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 18
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
the County." The building committee was appointed, con- sisting of John P. Mesick, John W. Edmonds, and James Mellen, who were given full authority to contract for the erection of the building, and to modify plans if they deemed necessary, but not to such an extent as to involve a total cost of more than $19,500. Application was made to the Legislature for leave to raise an additional sum of $2500, and to borrow the same in advance of taxation for its pay- ment, from any source available, preference being made for such loan from the public-school fund. The action of the board relative to the erection of new public buildings was not accomplished without strong opposition. Out of this op- position a movement was begun looking to the erection of a new county from the southern towns of Columbia and northern towns of Dutchess county, which movement was discountenanced by the board of supervisors, and the mem- bers of the Assembly from Columbia county were requested to oppose any attempt to divide the county.
In 1833 the Legislature gave the requisite authority to the supervisors to erect the proposed public buildings, and Messrs. Mesick, Mellen, Edmonds, Van Valkenburgh, and Henry C. Miller were appointed commissioners under the act to superintend their erection. On the 20th of De- cember, the commissioners advertised for proposals for the construction of a main or centre building 48 feet front and 59 feet to the rear, with portico and pediment across the whole front 13 feet wide at the base, with six fluted col- umns, and two wings 34 feet by 44 feet. The east wing to be built for a jail, and the west for a clerk's office, com- mon council room, and jury rooms. The front of the whole building to be of Stockbridge marble, and the other parts of blue mountain limestone, the same being according to the plans of an architect named Rector. Three propo- sals were received,-one for $24,000, complete, by Addison Alger ; one for $22,200, including $1439 for sundry speci- fied items, by Reuben G. Jared and Richard Macy and Samuel Gifford ; and one from Burch, King & Waterman, for $20,735.52, from which certain specified items of fur- nishing were deducted, an alteration in plans effected, and the contract closed with the last-named firm, at $19,810.52.
At the completion of the building the commissioners submitted an elaborate report of its cost, which was stated to be $26,211.51, including site of the building, and com- missioners' salaries, a barn, wood-house, fence, and side- walks. Mr. Miller, in his "Sketches of Hudson," puts the cost of the building at about $35,000. This amount may, and probably docs, include subsequent appropriations for painting and finishing, and new work in the jail.
The building is two stories in height, being sixty feet from the ground to the peak, and is surmounted by a dome.
In 1853, at the annual meeting of the supervisors, their committee made an elaborate report, condemning the jail as totally inadequate to comply with the law and the wants of the county, and recommending the erection of a new jail on the Auburn plan. That committee was Peter Poucher, H. W. Reynolds, Daniel Reed, John Miller, and J. H. Overhiser. A new committee, consisting of Messrs. Far- rell, Rhoda, and Fulton, was appointed to consult with the county judge and district attorney in relation to the neces- sary steps to be taken to make the jail conform to the stat-
ute on prisons ; $1431.95 was appropriated for repairs ; and a communication from the superintendent of county build- ings was received, stating that the estimate of the committee on the county jail was extravagant, and that $10,000 was ample to build a jail on the plan proposed by them, and that the old one could be reconstructed for $3000. This communication was not received with the most friendly feelings by some of the board, and a resolution was offered censuring the superintendent for volunteering advice on matters foreign to his province, but it was tabled. A con- tract was made with the Albany penitentiary to hold the prisoners of Columbia county, which has continued for several years.
The county judge, Hon. J. C. Newkirk, filed his opinion as to the necessary steps to be taken by the supervisors to comply with the law on prisons, and the committee there- upon reported in favor of building a new jail, the cost not to exceed $10,000, but their report was tabled.
In 1856 the supervisors voted to purchase from the city the council-room in the court-house for $1500, and fit it up for the county clerk's use. The room was accordingly bought, and converted into a vault for the storing of the records, and for a recording-room, $900 being expended in the repairs and remodeling. A fire-proof was also con- structed in the building. In 1867 a committee appointed for the purpose reported plans for a new jail, 40 feet by 50 feet, but nothing came of the movement. In 1872 another committee was appointed on the subject of a new jail and the conversion of the old one into a surrogate's office, but no new building was projected, $2000 being appropriated for repairs and improvements on the old one.
