Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 51

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 51

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practiced his profession until Mr. Bloodgood's re- moval to New York, when he retired permanently from legal life. He had inherited a fine fortune indirectly from Gov. John Tayler, and was not, therefore, dependent upon his own exer- tions for a livelihood ; but his years were not to be passed idly, for the care of his property and his de- votion to matters of interest to him kept him fully occupied almost to the day of his death.

His youth had compassed the period of the second war with Great Britain, and the exciting scenes of his boyhood imbued him with a martial spirit, and he manifested an active interest in military affairs. Shortly after graduating from college he entered Col. Knickerbocker's regiment as adjutant, and was active in promoting its efficiency. He was successively promoted to be major and lieutenant- colonel, and finally succeeded to the command of the regiment. When the Marquis de La Fayette visited America in 1824, Col. Cooper was dis- patched by the Common Council of the City of Al- bany to meet the great champion of Liberty at Kin- derhook and escort him to Albany, where high honors were paid him. On his leaving, Col. Cooper was in command of the escort which ac- companied the distinguished visitor as far as New Lebanon. Afterward he was promoted to the major-generalship of the Third Division, New York State Militia, a position which he held for many years, until he was retired at the commencement of Gov. Fenton's term of office, a law being en- acted in that year which abolished all of the old militia offices and established the National Guard of the State of New York. Published accounts of the obsequies of Gov. Marcy in 1857 show that Gen. Cooper took a prominent part in the funeral arrangements and ceremonies. He is re- membered as a firm and helpful friend of the Al- bany Burgesses' Corps, of which he was a life member.

Gen. Cooper was twice married. His first wife, whom he married in 1822, was Miss Char- lotte Henry, daughter of John V. Henry, the emi- nent attorney in whose office he studied law. She died childless, and some years later Gen. Cooper married the widow of Clarkson F. Crosby, of Watervliet, whose maiden name was Schuyler, and who was descended from the famous family of that name who bore so conspicuous a part in the early history, not alone of New York, but of our country. There was no issue by this marriage. His stepson, J. Schuyler Crosby, married Harriet Van Rensselaer, youngest daughter of Stephen Van Rensselaer, of Al- bany, and became Governor of Montana Territory and subsequently Assistant Postmaster-General of the United States ; and of his two stepdaughters, the elder married William L. Thompson, son of John C. Thompson, of Troy, and the younger, in 1878, became the wife of Rev. Thaddeus A. Sniv- eley. Rev. Howard Crosby, D. D., of New York, is their father's brother.

The freedom from business cares, which was such a marked feature of Gen. Cooper's life, permitted him several times to visit Europe and to travel quite extensively in the most interesting por-

JOHN TAYLER COOPER

THE BENCH AND BAR.

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Edwards

tions of the old world, including Russia, Egypt and Syria.

The private life of Gen. Cooper was quiet and unostentatious. He ranked as one of the most highly respected and universally esteemed citizens of Albany, adding much to its prosperity and con- tributing to the growth of many of its important in- stitutions. Of the most pronounced "Old School" Democratic proclivities, he was not a politician, and never held any civil office, the only positions not military in their character which he ever ac- cepted being those of warden of St. Peter's Episco- pal Church and president of the Home for Aged Men. To the strictness of his habits may be at- tributed his long and, for the most part, robust life. In personal appearance he was erect, finely proportioned and of martial bearing. He was known to possess strong sympathy with the poor, and, in a private way, he dispensed charities with a liberal hand. His public donations to various charitable objects were not inconsiderable. Noted for his wise and prudent management of business affairs, he left a large and valuable estate, consist- ing of real and personal property, in Albany, be- sides an extensive farm near Cedar Hill, on the Hudson, about nine miles distant from the city, which he called "Guy Park." His death was not entirely unexpected, and it was deeply regretted by the many who knew him, not alone in Albany, but throughout the State. He is remembered as one of the few Albanians who, in their closing years, linked the Albany of three-quarters of a century

ago with the Albany of the modern period ; and his name is not likely to soon pass from the scenes amid which he was worthily born, lived an admirable life and died at peace with God and his fellow men.

