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 8
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Gerard, brother of the Captain [1697], was active in religious, philanthropic, and social work. He took little or no interest in public affairs, and does not seem to have engaged in mercantile
Catherine De Peyster From a copy of the original portrait in the possession of Hon. E. H. Crosby
Silver Plate of Johannis De Peyster Brought from Holland From an old print
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enterprises, devoting himself to the care of his own property. He married, first, Mary Octave, and, second, Miss Oakes. He had one son and one daughter.
William [1709], son of Johannes II., was a student and man of culture. He inherited enough wealth to gratify his taste for learn- ing, and led a quiet and uneventful life. He was popular, and exerted a strong influence for good. He married Margaret Keoncott, by whom he had six sons and two daughters.
The fourth generation was marked for the number of talented men the family furnished to the community. Colonel James Abra- ham [1726], son of Abraham III., was a very successful
merchant, at one time owning no less than forty-five Col. James A. ships. He was as prominent in the Church as in the commercial world, and was celebrated for his practical benevolence. His chief relaxation was visiting and aiding the needy, and helping poor boys and young men to start in life. Several memoirs of that period refer to him as the most benevolent man in New York. He married Sarah, daughter of the Hon. Joseph Reade, by whom he had seven sons and six daughters.
Frederick [1731], son of Abraham III., was known as "the Marquis," on account of his remarkable beauty, grace, and courtesy. He was appointed Treasurer of the Province Frederick of New York the day after his father died, but, not the Marquis caring for office, he resigned and went to France, where he lived for many years. He was a social favorite at the French capital, as well as at home. He spoke five languages with rare fluency, and was a master of both English and French literature. No finer type of the American gentleman can be found in the eighteenth century. One of the clever Livingston girls said of him : "No one knew that the pastimes of dancing and conversa- tion could be elevated into fine arts until 'the Marquis' came back from France." On account of the death of the lady to whom he was passionately attached, and who died about the time they proposed to wed, he never married, "bestowing his love and attentions upon the entire sex as a memorial to one who had been its perfect flower and fruit."
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Colonel Arent Schuyler [1736], son of Pierre Guillaume, was a brilliant soldier. He was educated in New York and thereafter in Col. Arent London. Here, in 1755, he joined the English army as Schuyler ensign in the celebrated Eighth or King's Regiment of British Foot. In 1757, he was made lieutenant. When serving in northern New York, he, with other officers, made a careful ex- ploration and survey of the region about Lake George and Lake Champlain, with a view to determining strategic points, in the event of an Indian war. These studies he embodied in a series of curious poems, which were published, with many essays and studies, in a volume of miscellanies at the end of the eighteenth century. In 1767, he built a saw-mill at Niagara Falls, being the first to harness that inexhaustible source of power. He was a captain in 1768, and was stationed at Michilimackinac, where he made a careful study of the Indian tribes of that neighborhood, and learned their language.
He soon had so powerful an influence upon them that he was often called the "White Chief." This popularity was utilized by the British government, which, on the breaking out of the Revo- lution, directed him to bring the warriors to aid in suppressing the rebels. He obeyed with remarkable success; gathering the red men from districts as far west as Lake Superior, as far north as Lake Nipissing, and as far south as St. Louis. One of his first orders to enlist the Indians was dated July 4, 1776. He retired from the army in 1795. Toward the end of his life he organized the first regiment of Dumfries Volunteers in Scotland, and one of the first to enlist under him was Robert Burns, the poet. The poet had not been in service long before something provoked his sense of humor, causing him to write a piece of laughable verse, which appeared in the Dumfries Journal. Colonel de Peyster, who, besides being a poet, had a keen sense of the ridiculous, appreciated the poem, and, without knowing who the author was, answered it in another poem in the following issue. This battle of the bards rolled along in the columns of the Scotch paper for some time. The soldier-poet never returned to the young republic.
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Pierre Guillaume II. [1746] was a famous privateersman dur- ing the Revolution. He held letters of marque from both the American and French governments, and inflicted great Pierre G. the
loss upon British commerce. He married Berthick Privateersman Hall, by whom he had three sons and four daughters.
