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 32
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incurred both fine and imprisonment, which destroyed his business in New London.
THE BALANCE AND COLUMBIAN REPOSITORY
was commenced in 1801 or 1802, in quarto form, by Ezra Sampson, George Chittenden, and Harry Croswell, who first published it as a neutral paper ; but in less than a year it became the organ of the Federal party, the proprietors refunding to such of the subscribers as did not like the change their due proportion of the subscription money. In 1808 it was removed to Albany, and was discontinued in 1811. Mr. Sampson, familiarly known at that time as " Dominie Sampson," was a Presbyterian clergyman and a vigorous writer. Mr. Chittenden was a book-binder, and Mr. Croswell a printer.
The Wasp was contemporary with the Bee, and, judging from the personal abuse which filled its columns and those of the Bee, the office of each was to return sting for sting. It was edited for a short time only, in the early part of this century, by " Robert Rusticoat."
The Hudson Newspaper and Balance Advertiser was commenced in October, 1806, by Harry Croswell.
The Republican Fountain, founded in December, 1806, was published in the interest of the Lewis branch of the Democratic party about one year. It was discontinued after the election, which resulted in the defeat of Mr. Lewis.
The Northern Whig was begun in 1808, by W. B. Steb- bins, upon the removal of the Balance to Albany. He continued it two or three years, and was succeeded by Wm. L. Stone, who continued it until 1816, when it passed into the hands of Richard L. Corss, and subsequently, in 1821, into those of Wm. B. Stebbins, son of the original proprie- tor, who continued it until 1824, when it was discontinued. It was one of the strongest Federal papers in the State.
The Columbia Magazine was published at Hudson, at an early date, by the Rev. John Chester.
The Spirit of the Forum and Hudson Remarker was published in 1817, as a literary paper, by an association of gentlemen.
The Messenger of Peace was started at Hudson, in 1824, by Richard Carrique, and continued one year.
The Rural Repository, a semi-monthly literary paper, in quarto, was begun, in 1824, by Wm. B. Stoddard, son of Ashbel Stoddard, the. first printer in Hudson. It was dis- continued in 1851 .* During the twenty-seven years of its existence its able and judicious management secured for it a large and appreciative list of subscribers, who early Icarned to value and welcome its regular visits, and who deeply deplored its loss.
The Columbia and Greene County Envoy was begun, in 1831, by Edward G. Linsley, and continued two years.
The Diamond, semi-monthly, was published, in 1833, by George F. Stone, at IIudson.
The Magnolia, also semi-monthly, was published at Hudson, in 1834, by P. Dean Carrique.
The Hudson Flail was published during the campaign
of 1840, as a " Tippecanoe" paper, by J. R. S. Van Vliet, and its complement was The Thrasher, published during the same campaign.
The Columbia Democrat was commenced at Chatham Four Corners, in 1847.
The Temperance Palladium was published at Hudson, in 1851, by John W. Dutcher.
The Hudson Daily News was published, in 1855, by Richard Van Antwerp.
The Valatie Weekly Times was published, in 1853, by H. N. Hopkins.
The Equal Rights Advocate was begun at Chatham Four Corners, in the spring of 1846, by an anti-rent association. In 1848 it was removed to Hudson, and changed to The Democratic Freeman, under which name it was published by Charles H. Collins. It was discontinued in 1855-56.
The Columbia County Journal was published at Chat- ham Four Corners, in 1850, by Philip H. Ostrander.
The Chatham Courier was established in 1862, and lias since been published at that point.
The Chatham Press had its first issue April 11, 1877. It was published a year by Burrows & Woolhiser, and then discontinued.
The American Repository, a paper supporting Millard Fillmore for the presidency, in 1856, was begun in that year, but discontinued shortly after the election. Its editor, R. Van Antwerp, also commenced a daily, which was pub- lished two months, a short time before the introduction of the Repository.
The Columbia County Family Journal, a semi-monthly literary paper, was begun in 1861, by F. H. Webb, but discontinued after six months' issue.
The Columbia Farmer was a late as well as brief venture, having been begun and completed during the past two years, in Hudson.
The Journal of Materia Medica was begun in New Lebanon, in 1857, by Henry A. Tilden, and its publication is continued by Tilden & Co., with Joseph Bates, M.D., as editor.
