Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 61

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 61

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DENNIS P. SHEVLIN was born, August 3, 1858, in Albany. He graduated from the Christian Broth- ers' Academy in 1876, and from Albany Medi- cal College in 1880 ; practiced at Saratoga Springs for three years ; located in Albany in 1883 ; was coroner's physician, 1883, '84. His specialty is dis- eases of the throat and lungs. He is member of the Albany County Medical Society, Union Med- ical Association, Saratoga County Medical Society, and is Physician to the Catholic Benevolent Society of Albany.

JOHN HENRY SKILLICORN Was born in Albany, Dec. 25, 1860, and educated at Albany High School, Cornell University, and Albany Medical College, from which he graduated in 1883. He was pro- sector of anatomy in the Medical College, for the years 1882, '83, '84, and was the first to successfully carry an independent quiz class through the year. He is a member of the County Society and author of "How to Study Anatomy Scientifically," "Re- ports of Complicated Cases of Typhoid Fever " and contributor of various articles upon popular medi- cine. His specialty is surgery, particularly frac- tures.

NORMAN L. SNOW was born in Root, Montgomery County, April 7, 1839. He graduated from Union College, 1859, and from the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York City in March, 1861. From 1862 to 1865 he served in the United States army; then practiced at Canajoharie, N. Y., remov-

ing in 1875 to Albany. He was a member of the Montgomery County Medical Society, and is a member of the Albany Medical Society, the New York State Medical Society, and of the American Medical Association. From August 23, 1862, to February 18, 1864, he was Assistant Surgeon in the United States army, and Surgeon from Feb- ruary 18, 1864, to October 18, 1865. During the summer of 1865 he was health officer of the dis- trict of Savannah, Ga. He was President of the Albany County Society in 1882. He has served as Alderman-at-large, and is now President of the Albany Common Council. Dr. Snow's literary contributions are many, among which are: "Syph- ilitic Degeneration of Arteries as a Cause of Aneurism," "Strangulated Hernia, with Result of Nine Operations," and "Some Practical Facts in Fractures of the Thigh," verified by the treatment of twenty-five cases occurring in private practice.

H. R. STARKWEATHER was born in Montgomery County, June 11, 1850. Graduated at the Albany Medical College in 1871. Since that time has been engaged in the practice of medicine in the city of Albany. Was elected Supervisor in 1878, and continued in the board three terms. Served five years as coroner's physician and is now city physician.

B. U. STEENBERG, born in Malta, Saratoga County, April 18, 1839 ; graduated from Albany Medical College, 1870 ; was Secretary of the Albany County Medical Society in 1876, and Vice-Presi- dent, 1879.

JOHN BENJAMIN STONEHOUSE was born in Albany, June 4, 1852. He graduated from the Albany Academy in 1869, and from the Medical College in 1871, from which time until November, 1874, he was Assistant Surgeon in "Sanford Hall," a private insane asylum at Flushing, L. I. ; he then came to Albany, remaining until 1876, when he became Resident Physician, one year, at " Brigham Hall," Canandaigua, N. Y. His specialties are nervous and mental diseases. He is Secretary of the County Medical Society. For three years he served as Lecturer on Nervous and Mental Dis- eases in the Albany Medical College, and now has charge of that department in the Hospital Dispen- sary. He is one of the editors of the Albany Med- ical Annals. Among works by him are: " General Paresis of the Insane," " Syphilitic Nervous Dis- eases," " Delirium Tremens. In May, 1882, he published the result of " Niter of Amyl in Opium Poisoning," which he claims was the first case ever so treated. As President of the Union Medical Association he read, in 1883, a paper entitled " Historical Retrospect of the Care of the Insane."

JOHN THOMPSON was born at Athboy, County of Meath, Ireland, December 10, 1837, and emigrated to this country in 1847. He was educated in the public schools at Binghamton, and graduated from the Medical Department of the University of the State of New York in 1868, and at once began practice in Albany. He is a member of the Albany County Medical Society.

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MEDICINE IN ALBANY COUNTY.

