USA > New York > Saratoga County > History of Saratoga County, New York, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers. > Part 34
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Ile was wont to tell an anecdote which dates back to the violent days of the Maine liquor-law,-how he met the ex- treme conscientiousness of a grand jury with respect to an innkeeper who had sold a quart of brandy to be carried, contrary to his license, off his premises; although it was ordered by a surgeon, to bathe the bruises of a wayfaring man who had been thrown from a wagon. " I told them," said the judge, " why you would have indicted the Good Samaritan for taking care of the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves."
The only child of Judge Willard was his daughter Sarah Elizabeth Willard, who was a young lady of rare beauty and culture. She was married to the Rev. Henry Fowler, of Auburn, but died in 1853, at the early age of twenty-three years. This great bereavement was a great shock to Mrs. Willard, and hastened her death, which occurred in 1859.
Judge Willard survived his family but a few years, and died at his residence in Saratoga Springs on Sept. 4, 1862, universally beloved and respected.
As an advocate, a judge, a legislator, he was alike emi- nent and accomplished ; and in his private life irreproach- able and blameless. It has fallen to the lot of few men to acquire and leave behind them such an honorable and unsullied name.
NICHOLAS HILL.
Prominently identified with the history of Saratoga, and one of the most eminent members of the bar of the State of New York and the nation, was Nicholas Hill, Jr. He was born in Florida, Montgomery Co, N. Y., in the year 1805. He was of Irish descent, his grandfather, John Hill, having emigrated from county Derry, Ireland, to Florida, N. Y., as one of its earliest settlers. His father served in the Revolution, and was with Washington at Yorktown.
Nicholas was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court in 1829. About the same time he formed a partnership with Deodatus Wright, and opened a law-office in Amster- dam. Ile soon after removed to Saratoga Springs. While there he assisted Judge Cowen in his elaborate " Notes on
Phillips' Evidence," of which work a special mention may be found in the life-sketch of Esek Cowen. Mr. Hill re- moved to Albany in 1840, and the succeeding year was appointed to succeed John L. Wendell as reporter of the Supreme Court. This position he held until 1844. Ile published the seven volumes of " Reports" which bear his name. In Albany he was associated in legal partnership with Deodatns Wright and Stephen P. Nash, and subse- quently with Peter Cagger and Hon. John K. Porter, as the head of the legal firm of Ilill, Cagger & Porter, a firm occupying high rank, not only in the " capital city," but throughout the State. Mr. Ilill died May 1, 1859.
SAMUEL YOUNG.
To write a comprehensive life of Colonel Young would be in a great measure to write the history of the State of New York during the long period of his political life, or a history at least of the Democratic party of the State; for, perhaps above most men, was he identified with that party organization, its progress, and its triumphs. Yet in no sense was Colonel Young a mere party man. His integrity was never questioned, and above most men it was his delight to war against and expose both politieal and official eorrup- tion in whichever party it existed. In this he was no respecter of persons or political friends.
Samuel Young was born in the town of Lenox, Berk- shire Co., Mass., in the year 1779. About the closing years of the Revolutionary war he came with his parents to what is now Clifton Park, in Saratoga County. Here he alternated his labors upon the farm with an attendance upon the common school, thereby acquiring a competent education in the elementary branches. He commenced the study of the law with Levi H. Palmer, then a lawyer in the town of Ballston. In due time he was admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court, when he opened an office at Academy Ilill, in Ballston, and by his business energy and perse- veranee soon acquired a large and luerative practice. He was early commissioned a justice of the peace, and was afterwards repeatedly chosen supervisor of his town. In the spring of 1813 he was nominated by the Democrats as a candidate for member of Assembly, to which office he was elected. Upon taking his seat, in the winter of 1814, Colonel Young took a prominent stand among the Demo- cratie members of that body. A speech of his, made in favor of the war, was circulated extensively throughout the State, exerting a powerful influence upon the publie mind. He was appointed by Governor Tompkins to the office mili- tary aide, whence his title of colonel.
