Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 62

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 62

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However much Stuyvesant may have valued learning, and seen the need of it among the com- mon people, and made promises, he subordinated everything to the immediate interests of the West India Company, whose servant he was; and spent revenues and time freely for garrisons and for military excursions to extend and preserve their territorial and mercantile advantage against the Swedes, the English, the French and the Indians. He had no money for schools. He got up collections which were never used for the purpose; he suggested the outhouses of the govern- ment buildings as good enough places for common schools ; and suffered intemperate, illiterate and

vicious schoolmasters to have charge of them. Schools on paper were often referred to by the public officials; and school-rooms in out-of-the- way places, with lack of proper provisions for seat- ing, light and warmth, were rented when not needed for any other purpose, so long as the schoolmaster saw fit to occupy the gloomy places. The clergy were poorly enough paid, unless they became favorites of the government or entered into land speculations; but public schoolmasters, as well as official "dog-whippers," often failed to receive for their menial service even the salary or tuition promised. They usually secured some more desirable place as soon as possible. Some turned to trade, others to tavern-keeping, and not a few became servitors in some capacity under the government.

Whatever the schools were during the latter part of the Dutch colonial period was largely due to the clergy of the villages, most of whom seem to have been educated in Holland, England, or New England before they came here. They and the leading officers of the government and some of their agents were usually men of diligence and obser- vation, and learned for those times. Gov. Stuyve- sant employed a private tutor, thus showing his esteem for learning and his lack of confidence in the other schools of New Amsterdam.

The first Latin high school of the province, taught by one Dr. Curtius, was established in 1659, in New Amsterdam, and patronized chiefly by the aristocratic classes. It soon came into trouble on account of the peculiar notions of some of the parents and the lack of firm and independent government on the part of the learned school- master. His pupils "beat each other and tore the clothes from each other's backs," while "some of the parents forbade him punishing their children." Dr. C. returned to Holland in disgust, and Rev. Mr. Luyck, private tutor to the sons of Mr. Stuyve- sant, succeeded him. Students came to him from other villages, and even from the colonies of Delaware and Virginia, to acquire a classical edu- cation. In 1663, there were two pupils from Fort Orange, and we may believe there were others from its vicinity. Previous to this, the nearest Latin school was in Boston. We hear no more of Dr. Luyck and his school after 1664.

Such was the condition of public education in New Amsterdam, in Beverwyck, and places adjacent, down to the close of the administration of Peter Stuyvesant, in 1664, as shown by the best docu- mentary and other evidence that has come down to us.

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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

EDUCATION IN ENGLISH COLONIAL. NEW YORK.

In the office of the Secretary of State is found the following license :

WHEREAS, the teaching of the English tongue is neces- sary in this government ; I have, therefore, thought fitt to give License to John Shutte to bee the English Schoolmaster at Albany ; And, upon condition that the said John Shutte shall not demand any more wages from each Schollar than is given by the Dutch to their Dutch Schoolmasters, I have further granted to the said John Shutte that hee shall bee the onely English Schoolmaster at Albany.

Given under my hand, at Fort James, in New York, the 12th day of October, 1665.

RICH'D NICOLLS.

An order for Jan Jeurians Bleecker [Beecker, or Becker} to be schoolmaster at Albany, granted by Gov. Lovelace, reads :

WHEREAS, Jan Jeurians Beecker had a Graunt to keep ye Dutch school at Albany for ye teaching of youth to read & to wryte ye which was allowed of and confirmed to him by my predecessor Coll. Richard Nicolls. Notwithstanding which severall others not so capable do undertake ye like some perticular tymes & seasons of ye yeare when they have no other Imployment, where by ye Schollars removing from one Schoole to another do not onely give a great discour- agement to ye maister who makes it his businesse all ye yeare but also are hindred & become ye more backwards in there learning ffor ye reasons aforesaid I have thought fitt that ye said Jan Jeurians Beecker who is esteemed very capa- ble that way shall be ye allowed schoolmaster tor ye instruct- ing of ye youth at Albany & partes adjacent he following ye said Imployment Constantly & diligently & that no other be admitted to interrupt him. It being to be presumed that ye said Beecker for ye youth & Jacob Joosten who is allowed of for ye teaching of ye younger children are sufficient for that place.

