USA > New York > Colonial records of the New York Chamber of Commerce, 1768-1784 : with historical and biographical sketches > Part 39
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The Committee appointed the Friday succeeding for the election. But it appears that another division occurred, as on Friday an appeal was addressed to the citizens by the Chairman.
" To the Freeholders and Freemen of the City and County of New York :
" We regret, Gentlemen, the necessity we are under of
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addressing you upon this occasion ; and perceive, with anx- iety, the disorder and confusion into which this city has been unfortunately involved.
" From cool and temperate counsels only, good conse- quences may be expected; nor can union (so essential to the success of our cause) be preserved unless every member of society will consent to be governed by the sense of the majority, and join in having that sense fairly and candidly ascertained.
" Conscious that the powers you conferred upon us were not adequate to the present exigency of affairs, we were unanimously of opinion that another Committee should be appointed ; and well knowing that questions of the highest moment and last importance would come under their consideration, and call for their determination, we thought it most advisable that it should consist of a large number in order that by interesting many of weight and consequence in all public measures, they might meet with the more advo- cates, receive less opposition, and be attended with more certain success.
" The names of 100 persons were mentioned by this Committee,-you were at liberty to approve or reject them and appoint others in their room; and that your sense might be the better taken, polls in each ward were directed to be opened : What could be more fair ?
" By all means, Gentlemen, let us avoid divisions; and instead of cherishing a spirit of animosity against one another, let us join in forwarding a reconciliation of all parties, and thereby strengthen the general cause.
" Many, no doubt, have become objects of distrust and suspicion ; and perhaps not without reason. You have now an opportunity of trying them. It surely never can be good policy to put it out of their power to join us heartily.
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It is time enough to reject them when they refuse us their aid. In short, Gentlemen, consider that our contest is for Liberty, and therefore we should be extremely cautious how we permit our struggles to hurry us into acts of violence and extravagance inconsistent with freedom.
" Permit us to entreat you to consider these matters seriously, and act with temper as well as firmness; and by all means join in the appointment of some Committee to whom you may resort for counsel, and who may rescue you from tumult, anarchy, and confusion.
" We take the liberty therefore of recommending it to you to go to the usual places of election in each of your wards on Monday next at 9 o'clock in the morning, and then and there give your voices for a committee of 100; to consist of such persons as you may think most worthy of confidence, and most capable of the arduous task.
"Being also fully persuaded of the necessity of a Provin- cial Convention being summoned with all possible expe- dition, we recommend it to you, at the same time, to choose 21 deputies to represent this city and county, in such Con- vention ; to meet here on the 22d day of May next.
" By Order of the Committee, " ISAAC Low, Chairman.
" New York, April 28th, 1775."
This Address seems to have had the desired effect, and on Monday the 1st May the General Committee of 100 and the twenty-one deputies to the Provincial Congress were elected.
Of this Committee, known by the name of the Commit- tee of One Hundred, MR. ISAAC Low was also chosen chair- man.
The Provincial Congress met in this city at the Ex-
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change on the 22d May, and assumed the direction of affairs. MR. Low was a constant attendant at its meetings, and was appointed to its most important duties. He was made one of the Committee selected to consider the expediency of emitting a Continental paper currency, and reported in favor of the plan early in June. He was also upon the Committee to prepare a plan for an accom- modation between Great Britain and the Colonies, and to advise Congress of the same. As yet only the most rad- ical of the New York members entertained the idea of a formal and permanent separation from the mother-country.
This Provincial Congress finally adjourned on the 30th June, 1776. A new Provincial Congress met at White Plains on the 9th July of the same year, which on the 15th changed its title to " the Convention of the Representatives of the State of New York."
In the intervals between the sessions of these bodies, New York was governed by a Committee of Safety raised by them.
MR. Low's opinions, like those of many of the time, were all against a separation from the mother-country. A redress of the wrongs of the Colonies, within the British Empire, was the object of his hopes. There were many who felt that it was a desertion of the men who had fought. their battles in the British Parliament to break away from them forever. New York was closely connected with Great Britain. Letters passed freely between her merchants and the leaders of the great Whig party. Many in England looked upon the struggle as a common cause. Indeed, the sword was drawn in America in the King's name, and the early commissions granted, ordered their holders to act in his interest.
