USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The history of the city of Albany, New York : from the discovery of the great river in 1524, by Verrazzano, to the present time > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015
https://archive.org/details/historyofcityofa00weis_0
GEN
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01293 2734
GENEALOGY 974.701 AL12we
new York State Capitol.
COPYRIGHTED BY JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO. FOR "THE PUBLIC SERVICE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK," AND USED BY THEIR PERMISSION.
THE HISTORY
OF
THE
CITY OF ALBANY,
NEW YORK,
FROM THE DISCOVERY OF THE GREAT RIVER IN 1524, BY VERRAZZANO, TO THE PRESENT TIME
BY
ARTHUR JAMES WEISE, M. A.
E. H. BENDER ALBANY : 71 & 73 STATE STREET 1884
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by E. H. BENDER In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington
PREFACE.
1288707
Although written two hundred and sixty years after the occupation of the site of the city of Albany by the first settlers, this work presents a number of facts con- tradicting certain statements respecting that event and others preceding it. It will be seen in the first chapter that Henry Hudson, the English navigator, was not the discoverer nor the first explorer of the river which now bears his name. The Grande River, as the Hudson was first geographically designated, was discovered in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano, who had been commissioned to make discoveries of new countries by Francis I., king of France. Shortly afterward it was ascended to its navigable height by French seamen trading for furs with the Indians living on its shores.
The title of the French to the discovered territory was perfected by occupation. Early in the sixteenth century they built, as it appears, two forts, one on the island where the city of New York is, and another on Castle Island, near the site of Albany. When the first vessel conveying emigrants from Amsterdam, Holland, to the country of the Grande River reached the mouth of the noble stream, the officer of the French barque, anchored there, not only declared the fact of the previous possession of the attractive domain by his countrymen but peremptorily forbade the occupation of this part of New France by the Dutch usurpers.
III
000
IV
PREFACE.
Remarkable as it is true, the greater number of the first settlers of Albany were Walloons,-French people. Hitherto the year 1623, instead of 1624, has erroneously been given as the date of the planting of the first colony on the site of the city of Albany.
The peculiar prominence of Albany as the council- place of the Indians and the English governors of the American provinces in the colonial period; its peculiar geographical position as the military gate-way of the country during the Indian and French wars and during the revolutionary struggle; its selection as the place of the convocation of the first provincial congress which form- ulated a "plan of a proposed Union of the several col- onies ;" these and many other important facts make its history notable and attractive.
The writer regrets that his subject-matter was by agreement limited to a certain number of pages, and that he was compelled to condense much of it into abridged statements.
In ending the task of writing this, the first history of the city of Albany, I deem it a conscionable duty to pay a friend's tribute to the memory of Joel Munsell, deceased, the assiduous and painstaking compiler of the "Annals of Albany " and the "Collections on the His- tory of Albany." His unrequited industry evidently merits a public memorial from the citizens.
It is a pleasure to remember personal courtesies. To Henry A. Homes, LL. D., the librarian of the General Library of the State of New York, to his assistant, George Rogers Howell, to Stephen B. Griswold, the librarian of the Law Library, to Berthold Fernow, keeper of the French, Dutch, and English records in the State Library, to W. Bayard Van Rensselaer, Theodore Town- send, and J. H. Van Antwerp of Albany; to Horatio Sey-
V
PREFACE.
mour, LL. D., ex-governor of the State of New York, of Deerfield, Oneida County; to Dr. T. M. Coan of New York City; to DeWitt Clinton, librarian of the Young Men's Association Library, and to William H. Young of Troy; I am under many obligations for official ser- vices and desired information.
ARTHUR JAMES WEISE.
TROY, N. Y., August 2, 1884.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE.
Discoveries and explorations. Giovanni da Verrazzano enters the bay of the Grande River. The French ascend the stream to its navigable height. Henry Hudson's voyage. The French château on Castle Island. Organization of the West India Company. 1-17
CHAPTER II.
