USA > New York > Colonial records of the New York Chamber of Commerce, 1768-1784 : with historical and biographical sketches > Part 35
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In the "New York Mercury," of August 15th, 1760, he announces that he "has removed from his store on Hunter's Quay to his new store in the Square, adjoining Mrs. Far- mer's, where he has to dispose of a choice assortment of Euro- pean and India Goods; also Madeira Wine, Sugar and Molasses ; and a few boxes of excellent green Tea." The exactions of the British ministry had not yet made tea- drinking unfashionable and unpatriotic.
He now enters upon a more important charge than any which had preceded it. On the 16th of October, 1760, he married Ann Dorothy, daughter of Andrew Barclay, a wealthy gentleman who had come to New York from Cura- çoa, and established himself as a merchant. This connection united him to some of the wealthiest and most distinguished families in the Province. Of his wife's sisters, Catharine married Augustus Van Cortlandt; Sarah, Anthony Lispe- nard; Ann Margaret, Frederick Jay; Helena, Major Mon- crieff, a British officer of distinction; and Charlotte Amelia became the second wife of Dr. Richard Bailey.
This Anthony Lispenard was the brother of Leonard, who was joint owner with MR. BACHE in the ship Grace. This vessel he ran in the English trade, and on the 27th February, 1765, he advertises her in the "New York Ga- zette and Weekly Post Boy " as shortly to sail for Bristol, under the command of William Chambers, Master.
Meanwhile the younger brother Richard had arrived in America, and as early as 1760 established himself in business
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in Philadelphia. He seems to have acted for the elder brother also. A part of this agency was the underwriting of vessels and cargoes. There still remains a curious policy, issued in the name of the two brothers, at Philadelphia, 31st May, 1764, on a shipment from that port to Havana by the brig Success, Marshall, Master, for a consideration of three and a-half per cent. " Touching the Adventures and Perils which the Assurers are contented to bear-they are of Seas, Men-of-War, Fire, Enemies, Pirates, Rovers, Thieves, Jeti- sons, Letters of Mart and Counter-Mart, Surprisals, Taking at Sea, Arrests, Restraints and Detainments, of all Kings, Princes, or People of what Nation, Condition, or Quality soever, &c., &c., to be of as much force and effect as the Surest Writing or Policy of Assurance heretofore made in Lombard Street, or elsewhere in LONDON." In Philadelphia Richard Bache connected himself in marriage with one of those names which rescue from oblivion even its most distant alliances, and give them place on the page of history. On the 29th October, 1767, Richard Bache married Sarah, sole daughter of the illustrious Benjamin Franklin.
THEOPHYLACT BACHE stood high in the confidence of his fellow merchants, and was one of the select few who organ- ized the Chamber of Commerce on the 5th April, 1768. In 1770 he was chosen Treasurer, in 1771 Vice-President, and in 1773 President, of this flourishing Corporation.
He was one of the first petitioners for the Marine Society, which was incorporated in April, 1770. He was one of the incorporators also of the Society of the New York Hospital in 1771.
How far MR. BACHE identified himself with the great public movements in opposition to the Stamp Act in 1765, is not known. In 1770 he united heartily with his fellow merchants in their non-importation agreements, and
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was one of the committee to see to their execution. He does not appear to have sought political distinction. With an important. business, and with the constant demands of a large family circle, he had little inclination to mix in the turbulent scenes of this stormy period. His disposition was genial, his qualities domestic : to an open-handed hos- pitality he added a great love of field-sports, and his dog and gun were the constant companions of his hours of leisure. His favorite sporting-ground was at Islip, Long Island, then abounding in game. There he passed weeks in the spring and fall at the house of his friend, Judge Thompson.
That his public course had been satisfactory to all sides is evident from the fact that his name was on both the tickets for the Committee of Correspondence of fifty-one, and stands third upon this list of the magnates of the city. This Committee was organized in May, 1774, on the news reaching the city of the passage of the Boston Port Bill. MR. BACHE was a regular attendant at its meetings, and seems to have been a willing promoter of the first Continen- tal Congress, which sprung from the suggestions of this much abused but really wise and patriotic body. With Charles McEvers, he was appointed by it to oversee the election of the Deputies to this first Congress. This Con- gress, it will be remembered, went no further than to adopt a " Declaration of Rights," and to recommend to the Colo- nies a non-exportation and a non-importation Act. To these orders MR. BACHE faithfully adhered.
