USA > New York > Forts and firesides of the Mohawk country, New York : the stories and pictures of landmarks of the pre-Revolutionary War period throughout the Mohawk valley and the surrounding country side, including some historic and genealogical mention during the post-war period > Part 3
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The wide halls of the main and second floors divide the house almost equally. On the main floor the front room on the right was generously given to Burgoyne and his staff, following his defeat at the battle of Saratoga. The front room on
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FORTS AND FIRESIDES OF THE MOHAWK COUNTRY
the left was the drawing room. Its large deep cased windows and window seats, set in the panelled walls, must have been a perfect background for the wedding of Alexander Hamilton, aide de camp and intimate friend of George Washington, to his beloved Elizabeth Schuyler.
This romance began when Elizabeth was visiting her father at General Headquarters in Morristown, N. J. in 1779. Here she met Hamilton, fell in love, and married him the next year. Tench Tilghman had this to say of the bride:
"I was prepossessed of this young lady the moment I saw her, a brunette with the most good natured, dark, lovely eyes that I ever saw, which threw a beam of good temper and benevolence over her entire countenance."
The furnishings of the house leave little more to be added, other than the persons themselves, to reenact this event.
Adjoining this room, at the rear, is a suite of rooms used by the General. One of them was his bed chamber and another, opening from it, was his study.
A basement underlies the entire house and here were the kitchen and service rooms. The slave quarters, torn down in 1850, were separate wooden buildings at the rear of the house. On the second floor, bedrooms open from the hall on either side. Above this, in the large attic, one can see the substantial manner in which this remarkable house was constructed.
The romance which so beautifully enshrouds General Schuyler and his family has enriched the building with this same romantic appeal. What a happy, full and devoted life they led; devoted to each other and to their country's welfare. One easily remembers the important events which have taken place here. The Schuylers were royal hosts and in reviewing the long lists of famous guests, there comes an appreciation of the importance of these Schuylers to affairs of state. They were noted for that rare spirit of hospitality which successfully put everyone at his ease. Tench Tilghman, famous Marylander, statesman and patriot, who has been quoted previously, sums it up by saying:
"There is something in the behavior of the General, his wife and daughters, that makes one acquainted with them instantly."
Surely this is high praise, coming from one who knew so well the meaning of Southern hospitality.
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"THE MEADOWS"
The list of guests included the foremost men of the time; Benjamin Franklin and, as has been stated, Alexander Hamilton, who was married here; Aaron Burr (who later killed Hamilton in their duel), Lafayette, St. Clair, Baron Steuben, Clinton, Gansevoort, Charles Carrol of Carrolton, (another famous Marylander and loyal friend of General Schuyler), the British Generals Gates and Burgoyne, and the Polish Kosciusko. After the war, Washington, while on an inspection trip, visited at "The Meadows."
When speculating on the hospitality accorded Burgoyne, the thought comes instantly that this should have been a most difficult ordeal. Burgoyne had just ordered the complete destruction of General Schuyler's country estate at Saratoga, a most valuable and fruitful property, burning all crops, barns, and buildings. Yet Schuyler was tolerant enough to accept the loss as one of the misfortunes of war and to welcome to his house the man who was directly responsible for it. Burgoyne in writing of Schuyler's hospitality says:
"He sent his Aide de camp to conduct me to Albany in order, as he expressed it,
. to procure me better quarters than a stranger might be able to find. This gentleman conducted me to a very elegant house, and to my great surprise presented ine to Mrs. Schuyler and her family; and in this General's house I remained during my whole stay in Albany, with a table of more than twenty covers for me and my friends and every other possible demonstration of hospitality."
Franklin, too, had special reason to remember his stay here, for no sooner had he arrived than he was seized with an illness which kept him closely confined under the loving care of Mrs. Schuyler. Doubtless his appreciation was no less than that of Baron Dieskau who, wounded at the Battle of Lake George, was sent with his party to Albany by Colonel Johnson in the care of General Schuyler. Following is a quotation from one of his letters to General Schuyler :---
"One can add nothing to the politeness of Madam your Mother, and "Madame your wife. Every day there comes from them to the Baron, fruits and other rare sweets which are of great service to him. He orders me on this subject to express to you all that he owes to the attention of these ladies."
