Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 24

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452

USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations > Part 24

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 (link on the Part 1 page).

The very conveniently located and well-appointed County Agricultural Fair Grounds are nearly two miles north of Albany. The State Fairs have been held here.

The New York Central and Rensselaer and Sara- toga Railways, the Erie Canal, the Champlain

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

Canal and the Watervliet Horse Railway all traverse portions of this town. Few towns surpass this in traveling facilities.

The Schuyler Residence, at "the Flats," just south of the village of West Troy, near the banks of the river, is an interesting spot, associated as it is with the interesting scenes in the life of "Aunt Schuyler," Mrs. Grant's "American Lady." Dr. James Wade, Dr. E. M. Wade, Edward Wade, Esq., Gov. Leland Sanford, J. B. Jermain, Thomas Hillhouse, Isaac Lawson, Joseph M. Lawson, Geo. L. Stedman, John W. McNamara, Dr. Michael Freleigh, Weare C. Little, Charles Van Zandt, are among the well-known natives or long-time resi- dents of this, our oldest town. Hon. Benj. F. Wade was once a teacher in this town, and Rev. William Arthur, father of Chester A. Arthur, taught a boarding school in one of its villages.

WESTERLO was named in honor of Rev. Eilardus Westerlo, a Dutch clergyman, who was pastor of the First Reformed Church in Albany from 1760 to 1790. It was formed from Coeymans and Rens- selaerville, March 16, 1815 ; has an area of 35,976 acres ; and is bounded, north by Berne and New Scotland, east by New Scotland and Coeymans, south by Greene County, and west by Rensselaer- ville.

Its surface is broken and hilly, inclining southerly for the most part. Its valleys are narrow ravines; its ridges are adapted to pasturage. Sand and

gravel mixed with muck and clay, lying on hard- pan, form the arable soil. Stone used in field walls is plenty, and flagging stones are taken from several fine quarries. The highest elevation is about 800 feet above sea level.

The leading industry is agriculture, hay being the principal product for the market.

The manufactures are chiefly those demanded by a rural population. There is a cheese factory near Chesterville.

The settlement of the town began before the Revolution. Among the early settlers were Nicholas Stoddard, Rev. Reuben Stanton, Josiah Hinckley, Isaac Winston, Dr. Jonathan Prosser, James Arnold, William Read, Abram Becker, William Haverland, Jacob and Lodowick Haynes. Philip Myers, a na- tive of Germany, came in 1763. Andrew Hannay came from Scotland later. In 1777, inspired by a spirit of patriotism, he raised a company of volunteers and came as far as Albany with them, to join Gen. Gates against Burgoyne, too late for service.

Yankees came into the settlement more freely after the Revolution. The people, as a whole, are re- markable for good habits rural tastes, and domestic virtues.

About 1800 the Baptist Church, at Chesterville, was formed, with Roswell Beckwith, first pastor. About the same time, the Dutch Reformed Church at Van Leuven's Corners was formed.

HISTORY OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS

OF ALBANY COUNTY.

ARLY HISTORY .- The office of Supervisor F is one of the most ancient town and county offices in this State. It was established, though with ill-defined powers, under what is known as the "Duke's laws," or Laws promulgated soon after the Duke of York acquired the title to the territory embraced in the province of New York-formerly New Netherlands- through the Charter of his royal brother, Charles II.

Under the Duke's Laws the province was method- ically laid out into towns and counties, and pro- visions were made for a Supervisor in each town, whose duty it was to oversee the financial affairs of the towns and counties. Provisions were also made for an annual meeting of all the Supervisors in the county, constituting a Board of Supervisors, with powers to audit the accounts of the County Officers, etc.

At first, as we have seen, the office in this State was confined to the supervision of the finances of the town and county ; but, as time went on, its powers and jurisdiction were enlarged, until it be- came essentially a legislative body- in a word, the legislature of the county, having the same relation to the county that the legislature has to the State, each town in the county occupying the position in regard to the Board of Supervisors that the counties do to the State Legislature. *

#Under the State Laws, a Supervisor is a public officer, charged with certain duties to his town, his county and to the public at large. He is a creature of the Statute Law, and has no powers or rights other than those which the Legislature has expressly conferred upon him, and those which are incident to and necessary for a proper exercise of such express powers and rights. His functions are three fold : First, as a town officer, and which are to be discharged by him either individually or in connection with other town officers ; second, as a member of the Board of County Canvassers; third, as a County Officer, and which are to be discharged in connect on with the other Supervisors of the county sitting as a board.

