USA > New York > New York City > History of the city of New York : its origin, rise, and progress Vol. III > Part 41
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RESIDENCES OF PROMINENT NEW YORKERS IN 1826. 709
bookstore adjoining, the edifice evidently occupied as a dwelling-house excepting the one apartment devoted to bookselling; and also the Ameri- can Hotel, which flourished for a time. The block below, where the Astor House now stands, was occupied with the residences of John G. Coster, David Lydig, and John Jacob Astor.
When Astor contemplated building the Astor House in 1830, Lydig removed to Laight Street, fronting St. John's Park, then considered the most eligible part of the city. Ex-Mayor Paulding dwelt in one of the finest blocks of houses in that vicinity, known as Paulding's Row, in Jay Street, corner of Greenwich, and subsequently built an elegant country- seat at Tarrytown. Lydig was one of the rich merchants of that genera- tion, large-hearted, whole-souled, refined and intelligent, but in no sense a public character, although liberal in aiding measures designed to benefit the public. His business morality was of the highest order. For many years he was treasurer of the German Society, succeeding Baron Steuben and David Grim as president of the same ; and he was a director of the Merchants' Bank. He married the beautiful daughter of Peter Mesier. Their only son, Philip Lydig, married the eldest daughter of John Suy- dam, of the famous family of merchants of that name. David Lydig purchased the old Peter De Lancey estate on the Bronx River in West- chester, which embraced not only the mills built by De Lancey in the early part of the previous century, but a large number of surrounding acres, including the quaint old family mansion with its historical associations and attractions. It was the birthplace of the beautiful Mrs. Ralph Izard and of Mrs. John Watts; and from this picturesque old homestead went out a brave officer to fight for England's monarch against his own coun- trymen. Lydig made it his summer residence, and when the original De Lancey house was accidentally burned, built a commodious cottage upon a knoll overlooking the beautiful river, which for nearly a mile meanders peacefully through the grounds, bordered with overhanging trees, pre- senting one of the most pleasing rural pictures within easy distance of New York. Summer-houses, rustic seats, and winding pathways of the olden time remain. But the great city has actually reached the opposite shore of the Bronx, and at the present writing is half-way across the bridge - disclosing a rate of progress within the half-century which the most sanguine prophet of 1826 would have declared impossible. After the death of the elder Lydig in 1842, the son and his family passed their sum- mers in the same charming retreat. One of the daughters of Philip Lydig married the jurist and scholar, Charles P. Daly, president of the Ameri- can Geographical Society, and another daughter married Judge Brady.
John Hone, elder brother and mercantile partner of the mayor, lived
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in one of the seven houses fronting the Bowling Green - the site of the old fort, and Government House ; and Stephen Whitney, and Sam- 1826. uel Ward, brother-in-law of Dr. Francis, dwelt in the same row. Nathaniel Prime's city residence was at No 1. Broadway, and John Watts lived in the stately old Watts mansion adjoining. Fashion had pushed its course as far north as Bleecker Street ; several handsome houses were already standing in Waverley Place, and neighborhood. But the old residents near the Battery were as yet undisturbed. Myndert Van Schaick, whose wife was a daughter of John Hone, lived in Broadway, near the residence of Peter Augustus Jay, above Chambers Street. The Rev. Dr. James M. Mathews, of the Dutch Reformed Church, who also married a daughter of John Hone, resided in Broad Street; and among his immediate neighbors were Frederic De Peyster, and the family of Jacob Sherred who gave sixty thousand dollars to the Episcopal Theo- logical Seminary in New York. Bishop Hobart, the great head of the Episcopal Church lived in Vesey Street; George Griswold in Wall Street; Colonel Nicholas Fish in Stuyvesant Street, near Third Avenue ; and Archibald Gracie in Bond Street.
Not only dwelling-houses but public buildings were multiplying in every direction. The American Museum was erected in Broadway, over- looking the Park, in 1824. The Merchants' Exchange in Wall Street, commenced in 1825, was finished in 1827; and the city post-office was quartered under its roof. The Masonic Hall in Broadway, near Pearl Street, was one of the enterprises of 1826, a costly Gothic edifice, con- taining one apartment ninety-five feet long, forty-seven feet wide, and twenty-five feet high, finished and ornamented in the same style as the chapel of Henry VIII. It was intended for public meetings, concerts, and balls. The third story of the edifice was arranged in a luxurious manner for the meetings of the masonic fraternity. The serious blow given to the masons by the inhuman murder of William Morgan, about the time of the completion of the structure, induced a change of name, and it was henceforth called Gothic Hall. Governor De Witt Clinton was a mason, holding at this time the highest masonic office in the United States, and the Morgan excitement deprived him of many votes when the time came for his fourth election to the gubernatorial chair.