At this time a controversy arose between the country and city members of the board of supervisors respecting the rights of the city to confine the city's prisoners convicted by the police court in the county jail. An elaborate report was made by Supervisor Sherman Van Ness, of Hudson, showing that the city became vested with such right by the original agreement to furnish a court-house, a lot for a jail, and make a contribution of $2000 towards the erection of the latter. In that agreement the city reserved the right to confine its prisoners in the county jail, and to hold the mayor's courts and council-meetings in the court-house, and when the new building was erected the same right was re- served in it by the city by the terms of the compact then made between the board of supervisors and the common council of Hudson. The controversy was finally amicably adjusted to the satisfaction of all parties.
In 1874 a committee's report in favor of the erection of a new jail secured no favorable action. A similar report met the same fate in 1875, and the jail still remains undisturbed. It has been repaired from time to time, and remodeled to make it conform more nearly to the requirements of the statute concerning prisons, but it is neither adequate to the needs of the county, nor commensurate with its wealth, in- telligence, and humanity.
The public buildings are beautifully located on the verge of a bluff overlooking the South bay and the majestic river. The park in front, formerly known as Washington, but now as Court-House square, is covered with wide-arching elms and flanked by handsome residences. From the dome there are
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
grand and charming views of the Catskills in the west, and of the blue Berkshire hills, which bound the eastern horizon; and, altogether, the surroundings of the Columbia county court-house are exceedingly beautiful and pleasing.
It may interest the curious to know how much money has been expended by way of repairs and improvements on the two court-houses and jails in Hudson, and at much pains we have been enabled to state the amounts very nearly cor- rectly, having compiled the same from the proceedings of the board of supervisors from year to year. On the first court-house and jail in Hudson, from 1806 to the building of the present one in 1835, the sum of $5450 was paid for repairs and improvements. On the second court-house and jail, from 1837 to date (1878), there has been paid the sum of $18,000 for such purposes.
ALMSHOUSE AND POOR-FARM.
The first compulsory charity within the limits of the present Empire State was that which the act of the Colonial Assembly of April, 1691, provided for, whereby the towns of the colony were required to support their own poor, and whereby, also, safeguards were thrown around the system, to prevent imposition upon the authorities. The Assembly of 1683 may have also provided for such support, and so, also, may have the Dutch burghers before that, but the first laws we find recorded on the subject are those reported in Bradford's edition of the Colonial Laws from 1691 to 1773, published in London, which gives the first act as passed in April of the former year.
The Legislature in 1778 provided for the support of the poor by towns and cities, and later on for the building of poor-houses by towns and counties. Previous to the adop- tion of the poor-house system by Columbia county each town in the county supported its own poor, the county supporting such as were chargeable to no town, for lack of residence ; and the records of the board of supervisors show annual appropriations in many of the towns for that purpose of from $50 upwards.
Prior also to such adoption, the county poor were sold to the lowest bidder who would contract for their support, as, indeed, were the town poor also. In 1826 there were nine- teen paupers chargeable to the county, who were cared for in the different towns. In October, 1827, the following action was had by the board of supervisors relative to a poor- house and farm :
" Resolved, That it is necessary and proper that a County poor- house be established for the use of the County of Columbia, and that all the poor of the different towns, and the paupers, be sent to the same, the expenses for their support to be paid by the County ; and that the money be raised the same as the contingent expenses are now raised. And be it further
" Resolved, That it shall be the duty of each Supervisor to submit the foregoing resolution to the respective electurs of their towns at their next town-meeting, and take the sense of the voters thereon, aud returo the same at the next annual meeting of the board of Su- pervisors."
Subsequently the following action was had :
" Resolved, That the clerk copy the petition on the subject of a county poor-house which has been presented, and transmit the same to our representatives in the Assembly, and at the same time ioform them that the same was adopted with but ono dissenting voice, and that he was in favor of the principle contained in the resolution, but could not vote for the same without consulting his constituents."
At the annual meeting of the supervisors in 1828, a pe- tion was adopted for presentation to the Legislature for the passage of an act for authority to erect a county poor-house, and to send agents to Albany to procure the passage of such act. Messrs. Bushnell and Stebbins were appointed such agents. At this time there were fifty-one panpers charge- able to the county.