HISTORY OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.

One of the remarkable features in its history is the manner in which its local legislative powers have in- creased. For many years the office was limited to the duties we have described.

On June 19, 1703, the Provincial Legislature or General Assembly passed an act, enlarging the powers and duties of Supervisors, which act was en- titled "An Act for the better explaining and more effectually putting in execution the duties of Super- visors and other town officers."

The curious and somewhat significant language of the following preamble to this act exhibits the construction which those early legislatures gave the duties and powers of the office.

PREAMBLE. "Forasmuch as many disputes, cavils, con- troversies and mistakes have happened and been occasioned as well by the Generality of the Words in a Certain Act of General Assembly, entitled ' An act for defraying of the publick and necessary charge throughout this Province, and for maintaining the poor and preventing Vagabonds,' as many other Omissions and Defects Experience has found and observed in the same Act."

The act provides for the election, by the free- hold inhabitants of each town in every county in the Province, of one Supervisor, a freeholder of the town, whose duty-to use the language of the act-

" It shall he to compute, ascertain, examine, oversee and allow the contingent, publick and necessary charge of each County; and also there shall be in each town, manor and precinct, by the freeholders thereof annually chosen, two Assessors and one Collector, which Supervisor, Assessors and Collector shall be annually chose in every town, on the first Tuesday in April.

"The Supervisors so chosen shall meet annually at the county town in each respective county, on the first Tuesday in October, and at such other times as they shall deem necessary to examine and compute all such publick necessary contingent charges as they shall find their respective counties properly chargeable with, and all such sum or sums of money as shall be brought and exhibited before them shall be im- posed and laid on the same counties, as provided by the law of the Colony."

Provisions were made for the collection of the said moneys by taxation on the valuation of the real estate in each of the towns in the county, and hence the question of establishing the valuation of the lands in the respective towns early became one of paramount importance.

After the collection of the money, under the pro- vision of the act, it was paid into the hands of the County Treasurer, to be disbursed by that officer very much in the manner in which the county funds are now disbursed by the County Treasurer.

This brings us to consider briefly the office of COUNTY TREASURER, whose duties are largely con- nected with the Board of Supervisors. This is another very ancient office in the State, one of the first established under the English Colonial laws; indeed, an office quite similar to that of County Treasurer which existed under the Dutch Colonial Government.

The duties of this officer under the act of 1703 differed but very little from those of County Treas- urers at the present time. He exhibited to the Supervisors a yearly account of all moneys received and disbursed by him during the year, with a state- ment of the sources through which he received the money, and the account upon which he disbursed

it. He was then, as now, liable to an action at the suit of the Supervisors for any default or miscarriage in the discharge of the duties of his office.

Any Supervisor, Assessor or Collector refusing to act respectively forfeited five pounds, to be recovered by any person delayed, wronged or injured by any such refusal to act.

It will be seen that Assessors and Town Collectors are of- ficers of great antiquity, and the reader of Colonial and State history is surprised that so many of the present State, County and Town officers, with similar powers, existed during the English Colonial Government of the province, notwithstand- ing the sweeping innovations made by the State Constitution and State laws.

The act of 1703, concerning Supervisors, contin- ued in existence with some slight changes until March 24, 1772, when it was amended, so far as the County of Albany was concerned, to authorize the annual election of Supervisors in that County to take place on the first Tuesday of May. This act also provided for the election in Albany County, at the same time, of TWO OVERSEERS OF THE POOR, two Constables, two Fence Viewers and one Town Clerk.

The duties of the office of Town Clerk were pre- viously to this discharged by the Supervisor of the Town. None but freeholders could vote for these respective officers. After the adoption of the first State Constitution, the office of Supervisor, and the time of their election was changed by an action of the State legislature, passed March 7, 1788, which provided for the holding of town meetings in the various towns in the State for the choice of Town Officers.