Of course this did not occur at "The Meadows" for the General was married in 1755, nine days after the Battle of Lake George, and the Meadows was not built until several years later. They were probably the guests of Mayor Johannes Schuyler, the General's father.
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FORTS AND FIRESIDES OF THE MOHAWK COUNTRY
General Philip Schuyler and his wife came from two of the country's oldest families. Mrs. Schuyler (Kitty Van Rensselaer) was born in 1734 at the lower Van Rensselaer Manor House, which is still standing, at Claverack. She married the General- in this house. He was the son of Mayor Johannes Schuyler, Jr. and Cornelia Van Cortlandt, and was born in 1733 in his father's house at the southeast corner of State and Pearl Streets in Albany. Mrs. Schuyler died in 1803 and the General followed her the succeeding year.
The span of his life had encompassed those important years which brought about the formation of the United States. As a lad, he knew the Indians intimately; made trips with them into their country in a birch canoe. £ He later fought side by side with the English to drive the French from the continent, and as the war of the Revolution came on, we see him looming with ever greater importance across the pages of history. He lived to see the war ended and the new government established.
The following excerpts are taken from two of his letters. They express a fine, deep, devout sentiment and are helpful in arriving at a just appreciation of the man.
On the loss of his wife he wrote to his son-in-law, Hamilton:
` "After giving and receiving for nearly half a century, a series of mutual evidences of an affection and of a friendship which increased as we advanced in life, the shock was great and sensibly felt, to be thus suddenly deprived of a beloved wife, the mother of my children, and the soothing companion of my declining days."
When he, himself ill at Albany, received the news of the fatal results of Hamilton's duel (July 12th, 1804) he wrote his daughter :--
"My dear, Dearly Beloved and affectionate child;
This morning Mr. Church's letter has announced to me the severe affliction which it has pleased the Supreme Being to inflict on you, on me and on all dear to us. If aught, under Heaven, could aggravate the affliction I experience, it is that, incapable of moving or being moved, I can not fly to you to pour the balm of comfort into your afflicted bosom to water it with my tears, and to receive yours on mine."
Watervliet
"The Flatts" (Philip Pietersen Schuyler Residence)
John J. Vrooman-19$1
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DE VLACKTE - "THE FLATTS"
de Vlackte -- "The Flatts"
NOWLEDGE of just when this old farm was first set apart and cultivation begun, seems to have escaped everyone who has written of it. The building has been credited to Arent Van Curler - the identical building now standing - and yet it seems scarcely possible. The inference drawn from the old records is that Van Curler had his eye on the place from the very first. He sailed for the colony in December, 1637, as manager, representing the first Patroon, Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, the owner of the Manor of Rensselaer, of which this land was a part. In 1643, the Patroon wrote Van Curler as follows:
"You have great plans about the farm at the Great Flatts but see to it that it does not become too expensive and that care be taken about the servants so that the undertaking may do you credit and be a profit to me."
Through the years 1641 - 47 there was a great deal of building; men were credited on the Van Rensselaer records for work at "The Flatts." Van Curler was making improvements on the farm in the name of the Patroon. This then, must date the first house.
By 1648- 49 it was being leased out and in 1651 we find another direct reference to it as "a farm called de Vlackte used by Arent Van Curler being the best farm" for which he paid 1000 guilders rent. There were 10 horses and 18 cows on the farm at this time. At about this time the old Patroon died and Van Curler made a business trip to Holland. . While there he negotiated a lease for "de Vlackte" with representatives of the new owners which remained in effect until 1660, or about the time he moved to Schenectady.
It is indeed very questionable if any of the original buildings of Van Curler's tenancy remain. What makes it seem even less likely is that Richard Van Rensselaer, youngest son of the first Patroon came over from Holland in 1664. Soon after his arrival he selected the Flatts as a site and built a home which he occupied from 1668 to 1670, when he returned permanently to Holland. The buildings remaining are seemingly those of Van Rensselaer except for some which replaced those destroyed by a disastrous fire which nearly destroyed the house causing it to be largely rebuilt.
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FORTS AND FIRESIDES OF THE MOHAWK COUNTRY
In 1672, Van Rensselaer sold the property to Philip Pietersen Schuyler - the original settler of this name whose wife was Margareta Van Schlicktenhorst. The property conveyed consisted of the house, barn, seeded grain and certain household effects of Van Rensselaer for "700 beavers and fl. 1600, Holland money, amounting altogether to fl. 8000."