In the session of 1815, to which he was returned in that year, he was elected Speaker of the llouse. This was a fitting compliment to the talents he had displayed during the previous session, and to his services in support of the State administration at a period of great perplexity and financial trouble, against a most vindictive opposition. In this important position he fully sustained himself. En 1815 he was again nominated by the Democrats for the Assembly, but was defeated in consequence of a defection in the Demo- cratic ranks. The late Judge Cowen being supported by a portion of the Democrats in opposition to him, abstracted from Colonel Young sufficient votes to insure his defeat.
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HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
This controversy was the origin of what was then ealled the old-line and the new-line parties in the politics of the county for many years.
In 1816 he was appointed one of the canal commissioners of the State, in which capacity he served about twenty years.
In 1819 he was elected senator from the eastern district, one of the four great districts in which the State was then divided. In IS21, with John Cramer. Salmon Child, and Jeremy Rockwell, he was elected a delegate to represent Saratoga County in the State convention about to assemble for the revision of the constitution. This body was com- posed of the best talent of the State,-the equal of which has not since been seen, and will probably not be seen again. In this body of able men, Colonel Young stood among the foremost. In April, 1824, Colonel Young was nominated by the Democratic legislative caucus for the office of gov- ernor. At this time De Witt Clinton was removed from the office of canal commissioner. This created so much feeling that an opposition ticket was nominated by what was called the People's party, the ticket being headed by Gov- ernor Clinton, who was elected by a decisive vote,-thus defeating Colonel Young, the regular candidate. The next year Colonel Young was elected to the Assembly from Sara- toga County, and on the assembling of the Legislature, in 1826, he was again chosen Speaker. In 1830 he was the eandidate of the Democratic party for member of Congress for the district then composed of Saratoga County. He was defeated by his competitor, J. W. Taylor, by a small major- ity. In 1833 he was appointed first judge of the county courts of Saratoga County, which office he held until the expiration of his term, in 1838, deelining re-appointment. In 1834 he was elected senator, resigning at the close of the session of 1836; and at the next election was again chosen senator, in which capacity he served until the close of the session of 1840. In 1842 the Legislature elected him to the office of Seeretary of State, in which he con- tinued until 1845. During this term of office, in which he was the acting superintendent of common schools, he laid the foundation of that masterly system of public in- struction of which the people of New York are now enjoy- ing the blessings, and for which to him they will be under everlasting obligations. Again, in 1845, he was chosen to the State Senate, remaining in that body until the elose of the session of 1847, when his term expired by force of the new constitution. In 1846 he was nominated by the Dem- oerats of Chemung county, without his knowledge, to rep- resent them in the constitutional convention of 1846, but was defeated by a combination of Whigs and Conservatives, stimulated by influenees from abroad.
Colonel Young was always a great favorite with the peo- ple, who would not allow him to remain for any length of time in private life. Ile was a student from his boyhood. Ile was an intense lover of knowledge, and the ardor in its pursuit which characterized his youth, continued unabated to the day of his death. Thus his mind became stored with a vast amount of scientific and literary knowledge. Ilis address upon the subject of political economy, delivered at Schenectady before the Phi Beta Kappa of Union Col- lege, was celebrated for its literary merit, as well as for its
comprehensive statesmanship, and the accurate and profound knowledge of the principles of that science which it ex- hibited.
After the close of his official career, in 1847, he retired to his residenee in Ballston, where he died on the third day of November, 1850, in the seventy-third year of his age. ITis death was sudden and unexpected. On the day pre- vions he was engaged in his ordinary pursuits, and in the evening he was unusually vivacious and sociable. He was found the next morning dead in his bed, having to all ap- pearances died without a struggle. The cause of his death, it is supposed. was a disease of the heart, symptoms of which had been apparent for the last six or eight years.
Colonel Young married Miss Mary Gibson, whom he left a widow. Their children were John H., Samuel Thomas Gibson, Catharine, and Mary, now Mrs. Wayland. Ile was indeed cast in the larger mould of the Republicans of Grecian and Roman history. When exposing corrup- tion in the Senate of the United States, he was styled by General Jackson " the Cato of the New York Senate." But the " impracticable," as politicians styled it, was not to be seen in his private life. He was gentle, affable, loving, fond of some amusements, society of the young, the eulti- vation of his garden, the beanties of the natural scenery around it. He was so free from politieal jealousies, and so unmindful of the contests in which he had been defeated, as often not to recollect the names of his successful oppo- nents, and retained the vigor and serenity of his mind to the last, and after passing the age of sixty commenced the study of several of the modern languages.