FRANKLIN TOWNSEND, Jr., was born in Albany, November 4, 1854. His education was pursued at the Albany State Normal School, the Albany Academy, and Williams College, where he grad- uated in 1873 ; three years later he graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York; and during 1876-7 was House Surgeon in Charity Hospital, New York. He then pursued his studies at Vienna, Strasburg and London, returning in 1878, and commencing practice in Albany. He is attending Physician at St. Peter's Hospital, and to the Protestant and the Catholic Orphan Asylums; he is a member of the Albany County Medical Society, of which he has been Censor. His specialty is Diseases of Women and Children. Among papers of which he is the author are: " Ovulation and Menstruation, considered in their Physiological Relations," " Treatment of the Parturient Breast," "Some Considerations on Uterine Congestions," and " Parturient Hæmo- philia."

THOMAS M. TREGO was born in New York City, August 30, 1847. He graduated from Rutgers College, N. J., in 1870 ; he studied medicine un- der Drs. S. O. Vanderpoel, Thomas, and Edward R. Hun, of Albany, and Thomas M. Markoe, of New York City, and graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, in 1874. He returned to Albany, where he held the position of Resident Physician to St. Peter's Hospital, which he soon resigned and began practice. He was shortly appointed attending Physician at the Child's Hospital and St. Agnes' School. In 1878 he visited England, Ireland, Scotland, Germany and France, resuming, upon his return, his practice.

WILLIS G. TUCKER, Ph. G., Ph. D., was born, Albany, October 31, 1849. He was educated at the Albany Academy and the Albany Medical College, receiving his degree of M. D. in 1870. Dr. Tucker's professional life has been a success- ful and busy one. The offices held by him are : Assistant Professor of Chemistry, Albany Medical College, 1871-4 ; Lecturer on Materia Medica and Assistant Professor of Chemistry, 1874-5; Ad- junct Professor of Materia Medica and Chemistry, 1875-6; Professor of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry, 1876-1882, to which has been added Professor of Medical Jurisprudence and Registrar of the Albany Medical College, since 1882; Pro- fessor of Natural Science, St. Agnes' School, since 1873; Instructor in Chemistry, Albany Academy, 1874, etc., etc. He was one of the founders of the

Albany College of Pharmacy, and is a member of the leading American medical and scientific socie- ties. During 1881-84 he was analyst to the State Board of Health. Dr. Tucker, in addition to his professional work, has been a contributor to various scientific periodicals.

ALBERT VANDER VEER was born, July 10, 1841, in Root, Montgomery County. He attended lectures at the Albany Medical College, the National Medical College and the College of Physicians and Surgeons of New York, grad- uating in December, 1862, from the National Medical College (Medical Department of the Columbia College, Washington, D. C.). He re- ceived the degree of M. D. from the Albany Med- ical College in 1869, and settled in Albany. In 1874-75 he spent six months in the hos- pitals of London and Paris. He is a member of the Albany County Medical Society, of which he was president in 1873; the New York State Med- ical Society, of which he was elected president in February, 1885; the American Medical Association, and of the British Medical Association. He was appointed Medical Cadet in the United States army in June, 1862; Assistant Surgeon of the 66th New York Volunteers in December, 1862, and Surgeon in the same regiment in June, 1864; in 1869 he was made attending Surgeon of the Albany Hos- pital, and in 1874 of St. Peter's Hospital. He was elected, in 1869, Professor of General and Special Anatomy in the Albany Medical College, and, in 1876, Professor of the Principles and Practice of Surgery in that institution. His specialty is sur- gery, in which he has performed, successfully, many major operations. He is also the writer of many valuable contributions to medical literature.

JOHN WILSON was born in Ireland in 1812, emigrating to this country twenty-one years later. He received a theological education in a school founded by the Government, and taught one of the first public schools ever established in Ireland. He lived in Albany from 1833 to 1843, when he went to Syracuse, graduating from the Syracuse Eclectic Medical College in 1847; he received a diploma from the New York Eclectic College some years later. From 1853 to 1861 he lectured upon medical subjects throughout central New York, and returned to Albany in 1862. He is a member of the Albany District Eclectic Medical Society, and has served as its secretary and treasurer. He also belongs to the State Eclectic Society.

248

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

HISTORY OF EDUCATION.

By Prof. JONATHAN TENNEY, Ph. D.

