The Alliance frigate. As a well known matter belonging to 
 the incidents of the war of the revolution, we here give some 
 notice, with a picture, of the frigate Alliance, one of the most 
 fortunate vessels of that period, and as the only one which escaped 
 destruction or capture. 
 
 She was in many engagements, and always victorious. She 
 •was a remarkably fast sailer, could always choose her combat, 
 and was equally good to fight or run away. Twice she bore the 
 fortunes of La Fayette across the ocean. At one time she was 
 commanded by Paul Jones, at which time, she bore the then 
 national flag of the coiled up rattlesnake and thirteen stripes. 
 At another time she was commanded by Capt. Barry. 
 
 After the war, she was used as a merchantman, and was the 
 second vessel from Philadelphia to Canton — sailed June 1787, 
 commanded by Capt. Reed, made her return to Philadelphia the 
 17th Sept. 1788. 
 
 She was built at Salisbury up the river Merrimack, was named 
 in honour of our alliance with France in 1778, and then had as a 
 
344 
 
 Incidents oj the fVar at New York. 
 
 compliment to that nation, Capt. Landais, a Frenchman, for her 
 commander. 
 
 Finally she was condemned and her hull laid ashore on Petty's 
 Island at Philadelphia, where her keel and timbers still live a 
 monument of the connection between the former and the present 
 navy. From her remains, relics have been preserved, and we 
 here add her portrait in memory of her services and history. 
 
 When we contemplate the actual state of our revolutionary 
 navy, fighting as "rebels" with halters round their necks — in 
 imagination, engaging in unequal conflicts with a powerful enemy 
 so ascendent in force as to be able to destroy as fast as we could 
 find means to create, we cannot but admire at the indomitable 
 spirit, which could so unequally contend against such fearful odds. 
 Nor is this all ; for it is told, to their honour, that none who so 
 engaged, had any provision by law, for themselves or families, in 
 case of wounds, decayed health, or actual destruction. They 
 asked no previous terms or conditions ; but went to sea with will- 
 ing hearts, inspired by patriotic impulse. Their actual story has 
 never been told ! Of all the three hundred and fifty souls blown up 
 in the Randolph frigate in her encounter with the Yarmouth man 
 of war, not more than one family ever received any thing from the 
 public purse. They had no chroniclers to inscribe their venturous 
 darings. We have only the memoirs of Capt. Nathaniel Fanning, 
 an inhabitant of New York, to tell us of their daily perils and 
 fearful conflicts on the mountain wave. Much we still need some 
 chronicler to tell us of the actions of the Refugee boats and 'par- 
 
Incidents of the IVar at New York. 345 
 
 iies^ coasting along the sound, and about the inlets and coasts of 
 Long Island and New Jersey : making predatory invasions upon 
 the seaboard inhabitants, under circumstances of aggravated insult 
 and injury; producing no essential benefit to the cause of the 
 enemy, but causing distress and misery wherever they landed and 
 pillaged and laid waste. 
 
 Aged people must still live in New York, who must remember 
 the departure and return of numerous expeditions from that place 
 for such purposes of devastation, because that city was their place 
 of outfit and refuge. They consisted of brutalized and enj|J)ittered 
 Americans, who had abandoned former homes and connections, 
 and were so chosen to act upon their former friends and neigh- 
 bours, because they best understood how easiest to reach and 
 injure them. 
 
 Our little navy was begun first by little Rhode Island, with 
 only two schooners, in 1775. The same state was also the first to 
 recommend to Congress the formation of a national naval force, 
 which was first begun by a force of thirteen vessels in December 
 1775. Soon after, Massachusetts fitted out several armed vessels 
 which bore for their flag, a, pine tree on a white ground, with the 
 motto, " We appeal to Heaven." The first naval battle took 
 place about three weeks after the battle of Lexington, when Capt. 
 fVheaton had the pre-eminence of being the first to cause the 
 striking of the British flag. At this early period. Gen. Washing- 
 ton undertook to get upt and send to sea an expedition of six ves- 
 sels, and was obliged in his instructions to address them as a part 
 of the army, detached for such a service ! 
 
 At this commencing period of the revolution the national flag 
 as borne from Philadelphia and Virginia, and perhaps from other 
 states, consisted of thirteen stripes with a rattlesnake coiled and 
 ready for attack, with the motto " Don't tread on me." A device 
 much commended at the time in the London Morning Chronicle, 
 of July 1776. 
 
 It is painful to consider how many thousands now individually 
 " unknown to fame," became the victims of their early efforts for 
 their country, and came too soon to mingle their bones among the 
 dead prisoners of the Wallabout. Let us revere their remains. 
 They contended and died for country and home, and we now 
 enjoy in peace their sacrifices and efforts ! Will any consider ? 
 
 44 
 
346 Residences of British Officers. 
 
 KESIDENCES OF BRITISH OFFICERS. 
 
 " In all the pomp and circumstance of war." 
 
 As it aids our conceptions of the past to be able to identify the 
 locahties where men conspicuous in our annals of the revolution 
 dwelt, I set down the mansions which some of them then occu- 
 pied. 
 
 Gen. Gage, before the revolution, dwelt in the large house, 
 now Young's cabinet rooms, No. 69 Broad street. There Gage 
 had that house splendidly illuminated in 1762, for the news of 
 the Stamp Act repealed, probably as a measure to conciliate the 
 people. In the same house once dwelt Gen. Alexander, after- 
 wards our Lord StirHng. 
 
 Governor Tryon lived, after his residence in the fort was burnt, 
 in the house now the Bank of New York, at the corner of Wall 
 and William streets. 
 
 Gen. Robinson, commandant of the city, lived at one time in 
 William street, near to John street. At another time he lived in 
 Hanover Square, now the premises of Peter Remsen & Co. No. 
 109. He was an aged man, of seventy-five years of age. 
 
 Col. Birch, was also commandant of the city a long while, and 
 lived in Verplank's house, the same site on which the present 
 Bank of the United States, in Wall street, stands. 
 
 The residence of Admiral Digby, and indeed of all the naval 
 officers of distinction arriving on the station, was Beekman's 
 house on the north-west corner of Sloate lane and Hanover 
 Square. There dwelt, under the guardianship of Admiral Digby, 
 Prince Wm. Henry. The same since king of England. What 
 associations of idea must be produced in the minds of those who 
 can still remember when he walked the streets of New York in 
 the common garb of a midshipman's "roundabout," or when 
 they saw him a knocked-kneed lad, joining the boys on the 
 Kolch pond. Could he again see New York, he would not know 
 the rival London. 
 
 Gen. H. Clinton had his town residence at N. Prime's house, 
 (first, built for Capt. Kennedy,) at No. 1 Broadway, on the Bat- 
 tery. His country house was then Doct. G. Beekman's, on the 
 East river, near Bayard's place. 
 
 Sir Guy Carlton also occupied the house of N. Prime ; and for 
 his country residence, the house at Richmond hill, on Greenwich 
 street, afterwards the residence of Col. A. Burr. Lord Dorches- 
 ter also dwelt at the latter house. It has now been lowered 
 twenty-two feet, to make it conform to the surrounding new 
 streets and improvements. 
 
Residences of British Officers. 347 
 
 Gen. Howe dwelt in N. Prime's house at the south end of 
 Broadway next to the Battery. 
 
 Gen. Knyphausen, commander of the Hessians, dwelt in the 
 large house, even now grand in exterior ornaments, &c., in Wall 
 street, where is now the Insurance Co., next door eastward from 
 the New York Bank. 
 
 Admiral Rodney, when in New York, occupied for his short 
 stay the house of double front of Robert Bowne, No. 256 Pearl 
 street. 
 
 Governor Geo. Clinton had his dwelUng in the present "Red- 
 mon's Hotel," No. 178 Pearl street. It was splendid in its day, 
 of Dutch construction ; it had a front of five windows and six 
 dormer windows ; its gardens at first extended through to Water 
 street, which was then into the river. 
 
 All along the front of Trinity church ground, called "the Eng- 
 lish church" formerly, was the place of the military parade, called 
 by the British " the Mall." There the military band played, and 
 on the opposite side assembled the spectators of both sexes. 
 
 I bestowed unusual pains to ascertain the residence and con- 
 duct of the traitor Gen. Arnold. I found such variety and oppo- 
 sition of opinion, as to incline me to believe there was some 
 intentional obscurity in the residence, as a better security to his 
 person against capture. The weight of evidence, however, de- 
 cides me to believe he dwelt at two places in New York ; and 
 that his chief residence, as a separate establishment, was at the 
 west side of Broadway, and at the third house from the river. 
 
 There Mr. Rammay said he dwelt, and had one sentinel at his 
 door; whilst Sir. H. Clinton, at Prime's house at the corner, had 
 two. John Pintard, Esq. told me of his being present at Hanover 
 Square when his attention was called by whispers, " not loud but 
 deep," of, " see the traitor general !" He saw it was Arnold, 
 coming under some charge from Sir Henry Clinton at the Battery, 
 to Gen. Robertson, then understood by Pintard to be the com- 
 mandant of the city. It was said, that after the usual salutations 
 with Robertson, he requested his aid Capt. Murray, a dapper lit- 
 tle officer, to show Gen. Arnold the civilities and rarities of the 
 place. The spirited captain strutted off alone, saying, " Sir, his 
 Majesty never honoured me with his commission to become gen- 
 tleman-usher to a traitor !" 
 
 There seems almost too much point in the story to be strictly 
 true, but it was the popular tale of the day among the Whigs 
 incog. Mr. L. C. Hamersly told me he saw Arnold at Verplank's 
 house in Wall street, where is now the United States Bank ; and 
 then he thought Arnold lived there with Col. Birch. Robert Len- 
 nox, Esq. thought he lived with Admiral Digby. 
 
 Gen. Arnold was born in Norwich, Conn., in Jan. 1740, where 
 he had been apprenticed to an apothecary. At one time he was in 
 
348 Residences of British Officers. 
 
 business at New Haven, and the sign is still preserved, which he 
 once there used as designating his pursuits. It read thus, viz : 
 
 B. ARNOLD, DRUGGIST, 
 BOOKSELLER, &c., 
 
 FROM LONDON. 
 
 Sibi totique* 
 
 It was a singularity to have thus named himself as being yrom 
 London, where he had indeed been. He was known at the com- 
 mencement of the revolution, to have been mostly engaged in 
 the trade of shipping horses and mules to the West Indies. His 
 name, in German, expressed a mainfainer of honour ! 
 
 After his elevation to the general, he became vainglorious and 
 prodigal of expense beyond his means, and when he married 
 Miss Peggy Shippen, a distinguished belle of Philadelphia, a 
 daughter of Judge Shippen, his habits of expensive living became 
 extravagant. IVlany have thought, that the bias of herself and 
 father to the British side, assisted to corrupt his integrity to the 
 American cause. She had been the toast of the British officers, 
 while their army occupied Philadelphia, and besides, had been 
 the friend and correspondent of Major Andre. Arnold after his 
 marriage, encouraged that correspondence, until at length, it was 
 opened more directly between the two officers themselves, and 
 finally, led to the treachery. 
 
 Gen. Arnold died in London, in 1801, unhonoured and unno- 
 ticed there ; and afterwards his wife returned to the United States, 
 incognito, and died at Uxbridge, Mass. at the age of eighty-three 
 years, on the 14th Feb. 1836. Col. Burr has said, that her pride 
 and ambition, perverted her husband's integrity of action and 
 feeling. 
 
 Their only son and daughter (he being a British subaltern) 
 went to reside in the East Indies many years ago. Another ac- 
 count in the London Spectator of 1838, says, that two sons are 
 then in England, say James R. and Wm. F. aged fifty-seven and 
 forty-four, and that each receive a pension of £81 a year. He 
 had five children by his first wife. Two or three of his sons were 
 schooled at the Academy at Philadelphia. 
 
 * For himself, for the whole, or for all — ''for himself was selfish indeed ! 
 
Personal appearance of British Officers. 349 
 
 %^s it may interest some of our readers to know something of 
 the personal appearance of officers about whom they have so 
 often heard and read in our history, we here add some brief 
 notices described by an accurate observer, to wit : — 
 
 Sir Wm. Howe was a fine figure, full six feet high, and admi- 
 rably well proportioned. In person he a good deal resembled 
 Washington, and might have been mistaken for him at a distance. 
 His features, though good, were more pointed, and the expres- 
 sion of his countenance Avas less benignant. His manners were 
 polished, graceful, and dignified. 
 
 Sir Henry Clinton was short and fat, with a full face, prominent 
 nose, and an animated intelligent countenance. In his manners 
 he was polite and courtly, but more formal and distant than 
 Howe ; and in his intercourse with his ofiicers, was rather punc- 
 tilious, and not inclined to intimacy. 
 
 Lord Cornwallis in person was short and thick set, but not so 
 corpulent as Sir Henry. He had a handsome aquiline nose ; and 
 hair, when young, rather inclined to sandy ; but at the time of 
 his leaving here, it had become somewhat gray. His face was 
 well formed and agreeable, and would have been altogether fine 
 had he not blinked badly with his left eye. He was uncommonly 
 easy and afiable in his manners, and always accessible to the 
 lowest of his soldiers, by whom he was greatly beloved. With 
 his officers he used the utmost cordiality. 
 
 Gen. Knyphausen, who commanded the Germans, was a fine 
 looking German, of about five feet eleven, straight and slender. 
 His features were sharp, and his appearance martial. 
 
 Tarleton was below the middle size, stout, strong, heavily made, 
 with large legs, but uncommonly active. His eye was small, 
 black, and piercing ; his face smooth, and his complexion dark ; 
 he was quite young, probably about twenty-five. 
 
 Col. Abercrombie, who afterwards gained so much eclat in 
 Egypt, where he fell, was one of the finest built men in the army; 
 straight and elegantly proportioned. His countenance was strong 
 and manly, but his face was much pitted by the small-pox. When 
 here he appeared to be about forty. 
 
 20 
 
350 Ancient Edifices. 
 
 ANCIENT EDIFICES. 
 
 The venerable pile, by innovation razed. 
 
 The Walton House, No. 324 Pearl street, was deemed the 
 nonpareil of the city in 1762, when seen by my mother, greatly 
 illuminated in celebration of the Stamp Act repealed. It had 
 been built in 1757, and was then intended to show the best style 
 of English construction, and of course, as marking a set purpose 
 of avoiding the former Dutch style. It has even now an air of 
 ancient stately grandeur. It has five windows in front, con- 
 structed of yellow Holland brick; has a double pitched roof 
 covered with tiles, and a double course of balustrades thereon. 
 Formerly its garden extended down to the river. The family is 
 probably descended of the Walton, who, a century ago, gave the 
 name of " Walton's Ship Yard,'' at the same place. Wm. Walton, 
 who was one of the council, and the first owner of the above 
 house, made his wealth by some preferences in the trade among 
 the Spaniards of South America and Cuba. 
 
 There are at present but four or five houses remaining of the 
 ancient Dutch construction, having "pediment walls" surmount- 
 ing the roof in front, and giving their gable ends to the street ; a 
 form once almost universal. 
 
 In 1827 they took down one of those houses in fine preserva- 
 tion and dignity of appearance, at the corner of Pearl street and 
 Old slip, marked 1698. About the same time they also took 
 down another on the north-east side of Coenties slip, marked 
 1701. The opposite corner had another, marked 1689. 
 
 In Broad street is one of those houses marked 1698, occupied 
 by Ferris & Co., No. 41. Another, appearing equally as old, but 
 of lower height, stands at the north-east corner of Broad and 
 Beaver streets. These, with the one now standing, of three 
 stories. No. 76 Pearl street, near Coenties slip, are, I think, the 
 only ones now remaining in New York. — "The last" of the 
 Knickerbockers. ! The passion for modish change and novelty is 
 levelling all the remains of antiquity. 
 
 The ancient ^'Stadt Huys,^' formed of stone, stood originally 
 at the head of Coenties slip, facing on Pearl street towards the 
 East river, is now occupied by the houses No. 71 and 73. It 
 was built very early in the Dutch dynasty, 1642, and became so 
 weakened and impaired in half a century afterwards, as to be 
 recommended by the court sitting there, to be sold, and another to 
 be constructed. The minutes of common council, which I have 
 seen in Gen. Morton's office, are to this effect; — In 1696 it is 
 
Jincieni Edifices, 351 
 
 ordered that inquiries be made how the " City Hall," and the 
 land under the trees by Mr. Burgher's path, would sell. In 1 698 
 they agree to build the " new City Hall" by the head of Broad 
 street, for ^63,000 ; the same afterwards the Congress Hall, on 
 corner of Wall street. i 
 
 In 1699 they sell the old City Hall to John Rodman, for i)920, 
 reserving only "the bell, the king's arms, and iron works, (fetters, 
 &c.) belonging to the prison," and granting leave also to allow 
 the cage, pillory, and stocks before the same, to be removed 
 within one year; and the prisoners in said jail within the said 
 City Hall, to remain one month. In front of all these on the 
 river side, was placed the Rondeal or Half Moon fort, where it 
 probably assisted the party sheltered in the City Hall, while the 
 civil war prevailed. 
 