CHAPTER XIII.
EDUCATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS.
PRIOR to the Revolution no general system of education was established. All schools in existence previously were private schools, or were fostered by special legislation. The necessity and importance of common schools had not been recognized, and education was confined to the wealth- ier classes. At the first meeting of the State Legislature, in the year 1787, Governor Clinton called the attention of that body to the subject of education, and a law was passed providing for the appointment of regents of the university. In 1789 an apportionment of public lands was made for gospel and school purposes. In 1793 the regents were authorized to report a general system of common schools, and in 1795 Governor Clinton strongly recommended the same, and urged its adoption by the Legislature. On April 9 of that year a law was passed " for the purpose of
# The first number was issued Saturday, May 29, 1824, and the last, Saturday, Oct. 4, 1851.
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
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encouraging and maintaining schools in the several cities and towns in the State, in which the children of the in- habitants of the State shall be instructed in the English language, or be taught English grammar, arithmetic, math- ematics, and such other branches of knowledge as are most useful and necessary to complete a good English educa- tion." By this act the sum of 20,000 pounds (New York currency), or $50,000, was appropriated annually for five years for the support of schools. Under the law of 1795, counties were required to raise at least half as much as was received from the State, and the public money was to be divided according to the number of days of school taught. In 1798 there were 1352 schools organized, and 59,660 children taught in them. No further legislation was had, except for additions to the school fund, until 1811, when five commissioners were appointed to report a complete system for the organization and establishment of common schools. The commissioners reported a bill, which became a law in 1812, by which the sum of $50,000 was to be distributed annually among the counties, the boards of supervisors being required to raise an equal amount, the whole to be distributed among the towns and districts. Three commissioners in each town were provided for to superintend schools and examine teachers, and three in- spectors in each district were to engage teachers and other- wise provide for the local necessities of the schools, the whole system to be placed under a State superintendent. Gideon Hawley was the first superintendent, and held the position until 1821, when the office was abolished, and the secretary of state charged with the performance of the duties pertaining to it. Mr. Hawley, by his efforts, con- tributed largely to the advancement of the school system. After the abolition of the office of superintendent, the duties of the office could not be properly or promptly per- formed by the secretary of state, owing to the press of his other duties, and governors every succeeding year urged upon the Legislature the necessity of a better system of schools, and of laws to correct obvious defects in existing laws. In 1835 departments of teachers were established in eight academies, one in each senatorial district. In 1838 the district library system was established by law, by a tax levy of twenty dollars on the taxable property in the district, and ten dollars annually thereafter, which law was modified in 1851, making it discretionary with the super- visor of the town to levy the tax. In 1838 $55,000 was appropriated by the State for libraries, and counties and towns were required to raise an equal amount for the same purpose.
In 1841 the office of deputy superintendent of schools for counties was created. In 1843 the board of town in- spectors and commissioners of schools was abolished and the office of town superintendent substituted. On May 7, 1844, the State normal school was provided for, and opened at Albany in December following. Nov. 13, 1847, the Legislature abolished the office of county superintendent, against the earnest protest of many of the best friends of education in the State. During this session teachers' insti. tutes, which had existed for several years as voluntary associations, were legally established. March 26, 1849, free schools were established throughout the State, rate-bills
abolished, and a tax on property for the entire expense of the schools provided. This law was submitted to the people, and ratified by a vote of three to one. But the taxes levied under the law being unequal, the law became distasteful, and remonstrances poured into the next Legis- lature against its continuance, and in 1850 it was again submitted to the people and again sustained, though by a decreased majority. In 1851 the free-school act was re- pealed, and the rate-bill again substituted. At the time of the repeal the sum of $800,000 was provided for annual distribution by a State tax, which in many districts practi- cally made frce schools. Afterwards this sum was replaced by an annual tax of three-fourths of a mill on all property in the State, making an increase in the aggregate and in- creasing with the wealth of the State. In 1853 the act for union free schools was passed, and in 1854 the office of superintendent of public instruction* was created. On April 13, 1855, a law was passed providing for the designa- tion by the regents of the university of certain academies wherein teachers' classes might be instructed free, the State allowing ten dollars for each pupil, not exceeding twenty in each academy. April 12, 1856, the office of school com- missioner for counties was created, and that of town super- intendent abolished.
