USA > New York > Columbia County > History of Columbia County, New York. With illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 17
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THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS.
The board of supervisors, as the fiscal manager of the county, has come down from the "good old colony times,
66
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
when the people lived under the king," and dates its be- ginning in an act of the Colonial Assembly of New York, passed in April, 1691 .* By this act it was provided that the freeholders of the colony should elect two assessors and one supervisor in their respective towns; the former to as- sess and establish the rates on each freeholder and inhabit- ant, and deliver the list to the supervisor, who took it up to a general meeting of the supervisors of the county, who ordered the same collected by the constables or collectors of the several towns. The supervisors, as a board, also elected a county treasurer, who received and disbursed the funds for county charges. This act was repealed Oct. 18, 1701, and courts of general or special sessions, held by the jus- tices of the peace of the county, or any five of them, were created, to make the necessary levies of taxes and audit claims, and certify the same to two assessors and a collector in each town for collection pro rata. This court also ap- pointed the county treasurer. On June 10, 1703, the super- visors were restored again and put in charge of the strong box of the treasury, and the courts of sessions relieved of the care of the financial interests of the county, and the supervisors required to meet as a board at the county town, annually, on the first Tuesday in October, and at such other times as they might deem proper for the transaction of their business. The board received back again, also, the power of appointment of county treasurer, who was allowed a sixpence on the pound for his fees, the collectors getting ninepence for their fees of collection. The system of the supervisors has been continued under the several constitu- tions of the State to the present time.
The first book of minutes of the board of supervisors of the county of Columbia is still in good preservation. The proceedings of the board at the first meeting are recorded as follows :
" In pursuance of an act of the State of New York entitled 'an Act to divide the County of Albany into Two Counties,' passed the fourth day of April, 1786, the supervisors for the county of Columbia met at the house of Gabriel Esselstyne, in Claverack, and were duly qualified, on the first Tuesday in June, 1786 (June 6, 1786). Mem- hers present : John Livingston, Manor Livingston ; Cornelius Van Schaack, Kinderhook ; Peter Wiessmer, Claverack ; William Powers, Kings; James Bryan, Hillsdale; Joho Kortz, German Camp ; Thomas Jenkins, Hudson.
" The board nominated Juhn Livingston their moderator. The board then proceeded to elect a county treasurer and clerk to the supervisors, when Walter Vrooman Wemple was elected to the two offices. The board then adjourned till tu-morrow morning at eight o'clock.
" The supervisors met pursuant to adjournment. All the members as yesterday, except Mr. Wiessmer, present. The board then pro- ceeded to divide the quotas among the several districts, as follows :
Ratio.
Quota.
Kinderhook
4,820
Hillsdale
125
2,500
Kings ..
179
3,580
Manor Livingston.
544 10,880
Claverack
162
3,240
German Camp.
48
960
ll udson.
162
3,240
1461
29.220
" The board resolved that fifteen hundred pounds (with the ad- ditional sum of nine peace in the pound for collecting) shall be raised towards building the county court-houso and gaol (£1500).
" The treasurer's bond for the performance of his office is deposited in the hands of Mr. Livingston.
"Vou. No. 1 .- The board agreed to allow Cornelius Fonda,
for his attendance as messenger this setting ..
£0 08 00
" Vou. No. 2 .- The board allowed Gab. Esselstyne for his bill of expenses. 2 15 00
£3 03 00
" The board then adjourned till the 21st July next, at ten o'clock A.M."
On July 21 the board met pursuant to adjournment, the full board being present, except Mr. Livingston. Mr. Van Schaack was elected moderator pro tem. The following town accounts were allowed :
£
5.
d.
Pauper relief ...
38
18 3
Lands and damages for roads ... 28
3
6
Highway commissioners. 13 16
Supervisor.
2 16 0
116
18
9
German Camp .- Elections.
5
10
Supervisor.
1
4
0
-
6
14
Livingston Manor .-- Elections ..
12
8
0
Pauper relief ..
5
8
17
16
0
Claverack .- Elections ..
10
10
0
Commissioners of highways ....
8
10
0
Supervisor ....
0
Dr. W. V. Wemple.
9
I
1
30
17
0
Kings District .- Pauper relief ..
49
17
1
Assessors
12
0
Supervisor.
2
16
0
Roads ..
54
17
6
120
5
7
Hillsdale District .- Roads.
17
7
9
Sundries
12
4
Assessors.
14
-7
6
Elections.
23
15
1
67
15
0
Total ...
360
6 4
The apportionment of taxes for the year 1786 was as follows :
County Tax.
District Tax.
Total.