 All these citations sufficiently show that here was really a City 
 Hall as a court of justice, with the prison combined. All the 
 tradition of the old men has been, that " there was once the old 
 jail." We know from Dutch records that there was an earlier 
 prison than this once within the fort, say in 1640. We know 
 also, that this Stadt Huys was originally constructed by orders of 
 Gov. Keift, for a Stadt Herberg or City Tavern. Soon after, it 
 was made to serve both for the company's tavern and City Hall, 
 at the same time. Here the partizans in the civil war held their 
 fortress, and at them balls were fired from the fort ; one of which, 
 driving into a neighbouring wall, I have lately seen. In time, 
 the numerous persons crowding the courts held in it, weakened 
 the building, and made it needful to take it down in 1700. It 
 would seem, that as " it was old and run to decay," a second 
 building had supplied its place in 1701, as that was the mark 
 which that house, taken down on the spot in 1827, then bore. 
 
 The City Hall, at the head of Broad street fronting on Wall 
 street, stood out beyond the pavement in that street, and must 
 have been finished in 1700. Its lower story formed an open 
 arcade over the foot pavement. It was also the proper prison of 
 the city, and having before it, on Broad street, a whipping post, 
 pillory, &c. There, was also held the sessions of the Provincial 
 Assembly, the Supreme Court, and the Mayor and Admiralty 
 courts ; it was also the place of election. It was finally altered 
 to suit the Congress, and such as it then was has been preserved 
 in an engraving done by Tiebout in 1789 ; the jail prisoners were 
 at that time moved to the then " new jail in the Park." But the 
 Congress removing to Philadelphia, through the influence of 
 Robert Morris, as the New Yorkers set forth in a caricature, it 
 was again altered to receive the courts and the State Assembly. 
 Finally, all was removed to the present superb City Hall of " ever- 
 lasting marble." It is curious respecthig the City Hall, that it 
 was originally constructed on the site and out of the materials of 
 a stone bastion, in the line of the wall of defence along Wall 
 
352 Ancient Edifices. 
 
 street ; and after it was built, it is on record that it was ordered 
 that it be embelUshed with the arms of the King, and the Earl of 
 Bellermont, which, Avhen done, the corporation ordered that the 
 latter should be taken down and broken. What could that indig- 
 nity mean, especially so near the time of his death, which occurred 
 in 1701. The British while in New York, used the City Hall as 
 the place of the main guard ; at the same time they much plun- 
 dered and broke up the only public library, then contained in one 
 of its chambers. Its best style of appearance was on the occasion 
 of being fitted up for the first Congress, under the Constitution, 
 directed by the engineer. Major L'Enfant. It was in its gallery 
 on Wall street, in April 1789, that Gen. Washington was inau- 
 gurated Me ^r^/ President of the United States. This important 
 public ceremony, the oath of office, was done in the open gallery 
 in front of the Senate chamber, in the view of an immense con- 
 course of citizens collected in Broad street. The doors, windows, 
 and roofs, of every house at the same time were thronged with 
 charmed and exulting spectators. There this nobleman of nature, 
 in his noble height and port — '' the beheld of all beholders," — in 
 a suit of brown cloth of American manufacture, steel hilted 
 small sword by his side, hair in bag and full powdered, in whit6 
 silk hose and shoes with silver buckles, made his sworn pledge 
 as President to Chancellor Livingston on a superb quarto Bible 
 still preserved by St. John's Lodge, No. 1. How uprightly, in- 
 telligently and disinterestedly he executed his task and redeemed 
 that pledge as the Pater Patrix of his country, history will never 
 cease to tell — to his fame and glory. 
 
 General Washington's first public dinner at New York. 
 Judge Wingate, who was one of the guests, when Gen. Wash- 
 ington gave his first dinner after his inauguration as President, 
 thus describes it in his letter. The guests consisted of the Vice 
 President, the foreign ministers, the heads of departments, the 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Senators from 
 New Hampshire and Georgia, the then two most northern and 
 southern states. It was the least showy dinner that I ever saw 
 at the President's table, and the company was not large. The 
 President made his whole dinner on a boiled leg of mutton. // 
 was his usual practice to eat of but one dish. As there was no 
 chaplain present, the President himself said a very short grace 
 as he ivas sitting down. After the dinner and dessert were fin- 
 ished, one glass of wine was passed round the table, and no 
 toast. The President arose, and all the company, of course, and 
 retired to the drawing-room, from which the guests departed as 
 every one chose without ceremony." Days of simplicity ! 
 
 The first theatre being destroyed in Beekman street, a second 
 theatre was established in John street, between Nassau street and 
 Broadway. There British officers performed sometimes for their 
 amusement. Buonaparte's activity and vigour of mind would 
 
•/indent Edifices. 353 
 
 have found them more characteristic and busy employ. It was 
 well for us that the army had such material. 
 
 There were two ancient Custom Houses, one stood at the head 
 of Mill street, a confined little place ; a more respectable one, is 
 the same now a grocery store on the north-west corner of Moore 
 and Front streets. Mr. Ebbets, aged 76, remembered it used as 
 such. At the same time the basin was open all along Moore 
 street. The present N. W. Stuyvesant told me this was the same 
 building once the " Stuyvesant Huys" of his celebrated ancestor. 
 In front of the building was a public crane. 
 
 The Exchange stood near there, on arches, across the foot of 
 Broad street, in a line with Water street ; it was taken down after 
 the revolution. Under its arches some itinerant preachers used 
 occasionally to preach. 
 
 The Jirst Preshyierian Church, built on the site of the present 
 one in Wall street near Broadway, was built in 1719; and it is 
 on record in Connecticut, that churches there took up collections 
 to aid the primitive building. 
 
 To reflect on the changes working in New York, one is to con- 
 sider that formerly, Wall and Pine streets, from Broadway to 
 Pearl street, domiciUated exclusively the elite and fashionable of 
 the city. Now there is not a solitary house occupied as a resi- 
 dence left. Scarcely a house of former days, though once elegant, 
 is now there. In Pine street from Water street to Broadway, 
 every former house is demolished, and in Wall street every for- 
 mer residence is gone. There is only left in the rear of the for- 
 mer stylish house of Mr. Jauncey, the stable, the same building 
 now used, with sundry modifications, as the hall of the board of 
 brokers. It may be deemed modest in them who are usually 
 deemed lords of Wall street, to be thus satisfied with the lowli- 
 ness of a stable. 
 
 Pearl street was also once a location for the residence of many 
 respectable names and families, such as Gov. Geo. Clinton, Gov. 
 Broome, Richard Varrick, Robert Lennox, Andrew Ogden, J. J. 
 Glover, Samuel Denton, and many others of their class and stand- 
 ing — now business houses supersede all. 
 
 There was formerly along the present Chambers street, a row 
 of log houses, of one story. Think of the change there, since 
 then, including such houses of stately grandeur, as Verplanck's, 
 Winthrop's, Wilke's, Gen. Lamb's, Buchannan's, Leffingwell's, 
 Reese's, and Jauncey's. 
 
 French Protestant Church, ''Du St. Esprit.'^— This antique 
 building, the oldest of the old churches now remaining in New 
 York, was erected in 1704, by the Protestant Hugonots, escaped 
 from France, and settled at Brooklyn, New Rochelle, &c. When 
 we contemplate the sanguinaiy persecution from which thy fled, 
 and the happy and prosperous refuge which they here found ; — 
 leaving numerous respectable and wealthy descendants among us, 
 45 ' 2 g2 
 
354 \ Ancient Edifices. 
 
 to perpetuate their names, we feel more than common veneration 
 for this venerable remains of the olden time. 
 
 To those who have minds fitted for contemplation and con- 
 sideration, it presents a place to visit for the sake of the moral and 
 historical associations connected with its primitive worshippers. 
 
 When New York city contained but a population of 6000 souls, 
 these French Protestants formed a little community of their own, 
 — there, in that church, by themselves, they assembled and lis- 
 tened to the word of God and his Gospel, in their own tongue, 
 and "having none to make them afraid." In this same church, 
 divine service in French is still performed — in Episcopal order, 
 every Sabbath day, at its location, in the rear of Pine street, near 
 Nassau street. 
 
 Too many of their descendants have deserted the house of their 
 fathers, or doubtless, the congregation would be much greater 
 than it is, and the church itself might have been enlarged, or even 
 pulled down to build greater. Such as it now is, we here portray 
 in its picture, given in this book. 
 
 The reader, to enter into the spirit of these remarks, should visit 
 such a church, and there consider, with us, that within those same 
 walls, once sat many, gravely attired French men and women, 
 very different in aspect and general dress, from the present gene- 
 ration of fashionable folk occupying their seats, and inheriting 
 their names and legacies. 
 
 It is a part of the history, properly belonging to this church 
 and people, that the Hugonots settled in Rochelle, as farmers, 
 &c., were accustomed to walk, in whole families, every Saturday 
 afternoon, twenty miles, to have one sweet day of Sabbath rest, in 
 this their consecrated temple of worship ! Christian worship must 
 have meant something substantial then, when so arduously fol- 
 lowed, for the sake of its " recompense of reward." Let their 
 descendants and others consider this, and profit by the moral 
 which the example affords. 
 
 But few persons, however, seem to regard the proper claims 
 of this church to their notice or attention. It is hardly known 
 to many even in New York, itself. Its low, grave, and sombre 
 form, and monastic-like heavy tower, is eclipsed by more aspiring 
 edifices. 
 
 To reflective and thoughtful people, however, the very walls 
 with their past associations, should always awaken an interesting 
 and profitable homily, — in such a place one has only to sit and 
 think, and then the mind will moralize its own sermon ! The 
 very subject has already made us, so far our own preacher. But 
 when the sermons there are given weekly in French, where are 
 all the young students of French, in New York, that they do not 
 crowd the Old French Church, — and why do so few consider ! 
 
Reflections and Notices. 355 
 
 REFLECTIONS AND NOTICES. 
 
 " When I travelled I saw many things, 
 And learned more than I can express." — Eccl. 
 
 In my travels about New York, looking into every thing with 
 " peering eyes," I saw things which might not arrest every one, 
 and which I am therefore disposed to set down. 
 
 New York, as a whole, did not strike me as a deformity that it 
 had several narrow and winding lanes. I might prefer, for con- 
 venience of living, straighter and wider streets, as their new built 
 ones in every direction are ; but as a visitor, it added to my grati- 
 fication to wind through the unknown mazes of the place, and 
 then suddenly to break upon some unexpected and superior street 
 or buildings traversing in another direction. It gives entertain- 
 ment to the imagination, to see thus the lively tokens of the primi- 
 tive Dutch taste for such streets ; and the narrow lanes aided the 
 fancy to conceive how the social Knickerbockers loved the narrow 
 lanes for their social conveniences, when, sitting in their stoops 
 in evenings on either side the narrow pass, they enjoyed them- 
 selves in social Dutch, not unlike the " social vehicles" now used 
 for travelling up and down Broadway, and ranging the passen- 
 gers face to face. 
 
 I felt also pleased and gratified with the great variety of painted 
 brick houses, done of necessity, because their bricks are inferior 
 generally, but giving them occasion to please the eye with nu- 
 merous fancies. 
 
 This is peculiarly the town of "merry church-going bells." 
 Their numerous spires as ornaments, seem to demand the others, 
 as apologies for such expensive steeples. 
 
 There is something in New York that is a perpetual ideal Lon- 
 don to my mind, and therefore more a gratification to me to visit 
 than to abide. The stir and bustle ; — the perpetual emulation to 
 excel in display ; — the various contrivances, by signs and devices, 
 to allure and catch the eye ; — the imitations of London and for- 
 eign cities and foreigners, rather than our own proper republican 
 manners and principles, — struck my attention every where. The 
 very ambition to be the metropolitan city, like London, gave them 
 cares which are not to be coveted. Why do we want our cities, 
 and even our country, dense with foreign population ? Is there 
 no maximum point, beyond which our comforts and ease must 
 proportionably diminish ? I fear so. 
 
 New York is distinguished for its display in the way of sigus ; 
 every device and expense is resorted to, to make them attractive, 
 
356 JRe flections and Notices. 
 
 crowding them upon every story, and even upon the tops and 
 ends of some houses, above. One small house in Beekman street 
 had twelve signs of lawyers; and at 155 Pearl street, the name 
 of Tilldon and Roberts was painted on the stone steps of the 
 door ! 
 
 " The very stones prate of his whereabouts." 
 
 In truth it struck me as defeating their own purpose, for the glare 
 of them was so uniform as to lose the power of discrimination. 
 It is not unlike the perpetual din of their own carriage-wheels 
 along Broadway, unnoticed by themselves, though astounding to 
 others. 
 
 These signs, however, had some interest for me, and especially 
 along Pearl street, where they were of tamer character than in 
 Broadway, and were so much the easier read. There I read and 
 considered the nomenclature of the town. I saw by them that 
 strangers had got hold of the business and the wealth of the place. 
 " The busy tribes" from New England supplied numerous names ; 
 and the names of the Knickerbockers were almost rarities in their 
 own homes ! Judicious persons told me they thought full one 
 half of all the business done in New York was " by the pushing 
 Yankees," (I mean it to their credit !) — one fourth more by 
 foreigners of all kinds, and the remainder left a fourth for the 
 Knickerbockers ; some of them in business, but many of them 
 reposing otium cum dignitate, on the surprisingly increased value 
 of their real estates. The ancients Avho still linger about as look- 
 ers-on, must sigh and exclaim, " strangers feed our flocks, and 
 aliens are our vine-dressers !" 
 
 Having so spoken of the active Yankees, so much settling in 
 New York city and still more throughout the state, it causes us to 
 remember, that there was an eye to such a settlement, as a favour- 
 ite home, even as early as the days of the Pilgrim fathers, when 
 they were brought out in the Mayflower, and landed at the Ply- 
 mouth rock. The fact was, that those same fathers presented 
 their memorial to the Prince of Orange and the New Netherland 
 Company on the 12th February 1620, setting forth, that they had 
 a company of four hundred families, in Holland and in England, 
 who were then desirous of embarking with their English minis- 
 ter, then living at Leyden, and speaking the Dutch language, to 
 settle in New Amsterdam, for the alleged purpose " of planting 
 there the pure christian religion, and converting the savages of 
 the country to the christian faith." The petition, though much 
 considered, did not however, from some cause, then take ; and 
 those who thus then inclined for New York, made their settle- 
 ment in New Hampshire, cultivating and there improving a New 
 England state, from which their sons in subsequent years, have 
 emigrated to carry out in New York, their forefathers' earliest in- 
 clinations and wishes. Blessings and happiness attend them. If 
 
Reflections and Notices. 357 
 
 for such a home the fathers prayed, behold the prayer answered 
 (though it tarried) in tlie actual residences of their sons ! 
 
 Jones' buildings, or Arcade, in Wall street, is a curious contri- 
 vance for mere offices — a real London feature of the place, where 
 ground is precious. I deem it strange, that in so rapidly an enlarg- 
 ing city I should see no houses " to let ;" — all seen occupied. 
 
 The frequency of fires, and their alarms, is one evil of over 
 large population. The cry occurred every day or night I 
 dwelt in the city. An old man (Mr. Tabelee) who had been 
 twenty-eight years a fireman, told me, they never had an alarm 
 of fire in summer, in olden time. 
 
 New York has now become an extremely finely paved city. 
 Formerly many of their foot-walks had only the same kind of 
 round pebbles which fill the carriage way. This gave occasion 
 to Dr. Franklin to play his humour, in saying, a New Yorker 
 could be known by his gait, in shuffling over a Philadelphia fine 
 pavement like a parrot upon a mahogony table ! Now, their large 
 flag-stones and wide foot pavements surpass even Philadelphia, 
 for its ease of walking ; and the unusual width of their flag-stone 
 footways, across the pebbled streets at the corners, is very supe- 
 rior. 
 