In the Congress of '74, MR. Low had strongly ex-
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pressed himself against Independence; and when the Con- gress of '76 broke the last tie which bound the Colonies to the mother-country, and ushered into the world a new nation, his sympathies were all against the movement.
He retired from the city to the Raritan. Here it seems that he was at one time arrested and confined by the New Jersey Convention, in consequence of a letter of General Washington "advising that body that a number of persons deemed unfriendly to the interests of America were suspected of holding a correspondence with the ene- my from Shrewsbury;" but upon the General's statement that he had received satisfaction with respect to MR. Low, he was released. On the occupation of New York by the British he returned to the city, and in 1777 was named one of the Vestry for the relief of the poor.
At a later period MR. Low seems to have entered heart and soul into the British cause, while his brother, Nicholas Low, rendered valuable services to the American cause, and was one of the tried and trusty counsellors of the Patriot party.
The family connections of MR. Low mostly shared his opinions. The brothers Hugh and Alexander Wallace- the former of whom was a member of the King's Council -- had married sisters of MR. Low, and were strong loyal- ists ; and the family of his wife (the Cuylers) were equally devoted to the Royal cause. One of her brothers, Cornelius Cuyler, was in the British service, and rose to high rank and honors : he became a Major General, and was knighted.
To MR. Low may probably be attributed the revival of the Chamber of Commerce and the exercise of its functions and influence in aid of the military authorities.
MR. Low had been elected President of this mercantile body in May, 1775 ; but the state of public affairs was such
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that no meetings had been held from that day until June, 1779, when, the business of the city having somewhat re- vived under the authority granted by the King's Commis- sioners (the Earl of Carlisle, Sir Henry Clinton, and Mr. William Eden), in the preceding fall, a Chamber was con- vened. There was, however, little or no healthy commerce in the city. The packet had given way to the privateer ; the white-winged messenger of Peace and Civilization was turned into the instrument of death and destruction ; the creature of commerce, its powers were used against the author of its being. The extent to which privateering was carried is quite surprising. The columns of the news- papers teem with lists of captured vessels and notices of public vendues of their cargoes. Between the eighteenth of September, 1778, and the eighth of March, 1779, one hun- dred and twenty-one Letters of Marque were issued by Governor Tryon, and their holders brought in one hundred and sixty-five vessels which, with their cargoes, were val- ued at six hundred thousand pounds. On the other hand the patriots were not idle, and the hardy seamen of the coast pursued and captured the British traders on every sea, and at times cut out whole fleets of merchantmen from under the guns of their convoys. Until the close of the war the Cham- ber continued to render most efficient service to the authori- ties ; in fact, the city was governed by its advice. The records contain but little else than debates on regulations asked of the Chamber by the Commandant and his subordinates.
In 1779 the property of MR. Low was confiscated. At the close of the war he withdrew from the city and made his residence in England. He died at Cowes, in the Isle of Wight, 25th July, 1791. His only son, Isaac, was, in 1815, a Commissary General in the British Army, and living near Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, Hants.
ANTHONY VAN DAM.
FIRST SECRETARY OF THE NEW YORK CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.
1768-1783.
ONG after the downfall of the power of Holland in the New Netherlands, a scion of the sturdy old Dutch stock rose, in spite of the prejudice of race with which the early settlers were looked upon by the Eng- lish Colonists, to the chief post of honor in the State, and revived the memory of the Great Republic.
The early history of Albany preserves the name of Claes Ripse Van Dam, a leading trader in the little settlement which had clustered about Fort Orange before its surrender to the English in 1664. He was an Alderman, Commis- sioner to the Indians, and held other places of trust in the infant village.
Rip Van Dam, whose short rule of the New York Col- ony fills a bright page in its annals, is thought to have been a son of the old Dutch trader. He was born at Albany about the middle of the seventeenth century, though at what date is now unknown. Members of his family resided and traded there many years after his removal to New York.