Kinderhook
269
15
0
116
18
386
13
Hillsdale ..
140
0
0
67
15
0
207
15
0
Kings.
200
10
0
120
5
320
15
7
Livingston Manor.
609
0
0
17
16
626
16
0
Claverack
181
5
0
30
17
0
212
2
0
German Camp
53
15
0
14
0
60
9
0
Hudson
181
5
0
0
0
0
181
5
0
Totalt
1635 10
0 360 6
4 1995 16
4
On Sept. 5, 1786, the supervisors met to divide a quota of £2300, under the act of April 29 of that year, the full board being present, except Messrs. Livingston and Powers. Mr. Jenkins moved to reduce the quota of Hudson, but the board refused to do so, and Mr. Jenkins entered his protest against the action. The quotas of the several towns were fixed as follows :
£
£
s.
Kinderhook.
379
8
Hillsdale
196 16
Kings.
281
16
Manor Livingston. 856
8
Claverack
255
0
Germao Camp. 75 12
Hudson ..
255
0
€
8
d.
€
R.
d.
€
1
1
On Jan. 23, 1787, the board met again, the members all present except Mr. Powers. The trustees for erecting the court-house and jail asked for the remaining £500 allowed for the public buildings by the Legislature April 19, 1786,
Bradford's Ed. Colonial Laws.
+ $4088.75 ; $900.79; $4989.54.
7
0
-
-
16
5
Kinderhook .- Election expenses, 1785-86 .. 33
67
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
and the same was voted accordingly, the apportionment being as follows: Kinderhook, £83; Hillsdale, £43; Kings, £61; Livingston, £186; Claverack, £55; Hudson, £55; German Camp, £17.
At the May meeting, 1787, Clermont sent its first su- pervisor to the board, Samuel Ten Broeck. The board canvassed the returns of the election for members of the As- sembly under the act of Feb. 13, 1786. A vote was passed to allow assessors and supervisors six shillings per day for services. The first State tax was levied at the September session of the board, amounting to £2400 ($6000), dis- tributed to the several towns as follows : Manor Livingston, £637; Kings, £294; Claverack, £288; Clermont, £181; Kinderhook, £435; Hillsdale, £205; Hudson, £288; German Camp, £72.
The total county tax was £157 13s. 10d., of which Cler- mont's quota was £12. The town taxes amounted to £712 48., Clermont paying £13 9s. Collectors were required to return their bad debts within ten days of September 4, or be held accountable for the same, under act of April 29, 1786.
On May 29, 1788, the board met to canvass the returns of the election for members of Assembly and for delegates to the convention to act upon the federal constitution, and also to divide £600 to be raised for court-house purposes, under act of March 14, 1788. In June £1250 additional were raised to complete the court-house and jail. On the 13th of this month a settlement with the trustces of the court-house was had, and on their report £600 only were ordered paid for the completion of the buildings; but the next board, in May, 1789, voted £600 more to complete the same. Among the contingent expenses allowed by this board, was a charge of eight shillings by the public execu- tioner for whipping a negro by order of the court.
An amount of £7520 12s. 3d. was found due Albany county from Columbia county as arrearages on tax lists from 1778 to 1785, which amount was divided among the towns according to the quota they were then placed in. Fifty pounds additional for the jail were appropriated.
In 1793 a settlement was made with the treasurer for the six years preceding, and a balance of £100 10s. 11d. found in his hands, the rest of the funds for the entire term being properly and correctly accounted for. He had, be- sides this, advanced on the taxes of 1789 £169 10s. 3d., which was ordered paid back to him. Two days " extra ordi- mary" were added to the accounts of supervisors of Canaan, Hillsdale, Kinderhook, Clermont, and Germantown, on account of the distance from the county-seat.
In 1795 the first public-school moneys were distributed to the inhabitants of the county, and were as follows, with the number of taxable inhabitants :
Taxables.
Distribution.
8.
d.
Livingston
853
302
12
Hillsdale
630
223
9
0
Canaan
549
194
17
Claverack
449
159
6
0
Hudson.
411
145
18
Kinderhook.
387
134
16
0
Chatham
321
114
1
0
Clermont.
175
62
1
6
Germantown
100
35
12
0
Total
3875
1372 12 6
James Savage, the first supervisor of Chatham, came on the board this year, the taxes of the town being for its own needs £130 4s. 4d., and for county purposes £30 16s. 6d. The amount of money raised by the county for school pur- poses was just one-half the amount received from the State, to wit, £686 6s. In 1798 the currency was changed from the New York to the federal currency, dollars and cents taking the place of the pounds, shillings, and pence of the colony. The school tax this year equaled the amount re- ceived from the State, $1412.12. Andrew M. Carshore succeeded to the clerkship of the board on the death of Dr. Wemple.