Sailing of the Walloons and Dutch freemen to New Netherland. The site of the colony. Fort Orange. The Wilden. Van Kreicke- beek's partisanship. The patroons. The charter of exemptions and privileges. 18-36
CHAPTER III.
Kiliaen van Rensselaer. The territory of Rensselaerswyck. First set- tlers. Leases of land. Officers of the manor. The fur trade. Shell- money of the Indians. The patroon's instructions. 37-52
CHAPTER IV.
The call of the Rev. Joannes Megapolensis, jr. Sketch of the Mohawk Indians. Father Jogues's captivity. Beeren Island fortified. The church at Fort Orange. Petrus Stuyvesant's directorship. "Wooden Leg's dogs." The burgerlijke oath. 53-93
CHAPTER V.
The troubles at Fort Orange. The dorpe Beverswyck. The tapsters' excise. Erection of the block-house church. Persecution of the Lutherans. The armed Mohawks. The village palisaded. The boschloopers. Anneke Janse Bogardus's will. 94-134
CHAPTER VI.
New Netherland coveted by the English. Its territory given to the duke of York and Albany. Surrender of the Dutch. Governor Nicolls's orders. The fort and village of Albany. 135-152
CHAPTER VII.
The province regained by the Dutch. Willemstadt. Immunities granted to the patroon. The head-church. Fort Nassau. New Netherland surrendered to the English. 153-158
VI
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
VII
CHAPTER VIII.
PAGE. The village again named Albany. Indian hostilities. Militia laws. The Fuyck. Description of the place. The burghers. The house of peace.
159-183
CHAPTER IX.
Manners and customs. Houses. Furniture. Occupations. Shops. Inns. Church-going. Festival days. Funerals. Marriages. · 184-196 .
CHAPTER X.
Charter of the city.
The municipal officers.
Rules and regulations.
French invasion. Military preparations.
197-215
CHAPTER XI.
A French project. The city to be attacked. Captain Bull's visit to Al- bany. Jacob Leisler's usurpation. The province disturbed. The
massacre of the inhabitants of Schenectady. 216-251
CHAPTER XII.
Indian affairs. Albany described. Land taken from the Indians. Dic- tatorial power of royalty. The Five Nations. 252-269
CHAPTER XIII.
The building of the stone-fort. Fugitive slaves. Schaihtecogue land. Invasion of Canada. A missionary's letter. 270-287
CHAPTER XIV.
Intemperance of the Indians. The trade of the frontier. Albany's geographical position. Another war with France. Description of the city.
288-312
CHAPTER XV.
The colonial congress. Military movements.
The fur trade.
Anglo-
mania.
313-332
CHAPTER XVI.
The city's revenues. Fire precautions. A public whipper. Character istics of the people. Docks built. Masonic lodges.
·
333-353
VIII
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
PAGE.
The revolution. The committee of superintendence and correspondence. Albany regiments. Reading of the Declaration of Independence. The invasion of Burgoyne. First meeting of the legislature in the city. Washington's visit. 354-385
CHAPTER XVIII.
The business of merchandizing. Stages. The opening of a theatre. A centennial celebration. A federal procession. The city described. Establishment of a bank. The trade of Albany. 386-423
CHAPTER XIX.
The capital of the state of New York. Erection of a public building. A large fire. A new state-house built. The first steamboat on the Hudson. Albany in 1813. 424-457
CHAPTER XX.
The city's wealth and prosperity. Celebration of the opening of the Erie canal. The Mohawk and Hudson railroad. The public schools. The new capitol.
458-486
ADDENDA.
HISTORICAL SUMMARY,
487-492
CHURCHES,
493-506
NEWSPAPERS,
506-510
MAYORS,
510-511
BANKS,
511-512
CHANGED NAMES OF STREETS,
512-513
CENSUS, .
514
FREE AND ACCEPTED MASONS,
513-514
INDEPENDENT ORDER OF ODD FELLOWS, 514
INDEX,
515-520
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
CHAPTER I.