Given under my hand at ffort James in New Yorke this 16th day of May, 1670.

FRANCIS LOVELACE.

Prof. Jonathan Pearson is authority for the item following: "On the 4th of April, 1676, Gerrit Swartt, Jan Becker and Arien Appel were chosen school- masters of Albany. They were then to be the sole schoolmasters of the village; but shortly after, the same year, Luykas Gerritse [Wyngaard] was also appointed schoolmaster, because he was impotent in his hand."

Gerrit Swartt had held the office of Sheriff of Rensselaerwyck from 1668 to 1673. Out of poli- tics, he took up teaching. Becker was an inhabi- tant of Fort Cassimer, on the Delaware River, in 1656, and church clerk there ; in 1660 he read ser- mons on Sunday at Altoona, and was keeping tav- ern. He was soon after convicted of selling liquor to the Indians, in violation of law, and fined 500 guilders for the offense. For this he was pardoned, because he was no worse than many others. We next find him petitioning for. a clerkship under

"the Company," at Esopus, or anywhere else, be- canse he had lost in keeping tavern, and became poor and needy, and finally begged that he might "be permitted to keep school to instruct the youth in reading and writing," if he could get no other position. It seems that he got a school at Bever- wyck, and was confirmed " to keep ye Dutch School at Albany" by Gov. Nicolls, and afterward by Gov. Lovelace. In 1663 he had his home at Greenbush, and was notary public as well as schoolmaster at Beverwyck, and was esteemed "very capable that way, whilst Jacob Jooste Covelens was allowed for teaching the younger children." He finally re- moved to Albany; was alderman, 1690-92, and died about 1697. Appel came from Leyden; had a lot at Beverwyck in 1654, conditioned that he build a house to be used as an inn for travelers and not an ordinary tippling house. Two years later he sued his truckman for the loss of an anker of brandy ; and after residing awhile at New Amster- dam, became one of the four schoolmasters of Al- bany, from 1676 to 1686. Wyngaard became a baker and occupied the south corner of Broadway and State street as a shop in 1715. Such were some of the early schoolmasters of Albany County. As the teacher, so is the school. As the school, so are the people who sustain it. No further comment is necessary.

It is to be regretted that so few authentic records are in existence touching the educational efforts made by the body of the learned clergy of Reformed Dutch Church in America. That they were earnest and as effective as the times allowed is undoubted.

We give the following Articles of Agreement made between the consistory of the church and magis- trates of Flatbush, on the one side, and Johannes Van Eckkelen, accepted schoolmaster and chorister, on the other, in October, 1682, as a sample of what was expected of the schoolmasters of 200 years ago in provincial New York. Eckkelen was a young man from New Albany:

SCHOOL SERVICE .- I. The school shall begin at eight o'clock, and go out at eleven ; and, in the afternoon shall begin at one o'clock, and end at four. The bell shall be rung when the school commences.

II. When the school begins, one of the children shall read the morning prayer, as it stands in the catechism, and close with the prayer before dinner; in the afternoon it shall be- gin with the prayer after dinner, and end with the evening prayer. The evening school shall begin with the Lord's prayer, and close by singing a psalm.

III. He shall instruct the children on every Wednesday and Saturday in the common prayers, and the questions and answers in the catechism, to enable them to repeat them the better on Sunday before the afternoon service, or on Mon- day, when they shall be catechised before the congregation.

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EDUCATION.

Upon all such occasions, the schoolmaster shall be present, and shall require the children to be friendly in their appear- ance, and encourage them to answer freely and distinctly.

IV. He shall be required to keep his school nine months in succession, from September to June, in each year, in case it should be concluded upon to retain his services for a year or more, or without limitation; and he shall be required to be regulated by these articles, and to perform the same du- ties which his predecessor, Jan Thibaud, above named, was required to perform. In every particular, therefore, he shall be required to keep school, according to this seven months agreement, and shall always be present himself.

CHURCH SERVICE .- I. He shall keep the church clean, and ring the bell three times before the people assemble to attend the preaching and catechism. Also before the sermon is commenced, he shall read a chapter out of the Holy Scriptures, and that between the second and third ringing of the bell. After the third ringing he shall read the ten commandments, and the twelve articles of our faith, and then take the Icad in singing. In the afternoon after the third ringing of the bell, he shall read a short chapter, or one of the Psalms of David, as the congregation are assem- bling, and before divine service commences, shall introduce it, by the singing of a Psalm or Hylmn.