In 1803 two new towns sent their representatives to the board,-Granger, now Taghkanie, Ilenry Avery, supervisor; and Gallatin, now Ancram, Nicholas Kline, supervisor. Granger had 343 taxable inhabitants, and paid taxes as follows: county, $98.30 ; town, $351.90. Gallatin had 369 taxables, and paid county taxes, $102.96, and town taxes, $237.62. The total tax of the county for county purposes was $1730.63, and there were 4370 taxables in its limits. In 1805 the Kinderhook farmers began a sys- tematic warfare on the crows, and offered a " fo'pence ha'penny" for the head of every thief of that family.
In 1806 the board met in the new court-house in Hud- son. In 1807, " Guss," a free black man, had been fined for a misdemeanor and committed to jail until the fine and costs were paid; but the term of imprisonment, owing to the impecuniosity of " Guss," bidding fair to be of an in- definite duration, the supervisors, as the cheaper method, paid the fine and costs and thus saved his board. The military tax against non-combatants, the Quakers, of three dollars per poll, was levied for the first time in 1807, there being four polls. The next year the number of polls in- creased as well as the amount of tax, there being twenty- five of the former at four dollars.
In 1810 the mayor's room in the court-house was rented for a school-room to Peter Mills, for the winter of 1810 -11.
In 1813 the first equalization of assessments of real es- tate was effected as follows: from Hudson, Claverack, and Kinderhook, 25 per cent. of the assessors' returns was de- ducted ; from Chatham, 33} per cent. ; from Hillsdale, 12} per cent. ; and from Granger, 50 per cent. To Ger- mantown 100 per cent. was added; to Livingston and Canaan 25 per cent. ; and to Gallatin and Clermont 50 per cent.
In 1818, Ghent and Austerlitz were first represented on the board, the former by Tobias L. Hogeboom, supervisor, and the latter by Jonathan C. Olmstead, supervisor.
The first assessment of Ghent, for the year 1818, and the tax-list for that year, were as follows : 25,471 acres at $22=$560,362 ; equalized, $915,631 ; personal property. $30,774 ; total assessment, $946,405. State tax, $946.40 ; county tax, $473.44 ; town tax, $1285.05 ; collector's fecs, $162.29; total, $2867.18.
Austerlitz's first assessment was thus taxed : 22,051 acres, at $12=$264,612 ; equalized, $432,376 ; personal property, $10,715; total, $443,091. State tax, $443.09; county tax, $221.66 ; town tax, $786.76; fees, $87.09; total, $1538.60.
68
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
In 1819, New Lebanon sent John King, its first super- visor, to the board, its first assessment and taxation as a separate town being as follows: 19,737 acres, $367,692; equalized, $267,436 ; personal property, $10,549; total, $277,985. State tax, $277.98; county tax, $207.29; town tax, $1267.54; fees, $105.16 ; total list, $1857.97.
In 1821, David Dunbar was appointed sealer of weights and measures, and $80 appropriated for standards.
In 1823, Stuyvesant came to the county legislature in the person of P. I. Vosburgh, her first supervisor. The assess- ment and taxation of the new town were as follows : real estate, $464,583; equalized, $239,160 ; personal property, $52,750; total, $291,910. State tax, $291.91; county tax, $249.13; town tax, $937.59 ; fees, $64.55; total list, $1543.18.
In 1824, Copake entered the board, William Murray being the first supervisor of the town. The assessment for the year was as follows : real estate, $387,197 ; equalized, $199,068 ; personal property, 820,190; total, $219,258; State tax, $109.63; county tax, $148.79; town tax, $1500.64; fees, $55.34; total list, $1814.40.
In 1827 the movement for a county poor-farm and alms- house began, the details of which will be found elsewhere in this chapter.
In 1831 grand and petit jurors were first paid for service in the courts, $2500 being raised for the purpose.
In 1833, Stockport came in first to the board, George Chittenden being the supervisor. Its lands were assessed at $29 per acre, there being 6543 acres returned. Its real estate was assessed at $348,864, and equalized at $189,747 ; personal property, $82,588 ; total, $272,335. County tax, $556.76; town tax, $787.45; fees, $72.74; total list, $1416.45. $83 for schools and $500 for highways were raised.
In 1835 the tax on the Hudson Whaling Co., for 1834, was refunded, $251.44.
In 1836 the first sheep damages were allowed by the board, $297.37.