From trading as a captain in one of his own vessels, the Sloop Catharine, with the West Indies, he rose as early as the beginning of the eighteenth century to the first rank among the merchants of the city ; his name appears even before this
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period (in 1690), together with those of De Lancey, Van Cortlandt, De Peyster, Stuyvesant, Bayard, and De Forest, the principal inhabitants of the Province, in a petition to WILLIAM and MARY for relief against the measures of Leis- ler. From this time forward he took open and manly stand against all abuses, and watched eagerly over all that affected the Trade of the young Colony. Indeed, his first entrance into the exciting scenes of politics seems to have been on oc- casion of the seizure of his vessels for alleged infringements of the Customs Laws during Bellomont's administration. Mr. Van Dam eagerly threw himself into the opposition which shortly secured the upper hand in the Government. On the arrival of Lord Cornbury he was, in June, 1702, appointed one of the Council. The Republican party, of which Mr. Van Dam was an active leader, had gained great power. William Nicoll and Lewis Morris, in the Assembly, had taken advantage of the needs of the Government, at the time of the expedition to Canada, to wring from it cer- tain concessions. They had refused all supplies until they were granted the power to issue bills of credit for the Colo- ny, and until their chief, Morris, was made Chief Justice of the Province-the first native of America who held that office.
Mr. Van Dam held his seat in the Council for a long period. On the 1st July, 1731, on the death of Governor Montgomerie, he became, as senior councillor, President of the Council and acting Governor of the Province. This position he held until the arrival of Governor Crosby, Aug. 1, 1732.
Smith, the great authority upon the history of this period, speaks in terms of slight of the administrative abilities of President Van Dam. On the death of Governor Montgo- merie, July 1, 1731, "the chief command then devolved
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upon Rip Van Dam, Esquire, he being the oldest councillor and an eminent merchant of a fair estate, though distinguish- ed more for the integrity of his heart than his capacity to hold the reins of government. This administration is un- fortunately signalised by the memorable encroachments at Crown Point ; "-the reason for his poor opinion of Mr. Van Dam's powers being what he terms his tardy notice of the danger which would result to the English Colonies from the French fort at Crown Point. Smith charges that the first news of this danger came from Governor Belcher of Massachusetts. A reference to the New York Council Minutes disproves the correctness of this statement. It there appears (vol. xvi. 174) that the letter of Belcher was in answer to one written by Van Dam. The Government of New York had notice of the design of the French as early as Dec. 3, 1730 (ibid. 73), and two months after the Ex- ecutive power fell into his hands, the subject was laid before the New York General Assembly by President Van Dam.
On the 2d November, 1731, Van Dam wrote to the Board of Trade, London, on the subject. (Col. Doc. v. 925.) The letter of Governor Belcher was not received until some months later, and was communicated by Van Dam 4th Feb- ruary, 1732. (Smith, 220.)
" Die Jovis, 9 ho. A. M., Sept. 30, 1731. Col. Myndert Schuyler brought from the President a Letter from the Com- missioners of Indian affairs at Albany ; as also a minute of their meeting dated the 25th inst., importing, that the French, with about eighty men, had built a Fort and inclosed it with Stockadoes, at the Crown Point on the south end of Corlar's Lake, near the CARRYING PLACE above Saratoga; that they had also built a House of forty feet, and were busy to erect two more there; and that the Persons who brought this ac- count did add, that they were credibly informed in Canada,
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that the French designed to inclose the said Fort and Build- ings with a Stone Wall, next spring; and they positively designed to go up at the same time with 200 men to Fiede- rodequat, lying on the south side of Cadaragua Lake, above Oswego, near the Seneka's Country, in order to stop the Eng- lish trade in Oswego.
" The House, taking the same into consideration, are justly apprehensive that if these attempts and encroach- ments are not prevented, they may prove of the last conse- quence not only to this Colony, but also to several others of his Majesty's Colonies on this continent. Inasmuch as the French can march from Crown Point in three Days to Albany itself (whereby the frontiers would be extreamely ex- posed), in case a Rupture should happen between that crown and Great Britain, and in the meanwhile they may at Fiede- rodequat obstruct the Beaver and Fur Trade at Oswego, which has been acquired there at a vast expence; " and there- fore came to sundry Resolutions : '1. That the President represent the case to the King. 2. That the Commissioners of Indian affairs at Albany dispose the Six Nations, particu- larly the Senekas, to prevent the French from obstructing the trade; and finally, that his Honor be further addressed that he will be pleased to send Copies of the above-men- tioned Letter and Minute to the Governor of Connecticut, of the Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania, in as much as the said attempts may affect them likewise.'
