USA > New York > New York City > History of New York city from the discovery to the present day, V. 2 > Part 34
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38
This was well enough. But they frequently took the name of their propri etor. He was known as Morris' Paulus, and this, in the next generation, natu rally changed to Paulus Morris, and his children assumed that as their family name. In this way there are many families in the State of New York bearing the names of the old landed proprietors, which have been thus derived.
Some years ago a literary gentleman, who was compiling facts with regard to the early history of the State, came to the writer very much puzzled. " Who," said he, " are these people? I find their names in Dutchess County . and yet, looking at Holgate's pedigree of that family, I see they cannot belon ;
97
APPENDIX XVI.
to it. Where did they come from, and where do they belong ?" The above account was a satisfactory solution of the mystery.
But to return to this system. It was carried out to an extent of which, in this day, most persons are ignorant. On the Van Rensselaer manor there were, at one time, several thousand tenants, and their gathering was like that of the Scottish clans. When a member of the family died, they came down to Albany to do honor at the funeral, and many were the hogsheads of good ale which were broached for them. They looked up to the " Patroon " with a reverence which was still lingering in the writer's early day, notwithstanding the inroads of democracy. And before the Revolution, this feeling was shared by the whole country, When it was announced in New York, a century ago, that the Patroon was coming down from Albany by land, the day he was expected to reach the city crowds turned out to see him enter in his coach and-four.
The reference to the funerals at the Rensselaer manor-house reminds us of a description of the burial of Philip Livingston, one of the proprietors of Liv- ingston manor, in February, 1749, taken from a paper of that day. It will show something of the customs of the times. The services were performed both at his town-house in New York, and at the manor. " In the city, the lower rooms of most of the houses in Broad Street, where he resided, were thrown open to receive visitors. A pipe of wine was spiced for the occasion, and to each of the eight bearers, with a pair of gloves, mourning-ring, scarf, and handkerchief, a monkey-spoon was given." (This was so called from the figure of an ape or monkey, which was carved in solido at the extremity of the handle. It differed from a common spoon in having a circular and very shallow bowl.) " At the manor these ceremonies were all repeated, another pipe of wine was spiced, and, besides the same presents to the bearers, a pair of black gloves and a handkerchief were given to each of the tenants. The whole expense was said to amount to £500."
Now, all this was a state of things and a manner of social life totally unknown in New England. We have already mentioned that most of its inhabitants were small farmers, wringing their subsistence from the earth by hard labor. Here were literally no servants, but a perfect social equality existed in the rural districts. Their " helps" were the sons and daughters of neighboring farmers, poorer than themselves, who for a time took these situations, but considered themselves as good as their employers. The com- paratively wealthy men were in their cities.
No two races of men could be more different than the New Yorkers of that day and the people of New England. There was a perfect contrast in all their habits of social life and ways of thinking. The Dutch disliked the Yankees, as they called them, most thoroughly. This feeling is shown, in a ludicrous way, through the whole of Irving's " Knickerbocker." "The Dutch and the Yankees," he says, " never got together without fighting."
There is a curious development of this prejudice in the following clause, ' which was inserted in the will of a member of a distinguished colonial family of New York, dated 1760. " It is my wish that my son, - may have the best education that is to be had in England or America ; but my express ·will and directions are, that he never be sent, for that purpose, to the Connecticut colonies, lest he should imbibe, in his youth, that low craft and cunning so incidental to the people of that country, which is so interwoven in their consti.
98
APPENDIX XVI.
tutions that all their acts cannot disguise it from the world, though many ..! them, under the sanctified garb of religion, have endeavored to impose theis- selves on the world as honest men."