In 1837, Greenport sent her first supervisor to the board, the same being Ilugh McClellan. Its assessment and tax- ation were as follows : 11,165 acres at $18 per acre. Real estate assessment, $307,980, equalized at $200,970 ; per- sonal property, $72,300; total, $273,270. County tax, $614.28; town tax, $590.76; fecs, $66.39; total, $1271.43. 34 dogs.
In 1847 the board divided the county into two Assembly districts, pursuant to law, and recommended that the Legis- lature be petitioned to abolish the office of superintendent of schools, declared the offices of county judge and surro- gate separate, aud recommended the election of a special county judge and special surrogate.
In 1851 there were appropriated for the inmates of the poor-house $132 for tobacco and snuff, besides the tobacco raised on the farm. The committee thought the amount extravagant and the articles useless, and if the practice of such allowances must be continued $50 per annum was ample.
In 1852 the clerk was rather poctical in his records, as the entry of an adjournment at the regular session seems to testify : " The committees spent some time in the examina-
tion of accounts; when the evening shades were about to prevail, an adjournment was had till morning."
The list of members of the board of supervisors is given in the civil list of the county.
PUBLIC BUILDINGS.
The first court-house erected in Columbia county was at Claverack. It cost about $9000 (£3600 New York cur- reney), and was built in 1786-88. It is now the mansion of Peter Hoffman. It remained the court-house until 1806, at which time a building was provided in Hudson, the county- seat having been removed to that city in 1805. Killian K. Van Rensselaer, the first surrogate, opened his office at the house of Dr. Joseph Mullins, in Claverack village. The deed of the site for the court-house at Claverack was executed by Gabriel Esselstyne, June 7, 1786, and conveyed the site to John Livingston, William Powers, Cornelius Van Schaack, James Bryant, Peter Weismer, Thos. Jenkins, and Johan- nes Kirtz, they being the board of supervisors of the county. The consideration was £20, and the deed was made under the act of organization of the county, April 4, 1786, which located the county-seat at or near the old church at Clav- erack. The premises were described as follows : " Beginning at a certain point on a course S. 52° E. distant 2 chains 18 links from the northeasterly corner of the now dwelling- house of said Gabriel Esselstync, running from said point or beginning N. 44° E. 4 chains, then S. 50° E. 1 chain 71 links, then S. 44° W. 4 chains to the old church, then N. 50° W. 1 chain 71 links to the beginning." This deed was indorsed with receipts and "livery aud seizin made and given," and signed " Thomas Williams, Jun., Walter V. Wemple."
Probably the most intensely interesting scene ever wit- nessed within the walls of the old court-house at Claverack was that of the trial of Harry Croswell, of Hudson, for libel. In the year 1803 the Hudson Balance newspaper made a violent attack on President Jefferson, for which offense the editor, Mr. Croswell, was indicted for libel by the grand jury of Columbia county. The case was tried before Chief-Justice Lewis, at the February term (1804) of the Supreme Court, and was the occasion of the greatest public excitement, as well from the importance of the ques- tion at issue as on account of the high position and pre- eminent ability of the counsel employed. It was argued by Ambrose Spencer, attorney-general, on the part of the people, and for the defendant by William W. Van Ness, - Harrison, and Alexander Hamilton. A correspondent of the New York Evening Post, describing the scenes of the trial, after giving an account of the plea of Attorney-Gen- cral Spencer for the prosecution, and the effort of Van Ness for the defendant, continued : " After all came the great, the powerful Hamilton. No language can convey an ade- quate idea of the astonishing powers evinced by him. The audience was numerous, and, although composed of those not used to the melting mood, the effect produced on them was electric ! . . . As a correct argument for a lawyer it was very imposing; as a profound commentary upon the science and practice of government it has never been sur- passed." The court, however, instructed the jury that the only question for them to decide was whether the alleged
69
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
language had been published by Mr. Croswell, and that the question of libel was to be decided wholly by the court; and so, notwithstanding the brilliant defense, the case re- sulted adversely to the defendant. Five months after this, the brilliant Hamilton fell by the pistol of Aaron Burr.
As a specimen of some of the amenities of those days, we note an advertisement of Peter B. Ten Broeck, wherein he branded the surrogate Van Rensselaer as "a coward, pussillanimous, and destitute of truth." The surrogate re- plied in terms no less emphatic and explicit, but nothing more came of the affair.
COURT-HOUSES AND JAILS.