Since the above was written the author has received a communication from Colonel Young's daughter, which does such credit to her head and heart, and is so excellent a tribute of filial affection, that with her permission it is inserted here to illustrate the biography of her father.
"SARATOGA SPRINGS, June 15, 1878.
" DEAR SIR,-I have already informed you that when my father was in public life I was not of an age to take the same interest in State affairs that I now do. I cannot, therefore, give you a detailed account of his politieal career, such as I had supposed was required of me. But, in compliance with your request, I will relate what I ean recall of his peculiar characteristics and opinions. His uneompromising independence, fearlessness, and detestation of falsehood were evident to all about him.
" Believing it to be his duty to expose corruption wher- ever found, he was not popular with the demagogues of his own party, who eould neither manage, intimidate, or use him. When a majority of the Democratic senators voted themselves a present of the then new State geological work, my father opposed and condemned their course as uncon- stitutional and dishonest. The following year, when he had become Seeretary of State, these books were placed in his office to be delivered to the senators who might call for them. My father would not allow them to be taken away when he was there. and the owners were obliged to improve the hours of his absence to seeure the present they had taxed the people to make them.
" It was, if I am not mistaken, soon after this, and if so,
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HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
probably in consequence of it, that he lost by one vote a seat in the United States Senate. Defeat never seemed to disturb him ; perhaps because he would assail corruption, and his doing so kept him engaged in a sort of warfare, that must, at times, have become exceedingly wearisome and disagreeable. How emphatically his occupation in that direction would not 'be gone' were he but living now! His love of the knowledge to be obtained from books was a source of delight of which the possession of a publie office temporarily deprived him. And this may have been an additional reason for his evident indifference to defeat.
" His views on many subjects were far in advance of his time. I have heard him condemn the law that gave a wife's property to her husband, and the wages of a poor laboring woman to the man who owned her, years before the subject of woman's rights was discussed in the news- papers. Ile was opposed to slavery in all forms and under all disguises. lle thought that, at the south, it should be gradually abolished, with the consent of the south, then protected by the constitution. That they should be in- duced to sell their slaves to the United States, and employ them again when free. He labored in the Senate for the passage of a law that became one soon after his death, allowing married women to hold their own property, and dispose of it by will; and giving to poor working women the avails of their own labor.
" Many years ago he delivered a lecture before the Young Men's Association of Albany, in which he alluded to the legal bondage of women, and criticised the laws re- garding them. He argued against taxation without repre- sentation, and insisted that women were intellectually, and should be legally, the equals of men. This lecture excited much comment and surprise, and was published by request of the association. I recollect the letters received by my father from Miss Sedgwick and Mrs. Sigourney approving his opinions, and expressing their thanks for his defense of their much-abused sex.
" IIis interest in education, particularly in that of girls, was very great. As Secretary of State, he had the super- vision of the normal schools, and it was thought that they were greatly benefited and improved while in his charge.
" A man with strong feeling, with an inborn hatred of tyranny and oppression, he had the ability so to defend himself that the repetition of an insult was not to be feared. I remember being in the Senate chamber, with some other school-girls, when my father made a speech. Ilis opponent, a man of profligate character, who was argu- ing in favor of the enlargement of some canal, attacked my father in eoarse and ungentlemanly language.
" He had much to say about diving-bells and the im- portant discoveries made by their nse. I can never forget my father's towering form and indignant looks when he arose and said, ' It is a pity the senator has not a moral diving-bell with which he could go down into his own bosom and view the rottenness and corruption fermenting there. It would be a feat compared to which the descent of Æneas into hell was a holiday.'