In the early spring of 1775 the aspect of affairs was more alarming, and in April the news of the Lexington fight threw all into confusion. The summer of 1775 was one of great excitement and distress throughout the con- tinent. In New York, more than in the older English 29
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Colonies, a large proportion of the merchants were English born : many had married here. The blood about to flow in the contest was on either side the blood of friends. To all such the prospect was gloomy and forbidding.
Meanwhile the leaders of the patriot party saw and felt the danger of delay. For them the die was cast, and they were content to abide the issue; but every consideration of personal safety and public duty urged them to use all means to add to their ranks, and take from the power of the royal party. To do this they took instant steps to break down the middle party, and to draw a narrow line between the friends of King and Country. To men like MR. BACHE, whose nature was of the tender kind, such a choice was unu- sually painful. Besides the ties of kindred and the early rec- ollections of his English home, his family in America were divided in opinion. His only brother in the Colonies, swayed by the logic of the master-mind of Franklin, and nerved, perhaps, by the warm, patriotic heart of his wife, one of the noblest of American women, was strong in his sympathy with the Revolutionists. On the other hand, his wife's sister had married an officer in the King's service. Still halting between two opinions, MR. BACHE re- mained in New York and hoped to weather the storm. A simple incident turned the scale. In the month of Sep- tember (7th, 1775), one Isaac L. Winn, a Captain of a trading vessel, was brought up for examination by the Com- mittee of Safety ; and although he gave to Messrs. Livingston and Scott, who were deputed to examine him, "such suffi- cient satisfaction of his friendly dispositions to the liberties of America as induced them to believe the suspicions against him to be entirely groundless," and received a certi- ficate to that effect from the Committee, his papers were taken from him. Among them was an unsigned letter
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directed to Major Moncrieff, at Boston, which from the hand-writing and other circumstances was believed to be by MR. THEOPHYLACT BACHE. It ran as follows :
NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 1775.
DEAR MAJOR :- I wrote to you a few days ago by the transport which sailed from hence. I hope you have re- ceived it. It is now decreed by the Congress criminal to speak, and as it would be equally so to write not knowing into whose hands this may fall before this reaches you, I am determined not to transgress. I wish to remain in this country as long as I can, and not to do anything that may cause a banishment, or the punishment of being sent to the mines of Symsbury, which are punishments daily inflicted on those poor culprits who are found or even supposed inimical.
Don't think of returning here while the unhappy con- test continues. You will be ferreted and exposed to insults I would wish you to avoid. I will take care of your wife as much as a brother or friend can do. She is as well and as happy as can be expected. I expect that she will lay in at Flatbush, as I think it would be dangerous to bring her to town. The late firing of the Asia has been fatal to many women in her situation. The family join me in love to you, and believe me to be, dear Moncrief,
Yours,
To Major Moncrief, Boston.
Thomas Moncrieff was a Major of Brigade in the Ameri- can Establishment, and had married Helena Barclay, the sister of Mrs. Bache, in the summer of 1774.
In consequence of this letter MR. BACHE was ordered to
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attend the Committee for examination-Mr. Isaac Roose- velt, to his honor be it said, dissenting; but the messenger on his return reported that MR. BACHE had gone out of town. He had probably received some friendly warning.
In the summer of 1775 he was again cited to appear be- fore the Provincial Congress, and replied in the following letter. Throughout, the tone is that of one whose dearest wish is to preserve a strict neutrality.
FLATBUSH, Monday, 7th July, 1776.
GENTLEMEN :- I would have waited upon you this day pursuant to your Citation received on Friday last, but the distressed state of Mrs. Bache and my numerous family since the arrival of the fleet at Sandy Hook, will, I hope, be a sufficient apology for my remaining with them as they will require all my attention to save them from the horrible calamities of the approaching conflict.
My being represented to the Congress as one of the per- sons inimical to the cause of America, fills me with the deepest concern ; be assured, Gentlemen, that the accusation is unmerited and must have proceeded from those unac- quainted with my sentiments. I have not since the unhappy dispute began, contravened any order of the Congress, Con- tinental or Provincial, nor is it my intention. I sincerely hope for a reconciliation-that this once happy country may enjoy the blessings of peace; and am, Gentlemen,
Your most obt. humble Svt., THEOPHYLACT BACHE.
