USA > New York > Colonial records of the New York Chamber of Commerce, 1768-1784 : with historical and biographical sketches > Part 46
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SCHUYLER JOHN, JUNIOR .- The son of Col. John Schuyler, the wealthy proprietor of the Belleville Copper Mines in New Jersey. He was en- gaged in the importation of European and India Goods, at his store in Dock Street, between the Coenties' and Slip Market in 1771. In 1774 he dropped the Junior. His store was still in Great Dock Street. He then advertised domestic produce chiefly. He married Mary Hunter, on the 16th February, 1769. His wife died on the 23d March, 1806, in the 56th year of her age.
SEABURY DAVID .- Of the house of " Remsen & Seabury." This was a large dry goods importing house. Their place of business was on Hano- ver Square. This partnership was dissolved in April, 1774. MR. SEABURY remained in the city during the British occupation, and carried on his business at No. 353 Smith Street. In June, 1783, he charitably aided the
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loyal refugees, who were about embarking for Nova Scotia. The 9th August following, all the household furniture of Mrs. Anne Lyne was sold at auc- tion, at the "house formerly occupied by MR. DAVID SEABURY, No. 17 Smith Street." MR. SEABURY had married Anne Lyne, probably a daughter of this lady, on the 5th September, 1770. It seems from this notice that he had withdrawn from the city.
SEAGROVE JAMES .- In 1775 his name appears as Captain Lieuten- ant, in an Independent Company of Foot, called the Royal Artillery. He was one of the addressers of Lord and General Howe, in October, 1776. He is mentioned by Mr. John Moore, in his account of the Social Club, as one of its members. He describes him as "disaffected " to the Crown, and as having gone to the southward as a merchant.
SEARS ISAAC .- He was one of the foremost figures in the stirring scenes enacted in America during the latter half of the last century. His profession as the Captain of a peaceful trader being broken up by the French war, he entered at once into privateering. In 1757 he took out the Dogger Decoy of 6 guns, and later the sloop-of-war Catharine ; but his most daring exploits were while in charge of the sloop Belle Isle, of 14 guns, owned by John Schermerhorn & Co., merchants, which put to sea in 1759. In September he fell in with a large French ship of 24 guns and eighty men, and attacked her without hesitation. He was twice disabled and forced to withdraw to refit. The third time he grappled the Frenchman and a long contest took place, but the grappling giving way, the sloop sheered off with nine men killed and twenty wounded. A gale springing up separated the vessels. In 1761 he was shipwrecked on the Isle of Sables, and with difficulty saved his own and the lives of his crew. The prestige of these exploits gave him a strong moral ascendancy over his fellow-citizens, and he seems to have fairly won the title of King which was given to him. In the resist- ance to the Stamp Act, and the daily struggles which took place with the soldiery about the Liberty Pole, SEARS was always in the front rank and ex- posed himself without hesitation. A complete sketch of his life would make a history of this stormy period, for there is hardly an event connected with it in which he does not appear. Fresnau, in his poetical squib upon Gaine, the trimming editor of the New York Mercury, gives an amusing account of him :
" At this time arose a certain King SEARS, Who made it his study to banish our fears. He was without doubt a person of merit, Great knowledge, some wit, and abundance of spirit ; Could talk like a lawyer, and that without fee, And threatened perdition to all that drank TEA."
He was one of the Committee of Correspondence of Fifty-one, in 1774, and clung steadfastly to his old friend McDougall in the divisions in that body. He was also one of the General Committee of One Hundred chosen by the citizens in 1775. He was known from one end of America to the other as a daring Son of Liberty. When John Hancock passed through New York in May, 1775, he lodged with MR. SEARS. In the autumn of that year SEARS entered the city at noonday with a Company of Connecticut Light Horse, and destroyed the Tory press of Rivington, which had made itself obnoxious to the Whigs. Before the War he was engaged in a small importing business, which does not appear to have been very satisfactory, as he accepted the post of Inspector of Pot and Pearl
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Ashes, which he held till 1772. During the War he was engaged in some business in Boston, but returned to New York at the peace, and made a partnership with his son-in-law, Paschal N. Smith, who appears at an earlier period as a Captain of an eastern trader. Their business was not successful, and MR. SEARS again resumed his voyages. He died in China, on the 28th October, 1786. His son Isaac died at Martinique, in February, 1795.
SETON WILLIAM .- The family of Seton is one of the oldest and most renowned of Scotland, and the name is familiar alike to the lover of history, ballad, and romance. From a remote period in history it has been settled in the County of Fife.
