USA > New York > Famous families of New York; historical and biographical sketches of families which in successive generations have been identified with the development of the nation, Vol. I > Part 13
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Eugene Augustus [1829], son of Samuel Verplanck, was grad- uated from Rutgers in 1847, and then entered Harvard, where he Eugene A., the received the B.A. degree in 1848 and M.A. in 1851. Great Dean In the summer of 1848, he was one of the Agassiz Scientific Commission which explored the wilderness lying north of Lake Superior. On his return he entered the General The- ological Seminary of New York. He was graduated and ordained in 1851, and labored diligently in various churches. From 1864 to 1869, he was Rector of Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, and, from 1869 to 1879, of St. Mark's Church, Philadelphia. Besides attend- ing to his duties in these large churches, he was an active trustee of all the diocesan institutions. In 1879, he was elected Dean of the General Theological Seminary of the Protestant Episcopal Church. When he accepted the office, the institution seemed on the point of bankruptcy. Its debt was steadily increasing, its buildings were inconvenient and dilapidated, and its curriculum a relic of a former period. Through his energy, as well as his munificence, he managed to pay off all the old debts and to secure more than a million and a half of dollars for the endowment and other funds,
Samuel Verplanck Hoffman From a photograph furnished by the late Dean Hoffman
John T. Hoffman From a photograph furnished by the late Dean Hoffman
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and to erect a series of fine buildings on Chelsea Square. Few have belonged to more religious and learned societies in the United States or have been honored by degrees and titles from so many institutions. He married Mary Crooke Elmendorf, by whom he had nine children.
The Rev. Charles Frederick [1830], a brother of the Dean, was graduated from Trinity, Hartford, in 1851. He studied at the General Theological Seminary, and was graduated and ordained in 1854. In 1874, he accepted a call from the Reverend Charles F.,
Church of All Angels, New York City, where he re- Philanthropist mained until his death in 1897. His devotion to his calling was notable. The present noble structure, which cost over $150,000, was paid for by the clergyman, who, in 1894, erected a large parish-house at his own expense. Just before his death, he pur- chased and presented to the congregation the necessary ground for the large extension, which doubled the capacity of the church. It was completed and services held for the first time by the gener- ous pastor less than two weeks before his death. The vast fortune inherited from his parents he devoted to the cause of humanity. To the University of the South he gave $40,000 ; to St. Stephen's College, $100,000 in cash, a fireproof library-building, and a dor- mitory ; and to the Porter Institute of Charleston and to Hobart College, large sums of money. He erected Hoffman Hall, for the education of the negroes, at Nashville, Tenn., and Hoffman Hall, for the Negro Orphan Asylum, at Lynchburg, Va. He endowed chairs in colleges, an alcove in St. John's Inn, beds in St. Luke's and other hospitals, a library lectureship, and, with his mother and brother, the deanship in the General Theological Seminary. He wrote many valuable works on devotional topics, especially on the relations of religious and secular education. He married Eleanor Louisa Vail, by whom he had six children.
John Thompson [1828], son of Dr. Adrian Kissam, better known as Governor Hoffman of New York, was the statesman of the family. He was graduated from Union College John Thomp- in 1846, and in 1848, before reaching his majority, he son, Governor had become a member of the Democratic State Committee. The
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following year he was admitted to the bar, where he built up a lucrative practice. In 1860, he was elected Recorder of the City of New York. During this term he tried and sentenced the draft rioters of 1863.
He was re-elected Recorder ; then Mayor, and re-elected Mayor; elected and re-elected Governor. He, Tilden, and Cleve- land constitute the three great Democratic Governors of the Empire State.
The head of the seventh generation was Wickham [1821], son of Judge Murray. He was graduated from Harvard in 1841, and two years later became a member of the bar. At the outbreak of the Civil War he volunteered, and was made an aide-de-camp to Governor Morgan. The following year he was an assistant adjutant-general, and served with great gallantry and distinction through the war. In 1866, Colonel Hoffman was appointed assist- ant secretary of legation at Versailles, and the following year first secretary of the legation. He served nine years, during which time occurred the outbreak of the Commune, when the Colonel remained at his post to protect American citizens. In 1875, he was transferred to the legation at St. James, and in 1877 to St. Peters- burg, where he acted as secretary or chargé d'affaires until 1882. He was then made Minister to Denmark, where he remained until 1884, when he retired to private life. He married Elizabeth Bay- lies, by whom he had one son. Colonel Hoffman died on May 21, 1900.