 In visiting two of the Reformed Dutch churches, my mind ran 
 out in various meditations and reflections. I thought of the 
 ancients all gone down to the dust — of their zeal and devotion to 
 the decrees of the Synod of Dort and of God — of their hope that 
 their own language would never be superseded within those walls 
 which they had reared ! 'Now, as I looked around among th^ 
 congregation for Knickerbocker visages and persons, I saw no 
 caste of character to mark their peculiar race. You may discern 
 a German in Pennsylvania, as of a coarser mould ; but not so 
 the Netherland progeny in New York. Yet such as I found them 
 they were the only and last remains of the primitive settlers of 
 New Amsterdam ; it was only in such a collection of descendants 
 that you could hope to find, if at all, the scsquipedalia names of 
 their ancestors, such as these : — Mynheers Varrevanger, Vander 
 Schuven, S'ouwert Olpheresse, Vande Spiegel, Van Bommel, 
 Hardenbroeck and Ten Broeck, Boele Roelofsen, Van Ruyven, 
 Ten Eyck, Verplanck Spiegelaer, Van Borssum, &c. : not to omit 
 the least of all little names, " De." These were names of men 
 of property, on the earliest list assessed, now extant. 
 
 It is interesting to witness occasionally, here and there the 
 remains of the ancient town, as the houses in some instances of 
 humble wooden fabric, continue as they were. Thus in so con- 
 spicuous and wealthy a place as Broadway and the Park, — " tall 
 mansions to shame the humble shed," — we see at the south-west 
 comer of Warren and Broadway, a collection down each street, 
 equal to four houses each way, of i^mall two story frames. Down 
 Broad street, a central place, are still many very mean looking 
 
358 Reflections and Notices. 
 
 low frames. They doubtless retain their places, because of pay- 
 ing better rents for their value than could be derived from more 
 sightly edifices. 
 
 The New York painters of fancy wood are certainly peculiar 
 in their skill in tasteful decorations or accurate imitations. It is 
 displayed in numerous fine imitations of oaken doors ; sometimes 
 in marble pillars and posterns ; some fine imitations of the pud- 
 ding-stone columns, which cost so much in the capitol of Wash- 
 ington ; but finally, I think nothing can excel the excellency of 
 the painting of the north Dutch church pulpit, where Dr. Brown- 
 lee is pastor. Every touch of it is true to the character of the 
 bird-eye maple, and having the finest possible polish. 
 
 With more time I might possibly have found out some rarely 
 aged persons of good experience in the past. I saw Sarah Paul, 
 a coloured woman, at No. 23 Lombardy street, of the rare age 
 of one hw^dred and fifteen years,* as it was estimated. Her 
 memory was too unstable to rest any remarkable facts upon, 
 although she was sufficiently talkative. Another relic of " Lang 
 Syne," was found in the intelligent mind and active person of old 
 William Ceely, then an inmate of the Almshouse at Bellevue, at 
 the advanced age of one hundred and eight. Only a year before, 
 he walked one hundred and fifty miles, to see relatives in Connec- 
 ticut. How strange to see such persons so long escaped the 
 " thousand ills that flesh is heir to !" 
 
 As I had looked in vain for any thing like primitive remains 
 of" Oranje Boven" in the Dutch churches of New York, I would 
 fain have followed Knickerbocker himself to their " last hold" at 
 Communipaw, — a name itself sufficiently sounding and mysteri- 
 ous to invite a stranger to an inspection and exploration, to learn 
 if he could, what it means and what it exhibits. Its allurement 
 to me would have been to catch there a living picture of those 
 characteristics appropriated to it by its comic historian, saying, 
 " it is still one of the fastnesses whither the primitive manners of 
 our Dutch forefathers have retreated, and still are cherished with 
 devout affection." The pleasure of a visit to such a place I was 
 not favoured to indulge ; but if it answers the description, it is the 
 spot which the sons of Oranje Boven should specially consecrate to 
 Dutch memory, by holding there their occasional festivals in rude 
 simplicity ; reviving there the recollections of their ancestors by 
 crowning their festive boards with the very diet in kind which 
 they once prized, such as Suppawn and Malk, Hoof Kaas, Zult, 
 Hokkies en Poetyes, Kool Slaa, Roltetje, Worst, Gofruyt, 
 Pens, &c. 
 
 In that very place, to this day, there are individuals in families, 
 who still adhere to the former practice of using their sugar at tea 
 
 * She died in February, 1829 ; and in 1830, there died in New York, Anthony 
 Vanpelt, at the age of one hundred and thirty years. 
 
Reflections and Notices. 359 
 
 and breakfast, separate from the beverage; they putting their 
 spoons into the sugar bowl, and eating it in small tastes, from time 
 to time from the spoon, laid by the side of their cup. The same 
 people are remarkable for the abundance of good things given at 
 any one of such repasts ; but it is a rule, not to place more than 
 one of the extras on the table at a time ; and as each one of these 
 is consumed, then comes the other, and then another, &c., to the 
 finish. 
 
 " Communipaw," is to be understood, as a corruption of the 
 commune of Mr. Pauw. 
 
 If one should attempt to compare the chief distinguishing char- 
 acteristics of New York and Philadelphia, it might be expressed 
 in brief thus : — The former is all impulse, the other steadiness — 
 one lives while it can and is dashing, while the other is a grave 
 economist who while it wastes nothing enjoys everything. One 
 is the city of the heart, the other is of the head. We could spend 
 a brief season with one in exhilaration and excitement, and a long 
 life of happiness and peace with the other. 
 
 New York is now no longer restricted to its Broadway. It has 
 now other streets of width and buildings of grandeur. Formerly 
 we were always thinking of its absence, when in its other 
 cramped and winding passages. 
 
 What a wonderful change of wealth and splendour, since it 
 was once a city where legal money was '^seawant, made of clam 
 shells and periwinkles !" Now the city of specie, and now " the 
 Great Emporium," of " the Empire State !" 
 
 Contemplating New York as she once was, and comparing 
 her as she now appears, it is impossible to avoid the spontaneous 
 emotions of surprise and wonder, to which we are stimulated at 
 every change of place and point of observance. Looking back 
 to the period of 1800, remembering things as they were, and seeing 
 men and things as now, we cannot but notice their contrast of 
 state and character. From a moderately sized city, she has be- 
 come great, overrunning and effacing all former metes and bounds. 
 Houses, such as once contented their former owners in size and 
 finish, now all supplanted by large and magnificent mansions. 
 Streets which were once narrow, crooked, and noiseless, are now 
 straightened, widened, and surcharged with clattering vehi- 
 cles. Public buildings which were formerly large and good 
 enough, are now superseded by stately edifices. The quiet social 
 habits of the former population, are overwhelmed by an excitable 
 bustling race. Grandeur and magnificence are seen every where, 
 crushing and overwhelming the vestiges of the past. With all 
 these changes, comes the increase of troubles and perplexities in 
 the city police and municipal government, superinduced by the 
 onerous increase of irregular inhabitants. Merchants and busi- 
 ness men hurry and drive faster, and are themselves driven far 
 faster than their temperate and moderate forefathers. Everything 
 
360 Reflections and Notices. 
 
 seems to partake of high steam pressure and power. Excitement 
 and emotion seem stamped on many visages. Wall street seems 
 an active hive of anxious operators. Refinement and splendour 
 abound, while repose and comfort seem pressed aside. Too 
 many are bent on sudden aggrandisement, and expose themselves 
 to severe disquietudes and trials — trials in which they too often 
 fail and quit the scene, to be filled by others, fully ambitious to 
 take their place. Foreigners crowd in, and fill up all vacancies, 
 bringing with them foreign habits, prepossessions, and morals. 
 This so much so, as to give progressively, new features to society. 
 Young men in the upper class, as they regard themselves, are 
 more prodigal and profuse in their expenses and habits, and their 
 corresponding young ladies are found their rivals in magnificence 
 of dress and street display. How greatly have all articles of 
 furniture and equipage altered — what numerous artificial wants 
 are newly created — how many indulgences and refinements, 
 which never entered the heads of their graver forefathers. We 
 complain not of these things, while they will them so— we only 
 express them as facts exciting observation. To a mind duly 
 awakened to the subject, with an information commensurate 
 with the change as it is, there must be noticed all the varying 
 changes of the Kaleidoscope itself, and as such, we thus jot them 
 down. Like Paul Pry we peer about and see, and " mean no 
 offence" in their present grave mention. 
 
 Though but a looker-on in New York, like others of "no par- 
 ticular business," I nevertheless felt myself occasionally charged 
 with every body's concerns, and thought myself not unlike Knick- 
 erbocker himself — a mysterious gentleman, "very inquisitve, con- 
 tinually poking about town and prying into every thing ;" seizing 
 when he could, facts "trembling on the lips of narrative old age," 
 just as they were "' dropping piece-meal into the tomb." With 
 the best intentions to be civil and unintrusive, a quidnunc must 
 sometimestraverse gruff natures, who having no feelings in sym- 
 pathy with the subjects of his inquiries, feel fretted by the kindest 
 questions. They are indeed, not unfrequent occurrences ; but 
 when happening, are more likely to aflbrd amusement to the 
 patient inquirer, than to jade or vex him. I could readily supply 
 a full chapter of anecdotes of such occasional adverse incidents, 
 but one may here suffice. 
 
 Passing along a certain street, and seeing the house which had 
 been once occupied as the primitive Methodist meeting-house 
 then a small store, I concluded to step in and inquire whether any 
 facts concerning its early days, had ever been spoken of in the 
 presence of the present occupants. I had taken for granted that 
 the inmates should be New Yorkers, but I was no sooner entered 
 than I perceived it was used by a debonair foreigner, who with 
 much vivacity and seeming politeness, was already on the qui 
 vive, arid earnestly approaching from a back apartment. It struck 
 
federal Hall, Wall Street, New York, and Washington's Installation, p. 351. 
 
 French Protestant Church, p. 34 and 153, 354. 
 

 
Reflections and Notices, 361 
 
 me instantly as an affair mal a propos on both sides. For I could 
 readily read in his countenance, that he expected in me a guest 
 by whom to make his profit. It was not perhaps to the credit of 
 the gentleman, that I should beforehand, conceive that he would 
 revolt at any question about a " Methodist meeting-house," let 
 me put it in what form of gentleness I would ; but it was so. I 
 had no sooner in set words of intended brevity, told the objects of 
 my stepping in, than I perceived " the hectic of the moment" 
 flush his cheeks, and I began to think that if I could only preserve 
 my self-possession, I might see the veritable enactment of " Mon- 
 sieur Tonson" himself. His first replication was, " Oh saire ! what 
 have I to do wid de Metodiste meeting ?" Excuse me sir, I re- 
 plied, that is what I cannot answer, because I came to ask you 
 what you might have ever heard of this house. — " Why saire, 
 what have you to do wid dis house V Very much, said I, as 
 a matter of curiosity ; for here it was said was cradled a religious 
 people, now the strongest in numerical force in the United States! 
 " Ah saire, dat is noting to me .... I am no Metodiste !" Oh 
 sir, said I, of that I am fully satisfied. " Then saire, wat do you 
 want ?" I told you that at ^^rst, sir, when I introduced myself 
 and subject. " I have no interest in the subject," said he. So I 
 perceive, said I ; and I am only sorry I have engaged so much of 
 your time to so little of mutual profit. 
 
 Perceiving him so tempest tost, on so small a subject, all " to 
 waft a feather or to drown a fly !" I constrained him to hear me 
 a little longer, while I should tell him a little of the primitive his- 
 tory of the house, under the plausible kindness of enabling him to 
 give more direct answers to future inquirers, if ever again ques- 
 tioned concerning his very notable premises. His nervous impa- 
 tience, in the mean time, was apparent enough, but he had to 
 bear it, to please my humour ; for it was impossible to quarrel 
 with my gentleness and urbanity; and he, possibly, could not but 
 be half afraid that his troubler " was lunatic and sore-vexed," as 
 one too often affected from "the glimpses of the moon!" We 
 parted with mutual bows and civilities ; and both " preserved our 
 honours." 
 
 Had I time and incUnation for tales of other rebuffs, or for rela- 
 tions of the alarms I have sometimes generated, among possessors 
 of dubious titles to given premises, they might equally amuse 
 myself in their recital. Among such have been those, who as 
 early as the war of the revolution, had become quasi owners by 
 quietly stepping into the shoes of individuals gone abroad or killed 
 in the war, and then by the aid of similar surnames at a distance, 
 invented what titles they pleased; Others had procured what 
 they held, by payments in legal tenders of worthless continental 
 money, purchased for the purpose, at almost nothing. Such peo- 
 ple would sometimes say, it must needs be a very idle and per- 
 nicious fancy, to be XYms peeking into the concerns of other people; 
 46 2 H 
 
362 Reflections and Notices. 
 
 and they could not forbear to express the wish, that people could 
 learn " to mind their own business." To inquire too, into the 
 precedent history of sundry families and their early associations, 
 was to some a sore evil ; and " the sense of which, to them was a 
 most unmeaning enterprise" — none of the Parvenues like olden 
 time researches. Others however, fallen into nobodies, showed 
 an amusing vanity, in attaching themselves to some exalted trunk, 
 from which they had dropt, by the misdoing of some parent scion 
 of reckless caste, never to be ingrafted therein again. Such could 
 be found to be most willing to use my services to exalt them, per- 
 chance, into some adventitious renown — such thought " the in- 
 quiries very commendable indeed." 
 
 The great fire of 1835, and the recent ambition for lofty build- 
 ings, have almost superseded the original character of Dutch 
 houses. The former pediment walls and deeply pitched roofs, are 
 now scarcely seen. Their entire difierence from all other con- 
 structions in this western world, gave them a picturesque charm 
 to the visitor. There is however, still some prevalence of another 
 and later order of English architecture, which strikes one as more 
 dignified and agreeable in its forms and proportions, than those 
 tall, ambitious houses, carrying high heads upon small founda- 
 tions. I mean those respectable looking double-front houses, 
 of two storied elevation, formed of yellowish brick, and contrasted 
 finely with brown stone entablatures, porticoes, &c. Such a 
 one as is finely exemplified in Lorillard's house at Hudson's 
 Square, and in another, the residence of John J. Astor. 
 
 But the great Mammoth Hotel of Mr. Astor's, is not to our 
 taste. It has the sombre granite heavy walls, and little unadorned 
 windows of a prison. It has not as much architectural taste of 
 form and character, as the real Provost, near by, once of prison 
 memory. There is in it a manifest stint of ornament, and it much 
 needs Hghtness of carpenter work, or contrasted white marble, to 
 relieve and adorn its heavy, gloomy mass of walls. It possesses 
 no colonnades, like Lafayette Place, or airy ventilations to show 
 off its inmates, or adequate means to let them look out upon the 
 passing people. It has but one massy centre door ; and when one 
 sees the inmates going in, and that door closing upon them, one 
 instinctively inclines to sdij, farewell, as though one should not 
 expect to see their escape in case of an internal fire. 
 
 An aged gentleman tells me he remembers when the site of thii^ 
 granite hotel, was still a commons, or open field, on which the 
 negroes from Virginia, inveigled thence by Lord Dunmore, in the 
 revolution, were encamped. There they got the small-pox, died 
 in great numbers, and were buried in the negro ground, in the 
 rear of Chambers street. 
 
 The new University is an edifice far more to our taste. Phila- 
 delphians should feel themselves complimented by the general 
 style of the whole square where it is situate : the University 
 
Reflections and Notices, 363 
 
 itself being wholly of white marble, and the houses of the whole 
 square being constructed after the manner of Philadelphia's best 
 houses, of fine red brick, and all the window sills, and tops, and 
 doorsteps, of fine white marble. The coup ct'oeil, gives a sudden 
 impression of summer sunshine, and presents the idea of cheerful 
 and cleanly residences. The contrast of this place with other 
 squares of the city, is certainly very agreeable, even to those who, 
 like ourself, have been sufficiently pleased with the frequent use 
 of the grave and sober looking brown stone so often used in lieu 
 of marble. 
 
 There is another thought suggested by the viewing of this 
 University square, which is, that it might be a good measure in 
 Philadelphia, to make a " New York Place," to be filled with 
 houses after the New York manner, of brick and brown stone, 
 with their iron palisade embelUshments ; and still another to be 
 the " Boston Place," of sombre granite, &c.; so as to bring distant 
 cities to our occasional contemplation. 
 
 It cannot but be subject of observation, that a city, once so 
 wholly Dutch, should have so few remains of Orange Boven and 
 and the Fader landt. The very streets, themselves, being gene- 
 rally of English appellation ; — The Hoere graft and Nassau streets, 
 being almost the sole names remembered of original name. Broad- 
 way, as a street was no doubt of English formation — it being in 
 fact, at first, an extended Parade, once planted in the middle with 
 trees by the British military, and called their Mall. It was too 
 much out of town, and too highly elevated, on a ridge for Dutch 
 predilections and business. They loved the low land ; and above 
 all, the HoBre graft, and its canal, since known as Broad street. 
 