The fiftieth birthday of the American republic was celebrated through- out the country, and particularly in New York, where the re- July 4. membrance of the beginning of the canal on that auspicious anniversary, eight years before, was still vividly impressed upon the pub- lic mind. On that day died two venerable and venerated ex-Presidents of the nation, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.
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The coincidence seemed almost miraculous. Both Adams and Jeffer- son were on the committee in the Continental Congress to prepare the Declaration of Independence, both signed that immortal state paper, both represented the nation in Europe, both had been President of the new nation, and both died on the anniversary day, one half a century from the nation's birth. Public meetings, without distinction of parties, were held and eulogies pronounced in every part of the land.
The administration of John Quincy Adams met with fierce opposition from the friends of the disappointed candidates, owing partly to the dash- ing boldness and energy of Andrew Jackson, who attracted the masses like a magnet. Martin Van Buren threw his whole strength into the scale to prevent the re-election of Adams. He was in the Senate. Ed- ward Livingston, the confidential friend of Jackson, was in the House, a member from Louisiana, and united his influence with that of Van Buren. In New York the heads of the two rival parties, divided on State issues and personal questions, were Martin Van Buren and Governor Clinton. Both admired Jackson. Many of the Clintonians, however, preferred Adams. It was said that the re-election of Clinton to the governorship would be fatal to the prospects of Adams. Van Buren had other reasons for wishing to defeat Clinton. Van Buren's talents had already achieved for him national distinction, and he had no rival greater than Clinton for advancement in the national government. Van Buren was frank and courteous in manner, but concealed his thoughts ; Clinton was reserved and haughty in manner, but gave free utterance to his thoughts. Van Buren studied men, Clinton studied books. Both were New-Yorkers born and bred, and both traced their ancestry to Holland - Clinton through the De Witts.
A convention at Utica on the 6th of September, 1826, of which Gen- eral Pierre Van Cortlandt was president, nominated Clinton for re-election. Van Buren and his party quickly found an opposing candidate. Edward Livingston spent the recesses of Congress in New York ; he was at this juncture the head of the Livingston family, housing in his heart the old Livingston prejudice against the Clintons, and his influence was of moment. When the time came for voting the strife was very bitter, but the Clintonians won the victory. In the election of Jackson, which soon followed, the term " Federalist " disappeared from the political records. The supporters of Jackson adopted the name of Democrat, and the Adams men called themselves "National Republicans."
In 1827, on the 2d of June, John George Leake died at his residence in Park Row, opposite City Hall Park. He was a well-known and highly esteemed citizen of large wealth, a lawyer by profession - trained
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in the office of James Duane-and his most intimate and cherished friend was the philanthropist, John Watts. Robert William Leake the
brother of the deceased, married the sister of John Watts; the only 1827. issue of this marriage was a son who died in 1793, at the'age of eight years, which was a severe blow to the uncle, who intended making him his sole heir. The two Leakes were sons of Robert Leake, a British officer in the Braddock expedition of 1754, who settled in New York City and accumulated a large property. John George Leake at the time of his death was the last of his race in this country ; and desiring above all things to preserve and perpetuate his family name, left by will his entire wealth to Robert, the son of John Watts, upon the express con- dition of his taking the name of " Leake," by which surname he and his heirs would thereafter be forever called and known. Anticipating the possibility of refusal to accept as aforesaid on the part of Robert Watts, Leake defined the plan of an excellent and useful charity to which his estate should be appropriated. The executors named in the will were John Watts, his brother Rob- ert Watts (whose wife was the Hon. John Watts. [Born in 1749, died in 1836.] daughter of Lord Stirling), Herman
Le Roy, and William Bayard. After some hesitation young Watts com- plied with the conditions of the will, and, empowered by the legislature, assumed the name of Leake. Scarcely had this been done when he sickened and died. Thus the bereaved father of the heir became the heir of the son, and the inheritor of the Leake property. He took measures at once to execute the scheme of benevolence suggested by Leake. Des- titute orphans had always awakened his interest and appealed to his sympathies. The Orphan Asylum founded by the ladies in 1806 was doing a great work, but the field was rapidly widening. New York was flooded with the poverty stricken from every clime and nation. Thus he founded the Leake and Watts Orphan Home, incorporated by act of the legislature in 1831. The corner-stone of a fine edifice near Hud- son River and One Hundred and Eleventh Street was laid in 1838, with interesting ceremonies conducted by the clergy of the city ; it was com- pleted and opened for the admission of orphans in 1843. The institution
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THE LEAKE AND WATTS ORPHAN HOME.