" There are certain vices which he seemed to abhor more than others. Lying, which he always classed with stealing,
and a husband's ill-treatment of his wife. These were crimes, in his opinion, too contemptible and base to be tol- erated. A man of ability, residing in this county, aban- doned a good wife, and my father, from that time, refused to recognize him. Afterwards a brief repentance and re- turn to his wife was followed by a letter to my father, annonneing his intention to lead a new life, and asking to be restored to his former friendly relations with him. My father replied that it would be, if ever, after years of correct conduct that he could be reinstated in his good opinion. It has often been said of my father that, were he a judge on the bench when one of his sons was convicted of mur- der, he would sentence him to death, believing it to be a duty he ought not to evade. I prefer to think that he would resign his office under such circumstances. And yet I must admit that there was a great deal of the old Roman in him. Ile was a member of the Baltimore convention at the same time with Calhoun, when Mr. Van Buren was nominated for President. Calhoun made some insulting allusions to the northern delegates, and my father retorted. Mr. Calhoun then intimated a challenge; my father ac- cepted, but the interference of friends on both sides pre- vented a catastrophe.
" I have often heard my father say that there would be war between the north and south, although it would, proba- bly, not take place in his life-time. IIe believed, too, that a railroad would eventnally unite the two oceans, and that the submarine telegraph would, some time or other, be laid, while others were equally positive that neither of these projects could ever be accomplished.
" Having told all that I can now reeall relating to my father,
" I am, very respectfully, yours, " MARY S. WAYLAND.
" MR. N. B. SYLVESTER."
JOIN W. TAYLOR.
Hon. John W. Taylor, a son of Saratoga, and a talented member of her early bar, was born in Charlton (then Ball- ston ) March 26, 1784. Ile was the son of Judge John Taylor. He was graduated from Union College in 1803, and studied law with Samuel Cook. About the year 1806 he opened an office at Court-House Hill in connection with that gentleman. Subsequently they resolved to try their fortunes in another field of enterprise, and embarked in the lumber business, in order to superintend which Mr. Taylor removed to Jessup's Landing, in Corinth. But he was destined for other and higher duties. In 1811 he was elected to the State Assembly, and re-elected in 1812. In the fall of the same year he was chosen to represent Saratoga County (the Eleventh distriet) in the Thirteenth Congress. Soon after he removed back to his former resi- dence, and in 1819 to the house now occupied by Justice John Brown, in Ballston Spa. For ten consecutive terms, ending in the year 1832, Mr. Taylor was elected to Con- gress, and twice during this time was chosen Speaker of the House of Representatives ; namely, in 1821, as Henry Clay's sueeessor, and in 1825, of the Nineteenth Congress, for the full term. He was elected to the State Senate in 1840, but resigned in the summer of 1842. Hle soon after
+ سعد
John K. Porter
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IIISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
removed to the city of Cleveland, Ohio, where he died, Sept. 18, 1854, in the seventy-first year of his age. llis remains were brought to his native town, and interred in the cemetery at Ballston Spa ; " and a plain slab, modestly inscribed with his name and date of birth and death, marks the last resting-place of the venerable statesman, who was the only citizen of New York who ever held the third place in our government."*
HARMANUS SCHUYLER
settled in Stillwater, Saratoga County, about the year 1770, and engaged in the milling business. Ilis mill was on the river, a short distance below the present village, and con- sisted of a flour or grist-mill, a saw-mill, and a carding- and fulling-mill. Not a vestige now remains, except traces of the dug way leading from the bank above to the water. Ile had a family of five sons and two daughters, of whose descendants no one is left in the county, except, perhaps, some children of the daughter of his youngest son, Philip Schuyler.
Previous to his settlement in Stillwater, Harmanus Schuyler had been actively engaged in business in Albany for many years. When quite a young man he hell the office of assistant alderman about the same time that his relative, Philip Schuyler, held a like position. Neither of them, however, reached the dignity of alderman. IIe was also high-sheriff' of the county of Albany from June, 1761, to October, 1770.
When the War of the Revolution commenced, Philip Schuyler was appointed major-general in command of the Northern Department, and Harmanus Schuyler was ap- pointed assistant deputy-quartermaster-general. The latter had charge of the workmen who were engaged in building boats at the fort on Lake George, and at Skeenesborough, now Whitehall. Over forty of his letters, written during this period, are preserved among the papers of General Schuyler.