 Those httle demi-curved and triangular streets, so clustered and 
 involved, at and about the region of Mill street, Beaver street, 
 and Hanover Square, &c., so like the diagram of a fortification 
 upon the map ; around and through which, Dutch boys in ten- 
 broecks, and girls in linsey-woolsey, once hid and dodged, sported 
 and played, shall now be forever gone, and their memory oblite- 
 rated. Even now one desires to learn, if possible, what could 
 have originally induced a block of buildings of wedge form in 
 the very centre of the little triangular Hanover Square, so indis- 
 pensable, to be demolished in after years, for the sake of conveni- 
 ence and room. 
 
 One cannot but think too, of the present wealth and grandeur of 
 New York compared with its commencement, when it went on 
 contentedly for many years, sufficiently satisfactory to many, with 
 reed and straw roofs, wooden chimneys to many of the houses, 
 and with oaken staves for roofs to its churches. When too, it paid 
 its officers and ministers, and managed its commerce in peltry, 
 tobacco, &c., with seawant shells, tempora mutantur. 
 
 In making these passing reflections and notices upon desultory 
 subjects, we have been led to think a little upon ourself, and upon 
 
364 Reflections mid Notices. 
 
 the influences and causes, which have induced us to think and 
 write upon these things. 
 
 I felt with Walter Scott, that I " dwelt with fondness on the 
 rude figures of the olden time." I thought with Blackwood's 
 Magazine, " that anecdotes of men and things, will have a charm, 
 as long as man has curiosity." 
 
 I had been so led by circumstances, into the way of forming 
 these Annals, that when I read Sewell's history of the Quakers, 
 and noticed the reasons he assigned for that undertaking, I could 
 not but feel that I could use some of his expressions — as for 
 myself, in regard to the present work, to wit : " I was induced, 
 (says he,) from the consideration, that the facts were so rare and 
 wonderful as not to he found in other histories : and having 
 made a beginning, I resolved to go on. I am not without thoughts 
 that I was prepared to be instrumental for such a work ; for 
 several things I had noted down, years before I had thoughts 
 to have composed such a history." Although, I have given 
 many things, I have not given all which I had so written 
 down. Add to this, that I have described several things well 
 known to me, which few besides myself possessed. Many of 
 them were noted down from the mouths of credible persons, 
 which at the time, I did not suppose I should ever publish. 
 Yet I took account of whatever seemed to me worthy to be 
 left upon record. From such materials, I have gleaned what 
 was most remarkable ; and from this as a fund / have en- 
 deavoured by variety of matter to quicken the appetite of 
 the reader, and have, also, intermixed the serious parts 
 sometimes, with the facetious. Now, though my original col- 
 lection was, as Ovid calls the chaos, " a rude undigested heap ;" 
 yet thence I have compiled the greatest part of my history." 
 Such have been his operations, in his case ; and such also have 
 been mine ! He also, like me, lived at a distance from the 
 things he has recorded. 
 
 M. Michelet, in his book the People, has words in his Preface, 
 which strongly express my own position. He says, "I have 
 made this book out of myself, out of my life, and out of my 
 heart. I have derived it from observation, from my relations 
 of friendship and from neighbourhood ; I have picked it up 
 upon the roads. Chance loves to favour those who follow out 
 one continuous idea. [So I often found it !] Above all, I have 
 found it in the recollections of my youth. I had but to inter- 
 rogate my memory .'" 
 
 The Hon. Daniel Webster, who has done me the honour to 
 commend my pursuits in these matters of the olden time, is herein 
 brought to bear incidentally upon their character and worth, by 
 what he has expressed in his late speech at the Plymouth celebra- 
 tion, saying, in his own pure and forcible English : — " It is wise 
 thus to recur to the sentiments, and to the character of those from 
 
Reflections and Notices, 3G5 
 
 whom we are descended. Men who are regardless of their ances- 
 tors, and of their posterity, are very apt to be regardless of them- 
 selves. The man who does not feel himself to be a link in the 
 great chain to transmit life and being, intellectual and moral exist- 
 ence, from his ancestors to his posterity, does not justly appreciate 
 the relations which belong to him. The contemplation of our 
 ancestors and of our descendants ought ever to be within the 
 grasp of our thoughts and affections. The past belongs to us by 
 affectionate retrospect ; while the future belongs to us, no less, 
 by affectionate anticipation for those who are to come after us. 
 And then only do we do ourselves justice, when we are ourselves 
 true to the blood we inherit, and true to those to whom we have 
 been the means of transmitting that blood.'^ 
 
 "We demand (says a judicious writer,) entire individuality, diS 
 a first requisite in style, as in manners. The thoughts and feel- 
 ings should be that of the writer himself alone." We willingly 
 cite such authority to support and buttress ourself in the present 
 work, for it must be obvious to many, that we imitate no one 
 either in style or subject. For the former we have no apology, 
 since it is only such as we have, that we can give ; and as to the 
 latter, it must be appreciated, by what it is worth to the reader. 
 The subject matter, is our forte. 
 
 2r2 
 
366 Conclusion, 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 In contemplating my work as now finished, I cannot but be 
 sensible of the peculiar employment in which I have been en- 
 gaged. I have been as one rescuing from the ebbing tide of time, 
 the floating and perishing images of the past. They were to be 
 seized now, or lost for ever. Ulilitarians may little regard 
 them ; but the intellectual will respect them for their pictorial 
 report to generations to come. I feel and know my position. It 
 is like that felt and expressed by Col. Trumbull, when speaking 
 of the images which he had preserved as a painter ; — he saying, 
 " I have executed a work — the result of a willing observance of 
 things, for which no one lives possessing the same materials ; — 
 such as has never been done before ; — and in which it is not easy 
 that J should find a rivalP 
 
 It is indeed a wonder to myself, that I have so steadily felt the 
 impulse to " note and observe ;" and it maybe equally surprising 
 to some that it should have been so strongly felt, so diligently 
 pursued by one, to " the place not native born," and himself at 
 some distance from the places and facts described. He would 
 have been glad to have been able to record his acknowledgments 
 of assistance from New Yorkers themselves ; but although some 
 have been stimulated to aid by their written contributions, nothing 
 has been done. The idle world of leisurely gentlemen, have been 
 too busy, or too careless, to give time or attention to needful 
 inquiries. The author, therefore, " stands alone in his glory." 
 
 Had he had more time to give to needful personal explorations, 
 among the archives and official records, &c., he would have been 
 glad to have set himself down to the general reading of the muni- 
 cipal and colonial MSS. Dutch and English records at New 
 York and Albany, — to have there seen and extracted, as he could, 
 any facts of manners, men, and things of the olden time, different 
 from the present. — Such as could surprise, amuse, or benefit the 
 present generation. 
 
 He would have liked to have investigated the records of the 
 courts in the colonial times, for names of individuals, and facts of 
 action, in Dutch and English proceedings. Such must be fruitful 
 in the mention of their doings then. The presentments of grand 
 juries, and the actions on their recommendations, must have in- 
 cidentally explained a former state of things in society, morals, 
 &c., with suggestions for improvements, changes, &c., and the 
 required treatment to Indian neighbours about them. 
 
Conclusion. 367 
 
 Such aids I know how to appreciate, from the actual benefits 
 derived from similar investigations, made successfully for the 
 Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania, whereby I was enabled 
 to unearth many of the hidden treasures of a buried age. The 
 same I would fain have done for New York, had they been acces- 
 sible to me. 
 
 With more of time, to have spent among the still living, of the 
 ancients, I might have increased the store of their contributions, 
 especially in such facts as these, to wit : — I might have enlarged 
 ^ the records of notable persons and characters, therein showing 
 men and women remarkable for any thing, — whether as divines, 
 physicians, militaires, poets, painters, inventors, mariners, artizans, 
 eccentric individuals, aged persons, adroit or pernicious ones, rare 
 criminals, benefactors, improvers, &c. ; or among the females, 
 women remarkable for beauty, wit, fortitude, misfortune, talents, 
 dress, accomplishments, &c. 
 
 New York, during its long duress in the possession of the British 
 army, must have been full of incident. Such as the conduct of 
 the British officers and soldiery ; notices of their deportment in 
 families and in the social circle, among the inhabitants, or among 
 themselves. We want something like a minute picture of things 
 as they were. We want to know what alliances were formed, 
 and who proved recreant to virtue and to duty, in either sex. We 
 want to hear more of known facts to prisoners, notices of their 
 arrivals, numbers, appearances, and disposals ; notices of their 
 sufferings, exposures, sayings, repinings, and deaths. Something 
 of those, who were induced by hardships and hopes of relief to 
 join the enemy, and to embody themselves by enlisting in Royal 
 corps. Something, and even much, of those Americans who, 
 from the first, heartily united to the Royal cause, constituted a 
 a body of Marine Refugees, and who, in barges, pirated along 
 our coasts, committing outrages upon the inhabitants. Who of 
 these were most conspicuous for hardihood, barbarity and excess. 
 How often did they depart and return, and what were the signs 
 and accompaniments of their return. Something, too, of the de- 
 partures and armaments of national vessels, or of arrivals of their 
 prizes. Something more of the localities, and military displays, 
 and exercises of distributed portions of the army in and about the 
 city ; also, notices of British proceedings in punishments to their 
 soldiers, &c. Something of the American population of New 
 York at that time, as observers and lookers on, whether as tories 
 or silenced whigs. What is to be told of the society of British 
 ladies, attached to officers ; and what of our own belles, as re- 
 garded in their estimation. What of night restraints in going 
 abroad, when meeting with sentinels, restricting street passengers 
 from their common freedom. Something of officers and nien 
 visiting churches on the Sabbath, and of what kind of preaching 
 and morals were their military chaplains. Something of American 
 
368 Conclusion, 
 
 persons visiting New York, stealthily, to see families, or to con- 
 vey relief, if any, to prisoners. 
 
 All these and more, are suggestions arising from things as they 
 were to an observing mind, and which might still be answered 
 by those still alive, who might have been present as lookers on. 
 If such should be stimulated to think and recollect upon what 
 they had seen or heard, they might even yet become contributors 
 to sundry of the public journals, for such parts as they could elu- 
 cidate, so that in the end, facts from many hands, might produce 
 an aggregate worthy of embodying as a whole, in some future 
 Annals of New York. May not some who use fluent quills, stir 
 up the garrulity of age, and report something in the premises ? 
 
 Finally, as a general remark, it may be said to all and every 
 one capable of adding to the store of traditionary lore, thajt they 
 may find a guide whereby to enlarge Ijieir vision to the whole 
 field of inquiry, by seeing the whole variety of city objects, as 
 designated by the list of chapters found in the table of contents 
 of the Annals of Philadelphia. Just so far as the latter differs 
 in subjects from those of New York, it is imputable to the greater 
 facilities for observation possessed by him for one city more than 
 for the other. 
 
 " What I could, I've done, 
 Would it were worthier !" 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 The following notice of the great fire of 1835, being formed by 
 an observer at the time without a design of publication, will 
 come up with much newness and freshness to many, who have 
 ceased to think of the subject. Although not sufficiently old in 
 itself to belong to olden time, yet as it presents a notice of things 
 not otherwise to be obtained, we here give it as something whose 
 record should be laid up for remembrance. 
 
 THE GREAT CONFLAGRATION OF NEW YORK, 
 
 DECEMBER, 1835. 
 
 «* A storm of fire, a surging sea of flame ! " 
 
 The great conflagration of New York city, in December, 1835, 
 — the greatest wonder and calamity, and befalling the greatest 
 city, hitherto known to the Western world, — were subjects of 
 sufficient excitement and interest, to induce a journey in mid- 
 winter, purposely to visit the ruins, and to see the havoc and de- 
 solation which the devouring element had inflicted. 
 
 Such a scene of devastation can only be expected to occur once 
 in a century, or but once in a life ; and when the spectacle onct 
 got up, is showed off at such tremendous expense, and with such 
 terrific display, it must surely be worth a journey of observation 
 " to note and observe !" Such thoughts influenced my mind, and 
 induced the visit to the scene of destruction, on Christmas day, 
 the 25th of December, 1835, being eight days after the disaster 
 had closed its career of ravage and dismay. 
 
 On my arrival in the city of New York, my first impulse was 
 to inspect the awful ruins. In doing so, I was necessarily obliged 
 to see, beforehand, the persons of numerous citizens at the wharves 
 and along the streets. Their faces nor actions, indicated none of 
 those excited feelings, which my own emotion might have sug- 
 gested as very natural from the occasion. Indeed it was but too 
 true, that the wonder of the occasion had much subsided ; and 
 this agreed with the fact before observed, in the intermediate 
 47 369 
 
370 Jlppendix. 
 
 journey, that the mass of travelling passengers — equal to 150 
 persons, had already found out other topics of conversation and 
 interest. 
 
 Soon, however, I entered upon the scene of ruin, and oh ! what 
 a scene — to comprise an area of 45 city acres, in absolute destruc- 
 tion. To see still the charred, the blazing and smouldering em- 
 bers, to scent the tainted air, loaded with smoke from the still 
 consuming parcels of cotton, coffee, tobacco, tea, cotton and 
 woollen goods, still resting in cellars, covered with masses of 
 bricks and broken granite. Of 528 buildings of the most costly 
 fabric, of four and five stories height, which were consumed, only 
 one^ a conspicuous Salamander, was remaining ; — Benson's fire- 
 proof copper store, of four stories, upon No. 83 Water street. 
 There it stood unscathed, an Oasis in the surrounding desert. 
 
 It was passing strange, to contemplate in one view, so great a 
 mass of towering architecture as 528 houses of brick and granite, 
 all prostrated, all gone down into their own tombs, in their 
 several cellars ; or in some cases tumbling into the narrow streets, 
 and clogging up their passage. Here and there, were to be seen 
 cragged and deformed fragments of standing walls, some of one 
 story — some more slender and lofty, of two and three stories, acting 
 as pointers and indices to the ruined area, and warning the in- 
 quisitive explorer like myself, to beware of coming within the 
 verge of their expected fall. On some they had fallen and broken 
 limbs, even while I was there. Amid these ruins, guided by the 
 remains of the several former streets, were to be seen continuous* 
 lines of male and female passengers, come in holiday clothes from 
 country villages, to behold the catastrophe. I speak of them 
 generally as strangers ; for in truth, as I afterwards ascertained, 
 the proper inhabitants of New York, had already ceased to visit 
 the place, as an afiair of worn-out character superseded by some- 
 thing more recent, and of fresher news. Even as I overheard 
 some gentlemen near the place, conversing and saying, that 
 " usually their occasions of excitement lasted 24 hours ; but here 
 was one of 38 hours, and now no longer such." Truly, this 
 destruction has fallen upon men of peculiar elasticity of spirit and 
 enterprise. It is almost wholly upon the mercantile class, 
 accustomed to risk and chance, and who are habituated to recover 
 from mishaps and disasters. They were very generally insured ; 
 and so generally too, that the chief of their present concern, is the 
 probability of the Insurance companies being unable to divide 
 more than an average of fifty per cent. Yet losing as they must, 
 there is no betrayal of heart-sorrow in the countenances of the 
 street walkers, nor in the congregations of the churches. They 
 still look wholly like their former-selves ; yea more, they even 
 give to other charities ; for instance, at Dr. Brodhead's church 
 where I was, they gathered in the annual collection for missionary 
 purposes 320 dollars. It is probable that two thirds of all the 
 
Jippendix, 371 
 
 families in New York, might themselves become liberal contri- 
 butors to the sufferers. 
 
 I visited the ruins both by day and by night, spending in such 
 observations, from one to two hours at a time. It was sad to see 
 the cartloads of goods, which could even at the end of a week or 
 ten days after the fire, still be rescued from the heated cellars. 
 Thus great piles of ready roasted coffee was brought out ; piece 
 after piece of calicoes and worsted, scorched and smoking, were 
 drawn out of others; piles of prepared tobacco for chewing; 
 numerous pigs of lead ; masses of bar iron, and iron chains ; cot- 
 ton in bales burning in places and extinguished in others; labour- 
 ing men, all dingy with the smut of the fire, working in many 
 places to clear away the rubbish and to still preserve something 
 from the flames. 
 
 The best and most extensive perspective view of the whole 
 area, was to be seen from Coenties slip, looking thence across to the 
 line of Wall street as a back ground. I was so impressed with the 
 utility of preserving such a spectacle for people at a distance, and 
 for posterity, that I immediately suggested to Col. Stone, the 
 editor of the Commercial Advertiser, that a call should be made 
 for some one or two lithographic views of the scene; and after I 
 returned home, I directly prompted Mr. Breton to go on and en- 
 deavour to execute them. He agreed, but soon after declined, 
 because of the proposed diorama of the same by Wright. Still 
 however, the print is a desideratum. 
 