WILLIAM SETON, the son of John Seton, Gentleman of Parfroth, Fife- shire, Scotland, and Elizabeth Seton, of the House of Carriston (also Seton), was born in the year 1746. He came to America at an early age. What motive induced his emigration is not known. His family were then, or soon after, well established at home. His brother James was a banker at Edin- burgh. Three of his sisters were married-Lady Sinott, Lady Cayley, Mrs. Berry, mother of the Misses Berry, the faithful friends and favorites of Sir Horace Walpole in his latter days. A fourth, Margaret, came later to this country and married a cousin of the same name.
WILLIAM married, soon after his arrival, Rebecca Curson, as appears by the record, in the Book of New York Marriages, of the license granted under date March 2, 1767, being then not over twenty-one years of age. This lady was a daughter of Mr. Richard Curson, of Maryland, a gentleman of English family, whose descendants are now well-known residents of Balti- more. After her death he was again married to a second sister, Anna Maria Curson, whom he also survived some years. This order of marriage was a vexed ecclesiastical question at this period, especially in the Episco- pal Church, in which faith MR. SETON had been reared.
In the year 1768 the young merchant must have already enjoyed the respect and confidence of his seniors, for on the 2d August he was admitted to membership in the Chamber of Commerce. He seems at this period to have determined on a permanent residence in New York. In 1770 his name appears, WILLIAM SETON, GENTLEMAN, admitted freeman of the city. He was engaged in the shipping and importing business, at first in partnership with his brother-in-law, Richard Curson, under the name of CURSON & SETON. In the New York Gazette, April 15, 1771, is published a notice : " CURSON & SETON, removed from Dock Street to Hunter's Quay (alias Rotten Row), opposite Mr. Gouverneur's." At a later period he was the head of the house of SETON, MAITLAND & CO.
MR. SETON does not appear to have taken part in the events which immediately preceded the Revolution. His youth and the influence of his friends ; his comparative isolation and slender ties in this country ; his family at home, to whom he was devotedly attached, and their large and influential connections, would naturally lead him to great caution in his conduct. But it is probable that he needed none of these to hold him stead- fast in his allegiance. His sympathy with the Episcopalian Church, and the antagonism to the Presbyterian element natural to the descendant of an old Scotch Catholic family, doubtless attached him to the Episcopalian party, when Church and King were alike the objects of attack by the bold dis- senting element then struggling for mastery. Perhaps, too, a natural pride in that brave loyalty which was the distinguishing characteristic and honor of the race, had no small part in the decision of the question in his mind.
On the 5th May, 1775, when the excited people, aroused by the news of the Lexington fight, took possession of the public buildings, and elected a
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Committee of One Hundred to control the city, WILLIAM SETON was named eighth on the list ; but it will be remembered that all shades of opinion were included in this Committee, whose duty was not so much to promote the objects of revolution as to secure the peace and order of the city.
Though moderate in his opinions, his leanings were to the royal side, and he of course remained in the city when the British troops took posses- sion, in the fall of 1776, and every sincere Whig retired with the retreating American army under the personal command of Washington.
His business was probably not prosperous at this period of general derangement, for on the establishment, by General Howe, of a Superin- tendent's Department, 27th July, 1777, MR. SETON was appointed Assistant Ware House Keeper-an office which he retained for several years, certainly until 1780, and probably to the close of the War.
In 1779 he was appointed Notary Public under the British Government. This Notarial seal, in the name of King George the Third, is still in the possession of his namesake and grandson, Mr. William Seton, of Cragdon, Westchester County.
In 1782 he was named Secretary to the Superintendent of Police of the city.
In 1783, on the Ioth December, he advertised himself in the Royal Gazette as Deputy Agent of the French Packets, office at 215 Water Street.
During this period MR. SETON retained his connection with the Cham- ber of Commerce, and when, after a lapse of four years, the resident members, on the 21st June, 1779, petitioned General Daniel Jones, the commandant of the city, for permission to resume their meetings, he ap- pears to have been in his seat.