ISAAC EDWARDS.

ISAAC EDWARDS was born in Corinth, Saratoga County, N. Y., August 30, 1819, and at the time of his decease, March 26, 1879, was nearly sixty years of age. He was the second son of John and Sarah (Cooper) Edwards. His parents were of good New England stock and had removed from Watertown, Conn., to Corinth. His father was a thrifty farmer, and desired that his four sons should succeed him in the same occupation. The early years of young Edwards were passed on his father's farin. His school education was com- menced in the public schools of his native town, and continued in the Waterford Academy, under the care of that excellent instructor, the late Prof. Taylor Lewis, of whom he often spoke in the high- est terms of admiration. His law studies were pursued in Albany, in the office of Messrs. Ed- wards & Meads, with the strictness and fidelity which ever marked his subsequent course. After his admission to practice, at the July term of Court in 1843, he formed a partnership with his uncle, the late Mr. James Edwards, which was not long continued, his uncle soon forming a partnership with the late Mr. Samuel Stevens, and Mr. Edwards, preferring the independence of a

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single office, formed no other partnership, but almost at once entered upon his successful career as a lawyer and author. His clients were among the most respectable merchants of the city, and he retained their business year after year.

His duties and labors were of such a nature that they afforded him much time for the hearing of references, and during the twenty years preceding his death he undoubtedly heard and decided more important cases than any other lawyer in this section of the country. His mind was emi- nently judicial and adapted to the hearing of long and intricate cases, and so well balanced that, in the weighing of evidence, he had no superiors. However much any party or attorney may have been disappointed by his adverse decision, no one ever charged him with being influenced by fear, favor or friendship. Absolute justice was his sole aim and endeavor. In 1855 appeared Mr. Ed- wards' work on "Bailments." It was welcomed by the Bench and Bar as the best American work on the subject, and it has been growing in favor with the legal fraternity since. In 1878 the work was revised, portions of it were rewritten, later decis- ions were cited, and new chapters were added. Since the publication of the first edition, commer- cial transactions have been widely extended, busi- ness has been enlarged, and many new and per- plexing questions have come before our numerous courts for discussion and adjudication. The most marked developments have reference to pledges, or collateral securities, transportation and telegraphic messages. Upon these subjects the second edition is full and explicit, and demonstrates that in this branch of the law Mr. Edwards was thoroughly in- formed as to the decisions of the courts. In 1857, two years after "Bailments," appeared his work on "Bills and Notes." a treatise complete in itself, and surpassing that of every other author who had writ- ten upon the same subject in the English language. A second edition was published in 1863. Both of these valuable works are intended for the practi- tioner as well as for the student. To be appreci- ated they must be read and utilized by the practical lawyer. In 1870 he published an essay upon "Factors and Brokers " In this he exhibits the same fullness and clearness of definition which characterize his larger works. Mr. Edwards wrote and published several essays and biographical sketches of different members of the Bench and Bar, all of which demonstrates the clearness of his mind, his just appreciation of the merits of others, and his happy faculty of presenting his views in an in- teresting and instructive manner. He thoroughly understood the law, and he loved to elucidate its principles. His estimate of justice and the law to establish and enforce it can be best expressed in his own words :

"Justice being the supreme interest of mankind, the law established to enforce it is a most worthy object of labor and study. Aside from its value as the measure and conservator of our rights, the law is one of the noblest of the applied sciences. It is beneficent in its purpose ; it aims to secure equal- ity between men in their dealings with each other.

It lies at the foundation of our system of govern- ments ; it is both a source and a principle of au- thority in our halls of legislation and in our tribu- nals of justice. It underlies our institutions and conserves them. It reaches the individual reason and covers with its protecting power social interest and every relation of life. It is the conscience of the state, everywhere present in the manifold ac- tivities of her citizens."

