Bi-centennial history of Albany. History of the county of Albany, N. Y., from 1609 to 1886. With portraits, biographies and illustrations, Part 83

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

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tors of the paper, Mr. Dawson temporarily re- sumed the editorship, and did some of the best work of his life in the remarkably bitter fight waged against Mr. Smyth's confirmation, and subse- quently against "machine" dictation, unit rule and the bosses. His pen was also especially pun- gent and forceful in the senatorial contest which resulted in the retirement of ex-Senator Roscoe Conkling to private life.

Mr. Dawson retired finally from the editorial work on the Journal, September 2, 1882, and was succeeded by Mr. Harold Frederick. His valedic- tory, published in the Journal, was an ably written production, exhibiting the elastic vigor of his in- tellect and the strength of his memory. The pathos with which he refers to old associations, with its brief but touching reminiscences, gained it universal admiration.

In 1861, Mr. Dawson, without solicitation on his part, was appointed postmaster at Albany. He held the office six years, when he resigned, being unwilling to continue under President Johnson's administration, which he opposed. This, we be- lieve, is the only civil office he ever held. Though abundantly able to have filled a prominent place among the distinguished politicians of his day, he had little fondness for official life, and could not consent, for the sake of personal interest or official advancement, to resort to the wearisome corre- spondence with local great men, and to those plati- tudes necessary, at the present day, to attain the rewards of party labor. Adroit and keenly saga- cious as a party manager, he never turned to his own advantage topics which happened, for the mo- ment, to attract public attention. He never fished " with ever freshly-baited hook in the turbid waters of an ephemeral popularity."

In a word, George Dawson was in no sense a demagogue. In his political career there was no shade of selfishness. Had he been willing to purchase advancement at the price often paid for it, there was never a moment from the time he first made himself felt and known, that he could not have commanded almost anything which his party could bestow. But, as we have said, he desired none of the rewards or honors of party success. Personally, he regarded office as a bur- den, an obstacle to the enjoyment of his tastes. It was said of Mr. Dawson that "his vigorous in- tellect-shrewd, far-sighted and restless-impelled by well-balanced instincts of policy and aggressive- ness, furnished with all that general knowledge which the newspaper man must necessarily acquire, lacked that breadth of classic information, that catholicity of tastes and sympathies, which are de- manded to-day in the average leader writer." We do not believe Mr. Dawson lacked breadth of clas- sic information, or that catholicity of taste required by an editor of the present time. We have already seen how ardently in his youth he devoted himself to solitary study, and how he familiarized himself with the classics. The felicitous classical quota- tions with which his writings abound, exhibit the result of his studies. His fondness for books through his whole life was a striking characteristic;

the heart of his home was his library. Hither he retreated from the cares and labors of his business to discourse with the great spirits of other times, yielding with unfailing delight to the lofty stimulus of great minds, communing with them as with familiar friends. We believe that most of his leaders rank in ability, in argumentative and analytic power with those of any contemporary journal.

We close what we have to say in regard to Mr. Dawson as a political writer, in the language of an- other. "He was a man of magnificent pluck. He loved thrust, parry and retort of newspaper battle. In every encounter he was cool, confident, wary, sometimes audacious. He spied the weak point in his antagonist's defense and made his lunge instan- taneous with the discovery. George Dawson's last great feat in journalism was an assault on Roscoe Conkling; indubitably the most severe, pointed, and serious attack to which Mr. Conkling has ever been exposed."

We have thus far reviewed the life and career of Mr. Dawson as a political journalist and party leader. Politics, though they make the intellect active, sagacious and inventive, within a certain sphere, generally extinguish its thirst for universal truth, paralyze sentiment and imagination, corrupt simplicity of mind, destroy confidence in human virtue, and finally ends in cold and prudent selfish- ness, if not in that insincerity which amounts to turpitude. Dawson, however, passed through all this with the ardor of moral feeling and the purity and enthusiasm of his youth uncontaminated. May we not say he was exalted by his trial? It now remains to consider briefly another phase of his life.

As a writer, Mr. Dawson devoted his pen con- siderably to literature. His powers of description, particularly those of stream, lake and forest, have already been referred to, as also his love of an- gling. His description of the manner in which he indulged this love, portrayed in his admirable work, entitled "The Pleasures of Angling," is in- tensely interesting- an excellent model of angling literature-the finished work of a mature man and graceful writer, natural and unaffected in style, and brimful of sentiments which are shared by all genuine followers of the craft.