 The lurid glare of the night spectacle, seen as I saw it on the 
 28th of December, just before daylight, was awfully impressive. 
 Fires of smaller dimensions could be seen every here and there, 
 of goods still consuming, and affording enough of illumination 
 amidst the general gloom, to show thfe explorer his path-way 
 along the former streets. How different the quiet and desolate 
 scene, from its recent busy mart of commerce. I met no indivi- 
 dual, heard no voices, and had the whole silence and solitude to 
 myself I sat upon a heap of ruins near to a warming fire, and 
 indulged in reveries and musings. I thought of Tyre of old, 
 " whose merchants were princes, and whose mansions were 
 palaces. ''\ I thought of the quickening influences of commerce 
 wherever they are freely indulged and not ignorantly fettered. 
 I thought then of the unwise system which denied to foreign 
 underwriters, (like the Phoenix Company of London,) the risk of 
 our preservation, and reserved to themselves the sole privilege of 
 being responsible for the calamities of their own people. The 
 practical issue is, that the ruin of seventeen millions of property, 
 is a family concern of a whole city, wherein all are mediately 
 or immediately involved. 
 
 Although I had not seen the actual conflagration which began 
 at Comstock and Andrews' store, on Merchant street, on the night 
 of Wednesday, the 16th of December, and raged through all the 
 
372 Appendix. 
 
 next day until Thursday evening, I could still imagine the terrific 
 and appalling picture : — 
 
 " Could see her flames from lofty mansions rise, 
 And send their eddying columns to the skies; 
 Where spreading fire makes night a brighter day, 
 Nor skill nor courage can its fury stay — 
 The richest merchandize of every name, 
 The worth of millions, feed the flame, 
 Jind one vast ruin meets the aching eye." 
 
 In the time of the fire, when (iismay and confusion were at 
 their utmost height, great prices were offered and given for help 
 in any needed form. Twenty dollars were given for a single cart 
 load, and even one hundred dollars was asked and given. One 
 merchant on South street, by the river side, who saw the high 
 extortion on those who had not their own carmen at hand, offered 
 and actually purchased a horse and cart for five hundred dollars, 
 and thereby saved his own property of ^80,000 by removal. My 
 friends Clark and Smith, offered, ofier the fire had consumed their 
 store, one hundred dollars to sundry bystanders, working men, to 
 pull out their iron chest ; it was soon done, and their books and 
 even notes, were all saved, although so charred and injured, as to 
 be necessary to transcribe the books. 
 
 It might surprise many to learn, that while I and others, tra- 
 velled to the scene, from 100 miles, that there were numerous 
 persons even in New York city, who never waked or heard of 
 the fire. My own kinsman, Mr. B., up town, heard of some cry 
 of fire about the time of his retiring to bed, but little regarded it ; 
 and he and his wife and two servants, actually slept out the whole 
 night in Bleecker street, without knowing that there had been 
 any fire, and that he had actually lost a large store worth ^2500 
 a year rent. 
 
 Some others of my friends, near Houston street and Broadway, 
 were at a wedding party, and although they heard of the fire at 
 a distance at nine o'clock, not one of them left their entertainment 
 till midnight ; and then only one of them on his nearer approach 
 homeward, saw or heard enough of the fire to influence him to 
 go on to the place of desolation— there in his gala dress and 
 dancing pumps, he had to set to work earnestly to pack up his store 
 goods, near the Exchange, and send them to the Battery ground 
 for safety — he eventually lost ^2000. Three of the other guests 
 went home to rest, and never heard of their losses until the next 
 morning, Avhen they found that their stores and all their contents 
 were dissolved in fervent heat. 
 
 It is the strangest thing to contemplate, that nearly 600 houses 
 of the loftiest and most expensive construction, should go down to 
 absolute ruins in so short a space of time. One would think that 
 the hare walls might be found standing ; but it was not so. It is 
 said that they build with insufficient width of wall for such large 
 
Appendix, 373 
 
 superstructures of four and five stories; and above all, that the 
 cheaper lime which they have preferred from Maine, Rhode 
 Island, and Albany, &c., has been wholly unequal to that which 
 Philadelphia county supplies to its architecture. The granite and 
 marble pillars on which many of the fronts of the houses rested, 
 were wholly unable to sustain the action of fire and water ; and 
 fractured and rived in such manner, as to be no support to the 
 walls above them. The narrowness of the streets, and the undue 
 elevation of the houses, (a sufficient warning to us,) prevented 
 firemen from acting with effect. These circumstances, while 
 they hindered men from aiding, greatly increased the action of the 
 heat, so that such an intensity of fire, has never been surpassed. 
 I saw china stores where the masses of broken china was vitri- 
 fied in clusters, zinc and copper, from roofs, was found in the 
 drenching form of gushing water, the masses of nails, screws, &c. 
 in iron stores, were partially dissolved, and then cooled in tmion, 
 I preserved some such fragments, and I also brought away a whole 
 ewer, which had endured all the fire, at the china store of John 
 Greenfield and sons, in Pearl street, close to where a china store 
 was blown up, and caused the arrest of the fire at the head of Coen- 
 ties slip, on Pearl street. 
 
 It was quite interesting to see numerous temporary signs, 
 lettered on pieces of boards, and set upon poles stuck in the ruins, 
 directing visiters where to find the former occupants of the places 
 which they beheld. They were equal to several hundred names. 
 One house which had actually lost all, and without insurance, 
 waggishly put up their names with the words "the remains to 
 be found at &c." 
 
 The grandest and most imposing views of the great fire, were 
 seen from Brooklyn, Weehawken, and Staten Island. There the 
 whole city seemed in one awful sheet of flame, and the sky above 
 was inflamed in reflected terror. The sea waters below, were 
 all illuminated with fiery glare. On one occasion, turpentine 
 which took fire on the wharf, ran down, all on fire into the water, 
 and floated off", making a blazing sea of many hundreds of yards 
 square. The shipping cut off" from the wharves and made their 
 escape in time, else their destruction would have been entire ; for 
 the very wharf logs, and wharf posts, along the river side of South 
 street, 130 feet from the stores consumed, took fire and burned 
 to destruction. 
 
 The illumination of this great fire was very far extended south- 
 ward ; even at the hills of Germantown, 100 miles off", and at 
 sundry places equally distant in Jersey, the illumination of the 
 atmosphere was witnessed and observed. 
 
 The number of fire-proof iron chests and safes, hanging to count- 
 ing-house walls, or lying pell mell in the ruins, and bruised and 
 broken into useless forms, were very striking evidences of their 
 insufficiency to secure the possessors from loss of their papers. 
 
ST4 Appendix. 
 
 It so happens that this dreadful loss has occurred exactly in that 
 part of New York, of primitive location, which contained the 
 most of the remaining evidence of the first construction of narrow 
 and winding streets, such as the earliest Dutch burghers had 
 located and enriched. Their last remains of houses had been but 
 latel}'- reconstructed in costly grandeur ; when lo ! in one fell 
 night, by the hands of some incendiary, (if not by an explosion 
 of a gas pipe,) the whole area of the primitive settlement of the 
 iriangvlar and mazy city, was prostrated in ruins. 
 
 Doubtless, this great evil will eventually turn to a lasting good 
 — " from evil educing good." The new city to be erected upon 
 the ancient Dutch plot, will be framed and formed upon wider 
 and straighter streets, like all the rest of the city now is. Thus 
 the reproach of the former model will be obliterated, and an en- 
 tire city of graceful construction and beauty, will be erected ; and 
 all this for the consideration of leaving some of the present gene- 
 ration, minus in their expected fortunes ; but all after generations, 
 beneficiaries. 
 
 When the forefathers of the present race of inhabitants, were 
 sufferers by the great conflagrations of 1776 and 1778, they felt 
 as if ruin was perpetual; but behold how soon the evil was 
 healed, and what was severely felt as a partial evil, become a 
 miiversal good. The fire of September, 1776, which began on 
 Whitehall slip, burned up all the houses on the western side of 
 Broad street, and along Broadway down to the North river, to 
 the number of 493 houses; and the next fire of August, 1778, 
 which began upon Cruger's wharf, and consumed 50 more houses, 
 devastated in the whole, all that part of old New York, not 
 included in the present ruin. Thus in e^QoX, finally extinguish- 
 ing and obliterating, all the houses of the earliest settlers of New 
 York ; and forming an area in the whole, quite equal to all of 
 the Dutch city of New York, which was originally comprised 
 within the limits of Wall street, northward, and the Hudson and 
 East rivers. Their loss then, though the houses were far inferior 
 in value, was perhaps greater in amount of individual sufferings, 
 than now. And yet, how soon did their sons pass by the loss, 
 and greatly enrich their city and themselves. 
 
 Farewell now, a long farewell to the American city of the 
 Dutch — farewell to "the Scout, Burgomasters, and Schepens," 
 no longer there ; farewell to your Rondeels and Stadt Huys ; to 
 your compact and mazy streets, no longer to be named in fame 
 or song — farewell forever to your ancient, but now burnt out 
 streets — Princess street, Duke street. Dock street. Mill street, and 
 the great and little Queen streets, all — all irrevocably gone. 
 
 The former sufferers, unlike the present, had no reclamations 
 from Fire Insurance Companies ; but now, there are twenty-five 
 Insurance Companies, with a capital of nine millions, and with 
 an insurance ad infinitum. This last consideration of boundless 
 
Appendix, * 375 
 
 risk^ has been their ruin, and must plead for a reform in future, 
 else insurance is a broken reed — a rope of sand. 
 
 Some insurances were made out of New York; Tappan had 
 §300,000 in London; the offices in Boston had §226,000 risk 
 upon the destroyed property. 
 
 As many as three or four houses were blown up at essential 
 points, to stop the progress of the flames. This measure was not 
 resorted to sufficiently early, and when desired, could not be 
 efiected for want of powder. A vessel however lay in the stream 
 loaded with the article, unknown to the citizens; finally Mr. 
 Charles King volunteered to go over to the Navy Yard at Brook- 
 lyn, for a supply, and when he returned with sailors and marines, 
 the blowing up went on fearfully and successfully. It quickly 
 struck down the building, and left no flame, nor means of com- 
 munication to other houses. They used two barrels of powder 
 to a house. 
 
 Much fire was carried aloft through the air. It even commu- 
 nicated to roofs of houses at Brooklyn ; and in one known in- 
 stance, a letter and a note of hand, were transferred from a store 
 on South street, to a house in Flatbush, five miles distant. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these losses, about which the pulpits were 
 soon after engaged to make " their improvements^^ such as 
 preaching from texts like these — " Is there evil in a city, and the 
 Lord hath not done it'' — " And think ye these were sinners above 
 all the rest upon whom the tower of Siloam fell." Yet at the 
 same time, the gaiety and expenses of others, sons and daughters 
 of pleasure, seemed unabated. Thus the gazettes of the day an- 
 nounced, that "the Bowery Theatre," on Christmas night, "had 
 such great attractions, that nearly four hundred persons were 
 unable to find admission ;" " the Franklin Theatre was equally 
 full and well conducted." " The lovers of sport are informed 
 that the Long Island dance, which gained such unbounded ap- 
 plause on the evening of the 22nd of December, is now to be 
 repeated in New York, on the evening of the 29th of December, 
 at the Military Hall." At the same time, the dexterous thieves 
 are entering several of the houses of the wealthy, by skeleton 
 keys of great ingenuity, and 'bearing off" their plate and jewels. 
 The rich are really subjects of commiseration in New York. 
 They have to live in such costly splendour, with such ineflective 
 " helps ;" and have such sad exposures to fire beyond other cities, 
 that their state is ill at rest indeed. These merchants of New 
 York live much like princes, and their dwellings are constructed 
 and garnished like palaces. They essentially live up to the adage 
 of " win gold and wear it." In proportion, however, as their 
 honours have been displayed, they have, I imagine, diminished 
 their essential comforts and fireside enjoyments. 
 
 It specially marks the peculiar destruction of the merchants' 
 property, as a class, that out of the whole 528 houses destroyed, 
 
376 Appendix. 
 
 there were only twelve families deprived of dwellings ! — thus 
 showing how very exclusively the merchants had supplanted the 
 former Dutch burghers, and crowded their closely compacted 
 stores, into one single cluster of business. If the calamity should 
 serve to disperse this class of citizens in companies, so as to cast 
 different branches of trade into other locations — a thing now very 
 practicable, they may insure a rise of property wherever they 
 may conclude to fix themselves, equal to their losses. This is 
 well worth attention. 
 
 It is very remarkable, that while Philadelphia especially, and 
 numerous other cities, have been forward to make appropriations 
 for the sufferers, that it is found by actual examination upon the 
 premises, that only one family has been found willing to accept 
 of public charity. It is certainly very strange. 
 
 During the fire Hanover Square, which had been for a short 
 time sought as a place of security for goods, piled up in the street, 
 equal to 100 feet in length, 60 feet in width, and 25 feet high, 
 came at last to be totally consumed ; and consisting in general 
 of the choicest and richest silks and laces, &c. 
 
 Midshipman Wilkins, the son of a chivalric father, covered 
 himself with glory, in rescuing, at the peril of his life, an infant 
 of a poor woman, whom he found crying in the street for succour. 
 What a fine subject for grateful remembrance! He had been 
 cashiered for insubordination, but President Jackson, upon hear- 
 ing of this fact, reinstated him. 
 
 This fire has necessarily arrested many intended fashionable 
 parties for the winter, and made a blank in many of the expected 
 profits in the confectionary establishments. It seems too auda- 
 cious, to be unseasonably gay. 
 
 Alarms of fire occurred every night whilst I tarried in New 
 York, and I could not but remark, how very little concern people 
 manifested for any fire which did not seem to be near. This is 
 one of the evils of an overgrown city, as New York already is, 
 although the pride and ambition of its citizens will make them to 
 cover the whole island, as an area of 1 3,000 acres. What a city ! 
 and yet all the lots have been measured and sold, again and again, 
 with speculation. It is now a fact, that while the large and ex- 
 pensive stores, which occupied the burnt premises, produced rents 
 of two to four thousand dollars a year, that the same merchants 
 who used them, had their dwellings a mile off, in fashionable 
 grandeur; and while there, enjoying otium cum dignitate, they 
 can neither know nor take any interest in the destruction of their 
 active capital, located in the "business quarter. This extremity 
 in their case, calls for reform. 
 
 A fire which consumed two large stores, and occasioned a loss 
 of 5^70,000, was perpetrated by an incendiary, the night before 
 the great fire. Even the latter is quite as likely to have been 
 from such a cause, as from the supposed (but unknown) accident 
 
*^ppendix, 377 
 
 of a gas-pipe explosion. It is only conjectured ; and at any rate, 
 the possibility of bursting such pipes and devastating a whole city, 
 is worth the timely and serious attention of Philadelphians, before 
 they go too far in imitation of this foreign invention and embel- 
 lishment, as it is called. We may take solemn warning too, and 
 shun the pernicious imitation of four and five storied houses, 
 producing nothing but ugly deformity in the perspective — with no 
 adequate counterbalancing advantage. 
 
 If one could know all the cases of suffering by the calamity, 
 we should perhaps find it too often among quiet and unobtrusive 
 widows, females, and orphans, who had their investments in the 
 Fire Insurance Companies, where the long tide of successful reve- 
 nues and consequent high dividends of nine per cent, made them 
 a favourite investment. Such persons must pay over their little 
 all to the covered merchants and traders ; for these, be it remarked, 
 have been remarkably tenacious of keeping their current interests 
 insured. I know one case of a widowed lady, a loser of ^^5000, 
 and of her grand-daughter another ^3000 more. In another 
 family, three maidens and elderly women, orphans too, had their 
 whole interest in insurance stock, and were weeping themselves 
 sick, with apprehension and evil forebodings, after others had 
 settled down to composure. Some persons would inculcate that 
 all this calamity was a premeditated and purposed evil, inflicted 
 by a Divine hand, and employing as its agent, an incendiary cul- 
 prit. But if so, where is the discrimination among the sufferers 
 — the evil and the good are equally involved, and even the Dutch 
 church itself, erected to the worship of God, is among the ruins. 
 Why not rather say, in the language of the Proverbs, that " time 
 and chance happeneth to all men," and that it is the province 
 of divine interposition, "frorh evil to educe good," — good to those 
 who will improve the occasion to note the uncertain tenure of the 
 best earthly goods, and to lay up their treasure where thieves 
 (like fire) do not break through and harm ; or else evil to those, 
 who utterly overlook the lessons which the losses and crosses of 
 life should bestow to those that are exercised thereby. But this 
 is, perhaps, speculating on religious premises, where I have no 
 licensed charter for my opinion. 
 
 48 2 I 2 
 
378 Supplemental Notes, 
 
 SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES. 
 