has proved a blessing to the community, and is one of the enduring monuments which seem to place us in palpable connection with the heroic founders of New York. John Watts was the last recorder of the city prior to the Revolution, and his life already spanned nearly fourscore years. His father was the eminent Counselor John Watts, and his mother, a sister of the brilliant Lieutenant-Governor De Lancey, with a maternal ancestry of strong characters reaching to the first invasion of the water-bound, forest-covered island of Manhattan. In the prime of his manhood John Watts was a model of masculine beauty. Even to an advanced age he was distinguished for elegance of person and the pol- ished manners of an old-school gentleman. He bore himself gracefully and proudly erect, and his figure on horseback was the admiration of Broadway up to within a few weeks of his decease in 1836. He survived his wife and children, and through his manifold afflictions grew to be a reticent if not a taciturn man; but his heart was always open to the calls of philanthropy. He was one of the founders of the New York City Dispensary, and for some years its president.1
This year was also marked by the sudden death of Thomas Addis Emmet, in the court-room, while engaged in trying an important case. He came to New York in 1804, establishing himself in his profession just as the career of Alexander Hamilton terminated. He was one of the finest lawyers Ireland ever produced. The proudest seats of 1827. office and honor seemed none too high for his capacity and aspirations. At the time when ancient customs and institutions were toppling through the effects of the French Revolution he, in connection with others of high rank, determined to rid Ireland from the tyranny of Great Britain. The plan was discovered and the leaders imprisoned. After many months they were allowed to negotiate for their own release, and permitted to withdraw from Ireland.
An appeal was made to the legislature in the spring resulting in a grant of five thousand dollars from the State to the New York Historical Society. Frederic De Peyster, then a rising young lawyer - president of the Society in 1880 - was the agent to present the subject, and found a majority of the legislators at Albany hostile to appropriations of any charac- ter. They said it was not over a dozen years since they had responded favorably to a similar call through the influence of Governor Clinton. The
1 John Watts, born 1749, died 1836, was Speaker of the New York Assembly from 1791 to 1794, and represented New York in the Third Congress. He was a munificent donor to philan- thropic objects. His residence was No. 3 Broadway. His mother's mother was the daugh- ter of Hon. Stephanus Van Cortlandt and Gertrude Schuyler. He married his cousin, Jane, daughter of Peter and Elizabeth Colden De Lancey, the granddaughter of Lieutenant-Gov- ernor Cadwallader Colden, of colonial New York memory. See Vol. I. 420, 502, 756, 757.
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library was prospering, having reached eight thousand volumes. De Peyster answered every objection, and succeeded in showing the impor- tance of obtaining and preserving documents, fugitive pamphlets, perish- able papers, and of publishing the historical manuscript of the elder William Smith, which had been presented by his son. Governor Clinton aided De Peyster in every way possible ; he said, in reference to the his- tory of New York, "Do you not know, gentlemen, that the most impor- tant is the worst or least described part of the Union ?"