He loved angling for its refining influences and for its associations; he indulged in it as a medi- cine, as a better preventive than cure; he loved it with unselfish devotion and courtesy. " I have," he says, in one of his essays on angling, " often to assure my critical and incredulous friends that it is by no means all of fishing to fish. The appre- ciative angler, who has inherited or acquired the true spirit of the art, is not alone happy while ply- ing his vocation, but happy also in the recollection of what has been and the anticipation of what is to be. To him, memory and hope are equally satisfy- ing, the one luminous with the sunshine of the re- cent past, and the other all aglow with the assured cheer of the near future. Nor is the pleasure de- rived from a review of the last outing, wholly or chiefly associated with its material results. ‘Cast-

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ing ' and 'striking' and ' killing' belong to the mere mechanism of the art. Its real fascination lies in what one sees and feels in mountain and valley; in river and lake; in sunshine and shadow; in the exhilarating atmosphere and delectable odors of the virgin forests; in the music of singing birds and in the soothing monotone of running waters; in the quiet and repose best found in the solitary places where anglers most do congregate. It strikes me like the sound of a trumpet to remem- ber my fights with three-pound trout, five-pound bass, or thirty-pound salmon, but I find intenser ecstasy when I recall the circumstances and sur- roundings of these material experiences. The transparent brook, whose ripples were rendered as dazzling as molten silver by sunshine glints which fell upon them through the ever-waving branches of the pine, or birch, or hemlock which over-arched it like a benediction; the pellucid waters of river or lake, whose unruffled surface trembled as the fly and leader touched its bosom; the deep pool, cast into deeper shadow by the giant bould- ers, near which the lordly salmon rests on his up- ward journey; and a thousand other things of beauty which fill the eye and ravish the senses while watching and waiting and casting for a 'rise.'

"These are the pictures most distinctly photo- graphed upon the memory of the appreciative angler, and which come up most vividly before him when he looks back on what has been."

What a vivid picture this ! Can the pencil's mimic skill, in the hand of the most accomplished artist, throw more exquisite coloring, more natural light and shade blended in a more entrancing scene? Has not the mind that can thus describe nature penetrated those secret recesses of the soul where poetry is born and nourished ?

We do not know that Mr. Dawson ever wrote poetry, but he had an imagination which might have made him a poet had he indulged it. He be- lieved that the poetic fictions of great intellects are often the vehicles of the sublimest verities; that even when the letter is false the spirit is the pro- foundest wisdom ; and he enlivened his writings with extracts from poets bearing the seal of genius, inspiration, learning and taste.

In 1876, he published his book already alluded to.

This work was first published in sketches in the Evening Journal, at long intervals, during the three years antedating its appearance. They were eagerly read, and added largely to the circulation of the paper. When the work appeared it was immensely popular, not only with the lovers of angling, but by all lovers of true literary merit, and still contin- ues to be a favorite work with the reading public.

Said one of his friends, a delightful writer and critic: "Mr. Dawson wielded a trenchant pen ; when he turned from the conflict of parties to the praise of his favorite pastime 'of simple wise men ;' his essays, limpid as the crystal stream, are aglow with the soft summer sunlight, and melodious with the song of birds. When angling was the theme, he wrote from a full heart and closest sympathy. The effect of his writings is, therefore, magical, like

that of the mimic players in Xenophon's Memo- rahilia. He who reads, if he be an angler, must go a fishing; and if he be not, straightway then he must become one."

This is the feeling which the reading of his " Pleasures of Angling " inspires. It is descriptive of his fishing adventures in the waters of the Cas- capedia, the St. Lawrence, in Canadian streams, and in the home of the finny tribes of our own State and Pennsylvania. He introduces the reader to his delightful friends and associates in these ex- cursions, and, finally, ere he is aware, the reader himself is one of the party engaged in the exciting and pleasurable scenes.

The characteristics of Mr. Dawson which secured respect and affection are not difficult to depict; for, with the qualities which made him eminent, there were blended simplicity and artlessness open to every eye. He possessed excellences which, at first, seemed to repel each other, as his political aggressiveness, though in truth they were of one genial family. In the political contest he was aggressive, triumphant over fear, gathering strength and animation as the conflict deepened, bound closer to duty as its hardships and the difficulties that surrounded it increased; yet, at the same time, he was a child in simplicity, innocence and benignity.