On October 16 a committee was appointed to ascertain a suitable site for such poor-house, and to devise a plan for the same, and ascertain the expense and plan of government of similar institutions, and report at the next meeting of the board. The committee was Messrs. Bramhall, Patric, Shafer, Tobey, and Power.
On November 12 " the committee reported propositions received for a site, and a new committee was appointed to receive proposals for site, and to view and inspect the several farms offered." This committee was Power, Jordan, and Patrie. Five thousand dollars were appropriated and levied for the purchase of a site and towards the erection of a building.
On December 11 the committee reported on several propo- sitions received for the sale of farms for a poor-house site, and the board being unable to agree, went in a body to view certain of the said farms the same day, but adjourned with- out purchasing. They met again Jan. 6, 1829, and appointed Messrs. Bramhall, Patrie, Van Buren, Power, and Shafer a committee with full power to purchase a farm, contract for a suitable building, and employ a person to take charge of it, with full power in the premises to do all things neces- sary to execute their commission.
On February 9 this committee reported that they had con- tracted with John C. Hogeboom for a farm, containing about two hundred acres, at forty-five dollars per acre; but proceed- ings in chancery were pending which involved the title to the farm, and the committee were thus prevented from consum- mating the contract " with the unanimity the subject re- quired," and consequently the committee reported the matter to the board and resigned their office. The board discharged the committee, and thereupon Mr. Hogeboom appeared before the board and " satisfied the members that no apprehension need be had as to his title;" whereupon the board confirmed the contract with him, and Mr. Hogeboom delivered a war- ranty-deed for the farm, and received $1000 in part payment therefor, and a certificate for $7997.19 for the balance, due Feb. 15, 1830, with interest at seven per cent. Barnabas Waterman was authorized to expend $2000 in making the necessary alterations and additions to the house on the prem- ises for a poor-house ; and a committee, consisting of Messrs. Lawrence, Bain, and Van Buren, was appointed, and author- ized to employ a keeper of the county poor-house, at a salary not exceeding $400, and to purchase furniture, farming utensils, and stock, and give notice to the several towns when the house was ready for the reception of inmates, the whole expenditures being limited to $2000.
In 1829 three superintendents of the poor were elected for one year, viz. : Gayer Gardner, of Hudson; Roswell B. Frisbie, of Canaan ; and Isaac Mills, of Chatham. The superintendents and a committee were authorized to pro- ceed forthwith to examine and report what alterations were necessary to be made in the poor-house, the number and
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
kind of stoves necessary, and to report a plan of an addi- tional building, if one was deemed necessary, with estimates of cost. It was found that an additional building would be necessary, of the same height as the one then standing on the premises, sixty feet long, and that $1500 would be required to build it. The Legislature was again invoked for authority to borrow $5000 (and levy a tax to pay the same) to pay balance on the farm and put up the additional building. Jacob House was engaged as the keeper of the poor-house.
In 1830, a committee appointed to visit the poor-house reported everything satisfactorily managed ; the paupers were clean and comfortably fed and clothed, and, what pleased them more than all else, they found " a mistress' school at- tended by small children, under good discipline and im- provement, and which they think merits their applause." Farm products were as good as could have been expected from the season ; " a handsome lot of hogs and beef cattle" were being fed, and " a handsome fallow to put in a winter crop of about fifty bushels was in good order ; good fences and some improvements had been made in clearing up, and guarding against the overflow of a stream on the premises ; and the committee (seven in number), from what they saw, came to the conclusion that the farm was prudently man- aged." They recommend the erection of a " mad-house," at a cost of $150, and the sinking of a new well.
In 1829, $5000 was appropriated for part payment of the balance on the farm ; and in 1830, 85350 was appropriated to pay the balance due on the farm, and for the repairs and improvements made thereon, making the sum of $11,350, as the total cost to that date.
In 1832 the boards of health of the various towns ex- pended $2179.77 for the prevention of the Asiatic cholera, hospitals being established in Ghent and Stuyvesant. A committee visited the poor-honse unawares, but found no cause of complaint in its management.
