Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, Volume I, Part 13

Author: Reynolds, Cuyler, 1866-1934, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 656

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HUDSON AND MOHAWK VALLEYS

ted William H. Pangburn and S. M. Van Santvoord as partners. Twelve years later this firm was dissolved, and Mr. Whitney con- tinued the business with his son, William M. Whitney, Jr. In 1896, he admitted his other son, Charles L. A. Whitney, as a partner, which resulted in its continuation as one of the most enterprising and successful concerns in this part of the country. Mr. Whitney was a Mason, a member of the Universalist church, and a member of the Fort Orange and Albany clubs. He was a director of the First National Bank, and in 1886, by appoint- ment of the mayor, served as chairman on the committee of public celebration which ar- ranged the Bi-Centennial of Albany as a chartered city.

For many years Mr. Whitney resided in his handsome home, No. 5 Lodge street, but removed to a larger residence, No. 156 Wash- ington avenue, where he died at 5 o'clock on the morning of May 10, 1905, having suffered a stroke of apoplexy the previous day.

William M. Whitney married, in New York City, June 16, 1856, Amelia Cook, born in New York City, January 31, 1831, and in 1910 was living in Albany. Her parents were Wal- ter and Mary (Munro) Cook. Children of Mr. and Mrs. Whitney: 1. Leila, born in New York City, May 17, 1857; married, Albany, New York, November 25, 1879, William Henry Stott, born at Stottville, September 12, 1855, died at Albany, August 22, 1888, son of Charles Henry and Catherine (Oakley) Stott ; children: Leila Vanderbilt, born at Al- bany, November 25, 1880; a son, born and died at Stottville, Columbia county, New York, July 3 1882; Helen Munro, Stottville, New York, June 18, 1883; Jonathan Whit- ney, Stottville, May 5, 1885; Whitney, Stott- ville, March 20, 1887. 2. William Minott, Jr .. born in New York City, December 3, 1858, died there, December 21, 1858. 3. Wil- liam Minott, Jr., born in New York City, August 1, 1861, died at Albany, February 6, 1899 ; married, Stottville, New York, June 9, 1886, Jessie Douglas Stott ; children : Leila Douglas, at Albany, May 3, 1887; William Minott, 3rd, at Albany, June 5, 1888; Pru- dence, at Albany, October 15, 1890. 4. Vir- ginia Belle, born in New York City, January 8, 1865, died there December 8, 1865. 5. Charles Lee Anthony, born at Albany, New

York. September 19, 1870, see forward. 6. Mabel, born at Albany, December 4, 1874; married, Albany, December 29, 1897, Charles Hamilton Sabin, born at Williamstown, Mas- sachusetts, August 24, 1868, and in 1910 was located in New York City as the vice-presi- dent of the Guarantee Trust Company ; child,

Charles Hamilton Sabin, Jr., born Albany, New York, July 4, 1902.

(VIII) Charles L. A., son of William Mi- nott and Amelia (Cook) Whitney, was horn in Albany, New York, September 19, 1870. He received his education at the Albany Academy and at Phillips Academy, Andover, Massachusetts. Immediately afterward he en- tered the large store of his father, and in 1896 he was admitted to the firm as a partner. When his father died, in 1905, he assumed the re- sponsible position of manager of the estab- lishment, and has been thoroughly successful. He has traveled abroad, is a man of refined tastes, and is particularly fond of outdoor sports, more particularly polo. His home in Loudonville, to the north of Albany, is named "Wyebrook Farm," because of the original settlement of the family several centuries ago at Whitney on the Wye river, in England. He has furnished it in most attractive man- ner with rarest of antique material, and de- votes personal attention to the cultivation of his handsome estate. He is a member of St. Peter's Episcopal Church, a director of the Albany City Savings Institution, and a mem- ber of the Fort Orange and Albany Country clubs of Albany, of the London Hunt Club, the Albany Academy Alumni Association, the Remsen Polo Club and the Remsen Coun- try Club of New Jersey. He married, at Mon- mouth Beach, New Jersey, September 27, 1893. Grace Niles, born in New York City, July 3, 1874, and was educated at Briarly's. Her father was Lucien Hanks Niles, born in Cincinnati, Ohio, September 14, 1841, and in 1910 was a resident of New York City. Her mother was Mattie A. (Bradford) Niles, born at North Yarmouth, Maine, September 4, 1841, died in New York City, April 24, 1897; their marriage took place at Provi- dence, Rhode Island, September 30, 1863. Child of Mr. and Mrs. Charles L. A. Whit- ney, Marjorie, born at Albany, September 26, 1894.