II. When the minister shall preach out of town, he shall be required to read twice before the congregation, from the book commonly used for that purpose. In the afternoon he shall also read a sermon on the explanation of the cate- chism, according to the usage and practice approved by the minister. The children, as usual, shall recite their ques- tions and answers out of the catechism, on Sunday, and he shall instruct them therein. He, as chorister, shall not be required to perform these duties, whenever divine ser- vice shall be performed in Flatlands, as it would be un- suitable, and prevent many from attending there.

III. For the administration of Holy Baptismn, he shall provide a basin with water, for which he shall be entitled to receive from the parents, or witnesses, twelve styvers. He shall, at the expense of the church, provide bread and wine, for the celebration of the Holy Supper. He shall be in duty bound promptly to furnish the minister with the name of the child to be baptised, and with the names of the parents and witnesses. And he shall also serve as mes- Senger for the consistory.

IV. He shall give the funeral invitations, dig the grave, and toll the bell, for which service he shall receive for a per- son of fifteen years and upwards, twelve guilders, and for one under that age, eight guilders. If he should be re- quired to give invitations beyond the limits of the town, he shall be entitled to three additional guilders, for the invita- tion of every other town, and if he should be required to cross the river, and go to New York, he shall receive four guilders.

SCHOOL MONEY .- He shall receive from those who attend the day-school, for a speller or reader, three guilders a quarter, and for a writer, four guilders. From those who attend evening school, for a speller or rcader, four guilders, and for a writer, six guilders shall be given.

SALARY .- In addition to the above, his salary shall con- sist of four hundred guilders, in grain, valued in Seewant, to be delivered at Brooklyn Ferry, and for his services from October to May, as above stated, a sum of two hundred and thirty-four guilders, in the same kind, with the dwelling house, barn, pasture lot and meadows, to the school apper-

taining. The same to take effect from the first day of Octo- ber, instant.

Done and agreed upon in Consistory, under the inspec- tion of the Honorable Constable and Overseers, the 8th of October, 1682.

I agree to the above articles, and promise to perform them according to the best of my ability.

JOHANNES VAN ECKKELEN.

In the Dutch period all private schoolmasters were required to be duly licensed by the civil and ecclesiastical authorities. This requirement, in substance, was continued and enforced by the English. We quote as follows :

INSTRUCTIONS TO GOVERNOR DONGAN, GIVEN AT WINDSOR, MAY 29TH, 1686.

38. And wce doe further direct that noe Schoolmaster bee henceforth permitted to come from England & to keep school within Our Province of New York without the license of the said Archbishop of Canterbury ; and that noe other person now there or that shall come from other parts, bee admitted to keep school without your license first had.

Similar instructions were given to Gov. Sloughter, January 31, 1689; Gov. Fletcher, in 1691 ; to the Earl of Bellomont, August 31, 1697, and to Gov. Hunter, December 27, 1709, except that the Bishop of London, instead of the Archbishop of Canterbury, was named in each of these cases. Soundness in the beliefs and practices of the Eng- lish Church was especially required.

The licenses to teach school have generally been issued by the authority of the Colonial officers ; but we now find one granted by municipal author- ity as early as January, 1700 :

Att a meeting of ye Mayor, Aldermen and Common Coun- cil held in ye Citty Hall of Albany, ye 23d of January

The request of Cornelis Bogardus by ye mouth of Mr. Willm de Meyer to be admitted a schoolmaster for ye Citty is taken into consideration and unanimously doe graunt ye same, as also a freeman of this Citty upon his arrivall.