DISCOVERIES AND EXPLORATIONS.
1524-1623.
On a bright day near the end of April, 1524, a num- ber of aborigines fishing in the lower bay of New York descried a strange object floating toward them from the sea. Much excited by the apparition, the amazed savages rapidly rowed to the neighboring islands to apprise the inhabitants of the extraordinary spectacle. Hundreds of inquisitive, fascinated faces were soon turned toward the mysterious thing. At first a wild speculation assumed it to be an unknown aquatic monster, then a less fanciful one conjectured it to be a large house drifting in from the sea. The slowly moving body was closely watched by the wondering crowds. As it approached they saw that it was an immense boat, filled with people and pro- pelled by wind-expanded cloths hung before poles rising high above its curiously shaped hull. The novel craft having found a suitable riding-place in the spacious haven cast her anchor in the sight of the excited natives, who,
2
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
with loud shouts of delight, witnessed the first mooring of a European ship in this discovered roadstead. 1
The anchored vessel was the French ship, La Dau- phine, with a crew of fifty men, commanded by Giovanni da Verrazzano, an experienced navigator. Having been commissioned by Francis I., king of France, to seek a western sea-route to India and to make discoveries of new lands, he had sailed from the port of Dieppe late in the year 1523. Verrazzano had descried, on the eleventh of March, 1524, (old style,) the coast of North America, on the thirty-fourth parallel of north latitude. He had afterward explored the coast southwardly for fifty leagues, and then had turned and sailed northwardly, frequently going ashore to survey the country and to ac- quaint himself with the habits of the friendly natives.
Eager to learn whether the bay in which his ship was anchored were not a part of a navigable strait through which he might sail to Cathay, in Eastern Asia, Verraz- zano ordered the ship's boat to be manned, and began the first exploration of the mighty river that poured its flood into the bay through the channel now called the Narrows. The gazing savages, seeing the boat moving toward the upper bay, hastened with renewed exclamations of de- light to the nearest shores to inspect more closely the un- known visitors. Here, partly clad with barbaric dresses of skins, birds' feathers and decorative wampum, the dusky-colored aborigines, with frequent signs and various calls, manifested their friendliness toward the explorers, who, in mid-stream, rowed by them.
Entering the upper bay of New York, described by the delighted navigator as a most beautiful lake formed by the descending waters of the great river, Verrazzano
1 Vide The Rev. John Heckewelder's paper concerning an Indian tradi- tion of the first arrival of Europeans in New York Bay. Collections of the New York Historical Society. Second series. vol. i. pp. 71-74.
3
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
perceived it to be an excellent harbor for the largest ves- sels, and the surrounding country an attractive region diversified by hills, in which he thought valuable min- erals might be found. Here the inquisitive Indians steered their canoes toward the boat, and, rowing around and about it, gazed at the fair faces and European dress of the strangers with the greatest curiosity and admira- tion. Suddenly a violent gale of wind from the direc- tion of the sea warned the circumspect navigator of his remoteness from the Dauphine, and he ordered the boat to be rowed to the distant ship, not a little displeased by the sudden termination of his pleasurable exploration of the beautiful bay.
On the return of the explorers to the ship her anchor was weighed and the Dauphine put to sea, sailing north- wardly as far as the fiftieth parallel of north latitude, where she stood for France, and early in July arrived at the port of Dieppe. From this place, Verrazzano sent a letter to Francis I., dated on the eighth of the month, describing the New Land "never before seen by men either in ancient or in modern times," which he had dis- covered and explored for more than eleven hundred miles. 1
In consequence of these discoveries, the northern part of the continent, extending along the Atlantic Ocean from Florida to the Gulf of St. Lawrence, was called by the French, La Nouvelle France (New France). The valu- able furs of the beaver, otter, marten, and other animals of the new country induced certain French capitalists, merchants, and ship-owners to send a number of vessels to different parts of its coast to barter with the natives
1 Parts of the coasts of Labrador, Newfoundland, Cape Breton Island, and Nova Scotia had been discovered and explored by the Cabots in 1497 and 1498. Gaspar Cortereal, in 1500 and 1501 had inspected parts of the coasts of Labrador and Newfoundland.