So far as the judgment of the historian depended on his incorrect information on this important matter, it is clear that it was erroneous. The error of Smith, in his statement, was first pointed out by Dr. O'Callaghan, in a MS. note, com- municated to the New York Historical Society.
The pride of power worked no change in the heart or conduct of Mr. Van Dam. As chief of the State he was
.
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always faithful to his views of right and duty, without a thought of self. His course offers one of those rare instances of a use of office to secure the rights of the governed rather than to add to the power of the governors. There is no axiom of government more true, than that authority seeks to increase rather than abate the extent of its power. Perhaps he had drawn his lesson from the then late example of the self-denying character of the great Stadtholder. Tenacity has always been a leading trait in the Dutch character.
Rip Van Dam married Sarah Vanderspiegle in the city of New York on the 14th day of September, 1684. By her he had many children. The baptisms of fifteen are given in the records of the Dutch church, between the years 1685 and 1707. The tenth and eleventh of these children were twins.
Many of this large family lived to years of maturity, and allied themselves with some of the most powerful families of New York. Rip, Richard, and Isaac, continued the name in the male line. Rip married Judith Bayard; Richard, Cornelia Beekman ; Isaac, Isabella Of the daughters, Maria was married to Nicholas Parcel; Catalyntie to Wal- ter Thong, whose daughter Mary was the wife of Robert, third proprietor of the manor of Livingston. Elizabeth married, 1st, John Sybrandt; 2d, Jacobus Kiersted.
Isaac Van Dam, son of Rip Van Dam and Sarah Van- derspiegle, was born in New York, and baptized in the Dutch Church on the 9th January, 1704. Of his life little is known now; his marriage does not appear upon the Book of New York marriages. He was named one of the ex- ecutors of the will of his father, whom he outlived but a few months.
He died on the 10th December, 1749, the last surviving son of Rip Van Dam. His will, proved 7th May, 1750, 33
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is recorded in the Surrogate's office of New York. In it he names six children-four sons, ANTHONY, Rip, Isaac, John ; and two daughters, Sarah and Catharine Mary.
ANTHONY VAN DAM, the eldest son of Isaac Van Dam and Isabella his wife, was born (doubtless in the City of New York) in 1731, the year of his grandfather's adminis- tration of the government of New York Colony. Of his early life nothing is known. The first notice of him as a merchant, to be met with, appeared in the New York Mer- cury for November 12, 1753.
" CORNE & VAN DAM, at their store in King Street, next to Captain Waddell's, Have Imported Yard-wide venetians, and cross-barred hungarians, watered chines, callimancoes, blue, red and green worsted plush, tammies, garlix, bed-ticks, china blue calicoe cambricks, common and white chapel needles, pins in packs and pounds, best London pewter, pint and quart mugs, tea and milk pots, porringers, a large assortment of tin ware, nales, sod irons, corks of all kinds, shovels, tongs, brass cocks, jew's-harps, iron coffee-mills, mouse traps, gimlets, knitting-needles, frying-pans, candle- sticks, spades, compasses, saws, bellowses, hob-nails, with sundry other goods too tedious to mention." The CORNE of this firm was Peter Corne, one of the most noted captains of the Port of New York. On the 24th December of the same year the name of the firm was signed to the agreement entered into, by the principal merchants, no longer "to receive Copper halfpence otherwise than fourteen for a shil- ling." On the first of May, 1754, they removed to the house of the Widow Henderson in Queen Street, between the Fly and Meal Markets, where they again advertise "a choice assortment of hosiery and all sorts of iron-mongery for ready money or short credit." Notices of importation, from London, of European and India goods by the Packets
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occasionally appear. Their business does not seem to have been prosperous, and the firm was shortly broken up. They announce in the New York Mercury of Oct. 10, 1757, that, their partnership having been some time dissolved, their debtors must pay before 20th November, "as they intend for England this winter ;" and on the 12th December fol- lowing they inform their delinquent debtors that they are indulged till 24th December, after which they will have their accounts to settle with an attorney, the firm being " determined to have their business settled by the 1st Jan- uary."