The time for holding these meetings was on the first Tuesday in April of each and every year. At these meetings the following officers were elected in each town: A Supervisor, Town Clerk, one As- sessor, Collector, Overseer of the Poor, Commis- sioners of Highways, Overseer of the Highway or Pathmaster, four Constables, Fence Viewers and Pound-master. By this act the Town of Albany was empowered to elect two Assessors instead of one, as in other counties.

Among the duties imposed by this act on the Board of Supervisors of the County of Albany, and many other counties in the State, but more largely exercised in Albany, was that of overseeing and executing the laws relative to the poor of the county and towns through the Overseers of the Poor elected in the various towns.

The office of Superintendents of the Poor was not then in existence, and never has existed in the County of Albany.

In our history of the Charities of the County and the Executors of the Poor Laws, it will be seen that the ancient office of Overseers of the Poor, with largely increased powers, still exists in the County of Albany. Their powers and duties will be more fully considered hereafter.

The manner in which the powers and duties of the Board of Supervisors have from time to time been enlarged and extended will be described under the head of "Statutory and Legal History of the Board."

There has been considerable litigation in the State concerning the powers and duties of the Supervisors. The case of Downing vs. Rugar, reported 21 Wen-

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

dell, 181, will be read with profit and interest. The office of Supervisor and the duties of Boards of Supervisors continued to be the subject of legisla- tive enactment, varying the duties of the office in minor particulars, down to the adoption of the Re- vised Statutes by the State Legislature in 1830, by which their powers and duties were greatly enlarged and the Board rendered more emphatically a legis- lative body, with powers of local legislation, since greatly enlarged.

The powers and duties of Supervisors in regard to the poor and charitable institutions of the County of Albany differ in many respects from those of Supervisors in that regard in other counties of the State. This subject will be more fully considered in another part of this work, in the chapter on PUB- LIC CHARITIES, in which the duties of Overseers of the Poor, the Superintendent and Overseers of the Almshouse, and other charitable institutions will be described.

From the foregoing it will easily be seen that the history of the Board of Supervisors of the County of Albany is of the greatest importance, from the fact that it embraces such a variety of historical matter.

STATUTORY AND LEGAL HISTORY OF THE BOARD. EARLY LEGISLATIVE ACTS.

One of the earliest acts of the Legislature touch- ing the Supervisors of Albany, was an

ACT OF 1792 .- An act passed the 11th of April, 1792, made it the duty of one of the judges and one of the Supervisors of the Counties of Colum- bia, Rensselaer and Saratoga to meet once in every year with the Supervisors and one or more of the judges of the County of Albany for inspecting and examining the mortgages, minutes and accounts of the Loan Officers appointed in the County of Al- bany. This act was amended on February 25, 1799, rendering it lawful for Supervisors of the County of Albany, or a majority of them, together with one or more of the said judges of the said county, and such of the judges and Super- visors of the other counties as might appear, to perform the duties mentioned in the Act of April, 1792.

ACT CONCERNING PUBLIC LANDS OF COUNTY .--- Doubts having arisen upon the operation of con- veyances of land, made to the Supervisors of the counties in this State for the use of such counties for public buildings and other county purposes, an act was passed April 25, 1799, vesting in the Supervisors of the counties in this State respective- ly and their successors such estate in the lands aforesaid, for the purposes aforesaid, as every such conveyance shall import to grant and convey for the uses therein expressed.

This is a very important act, establishing the right of counties, through the respective Boards of Supervisors, to hold lands in fee for court-houses, jails, poor-houses and alins-houses, and other lands to be used for county purposes.

CHANGE OF TIME FOR HOLDING ELECTIONS .- Down to April, 1825, the annual meetings of the

Board of Supervisors in the County of Albany were held in April. On April 29, 1825, an act was passed directing that the Supervisors of Albany and some other counties should hold their annual meetings on the Tuesday next after the annual election in each and every year, and at the places before provided for by law for the meeting of the Board of Canvassers for the votes at the annual election in the County of Al- bany and other counties.

A BOARD OF CANVASS .- It was also enacted that in the County of Albany and some other counties the Board of Canvassers, including the Clerk of said counties or their deputies, should, on the Tuesday next after the annual election, meet at the places where the said respective Boards of Supervis- ors were in session, and then and there proceed to canvass and certify the votes given at such election in manner provided by the tenth section of the act entitled "An act for regulating Elections," passed April, 1822. The act of April 19, 1825, was after- ward substantially extended to all the counties in the State. As may be seen, it made the Board of Supervisors in the County of Albany, as well as in all other counties, except New York, a Board of Canvassers.