On one of Major Schuyler's expeditions into the wilderness in pursuit of a French raiding party, an acute shortage of provisions faced the pursuing force. As Schuyler was arising from his night's rest he was called to the camp fire where his savages were engaged in feasting from a boiling kettle. When he drew near, one of the savages offered him, from the kettle, a human hand taken from one of the Frenchmen who had fallen in the engagement of the preceeding day.
The barn just south of the house is the identical building in which the Iroquois were lodged when they came calling on their much esteemed "Quider." This was as close as the Indian tongue could come to pronouncing "Peter."
Colonel Peter Schuyler then inherited the property from his father and like him, amply proved his worth to the Colony and its military affairs. He married Maria Van Courtlandt, a sister of the Patroon, whose Manor lay in the lower Hudson Valley.
Col. Peter commanded the force sent from Albany to pursue the French and Indian raiders who burned Schenectady in 1690. It was he who took the five Indian Sachems, or Chiefs, to London in 1709 in an effort to impress upon them the wealth and power that was England's, for at this time the French were making desperate efforts to alienate the affections of the Mohawks from the Dutch and English. It was evidently a most successful venture and created a remarkable stir in London and at Court. Each of the Sachems, at the Queen's command, sat for his portrait, dressed in full Indian costume. The famous King Hendrick
was one of the number. Unfortunately, one of the Chiefs died during the voyage over but it seems not to have dimmed the enthusiasm of the others, all of whom returned with Colonel Peter the next year. Colonel Peter was the first Mayor of Albany in 1686 and we find his name signed to many interesting and important documents of that time. He died about 1724.
Philip (1696- 1758), Colonel Peter's eldest son, inherited the farm. It was he who married his cousin, Margaretta Schuyler (1701 - 1782). In 1747, due to Indian troubles, "The Flatts" was stockaded and the place became a military headquarters. There is mention of it being "filled with soldiers" in 1758. This
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DE VLACKTE - "THE FLATTS"
was when the troops were marching against Crown Point and to the Battle of Lake George. An appeal had been made for a garrison at the time it was stockaded but as this was never granted the place was closed for a time. However, due to the very kindly feeling that had always existed between the Indians and the Schuylers, the home was never molested in any way.
The activity at Fort Ticonderoga, and the continual passing and re passing of soldiers, made it a vantage point of some considerable importance. Lord Howe was among those who stopped here on his way to Ticonderoga. It is said that "Aunt Schuyler" became very much attached to him. She insisted on serving him with her own hands and kissed him when she bade him "Good-bye." She could not forsee that her urgent invitation to stop on his return was a pleasure neither would know. He was killed early in the Battle while fighting at the head of his troops.
"Aunt Schuyler," on hearing of his death is said to have mourned for him with an "intensity that amazed her friends." Accounts differ as to where Lord Howe is buried. Some say his body was brought to the "Flatts," en route to Albany, for burial. Others state he was buried near where he fell in what is now the town of Ticonderoga but the latter claim is not well substantiated.
The house at the Flatts was badly damaged by fire, as has been mentioned. This was following Colonel Peter's death in 1759. Aunt Schuyler was sitting on the lawn at the time it was discovered and she directed the efforts of the slaves and others in fighting the fire and salvaging whatever could be got out of the house.
Aunt Schuyler was of such generous proportions as to forbid her taking an active part, though she has been described as but a "wisp of a girl" as a bride of eighteen, in 1719. While her house was being rebuilt, she lived with her husband's brother, Peter, whose home was on the hill to the westward. At this time, the King's troops, stationed in Albany, were under the command of Colonel Bradstreet. With their grateful assistance, given in acknowledgment of Aunt Schuyler's bountiful hospitality, the "Flatts" was soon restored. This was in 1759, yet by 1776 these same troops would gladly have destroyed the entire estate which then extended some two miles up and down the River which formed its eastern boundary. Aunt Schuyler lived to see the signing of the Declaration of Independence and died in her eighty-second year, in 1782.
Colonel Philip of "The Meadows" spent much of his boyhood with her. He also lived here with his bride for a time following the war, in 1760. The next year he left on his unpremeditated trip to Europe, while "The Meadows" was being built.