Though their mercantile house was dissolved, the part- ners had many subsequent joint transactions. On the 28th October, 1757, Peter Corne and ANTHONY VAN DAM, mer- chants and owners of the Brigantine "Betsey " (6 guns), applied for a Commission for the captain of this vessel. She was evidently about to start on a privateering expedi- tion against the French, the war between England and France then being at its height. On the 24th October of the next year ANTHONY VAN DAM and Company again ap- ply for a captain's commission, this time for Peter Corne himself, who resumed his old profession and took command of the Brigantine "Nebuchadnezzar," of 8 guns. Captain Corne was used to this adventurous life, and had long expe- rience in trading on the coast of Africa, and in the private cruises which were the fashion of the day. The records of the Colonies in the last century are full of accounts of these ventures, and it may be truly said that the whole American coast from Maine to Georgia swarmed with bold, adventur- ous, and too often unscrupulous privateers, who preyed upon the commerce of each of the great European nations in turn. Large fortunes were rapidly made in this manner. Rich Spanish Galleons, laden with the wealth of Mexico and
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Peru ; French ships, filled with the spices and coffee of their Indian provinces, and cargoes of West India Sugars and Rum, were constantly being brought into port to the joy of the inhabitants, who followed the career of their townsmen with interest, and to their own great benefit. By sea, as well as by land, the Colonies were gaining an experience and self-reliance, which was soon to be used in a mode then little dreamed of by British statesmen.
The next year MR. VAN DAM made some other business connection. He had probably been to England during the summer, and selected his goods for the coming season. On the 18th December, 1758, ANTHONY VAN DAM & Co. an- nounce, in the "New York Mercury," that " they have just opened the store next door to Mr. Stuyvesant's, in King Street, and have to sell, for ready money only, a variety of India and European Goods at the Lowest Prices." This rather unusual demand warrants the inference that the young merchant had but little money in his business.
In 1759 he appears to have given up the idea of sup- porting himself by trade only, and accepted the post of Clerk of the New York Insurance Office. Their first notice appeared in the "New York Mercury," on the 29th October, 1759. The office was opened at the House of the Widow Smith, adjoining the Merchants' Coffee House, which stood on the site recently occupied by the Journal of Commerce. Here MR. VAN DAM, "Clerk of the Office," promised constant attendance from the Hours of Eleven to One, and from Six to Eight in the Evening. He was con- nected with this office for many years. He signed, for the office, the subscription list for the publication of Bernard Roman's Maps of Florida in 1775.
The quiet, simple old Dutch habits were fast changing. The "Englishmen from Britain " brought in new fashions
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and customs with their new tongue. The shops which in the good old days of the Stuyvesants and Van Dams were plain and substantial, now shone "with painted glare and display." The English shopkeepers brought over the last London styles. The Hollanders, who loved long and easy lives, always closed their stores early enough for an after- noon ride or drive in the Bowerie or Bloomendale roads in the spring and fall, a walk on the river-banks in the summer evenings, or a sleighing in the winter, and all classes of the people joined in the amusements. The English opened their stores at night as well as by day, and pursued the dollar as ardently in the last century as the most eager in this. The old language too was almost forgotten, and schoolmasters announced instruction in the Dutch and Latin, as though both tongues were alike strange.
With new habits and hours of business they also intro- duced a new beverage, which was destined to become one of the civilizers of the world, and to do more to refine society than any invention of science or act of legislation. Ale-drinking had given way to tea-drinking. The fair hands of lovely dames no longer swung the heavy tankard, and the foam of beer marred no more the beauty of their rosy lips. Men left their deep potations to watch the grace- ful play of taper fingers dallying with delicate cups of por- celain and light spoons of precious metal. At the tea-table woman reigned supreme. That soft influence which could humanize a Johnson, soon modified the relations of the sexes and added to social life a charm before unknown : yet not without a murmur here and there from some conservative Englishman, who would fain cling to the old customs. In 1754 the muse herself was invoked in their support. A poem which appeared in the New York Mer- cury has these lines :
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