To Philip Livingston, Esq., and the Gentlemen of Congress.
About this time he left New York and retreated to the British lines. A letter in the Upcott Collection, written on the 12th August, 1776, alludes to his arrival on Staten
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Island with Mr. Augustus Van Cortlandt and others, "having narrowly escaped from their pursuers." He returned to New York with the troops a little later, and during the war divided his time between the City and his residence at Flatbush.
Some account of his residence and life at Flatbush, which was a favorite country-seat with New Yorkers, is fur- nished by Capt. Alexander Graydon in his memoirs of his own time. He was one of the thirty-two Captains commis- sioned by Congress in January, 1776, and had been taken prisoner at the battle of Harlem Heights in the following September. He relates " that he was taken to Flatbush, and billeted upon a Mr. Jacob Suydam. His house was pretty large, consisting of buildings which appeared to have been erected at different times, the front and best of which was in the occupation of MR. THEOPHYLACT BACHE and his family from New York. The morning after our arrival at this place we encountered MR. BACHE in the piazza, which extended the whole length of the building on the south side. His being an Englishman and determined royalist did not prevent him from accosting us very civilly, and mani- festing a disposition to maintain a friendly intercourse with us, notwithstanding the difference in our political senti- ments. Whatever was the motive, the behaviour of MR. BACHE was altogether free from intolerance and party ran- cour ; it was more, it was hospitable and kind. In addition to frequent invitations to tea and to partake of his Madeira, to help us along a little, as he expressed, in allusion to the mean fare at Jacob's table, I was indebted to him for the offer of his purse, although he neither knew me or my.con- nexions. As I stood in no need of it, I declined it with a due sense of the obligation the mere offer imposed. I availed myself, however, of the tender of his services in
4
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executing small commissions for me when he went to New York, which was almost every day." As a further instance of the good feeling of MR. BACHE, Captain Graydon says that he afterwards learned from MR. BACHE that he had seen him while a prisoner passing the Coffee-house in New York, and that he and some other gentlemen had been obliged to exert themselves to prevent some blackguards insulting him.
A change was soon to take place in the fortunes of the companions. In the night of the 15th June, 1778, William Mariner, one of the daring spirits of the day, made a dash into the town of Flatbush, and carried off MR. BACHE and Major Moncrieff, and freed Capt. Graydon from his captivity. Mariner left Middleton, New Jersey, in the evening with 11 men, and returned by six the next morning, having travelled by land and water above 50 miles. The attack was made in the dead of night, and MR. BACHE was hurried from the house without time being given him to put on his clothes. MR. BACHE was greatly distressed at his forcible separation from his wife and family. The prisoners were taken to Mor- ristown, N. J., where they underwent a nominal confinement for a short time. MR. BACHE was soon sent home, a general exchange of prisoners taking place shortly after.
MR. BACHE exerted himself during the war to alleviate the distresses it occasioned. He was one of the Vestry ap- pointed by Gen'l Robertson in 1772 to care for the Poor of the City. His kindly feeling never failed him, and he let no opportunity for its display pass. It was he who moved, in 1784, for the readmission to the Chamber of those who had been absent during the war.
In 1770 MR. BACHE appears to have been the joint owner, with Charles McEvers and Hamilton Young, of a certificate of location for a tract of 37,000 acres of land, near the tracts
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known by the name of Socialborough ; and the next year he petitions that it may be erected into a township by the name of Newry. Newry is a port on the Irish coast, with which New York had some trade at this time. At a later period, in 1785, he was again interested, with James Barclay, in a claim to a tract of 18,000 acres, on the west side of the waters which flow into Lake Champlain. With the peace, he resumed his business at his old house in Hanover Square, No. 38, and his name appears in the first New York Directory, 1787 to 1793, at this place. From 1794 to 1801 the location is described as No. 122 Pearl Street. This house is remembered as an old-fashion brick build- ing, on the lower side of the street, with a front of between forty and fifty feet, and an entrance nearly on the ground- level. As the land was extended into the East River, MR. BACHE, as the riparian owner, became possessed of lots on Water Street, on which he built three brick houses, which were known as 85, 86, and 87 Water Street. In 1802, MR. BACHE occupied No. 87. On the further filling in of the river-front, four houses were added on Front Street ; and on its final extension to South Street, MR. BACHE put up two fine warehouses on an improved plan, which for a long time served as models for structures of this kind. These build- ings were known as 44 and 45 South Street. They were later sold to Mr. John G. Coster, and were destroyed in the great fire of 1835. This locality is famous in the history of New York merchants. Here, on the ground-floor, Mr. Jonathan Goodhue, the founder of the well-known house of Goodhue & Co., at one time had an office, his firm being at that time Goodhue & Swett. No. 45 is now the count- ing house of one of the most distinguished merchants of this century, Mr. Moses Taylor.