The Melville-Melvill family

MELVILLE is distinguished in the civil, religious and literary history

of Scotland. The branch here traced de- scended from the Melvilles of Fife, a branch of the noble and ancient family later repre- sented by the Earl of Leven and Melville, one of the sixteen peers of Scotland in 1806. The original Melville was a Norman warrior who came to England with William the con- queror. He was not pleased with the treat- ment he received and withdrew in wrath to Scotland, where he came into the favor of King Malcolm, who granted him lands and

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favors. He received lands in Lothian and his descendants established themselves on lands in Angus and Fife. The name of Melville of- ten appears in Scottish charters and records as early as the twelfth century. The name was early written Melvill. The great-grand- father of the American ancestor is :

(I) Sir John Melville, who was knighted by James VI. of Scotland, and in 1580 raised to the peerage with the title Baron of Gran- ton.

(II) Thomas, son of Sir John Melville, married and had sons. Rev. Thomas and Rev. Andrew Melville. A son of Rev. Andrew, General Robert Melville, became a distin- guished officer in the English army, rendered efficient service to his country, and at the time of his death was the oldest general but one in the British army.

(III) Rev. Thomas (2), son of Thomas (1) Melville, was a highly educated and re- spected minister of Scoonie in the Levan, county of Fife, Scotland. He was pastor of the church at Scoonie from 1718 to 1764, when he resigned in favor of Rev. David Swan. He died in 1769, greatly beloved and universally regretted. His children were: I. John, married Deborah Scollay, and died in London, about 1798. 2. Allan, see forward. 3. Margaret, married Captain Lindell.

(IV) Allan, with whom the American rec- ord begins, was the second son of Rev. Thom- as (2) Melvill, of Scoonie. He was born in Scoonie, county of Fife, Scotland, in 1728, died in Boston, Massachusetts, January 2, 1761. Ile arrived in Boston in 1743, where he established himself in commercial business. He was distinguished for his enterprise, in- dustry and rectitude of life. In 1750 he mar- ried Jean, daughter of David and Mary (Ab- ernethy) Cargill. She died in 1759, leaving an only child and son, Thomas.

(V) Major Thomas (3), only son of Allan and Jean (Cargill) Melvill, was born in Boston, Massachusetts, January 16, 1751. Losing his mother at the early age of eight years, his care and education devolved upon his maternal grandmother, Mary (Abernethy) Cargill. She was a sister of the noted Dr. Abernethy, and was a woman of great intel- ligence. Her memory was ever warmly cher- ished by her grandson during life. At the age of fifteen he entered Princeton College, where he was graduated in 1769. He was destined for the ministry and devoted more than a year to the study of theology, but find- ing his health impaired and his constitution too frail for that arduous profession, he changed his plan of life. In 1771 he visited Scotland, the home of his ancestors, on busi-

ness as heir-at-law to his cousin, General Ro- land Melvil, and was received with marked attention, receiving a degree from the St. Andrews College, Edinburg, together with the freedom of the city. He remained in Scotland and England two years, returning to Boston in 1773. From this period the cause of civil liberty engaged his attention and its progress was marked with deep interest to the termina- tion of his life. He took part in many of the important and stirring events preceding the revolution. He was one of the youthful disciples and confidential associates of Samuel and John Hancock, whose friendship and in- timacy he ever retained. He was one of the band of Indians, who, on the night of De- cember 16, 1773, held the famous "Tea Party" in Boston Harbor. Some of the tea that he found in his shoes after his return home that night he preserved, and in after years exhib- ited it to such a distinguished visitor as Gen- eral Lafayette as a precious souvenir of that memorable party. He was selected by Gen- eral Warren as one of his aides a short time previous to the death of the latter at the battle of Bunker Hill. In 1776 he was com- missioned captain by the state of Massachu- setts in an artillery regiment commanded by Colonel Thomas Crafts, and in 1777 was. promoted major of the same regiment. For a time he was on garrison in and about Bos- ton. When the British evacuated that city in 1776. a portion of their fleet was left in Nantasket Roads to prevent any British ves- sels from entering the harbor and falling in- to the hands of the patriots. Major Mel- vill commanded a detachment of artillery sent to drive them from their station. A battery was erected under heavy fire from the British ships and Major Melvill aimed and fired the first gun which, followed by others equally well aimed, soon drove the enemy to sea. He served with Colonel Craft's regiment in 1777 in Rhode Island, under General Spencer, and was with the regiment in 1779 at the battle of Rhode Island under General Sullivan. He. also served on the committee of correspon- dence and on the town committee to obtain its quota of troops for the continental army. Prior to the organizations of the general gov- ernment, Major Melvill, in 1787, was chosen three years in succession by the Massachu- setts legislature as naval officer of the port of Boston. His first election was from fifteen candidates, one of them, Mr. Otis, being a member of the legislature. and brother of the speaker. Upon the adoption of the federal constitution the appointment of custom house officers was transferred to the president of the United States. For the port of Boston