He was singularly alive to the domestic affec- tions. In the bosom of his family he exhibited the deep sympathies and affections of his nature. His home was pervaded by his love as by the sunlight, and very much of his life was centered there. But the peculiar charm, over all, lay in the junction of intellectual power with religious and moral worth; his honor was superior to every temptation by which the world could assail him.

No one who ever met Mr. Dawson in the so- cial circle can easily forget the attraction of his manner and conversation, for he possessed the power of communicating with ease and interest the riches of his mind. He carried into society a cheerfulness and sunshine of soul which, without effort, won the hearts of those in his presence to a singular degree.

Mr. Dawson was one who may well be called a Christian gentleman. As early as 1831, in the early dawn of his manhood, he united with the Baptist Church at Rochester, and his connection with that denomination continued to the day of his death.

On coming to reside permanently at Albany, he attended the North Pearl Street Baptist Church, which then stood on the site of Perry Building. The North Pearl Street Mission had been estab- lished at this time, under the auspices of this church, on North Pearl street, above Wilson, and nearly in the rear of Mr. Dawson's residence on Ten Broeck street. He devoted himself to the care of this mission, became its superintendent, and through his efforts it was finally incorporated under the name of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, with the Rev. J. D. Fulton, pastor, on October 29, 1859. After that time \Mr. Dawson's efforts to build up and add to the new church were unswerving. The new church thrived and increased in membership to such an extent that a more pretentious edifice

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became necessary. A fine site on the corner of Clinton avenue and Ten Broeck street was pur- chased. It cost $20,000; and with $54,000 addi- tional the building was constructed. On February 14, 1877, it was formally dedicated and occupied.

During the work of building, Mr. Dawson spent much of his time in superintending it. How much of his means were contributed will doubtless never be known, as he was as unostentatious as he was liberal in his benefactions. It is known, however, that his contributions were very large.

His zeal in the cause of the Church did not end with the completion of the Tabernacle Baptist Church. There was established, in North Albany, a Mission School, under the auspices of the Taber- nacle Church. To the promotion of this enterprise, Mr. Dawson bent his efforts. Every Sunday he was found attending to his duty there, discussing doctrine to the youthful and old alike, and edu- cating them in the knowledge of religion. As a lay preacher he was without a peer. His vigorous and timely discourses will long be remembered by the attendants of this mission.

The various pastors of the Tabernacle Church always found in him a zealous supporter; and the congregation and Sunday-school a disinterested friend.

In June, 1834, Mr. Dawson was united by mar- riage to Miss Nancy M. Terrell, a native of Tol- land, Conn. His married life was fortunate and happy ; his home, as before said, the center of happiness, of refinement and comfort. Three sons were born to the marriage : the first died in in- fancy; the second, George S. Dawson, imbued-with a patriotic spirit, entered the service of his country in the darkest days of the rebellion, and gave his life to the cause for which he left his home and all its attractions. For him, in recognition of his valor and patriotism, the well-known George S. Dawson Post of the G. A. R., of Albany, was named. The other son, Burritt S., with Mrs. Dawson, still survives.

After retiring from active life, Mr. Dawson gave more of his time to his favorite pastime of angling, to occasional contributions to the press, to works of charity and benevolence, and to the society of his cherished friends. And thus the afternoon sun of what we may truly call his beautiful life, gradually descended toward the night. But that night drew on much sooner than his robust and apparently healthy condition indicated, closing after an illness of less than a week. He died Feb- ruary 17, 1883, at the age of seventy years.

The death of such a man, as might be expected, produced a profound sensation. Seldom has the death of any one in this State called forth more general expressions of sorrow from the press than the death of Mr. Dawson. The popular favor which he enjoyed in such unmeasured profusion, was indicated in many ways. Every degree of talent, of eloquence, of learning, and of distinction laid upon his fresh made tomb, green and fragrant garlands.