.
1 -
4
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
for peltry. Some of these barques sailed to the beautiful bay discovered by Verrazzano, and explored the Grande River, as the Hudson was then called, to the height of its navigation. Here the friendly savages received the French fur-traders with a large-hearted hospitality, which greatly contributed to the success of the first ventures of these speculative Europeans. To enlarge and protect the exclusive traffic begun so advantageously with the abo- rigines of the different villages near the confluence of the two rivers, now known as the Mohawk and the Hud- son, the French undertook to build, about the year 1540, a fortified trading-house or castle on the long, low island, lying in the little bay, on the west side of the Grande River, near the site of the city of Albany. Unfor- tunately before the building was completed, the island was inundated by the flood of a great freshet. The partly erected walls of the château and the environing earthworks were so much damaged by the rushing water that they were never repaired by the French, nor was the island any longer deemed habitable by them. These trading ventures of the French to the Grande River, dur- ing the sixteenth century, made them well acquainted with the topographical features of the adjacent country. On many of the maps of La Nouvelle France made dur- ing this period the noble stream is plainly represented from Sandy Hook to its navigable limits.1
The exploration of the Grande River by Henry Hudson in 1609, was suggested to the English navigator by infor- mation derived from published descriptions and maps of New France. It was confidently believed by many per- sons that in North America a navigable passage could be found through which vessels could pass to the Indian Ocean and sail to the Molucca or Spice Islands. Spain,
1 About one hundred and seventy-five miles from the ocean.
Saguenai
1
Terra Corte realis
T
4
CI
alle
Fran
Noua
Canada
Chance, ho degrad sky:
tengaeds.
Sinus
Si Laurenty
The de fjuhen
aly della yfiumptione
h
Himala
5. marts
E.
de ba
1theBacale
Hichelas
Legale
ci
C A+ Breton
Cde Paso
Nor
om yt bega
grande
arreofer
c hasde
Moco
Cloudy
J Alka merinat
Auac al
Apalchen
C doNudo
Santana
c 5 -Johan
1
-
co
La amperaala.
Virida
OCE
pie can mural.
Lugo
Guanahani wfug, alys
nousam Andiom nomine vegot Cfelig detexit , prima terra quem conquifiest fint Hoste ,'
de Lucold
Tortugas
Curtea
La mis mofire Dame
Pcide Mebre
50 Roquelay
Cus. Fr
Memmaranty
Freul de flensh go
Dobryfan
:Arrotonda
lar firmanas
Dyyue chauonda
bente flaquer
C Tienet
· la lomufille
Mone fallon
{ Chaftaux
1
A, B, ble yfte, S Cushurina ahyr
Augur
Stuẩm Thua
Cde ta FtonJar
Anno D: 1491,11 Oftobris Chryfophorus Columbus
La Dermada
La 'Flo
S. Samfan
.C.
COPY OF A PART OF GERARD MERCATOR'S MAP OF THE WORLD, MADE AT DUISBURG IN 1569.
5
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
England, Portugal, and France, in turn, had already sent their great sea-captains across the Atlantic to search for such a water-way to the East. Magellan, in 1520, found the strait which now bears his name and through it the ships of Spain passed to the Moluccas.1 Certain wealthy commercial companies in the United Netherlands, in the latter part of the sixteenth century, fitted out ships and sent them to explore the ice-girdled ocean north of Europe for a navigable route to Asia. These perilous enterprises did not accomplish the purposes of the Dutch capitalists. Still the hope of finding a sea-path to the Orient stimu- lated other voyages of discovery in the same frigid field of the eastern hemisphere.