APPOINTING POWER. - By the act to which we have referred the Supervisors of Albany County had conferred upon them the power, with the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas, of appoint- ing Justices of the Peace, and Commissioners to take the acknowledgment of deeds in the county, and for that purpose they met on the Wednesday next after the annual election in each and every county, in each and every year, at their usual place of meeting.

SITES FOR COUNTY BUILDINGS .- By an Act passed April 16, 1830, the Supervisors of the City and County of Albany were authorized to raise, levy and collect, in four annual installments, on and from the taxable prop- erty in said city and county, in the same manner as other county charges are levied and col- lected, the sum of fifteen thousand dollars, for the purchase of a site and for the erection of a build- ing in the City of Albany for city and county pur- poses, which sum, to be raised, levied and collect- ed, was to be paid over to the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the City of Albany, to be ap- plied for the purposes aforesaid.

UNISON OF AFFAIRS OF CITY AND COUNTY .- This act shows how closely the municipal affairs of the city and the affairs of the county were united-a unison that has continued, more or less, down to the present time.

By the said act the Supervisors of the City and County were required, in addition to the fifteen thousand dollars, to raise upon the taxable prop- erty of the City of Albany alone such sums of money, not exceeding the sum of $40,000, to be applied to the purchase of the site and the erection of a building for city and county purposes. This building was what was known as the New City Hall.

Abolishment of the distinction between Town and County Poor, in the City and County of Albany .- A

HISTORY OF THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.

law abolishing the distinction between town and county poor in the City and County of Albany was passed March 17, 1832. This act made it lawful for the Board of Supervisors of the County of Albany, and the Mayor, Aldermen and Com- monalty of the City of Albany, to enter into any contract or agreement between them to abolish all distinction between town and county poor in the said city and county, from and after the first day of May then next, and for appropriating the alms- house and farm belonging thereto, in the City of Albany, for the support of all poor in the city and county, transient and resident, and for the allow- ance of such sum, to be paid to the said city by the county for the use of the same, and for any addi- tional building and appurtenances, as the said Su- pervisors and the said Mayor, Aldermen and Com- monalty may agree upon. The act further pro- vided as follows :

"Every poor person entitled to support, in the City and County of Albany, shall from and after the Ist day of May, 1832, be supported and maintained by the Mayor, Alder- men and Commonalty of the City of Albany, at the expense of the county. All such poor persons shall be removed by the Overseers of the Poor of the several towns, and the Over- seers of the Poor of the City of Albany, to the said Alms House, at the expense of the several towns and the city; and thereafter the necessary expenses of the removal of any poor person from any town in the county shall be paid on the certificate of the Keeper of the Alms House by the Cham- berlain of the City of Albany."

MAYOR OF ALBANY TO HAVE CHARGE OF ALMS HOUSE. - It was also provided that the Mayor, Al- dermen and Commonalty of the City of Albany should have the charge and care of said Alms House and farm, and of all the said persons who might be removed there for support, and that they should appoint a superintendent and physician, and employ other persons necessary for the man- agement and government of the same. All moneys which should be received by the Commissioners of Excise, and all moneys received by the Overseers of the Poor in their official capacity, were to be paid over to the Chamberlain of the City, for the Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty, within thirty days af- ter the receipt thereof.

TEMPORARY RELIEF FOR THE POOR. - The act pro- vides that temporary relief might be granted to poor persons by the several Overseers of the Poor of the county, not exceeding the sum of ten dollars for any one person or family, without the assent of the Supervisor of the town where such relief is granted, or, if in the City of Albany, without the consent of the Board of Magistrates for the relief and support of the poor of the city. This written consent must accompany the order of the Justice granting such relief, and entitle the overseer to re- ceive any sum paid in pursuance of such order, from the Chamberlain of the city.

CITY CHAMBERLAIN AND SUPERVISORS. - It was provided that at the next annual meeting of the Board of Supervisors, after the passage of the said act, and at each annual meeting thereafter, there shall be a general settlement between the Chamber- lain of the City and the Board of Supervisors in re- gard to the disbursements of all moneys connected

with the poor, and all other matters connected with the poor of the county.