In 1867 the rate-bill was again abolished and the schools supported entirely by a tax on property, the doors of the school-houses being thrown wide open to all, of every shade of color, political or religious opinion, and of every condi- tion in life.
The permanent school fund of the State was derived chiefly as follows :
1799 .- Seven-eighths of four lotteries of $100,000, aggre- gate. 1801 .- One-half of lotteries for $100,000. 50,000 $87,500
1805 .- Proceeds of 500,000 acres of land sold; stock suh- scribed in Merchants' Bank, and increased in 1807 and 1808.
1816 .- One-half proceeds of Crumhorn mountain tract of 6944} acres, amounting to 5,208
1819 .- One-half of arrears of quit-rents. 26,690
An exchange of securities between general and common school fund, hy which the school fund gained 161,641
Proceeds of escheated lands given.
1822 .- By constitution, all public lands amounting to 991,659 acres were given to the school fund.
1827 .- Balance of loan of 1786. 33,616
Bank stock owned by the State .. 100,000
Canal stock owned by the State .. 150,000
1838 .- From the revenue of the United States deposit fund annually
110,000
And an additional sum from same fund for libraries 55,000
The sum of $25,000 from the revenue of the United States deposit fund is annually added to the common- school fund, and the capital of this fund is declared by the constitution to be inviolate.
SCHOOLS IN COLUMBIA COUNTY.
In the ancient documents, which contain most of the obtainable colonial history of the territory now comprised in Columbia county, the earliest reference to schools or educa- tional matters is found in a declaration concerning some church affairs, signed by four residents of Kinderhook, and dated Nov. 30, 1702, in which they allude to a man named Paulus Van Vleck, who " was accepted as precentor and
* Michigan had the first office of this name in the United States.
16
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
schoolmaster of our church," and also mentioning Joghem Lammersen and Hendrick Abelsen as having been his pre -. decessors in those offices. This seems to establish the fact that among the Dutch pioneers, who settled the north- western and central parts of the county, the school was but an adjunct of the church, and the probability that in their communities the two institutions were coeval. And it is also probable that, beyond the mysteries of the alphabet and spelling-book, the instruction imparted by the church " schoolmaster" was chiefly religious in its nature,* corre- sponding to the " catechising" system which was in use for more than two centuries among the New England Puritans and their descendants.
In the southern part of the county, among the Palatine settlers, schools were also established at a very early date. There, however, we find no mention of the separate office of " precentor and schoolmaster," but the schools appear to have been under the sole charge of the minister. The first school opened, and school-house built, in that settlement is supposed to have been in the year 1711; the supposition being confirmed by an old receipt, still in existence among the colonial documents in the office of the secretary of state, of which the following is a copy :
"Jan. 18, 1711.
"I acknowledge to have received of Robert Livingston 40 Boards fur ye schoul-house in palateya town, called Queensbury, and desire said Livingston to send for ye s'd use 30 Boards now to Compleat ye sehool-house.
" JOH. FR. HAEGER, Min."
At a later date, a certain tract of land was set apart for the use of " the Palatine minister," but upon the condition that " he shall likewise teach a school." At Linlithgo, iu the manor of Livingston, a school of some sort was taught, under the encouragement of the lord of the manor, as early as 1722. The above general facts comprehend about all that is now known of the schools of this section during the century that succeeded its first settlement.
On the 27th of March, 1791, a special act was passed authorizing " the building of a school-house and the main- taining of a schoohmaster" in the town of Clermont, out of " the monies arising from excise and other sources, in the hands of the overseers of the poor, but not needed for sup- port of the poor," and Robert R. Livingston, Samuel Ten Broeck, John Cooper, William Wilson, Marks Blatner, and George Best were authorized to carry out the provisions of the act.
The first public school moneys were distributed to the towns of Columbia in 1795, under the act of April 9 of that year, and amounted to £1372 128. 6d. ($3431.56). The first school tax was raised that year, the amount being that required by the aforesaid act, viz., one-half the amount received from the State, $1715.78. In 1798, the amount
to be raised was an amount cqual to that received from the State, being $1412.12. In 1830, a committee of the board of supervisors recommended the payment of twenty-five cents to school inspectors for each examination of teachers, and fifty cents per visit to the schools, and thought that a liberal compensation, and that no more than two visits per day should be paid for.