MR. BACHE passed the greater part of his time at a coun-
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try seat a short distance from the city, on what was then known as Turtle Bay. This is the first indentation above Kipp's Bay, and opposite the Western end of Blackwell's Island. In the later Colonial period the King's Stores were near this point. The house belonged to Mr. Francis Win- throp, a large owner of land in that neighborhood, and was on the eastern end of his property.
This place MR. BACHE called Camperdown, in honor of the great victory won by Lord Duncan, in the fall of 1797, over the Dutch fleet in the Texel under Admiral De Win- ton. This complete defeat of the sea-forces of the Batavian Republic was hailed throughout Great Britain with great joy, as the downfall of the naval power of Holland, long the only rival of England on the seas. With the true pride of a Briton MR. BACHE rejoiced in the triumph of his coun- trymen. This estate was afterwards purchased by Mr. Isaac Lawrence.
In 1803 MR. BACHE took his son Andrew into his com- mercial house, and carried on his business under the style of THEOPHYLACT & ANDREW BACHE. Their trade was with Bristol, Poole and the ports of the west of England, and with Newfoundland, the fisheries of which they supplied on the orders of their English friends. They were also the agents of the Phoenix Fire Insurance Office of London. Although the favored correspondent of English houses, and himself experienced in the trade of the period, MR. BACHE'S business was not prosperous towards the close of his career. In this he but shared the common fate.
The period was one of commercial disaster. All Europe was shaken by the tread of vast armies, and the arts of peace were rudely set aside in the sharp struggle which fol- lowed the French Revolution. It is not easy to measure the commercial distress of the earlier days of this century.
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He died on Friday, the 30th October, 1807, in the 73d year of his age, at his old residence, and was buried from the house of his friend and kinsman, Mr. Charles McEvers, in Wall Street, on the Sunday following.
His life presents a fine example of a large manly nature. His stature was Norman in its great size, and all his in- stincts were noble and generous. His heart was large as the frame that contained it, and his attachments were strong and lasting. Nor were his interests bound by the circle of his family and friends. Wherever there was a good work to do, he was among the foremost.
He was one of the early projectors of the New York Hospital, of which he was Governor from 1785 to 1797, and President from 1794 to 1797.
One of the originators of the St. George Society, in 1786 he was its second President, being chosen to succeed Goldsborow Banyar in that office.
As an instance of the respect which his old companions entertained for him, notwithstanding his adherence to the British side, it may be mentioned that he was made Vice- President of the Chamber in 1788, and re-elected every year until 1792.
In religion, MR. BACHE was a warm supporter of the Church of England. He was a Vestryman of Trinity Church from 1760 to 1784, in 1788, and from 1792 to 1800.
By his wife, Ann Dorothy Barclay, whose death pre- ceded his own some years (she died 7th November, 1795), he had a numerous issue. Of those who lived to maturity, 1. Paul Richard, his eldest son, so called after his patron and benefactor, married his cousin Helena, the eldest daughter of Anthony Lispenard; their only daughter, Sarah, was married to Robert Montgomery Livingston. 2. Andrew,
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married in England : of his children two sons, George Perry and William Satterthwaite, are now living; Eliza Barclay was married to G. H. Duckwith, and Sarah Bleecker to Jacob R. Nevius. 3. William, who was brought up as a lawyer, and practised his profession in New York, mar- ried Christina Cooper, daughter of Dr. Ananias Cooper of Rhinebeck : of this marriage also the only surviving issue was in the female line ; one of the daughters was married to the late Mr. J. W. Schmidt, the Consul of Prussia at New York, and the other to Mr. Samuel Patterson, of Charleston, South Carolina.
Of the daughters of THEOPHYLACT BACHE, the eldest, 1. Elizabeth Garland, and some years after her death, 2. Sarah, were married to James, son of Anthony Bleecker ; 3. Catharine, to an English gentleman, Thomas Wilkinson Satterthwaite ; 4. Ann Dorothy, to her cousin Leonard, eldest son of Anthony Lispenard ; 5. Mary, to Charles McEvers.