Albert Gallatin, returning from England, where he had been sent by President Adams the year before, arrived in New York in December, and henceforward made the city his permanent residence, devoting himself to science, literature, and historical and ethnological researches. He was sixty-six years of age, of medium height, bald-headed, with features strongly marked, and an eye of piercing brilliancy. He was the best talker of the century, with a wonderful memory for facts and dates, and his intellectual attractions drew about him a circle of brilliant men. " There was a small company of us in the habit of meeting weekly at each other's houses for a social evening," wrote Rev. Dr. James Mathews, " and John Quincy Adams usually made his arrangements to be with us when he passed through the city." Governor Clinton was one of the number, as occasion permitted, also the scholarly Bishop Hobart. In the early part of January, 1828, the governor assembled a few friends
1828. to dine and spend the evening at his house, among whom were Chancellor Kent, recently chosen president of the New York Historical Society, Judge Jonas Yates, Abraham Van Vetchen, and Stephen Van Rensselaer, the patroon. "I never saw Clinton appear to more advantage," wrote Dr. Mathews. "The topics introduced and the guests at his table were calculated to draw him out. A first glance showed that he was no ordinary man. The majestic was a predominant feature of his mind and body. You saw it in his figure, in his manner, in his countenance, all indicating him as the right man to be governor of the Empire State, and to create an era in her history that should never be forgotten."
It was but a few days ere the New York world was shocked by the Feb. 11.
intelligence that Governor Clinton's life had passed away, without a struggle, while sitting in his library chair in conversation with his sons, and without a moment's warning. The air was filled with lam- entations. The State had met with no ordinary loss. Clinton loved New York with the same partiality that a parent loves his own family, and took pride in its advancement in wealth and greatness. The sorrow was universal. Imposing demonstrations in all parts of the State, with- out distinction of party, revealed the popular sense of the magnitude of
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the loss. Merchants and farmers, public bodies of every character, scien- tific, religious, and charitable institutions, schools, colleges, tribunals of justice, and the legislative councils, united in tributes of respect. The New York bar passed resolutions offered by Josiah Ogden Hoffman, and seconded by the eloquent George Griffin, who said: "It is a bereaved world that mourns. Nature and education formed Clinton to be one of the master-spirits of the age in which he lived. The Pericles of our commonwealth, for near thirty years he exercised, without stooping to little arts of popularity, an intellectual dominion in his native State scarcely inferior to that of the illustrious Athenian - a dominion as benignant as it was effective. He was the supporter of every charitable and religious institution - the encourager of every science and every art ; he zealously promoted every object calculated to meliorate the moral con- dition of the State, and labored with untiring assiduity to irradiate the general mind with the light of knowledge."1 Columbia College wore crape for thirty days. It was remembered with pride that Clinton was the first student admitted to the college under the new order of things after the Revolution, and that he had delivered the latest address, May 3, 1827, before the Alumni, sketching the rise, progress, and present condi- tion of the institution.2
1 George Griffin, eminent lawyer and author, born 1778, died May, 1860 (the brother of the great divine, Rev. Edward Dorr Griffin, president of Williams College from 1821 to 1836), married a daughter of Colonel Zebulon Butler, who commanded the defense at Wyoming at the time of the massacre in 1778. His son, Rev. Edward Dorr Griffin, born 1804, died 1830, graduated from Columbia College with honors in 1823, and was subsequently assistant minis- ter of Chirst's Church in the city.
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2 Governor Clinton, in the admirable discourse to which reference is made, expressed his per- fect contempt of unworthy prejudices against foreigners, yet remarked : "Since the college has been under professors of native growth it has experienced its present fullness of prosperity. The president and all the professors of the college are now indigenous plants, and their talents and powers of instruction are felt in the flourishing state of the institution. Never did it stand on higher ground, and never were its prospects more brilliant." He adverted to the means of education in successful operation in the State as follows : "We have four colleges, containing four hundred and thirty-seven students ; thirty-three incorporated academies, containing two thousand four hundred and forty students ; eight thousand one hundred and forty-four common schools, in which four hundred and thirty-one thousand six hundred and one persons are receiving instruction ; and the pupils in private institutions, it is computed, will swell this number to at least four hundred and sixty thousand. From the apex to the base of this glorious pyramid of intellectual improvement we perceive the intimacy of con- nection, an identity of interest, a unanimity of action and reaction, a system of reciprocated benefits, that cannot but fill us with joy, and make us proud of our country. The national school society of Great Britain educates but three hundred thousand children annually ; no State or country can vie with our common school establishment." De Witt Clinton was born March 2, 1769, died February 11, 1828, aged fifty-nine. He was twice married : (1) to Maria, daughter of Walter Franklin, by whom he had ten children, of whom is the eminent Hon. George W. Clinton of Buffalo ; (2) to Catharine, daughter of Dr. Thomas Jones.