 The cause of so much unparalleled havoc, was that of a fierce 
 wind — felt equally all the way to Philadelphia, which was blow- 
 ing from the north-west during all the night ; and besides this, 
 the weather was too intensely cold, to admit of a due use of the 
 engines and hose. In many places firemen could be seen beating 
 their hose to prevent the formation of ice within them. 
 
 It was impossible to find firemen reckless enough to ascend 
 ladders, which might be raised to the eves of houses, of four and 
 five stories — and in narrow streets, the water played so high, 
 necessarily fell back upon the people below. In such extremities, 
 men had to stand useless gazers upon the destruction of their 
 property. 
 
 Seventeen blocks, (squares,) containing houses of the largest 
 and most costly construction, were consumed m one night. What 
 an awful picture of the Great Assize, " when the elements shall 
 melt with fervent heat !" 
 
 Explosions were often heard, resulting sometimes purposely 
 from the use of gunpowder, and in other cases from the bursting 
 of liquor casks, and from the presence of gunpowder held for sale. 
 These when they occurred, were subjects of indescribable grandeur 
 and terror — it set every bosom upon the qui vive. 
 
 How wonderful, that in so much just cause of personal appre- 
 hension and danger, only one person should have been wounded, 
 and one other missing. 
 
 It was somewhat peculiar that the fire travelled so readily to 
 ivindward, so that those who conveyed their goods and stored 
 them for safety in the Merchants' Exchange, and the old Dutch 
 church, should have had them overtaken, even there, by the con- 
 suming element, and wholly burned. The best refuge was found 
 in the Bowling Green and Battery, where marine guards with 
 fixed bayonets, gave them protection. 
 
 The several streets, after the fire, were seen for several days, 
 choked up with rich merchandizes — all trampled under foot, and 
 almost totally ruined. In short, thousands upon thousands of 
 dollars in value, were lying wasted and whelmed in ruin. 
 
 Wall after wall, were seen or heard tumbling like avalanches 
 to the ground, while flames were darting their tongues of fire, 
 and were heard roaring from roofs and windows, along whole 
 streets. At the same time, firemen worn out with over exertion, 
 were still struggling for mastery over the storm of fire, which 
 
Supplemental Notes. 379 
 
 seemed to revel in its power, and to mock all human skill and 
 prowess. 
 
 The next day, all the city military were put under requisition, 
 to be ready to protect property exposed, and to aid the civil au- 
 thorities in the preservation of order and the civil rule. 
 
 It was curious to see occasionally, the harvest which occurred 
 to the poor, and to strolling boys and girls. You could see the 
 rag gatherers, crowding their sacks with scorched fragments of 
 cotton and silk stuffs. In one place was the remains of a jeweller's 
 store, in which ragged boys and girls were very busy searchino- 
 for sundry trinkets. At the china stores, men, women, and chil^ 
 dren, were engaged raking among broken china and queensware, 
 for small articles unbroken. In one such place, I saw and pur- 
 chased, as a relic, an ewer in good state. 
 
 It seems strange, that so great a fire should not have been re- 
 ported by any vessel arriving, as having been observed at sea. 
 
 One can see upon the eves of the northern side of Wall street, 
 that several houses there, were intensely scorched with the fire 
 from the opposite side of that street. What an awful career it 
 must have run, had it succeeded to pass that barrier. Even the 
 eves of the Tontine Coftee-house, so very high, and at least 130 
 feet from the opposite buildings, were quite scorched and charred 
 with the flames. Houses up by the Exchange, had even their 
 marble eves pealed and marred. 
 
 In naming sundry streets of olden time recollection, and bidding 
 them a \diSi farewell, [vide page 374,] the mind is led to consider 
 how very strange it is, that even these first known names, should 
 be all of English formation and origin, and that there should bo 
 so little remains of Orange Boven and the Fader land, retained 
 by tradition or otherwise, of what must have been the first named 
 streets in Nieuw Amsterdam. The Hxre Graft, once the name 
 of what is since the Broad street, and which was once literally 
 "the Gentleman's canal," until ordered to be filled up in 1676; 
 and the Flatten barrack, near it, which imported the sliding- 
 down hill for the sledding boys and girls of the Dutch race ; and 
 the Nassau street, which joined to and continued the Broad street, 
 are the sole names of Dutch origin which have come down to us. 
 
 An inspector of mason work has been talked of, also an intended 
 restriction upon the elevation of houses, so as not to exceed 40 
 feet. Insurance offices too, have needed legislative checks, so 
 as not to insure illimitably. 
 
 When I saw such masses of fallen walls, say of at least 500 
 houses at once, the bricks therein so much dissevered by the in- 
 considerate use of lime of secondary formation, it made me 
 remember the much more durable condition of those " seventeen 
 houses" of brick and stone, fired by the British in the revolution, 
 between Philadelphia and Germantown, and which sustained 
 their bare walls undiminished, as the people may remember, for 
 
380 Supplemental Notes. 
 
 twenty and thirty years after the event ; in short until they were 
 picked down by sledge and pick. Should they condescend to 
 try our Plymouth lime, they may find it to their lasting future 
 benefit. 
 
 The New-Yorkers will hardly conceive of the interest which 
 their fire will afford to others. They will probably omit the oc- 
 casion to draw the perspective of the scene as it was ; and it will 
 be only after it is too late to draw it from actual observation, that 
 any attempt will be made to give to persons at a distance, and to 
 future visiters, and to their own posterity, the chance of seeing 
 by delineation, the things as they were. What men can see every 
 day as a spectacle, seems for the time of little worth to them, but 
 there is a generation to come, which will " earnestly desire to 
 look into these things.^' 
 
 It shall come to this hereafter, that they who have seen the 
 catastrophe of New York, like those who may have seen that of 
 Moscow, may go half a head taller among their cotemporaries. 
 It was the thing of a century. 
 
 Only think of human ingenuity to gain a penny ! I saw a 
 shanty tavern of rough boards, actually erected amid the ruins, 
 close by Hanover Square, and plenty of customers too, — even 
 without a license. 
 
 The total loss by this great fire, has been eventually reported 
 by the ofiicial examining committee, at the sum total of 17 mil- 
 lions; being 4 millions for houses, and 13 millions for goods. 
 There is however some mystification in this report, which moves 
 our special wonder, leaves us in the dark, and makes the whole 
 uncertain still. It is stated that 528 houses were consumed ; but 
 out of all these, only 129 houses are positively certified as to their 
 value ; and these are set down at ly% millions, and their goods at 
 6-J milUons ; thus making these 129 cases which is but about one 
 fifth of the total, to be worth in value, the half of the whole 
 loss ; and at the same time, exactly insured for precisely the 
 same total value. What a very queer result! If stated in figures 
 in round numbers, it would stand thus, viz : 
 
 129 houses, at ^14,000, is ig 1,800,000 
 
 398 " at 5,000, 2,200,000 
 
 527 4,000,000 
 
 129 stocks of goods, at ^50,000, 6,500,000 
 
 398 " 16,000, 6,500,000 
 
 527 , 5^17,000,000 
 
 Such seems to be the result ; but can it be true, that houses 
 could possibly cost an average sum of ^14,000 apiece. In Phi- 
 ladelphia, we know it to be a fact, that four storied brick houses 
 are built by contract for about 83,000. Some on High street are 
 constructed at that price ; and Wistar's range, with copper roofs 
 
Supplemental Notes. 381 
 
 and granite foundations, of 18 by 75 feet dimensions, and of best 
 finish throughout, were done for g»4,100 severally. 
 
 It was not till after the water gave out, say at 4 o'clock in the 
 morning, that they resorted to blowing up houses. They used 
 two barrels of 100 pound each, to each cellar, and then laid planks 
 from them to the cellar door, laid over with straw, in which 
 plenty of powder was sprinkled ; the straw came out beyond the 
 cellar door. This last had no powder in it, but a firebrand — all 
 the doors and windows were closed. It showed no fire in blowing 
 up — but lifted up and fell, and giving the earth a shake. 
 
 The place on Old slip, the " Market ^^ was all a water dock 
 when I first saw New York. I went up in a vessel above Water 
 street. I went up then m/o the city, just as Coenties slip still 
 remains a water dock, to about Water street. 
 
 Sales of Real Estate by Jas. Bleecker & Sons, Feb. 23, 1836—- 
 
 at their Sales room, 1 3 Broad street. The Real Estate of the 
 
 late Joel Post. 
 1 lot on Wall street, corner Exchange Place, 28 feet 6 
 
 inches by 63 feet 6 inches, ^66,500 
 
 1 lot on Wall street, adjoining above, 19 feet by 28 feet, 55,750 
 1 lot on Exchange street, 30 feet 5 inches by 54 feet, 46,500 
 
 1 lot on Exchange street, 29 feet 7 inches by 52 feet 9 
 
 inches, 41,000 
 
 1 lot on Exchange street, 20 feet 4 inches by 45 feet 
 
 deep, running to a point, - .' - - . 18,100 
 1 lot corner of William street and Exchange Place, 2S 
 
 feet 11 inches by 52 feet 5 inches, - - - 46,500 
 
 1 lot next but one adjoining, 39 feet 2 inches by 40 feet, 38,750 
 1 lot on William street, next to corner of Wall street, 17 
 
 feet 2 inches front, 11 feet rear, and 60 feet deep, 25,000 
 1 lot on Exchange Place, 32 feet 9 inches front by 55 
 
 feet deep, 36,500 
 
 1 lot adjoining, 26 feet 2 inches by 66 feet, 28,250 
 
 1 lot in rear, on Merchant street, 23 feet 6 inches by ^2 
 
 feet, - - - 24,250 
 
 1 lot fronting on Exchange Place and Merchant street, 
 
 20 feet 5 inches by 91 feet, 45,500 
 
 Hot 20 feet 6 inches ? ^y 88 feet, - - - - 47,500 
 
 23 leet J 
 
 1 lot adjoining, 20 feet 6 inches > , ^^ ^ _ _ 33 5^^ 
 
 24 feet S 
 
 1 lot 20 feet 6 inches, J , g^ ^^^^ .... 37,750 
 
 24 feet S 
 
 1 lot 20 feet 5 inches on Exchange Place, 24 feet on 
 
 Merchant street, and 60 feet deep, 44,250 
 
 1 lot corner of Exchange street and Pearl street, 19 feet 
 
 11 inches front, by 65 feet, 32,500 
 
382 Supplemental Notes, 
 
 Amount brought forward, - - - -i^ 6 7 3, 100 
 
 1 lot on Pearl street, 20 feet by 67 feet, . . . 29,500 
 1 lot rear on Exchange Place, 28 feet by 64 feet, 33,000 
 
 1 lot corner Exchange Place and Merchant street, 28 
 
 feet 7 inches front, 38 feet 7 inches rear, by 64 feet, 35,500 
 
 ^771,100 
 
 From such sales, effected so soon after the great disaster, we 
 may see plainly enough, how little the burnt district was impaired 
 in value ; and how much, men of capital regarded the removal 
 of former houses, as an improvement to the locality, and as an 
 advantage to the whole city at large. 
 
PARTICULAR INDEX, 
 
 Amsterdam, New, 10, 11, 44, 149. 
 Albany, 14, 40-1, 45, 61, 127, 138, 222, 
 
 316. 
 Albanians, 19, 221-2, 269. 
 Apparel, 13, 26, 170, 247, 352. 
 Adams, J. Q., 84. 
 Amalgamation, 223. 
 Argol, Sir Samuel, 229. 
 Aspasia, corvette, 241. 
 Anne, Queen, 46, 60, 63, 220. 
 Allen, Col., 47. 
 Abercrombie, General, 47, 349. 
 Alden, Col., 71. 
 American character, 91-2, 95. 
 American army, 325, 329. 
 Allegiance, oath, 150. 
 Apprentices, 257, 
 Aged, 268, 276-7, 281, 289,294, 312, 345, 
 
 358. 
 Amherst, General, 272. 
 Andre, Major, 325, 348. 
 Ancient memorials, 154, 314. 
 Ancient Edifices, 350. 
 Alliance, fi-igate, 291, 343-4. 
 Astor, John J., 51, 310, 362. 
 Andros, Gov., 156, 233. 
 Andros, Rev. Thomas, 338. ■" 
 
 Amboy, 270-1,321. 
 Avon, 83, 86. 
 Arnold, Gen., 76, 347-8. 
 Anglo-Saxon race, 93-4, 218. 
 Aurora,103. 
 Amusements, 193-4. 
 Auctioneers, 283. 
 Ashburton, Lord, 105. 
 
 Battery andCapsey, 11, 148, 161, 163, 172, 
 
 179, 198, 301. 
 Bayard, 44, 62, 152, 176, 273. 
 Bayard's mount and woods, 176, 273, 341. 
 Ballstown, 45. 
 Backus, Rev. Azel, 53, 126. 
 Brant, Colonel, 66-7, 69, 71, 76, 125. 
 Bath and Batavia, 81. 
 Bradford Wm., 147, 229, 286-7, 298. 
 Basse Bouwery, 160. 
 Bakewell's city view, 185. 
 Banks, 186. 
 Basin, 353. 
 Blazing star, 188. 
 Balls, 267, 273. 
 Bake-house, 276. 
 Blackbeard, 290. 
 Bever-Wyck, 15. 
 Bear market, 177. 
 
 Bears, 31,60, 55, 70, 77, 79, 88, 100, 104, 
 
 136, 233. 
 Bellermont, Lord, 36, 171, 183, 352. 
 Beavers, 45, 70, 82, 232, 253. 
 Becker, Lieut., 66. 
 Beekman, 161, 187, 246, 267, 296. 
 Bleekers, 311. 
 
 Benson, Judge E., 191, 277. 
 Bees, 231. 
 Bells, 355. 
 Beads, 253. 
 
 Breeches, leather, 283. 
 Breevort, Henry, 310. 
 Bergen's land, 311. 
 British officers, 330, 340, 346, 352. 
 British fleet, 272, 325, 330, 339. 
 British rule, 11, 20, 58, 94, 118, 184, 205, 
 
 235, 308, 325, 333. 
 Big Spring, 82. 
 Brighton, 83. 
 Binghamton, 102. 
 Bridges, 85. 
 Birthday, 279, 282. 
 Bishops, 283, 297. 
 Birds, 20,21. 
 
 Block and Christianse, 10, 41. 
 Block houses, 27, 63, 161, 176. 
 Brockholst, Gov., 24. 
 Bogardus and Bogerts, 30, 82, 149, 152-3, 
 
 172, 184, 205, 269, 274, 294. 
 Bownes, 36, 165, 347. 
 Brown, John W., 31, 60. 
 Bouwlandt, 32. 
 
 Brooklyn, 34, 172, 311, 328, 335, 341. 
 Bos, 45. 
 Brownists, 48. 
 Border wars, 55, 137. 
 Broadhead, 155, 315. 
 Brower, Abram, 172, 245, 261, 292, 295, 
 
 325. 
 Broadway, 179, 182, 192, 270, 275, 340, 
 
 359. 
 Broad street, 188, 199, 310. 
 Boston frigate, 209. 
 Bouwerys, 167, 225, 245, 270, 275-6, 277, 
 
 298. 
 Brokers, 353. 
 Bonnets, 250. 
 Boots, 254, 255. 
 Bowdoin, James, 299. 
 Boston, 306, 312. 
 Buffalo, 31, 55, 138, 140. 
 Butlers, Cols., 58, 71-2, 76-6. 
 Burgoyne, Gen,, 76. 
 Bunker Hill, 176, 193, 334. 
 
384 
 
 Particular Index. 
 
 Buttermilk channel, 189. 
 Buttons, 251,270,277. 
 Blue points, 292. 
 Butter, 292. 
 Burling slip, 296. 
 Bull's head, 298. 
 Burr, Col. A., 339. 
 
 Chamber of commerce, 284. 
 
 Chambers street, 176, 353. 
 
 Changes of prices, 292. 
 
 Carriages, 278. 
 
 Canada creek, 50. 
 
 Canandaigua, 50, 54, 82,95-6, 104, 119. 
 
 Canals, 60,55-6, 104, 136, 137-8. 
 
 Canal street, 181,245. 
 
 Canajoharie, 67. 
 
 Caughnawaga, Qo-Q, 118. 
 
 Caves, 67. 
 
 Campbell's New York, 72, 93, 117, 120, 
 
 219. 
 Campbell, Col. S., 71. 
 Claus, Col., 56, 65, 75. 
 Caladonia, 82. 
 
 Cayuga, 86, 88, 102, 117, 120, 139. 
 Carlton, Sir George, 346. 
 Carmen, 157. 
 Canvas Town, 172. 
 Chatham, Earl, 174-5, 183, 202, 307. 
 Charlotte Temple, 225. 
 Carpets, 259, 261, 269, 271. 
 Capsey, 263. 
 