On the 27th of November, 1702, "An act for the encouragement of a Grammar Free School in the City of New York," was passed by the Gen- eral Assembly of the province. This is believed to be the first legislative act for the encouragement of public education passed within the colony. " One able, skilfull and orthodox person " was to be the schoolmaster ; "youth and male children of French and Dutch extraction, as well as of Eng- lish," were to receive instruction "in the lan- guages or other learning usually taught in Gram- mar schools," and {50 annually were to be paid the said schoolmaster, who was to be licensed by the Bishop of London or the Governor of the province, upon the recommendation of the Com-

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HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF ALBANY.

mon Council of New York City. Lord Cornbury gave his official approval to the act, but it is not in evidence that he took any interest in the school. Under date of April 25, 1704, he licensed George Muirson to teach English, Latin, Greek, writing and arithmetic, and gave an order for the payment of his half-yearly salary, October 20, 1704. Soon after the schoolmaster left for England, and Andrew Clarke was licensed as his successor several months later. But that he ever taught does not appear. The act limited the school to seven years, and we hear no more of it .. It seems to have failed of suc- cess. Nor is it worthy of mention, except as one step, however faltering, on the part of the people, to secure benefits for themselves and their children. It is, also, an interesting fact in our history to put on record that John Abeel, member of the General Assembly from Albany County (1702-04), was one of the committee that reported the bill to the House.

Cornbury was ever ready to sign his name to licenses, accompanied by feathery displays of titles, because the times seemed to call for school- masters. Several licenses were granted to candi- dates for teaching in towns on Long Island, in Westchester, in Kingston and New York cities dur- ing the administrations of Cornbury and Hunter. But we find but little said of the schools. Some of the teachers are found, soon after the date of their licenses, in speculative trade, in subordinate public office, in brawls and lawsuits, either as plaintiffs or defendants, or in taking clerical orders in the church. It is evident that families of wealth and political position took but little interest in public schools ; their taxes went to support them, and the children of the poor attended them. The poor then had no votes; yet they had a strength to which some respect must be paid. That respect was paid mostly in promises.

A Dutch schoolmaster seems to have been em- ployed at Kinderhook as early as 1702, as appears from the following certificate in favor of Mr. Van Kleck :

KINDERHOOK the 30th Noveinb., Anno Domine 1702. .

In the first year of the Reign of her Majesty ANNE, Queen of England, Scotland, Ireland and France, Defender of the Faith, We the undersigned inhabitants of Kinderhook patent acknowledge and Declare that Paulus van Vleg during the whole of the time that he hath resided here and since he was accepted as Precentor and schoolmaster of our Church hath truly comportcd himself to the Great content of our congregation.

YOHANNES VAN ALEN, COENRAST BORGIIGHARDT, ABRAM VAN ALSTYN, ZAMMERT VAN YANSAN.

An early Albany schoolmaster has, perhaps, no other memorial of servicein this capacity than the following :

At a Common Councill held in ye Citty Hall of Albany this first of May, 1703.

Evert Ridder of the Citty of Albany makes his humble application to the Mayor, Aldermen and Assistance to be permitted to teach schoole in the Citty aforesaid, which re- quest is taken into consideration, and granted accord- ingly.

Nearly twenty years later we find the following:

Att a Common Council held in the City Hall of Albany, the 8th day of April, 1721.

Whereas it is very requisite and necessary that a fitt and able Schoolmaster settle in this city for teaching and in- structing of the youth in speling, reading, writeing and cyf- fering, and Mr. Johannis Glandorf having offered his ser- vice to settle here and keep a school if reasonably encour- aged by the corporation, It is therefore Resolved by this Commonalty, and they do hereby oblidge themselves and their successors to give and procure unto the said Johan's Glandorf free house rent for the term seaven years next ensueing for keeping a good and commendable school as becomes a diligent Schoolmaster.

That a " diligent schoolmaster" was "very requi- site and necessary " at that time is made patent by this very document of the City Fathers.

It afterward appears that Mr. Glandorf com- plained that the house assigned him was too small, and, on his petition, the Common Council, on the 2Ist of July, 1721, resolved to hire for him a larger house at {10 per annum, to commence in the next November. After this, we hear no more of Glandorf or his school.

Passing over all these feeble efforts in the cause of public education, it is proper for us here to say that no effort seems to have been made to revive this free school act of 1702, nor to make like pro- visions by law for the encouragement of schools of any kind, for a period of more than 30 years after- ward. Nor do we find any record whatever of legislation in the interests of primary education during the colonial history of the State, nor until after the State became one of the United States of America.

The common schools, as intimated previously, gave little attention to any except the most common branches, such as spelling, reading, writing and the fundamental rules of arithmetic in their simplest ap- plications to accounts. Much attention was given to the catechisms and formulas of religion as taught in the dominant church. The Ten Command- ments, Lord's Prayer and other portions of the Bible were taught. The Apostles' Creed was some- times included.