Once in a year, generally, the gentry of New York went to the city to transact their business and make their purchases. There they mingled, for a time, in its gayeties, and were entertained at the court of the Governor These dignitaries were generally men of high families in England. One .! them, for instance-Lord Cornbury-was a blood-relative of the royal family They copied the customs and imitated the etiquette enforced " at home," und the rejoicings and sorrowings, the thanksgivings and fasts, which were ordern! at Whitehall, were repeated again on the banks of the Hudson. Some years ago the writer was looking over the records of the old Dutch Church in Nem York, when he found, carefully filed away, some of the proclamations for these services. One of them, giving notice of a thanksgiving-day, in the reign of William and Mary, for some victory in the Low Countries, puis the cele. bration off a fortnight, to give time for the news to reach Albany.
During the rest of the year these landlords resided among their tenantry. on their estates ; and about many of their old country houses were assoris tions gathered, often coming down from the first settlements of the coun !?! , giving them an interest which can never invest the new residences of theme whom later times elevated through wealth. Such was the Van Courtlandit manor-house, with its wainscoted rooms and its guest-chamber ; the Roomstart manor house, where of old had been entertained Talleyrand and the +1'ml princes from Europe; the Schuyler house, so near the Saratoga battle. fr.l. and marked by memories of that glorions event in the life of its owner- a.s. that it should have passed away from its founder's family !), and the feature of the Livingstons, on the banks of the Hudson, of which Louis Phu;i< expressed such grateful recollection when, after his elevation to the throne. be met, in Paris, the son of his former host.
There was one more of these old places of which we would write, ta pf serve some memories which are now fast fading away, because it was within the bounds of our city, and was invested with so many historical associations connected with the Revolution. It is the house at Kip's Bay. Though mans years have passed since it was swept away by the encroachments of the city. yet it exists among the recollections of the writer's earliest days, when it was still occupied by the family of its founder, and regarded as their first home en this continent. It was erected in 1655, by Jacobus Kip, Secretary of the Council, who received a grant of that part of the island. There is in the pun session of the family a picture of it as it appeared at the time of the Revolu tion, when still surrounded by venerable oaks. It was a large double house. with three windows on one side of the door and two on the other, with one large wing. On the right hand of the hall was the dining-room, running from front to rear, with two windows looking out over the bay, and two over the country on the other side. This was the room which was afterwards invest! with interest from its connection with Major Andre. In the rear of the hou ~. was a pear-tree, planted by the ladies of the family in 1700, which bore font until its destruction in 1851. In this house five generations of the family wer" born.
Then came the Revolution, and Sargent, in his " Life of Andre," thus gives
99
APPENDIX XVI.
its history in those stirring times: " Where now in New York is the unallur- ing and crowded neighborhood of the Second Avenue and Thirty-fifth Street, stood in 1780 the ancient Bowerie or country-seat of Jacobus Kip. Built in 1655, of bricks brought from Holland, encompassed by pleasant trees, and in easy view of the sparkling waters of Kip's Bay, on the East River, the man- sion remained, even to our own times, in possession of one of its founder's line. Here" (continues Sargent, incorporating the humorous recollections of Irving's "Knickerbocker") spread the same smiling meadows, whose appearance had so expanded the heart of Oloffe the Dreamer, in the fabulous ages of the col- ony ; here still nodded the groves that had echoed back the thunder of Henry Kip's musketoon, when that mighty warrior left his name to the surrounding waves. When Washington was in the neighborhood, Kip's house had been his quarters ; when Howe crossed from Long Island on Sunday. September 15th, 1776, he debarked at the rocky point hard by, and his skirmishers drove our people from their position behind the dwelling. Since then it had known many guests. Howe, Clinton, Kniphausen, Percy, were sheltered by its roof. The aged owner, with his wife and daughter, remained ; but they had always an officer of distinction quartered with them ; and if a part of the family were in arms for Congress, as is alleged, it is certain that others were active for the Crown. Samuel Kip, of Kipsburgh, led a cavalry troop of his own tenantry with great gallantry in De Lancey's regiment ; and, despite severe wounds, survived long after the war, a heavy pecuniary sufferer by the cause which, with most of the landed gentry of New York, he had espoused."