An exploration of the Arctic Ocean, north of Novaya Zemlya, it was thought would result in the discovery of an open polar passage to Northern Asia, where a naviga- ble channel could be found by which vessels might sail southward into the interior of the continent. For the purpose of learning whether this conjecture were true the speculative managers of the Dutch East India Com- pany engaged Henry Hudson to command a vessel to be manned and equipped for the undertaking.2 He set sail from Amsterdam, with a crew of twenty men, Dutch and English, on the twenty-fifth of March, 1609, (old style,) in the yacht, De Halve Maen, (The Half Moon,) of forty lasts or about eighty tons burden. Leaving the
1 Vide The discoveries of America to the year 1525. By Arthur James Weise. New York, 1884. G. P. Putnam's Sons.
2 Hudson was unacquainted with the Dutch language, and he therefore employed Jodocus Hondius, a learned Hollander, to act as his interpreter in his conferences with the directors of the East India Company. Hondius as- sisted him in making the following contract with the Amsterdam chamber, to which instrument he and Hondius signed their names :
"On this eighth of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and nine, the directors of the East India Company of the chamber of Amsterdam, of the ten years' reckoning, of the one part, and Mr. Henry Hudson, Englishman, assisted by Jodocus Hondius, of the other part, have
6
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
Texel, the English navigator steered northwardly, and, after doubling North Cape on the coast of Norway, stood for Novaya Zemlya. On this last course Hudson encount- ered a barrier of ice which compelled him to relinquish the purpose he had in view. Unwilling to return to Hol- land without making an attempt to reach India by sail-
agreed in manner following, to wit: That the said directors shall in the first place equip a small vessel or yacht of about thirty lasts [about sixty tons] burden, with which, well provided with men, provisions and other necessa- ries, the aforenamed Hudson shall, about the first of April, sail, in order to search for a passage by the north, around by the north side of Novaya Zemlya, and shall continue thus along that parallel until he shall be able to sail south- ward to the latitude of sixty degrees. He shall obtain as much knowledge of the lands as can be done without any considerable loss of time, and if it be possible return immediately, in order to make a faithful report and rela- tion of his voyage to the directors, and to deliver over his journals, log-books and charts, together with an account of every thing whatsoever which shall happen to him during the voyage, without keeping any thing back ; for which said voyage the directors shall pay to the said Hudson, as well as for his outfit for the said voyage as for the support of his wife and children, the sum of eight hundred guilders ; [about three hundred and twenty dollars ;] and, in case (which God prevent) he do not come back or arrive here- abouts within a year, the directors shall further pay to his wife two hundred guilders in cash ; and thereupon they shall not be further liable to him or his heirs, unless he shall either afterward or within the year arrive and have found the passage good and suitable for the company to use ; in which case the directors will reward the aforenamed Hudson for his dangers, trouble, and knowledge in their discretion, with which the before-mentioned Hudson is content. And in case the directors think proper to prosecute and con- tinue the same voyage, it is stipulated and agreed with the aforenamed Hudson, that he shall make his residence in this country with his wife and children, and shall enter into the employment of no other than the company, and this at the discretion of the directors, who also promise to make him satisfied and content for such further service in all justice and equity. All without fraud or evil intent.
" In witness of the truth, two contracts are made hereof, of the same tenor, and are subscribed by both parties and also by Jodocus Hondius, as interpreter and witness.
" Dated as above.
" Dirk van Os. "J. Poppe. "Henry Hudson. "Jodocus Hondius,
" witness."
Vide Henry Hudson in Holland. By Henry C. Murphy. The Hague, 1859. pp. 34-36.
ILLUSTRI. VIRO, DOMINO , PHILIPPO SIDNAO MICHAEL IOK CIVIS LONDINENSIS HANG CHARTAM DEDICABAT : 1582.
Oriens,
20
40
50
7ª
80
Scotia
Gallia
lan
1380
and
sec
201
09
110
Friland
Lete incogni
Ar
Cticus
LOK
If robiffer
laborador!