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EDUCATION.

The study of the mathematical sciences was gen- erally regarded as more important than the studies of nature, belles-lettres and language. The pri- vate schools of the highest order were expected to teach arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, surveying, gauging and navigation. Very little at- tention was given to geography and the natural . sciences. Little was known of them.

In the cities, some French, fancy work, dancing, formal religion and social formulas, with a little English language and literature, were taught in one class of private schools. In another class, boys were taught something of Latin, Greek and practical mathematics, with grammar rules and reading, spelling and writing. The student of an- cient documents and records must see, in the bad penmanship, miserable spelling and imperfect or barren sentences, how little was acquired in these schools.

But the people of that day had much physical activity and energy, with much keenness and acute observation. They were fully alive to the opportu- nities in their way, and had about all the learning that their times and situation demanded. Schools and books and teachers and a broader and deeper mind culture were sleeping in a future, in the dawn- ing only of which, we may hope, we are now liv- ing. The world moves slowly ; but it moves. We must speak charitably as well as truly of the past, modestly of the present, and hopefully of the future.

The venerable "Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts," incorporated in the year 1701, sent many missionaries to this province until nearly the period of the Revolution ; and, at the suggestion of Col. Caleb Heathcote, furnished a number of schoolmasters for various settlements of the province, during a period of more than fifty years. The following extracts from the official his- tory and reports of the society more fully exhibit the facts on this subject.

One of the first acts of the society was to send to the English colonies on this continent, a mission- ary to make personal examination. The person selected was the Rev. George Keith, whose journal relative to this tour is contained in the " Collections of the Protestant Episcopal Society."

After Mr. Keith came over and had made a sur- vey of the field before him, he, in conjunction with the few clergymen then in the northern part of the colony, made the following statement in November, 1702 :

NEW YORK .- There are some counties, five of which are inhabited by Dutch and those of Dutch extraction, viz .: Al- hany, Ulster, Dutchess, Orange and King's County, in

which the Church and Church of England Schools have not yet been settled, but the Presence of the present Governor of that Province, his Excellency the Lord Cornbury, has mightily influenced many of the people of the said counties to desire that Church of England Ministers and schoolmas- ters may be sent amongst them; particularly Albany repre- sentatives have desired his Lordship that an English School- master might be established in that county. * * This * Province, though it hath a great number of inhabitants, could never yet obtain a public legally Established School.

A provision is made by law for six ministers. There is yet no provision for Schoolmasters made by law, though by the zealous recommendation of the Lord Cornbury to the gen- eral Assembly, a legal maintenance is undoubtedly expected, and till then the Church of England Schoolmaster in the county of New York, as heretofore, will be supported by the voluntary contributions of those whose children are instruct- ed by him; notwithstanding it is humbly conceived that an annual Pension for the support and further encouragement of some Ministers and Schoolmasters in poor Towns will be of great use and service to the Church.

No School house yet erected in this Province.

In all these Counties where the Church is established by the law of this Province, the People generally are in a readi- ness to embrace the Doctrines and Worship of the Church, and to Encourage Free Schools.

Col. Heathcote seems to have conceived a plan for the establishment of schools throughout the province, having written to the Secretary of the "Venerable Society," under date of April 10, 1704, as follows :

I had once formed a projection for fixing schools in this country for the benefit of all the youths therein, in order to their being trained up, not only in learning but in their ten- der years to ingraft them in the Church, but the storm which was lately raised upon me concerning church affairs, made me lay the thought of it aside for a while. However, if God is pleased to spare my life a little longer, I will, with His assistance, set it on foot, and hope it will be blessed with its desired effect.

This society was very active, not only in edu- cating the youth of the Church, but in furnishing opportunity everywhere in the province to people of every kind, even negroes and Indians, for ac- quiring the elements of temporal knowledge and lessons in religion as taught in catechisms, horn- books and primers. Efforts were made to teach the Mohawks and other Iroquois tribes for many years, but with little success. Their wild and per- verse nature, their roving, restless life, were all against the missionary and the schoolmaster. They, after several years of faithful trial, "aban- doned this miserable race of men." This was in 1718. Some fifteen years later, further efforts to instruct the Indians were made, with better success.

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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 62

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