Many years of his later life were passed in incul- cating principles like the above on the mind of youth. Years ago the question of the improve- ment of the public schools of Albany was agitated, and Mr. Edwards took a prominent position in favor of advanced education. His relations to Mr. Carlton Edwards, one of the editors of the Morn- ing Express, were such that the columns of that paper were freely offered for his use, and from time to time appeared powerful and pungent articles from his pen. Many of these articles were pub- lished under Mr. Edwards' care and scattered broadcast over the city, and aided much in pro- ducing in the minds of its citizens a desire for the improvement which has been wrought in its public schools. Shortly before the death of Prof. Amos Dean, Mr. Edwards was invited to deliver a few lectures before the Albany Law School. His clear- ness of diction, his fullness of illustration and his correctness of definition proved his fitness to fill the position of so distinguished a lecturer as Prof. Dean, and upon the death of the latter he was unanimously elected to the vacant professorship, and from that time until his death he was the mov- ing spirit and power of the Law School, delivering about one-half the lectures, and presiding at nearly all the courts of exemplification and instruction. The position of the Albany Law School may be at- tributed more to the standing and reputation of Mr. Edwards, as prolessor and author, than to any other of its instructors. His duties were laborious and exacting, and it is no discredit to the late Prof. Dean to say that he brought to the school knowledge and capability equal to those of his pre- decessor ; and the classes graduated under him are witnesses to the excellence both of the matter and the manner of his instructions. Four years before his death he was chosen a member of the Board of Public Instruction. As chairman of the Law Com- mittee his reports on subjects referred to that com- mittee were always clear, strong and convincing. His great interest in popular education made the work connected with this trust a veritable labor of love.

As a politician Mr. Edwards was not a partisan, although in his early life a Whig and afterward a stanch Republican. As a speaker he was clear, logical and forcible, using nice distinctions and strong illustrations ; and his early success before juries and in several political campaigns gave as- surance that, had he turned his attention more di- rectly to other branches of his profession, he would have taken high rank as an advocate.

Mr. Edwards was an earnest and devoted Chris- tian. He early united with the Second Presby- terian Church. When the movement was made to

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organize a Congregational Church he was one of the first to give support to the enterprise, and as one of the committee chosen to prepare its articles of faith and mode of government, he did much to- ward shaping and guiding the measures which have given the organization such prominence in the city.

He was a conscientious member of his pro- fession, a clear and careful author, a loving and be- loved instructor, the eminently true and social friend and the good citizen, bearing with fidelity no small share of the public burdens.

His works will be perused by eager students when most of his contemporaries are forgotten. His influence as a professor and teacher, although wide and extended, will become wider as the years

go by. While we speak of him as a lawyer, teach- er and author, we will not forget his higher virtues as a man. So far as is the lot of mortals, his was a spotless character. Although competent to fill the highest places, he sought the humblest stations. With learning to which we all who knew him bowed with respect, he walked humbly before God and man. Beyond the members of his family circle and intimate friends, he will be remembered by the Bar, among whom his daily life was passed, by clients who depended upon his counsel, by his pupils who treasured his lectures and advice, by good citizens who were charmed by the graces of his private life, and by the wide circle of the public, who will long remember his instruction and treasure his counsel.

MEDICINE IN ALBANY COUNTY.

By FREDERIC C. CURTIS, M. D.

W HEN Henry Hudson came up the Grande River in the first decade of the seventeeth cen- tury, and on a lovely September afternoon, when the hills were clothed in autumn red, dropped anchor off the point where Albany now stands, there is no doubt that he would have found on inquiry that the dusky aborigines interestedly watching his move- ments from the shore were not unfamiliar with the medicine man. In one fashion or another medi- cine has been practiced in all ages. It is not the purpose of this narrative to trace the medical affairs of this locality back among the Mohawks and Mohegans; to commence the history of them, even during the century which followed the build- ing of Fort Orange, a limited array of facts are found. In the voluminous records of our early his- tory scant reference is made to the medical events which formed a part of it. To construct in any detail a sketch of them would require a fund of as yet unpublished traditions of an unbroken line of Dutchmen, all to the manor born, or a draft on the imagination unworthy of the truthful chronicler.