It was provided that the act to which we have referred should continue in force for five years from the first day of May, 1832. Most of its pro- visions were retained by subsequent acts for many years, and some of them in a varied form down to the present time. It was one of the most impor- tant and practicable acts touching the maintenance of the poor in the county and city, and the man- agement of the Almshouse ever enacted, and it is the first act which fully and equitably abolished the distinction of county and city poor.

OVERSEERS OF THE POOR .- An act of April 15, 1837, rendered it unnecessary for the Overseers of the Poor to obtain an order from Justices to au- thorize temporary relief.

SALARY OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY .- By the act of February 21, 1840, the Supervisors were empow- ered to fix the salary of District Attorney. The act of May 14, 1840, fixed the time for the annual meeting of the Board of Supervisors for the first Monday of August of each year. The Board of Supervisors were to cause a corrected assessment roll of each town or ward in the city and county, or a fair copy thereof, to be delivered to the Collector of each town or ward on or before the 15th day of September of each year.

THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS AND THE PENI- TENTIARY.

The first step taken toward the erection of the Peniten- tiary in the County of Albany was the act of April 13, 1844, entitled " An Act for the construction of a Penitentiary, and in relation to the relief of the Poor in the County of Albany." We shall refer more at length to this act in an- other part of this work, in our chapter on Penitentiaries and punitive establishments.

The act directs that the Board of Supervisors of the County of Albany shall cause to be erected, at such place within the limits of the county as shall be directed, a suita- ble building or buildings for a Penitentiary, for the safe keeping and employment of vagrants, disorderly persons and all prisoners (except in cases of conviction for felony), who shall be sentenced to confinement at hard labor, or to solitary imprisonment, by any Court held in the said county or in the City of Albany.

The act appointed Samuel Pruyn and Barent P. Staats, of the City of Albany, and Louis M. Dayton, of Rensselaer- ville, in said county, commissioners to select a proper loca- tion for the site of the said Penitentiary, with proper grounds to be attached thereto, within six months after the passage of the said law, and to report such location, with a detailed plan for the construction, management and discipline of the Penitentiary, and an estimate of the expenses of the said land for the site, and of the construction thereof, to the Board of Supervisors. Upon the receipt of the said report the Board of Supervisors, with the Mayor and Recorder of the city, associated with the said Board for that purpose, were di- rected to examine the same and determine thereupon ; and the said Supervisors, Mayor and Recorder were empowered to alter, modify, reduce or increase the site, plan or expense of construction of said Penitentiary, as specified in the plan of said commissioners, in any manner as to them shall seem fit or necessary. The commissioners, at the expiration of ninety days after the making and delivery of said report to the chairman or clerk of the Board, were to procure the lands necessary for the site of the said Penitentiary, and pro- ceed to construct the same at such place and on such plan in all respects as the said Board of Supervisors, the Mayor and Recorder have approved and directed.

The act further empowered the Board of Supervisors to borrow money, on the expense of the county, necessary to

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

defray all the expenses of procuring the site and completing the erection of the said Penitentiary. The act further em- powered the Board of Supervisors to rent of the Common Council of the City of Albany the Almshouse and farm in the said city, together with all the fixtures and appurtenan- ces thereto (the property of the Common Council), upon such terms as could be agreed upon between the said Com- mon Council and the said Board of Supervisors. It also empowered the said Board of Supervisors, and the Mayor and Recorder of the city, by their votes in joint meeting, to let or farm out the aforesaid Almshouse and farm (with all the fixtures and appurtenances thereto), with the inmates therein, for a term of years not exceeding five, and to ap- point one or more persons to exercise a supervisory inspect- ing and directing power over the general treatment, fare and well-being of the paupers. The Supervisors, Mayor and Recorder were directed to make such rules and regulations in relation to temporary relief to the poor, by the Overseers of the Poor in the city, and in the several towns in the said county, as they shall deem expedient. They also reg- ulate the salaries of the Overseers of the Poor, look to the payment of physicians, council fees relating to the poor-in cases relating to the poor accruing in the said city.

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.

Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 24

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888 Publication date: 1886 Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co. Number of Pages: 1452

Author: Howell, George Rogers, 1833-1899; Tenney, Jonathan, 1817-1888
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: New York, W. W. Munsell & Co.
Number of Pages: 1452