The moderation of MR. SETON, and the kindness which marked his whole life, as well during this troubled period as in the more peaceful years which immediately succeeded the British evacuation in 1783, was soon to meet its reward. On the organization, in 1784, of the Bank of New York, the first fiscal institution in the country, preceding by seven years the Bank of the United States, established in 1791, Mr. Alexander McDougall was appointed President, and MR. WILLIAM SETON Cashier-a position for which the known uprightness of his character, the sterling nature of his integrity, so honorably shown in his mercantile career, eminently qualified him, and in which he found a broad field for the exercise of his rare dili- gence, precision, and methodical habits. His appointment in connection with Mr. McDougall, the early, constant Son of Liberty and a distinguished officer of the Revolutionary forces, is an evidence of the esteem in which he was held, even by the most determined of the liberal party. He contin- ued in this important position, commending himself to the affection of his fellow citizens by his amiable and courteous manner, until the 10th June, 1794, when he retired, and was succeeded by Mr. Charles Wilkes. His death occurred in the month of June, 1798, in the 52d year of his age-a want of timely attention to a fall he had met with on his own doorstep the preceding winter, while escorting a friend in freezing rain to a carriage with his wonted politeness. The loss of such a man, before his allotted years were ripe, was a public calamity, and was so felt by the community, large numbers of whom followed his remains to their last resting-place. He was buried in the vault of John Fell, on the south side of Trinity Church yard.
MR. SETON resided at one period at the Banking House, in Hanover Square, afterwards at the corner of Stone and Mill Streets-the store and office being in the rear, in Mill Street. It was the usage of the times for merchants to occupy the lower story of their dwelling-houses for business
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purposes. The year of the first yellow fever, the family remained in town, in the vicinity of Old Slip, all in health, but the following summer MR. SETON purchased a country residence, which he named CRAG-DON, probably in memory of scenes of his youth among the "rocks and brooks " of Scotland. Its locality was in Bloomingdale, nearly opposite the present site of the New York Orphan Asylum. At the time of his death he was engaged in building a mansion-house not far from what is called Carmans- ville.
The features of this worthy gentleman are preserved in a fine and faith- ful portrait, painted in 1795 by the celebrated Stuart, in the possession of the family.
MR. SETON had a family of fourteen children, ten of whom married. They intermarried with the families of Hoffman and Ogden of this city. The last survivor of this large family is Samuel W. Seton, now 78 years of age, well known from his connection of more than a half-century with the cause of public education in New York City. In the third and later generations there are 87 surviving descendants, the name being continued in the families of Mr. William Seton, of Crag-don, Westchester County, of Messrs. Alfred and E. A. Seton, of Opelousas, Louisiana ; while in the female line the old blood runs in the veins of the Lyles of Virginia ; Mait- lands of Baltimore ; Beans of Massachusetts ; McCallisters of Pennsyl- vania ; Roberts, Gilmans of New York; Ogdens of New York and Oregon ; in England, in the children of Dr. Paterson, of London; in Africa, in the family of Rev. C. C. Hoffman, of the Episcopal mission at Cape Palmas ; and Miss Catharine Seton has consecrated her life to charitable deeds as a Sister of Mercy in this city .- From memoranda furnished by Samuel W. Seton, Esq.
SHARPE RICHARD .- He appears in 1756 with the McEvers, Alsops, Rutgers, and others, as an owner of the patents of Minisink and Wayawanda, then encroached upon by the people of New Jersey. During the French war he was joint owner, with Lawrence Kortright and Jacobus Van Zandt, in several privateers. He was a partner in the Iron Furnace of Peter T. Curtenius, and also one of the Clerks of the Old Insurance office, which was opened at the Merchants' Coffee House for the convenience of the Under- writers. He remained in New York during the War, and was one of the Vestry named by Governor Robertson to oversee the poor of the city. His store was opposite the Mayor's, in 1778, and his business the sale of wines.
SHERBROOKE MILES .- He was one of the auction-house of "Perry, Hays & Sherbrooke." In 1774 he was one of the Committee of Corre- spondence of Fifty-one. He remained in the city during the War, and carried on his business from his store in. Mill Street. Part of the time he resided at Flatbush, L. I., where he was captured in June, 1778, by Captain Mariner, who owed him a personal grudge. This was the expedition upon which Mr. Bache and Major Moncrieffe were taken prisoners. He was one of the Vestry appointed by General Robertson to relieve the poor. In 1779 his property was confiscated and he was banished. In 1784 he petitioned the Legislature for a reversal of the attainder. He was living at No. 9 Whitehall Street in 1790.