It is not remarkable that this should be so, for in a community intently occupied in obtaining the necessaries of life, subduing forests, planting settlements, and meeting the dangers that sur- rounded it from unfriendly natives, contentious governments, and a rigorous climate, there was little time to think of more domestic matters, and few, es- pecially among these Dutch Colonies, where com- mercial tastes ruled, and learning was backward, to make note of them. The healthy, laborious people

who came to these shores required few physicians, and they and their surroundings presented few attractions to Old World practitioners. Still they were not unmindful of their need of the medical man, and there were those among them who in some sort practiced the art or the domestic traditions of medicine.

During the early years of all the American Colonies there were many who were looked to for advice in sickness who possessed but the simplest knowledge of medicine. The literature of the profession was not so voluminous but that any educated man might make himself familiar with the theories and practices of the times. School- masters, clergymen and government officials were frequently somewhat versed in medicine; the clergy especially gave attention to the subject, as missionaries of the present day often do, by study prior to leaving the Old World. This was more frequently the case in the New England Colonies, but was also true here. Among the Dutch dominies, Rev. Dr. Megapolensis is said to have made some pretense to a knowledge of medi- cine. He might better have stuck to preaching, how- ever, if his practice was of a piece with the advice he gives, in writing on the medical usages among the Mohawk Indians, and which the good vrouws to whom it was addressed very sensibly repudiated. Another of the medico-clerics was Dominie Man- cius, who educated his son in medicine so that he was for a lifetime one of the prominent physicians of Albany. It is worth mentioning in this connec-

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tion that, nearly two hundred years later, George Upfold, a young physician here, studied theology, and eventually became Bishop of Indiana. The Indians had learned the medical value of some indigenous herbs, and the Indian medicine man may be mentioned as one of the accessories of early colonial practice. He sometimes won a wide reputation. The story of the High Rock Spring, first disclosed to white men by the wonderful re- sult upon Sir William Johnson, who was carried to it by the Indians, is familiar to all. Their theories, so far as they had any, were essentially supernat- ural, as is at the present time commonly the case among barbarous and ignorant people.

The Dutch West India Company are said to have been exceptional in their care for the health of their sailors, all their vessels being provided with a surgeon, or some one having a familiarity with medicine. They extended the same con- sideration to their colonies. Reference to it re- peatedly recurs in their regulations, one of which is as follows: "The patroons and colonists shall, in particular and in the speediest manner, endeavor to find ways and means whereby they may support a minister and a schoolmaster, that the service of God and the zeal for religion may not grow cold and be neglected among them, and that they do for the first procure a comforter of the sick." This functionary, variously termed in the original kranck- besoecker or zieckentrooster, is the first recognized person charged with the care of the sick in the Dutch Colonies. He was probably of an infe- rior order of clergy, for he is mentioned as conducting the religious service on Sundays. But he is also often found serving in other capacities and holding civil office, in which, however, he was not peculiar, for the duties of the preacher, doctor, soldier and government official were frequently performed by one individual in primitive times.

The first comforter of the sick at Fort Orange was Sebastian Jansen Crol. His earliest appearance in the history of the New Netherlands, in which he played a considerable part, was in this capacity at Fort Amsterdam. He came to this colony in 1626, two years after it was established, having been ap- pointed Vice-Director and Company's Commissary to Fort Orange. It is a matter of justifiable infer- ence that he continued his medico-clerical duties here, in addition to those of the office to which he was appointed. He appears to have been a judi- cious man, and served the colony well in his vari- ous capacities for twenty years.

He was succeeded in official position, in 1646, by Harmanus Myndertse van der Bogart. It is

only in this official capacity that Van der Bogart is spoken of, but there appears no doubt that he is identical with the ship surgeon of the same name who came to New Amsterdam in 1630 in the Een- draght. His term of service here was short, for he is said to have been burned to death in 1648 in an Indian wigwam on the Mohawk River.