Corues
SBrandami
Maide'
Dera
sore
Cortereal.
grand bay
C.Bretou
accartist
elony
1535
CVL
A CAN
ana
fes
Nonombega
Gabor
250
Carina
340
200
Mexico
330
270
In cotone
Isabella
280
bifparziale Di: 1.11
200
300
Acildies 310
MAP OF AMERICA Made by MICHAEL LOCKE . IN 1582.
4
10$
A Galuano . G. Frilius.
Hucufque navigationes-
Circull's
Blanca
OFF
Lufitanorum .. 152 (). Hifparorum . 15 .40 -
Anglorum . Koo.
.R.ELIZABETHY
Den
Siebie Neuadd
CRofsa
Ceuola. o
han
2:40
359
S-Johannis
Verra
au
FL
I ropicus'
Sept Cate!
Tortues. In
320
Arcticus oo Polus.
W.ARene
Hispania
Barbarie pars.
04
Nauis camallino, que vifte, huc & c: molucas , Incgut Vfcifim ad mdluccas, Saldernis So-diebus . Han; yaux . an ! if w
Fac. Scolvous pri Groet land.
Boiadov
Nauis
fransteuen
Bermig
HiEmperode
7
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
ing in a different direction, he gave his officers and crew the choice of two proposals :
"The first was to go to the coast of America at the fortieth degree of latitude, mostly incited to this by letters and maps which a certain Captain Smith had sent him from Virginia, and in which he showed him a sea by which he might circumnavigate their southern colony [in Virginia] from the north, and from there pass into a western sea. The other proposal was to seek the pas- sage by Davis's Strait." 1
Hudson's men preferred to make the first voyage, partly influenced by what had been suggested in the communications of Captain John Smith, and partly by a desire to avoid the lower temperature of the more north- ern region of the continent. The so-called Western Sea, which it was thought Hudson could reach by sailing through some unexplored passage extending to it from the Grande River, is exhibited on the map of America made by Michael Locke, the English cartographer, in 1582.2 On this fan-shaped chart it is designated Mare de Verrazana 1524 (Sea of Verrazzano 1524). North of it the Grande River is represented as an outlet of the St. Lawrence River. 3
The Half Moon, having taken on board a supply of fresh water at the Faroe Islands, sailed westward toward
1 Belgische ofte Nederlandsche oorlogen ende geschiedenissen begin- nende van 't jaer 1595 tot 1611, mede vervatende enighe gebueren handel- inghe. Beschreven door Emanuel van Meteren. Gedruckt op Schotlant buyten Danswyck by Hermes van Loven. 1611. boek xxx. fol. 327.
2 Locke's map, dedicated to Sir Philip Sidney. was used by Richard Hakluyt, the English collector and publisher of voyages and travels, to illus- trate his work entitled : Divers voyages touching the discouerie of America. London, 1582. Vide The discoveries of America to the year 1525. By Ar- thur James Weise. New York, 1884. G. P. Putnam's Sons.
3 As late as the year 1625, the Dutch explorers of the Grande River were ignorant of its course beyond the height of its navigation. Joannes de Laet, the Dutch historian, remarks : "Judging from appearances, this river ex- tends to the great river St. Lawrence, or Canada, for our skippers assure us
8
THE HISTORY OF ALBANY.
Newfoundland. On the third of July the yacht came among some French vessels taking cod on the fishing banks. Sailing southward, the explorers approached the peninsula of Virginia, "in latitude 37° 45', " says Van Meteren, the Dutch historian, writing two years after the voyage. "They then held their course along the coast until they reached, in latitude 40° 45', a good entrance between two headlands. Here they discovered and entered, on the twelfth of September [1609, old style,] as beautiful a river as could be found, very wide and deep, with good anchorage along both shores. They ascended it with their large vessel as high as 42° 40', and went still higher with the ship's boat.1 At the mouth of the river they found the natives brave and warlike, but beyond, up to the highest point of the stream, friendly and hospitable, having great numbers of skins and furs, as those of martens and foxes, and many other commodi- ties, birds, fruits, and even white and blue grapes. They treated these people civilly and brought away a little of whatever they found among them."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.