In 1780, it was held by Colonel Williams, of the 80th royal regiment ; and here, on the evening of the 19th of September, he gave a dinner to Sir Henry Clinton and his staff, as a parting compliment to Andre. The aged owner of the house was present ; and, when the Revolution was over, he described the scene and the incidents of that dinner. At the table, Sir Henry Clinton announced the departure of Andre, next morning, on a secret and most import- ant expedition, and added (what we have never seen mentioned in any other .account, and showing what was to have been Andre's reward), "Plain John Andre will come back Sir John Andre."*
Andre-it was said by Mr. Kip-was evidently depressed, and took but lit- tle part in the merriment about him ; and when, in his turn, it became neces- sary for him to sing, he gave the favo ite military chanson attributed to Wolfe, who sang it on the eve of the battle of Quebec, in which he died :
" Why. soldiers, why, Should we be melancholy, boys ? Why, soldiers, why, Whose business 'tis to die ? For should the next campaign Send us to Him who made us, boys, We're free from pain : But should we remain, A bottle and kind landlady Makes all well again."
* Mrs. General Riedesel was at this dinner-party. and was one of the guests. who bade Major Andre farewell .- See Stone's Letters of Mrs. General Riedesel, translated from the Ger- man. Vide also page 266 of this work, where Mrs. Riedesel speaks of her parting with Andre.
-------
100
APPENDIX XVI.
His biographer, after copying this account, adds: "How brilliant soever the company, how cheerful the repast, its memory must ever have been fraught with sadness to both host and guests. It was the last occasion of Andre's meeting his comrades in life. Four short days gone, the hands then clasped by friendship were fettered by hostile bonds ; yet nine days more, and the darling of the army, the youthful hero of the hour, had dangled from s gibbet."
After the Revolution the place remained in its owner's possession, for his age had fortunately prevented him from taking any active part in the contest. And when Washington, in the hour of his triumph, returned to New York, he went out to visit again those who, in 1776, had been his involuntary hosts. Dr. Francis relates an interesting little incident which occurred at the visit : "On the old road towards Kingsbridge, on the eastern side of the island, was the well-known Kip's Farm, pre-eminently distinguished for its grateful fruits -the plum, the peach, the pear, and the apple-and for its choice culture of the rosacea. Here the elite often repaired, and here our Washington, now invested with Presidential honors, made an excursion, and was presented with the rosa gallica, an exotic first introduced into this country in this garden-fit emblem of that memorable union of France and the American colonies in the cause of Republican freedom."
In 1851 this old place was demolished. It had then stood two hundred and twelve years, and was the oldest house on the island. It was swallowed up by the growth of the mighty metropolis, and Thirty-fifth Street runs over the spot where once stood the old mansion. A short time after it was deserted !. the writer made his last visit to it, while most of it was still standing, and the stone coat-of-arms over the hall-door was projecting from the half demol :- 1 -1 wall. As he stood in the old dining-room, there came back to him visions of the many noble and chivalrous men who, in the last two centuries, had feasted within its walls. But all these, like the place itself, now live only in the rer. ords of the past.
Such was life in those early days among the colonial families in the country and the city. It was simple and unostentatious, yet marked by an affluence of everything which could minister to comfort, and also a degree of elegance in the surroundings which created a feeling of true refinement. Society was easy and natural, without the struggle for precedence which now is so univer sal; for then every one's antecedents were known, and their positions were fixed. The intermarriages, which for more than a century were taking place between the landed families, bound them together, and promoted a harmony of feeling now not often seen. There were, in that day, such things as old associations, and men lived in the past, instead of, as in these times, looking only to the future.
The system of slavery, too, which prevailed, added to the ease of domestic life. Negro slaves, at an early day, had been introduced into the colony, and every family of standing possessed some. They were employed but little ax field-laborers, but every household had a few who were domestic servants. Like Abraham's servants, they were all " born in the house." They shared the same religious instruction with the children of the family, and felt, in every respect, as if they were members of it. This mild form of slavery was like the system which existed under the tents of the patriarchs on the plains of
APPENDIX XVI. 101
Mamre; and there certainly never were happier people than those "men-serv. ants and maid-servants." They were seldom separated from their families, or sold. The latter was - red as an extreme case for the incorrigible, and a punishment to which it was .rdly ever necessary to resort.