To another than Surgeon Van der Bogart, how- ever, belongs the honor of having been the first reg- ular physician who came to this locality. In 1642 the number of the colonists had become sufficiently large for the Patroon to comply with the West India Company's requirements to provide them with the services of a clergyman. He accordingly fitted out a ship, which arrived here in August of that year, bringing Rev. Dr. Megapolensis, and in his most worthy company Surgeon Abraham Staats. Whether he was employed, as was the minister, to serve the colony in his professional capacity, is not recorded. Nor are we told what were his professional attain- ments. His clientele at first was not large, for Albany consisted at this time of a hamlet of twenty-five or thirty houses, built along the river as each found it convenient, in proximity to the wretched little log fort, the population being about one hundred. A burial ground had been found necessary, however, and was laid out on our present Church street. Whatever his skill may have been, oversight of which by the diarist of the day is not to be wondered at, Dr. Staats was an enterprising citizen and filled his abundant professional leisure with other work. He was the first presiding officer of the village council of Rensselaerwyck, and once assisted in making an important treaty with the Indians. On week days he was a captain, and on Sunday an elder. We are left to our unassisted inferences as to the perquisites of our primitive doctor, although the dominie's salary is matter of history. In 1642 his house, at Clavarack, was burned by the savages, who seem to have had a penchant for cremating doctors, and his wife, with others of his family, perished. He became the owner of Fort Orange, it is said, and the ground on which it stood has ever since remained in the possession of his descendants. A son studied medi- cine in Holland and rose to eminence in New York.

Johannes de la Montagne, a Huguenot gentle- man, played a political part only in the history of Fort Orange. He came to New York in 1637, and was Vice-Director of Fort Orange from 1656 to 1664 ; he also held various other offices of trust in the colony. He is said to have been a skillful phy- sician, but was not expert enough to distinguish be- tween gold and pyrites in some war-paint of the

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natives that was submitted to him for assay, and which excited much interest for a time. What is supposed to be the first enactment to regulate the practice of medicine at New Amsterdam was the following : "Ordered, that ship barbers shall not be allowed to dress wounds, nor administer any potion on shore, without the consent of the peti- tioners [the local chirurgeons], or at least of Dr. La Montagne."

Surgeon De Hinse, a Frenchman, was resident physician at the Fort in 1666. While he was here a body of French soldiers in pursuit of the Indians from Quebec found their way to Fort Albany, as it then chanced to be called, having been surrendered to the English two years before by La Montagne, and De Hinse is on record as having received offi- cial thanks for professional services to them. Sur- geons on duty at the Fort served, at that time, at the pay of 2s. 6d. per diem.

In 1689 a Scotch physician, Lockhart by name, practiced in Albany, and was surgeon to the Fort. Albany was at this time a large stockaded village.

At a later date, a son of Dr. Megapolensis was a chirurgeon of this colony; but both he and his brother Samnel, both graduates of Leyden, spent most of their lives in New York.

It is probable that there were other practitioners of medicine during the first hundred years of our history; but these are all that appear, after consider- able research, until we pass well on into the eighteenth century. The names of less than forty physicians are known as coming to the entire prov- ince of New York in the course of the seventeenth century, and of most of these but little more is known than their names. The various lineage of these here mentioned, coming as they probably did chiefly from Holland, shows how that country was then the asylum for people of all nationalities.

The prominent events of the eighteenth century around which to cluster matters of medical interest are the French War and the War of the Revolution, in both of which Albany was at times an important center. The medical science of a country is al- ways advanced by wars ; they demand skilled medical officers, and so encourage the progress of medicine. Besides, they furnish a school for prac- tice and observation. The French War especially gave an impetus to the profession, then entirely dependent on Europe for its education. The na- tive had no means of acquiring knowledge at home except in a sort of apprenticeship way. The Eng- lish army was accompanied by a highly respect- able medical staff, who contributed much to the

education of many young Americans through the military hospitals which were established.

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Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 51

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