0 F all the colonies only Massachusetts and Con- necticut made early provision for a common school education for the whole people. The other New England colonies made similar provision as soon as their numbers and organization made it expedient. With these colonies it was, from the first, an established principle that all government must proceed from the people, be formed by the people and for the people. Intelligence and virtue were regarded as its only safeguards. All children should early be instructed in lessons of obedience to wholesome law, in virtue as its foundation, and in knowledge enough to make them understand their rights as citizens and how to defend them, and their duties to each other and how to discharge them. It was established that self-preservation demanded that the state should insist that the money of the state, duly raised by taxation and fairly apportioned, should educate the children of the state. To this principle there was rare dissent. The crowning glory of New England, giving its sons everywhere prosperity, influence and power, comes from its free schools.

Tyranny was afraid of intelligence among the people. In some colonies, as in Virginia, free schools and a consequent free press were openly opposed. In New York, governors seldom dared open opposition; but the schools were degraded by indifference and neglect.

DUTCH COLONIAL PERIOD.

The men who held public trusts during the Dutch colonial period, such as Directors, Vice- Directors, and officers under the Patroons, received their education in Holland. This was true, also, of the few clergy and other men of the literary professions of law, medicine and teaching. During the English colonial period, at first the same class of men came over, educated in the English schools. They belonged to the aristocratic or wealthy classes. As a rule, they all regarded the laboring classes as born to toil and servitude, having little time for anything but drudgery, and little need of knowing anything else. One of the governors boldly declared that all the common people needed to

know was how to earn money to pay their taxes.

In the Charter of Freedoms and Exemptions granted by the West India Company to all patroons, masters, or private persons who " will plant col- onies in New Netherlands," under date of June 7, 1629, occurs the following:

"XXVII .- The Patroons and Colonists in par- ticular, and in the speediest manner, must endeavor to find out ways and means whereby they may supply a minister and schoolmaster, that thus the service of God and zeal for religion may not grow cool and be neglected among them, and they shall, for the first, procure a comforter of the sick there."

In the new project of freedoms and exemptions made in 1630, the same condition was re-enacted in terms as follows:

"The patroons shall, also, particularly exert themselves to find speedy means to maintain a clergyman and schoolmaster, in order that Divine Service and zeal for religion may be planted in that country, and send, at first, a comforter of the sick thither."

In the articles and conditions drawn up and published by the Chamber of Amsterdam, in 1638, for the colonization and trade of New Netherlands, under the West India Company, appears the fol- lowing: "Each householder and inhabitant shall bear such tax and public charge as shall hereafter be considered proper for the maintenance of clergymen and comforters of the sick, school- masters, and such like necessary officers; and the Director and Council there shall be written to touching the form hereof, in order, on receiving further information thereupon, it be rendered the least onerous and vexatious."

It is here to be noted that the comforter of the sick and the schoolmaster were usually united in the same person; that he was first to wait on the sick and render other service as helper to the clergyman; and that care of the boys and teach- ing them was only occasional, and directed mostly to religious catechisms and a little reading and spelling, with much moral and physical discipline.

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EDUCATION.

A recent intelligent writer observes: " Religion was the leading idea in Dutch teaching. I have seen a Dutch Primer, or A B C Book, as it is called (Amsterdam), similar to our New England Primer. It has a large rooster on one page, and a picture of a Dutch school on the other. The master has a cap on his head and a bunch of twigs in his hand. The class stands before him and other boys are seated at their desks. After a very little spelling, succeeds the Lord's Prayer, Creed, Decalogue, Morning and Evening Prayer, Grace before and after meat. The instruction is al- together religious, which feature (I suppose) is retained in our Catholic schools to this day. The English Episcopalians also had their Primer, corresponding to the Dutch and New England Primers."

Adam Roelantsen, previously a schoolmaster in New Amsterdam, came to Rensselaerwyck as a settler in 1639. From all that has been learned, he appears to have been the first schoolmaster at New Amsterdam from 1638 to 1639. He appears in several law suits from 1638 to 1653. We hear of him last in Manhattan.

We are sorry to find that his character was one of great rashness and imprudence; that he was easily provoked and frequently engaged in quarrels and lawsuits with his neighbors. In one of these he was found guilty of adultery and sentenced to be publicly flogged. Indeed, the character of the early clergy and schoolmasters was often such as to be a scandal to "the Divine Service " and to the service of educating the children.