The clansmen of Scotland could not take more pride in the prosperity of their chief's family than did these sable retainers in New Amsterdam. In domestic affairs they assumed a great freedom of speech, and, in fact, family affairs were discussed and settled as fully in the kitchen as in the parlor. The older servants, indeed, exercised as full control over the children of the family as did their parents. As each black child attained the age of six or seven years, it was formally presented to a son or daughter of the family, and was his or her particular attendant. This union continued often through life, and of stronger instances of fidelity we have never heard than were exhibited in some of these cases. Fidelity and affection, indeed, formed the bond between master and slave, to a degree which can never exist in this day with hired servants .*
This state of things. continued far down into the present century. In the writer's early day his father owned slaves for domestic servants, and he very well remembers, when visiting the place of a relative on the Hudson River, see- ing the number of slaves about the house. At that time, however, the system . was just going out ; it had lost its interesting features, and the slaves, still remaining at those old places, had become a source of care and anxiety to their owners.
The charm of life in that day was its stability. There was no chance then for parcenuism-no stocks in which to dabble, no sudden fortunes made. There was but little commerce between the colony and the mother-country, and men who embarked in this business were contented to spend their lives in acquiring a competence. They never aspired to rival the landed families. With the latter, life flowed on from one generation to another in the same even way. They lived on their broad lands, and, when they died, the eldest son inherited the family residence, while the others were portioned off with farms belonging to the estate, but which it could well spare. On their carriages and their silver were their arms, which they had brought with them from Europe, by which every one knew them, which were used as matters of course, and were distinc- tions no one ventured to assume, unless entitled to them. Sometimes these were carved in stone and placed over their doors. This was the case with the Walton House, which we believe is still standing in Franklin Square (Pearl Street); and, as we have already mentioned, with the Kip's Bay House. The windows of the first Dutch church built in New York were filled with the arms of the families at whose expense it was erected.
In 1774, John Adams, on his way to attend the first Congress, stopped in New York. The honest Bostonian was very much struck with " the opulence and splendor of the city," and " the elegance of their mode of living," and in his Journal freely records his admiration. He speaks of " the elegant country- seats.on the island ;" the Broad Way, a fine street, very wide, and in a right line from one end to the other of the city ;" " the magnificent new church then building which was to cost £20,000 ;" the Bowling Green, which he describes as " the beautiful ellipse of land railed in with solid iron, in the centre of .
* In this connection see page 148 .- Author.
96
-
1
102
APPENDIX XVI.
which is a statue of His Majesty on horseback, very large, of solid lead, gilded with gold, on a pedestal of marble, very high." He records that " the streets of the town are vastly more regular and elegant than those of Boston, and the the houses are more grand, as well as neat."
The most amusing display is when he is invited to one of these country. seats, " near Hudson's River." He writes : " A more elegant breakfast I never saw : rich plate, a very large silver coffee-pot, a very large silver tea-pot, napkins of the very finest materials, toast and bread and butter in great perfection. After breakfast a plate of beautiful peaches, another of pears, and a musk. melon, were placed on the table."
It is evident, however, from his Journal, that he saw little of the best families. He was not in a situation to be feted by them, for they had no sympathy with the object of his journey. His principal entertainers were two lawyers-Scott and Smith-who had grown wealthy by their profession. Among all he men- tions as extending civilities to him, the only persons belonging to the aristoc- racy of the city were some members of the Livingston family, who, even then, were putting themselves forward as leaders in the coming movement.
The Revolution broke up and swept away this social system. It ruined and drove off half the gentry of the province. The social history, indeed, of that event has never been written, and never will be. The conquerors wrote the story. and they were mostly " new men," who had as much love for the ... they dispossessed as the Puritans had for the Cavaliers of England, whom for a time they displaced. In a passage we have quoted from Sargent's " Life of Andre," the author says : "Most of the landed gentry of New York exposed the royal cause." And it was natural that it should be so, for most of them had for generations held office under the Crown. Their habits of life, t ... had trained them to tastes which had no sympathy with the levelling dertfars inaugurated by the new movement. They accordingly rallied around the King's standard, and when it went down they went down with it, and in many cases their names were blotted out of the land.