 Cherry Valley, 65, 70, 72. 
 Cleveland, 78. 
 Chew, Benj., 79. 
 Chemung, 119. 
 Children, 19, 
 Circus, 193-4. 
 Clinton, 53, 136, 347. 
 Clinton, Sir H., 334-5, 340, 346, 349. 
 China, first voyage, 300. 
 City Halls, 12, 176, 179, 182, 237, 350-1. 
 Colonization, 10, 11, 42. 
 Colve, Gov., 12, 166. 
 Coenties slip, 12, 161, 171, 276. 
 Cornwallis, Lord, 349. 
 Communipaw, 9, 38, 202, 358-9. 
 Comets, 24, 293. 
 Cromwell, 35, 106, 227. 
 Corlear, 26, 297, 317, 341. 
 Corlear's Hook, 245, 275. 
 Cochran, Doct., 49. 
 Coney island, 37. 
 Cord du roi roads, 77. 
 Cooper, J. F., 73. 
 Coventry, Doct., 86. 
 Colles, Christopher, 137. 
 Cohoes falls, 139. 
 Collect, 145, 173, 181, 192, 199, 244, 246, 
 
 265,273,279,299,331. 
 Cornelissen, Arien, 160. 
 Courtships,, 169, 211. 
 Congress Hall, 179, 351-2. 
 Columbia college, 192. 
 Coffins, 183. Cows, 199. 
 Colden, Gov., 201,266. 
 Commerce, 234-5, 312. 
 Cloaks, 254. 
 
 Coaches, 260-1,278,308. 
 
 Colleges, 265-6, 283. 
 
 Cotton goods, 270. 
 
 Copper mines, 273. 
 
 Crowell, Thos., 286. 
 
 Courtezans, 265. 
 
 Common council, 276. 
 
 Crockeser, John, 276-7, 
 
 Clover, 266. 
 
 Convicts, 283. 
 
 Continental money, 321-2. 
 
 Cowfoot hill, 284, 294. 
 
 Cholera, 299. 
 
 Colonial times, 308. 
 
 Cold, extreme, 306. 
 
 Conclusion, 366. 
 
 Custom houses, 353. 
 
 Churchmen, 106, 283. 
 
 Churches, 15, 30, 44, 50, 63, 66, 69, 91, 
 
 153, 165, 191, 200, 266, 316, 353. 
 Custick, David, 125. 
 Curricles, 271. 
 Cruger's dock, 278, 296. 
 Cunningham, of Provost, 282, 327. 
 Custis, Geo. W., 301. 
 
 Dayton, Col., 75, 
 
 Drake, Adam, 79. 
 
 Dancing, 204, 210, 212, 267, 280, 285. 
 
 Delaware river, 38. 
 
 Delawares, 9, 38, 115. 
 
 De Collieres, 27. 
 
 Deer, 31, 50, 70, 84, 100, 284. 
 
 Delancy's, 174, 275. 
 
 Denton, Dan., 230. 
 
 Dress, 212-3, 247, 252, 255-6, 264, 267, 
 
 285, 299, 308, 352. 
 Dentists, 281, 283-4, 
 Dean, Captain, 300. 
 Diet, 17, 211, 217, 233, 276, 292, 315. 
 " Drives," 100. 
 Dinondadies, 118. 
 Dwight, Rev. Dr., 332. 
 Digby, Admiral, 346. 
 Domines, 20, 30, 170. 
 Doctors, 178, 267, 277, 283, 298. 
 " Doctors riot," 298. 
 Drover's inn, 245. 
 Duke of York, 11. 
 Dutch, 11, 12, 13, 16, 26, 30, 33-4, 44,60, 
 
 114, 147, 150, 164, 167, 172, 203, 207, 
 
 229, 232, 238, 256, 308-9, 316, 355, 357, 
 
 363. 
 Dunlap, Rev. S., 71. 
 Dunlap, Wm., 122, 155, 161, 183, 187, 
 
 198, 202. 
 Dunmore, Gov., 172, 285. 
 Dutch reformed, 165, 200. 
 Drummond, Lord, 284. 
 Dutch forefathers, 309, 354. 
 Duels, 288. 
 Duten's, Charles, 263. 
 Ducks, 175. 
 
 Earl of Chatham, 184, 280, 307. 
 Early notices of New York, 230. 
 Eastburn, Rev. Joseph, 305. 
 Edwards, Rev. T., 107. 
 
 ST- 
 
Particular Index. 
 
 385 
 
 Executions, 297. 
 
 England, 312. 
 
 Exchange, the, 266, 271, 353. 
 
 Elections, 225. 
 
 Ebbets, Danl. J., 178, 353. 
 
 English, 16, 20, 31, 232. 
 
 Elmira, 103. 
 
 Erie Canal, 136. 
 
 Esopus, 46. 
 
 Exploring voyages, 241, 300. 
 
 Education, 17, 21. 
 
 Fanning, Edward and Nathaniel, 240, 344, 
 
 « Flatten-barrack," 188. 
 
 Franklin house, 300. 
 
 Franklin, 341. 
 
 Fairs, 285. 
 
 Farms and gardens, 245, 273, 277, 285. 
 
 Flag, American, 343, 345. 
 
 French war, 50, 59, 70, 77, 107, 118, 161. 
 
 French revolution, 209. 
 
 French, 27, 28, 33-4, 50, 118, 153, 188, 
 
 209, 210, 219, 229, 273, 312, 335, 354. 
 Ferry, 162, 172, 176, 182, 310. 
 French Protestant church, 354. 
 Federal Hall, 351. 
 Federal procession, 239. 
 Fevers, 86-7, 190, 298. 
 Fletcher, Gov., 161, 314. 
 Freemen, 158, 
 Festivals, 204, 279. 
 
 Friends, 36, 44, 150, 177, 202, 305,311. 
 Fish, 37, 91, 114-15, 178-9, 278, 292. 
 "First-born," 42, 54, 61. 
 Fitzhugh, Col., 82. 
 
 Fitch and Fulton, 129, 130, 137, 242, 244. 
 Fire companies, 157, 163, 166, 281. 
 Five Nations, 117. 
 Fires, great, 197, 295, 309, 333, 341, and 
 
 appendix. 
 First discoverers, 229. 
 Forts, 11, 12, 14, 27, 34, 43, 47, 63, 77, 
 
 80, 146, 172, 219, 233, 329, 330. 
 " Fort Plain," 58, 68-9. 
 Frontiers, 98, 100. 
 Flour, 159. 
 Flowers, 232. 
 Fox, George, 165. 
 Foreigners, 300, 354. 
 Flood, 306 
 
 Fort Washington, 329, 330-1. 
 Fulton, Robert, 312. 
 Fur trade, 10, 11,51-2, 146. 
 Flushing 36, 165, 202. 
 Furniture, 211, 214, 215, 258, 278. 
 Funerals, 205-6, 208, 234, 270, 284, 308. 
 Fry, Col., 50, 76. 
 
 Game, 19,31,50,77,292. 
 
 Grant, Mrs., 17, 23, 59, 69, 77, 121, 220. 
 
 Gardiner, family and island, 35-6, 46, 314, 
 
 Grapes, 9, 44. 
 
 Gravesend, 35. 
 
 Gazettes, 55, 173, 199, 262, 269, 277, 287, 
 
 312. 
 Gansevoort, Col., 76. 
 Gardens, 98, 245, 275, 285, 341. 
 Grand canal, 136, 138. 
 49 
 
 Graydon, Capt., 170, 329. 
 
 Garden Alley, 182, 196. 
 
 Gaine, Hugh, 188, 263. 
 
 Gates, Gen. Horatio, 201, 256. 
 
 Gage, Gen., 282, 284, 346. 
 
 Germans, 46, 60, 73, 207, 220, 340. 
 
 German Flats, 73. 
 
 Geneva, 54, 82, 86. 
 
 Genessee, 54, 80, 119. 
 
 Greenwich, 173, 178, 192, 268, 271. 
 
 Greyhound, sloop war, 228. 
 
 Great Western steamer, 241. 
 
 Green, Capt., 300. 
 
 Grim, David, 183. 246, 283, 294, 297. 
 
 Gibbet, 297. 
 
 Gist and Washington, 303. 
 
 Grouse, 31. 
 
 Gowanus, 35, 148. 
 
 Governor's Island, 38, 44, 172, 189. 
 
 Godfrey's Quadrant, 263. 
 
 Growth of our country, 312. 
 
 Gouge, Mrs., 291. 
 
 Half-moon, bark, 9, 14. 
 
 Hasbrook house, 48. 
 
 Harpers, 58, 64-5, 71, 287. 
 
 Harpers' Press, 287. 
 
 Hanford's landing, 83. 
 
 Hair dressing, 216, 248-9. 
 
 Hamiltons, 225, 287, 298, 313. 
 
 Harponding, S., 244. 
 
 Hats, 253, 278. 
 
 Harvey, Rev. Benj., 291. 
 
 Hancock, John, 299. 
 
 Havre packets, 311. 
 
 Hessians, 327, 340. 
 
 Heckewelder, 10, 38. 
 
 Hell gate, 41. 
 
 Herkimer and Fort, 50, 63, 60, 73. 
 
 Herkimer, Gen., 73, 76. 
 
 Hills, 145. 
 
 Historical Society, 183, 185, 217, 224, 
 
 227. 
 Holland, 10, 48. 
 Hospital, 245. 
 Houses, 16, 35, 45, 55, 67, 88, 98, 147, 
 
 182, 200, 232, 238, 350, 362. 
 Holland land co., 64, 81. 
 " Holland papers," 316. 
 Howe's cave, 67. 
 Horses, 61, 63, 167, 234, 260. 
 Hoops, 250, 264, 
 Hotels, 89-90, 306. 
 Holt's Hotel, 306. 
 Howe, Gen. 325-6, 341, 347, 349. 
 Hoffman, C.F., 217. 
 Hodgson, Robt., 150. 
 Hudson city, 39, 48. 
 Hudson river, 10, 37, 40. 
 Hudson, the discoverer, 9, 10, 11, 38, 41, 
 
 229. 
 Hunter, Fort, 50, 63, 66. 
 Hudson's square, 186, 294. 
 Hutchins, John, 244. 
 Hutton, John S., 289. 
 Hustan, John, 297. 
 Hughs, Joseph R., 291. 
 
 2K 
 
Particular Index, 
 
 Inhabitants, 45, 230-1. 
 
 Inland settlers and pioneers, 95.. 
 
 Inauguration of President Washington, 
 
 352. 
 Ireland, 283. 
 
 Impressment, 163, 201, 269. 
 Ice, 242. 
 
 Incidents of the revolutionary war, 324-6, 
 Indians, 9, 14, 27, 31, 32, 34, 37, 40, 42, 
 
 44, 50, 54, 63, 79, 103, 110, 120, 128, 
 
 146, 155, 158, 162, 231, 233-4, 294, 302. 
 Indian ravages, 27, 33, 46, 58, 64-5, 66-7, 
 
 71-2, 74, 123. 
 Indian slaves, 162. 
 Indian paths, 124. 
 Indian Allen, 83. 
 Indians, their number, 128. 
 Indian fortifications, 128. 
 Irving, Washington, 168, 309. 
 Iroquois, 117. 
 Immoralities, 287. 
 Insurance, 268. 
 Jay, John, 85, 298. 
 Jamieson, Mary, 125, 
 Janeway, 174, 246. 
 Jacob's well, 175, 180. 
 Jants, Annake, 243. 
 Jews, 150. 
 
 Jerroleram, Mr., 310. 
 Johnstown, 56. 
 
 Johnson, Sir William, 56, 79, 122. 
 Johnson, Cols. Guy and John, 56, 65, 71. 
 Johnson, J., 335. 
 Jones, Paul, 343. 
 Jones, Interpreter, 75. 
 Journals of House Commons, 227. 
 
 '< Katey, Mutz," 246, 295. 
 
 Kalm, Prof. 16, 42, 113. 
 
 Keith, Sir Wm. 46, 62, 
 
 Keift, Gov., 10, 34, 165, 316, 351. 
 
 Kennedy house, 341, 346. 
 
 Knickerbockers, 13, 158, 196, 224, 239, 
 
 309 355. 
 Kidd,'pirate, 36, 227, 283, 313. 
 Kidd's island, 314. 
 King Hendrick, 51, 59, 77. 
 <' King William," 346. 
 King Louis Philippe, 54, 105. 
 Kipp house, 325. 
 Kipp bay, 246, 294, 325-6. 
 "King's arms," 281-2, 306-7, 352. 
 Knighthood, 272. 
 Kinderhook, 46. 
 Knyphausen, Gen., 347, 349. 
 
 Landing day, 9, 37. 
 Lake George, 47. 
 Lakes, 56, 90-1, 134, 
 Landerse, Mrs., 60. 
 Lafayette, Gen., 71, 207-8. 
 Lamps, 186, 192. 
 Laidlie, Rev. Dr., 204, 
 L'Ambuscade frigate, 209. 
 Lawyers, 225, 267, 280, 287, 356. a 
 Ladies, 250, 267, 273. 
 Lands, 81, 281. 
 Landais, Captain, 344. 
 
 Leary, John, 297. 
 
 Lenni, Lenape, 9, 38, 115. 
 
 Lewistown, 86. 
 
 Leisler's war, 176. 
 
 Leather breeches, 257. 
 
 Livingstons, 46, 48, 49, 62, 227, 267, 273, 
 
 283, 308, 352. 
 Little Falls, 50, 52, 74, 139. 
 Lindsay Bush, 70. 
 Lispenard's swamp, 181, 192. 
 "Liddy Locket," 241. 
 Library 266. 
 Light-houses, 271. 
 Live fish, first, 278. 
 Linen manufactory, 281. 
 Literature, 287-8. 
 Liberty pole, 281-2. 
 " Liberty boys," 278, 285, 321. 
 Liverpool packets, 311. 
 Lobsters, 190, 281, 292. 
 Longevity, 289. 
 Lovelace, Gov., 11. 
 Logan, Mrs. Deb., 21, 24, 
 Long Island, 34, 114, 126-7, 133, 203, 232. 
 Long Branch, 37, 133. 
 Louis Philippe, king, 54, 105. 
 Log houses, 88, 98, 109, 176, 353. 
 Lowville, 103. 
 Long Level, 139. 
 Lord's day, 159. 
 
 Local changes and Local facts, 171. 
 Lowe, pirate, 228. 
 Lotteries, 267, 270-1, 281. 
 " London papers," 316, 355. 
 Ludlow, Dr., 87. 
 Lutherans, 165. 
 Lynes' map, 147, 179. 
 
 Manhattan, 10. 
 
 Macomb houses, 10. 
 
 Mayors, 12, 44, 158. 
 
 Marriage, 19, 211, 269, 273, 284. 
 
 Manners and Customs, 17, 26, ^Q. 168, 
 
 193-4, 196, 203-4, 217. 
 Massacre, 27, 28, 33. 
 Mayall, a soldier, 73. 
 Mails, 51, 102, 162, 186-7. 
 Manlius, 104, 129. 
 Markets, 157, 176, 185, 292. 
 May poles, 166. 
 Maiden lane, 173, 200 
 Magazine, 175. 198. 
 Mall parade, 179, 347. 
 Malcomb, Mrs., 226. 
 Manning's Island, 233-4. 
 Mantua-makers, 272, 284, 
 Mason, John, 311. 
 May, Captain, 11, 42. 
 Mead gardens, 246. 
 Memorials of the Dutch, 149, 314, 316. 
 Methodists, 1^3, 287, 323, 360. 
 Merchants, 267. 
 Medical lectures, 283. 
 Mercein, Andrew, 327. 
 M'Kean, Major, 68, 70. 
 Midwives, 205, 269, 284, 285. 
 Milliners, 272. 
 Miscellaneous facts, 294. 
 
Particular Index, 
 
 387 
 
 Military, 12, 16, 20, 53, 64, 67, 80, 286. 
 
 Military tract, 81. 
 
 Ministers, 20, 30, 46, 118, 146, 152, 234. 
 
 Miller, Judge, 26. 
 
 Miller, Rev. John, 146. 
 
 Minuit, Gov., 42. 
 
 Mills, 55, 99, 102, 104, 114, 157, 167. 
 
 Missionaries, 118. 
 
 Moulton, J. W., 147, 154, 164. 
 
 Montague's garden, 226, 246. 
 
 M'Comb's house, 301. 
 
 M'Dougal, Gen., 226, 278, 285. 
 
 M'Donald, , 64, 74. 
 
 Monckton, Gen., 271, 274. 
 
 Money diggers, 273. 
 
 Moore, Sir Henry, 282, 284. 
 