Other distinguished members of this generation have been Lindley Murray [1832], financier; Arthur Gilman [1838], merchant; Odgen [1822], who became a famous judge in California; Samuel Southard [1839], lieutenant-colonel in the Civil War; John White [1847], merchant and iron and steel promoter; Edward Fenno [1849], lawyer and jurist; Josiah Ogden II. [1858], iron and steel master; Eugene Augustus II. [1863], railroad official; and Samuel Verplanck II. [1866], scientist and astronomer.
Three other generations are alive, in whose ranks are many that promise to keep up the record of their ancestors. The vitality of the race is astonishing. In its genealogy, which is not yet com-
Dean Eugene A. Hoffman From a photograph by Moreno & Lopez
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plete, are recorded no less than 1700 members. It is probable that there, have been more than 2000 since sturdy Martin, the founder, came across to New Netherlands. The family is notable for its altruistic characteristics. Their benefactions make a line of golden deeds for two hundred years. The principle of the race seems to be to live for others. In the beginning it was the father consecrating himself to his wife and children. Later, it was the citizen giving himself to the State, and in the present century it has been the man and the woman dedicating their lives and property to the welfare of their fellow-men.
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John Jay First Chief-Justice of the United States
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HE savage and sanguinary persecution of the Huguenots impoverished France and enriched the Low Countries, England, and the New World by transferring from the former to the latter tens of thousands of the ablest and most industrious subjects of the DEO DUCE French King. From the time of the PERSEV Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in VERANDUM 1685, to 1720, there was a strong migration of Huguenots to lands where religious liberty prevailed. It is a mis- take to suppose that the emigrants carried with them much wealth. Nearly all religious proscriptions have a commercial side, and the antagonism to the followers of the new faith was strengthened and intensified by the practice of confiscating their wealth. Nominally, this was divided between the Crown and the Church, but in those days the rabble generally obtained a goodly portion, if not the lion's share, of the booty. The greater number of the exiles saved little or nothing outside of family jewels and similar portable property. There were a few, however, more for- tunate, or more far-sighted, who managed to carry with them enough to maintain themselves in comfort, if not in good style, in their new homes.
Foremost among these was Pierre Jay-or Ecuyer, Esquire,
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Peter Jay of the House of Le Jay-who was a wealthy merchant of La Rochelle. He had sources of information denied to ordinary
Pierre citizens. As a merchant, he was in close connection
the Emigre with the bankers of Paris and of Rome; as a member of a noble family, he was able to keep in touch with the current events of the royal household. He may have known of the coming Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, or it may be that he had merely a vivid presentiment of the fact. At any rate, before that famous mandate was issued he had sent his eldest son to England and had transferred some property to that country, and also to Holland. The eldest son dying upon the voyage, he sent his second son, and thereafter he dispatched the remainder of his family and transferred another instalment of his wealth. When these facts became known to the authorities, they promptly ar- rested him and threw him into jail. He was released through the intercession of powerful friends, and then determined to follow his children across the Channel. He took his precautions with great skill, and waited until one of his ships, richly laden, was sighted in the offing. He then went on board, ostensibly to arrange for the ship's papers, but the moment he reached the deck he had the vessel put about and sailed for the shores of Great Britain. According to tradition, he was pursued by galleys employed by the local authorities, but frightened these from the chase by dis- charging the few cannon with which his craft was equipped. At all events, he escaped. All of his remaining property in La Rochelle was confiscated and his house was sacked by the mob. He reached England, where he settled down and became a successful mer- chant and prominent citizen. Here his daughter Frances married the Mayor of Bristol, the Hon. Mr. Poloquin. Of three sons, one, Augustus, played an important part in the drama of life. Francis died on shipboard, and Isaac died in the service of England at the battle of the Boyne.