We once read in an old number of Blackwood's Magazine some discussion about the impolitic course pursued by England toward her colonies. The remarks about the manner in which she lost her American colonies were peeu- liarly judicious. The writer says the Government should have formed na aristocracy in America, by giving titles, and thus gathering the great landed proprietors about the throne by new ties. These extensive landholders, previ. ous to the Revolution, were as able to keep up the dignity of a title as were the English nobility of that day; and the effect which would have been pro duced, in the strengthening of their loyalty, is obvious. Had the head of the Livingston family been created Earl of Clermont and that of the Laurences been made Lord Newtown, would they have taken the side of the Revolution- ists ? We trow not. Instead of this, these powerful landed families were neg. lected, until some of them became embittered against the Government. No title, as a mark of royal favor, was given to a single American, except a baro. netcy to Sir William Johnson .*
* The writer, usually so accurate, is mistaken in this. William Pepperell was also cre. ated a baronet for his part in the capture of Lonisburg, in the same manner as Johnson was made one for his defeat of Dieskau, at the battle of Lake George, 1755 .- Author.
103
APPENDIX XVI.
Of the few landed families who took the popular side, perhaps the Living- stons and Schuylers occupied the leading position. The former had not been in favor with the Government, but were the political antagonists of the De Lanceys, by whom they were excluded from office. They therefore welcomed the new order of things.
Religion, in those days, had a good deal to do with the state of parties. As far back as 1745, the De Lanceys were the leaders of the Church of England party, and the Livingstons of the Dissenters. Religions bitterness was added, therefore, to that which was political. "In 1769, (says Stone, in his Life of Sir William Johnson, " the contest was between the Church party and the Dis- senters, the former being led by the De Lanceys, and the latter by the Living- stons. The Church, having the support of the mercantile and masonic inter- ests, was triumphant ; and John Cruger, James De Lancey, Jacob Walton, and James Jauncey, were elected by the city."
To the popular side, also, went the Jays, the Laurences, a portion of the Van . Cortlandts who were divided, a part of the Morris family, which was also divided (while Lewis Morris was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, his brother, Staats Morris, was a general in the British army, and married the Dowager Duchess of Gordon), the Beekmans, and some few others. The " Patroon "-Mr. Van Rensselaer-was fortunately a minor, and therefore, not being obliged to take either side, saved his manor. Many of the prominent leaders were from new families, made by the Revolution. An upturning of this kind is the time for new men. Peculiar circumstances brought some for- ward who otherwise would have had no avenue for action opened before them. Alexander Hamilton, for example, had just arrived in New York, a young man from the West Indies, when the popular outbreak gave him, at a public meet- ing, an opportunity of exhibiting his peculiar talents.
The history of a single family will show the course of events. Probably the most powerful family in the State, before the Revolution, was that of the De Lanceys. Descended from the ancien noblesse of France, and holping large possessions, they had exerted a greater influence in the colony than any other family. James De Lancey administered the government of the colony for many years, till his death, in 1760. Most of the younger members of the family were in the British army previous to the Revolution. When that convulsion took place, they, of course, remainei loyal, and became leaders on that side. Oliver De Lancey was a brigadier-general, and organized the celebrated corps styled " De Lancey's Battalion." His fine mansion at Bloomingdale was burned, in consequence of his adherence to the royal canse. They forfeited their broad lands, and their names appeared no more in the future history of the State. Some fled to England, where they held high offices, and their tombs are now to be seen in the choir of Beverley Cathedral. Sir William De Lancey died at
. Waterloo, on the staff of the Duke of Wellington. Just two months previous, he had been married to a daughter of Sir Benjamin Hall ; and his friend, Sir Walter Scott thus alludes to him in his ode, The Field of Waterloo :
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.