The children of William in the fourth generation were John [1731], who married Elizabeth Henry; William [1735], Elizabeth Brogan; Gerard [1737], Elizabeth Rutgers; Nicholas [1740], who married, first, Jane Jansen and, secondly, Frances De Kay; Abra- ham [1742], who married Christianna Baldwin; and James [1745], who married his cousin, Ann de Peyster.
The fifth generation was marked by brilliant soldiers. Cap- tain Abraham [1753], son of Colonel James Abraham, was an accomplished scholar and man of the world, who was educated at King's, now Columbia College, where he Col. Abraham received the degree of A.M. His tendencies were for the crown, and, after graduation, he became prominent in royalist circles. On the breaking out of the Revolution, he took up arms for the King, and soon proved himself a veritable Hotspur. He rose to be captain in the British army, and when the war ended was one of the multitude who emigrated to Canada. He settled in New Brunswick, where he founded the city of St. John, and became prominent in political life, rising to be Treasurer of the colony. His wife was Catharine Livingston.
Joseph Reade [1754] was another fighting royalist. Captain James [1757] was graduated at Columbia in 1774, in the same class with Alexander Hamilton, and served in the regiment of his brother, Captain Abraham, and afterwards in the Capt. James English army in France. Captain Frederick [1758] was commander of the Nassau Blues of Long Island, and was one of the emigrants to New Brunswick, where he became a magistrate. He returned to New York, where he took up mercantile life, and became a famous merchant. He married, first, Helen Hake, by whom he had five sons, and, secondly, Ann Beekman, by whom he had one son and seven daughters.
Captain Arent Schuyler II. [1779], son of Pierre Guillaume II.,
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was a soldier, sailor, trader, and financier. He was a sea rover who sailed twice around the world, and who discovered the
archipelago bearing his name, the De Peyster or Pey- Capt. Arent S. ster Islands in the South Seas. In the latter part of his life he was President of the Relief Fire Insurance Company of New York.
To this period belongs Captain Augustus [1784], of the younger branch. At school he was a bright lad, and stood at the
Captain head of his class without apparent effort ; but all his Augustus spare time was spent in and on the water. At fifteen, he was an expert swimmer, fisher, oarsman, and sailor, and knew the name and appearance of every ship belonging to New York. His knowledge of commercial geography was extraordinary for a man, much more for a mere lad. His people were wise, and when he told them that he desired to go to sea, they secured him an ex- cellent berth on a sailing-ship. Shortly after coming of age, he was a mate, and soon thereafter captain. When in the employ of John Jacob Astor, in the China trade, he was styled by the latter his " king of captains." Stern and vigilant on shipboard, he was kind and genial on shore. Opportunities for money-making were numerous for sea-traders in those days, and he took advantage of them. Of the handsome profits he acquired, he spent the greater part on relatives, friends, necessitous seamen, and public charities.
Adventures checkered his life. He fought Chinese pirates, Malay sea-rovers, and French privateers. His luck was proverb- ial, or, to be more accurate, his forethought and wisdom allowed him to triumph over obstacles which would have ruined less careful men. In the China Sea his ship was always ready for bat- tle. The cannons were loaded, the muskets placed in accessible places, and the cutlasses kept sharp and pointed. His men were drilled for fighting, fire, and wreck. When, therefore, one day, near Lamrna Island, at the mouth of the Pearl River, a junk, which appeared to be an honest trader, suddenly opened fire, it found no timid and unprepared victim. Before the smoke of the first gun cleared away the fire was returned, and within an hour the piratical crew were either dead, wounded, or in the water try-
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ing to escape. The junk, deserted by its former owners, proved well laden, and, as the sturdy skipper remarked, paid the expenses of action and left a fair profit besides. In 1845, he retired from the sea and became Governor of Sailors' Snug Harbor, on Staten Island.