Dr. O'Callaghan well says: The state of morals in New Amsterdam was, at this period (1638), by no means healthy, owing as well to the description of persons which trade brought thither, as to the absence, in a great part, of an agricultural population. This remark applies as well to Bever- wyck, and to other years than 1638.

The mass of the people who came to New Netherlands were unable to read or write. Most of them were indifferent to the matter. Hence, schools, when opened, were kept irregularly, by ill- qualified and unprincipled men, and as a temporary service.

The better educated and more prosperous spoke and wrote of the importance of good school- masters. But the money and effort necessary to secure them were seldom given. These were needed in the interests of trade.

That a school was needed and in contemplation in Beverwyck as early as 1643, is made manifest by a letter of the worthy Arendt Van Curler to the

patroon. But we find no evidence that this " con- templation " resulted in action. Indeed, very little is said about schoolmasters or schools in Rens- selaerwyck or Beverwyck during the whole Dutch period.

A schoolmaster, in 1644, was estimated at one- fourth the value of a clergyman, or thirty florins per month, finding his own rations. In 1661, his pay had advanced to eighteen gnilders per month and board-wages. It may have been all he was worth.

The commonalty were required to have the youth instructed by good schoolmasters. But the require- ment was seldom enforced. The common people were poor; the government had matters to see to of more personal interest. It will be noticed that the schools were not free so long as the patroons were required to pay for them.

The schoolmaster of that early day "acted many parts." He was expected to be especially helpful to the minister and the church ont of school as well as in. It was his duty to "promote religions worship," to "read the word of God " at the open- ing of service, and sometimes to "exhort the people." He was a "consoler of the sick." He attended the consistory. He was church clerk, sexton, bell-ringer and grave-digger, and usually served as foresinger, precentor or chorister. A very useful man he might be; but how much of a teacher could he be !

" A comforter of the sick who could also act as schoolmaster." "A precentor who could also act as schoolmaster." Old documents often use these expressions.

The historian of the town of Flatbush writes:

"From the records of the town, it appears that the schootmaster acted as town clerk, and as the rates of tuition were low, previously to the American revolution, the offices of sexton and "foresinger," or chorister of the church, were conferred upon him, with a view to increase his emoluments. He received all interment fees for infants and adults, according to a scale of established prices, and for his services as chorister he was paid an annual salary by the consistory of the church. The chorister, in addi- tion to his duty of taking the lead in setting and singing the Psalms and Hymns, was also required to ring the bell for all public services, to read the commandments at the com- mencement of the morning worship, and the Apostles' Creed in the afternoon. These latter services were all performed in the Dutch language, and uniformly continued so until about the year 1790, at the time when Mr. Gabriel Ellison, the first English schoolmaster, left the village."

Flatbush did not differ much from other settle- ments of those days.

It is deemed worthy of note by an observer in 1647, that a college had been founded in Massachu-

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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

setts some ten years before; but little or no efforts had been made by the authorities of New Nether- lands to establish even a primary school in any part of the country. It was asserted that "the youth is spoiled," and needed a school that they might be "kept out of the street " and "under strict subor- dination." Grog-shops and houses where tobacco and beer could be had were plenty. They were sometimes kept by discouraged schoolmasters.

In the remonstrance against the management of the West India Company, made by Adrien Van- der Donck and others, claiming to represent the people of New Netherlands, and addressed to the Lords States General, in 1649, occurs the follow- ing: "There ought to be, also, a public school, provided with two good teachers, so that the youth in so wild a country, where there are so many dissolute people, may, first of all, be instructed and indoctrinated, not only in reading and writ- ing, but also in the fear of the Lord. Now the school is kept very irregularly, by this one or that, according to his fancy, as long as he thinks proper."

In his reply to this remonstrance, in the same year, Secretary Van Tienhoven, in behalf of the Director- General, admits that the new school-house has not been built, and that "there is no Latin school or Academy;" but claims that a place has been selected for the school of Jan Cornelissen, while other schools, enough for " the circumstances of the country," are kept by "other teachers" in "hired houses." But little credit can be given to any statements made by this corrupt man and ser- vile tool of the West India Company. His history shows him to have been most corrupt in morals and false to every trust.