SIMSON SAMPSON .- The son of Joseph Simson and Rebekah Simson, was born in the City of New York. He was in partnership with his brother Solomon, the style of their advertisements of Beaver Coating
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and numerous other articles of their importation being "at Simson's in Stone Street." He was greatly respected, and one of the prominent men of his time. "It is said of him that he was a remarkably pious and consci- entious Jew, celebrated for punctuality and strict honesty." He died of a consumption on Sunday night, the 28th August, 1773, and was buried in the grounds of the Congregation "Shearith Israel." In June of the next year, Solomon, as Executor, called in all the outstanding claims of the partnership of Sampson & Solomon Simson .- Partly communicated by Rev. Ansel Leo, of New York.
SMITH RICHARD .- He was an addresser of Lord and General Howe in October, 1776. He was an importer from England, chiefly of flour and provisions. His store was at No. II Queen Street.
SPENS WALTER .- A merchant in the English and Scotch trade. He came passenger from Greenock in the snow Georgia, which was order- ed by the Provincial Congress "to return with her cargo from whence she came," in October, 1775. MR. SPENS had an invoice of goods on board, and there were also consignments to the Buchanans, but they were not permit- ted to be landed. MR. SPENS adhered to the Crown. In 1778 he was en- gaged in business at 1091 Water Street, receiving and clearing packets for London and selling European goods. In 1780 he was at 45 Maiden Lane. In September of that year he sailed in the fleet which took off Governor Tryon. In his absence his business, then chiefly in Port and Lisbon Wines, was transacted by Hugh Smith, at No. 21 Little Dock Street, as appears by advertisement of the latter in the N. V. Gazette, Feb. 26, 1781. He was in partnership at one time with Mr. Samuel Kemble, under the firm of " Kemble & Spens."
STEPPLE WILLIAM .- His name was signed to the loyal address to Lord and General Howe, in October, 1776, and it is known that he remained in New York during the War ; but what was the nature of his business does not appear.
STRACHAN JOHN .- Nothing appears of this person. He was proba- bly of the firm of " Lee & Strachan."
TAYLOR JOHN .- He was born at Fintry, Scotland, in the year 1752, and emigrating to America, soon after reaching his majority, settled in the City of New York. In 1778 he was engaged in the auction business, his Vendue Store being near the Fly Market. He returned home before the close of the War, and was married to Margaret Scott at Glasgow, Octo- ber 27, 1783. He returned to New York and engaged in the importa- tion of dry goods shortly after, from 225 Queen Street. At a later period he united with him his two sons, James and Andrew, and continued the business chiefly on Commission, under the style of JOHN TAYLOR & SONS, at 185 Pearl Street. He died in New York City, June 30, 1833, and was buried in the Murray Street Church. His remains have been since removed to Greenwood Cemetery. He is said to have been a "man of strong, vigorous, and discriminating mind, of the strictest integrity, per- fectly reliable, and most punctual in meeting his engagements." He was a man of earnest religious convictions, and "the influence of his faith was visible in all the relations and doings of life-in the family, the counting- house, and in his general intercourse with society." He had seven children. I. Margaret, widow of John Johnston, of "Boorman, Johnston & Co."
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2. Elizabeth, who died at New Haven. 3. John R., deceased. 4. Andrew, residing in England. 5. Jennet, who died at Duffield, Conn. 6. Robert L., shipping merchant of New York. 7. Scott, who died in Brooklyn .- Com- municated by John Taylor Johnston, Esq., of New York.
TEMPLETON OLIVER .- Of the house of "Templeton & Stewart," Vendue Markers, one of the most prominent auction houses of the time. The partnership was dissolved by mutual consent, by public advertisement, September 1, 1783. OLIVER TEMPLETON was an old merchant of New York. His advertisements of English goods are to be found in 1764. On the 13th June, 1774, it was announced in the New York Gazette that "last week Mr. OLIVER TEMPLETON was married by the Rev. 'Dr. Cooper, President of King's College, to Miss Betty Brownjohn, daughter of Mr. William Brownjohn, an eminent druggist in this city." MR. TEMPLETON died in New York, in November, 1792.
TENCH JOHN .- Of the house of " John Tench & Co." auctioneers, in the city during the British occupation. He joined the Loyalist Association, organized in New York in 1782, to settle at Shelbourne, Nova Scotia, the following year with his family. He married Rachel Evans on the 12th Sep- tember, 1778.
THOMPSON ACHESON .- He was in 1764 engaged in the despatch of vessels and cargoes to Ireland, and an importer in return of Irish Beef, Linens, &c. His store was opposite that of John Alexander & Co., near Burling Slip. He afterwards was in partnership with Robert Alexander, but his name disappears from the records of commerce soon after his elec- tion to the Chamber in 1768.