In the sixth generation, two members achieved distinction. These were Captain James Ferguson [1794], son of Captain Fred- erick, and the other, the Hon. Frederick, his brother Capt. James [1796]. The former, after graduation from Columbia Ferguson (1812), entered the United States regular army, in which he dis- played much efficiency, rising from the rank of ensign to that of Captain of the Forty-second United States Infantry. His record in the War of 1812 was that of a fearless and able soldier. Upon the restoration of peace he retired to private life, where he was a commanding figure during the first half of the century. Among the offices he held were: Governor of the New York Hospital, Trustee of the New York Infant Asylum, President of the New York Dispensary, Treasurer and Trustee of the Bank for Savings in Bleecker Street, Treasurer of St. Michael's Church, and Treas- urer of the Society for Promoting Religion and Learning. He was twice married : first, to Susan Maria Clarkson, by whom he had one daughter; and, secondly, to Frances Goodhue Ashton, by whom he had three sons and two daughters.
The Hon. Frederick was graduated from Columbia (1816). In the War of 1812 he raised a company of students, who were known as the "College Greens," of which he was captain. Captain After the war he took a deep interest in the militia, and Frederick rose to be military secretary to Governor Clinton, with the rank of colonel. He was a lawyer of distinction, and held the office of Master in Chancery for many years. He was President of the New York Historical Society, the St. Nicholas Club of the New York Society Library, and of the St. Nicholas Society. He made many contributions to American literature, especially upon his- torical, political, and biographical topics. He was twice married: first, to Mary Justina Watts, by whom he had one son; and, sec- ondly, to Mrs. Maria Antoinette Kane-Hone.
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The Hon. Frederic J. [1839], son of Captain James Ferguson, and Major-General John Watts [1821], son of the Hon. Frederic,
Honorable are the two prominent names of the seventh generation.
Frederic J. The former was graduated from the College of the City
the Scholar of New York (1860) and Columbia College Law School (1862). He quickly won recognition at the bar, and for nearly forty years has held a high place. He has been notable for his public work in educational, charitable, historical, and other in- stitutions. He has been trustee of the Holland Society, Presi- dent of the St. Nicholas Club, President of the St. Nicholas Society, Governor of the New York Chapter of the Society of Colonial Wars, Governor-General of the Society of Colonial Wars, President of the Huguenot Society of America, President of the New York Dispensary, President of the Orphans' So- ciety, Chairman of the New York Society Library, President of the New York Infant Asylum, and a New York Trustee and Treasurer of the American School of Classical Studies at Athens. His labors in the field last mentioned entitle him to the gratitude of every classicist, archaeologist, and student of anthropology. He has raised funds for exploration and restoration, aided deserv- ing scholars to pursue their Greek studies in the Hellenic capital, planned broader systems of investigation and work, aroused sen- timent in the American universities, enlisted the sympathies of scholars in every land, and interested the reading public in what was at one time laughed at as a " mere digging up of dry bones." He married Augusta McEvers Morris of Morrisania, by whom he has had five children.
Major-Gen. John Watts [1821] was distinguished as a soldier, citizen, philanthropist, author, and patriot. In the militia, he Major-Gen. rose from private to be brevet major-general. He was John Watts one of the founders of the present police system of New York City and the first advocate of a paid fire department, of fire-escapes, and of steam fire-engines. For these doctrines he was ridiculed at the time as a visionary. His chief fame is based upon his literary work in the field of history. He married Estelle Livingston, by whom he had five children.
Frederick De Peyster From a steel engraving
J. Watts De Peyster From a steel engraving
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Three sons of Major-Gen. John Watts were the heroes of the eighth generation. John Watts [1841] left Columbia College in 1862 and fought gallantly in the Civil War. He was promoted to be lieutenant-colonel and colonel, and Col. John W. died from disease contracted in the discharge of duty. [1842] followed in the footsteps of his brother. Enter- Colonel ing the army, he rose to be colonel, and died from Frederick disease contracted in the war. He married Mary, the daughter of Clermont Livingston. Johnston Livingston [1846] also Colonel enlisted in the Civil War, where he rose to be major, Johnston L. lieutenant-colonel, and colonel, and had the honor of hoisting the Stars and Stripes over Richmond on the 3d of April, 1865. He married Julia Anna Toler.