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President Washington appointed General Lin- coln, collector ; James Lowell, naval officer ; and Major Melvill, surveyor and inspector. He held this office until the death of James Lowell, when he was appointed naval officer by President Madison. This office he con- tinued to hold under successive presidents un- til 1829, when he fell a victim to the perni- cious doctrine "To the victors belong the spoils," and was removed from office by Pres- ident Andrew Jackson. There was no pre- tence that he was incapable or unfaithful to the duties of his office. The victorious party wanted the office and took it. The old hero bitterly resented his removal and often re- ferred to it as the "bitterest insult" of his long life. At the first state election held af- ter liis removal from office he was chosen one of the representatives from Boston in the state legislature, and held by successive reëlections during the remainder of his life. In 1779 he was chosen one of the fire war- dens of Boston and continued to be reëlected until the reorganization of the fire department in 1825, a period of forty-seven years. For twenty-five years he was chairman of the board. On his retirement he was presented with a silver pitcher as a token of personal respect and a public testimonial of his faith- ful services. One of the engines and com- panies bore his name and ever honored his memory. The Massachusetts legislature ap- pointed him a director of the State Bank and other public institutions, and he was chosen as delegate to the convention that revised the state constitution. He had many warm friends among the military and public men of his day. He was known among these as "the last of the cocked hats," from the fact that until his death he always wore a three-cornered cocked hat and knee breeches. Being once asked why he did not add a finel e. to his name, the reply was: "My father did not." The leading and prominent traits of his char- acter were a sound judgment, a quick discern- ment, firmness and decision in time of danger and pressing emergency; a strong sense of justice ; the strictest fidelity to engagements, public and private ; an ardent attachment to personal friends; great tenderness and the most considerate regard for his family and those depending on him. Notwithstanding an intense aversion to the disclosure of religious feeling, it was manifest to his intimate friends that the highest of all obligations were daily and habitually remembered. He died peacefully at his home in Boston, September, 16, 1832, in his eighty-second year.

He married, in Boston, August 20, 1774, Priscilla, daughter of John Scollay, grand-

daughter of James Scollay, who came from Orkney Island to America, and great-grand- daughter of Malcolm Scollay, of Scotland, born 1648, died 1746, at the great age of ninety-eight years. The name is perpetuated in Boston by "Scollay Square" and other me- morials. Priscilla (Scollay) Melvill survived her husband with whom she spent a congen- ial, happy life, continuing fifty-eight years. Children : I. Thomas (2), born June 26, 1776, educated at Boston Academy, was a merchant in Boston, was sent to Paris by his employers at the age of eighteen, became a banker of note, and re- mained in France fourteen years, except two years spent in Spain; married a French girl of Spanish mother, Françoise Raymonde Eu- logue Marie des Doulouers Louise Fleury, eldest daughter of François Lamie Fleury and his wife, Raymonde Gavisa. His home in Paris was the scene of a great deal of hos- pitable entertainment, General Lafayette be- ing a frequent guest. He returned to the Uni- ted States in 1811 ; during the war of 1812-14 was appointed commissary of prisoners; was with General Dearborn when he selected the grounds in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where the "Cantonment" for prisoners was located, and occupied with his family a cottage on the grounds. April, 1814, his wife died, followed in a few weeks by two of his children. He married (second) November 21, 1815, a daughter of Dudley Hobart, of Maine. In 1832 was elected to the Massachusetts legis- lature. In 1836 removed to Galena, Illinois, where he died at the age of seventy-six, the father of fourteen children. 2. Mary, born 1778, died October 22, 1809: married Captain John De Wolf. 3. Nancy W., born March 22, 1780, died July 8. 1813. 4. Allan, see for- ward. 5. Priscilla, born February 2, 1784. 6. Robert, born July 4, 1786, died June 19, 1795. 7. Jean, born March 6, 1788, married Wright. 8. John Scollay, born March 23, 1790. died May 10. 1815. 9. Lucy, born August 22, 1793, died in infancy. 10. Lucy (2), born February II, 1795: married (first) Justin Wright Clark; (second) Dr. Nurse. II. Helen, born January 14, 1798; married Levitt Souther.