Augustus, the founder of the house in America, was a char- Augustus acter in whom romance and love of adventure seem the Founder to have been joined to great intellectual and mercantile ability. He had received an excellent education in England, but
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Gold Snuff-box Presented by the City of New York to John Jay
Gold Watch Worn by John Jay
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disliked the professions on the one side, and the confinement of the counting-house on the other. While still a youth, he had gone into his father's service as either a supercargo or a com- mercial agent. He was familiar with the Atlantic Coast and the Mediterranean, and had a fair knowledge of the African ports and their distinctive industries. He had many narrow escapes during those troublous times, and finally secured a passage to South Caro- lina. He made a short stay in Charleston, and went thence to Philadelphia, and finally to New York (1697), being then thirty- two years old. Good-looking, bright, and genial, he won many friends, and, what was more important, in the same year he married Anna Maria Bayard, the daughter of Baltazar Bayard, one of the leading citizens in the colonial society of that period. The following year he was naturalized by royal letters-patent, and, in 1700, he was granted the freedom of the city by the Mayor and Aldermen. His career in the New World was long, happy, and prosperous. His business grew large and lucrative; his social relations, owing chiefly to his admirable wife, were congenial, and his children, one son (Peter) and four daughters, proved worthy bearers of the family name. Three of the daughters made excellent marriages, Judith espousing Cornelius Van Horn; Mary, Peter Vallette; and Frances, Frederick Van Cortlandt.
Peter [1704] was a merchant, like his father and grandfather. He was so successful that at the age of forty he was able to retire with a fortune which in those days was considered magnificent. He married Mary Van Cortlandt, daugh- Peter
ter of Jacobus Van Cortlandt of Lower Yonckers. His wife was an heiress as well as a belle, being the granddaughter of the Hon. Frederick Philipse, Lord of the Manor of Philipseburgh. It was through this descent that the Jay family subsequently became possessed of the Bedford estates. The union was fruitful, being blessed by no less than ten children. Of these, seven reached majority - Augustus [1730], James [1732], Peter II. [. 734], John the Chief Justice [1745], Frederick [1747], Eva, who married the Rev. Harry Munro, and Anna Maria, who lived a spinster. All of these had the advantages which come from wealth, social position, and
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education. Two attained distinction, and one rose to a com- manding place in the annals of the Republic.
Augustus, the oldest, was a bachelor, and devoted his life to mercantile pursuits and to the management of his estate. James studied medicine, and became a prominent physician Dr. James in the colony. He took an active part in the establish- ment of King's (afterwards Columbia) College, and, while in Eng- land in 1762, raised a handsome sum for its foundation. He must have made a very favorable impression at the royal Court, as the following year he was knighted. From that time on he was known as Sir James Jay, Knight. Peter II. [1734] was a wealthy landlord. He married Mary Duyckinck. Frederick [1747], who was a prominent citizen, married twice. His first wife was Margaret Barclay, and his second, Euphemia Dunscomb. He was a stanch patriot, who served upon the Committee of One Hundred and held many offices of honor and trust.
The great man of the generation was John the Chief Justice, who was born in New York City in 1745. In his boyhood he John the displayed the vigor, physical and mental, which was Chief Justice to mark him in after life. He took naturally to books, and received an excellent education from the Rev. Dr. Stoupe of the French Church at New Rochelle, and thereafter at King's College. Upon his graduation (1764) he is said to have been an accomplished speaker and writer in English, French, and Latin, and to have had a fair knowledge of Dutch besides. Becoming interested in the struggle for liberty, he joined many organizations, and when the Committee of Fifty-one was appointed to cor- respond with the other colonies, he was made a member. Upon its assembling, he was selected as secretary, and is said to have drawn up the famous reply to the Boston Committee, in which was recommended the future House of Representatives in "a Con- gress of Deputies from the Colonies in General." When the proposition was agreed to, he was chosen a delegate to the body which met in Philadelphia. Here his talents made him conspicuous, and he was appointed one of the committee which prepared the "Address to the People of Great Britain." This
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famous communication is one of the landmarks in American politi- cal literature. Jefferson declared it to be a " production certainly of the finest pen in America," and other critics have given it a place with the Declaration of Independence, and the articles of The Federalist. Upon his return to New York he became an organizer, and worked strenuously toward the formation of a provisional Congress composed of members from the various counties, and of a Committee of One Hundred, invested by the city of New York with general representative power. He was sent to the Second Congress, which met in Philadelphia in 1775, and while there drafted the " Address to the People of Canada and of Ireland."