THOMPSON HENRY .- In 1780 he was at 954 Water Street, in the dry goods trade. He was engaged in 1781 in the ship-chandlery business at No. 51 Water Street, between Burling Slip and the Fly Market. His name is not found after the peace.
THURMAN JOHN, JUNIOR .- In a deposition made by John Thurman, Sr., on the 19th March, 1742, with regard to the famous Negro Plot of that year, he appears as a baker. He had married Nealta Quick in 1737. The son was a dry goods importer in Wall Street, on the corner of South Street, in 1765. He seems to have risen early to a position of honor among the merchants of the city. He took an active part with the Sons of Liberty in 1765. He was one of the Committee who, in the name of the Freemen and Freeholders of the City of New York, requested the Representatives to move for a brass statue of William Pitt, in gratitude for his exertions in the repeal of the Stamp Act. He was also one of the Committee of Inspectors to enforce the observance of the non-importation agreement, which was again resolved on in the renewal of the aggressions of Parliament. His sym- pathies were not with the radical leaders of the organization, and he was as determined in his resistance to the later movements as he had been earnest in the support of the earlier efforts of the Sons of Liberty. He was one of the Committee of Correspondence of Fifty-one, chosen in May, 1775, and made the motion to disavow the meeting in the Fields, called and presided over by McDougall. From this time he appears to have acted against McDougall and his friends. He presided over the meeting held at the house of De LaMontagnie, in March, 1775, to thwart the purposes of the Committee who had recommended a general meeting to elect delegates to
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the Second Congress. He remained in the city during the War, but he does not appear to have taken an active part with the royal party. In 1784, at the petition of the Whigs, his old friends, he was permitted to return to the State.
TRENHOLM WILLIAM .- Nothing appears of this person in the records of the period.
USTICK WILLIAM .- Of the firm of WILLIAM & HENRY USTICK. These brothers were heavily engaged in the hardware business. In 1774 Henry Ustick had a nailery on Pot Bakers Hill, in Smith Street, and at the same period WILLIAM was an importer of ironmongery of all kinds, at the sign of the Lock and Key, between Burling's Slip and Beekman's Slip. They were both strong loyalists, and signers of the address to Lord and General Howe, in 1776. In fact, in April of that year they had made them- selves unusually obnoxious to the Sons of Liberty by their breach of the non-importation agreement and the supply of the royal troops at Boston with pickaxes.
WILLIAM USTICK was in the iron business as early as 1763. In 1757 he married Susannah Pelletrau. She died on Sunday, the 14th day of September, 1783, and was buried in Trinity Church yard. His daughter Betsey was married to Lawrence Hartshorne, of Monmouth County, New Jersey, January 20, 1780. She died at Halifax in 1793. The firm of Harts- horne & Ustick sprung from this connection. After the peace MR. USTICK resided in Flushing. His son, William Ustick, Jr., was in the nail business, at 33 Queen Street, during the War, and continued in the same business after the peace. The latter died Jan 31st, 1836, aged 72 years.
VAN DAM ANTHONY .- First Secretary of the Chamber of Com- merce. For a sketch of his life see page 105, ante.
VAN HORNE AUGUSTUS .- The son of Cornelius Garret Van Horne. One of the most respected of the merchants of the last century, and of a family which from the earliest period held a leading position in the Colony, alike under the Dutch and English rule. On the 21st May, 1764, he advertises a cargo of Jamaica rum by the puncheon. In 1765 (the date of the bond was February 13), he married Anne Marston. He does not appear to have taken any decided stand in the politics of the time, and although arrested in August, 1776, by General Washington, in Queens County, and sent to Norwich, with a number of other persons, he was shortly after released on parole and permitted to return to his home. Part of the Van Horne family were ardent Whigs. Captain Graydon, in his memoirs, describes young ladies of this name as at Flatbush during his confinement, as "handsome and well bred," and " avowed Whigs." MR. VAN HORNE appears to have remained quiet in the city. He was one of the Vestry for the relief of the poor in 1777. In 1781 he resided at No. 7 Little Dock Street, fronting Princess Street. After the War he resided No. 58 Smith Street.
VAN ZANDT JACOBUS .- Of the dry goods house of JACOBUS VAN ZANDT & SON. One of the active Sons of Liberty of 1768. In 1769 he signed, with Lamb, Sears, McDougall, and others, the address to the Repre- sentatives of New York in the Assembly, in favor of a secret ballot, as a protection to the popular liberties. He was a member of the Committee of
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