From 1795 to the present time there has been received from the State for distribution to the several towns for the support of schools the sum of $465,700, and during the same period there has been raised by taxes on the property in the county, for the same purpose, the sum of $584,500.+
At the present time, all of the county, excepting the city of Hudson, is divided for school purposes into two districts, each under charge of a school commissioner. These are known as commissioner districts, numbers one and two, and are composed as follows :
District No. 1 embraces the towns of Ancram, Claverack, Clermont, Copake, Gallatin, Germantown, Greenport, Liv- ingston, and Taghkanic.
District No. 2 includes the towns of Austerlitz, Canaan, Chatham, Ghent, Hillsdale, Kinderhook, New Lebanon, Stuyvesant, and Stockport.
The city of Hudson forms a third subdivision, and the commissioners of each of the three report independently. From the latest (June 30, 1877) reports of these commis- sioners are taken the following statistics relative to the schools of the county, viz. :
The whole number of school districts in the county was 180
Of which the number of union free-school districts was 3
The whole number of school-houses was, frame, 164; briek, 13; stone, 8; total. 185
Whole number of licensed teachers employed at the same time for a period of twenty-eight weeks or more during the preceding year ... 216
Whole number of children of school age. 16,013 4883,219
Total average daily attendance ..
Total amount of public school money apportioned to districts in the county for preceding year
$31,783.09
Total raised by tax for schools for same time .. $54,031.71
Total amount paid for teachers' wages in same time ..... $83,821.02
Total number volumes in district libraries .. 8965
Total value of same ... $3390
Total value school-houses and sites.
$142,488.00
There were at the same time within the county twenty- one private schools (not including incorporated seminaries), having a total attendance of about two hundred and sixty pupils.
Seminaries and private schools have from early times been numerous, generally excellent, and well supported in Columbia county. The first of these institutions was the Washington Academy, established at Claverack in 1777, by Rev. Dr. Gebhard, pastor of the Reformed church. This and others of its kind are mentioned more in detail in the histories of the respective towns and city in which they are or have been located.
Earnest religious feeling was a marked characteristic of the early Dutch immigrants. With them settlement and religious organization were usually almost simultaneous. Wherever they made their homes in the new western land
* Dominie Sehaets, who became the minister at Rensselaerswyek, at n salary of 800 guilders, was, by the terms of his agreciaent, not only to attend to his regular pastoral duties, but " to teach also the Cate- chism there, and instruet the people in the Holy Scriptures, and to pay attention to the office of schoolmaster fur old and young." Whether he performed these offices at Kinderhook aud Claveraek is not knowa, though it is quite certain that the Albany ministers preached at stated intervals to both those churches for a considerable time after their formation.
t These figures are approximate only, and are uoder the real amount probably, the exact amounts ia some years not being ob- tainable.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
there they hastened to set up God's altar, aud made His service their first duty and chief delight.
That the sober Hollanders who first settled this portion of Albany county were different in this respect from the other Dutch settlers of the valley of the Hudson, there is no reason to believe; though we find that in the year 1677 the Dutch church at the town of Albany felt called upon to denounce " the shameful violation of the Sabbath, espe- cially that committed by the inhabitants of Kinderhook," and to petition the council that measures might at once be taken to bring the offenders to speedy and severe punish- ment. What action, if any, was taken by the council in the matter does not appear.
For lack of any further evidence of record concerning the religious condition of the people of Kinderhook or its vicinity during the succeeding quarter of a century, we pass to certain entries in the minutes of the colonial council, as follows :
" ORDER IN COUNCILL, Nov. 12, 1702.
" His Excellency in Councill being informed that one Paulus Van Vleck hath lately wandered about the country preaching, notwith- standing he hath been formerly forbid by his Excellency to do the samc, and is lately called by some of the Inhabitants of Kinderhook to be their Clark without any License from his Excellency for so doing, It is hereby ordered that the high Sheriff of the county of Albany do take care to send the s'd Van Vleck down by the first opportunity to answer fer his contempt before this beard."