The saying that the times of the Revolution were the days " that tried men's souls," receives a peculiar emphasis in these letters. They are all addressed to General Schuyler, as though he was the only one to whom the deputy-quarter- master could apply for supplies necessary to prosecute his work. In a letter dated Fort George, Feb. 8, 1776, he asks for a keg of nails with which to erect a shop for the boat-builders. Four days after he asks for oakum and pitch, adding, " We are prosecuting the work with zeal. The workmen take their breakfast by candle-light." Ou the 16th he writes, " We need some good axes,-those we have are worthless ; there is no steel in them." Again, " Do please send me one stick of sealing-wax." Then follow others, all begging for nails, oakum, tar, pitch, and finally for more men and teams to procure timber and lumber. March 27 he exclaims, " The men plague my heart out for their pay. Do send me ten pounds."
At Skeenesborough, from June 12 to Sept. 2, he was superintending the building of a larger class of boats. His embarrassments for the want of supplies are simply amazing. The general was required to raise an army, and make prep-
arations for the invasion of Canada by the way of Lake Champlain ; and yet Congress failed to furnish him money or men. He must build boats, raise men, provide arms and equipments, furnish rations, the best way he could. Had he not possessed a large private fortune and unlimited eredit, he must have failed utterly. By energy and perseverance, seconded by men who knew him, he succeeded in raising and equipping a force sufficient for the invasion of Canada, but not for its conquest as was hoped.
There is no record when Harmanus Schuyler left the army, but probably about the time that his general was superseded by Gates. lle returned to his farm and mills at Stillwater, where he died Sept. 1, 1796.
When Washington visited the battle-fields of Saratoga he called at the residence of Ilarmanus Schuyler and took breakfast. There was no one of the family at home except the'eldest daughter. On taking his leave the general with stately courtesy raised her hand to his lips. Nearly sixty years after she was lying on her dying bed. and when her youngest nephew, who had called to see her for the first and last time, was taking his leave, she put out her hand, say- ing, " Not my lips, George, t but kiss the band which long ago was consecrated by the kiss of Washington."
Of Harmanus Schuyler's five sons only one was blessed with sons ; but then his blessing was large and overflowing, -he had eleven. They and their descendants now (1878) number quite two hundred, and are a part of the popula- tion of eleven States and Territories of the Union.
JOIIN K. PORTER.
Judge Porter was born at Waterford, in the county of Saratoga, Jan. 12, 1819. He was a son of Dr. Elijah Porter, and grandson of Moses Porter, a Revolutionary officer, who gained high distinction by his gallantry and efficiency in the battle at Bemus Heights. Dr. Porter came from Vermont to reside in Waterford early in this century, and continued to be respected as a citizen aud a physician during a long and useful life.
John K. Porter commenced his course of studies in the higher branches, under the tuition of David MeNeice, an accomplished Irish professor, one of the exiles who accom- panied Thomas Addis Emmet to this country, after the unfortunate issue of the rebellion of 1798, and who opened a classical school at Waterford, where William E. Cramer, Sammel R. House, and John K. Porter received an carly training which proved invaluable to them all in after-life. IIis studies were afterwards prosecuted at Lansiugburgh Academy, but his preparation for college was under the personal tuition of the celebrated Taylor Lewis, then prin- cipal of the Waterford Academy. After his favorite pupil had entered Union College, it was his good fortune to bring the extraordinary gifts and attainments of his instructor to the notice of the public, by securing to him the place of alternate orator at the annual commencement; and the inability of John C. Calhoun to deliver the principal address gave Taylor Lewis the opportunity to deliver a discourse on that occasion, which placed him at once in the
* Bench and Bar, pp. 142-43.
+ Hon. George W. Schuyler, auditor of the canal department, father of Hon. Eugene Schuyler, United States consul general.
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HISTORY OF SARATOGA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
foremost rank of American scholars, and brought to him within three months invitations to professorships in differ- ent colleges. Ile accepted such a position for the time being in the New York University ; and at a later period a professorship in Union College, which he graced to the time of his death. He died full of years and honors, and it is a matter of pride to the citizens of Saratoga that this county was the birth and burial-place of one who had few peers, here or abroad, among the foremost scholars and writers of the nineteenth century.
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