The editorial fraternity of the city met, and a committee of one from each newspaper represent-

ed, was appointed to prepare an expression of the collected sense of the profession on the career and character of Mr. Dawson. This committee was composed of St. Clair McKelway, Argus ; T. C. Callicot, Times ; J. C. Cuyler, Express ; Harold Frederick, Journal; H. M. Rooker, Press and Knickerbocker ; R. M. Griffin, Post ; Edward Mig- gael, Free Blaetter; Wm. Kisselburgh, Troy Times; John A. Place, Oswego Times; Wm. H. McElroy, New York Tribune. At 12.30 on the day of the funeral, the representatives of the Albany press, and those from other parts of the State, met at the City Hall, and from there moved in a body to the Tabernacle Baptist Church, where the funeral took place. During the services many of the prominent places of business were closed and flags were at half-mast.

Among the many tributes of respect paid to the memory of Mr. Dawson, was one-the act of private friendship-so touchingly appropriate and beautiful, that we cannot refrain from describing it; and with this we close our notice.

In the southwest corner of the Tabernacle Bap- tist Church, Albany, there was erected on January 3, 1885, a handsomely proportioned, highly-pol- ished granite tablet, bearing the following inscrip- tion :

GEORGE DAWSON. Born March 14, 1813. Died February 17, 1883. His renown as a Journalist, Author and Party Leader; His eminence as a citizen and statesman; His life of probity and spiritual elevation, Commanded the admiration of all who value goodness and greatness. His labor and munificence in its establishment and maintenance endeared him to this church, in which he illustrated the nobility of an exalted Christian manhood. Private affection placed this tablet to commemorate his virtues and worth.

This chaste, enduring and eloquent memorial of Mr. Dawson was erected by Hon. Hamilton Har- ris, a long cherished friend.

HUGH J. HASTINGS was born in the North of Ire- land, August 20, 1820, and came to this country when eight years of age, accompanied by his mother, brothers and sisters, his father having - preceded them. The family settled in Albany. There were eight children, Hugh being next to the eldest. He began work at an early age, and helped support his parents and the younger chil- dren. His first labors were as an errand boy in a dry goods store in William street, New York. This kind of work, however, was unsatisfactory to the ambitious boy, who longed for a chance to better his condition. He was a great reader, and managed, by utilizing his spare time, to acquire much general information.

His tastes led to writing for the newspapers, and, being encouraged by the success of his first at- tempts, he resolved to make newspaper writing his business. He was first a reporter on the Albany Evening Journal. In 1840 he assumed the publi- cation of a Whig campaign paper called the Union. At the close of the canvass he became a reporter

Daniel Naming

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on the Albany Atlas, and made quite a hit by the crisp, lively manner in which he wrote up local items. But the measure of his ambition was not to be filled in this way. He longed to have a newspaper of his own, and he resolved to have one. With a capital of only $7.50, he founded the Albany Knickerbocker in 1843, a daily paper, which grew to be very valuable property and an able and influential journal.

Mr. Hastings also took an active part in politics. His natural talents lay in that direction, and he entered into the field of political discussion with a vigor that was the result of a lively inborn interest in the subject. He was for "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," before he was able to vote. He ad- mired Clay, and was a great friend of General Taylor, who, when he became President, made Mr. Hastings Collector of the Port of Albany. He resigned this position when President Fillmore assumed office.

In 1867, he determined to embark in metropoli- tan journalism, and purchased a controlling inter- est in the New York Commercial Advertiser, of which he was editor and proprietor at the time of his death. Mr. Hastings was passionately fond of his newspaper work, but was preparing to leave the active conduct of the paper to his nephew, John Hastings, and the publication entirely to his son- in-law, Mr. Ward. In 1843, he married Miss Mary Keeler, daughter of Mr. Henry Keeler, of Albany. The fruits of this marriage were four chil- dren, three daughters and one son. One daughter was married to Dr. Henry, and another to Mr. Ward, the business manager of the Commercial Ad- vertiser. Mr. Hastings died in the City of New York, September, 1883, after a life that made a mark

HON. DANIEL MANNING.