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FORTS AND FIRESIDES OF THE MOHAWK COUNTRY
Much is known of the house at the Flatts and of this period from descriptions given by Mrs. Anne Grant in her "Memoirs of an American Lady" (who was Aunt Schuyler). Mrs. Grant lived for quite a long time with "Aunt Schuyler" as she called her hostess. The following quotation, descriptive of the "Flatts," is from her book :-=
"It was a large brick house of two, or rather three stories (for there were excellent attics) besides a sunk story, finished with exactest neatness. The lower floor and two spacious rooms, with large light closets; on the first there were three rooms, and in the upper one, four. Through the middle of the house was a wide passage with opposite front and back doors, which in summer admitted a stream of air peculiarly grateful to the languid senses. It was furnished with chairs and pictures like a summer parlour. Here the family usually sat in hot weather, when there were no ceremonious strangers. One room, I should have said, in the greater house, only was opened, for the domestic friends of the family occupied neat little bed rooms in the attic or the winter house. This house contained no drawing room; that was unheard of luxury; the winter rooms had carpets; the lobby had oil cloth painted in lozenges to imitate blue and white marble. The best bed room was hung with family portraits, some of which were admirably executed, and in the eating room which, by the way, was rarely used for the purpose, were some Scriptural paintings. The house fronted the River, on the brink of which, under shades of elm or sycamore, ran the great road to Saratoga, Stillwater and the northern lakes; a little simple avenue of Marella cherry trees enclosed with a white rail, led to the road and River, not three hundred yards distant."
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Across the little lane, along which now grow stately elms, was the family burying ground, containing over fifty graves, the resting place of the Schuylers of this line of descent. Here slept old "Quider" who died in 1684. The brown stone markers, once aligned in prim rows, tottered pitifully after standing two centuries at "Attention." Recently, to insure better care, the stones and the burials which they marked (some thirty odd in all) were removed to the Albany Rural Cemetery.
Following Aunt Schuyler's death, the home passed to Stephen Van Rensselaer and thereafter was repeatedly divided and subdivided losing with each change of ownership more of its lordly expanse.
Van Curler chose wisely when he selected this farm, acknowledged by him the "best farm" for a part of it still produces a wealth of vegetables under the skillful cultivation of an up-to the-minute truck gardener. Another part of the farm is still owned by the Schuylers but none of the old name live here.
John J. Vroomun-1938
Lansing House (Lansingburgh) Troy
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LANSING HOUSE
Lansing House
HE original patent to the area of which Lansingburgh is a part, was granted by Governor Lovelace in 1670 to Harmen Vedder and Robert Sanders, both of Albany. On August 21st, 1670, Vedder sold his
"half of the land called Stone Arabia, with all his title thereto, free and unencumbered, with no claims standing or issuing against the same, save the Lord's right, without the grantor's making the least pretention thereto any more, also acknowledging that he is fully paid and satisfied therefor, the first penny with the last, by the hands of Robert Sanders."
The exact interpretation of the name "Stone Arabia" is rather obscure. Some have said it referred to the large stones found so abundantly in its soil. Yet another large and important tract of land in the Mohawk Valley, near Canajoharie was also known as the "Stone Arabia Patent" and no mention of stone is made on this tract.
Robert Sanders sold the land to Johannes Wendell, a farmer, also of Albany in 1683, and Wendell added to his acreage by further purchases. His son, Robert, inherited the land and sold the northern portion in 1763 to Abraham Jacob Lansingh for 300 pounds. From this conveyance there was an exception of a tract previously sold to Simon Van Antwerp, then in the possession of William Rogers.
It is not quite certain who the original settler was but the probability is that it was Robert Wendell. It is also known that when Wendell sold to Abraham Jacob Lansingh, William Rogers was living there (1763). A map drawn in 1773 shows the house back a little distance from the river and slightly north of the Rogers house as the property of H. Van Arnum. Also two other names are shown on the northern part of the grant, these being Peter Howey and Robert Wendell.
This same map located Abraham Jacob Lansingh's home, the one pictured, at 110th Street. It is now credited as being the oldest building in greater Troy, although the builder is not definitely known. Possibly Wendell built the home before he sold the land to Lansingh, in which event it would have been built soon after his purchase of the property. If not, then Lansingh built it. In either event, the house would be close to 200 years old.