Later, the remonstrants, complaining of the neglect of the interests of New Amsterdam by "the Company" and its Director, say: "The plate has been for a long time passed around for a common school, which has been built with words; for as yet the first stone is not laid. Some materials only have been provided. However, the money given for the purpose hath all disappeared and is mostly spent, so that it falls somewhat short; and nothing permanent has, as yet, been effected for this pur- pose." This complaint was made in 1650. Its statements, no doubt, represent the true state of matters in regard to educating the common people of New Netherlands during the Dutch colonial period. It is true that the "Dutch," as Broadhead tells us, "were eminently a charitable, well-edu- cated, moral people." Holland had eminent scholars and educated and pious ministers; but

they did not often come to New Netherlands in the seventeenth century, with the West India Company traders or the patroons. That the traders of " the Company" or the merchants of Amsterdam gave themselves much trouble, beyond a few words, about the schooling of their countrymen and their children in the Valley of the Hudson, does not appear in history. In the inflated speeches and writings of some ill-advised orators and writers of more recent times only, do we read erroneous state- ments on this subject. History should be true, to be valuable. The best principles of Holland patriots, scholars and Christians did not shine forth in the representatives of the West India Company who came to early New Netherlands as agents and traders. It is false to history to color them as scholars, philanthropists and saints.

The local authorities were sometimes earnestly besought to provide the inhabitants with a proper schoolmaster. "Perceiving how necessary such a person was to the establishment of a well-consti- tuted republic," a committee was appointed to build a school-house and to collect funds for defraying whatever expenses might be incurred. Andries Janse was appointed to take charge of this institution in the course of the following year, and received a present, on entering upon the discharge of his duties, of $20. This was at Beverwyck in 1650; but his services appear to have been of short duration.

Rev. Gideon Schaets, who was " called as min- ister to Rensselaerwyck " in 1652, and was after- ward, at the request of the inhabitants of Fort Orange and Beverwyck, minister of the latter place, was directed to teach, also, the Cate- chism there, and instruct the people in the Holy Scriptures, and to pay attention to the office of schoolmaster for the old and young." History is silent in regard to his service as a schoolmaster. His ministerial service was a turbulent one enough.

About 1656, the Holland City of Amsterdam offered certain conditions to emigrants to New Netherlands, which were submitted to the Directors of the West India Company, and received their approval. These are found among them:

"7. Said city shall cause to be erected about the market, or in a more convenient place, a public building for Divine Service : item, also, a house for a school, which can likewise be occupied by the person who will hereafter be sexton, psalmsetter and schoolmaster ; the city shall, besides, have a house built for the minister.

" 8. The city aforesaid shall provisionally provide and pay the salary of a minister and schoolmaster,

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EDUCATION.

unless their High Mightinesses or the Company think otherwise."

The cities did not like to pay taxes; and "the Company" and "their High Mightinesses" usually thought " otherwise." These inducements to emigration remained on paper.

After giving an extended account of the wretched condition of the churches throughout the colony in 1656, Dr. O'Callaghan truly remarks: " Bad as it was with the churches, it. was worse as regards schools; not one of all these places, whether Dutch or English, had a schoolmaster, except the Manhattans, Beverwyck and Fort Cassimer."

We can produce no stronger testimony in regard to the state of popular education in the colony of New Netherlands, even toward the latter part of its existence, than what follows. These clergy- men had spent some years in the colony, the former as the first spiritual guide sent out to Rens- selaerwyck by the patroon, and the latter as the minister of New Amsterdam.

Revs. John Megapolensis and Samuel Drisius write, in 1657, after making some statements in regard to the churches in the province, that " It is to be added that (to our knowledge) not one in all these places, whether Dutch or English Villages, hath a schoolmaster, except Manhattans, Bever- wyck, and now one, also, at Fort Cassimer on South River; and though some parents would give their children some instruction, yet they experience much difficulty, and nothing else can be expected than a ruined youth and a bewilderment of men's minds. Scarcely any means can be seen to remedy this evil: First, because some villages are only in their first establishments, and whilst people come naked and poor from Holland, they have not means to provide a minister and schoolmaster; Second, because there are few qualified persons in this country who can or will teach."

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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 61

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