Hon. DANIEL MANNING was born in Albany, Au- gust 16, 1831. He was of sturdy parentage, which, in its ancestral lines, ran into Irish, English, and Dutch sources, combining the main stocks which have settled Albany, and impressed upon its life and growth its staid qualities with its progressive movement. From earliest boyhood he felt the desire and formed the purpose of self-help. While at school, the disposition to be doing was dominant in him. It was his conviction, before he could shape it into statement, that he could unite the get- ting of an education with the work of supporting himself. He resisted the policy of confining him- self to the routine of schooling for a set number of years before he attacked industry itself. So, as soon as he acquired the rudiments of learning, he ob- tained, at eleven years of age, a situation as boy-of- all-work in the office of the Albany Atlas, which was subsequently merged into the Argus, with which establishment he has ever since been con- nected, rising through every stage of service to the presidency of the company and the executive pro- prietorship. In this adherence to one vocation in one establishment, the qualities of attachment, per- sistence and application, for which he is rightly noted, are exemplified.

Many are the relations and responsibilities grow- ing out of his connection with the Argus, but they all radiate from it; and the journal and his own personality have had a marked reciprocal influence upon one another. The three-fold form of news- paper work is apparent. It comprises printing, literary work, and business management, to each of which Mr. Manning served a long tutelage, and in each of which he mastered the art. From one to the other he graduated in due course. Over all of them he qualified himself to exercise supervision. By thorough knowledge of the details of each branch, he became able to manage them simul- taneously in their affiliated bearings, however large or however minute. His life has been spent in the city of his birth. His associates have been those who were the companions of his youth. His political opinions have been in harmony with the journal which he has promoted. The position of that journal in the politics of the State, and the nation, has required him to scrutinize and weigh the large responsibilities which, in time, he has had to wield and temper in its name.

Journalism is becoming the educating force of the people who have to do with it. Most of all, is it an educating force to those who, from boyhood to mature manhood, have had to do with it in all its trinity of activity. Mr. Manning's career, passed at the center of political competition of the Empire State, has partaken of the administration of succes- sive Governors and the course of successive Legisla- tures. It has brought him into relations of con- fidence and co-operation with many able minds. It has tested the qualities by which influence is wrought or wrecked. It has been a school of faculty and character, conceivably second to none other in American'affairs. It can be advisedly said that Mr. Manning's discharge of every trust in this relation has earned him promotion to one beyond it, until he reached the summit of opportunity and power in the field in which he worked. From the time of his identification with the news and editorial work of the Argus, his relation was a most con- fidential one. He represented the paper in the Legislature, in which it has always been recognized as the monitor and exponent of one of the great contending parties. Its duty was to organize, lead, reflect, and restrain its party clientele, and to ex- ample the press of its party in the State always; and often in the nation. Prevision, steadiness, sagacity, and honor were demanded. The vigilance and power of great antagonists had to be challenged. The irresponsible freedom of remote journalism was impossible. In this work, Mr. Manning was the assistant of Calvert Comstock, the partner of William Cassidy; and he became the successor of both. He never affected their ornament of method; but his tempering thought, worldly wisdom, ever sedate judgment, imperturbable repose, and far- reaching sight, were helpful to their brilliant pow- ers of statement; and his share in their successes and reputation is no small one.

No public man of either party in State service at Albany for years past, has failed to feel the govern- ing strength of Mr. Manning's mind on the higher

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and larger interests of politics. He grew to his influence by long and legitimate preparation. On the death of Mr. Cassidy, in 1873, Mr. Manning took full charge of the Argus and became president of the company. Since then, his political life has been one of unsought prominence and influence within the party in the State, and, latterly, through- out the Union. He was a member of the Demo- cratic State Convention which met at Syracuse in 1874, and nominated Governor Tilden, and of every Democratic State Convention during the succeeding ten years. He has been a member of the Democratic State Committee since 1876, and was its Secretary in 1879 and 1880, and its Chair- man in 1881, 1882, 1883, and 1884. In 1876, he was one of the seventy-two delegates from New York to the National Convention at St. Louis, which nominated Governor Tilden for the presi- dency. He was a member of the New York dele- gation to the National Convention at Cincinnati, which nominated General Hancock, in 1880, and was unanimously chosen its chairman. His part in the presidential contest of 1884 has passed into history. Nothing that could be said in these pages would add to its repute. Comment on his ability as an organizer, his knowledge of men and meas- ures, and his skill in reconciling conflicting in- terests, would be forceless side by side with a state- ment of the results of their influence upon the political history of the period. Avoiding serious collision with the opponents of Mr. Cleveland at the Democratic State Convention at Saratoga, by his tact and ingenuity, Mr. Manning was instrumental in securing a two-thirds majority of the State dele- gation for the nomination of his candidate.

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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 83

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