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The cause of common school education, the commercial, agricultural, and manufacturing interests of the city and State, and the political su- premacy of New York as the most important member of the Union, were all identified with his long administration of affairs. Even the small men, and those who had thrown stones, contemplated his thirty years' career with admiration : as private secretary to his uncle, George Clinton, as mayor of New York City, as United States senator, State senator, canal commissioner, and governor, he had left the impress of his intel- lectual ability and moral greatness on all the leading interests of the nation as well as the State. Few names more illustrious grace the his- tory of any age or country.
The lieutenant-governor, Nathaniel Pitcher, assumed the duties of the executive, and Peter R. Livingston was elected president of the senate. The next election placed Martin Van Buren in the governor's chair, and Enos T. Throop was elected lieutenant-governor. Van Buren was, however, soon called to the cabinet of President Jackson.
The value of books as a means of culture had long been recognized in New York. Columbia College had accumulated a fine collection of choice works, partly by judicious purchases, and partly through donations.1 The New York Society Library was the rarest and richest as well as the earliest loan library in America. It contains, in 1880, about seventy thousand volumes, comprising a great number out of print, and not to be found in modern or antiquarian bookstores. From its inception down to the present time this library has been the resort, pre-eminently, of the families of wealth and social position, and its founders and early members are still represented by their descendants. The New York Hospital Library was established in 1796, the governors appropriating five hundred dollars to the purchase of volumes, and the medical faculty of Columbia College con- tributed from their private collections. Among the additions made prior to 1830 was the botanical library of Dr. Hosack. It contains about ten thousand volumes, the most valuable medical library of its size in the country. We have seen how the Mercantile Library and the Historical Society Library were expanding. In 1820 was established the Appren- tices' Library, by the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen, for the use of mechanics' apprentices, in connection with a school for the children of unfortunate mechanics. In 1862 the free use of this library
1 The largest gifts to the library of Columbia College have been the law libraries of William Samuel Johnson, third president, given by his son, and of Chief Justice John Jay, the gift of his grandson, John Jay. The most important additions by purchase have been the libraries of the late Nathaniel F. Moore and of the late Lorenzo Da Ponte ; the former consisting for the most part of elegant and valuable editions of the Greek and Roman classics, and the latter, an extensive collection of the older Italian literature.
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was extended to working-women. Some idea of its practical worth may be elicited from the fact of its having increased in size and circulation, until at the present time the volumes number sixty thousand, and the total circulation has reached one hundred and fifty thousand.
The Law Institute was organized in 1828, with Chancellor Kent its first president. The nucleus of a law library was immediately formed by the purchase of the private collection of Robert Tillotson. Do- nations of books came in slowly, but the library became a success 1828.
in the highest and broadest sense, and now furnishes the bench and bar with resources of incalculable value. It contains some twenty-four thou- sand volumes, and is conceded to be the best public law library in the country. The American Institute originated during the same year, its purpose being to encourage and promote industry throughout the Union by the bestowal of rewards and other benefits on persons excelling in agriculture, commerce, manufactures, and the arts. It was incorporated in 1829, and the first annual fair was held in the new Masonic Hall in Broadway. A library was founded, which in 1850 num- 1829. bered six thousand five hundred volumes' -- and since then has nearly doubled. It is strongest in the divisions of science and the arts.
The leading voice in appropriating the income of the immense church property of the Episcopalians of New York had for many years been that of Bishop John Henry Hobart. His diocese extended upwards of three hundred miles from east to west. A broader field of action, and a sway of public sentiment more powerful, have seldom fallen to the lot of any man clad in the robes and bearing the symbols of the prelacy. With the great mass of the clergy his will was law ; and he spoke, acted, and bore himself as one having authority. He was a handsome man, with a bright, clear, piercing eye and a smooth face. He was small of stature, dignified and courtly ; but he walked upon the street with as much rapidity as if walking for a wager. He was one of the great thinkers of his generation, and a ready writer and speaker, natural, earnest, bold, effective, the move- ments of his mind being as rapid as those of his limbs. His executive ability was unparalleled; and he extricated the church from many diffi- culties. In the pulpit he was commanding, and his voice, although not strong, was penetrating. His sermons were written with conciseness, point, and vigor, and his utterance was quick and energetic. There was intensity in all his mental and moral characteristics - a sort of elevate 1 impetuosity running like a chain of fire through mind, heart, and life.
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