Frederick
In the younger branch of the family, were many members deserving of notice. Among them were John J. [1781], who was graduated at Columbia (1800); William [1792], another Columbia man (1810); Robert Gilbert Livingston [1795], the merchant, who was graduated at Columbia (1815), and achieved a high place in the commercial world ; Pierre Cortlandt [1814], a merchant who took up business after graduation from Columbia (1833), and Richard Varick [1820], the banker, also a Columbia graduate (1841). The present living representative of this Henry the Lawyer branch is Henry, a distinguished lawyer and manager of many family estates.
The De Peysters have been marked by conscientiousness, social grace, and intellectuality. From the first they have loved culture and the higher aims of life. Though aristocrats by de- scent, wealth, and education, they have been democrats in char- acter and conduct. That they have enjoyed the esteem and affection of the community is evidenced by the many positions of honor and trust conferred upon the men, and by the advantageous and distinguished marriages of the daughters. They have cared little for wealth, but much for the welfare of their kindred, their neighbors, their city, state, and nation. They have been society leaders in the best sense of the term. In their citizenship they have been progressive, and in their patriotism fearless and enthusiastic. 8
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James Duane From the painting in the City Hall
XI.
DUANE
HILE ambition, the hope of preferment, and the love of gain are among the chief motives which have inspired colonists from time immemorial, yet the little god of love sometimes ap- pears upon the scene as an actor. In 1698, among the officers of the British fleet stationed in New York harbor was Anthony Duane, a handsome young Irishman, whose cleverness in speech, pleasant manners, and fine ap- pearance made him universally loved. He was but nineteen years old, and took all the delight of youth in the social gayety which prevailed in the little provincial city of New York. Before he had been a month in port, he became captivated by a Knickerbocker belle, Eve Benson, daughter of the wealthy merchant, Dirck Benson.
The attachment was mutual, and when his ship left the harbor to cruise along the route laid for it by the Admiralty, he left as her affianced suitor. They were true lovers; although the cruise lasted three years, and it was nearly another year Lieutenant Anthony
the Founder before he had closed up his accounts, resigned, and obtained his discharge from the navy, his betrothed waited patiently for him. He returned to New York, where he entered commercial life, married, and, as may be supposed, had a happy
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married life. There were two sons, who entered the British navy, and proved brave and efficient officers. They gave their lives for ยท the Crown, both dying of yellow fever at Kingston, Jamaica, while stationed at that then plague-infested port. On the death of his first wife, Anthony married Althea Keteltas, sister of the famous divine, the Rev. Abraham, who was a member of the Continental Congress. The union was short, she living but a few years after marriage, and leaving four children as its fruit.
Anthony prospered in business, and, foreseeing the future development of New York State, invested his profits in real estate in the neighborhood of Schenectady. In May, 1741, he purchased six thousand acres in what is now the town of Duanesburgh. He owned property in New York City, part of this being the land on which is situated Gramercy Park. He made wise use of his wealth, and was noted for kindness of heart and unfailing gener- osity. Trinity church in his time was not the rich corporation of to-day, and oftentimes its expenses exceeded its income. When- ever this happened, Anthony was among the first to make good the deficit, and to give something over wherewith to provide for any new emergency. He was vestryman from 1732 to 1747, the time of his death. His third wife was Grietje Riker, widow of Thomas Lynch, but their union was childless.
Of his children, James, the jurist [1733], was the most eminent of his race. Upon the death of his father, when he was eleven James, Jurist years of age, he became the ward of Robert Livingston, and Patriot third Lord of the Manor, who was executor and guardian under the wills of both his father and grandfather. In order to perform his duties and to conduct the education of the boy in person, Livingston took him to his own home, where he made his ward a member of the family. This intimacy was an unalloyed blessing. The Livingstons were a brilliant, public- spirited, and cultured race. Their mansion was the scene of lavish hospitality, and was frequented by the best men of the period. It was a school to young Duane than which naught could have been better.
During his life James was a brother to the sons and daughters
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of the family; but for Maria, the oldest daughter, his sentiments were much warmer. The two fell in love; their attachment met the approval of the parents, and they were married in 1759. On coming of age, James took up the study of the law, and was admitted to the bar, where he quickly attained high rank on account of his scholarship and judicial ability. From his admission to the bar until his death, he seems to have been possessed by a restless activity. He performed a vast amount of work upon the paternal estate at Duanesburgh, increasing it by many purchases, until it covered what is now the entire township. From Europe he brought over Scotch, Irish, and German families, gave them generous leases, built houses and barns for them, supplied them with implements, seeds, and at times with clothing, and in every way endeavored to build up a model settlement.