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FORTS AND FIRESIDES OF THE MOHAWK COUNTRY
Abraham Jacobse had three sons, Jacob A. who inherited the homestead and who died February 25th, 1801, Cornelius who died April 23rd, 1842, and Levinus who died in the year 1837. Levinus lived for a time at No. 3 Grove Street, (at the corner of River Street, now Troy). The Census of 1790 mentions Jacob under the district heading of Schagticoke Town and gives his family as one son, two daughters and three slaves. The other two sons are listed under Rensselaer Town. Cornelius is shown as having one son and three slaves and Levinus with four sons, three daughters and three slaves.
Bancker's map of 1787 shows the tract northernmost along the River as belonging to Jacob A. Lansingh and comprising 620 acres; next south of this is Levinus Lansingh's farm of 193 acres. This latter farm was bounded on the south by North Street. Adjoining it on the south is the village of Lansingburgh extending from North to South Streets. All of this was a part of the original Abraham J. Lansingh estate. In 1770 he had it surveyed and laid out into town lots "for erecting of a city by the name of Lansingburgh." It was first called by the Dutch "Nieuw Stadt" to distinguish it from the "Quide Stadt" which was Albany. By 1786 there were 400 inhabitants living there. The village of Lan ingburgh is thirty years older than the Township.
The issue of Friday, October 14, 1791 of the "American Spy" published at Lansingburgh, contains the following notices :---
"Died last Sunday evening, at his seat, in the 72nd year of his age, Abraham J. Lansingh, Esq. the original proprietor of this town. On Saturday morning, preceeding, Mrs. Catherine Lansingh, his consort, dicd, in the 69th year of her age."
The old Lansingh burial ground was on the river bank a short distance below the homestead. No stone remains to mark the location of a single grave. It is said that some of these remains were long ago reinterred elsewhere. Opposite, across the main channel of the river, is Haver's Island and the old Van Schaick homestead.
Among other very interesting old houses in this locality is the large two- story building on the east side of River Street, the second dwelling north of Hoosick Street, Troy. It is said to have been built soon after the French War and at the
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LANSING HOUSE
time of the Revolution belonged to a Royalist from whom it was confiscated and held by the State until about 1810 when it was sold to one, E. Hawkins.
Just north of this is the old Spafford house where Horatio Spafford lived. He was the editor of the well known "Gazetteer of the State of New York, 1812" and another published in 1824. Here he died of the cholera in 1832.
The founder of the Lansingh family in the Hudson Valley was Gerrit Frederickse Lansingh, (the suffix "se" has the force of son) born in Holland. He came to New Amsterdam, bringing with him three sons and three daughters. He died some time before the end of the year 1679. One of the sons was Hendrick G. Lansingh who was in Albany as early as 1666. Hendrick G. Lansingh died July 1st, 1709. He had five children, one of whom was Jacob Hendrick - who died in 1756. He married Helena Pruyn and had ten children one of whom was Abraham Jacobus Lansingh, baptized April 24th, 1720. This Abraham Jacobus Lansingh was the ancestor of the Lansings of Lansingburg and Troy and the founder of Lansingburg.
In the minutes of the Committee of Safety which functioned during the Revolution are entries concerning the Lansinghs. Cornelius Lansingh appeared before the Albany Committee on December 2nd, 1777, and complained that-
"a Captain and one hundred men in the Continental Service entered his enclosure (by order of Coll. Hay) and cut the timber from the same and prays relief in the premises
Of Jacob A. Lansingh we find the following entry:
"Jacob A. Lansingh being brought before this board as being a person inimical to the Rights and Liberties of America and having denied the charge * * * "Ordered that the said Jacob A. Lansingh be liberated from his present confine- ment on his entering into bond with security in the penal sum of five hundred pounds for his appearance before this Board at their next General Meeting and then and there abide and perform such order and determination as this Board shall make in the premises."
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FORTS AND FIRESIDES OF THE MOHAWK COUNTRY
This bond was evidently secured at once for in the minutes of the same meeting appears the following :-
"I, Manning Visscher, do bind myself my Heirs, Exec'rs & Ad'rs unto John Barclay, Esq'r, Chairman of the Committee of the City and County of Albany in the sum of five hundred pounds that Jacob A. Lansingh shall personally appear before the said Committee at their next general meeting as Witness my Hand date above mentioned (signed) Manning Visscher."
On Oct. 29, 1776 "Jacob A. Lansingh was also brought before this Board. Ordered that he appear tomorrow morning and that he be continued under the security he has given."
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