In 1831 the number of superintendents was increased to five, and in 1834 reduced again to three, against the pro- test of the county judges. In this last-named year the su- perintendents were authorized te erect a work-house, and make an inclosure for the same. They were also instructed to get one hundred young mulberry-trees, and a quantity of mulberry-seed, for the purpose of the cultivation of the silkworm and the making of silk, and in 1835 more mul- berry-trees were ordered.
In 1850 the distinction between town and county poor was restored. In the amount expended for outside relief this year ($4109.21) there was a sum of $60 for high- priced liquors, mostly brandy, at $3 per gallon. Four hundred and ninety-eight paupers were cared for, the in- mates in the poor-house averaging two hundred and nine- teen during the year. There was one pauper to every twenty-six inhabitants in some of the towns.
On July 2, 1857, the poor-house was totally destroyed by fire, and only the sum of $1573 was received as insur- ance. On July 14 the board of supervisors voted to build at a cost of $10,000, and Messrs. Lippett, Carpenter, Pul- ver, Van de Carr, and Miller were appointed a committee on plans. Subsequently $0000 was added to the appro- priation. Philip Rockefeller, Jacob Conklin, and P. E. Van Alstyne, the superintendents of the poor, were in-
structed to act with the committee of the board in the erection of a new poor-house, and a contract with Welch & Lamb was entered for the erection of the same for $15,493, and sanctioned by the board. The superintendents then assumed, or attempted to assume, control of the work, but the board of supervisors resisted, and taking the question into the courts gained their point and gave the management to the building committee. The entire cost of the new building ready for occupancy was $21,215.55, and it was finished early in 1858.
In 1870 the barns on the poor-farm were burned, and rebuilt at a cost of about $5000; $998 was received as in- surance.
In 1875 an insane asylum was built, in connection with the poor-house, at a cost of $5000, which is constructed in accordance with the modern ideas of convenience, health, and wholesome curative discipline necessary for such in- stitutions. Movements are at the present time inaugurated to place the management of the asylum on a basis at once creditable and conducive to the comfort and possible recov- ery of the unfortunates confined within its walls.
The poor-house, and its accompanying buildings, and the asylum are a credit to the county, and the spirit of liberal- ity and humanity with which they are managed speaks loudly for the charity and benevolence of the people who contribute to its maintenance and support.
The amount paid for the relief of the poor, inside and outside the poor-house, since its establishment to the pres- ent time, as well as the amount paid for such relief prior to the erection of such poor-house, is, approximately, as fol- lows : From 1786 to 1812, both years inclusive, the amount paid by the towns and county was about $50,000, the larger part being paid by the towns. From 1813 to 1828 the towns paid $132,250, and the county $17,019. From the establishment of the poor-house system in 1829 to 1849 the amount paid for relief was $167,084, exclusive of the amount paid for salaries of superintendents of the poor-house. From 1850 to the present date, including the appropriations for 1878, the amount paid for relief in the poor-house, including the products sold and consumed on the farm, was $331,921. During the same period a sum of $107,559 was expended by the several towns of the county, exclusive of Hudson city, for the relief of town poor. The appropriations of the city, since 1850, have been from $2000 to $5000 annually for poor support. To these amounts paid by the county must be added the fol- lowing appropriations for other charities made since 1850 : for the State charities, $47,920 ; for the orphan asylum, about $15,000. From these amounts dednet the amounts reported as the products of the county farm since 1832, -about $75,000,-and the grand aggregate paid by the people of Columbia county for charity's sake amounts to the large sum of $800,000, besides the amount of Hnd- son's contributions, which have been at least $100,000 more.
The last report of the superintendents of the poor-house makes the following exhibit : The total expenditures were $12,415.89; 722 persons were relieved; 149 were remain- ing in the house Nov. 1, 1877; 128 had been discharged during the year; 20 dicd; 425 were transient; 56,975
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
days of board had been furnished at a cost per week of $1.54. The number of days' board chargeable to each town in the county was as follows :
Aneram
2,192
Greenport .... 903
Austerlitz.
1,577
Hillsdale ..
2,778
Cannan.
1,446
Hudson 15,657
Chatham
3,720
Kinderhook 2,803
Claverack 4,249
Livingston . 1,266
Clermont.
1,065
New Lebanon 1,793
Copake.