(VI) Allan (2), second son and fourth child of Major Thomas and Priscilla ( Scol- lay) Melvill, was born in Boston, Massa- chusetts, April 7, 1782. He was well educated and became an importer of silks and French goods of rare and superior quality. In pursuit of his business he spent a great deal of time in journeying at home and abroad ; was with his brother Thomas in the French Capital. Between the brothers, though not con-

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nected in business, existed a warm and commendable intimacy. He first went to Europe in 1800, and made his last visit in 1822. He visited the principal capitals and manufacturing centres in search of attractive and saleable goods for his trade and made heavy purchases. Once during the second war with England the vessel on which he was a passenger was captured by a British frigate and all made prisoners. He was soon released and returned to the United States. He was a most methodical man and a daily record of all his travels, home and abroad, at sca or on land, was faithfully kept and is carefully preserved. It records travel by sea of forty-eight thousand four hundred and six- ty miles in the twenty-two years. He closed up his Boston business and for a time was in the wholesale dry goods business in Al- bany, New York, but about 1818 located at 123 Pearl street, New York City, where he dealt in wholesale imported silks and dry goods ; also, as his advertisement says: "Act- ing as commission merchant for others." He was one of the early importers of French goods and prospered. He kept up a constant correspondence with his distinguished father, whose advice and counsel he sought and fol- lowed. His letters to his wife, many of which are preserved, show the deepest devotion and love, breathing an exquisite tenderness that charms the reader, although a century has elapsed since some of them were written. He died about 1835. He was a man of deep re- ligious sentiment, as shown by his letters, and constantly invoked the Divine blessing upon his beloved wife and children to whom he was devoted. He married Maria, daughter of General Peter Gansevoort, Jr., of revolution- ary fame. She was born 1791, died 1872. Children: 1. Gansevoort, born December 6, 1815, died in London, England, May 2, 1846. He was an accomplished scholar, possessed of unusual powers of oratory, a gift that was employed with good result by the Democratic party, particularly during the campaign that resulted in the election of James K. Polk to the presidency. He was appointed secretary of legation at the Court of St. James, dying in London, 1846. His body was returned to his native land and buried with honors in the Albany Rural Cemetery. He was a young man of great promise and brilliant prospects. 2. Helen Maria, born August 4, 1817 ; mar- ried, January 8, 1854. George Griggs. 3. Her- man. born 1819, married, August 5, 1847, Elizabeth, daughter of Chief Justice Shaw, of Boston. 4. Augusta, born 1821. 5. Allan, born 1823, married (first) September 22, 1847, Sophia E. Thurston ; (second) Jane Dempsey.

6. Catherine, born 1825 ; married, September 15, 1853, John C. Hoadley. 7. Frances Pris- cilla, born, 1827. 8. Thomas, born 1830.

Melville Arms: "Bears gules three cres- cents argent with a bordure of the last, charged with eight roses of the first. A small crescent of the second in chief for difference." Crest : "A crescent argent." Motto: "De- nique Coelum."

Miss Charlotte Hoadley, of Chicago, a de- scendant of the Melville family, says, after reading the above sketch: "The family tradi- tion has always been that Fanny Fleury was an adopted daughter of Madame Recamier and that she was married to Thomas Melville from Madame Recamier's salon. I have in my possession Fanny Fleury's miniature in an exquisitively carved tortoise-shell box, with her monogram wrought in the carving. I also own the miniature pin painted by Copley of Deborah Scollay. It was sent to David Swan and many years after returned to the Melville family in Boston. The little paper which accompanies it reads, 'Deborah Scollay was the eldest sister of Priscilla Scollay.' She married John Melville, uncle of the Thomas Melville who married Priscilla Scol- lay."

The following is a sketch of "Broad Hall," now the Country Club of Pittsfield, Massa- chusetts, taken from "The History of Pitts- field," by J. E. A. Smith, Springfield, 1876. The place was formerly owned by Major Thomas Melville and later by his son Robert : "Broad Hall was built by Henry Van Schaack in 1781, with extraordinary care and liberal expenditure, and was for many years much the best built edifice in the town. The wood- en walls were lined with brick, and the car- pentry exhibits a perfection of skill which excites the admiration of modern workmen who are called upon to make alterations in it. It is little changed except by the remo- val of the broad chimney and the old-fash- ioned balustrade which surrounded the roof. Mr. Van Schaack removing to his native place, Kinderhook, New York, in 1807, sold his house in Pittsfield to Elkanah Watson, a gentleman of very similar tastes, and the founder of the Berkshire Agricultural So- ciety, who occupied it until his removal to Albany in 1816. It was then purchased by Major Thomas Melville who resided in it un- til 1837 and was succeeded by his son Robert Melville. For some years previous to its pur- chase by Mr. J. R. Morewood in 1851, it was kept as a boarding house and numbered among its guests Henry W. Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville and President John Tyler."