In this Congress he showed himself to be a brilliant parlia- mentarian. He led the party which favored sending a petition to King George, so couched that its rejection by the Crown left no alternative to the colonies but abject submission or armed resist- ance. There was bitter opposition to the project. Some were afraid of being charged with treason, others thought the time had not yet arrived for so determined a step, and a third contingent advocated more pacific measures. At the beginning of the dis- cussion it looked as if the petition would be voted down, but Jay, upon the floor and in the lobby, so worked upon the weak that they came to his support, and the petition was finally carried by a good majority. Signed on the eighth day of July, it was duly dispatched to London. It was rejected, as had been foreseen by the bright young New Yorker, and aroused a strong feeling in the minds of many who up to that time had held themselves aloof. It paved the way for the Declaration of Independence, which was to come the following year, and excited enthusiasm in all of the colonies. In the autumn, Jay was appointed a member of the secret committee created by Congress. His work was interrupted by a call from New York, where his friends desired him to act as a leader at the convention which was to be held at White Plains. He obtained leave of absence and went to his home, where he made arrangements for the conduct of the coming assemblage. It met at White Plains July 9, 1776, and the practical leader was 13
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the member from New York. He brought forward the Declara- tion of Independence, which had been received that morning from Philadelphia. It was read, and after a stirring and eloquent speech by Jay, it was unanimously approved. The body appointed a secret committee with extraordinary powers, and made Jay its chairman. They also placed him as the head of a committee for defeating conspiracies in New York State against the liberties of the American colonies. The records of this convention tell a clear story of his ability and industry. The resolutions relating to the various committees, as well as most of the minutes, are in his handwriting. He performed his duties with alacrity, and made the organization a strong power on behalf of the Revolutionists.
In the dark days when Washington's army was compelled to retreat, Jay did everything in his power to encourage his country- men. He called upon the despondent, wrote to the despairing, circulated campaign literature, and induced others to take up the same kind of work. He wrote an appeal to his fellow-citizens which was so excellent that Congress adopted it as an official document, translated it into German, and circulated it in every direction. He also drew up the New York State constitution which was adopted by the convention. This body asked him to be the Chief Justice of the State, and although the position had but little power and less emolument, he promptly accepted it in order to keep the wheels of the new government moving. He held his first term of court at Kingston in 1777. It is hard to see how the man performed all the work he did. Besides attending to his duties as Chief Justice, he kept up his relations with the State Convention and Congress, he was a member of the Council of Safety, and was a counsellor to the military chiefs of the district. In 1778, he displayed a knowledge of diplomacy worthy of a vet- eran statesman. There was a proposition to invade Canada by a joint force of French and Americans. Many of the generals were in favor of it, as were most of the civil leaders of the time. After the discussion had been prolonged, a general desire was expressed to have Jay's opinion. General Washington called upon him in person and submitted the various views. Jay, without hesitation,
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opposed the scheme. He said that if the project were successful, France would keep Canada and would be the ruling power of the continent, encircling and hemming in the colonies. Its acquisition would make French claims to the western lands unassailable, and would put the colonies at her mercy. The Americans needed all their strength to free themselves from British rule, and they could not afford to weaken their armies in order to gratify France's am- bition. In fact, without knowing it, Jay perceived with singular accuracy the plans which the French Ministry had formed, and which, through their confidential agent, they were then trying to carry out in the New World. Had these plans gone through at the time, Canada would have been a portion of France, and the United States would now be a territory of France instead of an English-speaking republic.
In 1778, Jay was again sent to Congress, and three days after taking his seat was elected its president. Early in September, he wrote a letter in the name of Congress upon "Currency, Finance, and the Relations of the State to the Money World," which would be good reading for some of the monetary reformers of to-day. The same month he was appointed Minister to Spain, and later a Peace Commissioner. Fortunately for the success of his mission, he took with him his beautiful wife.