This order brought out the following declaration, made by certain people of Kinderhook in Van Vleck's favor :
" KINDERHOOK, the 30th Novemb., Anno Domine 1702.
"In the first year of the Reign of her Majesty ANNE, Queen of England, Scotland, Ircland, and France, Defender of the Faith, We, the undersigned inhabitants of Kinderhook patent, acknowledge and Declare that Paulus van Vleg during the whole of the time that he hath resided here, and since he was accepted as Precentor and schoel- master of our Church, hath truly comported himself to the Great content of our congregation, and that in all the time he was forbid te preach he hath never preached in house or barn or in any place in Kinderhook, hut that he performed the office of Precentor as ene Hendrick Abelsen before his death hath done in Kinderhook; We have received said Paulus Van Vleg because one Joghem Lamersen (who was eur Precentor here) hath resigned the precentership, and frequently complained that he could not perform its duties any lenger. We further declare that the above-named Paulus van Vleg never took away the key of our church, but that we brought it to him in his house.
" YOHANNES VAN ALEN. " COENRAET BORGHGHENT.
" ABRAM VAN ALSTYN.
" LAMMERT VAN YANSAN."
For their impertinence the above signers were summoned to appear and answer before the governor and council in New York. Whereupon one of them, Coenraet Borgh- ghrdt, addressed a petition to the governor, humbly beg- ging
"Your Excell'y favor to Refer the Case till the Spring of the ycar hy Reason of the Could Winter and Ilconveniencys to my Great Damage of my family ; or If Your Excell. Would be Pleased to Referr the Case to he Decided by any Justice er Justices of the Peace In Our County whom your Lordship shall Please te apoint, which faveur the Knowledge of y'r Excellency's henour and Justice gives me no Reason to Doubt of, and your Petitioner as in Duty bound shall always pray."
This petition was " Read in Councill and Rejected," 28th January, 1703; and upon a second and peremptory summons,
the guilty four were, notwithstanding " the Could Winter and the Great Damage," compelled to journey to New York, where, as we learn from the minutes of the council, March 11, 1702, " John van Alen, Coenraedt Borghghrdt, Abra- ham van Alstyn, and Lammert Jansen appeared before this Board this day in obedience to an order of Councill, and they acknowledging their error and submitting them- selves thereon, were discharged with a caution to be more carefull for the future ;" and there is little doubt that they gave heed to the official admonition.
From the above it appears evident that in those days of the colony of New York, church and state were united, -- at least to such extent as made the fiat of the governor as supreme in religious, as in secular matters. It also appears probable, almost to a certainty, that in the year 1677 there was no religious organization at Kinderhook; but it is shown conclusively that in 1702 there was both a church and a church edifice there, and that it had had at least two precentors before the proscribed Van Vleck took the office. It can therefore be said with confidence that the first relig- ious organization in what is now Columbia county was that of the Reformed Dutch church at Kinderhook, and that this was formed between the years 1677 and 1700.
For the date of the establishment of the Reformed church at Claverack we depend entirely on tradition, which tells us that it was formed but little later than that at Kin- derhook ; but, as we know that for a number of years their only dependence for preaching was upon the occasional services of the minister of the church at Albany, it seems most likely that upon the occasions of his visits the people of both Kinderhook and Claverack worshiped together at the former place (the distance from Claverack not being great), and that they continued to do for a considerable time after the first organization. The Revs. Van Driessen, Lydius, and Dellius were ministers of the Albany church who preached the word to the people here in the days when they were poor and feeble.
The Reformed church at Linlithgo, in Livingston manor, was formed about 1721, through the efforts of Robert Liv- ingston, who built the church edifice from his own means. The first services in it were held by Dominie Petrus Van Driessen, of the Albany church, probably on one of his visiting tours to the preaching stations at Kinderhook and Claverack.
The formation of the Dutch church at Germantown, or East Camp, took place in 1728, under Rev. Johannes Van Driessen, who assumed its pastoral duties in connection with those of the churches at Claverack, Kinderhook, and Linlithgo. The four church formations above mentioned were the beginnings of Reformed worship (the oldest of the denominations) in the county.
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