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Mr. J. R. Morewood sold Broad Hall to his brother, George Morewood, and his son sold it to the Pittsfield Club about 1900.

GANSEVOORT

The original ancestors the Gansevoort fami- lies of the Hudson and

Mohawk Valleys in New York state lived in a town called Ganzfort, which was situated on the borders of Germany and Holland. Wes- selus Gansefortius, otherwise known in his own day as Wessel Gansevoort and also as John Wessel Gansevoort, was born at Gronin- gen, Holland, in the year 1419, in a house standing in the Heerestraat, near the Caroli- weg, and which can be recognized by the family arms which remain to this day in the front stone. The arms themselves appear to present an emblem of agriculture and com- merce, from which it may be assumed that the Gansevoorts of early times were engaged in those avocations. And besides the family name of Gansevoort (doubtless derived from the village of Ganzfort, in Westfalen), he bore in later times among men of eminent learning the name of Basilius, and the title of Lux Mundi (light of the world), and also the name of Magister Contradictionis (Mas- ter of Contradictions or Debates). For this latter title he is probably indebted to his continued attacks against the errors and abuses of the church. He also has been re- ferred to and mentioned as the forerunner of Luther, and he favored the school of abso- lute nominalism in philosophy. He was a leader in the pre-Reformation movement in Holland, and ranked among the most learned men of his time; was an intimate friend in early life of Thomas a Kempis, studied at several of the great schools of Europe, and was offered and declined a professorship at Heidelberg. At Paris he was the instructor of two men who afterward achieved wide fame, Reuchlin and Agricola, and subsequent- ly he visited in Rome when Sixtus IV. was Pope. He had been on terms of intimacy with Sixtus when the latter was superior-general of the Franciscans. It is related that he was asked by Sixtus what favor he could do for him, and in answer Wessel asked for a Greek and Hebrew Bible from the Vatican library. "You shall have it," said the Pope, "but what a simpleton you are ; why did you not ask for a bishopric or something of that kind?" "Be- cause I do not want it.", replied Wessel, a reply truly characteristic of his high tone and independent spirit. On religious subjects his views were broad and deep, and he promul- gated with boldness the doctrines of the Ref- ormation forty years in advance of Luther,

who held his character and attainments in high esteem and who published an edition of part of his works. His name, still retained by the family in this country, is reverenced in Groningen, his native city, where in 1862 an ancient tablet to his memory was restored by the authorities of the city and placed in the large church with demonstrations of public regard.

The Hon. Harmanus Bleecker, when minis- ter to The Hague, stated that there was no doubt of the descent of the family from this philosopher, and papers in possession of the family of the late Judge Peter Gansevoort, of Albany, show the fact more clearly. In 1860 his tomb at Groningen was visited by Judge Gansevoort and his son, and a few days previous to their arrival the remains had been disinterred and were lying in the cloister of the Holy Virgins, to which place they had been removed from the chapel of the Uni- versity to make room for modern improve- ments. His tomb also had been removed and was lying in pieces ready to be reerected. It was of the medieval style and surmounted by a bust of Wessel, such as was usually placed over tombs of that description. The bust was of marble, but, like that of Shake- speare at Stratford, it had been painted in different colors. It showed him to be a man of intellect and benevolence, and the inscrip- tion on the tomb was elaborate and magnilo- quent. The bones of the body were in per- fect preservation and were regarded by those in charge with great reverence, and they were reinterred with ceremony. It is a somewhat singular fact that at the time of the arrival there of Judge Gansevoort and his son, the house of their ancestor Wessel Gansevoort was being demolished to make room for a more modern building. It contained above the front door a marble slab on which was carved the same coat-of-arms as that borne by the family in America, viz .: 4 quarters, a ship and wagon.

Wesselius Gansefortius dicd October 9, 1489. 'It is said that during his last sickness he complained that through various consider- ations and reflections he felt his belief in the great truths of the Christian religion shaken, but not long before his death hic was heard to exclaim with great thankfulness, "I thank God, all these vain thoughts have gone, and I know nothing but Christ and Him cruci- fied." Such then are something of the quali- ties and characteristics of the great scholar and philosopher, who, without doubt, is the remote ancestor of the family of the Ganse- voort surname purposed to be treated in these annals. It is not known in what year the first

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Hudson-Mohawk genealogical and family memoirs, Volume I, Part 13

Author: Reynolds, Cuyler, 1866-1934, ed Publication date: 1911 Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company Number of Pages: 656

Author: Reynolds, Cuyler, 1866-1934, ed
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: New York, Lewis historical publishing company
Number of Pages: 656