In public affairs he left a record which is a monument of industry and talent. He was a member of the Revolutionary Committee of New York, a member of the Continental Congress from 1774 to 1784, and was one of the signers of the Articles of Confederation at Philadelphia in 1777. In 1775 he took part in consummating the Indian treaty at Albany; in 1776 and 1777 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention, and one of the committee which drafted that important document. He belonged to the famous Committee of Safety, and through the war was inde- fatigable in his efforts to carry the cause of freedom to a triumphant end. On the evacuation of New York by the British forces in 1783, he returned and was elected a member of the Council. The same year he was made State Senator for the term of 1783-1790. In the latter year he was chosen the first Mayor of the city of New York. Four years afterwards he was a delegate to the convention which adopted the Federal Constitution and made the Empire State a part of the Union. He served as United States District Judge from 1789 to 1794, the first incumbent of the office.
This brief statement of his services gives a poor idea of the actual labor expended. James was more than faithful ; he was thoughtful, conscientious, and always regardful of the rights of others. Thus, in his letter of acceptance of the Mayoralty chair, he
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requested that, in view of the severity of the season and the distress which prevailed upon the closing of the war, the public entertain- ments usually given should be dispensed with and the money saved be employed in helping along the impoverished. He fol- lowed this up with " a subscription of twenty guineas for the relief of his suffering fellow-citizens." The day of his appointment as Mayor, February 7, 1784, was memorable in the history of the Empire State. Besides the beginning of local government, with an American in the Mayoralty chair, it was also the day on which the Chamber of Commerce was incorporated, the Custom-house was established, and the National Congress transferred from Phila- delphia to New York.
The municipality at that time was fashioned after English models. Manhood suffrage was still unknown, and municipal citizenship was more limited or restricted than state and national. The right to vote for any office was still based upon the idea of property. It was the representation of wealth and not of the individual. The citizen who desired to vote for Assemblyman or other state officer was required to pay assessments, and to be either a freeholder or a householder paying a rent of at least $5 per annum. In municipal suffrage, it was necessary to be either a freeholder or a freeman. A freeholder was a person of mature age, possessing real estate of an annual value of at least forty shillings, while a freeman was a person of means or social stand- ing in the community, not a freeholder within the limits, who was elected to the privilege of freemanship by the local authorities. It is a long leap from this condition to that of to-day, when the pauper casts his vote alongside of the millionaire.
Although Mayor Duane was, through his education and studies, strongly attached to the English system of government, he nevertheless possessed that statesmanship which saw the necessity of changing existing conditions to meet new political and social forces. Thus, while he believed in a property qualification of suffrage, he clearly perceived that it must be modified to meet the necessities of American life. What measures he took are not known, but that he must have influenced his administration is
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shown by the fact that there was a larger admission of freemen to the New York City rolls during his term of office than ever before.
One incident reveals his public spirit. At the close of the revolution King's College, which had become Columbia, was sadly in need of funds. There had been a meeting of its friends, and a committee had been appointed to provide temporarily for what might be necessary, although it had not as yet begun its work. About this time General James Clinton, with his fifteen- year-old boy, De Witt, stopped in New York for a day, intending to go on to Princeton and there enter his son. He called upon the Mayor, who became deeply interested, and who protested in a friendly way against a Clinton being sent out of New York State to obtain an education. Inducing the General to promise to defer action for the time being, the sturdy Mayor called upon the Rev. Dr. William Cochran, who was reputed to be the most learned man in the State, whom, upon his own responsibility, he engaged to undertake the tuition of young Clinton and such students as might apply. Dr. Cochran thereupon became headmaster of the grammar school and professor of Greek and Latin, as well as in- structor in the "Humanities "- in fact, he appears to have been the entire college that year. The fame of Dr. Cochran induced General Clinton to enter his son in Columbia instead of Prince- ton. His son De Witt was graduated in 1786, along with seven other students.
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