The Baches of Philadelphia, whose name the late Alex- ander Dallas Bache has so greatly distinguished by his con- tributions to science, are the descendants of Richard, the brother of THEOPHYLACT BACHE, and Sarah, the daughter of Dr. Franklin.
The portrait which prefaces this sketch is a copy from a crayon head drawn by the French emigré St. Memin, when in New York in 1797, now owned by Mr. Thomas Wil- kinson Satterthwaite of this city, a grandson of MR. BACHE. A fine copy of this picture hangs on the walls of the Cham- ber of Commerce. It was taken in the winter of 1866-7, by Mr. Vincent Colyer, for its Gallery of Presidents.
There is also in the possession of a grand-daughter of MR. BACHE, wife of Judge Thomas W. Clerke of this city, a fine portrait of Mayor Richard, the early friend of the family in this country.
HymWalton
Fag& by G. F. Hall, from a Bulure u po Laws of the Chamber of Commerce
WILLIAM WALTON.
SIXTH PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
1774-1775.
O name calls up more pleasant memories of old New York than that of WALTON. For more than a hundred years this family of merchants held the first place among their fellows, and were the true princes of their time. Their descendants have left the walks of trade in which their race found wealth and honor, and the name is no more seen upon the roll of New York merchants, but the mansion in which their colonial ancestors held baronial state is still standing, a mute reminder of the splendors of a by-gone age.
The WALTONS were of English origin, and probably came from the county of Norfolk. Two families of the name appear at about the same period, the one in New York, the other in Richmond County, Staten Island. On the 12th December, 1689, an order was issued to the Justice of Richmond County to assist in taking an inventory of the estate of Thomas Walton, deceased. There is little doubt, from the sameness of the Christian names used in the two branches, that they were very nearly allied. In the New York family the name William was carried through a full century. The first William Walton of whom mention is made, was born sometime in the latter part of the seven-
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teenth century. In 1698 he was admitted a Freeman of the City, and in the same year he is said to have married Mary Santford. In the Census of 1703 he is recorded as the head of a Family, composed of 1 Male, 1 Female, 2 Chil- dren, 1 Negro. His name appears upon the list of subscrip- tions towards the finishing the steeple of Trinity Church in 1711. On the 13th October, 1712, Andrew Faneuil, Charles Crommelin, Abraham Van Hoorn, and William Walton, of New York, merchants and owners of the sloop Swallow, Réné Het, Master, petition Governor Hunter for leave to convoy French prisoners to the French West Indies, under a flag of truce. In 1727 he is cited to appear at the office of the Secretary of the Colony, with an inventory of the estate of his son Thomas, deceased. About this period he purchased several lots on Water Street, and established a shipyard. But he was not alone a builder of vessels or a shipper of goods; he appears to have sailed his own vessels on his trading voyages to the West India Islands and the Spanish Main. In April, 1734, an advertisement of the re- moval of the printer of the New York Gazette shows " Captain Walton " to have resided at that period in Hano- ver Square. In 1736 he subscribed to the enlargement of Trinity Church.
All authorities concur in stating that the origin of the fortunes of this enterprising family was the preference of trade given, early in the eighteenth century, to Captain Walton by the Spaniards of St. Augustine and the West India Islands. Pintard so related it as of tradition, and Watson tells the same story. The printing of the Colonial Manuscripts of New York cleared the subject of every ves- tige of doubt. In a letter of Lieut .- Governor Clarke to the Duke of Newcastle, dated New York, June 2d, 1738, in which he announces the receipt of news that a land and
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naval force was arrived at St. Augustine from Cuba in order to make a descent in Georgia, occurs this passage :- " The Council were of opinion that there was sufficient cause to embargo Kip and Griffith sloops-both owned by one Wil- liam Walton, of this town, who, as I am informed, has sup- plied that place for many years by contract. He protested against the Custom House officers for refusing to clear ships. Captain Walton thought it hard that his vessels entering and clearing for Carolina (as they always do for some Eng- lish port) should be embargoed, while other vessells that en- ter for the same place should be suffered to depart; but I can not think it either hard or unjust, Walton being the only person in this place whom the Spaniards permit to trade at Augustine, where he has a Factor who has resided there many years."
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