2,341
Stockport 1,582
Gallatin
1,114
Stuyvesant
1,098
Germantown
1,435
Taghkanie.
1,412
Ghent ..
8,119 Transient 425
The stock, tools, and produce remaining on hand were inventoried at $4072.
THE HUDSON ORPHAN ASYLUM.
The Hudson Orphan and Relief Association was formed in October, 1843. A house was rented for $100 per annum, and a home opened under the charge and direction of a board of lady managers, and the same building oecu- pied until 1847, in which year a building was erected by subscription ; an addition was made to it in 1853, the whole building costing $6000. A lot, seventy-five feet by one hundred and twenty feet, was donated to the association by Abner Hammond. The home was maintained, up to 1850, solely by private enterprise. In that year and for three succeeding years the association received a share of the public charity fund of the State. The board of super- visors also, in 1852-53, appropriated $100. The institu- tion was incorporated in 1846, with Aaron C. Macy, Carey Murdock, Robert Mckinstry, Elihu Gifford, and Cyrus Curtiss as trustees.
There were 31 children in the house Jan. 1, 1850; 34 were received during the year, 10 were provided with homes, and 8 were taken by friends or relatives. From 1850 to 1853, 79 children had been provided with good homes, and 45 were in the home in October of the latter year. The receipts for the years 1850-52 were 84421, and the disbursements for the same time were $3918, leaving a balance of about $200 after paying the indebted- ness on the building. On this showing by the managers, the board of supervisors appropriated $1000 to the asylum in 1853. In 1854 the same amount was appropriated by the supervisors, the other receipts being $1372.35, and the disbursements $2667.21. The receipts in 1856 were $3051.64, and disbursements $2210.12, and a permanent fund had been accumulated amounting to $4564.69. In 1859 the fund had increased to $6183.09, and the receipts equaled the disbursements. In 1870 the receipts were $6504.10, and expenses $4869.10; in 1872, income $5382.16, expenses $4861.80; 1874, income $6145.71, expenses $5817.93; 1875, income $6599.53, expenses, $6399.50; 1876, income $6519.27, expenses $6386.58.
The children of inmates of the county almshouse have been, since 1853, maintained in the asylum, the supervisors paying for their support at the average cost of maintenance of the children by the institution. The law now requires that such children shall be supported outside the poor- houses of the several counties.
This excellent charity owed its existence, and for several years almost its entire maintenance, to the liberality and indefatigable efforts of one noble woman,-Mrs. Robert
Mckinstry. Early and late, in season and out of season, and through discouragements of many kinds, she resolutely worked at her self-imposed task ; and her unceasing devo- tion to the interests of the asylum only ceased when she passed to her reward. It is to her memory a monument more enduring than granite, and more beautiful than the costliest sculpture.
CHAPTER X.
THE COLUMBIA CIVIL LIST.
The Colony-The Nation-The State-The Judiciary-The Senate -The Assembly-The County.
BELOW we give the civil list of the county,-that is, the names of persons, resident within the present limits of Co- lumbia county, who have held civil offices, national, colo- nial, State, and county, with dates of such incumbency,- namely :
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.
Martin Van Buren, of Kinderhook, 1837 to 1841.
VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Martin Van Buren, 1833-37.
UNITED STATES SENATOR .*
Martin Van Buren, 1821-27, and re-elected in 1827, but resigned.
PRESIDENTIAL ELECTORS.
At the first election for President the State of New York chose no electors. The constitution of the United States was adopted by a State convention held at Poughkeepsie in July, 1788, the delegates from this county, Matthew Ad- gate, John Bay, and Peter Van Ness, voting in the negative. The electors chosen by the Legislature in 1792 met at Poughkeepsie. By an act of the Legislature passed March 26, 1796, the presidential electors were directed to meet at the city of Hudson ; this act remained in force until the 5th of March, 1813, when the Legislature directed the Electoral College to meet at Albany.
The electors were appointed by the Legislature down to 1825, when the distriet system was adopted by the people, but acted under for one election only, that of 1828, when, by an act passed April 15, 1829, the Legislature adopted the general ticket system as now in use. In making up the general ticket one person is selected from each congressional district, and two to represent the State at large. In 1872 there were three electors at large, one for a congressman at large given the State before re-districting.
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