This lady, Sarah Van Brugh Livingston Jay, daughter of the great war-Governor of New Jersey, William Livingston, possessed the beauty, brilliancy, and bravery of her race. She was a belle in her own country and became an idol in the courts of Europe. She bore a striking resemblance to Marie Antoinette, the Queen of France, but was undoubtedly of a higher type of beauty. Dowered with extraordinary tact, she made friends wherever she went, and enabled her husband to achieve far more in his difficult mission than he would have done had he been alone. The voy- age to Europe was very slow. The frigate in which they sailed from Philadelphia was disabled just off the coast by a storm, which did not cease until they were well down in the latitude of the An- tilles. They were compelled to seek the nearest port, where it was found impossible to repair the ship properly. They waited
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several months, and finally took passage in a French frigate, the Aurora, which brought them to Cadiz in January, 1780. They remained in Spain two years, and then, at the request of Benjamin Franklin who was alone in Paris, proceeded to the latter city.
It was a lucky star which gave America Franklin, Adams, and Jay for its representatives abroad. Weaker or less able men would have made a lamentable failure. The politics of Europe were cor- rupt and desperate in those days, and the American colonies were too insignificant to be regarded as anything but a pawn on the chess-board of international diplomacy. The struggle between France and Great Britain was mortal, and each had gone to lengths which seem almost incredible to-day. The two Govern- ments had spies and secret agents in the United States, Canada, and in each other's possessions. They had spies watching the other spies, and had bought up the spies of their rivals. So skil- fully had the French Government played its game that Luzerne, its Minister at Philadelphia, had induced Congress to instruct the three Commissioners "to make the most candid and confidential communications upon all subjects to the Ministers of our generous ally, the King of France, to undertake nothing in their negotiations for peace and truce without their knowledge and concurrence, and ultimately to govern yourselves by their advice and opinion."
The policy of France was to limit as far as possible the terri- tory of the colonies and to increase her own as far as the same could be done. Spain, bitterly hostile to England, was inclined to act with France, and both countries relied upon the wrath and vengefulness of Great Britain to aid them in their schemes. The instructions from Congress tended to make the Peace Commis- sioners figureheads of the French diplomats. Franklin does not seem to have realized fully the position in which his Commission had been placed. Jay did, however, and fairly exhausted his in- genuity to defeat the French diplomats without appearing to do so. The treaty embodying Jay's views was finally signed, and the work of the Commission was over. When the official copies reached America, there was great rejoicing among the people. Many of the politicians of the time, however, far from expressing
Mrs. John Jay (Sarah Van Brugh Livingston) From a medallion by Daniel Huntington
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satisfaction, denounced the Commissioners, especially Jay, for having violated the instructions of Congress in not allowing the French Ministry to conclude the treaty. Among these, James Madison was the most vehement. Subsequent events have shown the superb wisdom of the great New Yorker; the archives of the eighteenth century have been made public, and it is now known that Vergennes intended to shut out the colonies from the Mississippi and the Gulf, and would have given to France nearly all of what is now Alabama, Mississippi, Kentucky, Tennessee, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and a part of Minne- sota. That part of the Republic is a perpetual monument to John Jay.
On Jay's return, Congress appointed him Secretary of Foreign Affairs. He aided Hamilton and Madison in editing The Federalist, and in 1789 was made Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court. In 1794, he was appointed special envoy to Great Britain, where he negotiated the treaty known by his name. Upon his return, he was elected Governor of New York, which position he held from 1795 to 1801, when he retired to private life. He died in 1829.
Of the six children of the Chief Justice, two sons and a daughter attained high social distinction. The daughter, Maria [1782], married Goldsborough Banyer, and during her life she Peter was one of the social leaders of the metropolis. The Augustus older son, Peter Augustus, was graduated from Columbia College in 1794, and became private secretary to his father when the latter was made Minister to the Court of St. James. On his return he studied law, was admitted to the bar, and won high rank as a jurist. He was very progressive, being a stanch advocate of the Erie Canal system, and equally stanch in his opposition to slavery. He served as Assemblyman, Recorder of the City of New York, member of the New York Constitutional Convention, trustee of Columbia College, chairman of its board of trustees, President of the New York Historical Society, and was a leading spirit in many charitable and philanthropic organizations. He married Mary Rutherford Clarkson, by whom he had eight children.
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