In 1805, after much earnest and persistent opposition, the county-seat was removed from Claveraek to the city of IIudson, the common council transferring the city hall to the county for a court-house, and voting also the sum of $2000 and a lot of land for the erection of a new jail, which latter was ready for the reception of prisoners in October of that year. It was the same building which is now occupied by the Hudson Gazette and Daily Register. The room which is now the business office of the editor and proprietor, Mr. Williams, is the same in which Mar- garet Houghtaling was confined after conviction of the crime of child-murder, and from which she was led out to execution on the 17th of October, 1817.
Until the time when it was decided to remove the county- seat to Hudson the old city hall had remained in an un- finished condition, its upper story being divided into " chambers," as they were called, which were used as school-rooms and for other purposes, while the ground floor, originally intended as a meeting-hall, had been de- graded to inferior uses, and was then, or had recently been, occupied as a warehouse for the storage of hay and other coarse merchandise. When the building was completed, to be used as a court-house, it was remodeled, and its original arrangement reversed, to bring the hall, or court- room, into the upper story, and this was used not only by several of the religious societies as a place of worship, but for nearly all public gatherings, until after the completion of the present court-house, when it was vacated by the county and sold to the Presbyterian society.
At a special meeting of the board of supervisors, held in Hudson, at the house of Philo Nichols, May 14, 1805, $1000 was appropriated towards building the new jail, and a committee appointed to sell the old court-house jail and lot at Claverack for $2000; but the property was sold to St. Paul's church of Claverack for $1500, subject to the dower of the wife of Gabriel Esselstyne. This sum was also appropriated to the crection of the new jail.
Dr. Geo. Monell, of Claverack, and James llyatt, of Hud- son, supervisors, were the building committee on the new court-house and jail at Hudson. The original cost of the jail was about $5000, as paid by the county. In 1809, $300 was expended for new cells and $200 for repairs, and every year to the time the building was abandoned by the county sums varying from $100 to $500 were appropriated for repairs on the court-house and jail. In 1816 a movement was inaugurated for a thorough repair of the court-house, or for building a new one, as deemed most expedient, and
also to build a new fire-proof clerk's office, but it failed. This year the Baptist society was given the privilege of occupying the larger court-room for worship on Sunday.
In 1820 another movement was made on the board of supervisors for a petition to the Legislature for authority to levy a tax for building a fire-proof clerk's office, but nothing came of it. In 1822 the movement was successful, the board signing a petition to the Legislature for leave to levy a tax of $1000 to build such an office, and the aet was passed the same year. In 1823 the board resolved to build during that year, and a committee on plans and specifica- tions was appointed, the same being Supervisors Bay, Dakin, Poueher, Jno. P. Beekman, and Van Deusen. The city was granted permission to erect an addition to the building for a city clerk's office, and the building was to be located on the east end of the court-house square, with its gable-end on Warren street. The building was accordingly erected, and in 1826 a portion of it was rebuilt to make it secure and dry. In 1829 the judges of the common pleas called the attention of the supervisors to the miserable con- dition of the court-house and jail, and an appropriation of $75 was made for repairs.
In 1833 a movement for a new court-house and jail was inaugurated, a committee being appointed on plans, cost of buildings, the amount of contributions Hudson would make towards the same, and their location. This committee was composed of Supervisors Mellen, Pratt, and Sanders, who reported, December 12, that the common council of Hudson offered to take the old county buildings and lots, at $7000, and appropriate $3000 towards new buildings, and procure warranty decds for four aeres, situate at the southerly ter- mination of Fourth street, for $1000, and guarantee the title to the county, provided the lot could be obtained, re- serving to the corporation the same privileges as in the old building. The board accepted the proposition, and agreed to proeced with the erection of the buildings at the next meeting if the council procured the deed for the lot. At a special meeting, called Jan. 8, 1834, resolutions based on the fulfillment of the proposition, or rather the security for its fulfillment, were passed to petition the Legislature for authority to raise $8000, by loan, to build a court-house, to be paid in four equal annual payments. John Sanders, James Mellen, and Lueas Hocs were the committee in charge of the matter of the petition, and Sanders, Mellen, and Pulver were a committee on conveyances between the corporation of Hudson and the county, and also to receive plans and specifications and proposals for the erection of the building. They were authorized to contract for its erection at a total cost not exceeding $18,000. At a meet- ing on Feb. 17, 1834, the question was raised as to the passage of the foregoing resolution for contracting for the erection of the building, but the board decided by vote that the same " did pass," and the action of the committee in advertising for proposals was sanctioned. Deeds were passed between the county and the city for the respective property of each, and the guarantees required of the city and the citizens of Hudson for the payment of the sum of $10,000 were accepted by the board of supervisors. The plan of the building reported by the committee was adopted, as " the most economical, and properly answering the purposes of
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