 Mohiccan, 42. 
 
 Mohawk river, 50, 59, 60, 74, 80, 137, 139, 
 
 221. 
 Morris, Thos., 82. 
 Morris, Robt., 54. 
 Montauks, 127. 
 Montreal, 118. 
 Mozeley, Doct. E., 51. 
 MoncriefFe, Major and Miss, 339. 
 Munroe, John, 312. 
 Mohawks, 14, 17, 26, 32, 42, 46, 50, 121, 
 
 124, 317. 
 Murray, Lindley, 176, 246, 261. 
 Music, 211, 272-3, 280, 286. 
 Murphy, Q5. 
 M'Cauley, 106. 
 
 Navy, American, 344-5. 
 
 New York city, 9, 141, 148, 229, 275, 299, 
 
 313 355. 
 New Amsterdam, 10, 11, 44, 146, 149, 
 
 356. 
 New Orange, 11. 
 New World, 94. 
 New Netherland, 38, 44, 356. 
 Newburgh, 39, 40, 48. 
 New York, inland, 81, 95. 
 New York Mercury, 263. 
 New York Mirror, 196, 304. 
 New Jersey, 345. 
 New lands, 274. 
 New England, 91-2, 95, 104-5, 165, 219, 
 
 356. 
 Negro plot, 200, 297. 
 Negroes, 268, 297, 310. 
 Negro Harry, 268, 277. 
 New Year, 204, 300. 
 Niagara, 50, 55, 86, 88-9, 119, 140. 
 NicoUs, Gov., 11, 314. 
 Nicholson, Com., 239. 
 North river, 10, 37, 38, 229. 
 Nova Scotia, 230. 
 " Non importation," 285. 
 "No. 45," 285. 
 Notices of early Dutch times, 164. 
 
 Orange, 14. 
 Onondago, 102, 117. 
 Onondagoes, 53, 88, 117, 120. 
 Ontario, 78, 
 Old slip, 296. 
 O'Callaghan's history, 319. 
 
 Old Jersey prison ship, 336-7. 
 
 Oswego, 76-7. 
 
 Oneidas, 52-3, 87, 117. 
 
 O'Reilly, Henry, 81. 
 
 Original exploration, 37. 
 
 Oriskany, 76. 
 
 Ohio, 78. 
 
 Offices, and officers, 172, 192, 267 301, 
 
 308, 331. 
 Osborne, Sir D., 200. 
 Oysters, 114, 184, 233, 284, 292. 
 
 Patroons, 25, 43, 320, 331. 
 
 Pauuw, Michael, 43, 45, 
 
 Parish, Indian Agent, 50, 74. 
 
 Panthers, 31. 
 
 Patrick, Captain, 82. 
 
 Patch, Sam, 84. 
 
 Park, 246, 279, 312. 
 
 Pacers, 260. 
 
 Paper Hangings, 269, 272. 
 
 Palisades, 159, 167, 177, 294. 
 
 Packets, 311. 
 
 Paper Money, 321-2. 
 
 Phelps, O., 53, 91. 
 
 Perrinton, 83. 
 
 Persecution, 150-1. 
 
 Presbyterians, 179, 264, 282, 323, 363. 
 
 Peter's field, 180. 
 
 Pestilence, 190. 
 
 Petticoats, 250, 264. 
 
 Perils and prayers of Washington, 302, 
 
 303 352. 
 Pirates, 36J 227-8, 289, 310, 313. 
 Prison ships, 35, 323-4, 325, 335, 338. 
 Pigeons, 19, 104. 
 Pinfolds, 115. 
 
 Pioneers, 54, 59, 60, 93, 95, 103, 274. 
 Primitive New York, 146. 
 Prices, 174, 276, 292. 
 Price, Mary, 179. 
 Printing concerns, 286, 312. 
 Prisoners, American, 184, 326-7, 329, 338. 
 Prisoners, 323-4, 345. 
 Pianos, 211. 
 Prize money, 275. 
 Philadelphia, 264, 274, 312. ' 
 Pintard, John, 338, 347. 
 Pitt, Wm., 183-4 307. 
 « Prince Wm. Henry," 346. 
 Prince Wm., 283. 
 Pillory, 298. 
 Privateers, 274. 
 Phillips, Frederick, 234. 
 Poughkeepsie, 40. 
 Post, 51, 102, 162, 186-7, 265. 
 Population, 189, 
 Potatoes, 283, 
 Pot-bakers' hill, 284, 297. 
 Popery, 200, 219, 297, 299. 
 Provost, 327. 
 Potter's field, 298. 
 Prostitutes, 265, 298. 
 Province house, 309. 
 Potts, Isaac, 305. 
 Public debt, 318, 319. 
 Punishment, 285. 
 Putnam, Gen., 330, 339, 340-1. 
 
388 
 
 Particular Index. 
 
 Puritans, 105, 153, 219. 
 
 Pulteney, Sir Wm., 54, 81. 
 
 Plums, 37. 
 
 Plvmouth pilgrims, 11, 25, 94, 105, 218. 
 
 355. 
 Physicians, 205. 
 
 Quakers, 36, 44, 115, 150, 165,177,202. 
 Queenstown, 86. 
 
 Randolph frigate, 344. 
 
 Rail roads, 36. 
 
 Rammey, Thos., 182. 
 
 Rattle snakes, 233, 343, 345. 
 
 Ranelagh, 245, 280. 
 
 Races, 265, 275. 
 
 Repeljies, 13, 34, 42. 
 
 Religion, 24, 30, 46, 70, 99, 151, 162, 165, 
 
 268, 302, 355. 
 Revolutionary war, 23, 50,57, 63, 71, 74-5, 
 
 109, 155, 262, 332-3, 343. 
 Reflections and Notices about town, 355. 
 Republics, 94. 
 
 Records, 154-5, 15S-9, 314-15. 
 Ramarkable Facts and Incidents, 225. 
 Refugees, 341, 344. 
 Residences of British officers, 346. 
 Rhineback, 46. 
 Rich men, 51-2, 310. 
 Rickets family, 201. 
 Rivington, James, 270, 286. 
 Richmond hill, 341 
 Ritter, Jacob, 304, 305. 
 Rochester, 54-5, 82-3, 84-5, 105. 
 Roads, 55, 85, 89, 102. 
 Rome, 75, 79, 80, 139. 
 Ross, Major, 58, 75. 
 Rogers Capt. Moses, 242. 
 Rogers, Capt., 123, 242, 273. 
 Rope walks, 179. 
 Rotten row, 286, 302, 351. 
 Rondeals, 351. 
 Robinson, Gen., 346. 
 Rodney, Admiral, 347. 
 Rutgers, 174, 185, 285. 
 
 "States General," 11. 
 StadtHuys, 12, 350-1. 
 Slaves, 18, 158, 162, 171, 204, 223, 233, 
 
 268-9. 
 Swallows, 20. 
 
 Sandy Hook, 37, 43, 163, 271. 
 Staten Island, 38, 45, 187, 271. 
 Saratoga, 45, 46-7. 
 Stanwix, Fort, 53, 75, 79. 
 Scalps, 64, 122. 
 Sharon springs, 69. 
 Shankland, a soldier, 72. 
 Shall, Christopher, 74. 
 Schaeffer family, 83. 
 Stages, 86, 264, 282. 
 Saxon race, 93. 
 Salina, 104. 
 Salt Springs, 135. 
 Slaughter houses, 157, 160. 
 Small pox, 163, 265, 277. 
 Statues, 183, 184, 198, 202, 280, 307. 
 Stamp Act, 201, 277, 278-9. 
 
 Saint Nicholas, 196, 204, 208, 23&-7. 
 
 Strawberries, 232. 
 
 Skating, 235. 
 
 Stays, 251, 269, 284. 
 
 Sanded floors, 259. 
 
 Sharks, 271. 
 
 Shad, 292. 
 
 Statue of Pitt, 280. 
 
 St. Paul's church, 281, 295. 
 
 St. John's church, 294. 
 
 State papers, 315. 
 
 Streets, 12, 16, 33, 145, 160, 173, 177-8, 
 
 179, 180, 185, 191, 197, 269, 253-4, 355, 
 
 363. 
 Sledding, 20, 213. 
 Schenectady, 26, 51, 61. 
 Seals, 38, 232, 307. 
 Steamboats, 41, 129. 
 Steam packets, 241. 
 Settlers, first, 43, 48, 54, 59, 61, 93, ^5, 
 
 99, 230-1, 274. 
 Skenandon, 52, 126. 
 St. Leger. Gen., 76. 
 Senecas, 88, 117, 120. 
 Seawant, 166. 
 
 Speculations, 174, 1S8, 311. 
 Sleighs, 212, 
 Spectacles, 254, 288. 
 Steeples, 264, 354. 
 Servants, 266. 
 Sterling, Lord, 269, 346. 
 Sedgwick, Mr., 309. 
 Sigourney, Mrs., 12, 127. 
 Smith's town, 35, 277. 
 Smith, Judge P., 51, 52. 
 Six Nations, 64. 
 Sickness, 86-7. 
 Ship-yards, 176. 
 Slips, 176, 276, 296. 
 Spinning, 204, 262. 
 Shippens, 348. 
 Ship Betsey's voyage, 240. 
 Sideboards, 258. 
 Signs, 354-5. 
 Spring Garden, 276. 
 Stoopes, 13, 16, 18, 206-7. 
 Society, 17, 18, 22, 26, 169, 193, 218, 221, 
 
 231, 309, 316, 332, 353, 359. 
 Stony Point, 40. 
 Soldiers, 53, 59, 64, 67, 99, 219, 268, 286, 
 
 301, 325, 340. 
 Schoharie, 60, 
 Stow, Judge J., 78. 
 Schlosser, fort, 90. ■ 
 Snows, 99, 103, 
 Shoes, 253 
 
 School-masters, 166, 172, 191, 193, 238. 
 Swords, Thos., 184. 
 Stores, 205, 211,267. 
 Stoves, 16,260-1,272, 308. 
 Scotch, 220, 267. 
 Scott, Sir W., 237. 
 Southampton and Arundel, 229. 
 Sons of Liberty. 278, 285. 
 Storm and flood, 306. 
 Sword, ancient, 311. 
 Sprout, David, 329, 335. 
 Schuylers, 17, 20-1, 27, 51, 138. 
 
Particular Index, 
 
 389 
 
 Schuyler, fort, 51-2, 75. 
 Stuyvesant, Goveinor, 11, 44, 80, 147, 
 151, 171, 174, 175, 180, 283, 296, 311, 
 
 316, 320, 353. 
 
 Sullivan, General, 64, 11.0, 304. 
 Susquehannah, 63. 
 Smuggling, 235, 268. 
 Schuylkill, 316. 
 Sturgeon, 190. 
 
 Travellers, 55, 56, 68, 7S, 86, 88. 
 
 Taverns, 150, 156, 209. 
 
 Tanneries, 156, 175. 
 
 Tariff, 159. 
 
 Taxes, 189. 
 
 Transubstantiation, 162. 
 
 Tarleton, Col., 349. 
 
 Tabelea, Jacob, 176, 292, 295. 
 
 Tradesmen, 205, 208, 288. 
 
 Tar and feathers, 235, 241. 
 
 Tapohanican, 245, 
 
 Taylor family, 274, 282, 293, 298. 
 
 Tanney, Doctor, 46. 
 
 Trees, 18, 20, SO, 105, 190. 
 
 Trenton Falls, 51. 
 
 Ten tribes, 113, 129. 
 
 Tea drinking, 169, 206, 271. 
 
 Tea water pump, 171, 175, 245. 
 
 Theatres, 201, 263, 265, 266, 271, 272, 
 
 279, 282, 284, 297, 305, 324, 340, 
 
 352. 
 Teachers, 273. 
 Teeth, 281, 283. 
 Trinity Church, 43, 185, 187, 200, 202, 
 
 243, 272, 275, 285, 295, 296, 347. 
 Tinconderoga, 47. 
 Thieves, 257. 
 
 Tories, 31, 57, 64, 68, 71, 74, 343. 
 Tobacco, 44, 150. 
 Troy, 45. 
 
 Todd, Laurie, 54, 177. 
 Thorburn, Grant, 54, 177, 245, 311. 
 Tulpehocken, 53. 
 Turkies, 101, 205. 
 Tuscaroras, 87, 118, 120, 122, 125. 
 Tryon, Governor, 172, 286, 309, 340, 
 
 346. 
 Tryon County, history, 72. 
 
 Utica,61,75, 83, 88, 96, 291. 
 Ulysses, 104. 
 Ury, Mr., 209. 
 "Uncle Sam," 243. 
 Umbrellas, 255, 271,274. 
 University, 362, 363. 
 
 Van Twiller, Gov., 11, 44. 
 
 Vanderdonck, 42, 43, 44. 
 
 Van Cappelen, 45. 
 
 Vanderzee, Mrs. G., 66. 
 
 Van Cortland, 166, 274. 
 
 Van Dam, Ripp, 261, 264. 
 
 Van Schaick, 278. 
 
 Van Corlear, 26, 297, 320. 
 
 Van Pelt, Anthony, 291. 
 
 Van Rensselaers, 17, 24, 43, 166, 285, 
 
 317, 320. 
 
 Vaughan, General, 46. 
 
 Vauxhall, 196, 245, 285. 
 
 Vessels, 158, 159, 166, 179, 312, 333. 
 
 Vezey, Rev., 162. 
 
 Verranza, 43, 229. 
 
 Virginia, 11, 
 
 Voyages round the World, 240, 241, 300. 
 
 Wappingi, 39, 42, 91. 
 
 Wampum, 16, 114, 166, 221. 
 
 Whales, 42, 48, 233, 241, 281, 298. 
 
 Waaloons, 42. 
 
 Wallabout, 35, 42, 188, 328, 329, 335, 336, 
 
 345. 
 Washington, Hon. Shirley, 266. 
 Washington, General, 35, 48, 49, 72, 137, 
 
 183, 187, 209, 266, 300, 328, 333, 334, 
 
 341, 345, 352. 
 Watering places, 46, 47, 132. 
 Wall Street palisades, 159, 167, 177. 
 Wall Street, 45, 159, 167, 177, 307. 
 Wadsworth, Col., 80, 102. 
 Watson, Elkanah, 137. 
 Waldenses, 153, 155. 
 Water Street, 179. 
 Walton house, 180, 196, 350. 
 Watches, 254. 
 Wampole, family, 304. 
 Waterwitch, 309. 
 West India Co., 11, 41. 
 West and East Indies, 11, 20, 160. 
 West Point, 39, 48, 49, 339. 
 Wells family, 71. 
 Western New York, 81, 87, 92, 105, 
 
 137. 
 Webster, Daniel, 109, 364. 
 Wells, 146, 157. 
 Weehawken, 149. 
 Weymouth, Captain, 229. 
 Wheaton, Captain, 345. 
 Weekly Journal, 312, 313. 
 Wilie, Walter, 28. 
 Whigs, 31,322, 323. 
 Wigs, 248, 252, 274, 281. 
 Wm. Henry, Fort, 47. 
 White, Judge, 91, 104. 
 Whitestown, 51,91. 
 Willet, Col. M., 53, 58, 68, 75, 76. 
 Weiser, Conrad, %2. 
 Williamson, Captain Ch., 81, 82, 86. 
 Winters, 100, 104, 188, 226, 242, 273. 
 Wigwass, 114. 
 Wigwams, 124, 233. 
 <« White women," 125. 
 Whipping Post, 162, 179, 262, 298. 
 Witchcraft, 166. 
 
 Wind Mills, 167, 190, 269, 294, 295. 
 Whitefield, Rev., 179. 
 Wilke, Mr., 181. 
 Wilson, Sarah, 201. 
 White Conduit house, 245. 
 White Hall, 268, 274, 296, 301, 302. 
 Windsor chairs, 278. 
 Windows, 278. 
 Women, 16, 17, 24, 98, 134, 189, 205, 
 
 207, 208, 221, 247, 256. 
 Woolsey, Maj., 65. 
 
390 
 
 Particular Index, 
 
 Wood Creek, 75, 77, 80, 124, 137. 
 Woodmen, 78, 81, 90, 91, 96, 176. 
 Wolves, 19, 50, 70, 77, 79, 100, 101, 116, 
 
 136, 158, 233. 
 Wooden horse, 150, 179. 
 Woods, 176. 
 Woodbridge, 280, 321. 
 Wyoming, 74. 
 
 Yates, G. F., 31, 33. 
 Yankees, 91, 108, 116, 243, 356. 
 " Yankee Doodle," 241. 
 Yellow Fevers, 299. 
 Younglove, Doctor, 76, 287. 
 
 Zanger, the Printer, 226, 313. 
 
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