USA > New York > Rensselaer County > Landmarks of Rensselaer county, New York, pt 1 > Part 25
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The name of Van Der Heyden, or Vanderheyden as it is now known, is ineffably associated with the history of Troy. The Vanderheyden family, as has been related, owned nearly all the land upon which the foundations of the modern Troy were builded, and for many years the prosperous settlement was known far and near as "Vanderheyden." The upper farm was located between the Piseawen kill and Grand Division, later Grand street. Jacob I. Vanderheyden's house, a one- story brick structure built in 1756, stood on the steep hill near the middle of the farm. The middle farm was bounded on the north by Grand street and on the south by Division street. It was on this farmi that the old homestead was located, occupying the site of the present State armory. The homestead was a two-story frame building, and was occupied at this time by Jacob Vanderheyden, who controlled the
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ferry across the Hudson at this point. The lower farm extended from Division street to the Poesten kill. The house of Matthias Vanderhey- den, a one-story brick structure, built in 1752, was about six rods south of the homestead.
The Vanderheyden family had secured the finest property within a radius of miles, and when affairs began to be settled at the close of the War of the Revolution the settlers for miles around had the fact im- pressed upon them in more ways than one. About the year 1783 em- igrants from the New England States began to arrive in considerable numbers at Vanderheyden's, as it was then known, Some of these en- deavored, in order to secure a good location, to buy or lease land of Jacob D. Vanderheyden, the owner of the middle farm and the autocrat of the ferry, but these applicants were uniformly unsuccessful. Settle- ments were made all around the farm, but for a long time the proprie- tor was absolute monarch of his fine estate. Jacob L, owner of the northern farm, was not so conservative, however, for in 1786 he leased to Benjamin Thurber, who came from Providence, R. I., and who had been unsuccessful in his repeated endeavors to negotiate for some land of Jacob D. Vanderheyden, a small lot on the west side of River street just south of Hoosick. Here Thurber established a general store, the first in that vicinity. Ile sold about everything for which he thought there would be a market, and he prospered. Captain Stephen Ashley, from Salisbury, Conn., had heard of Vanderheyden's, and he fol- lowed close upon the heels of Thurber. He, too, tried to get a foothold upon the middle farm and failed, though he finally received a concession from Matthias Vanderheyden and leased for two years his brick house, This be converted into an inn and established a ferry in competition with the proprietor of the middle farm. Though he must have seen that he could not keep competitors away, Jacob D. Vanderheyden con- tinned to refuse to sell or lease an inch of his land. Late in 1786 he turned away another Yankee, Benjamin Covell, from Providence, R. I., and the latter leased a house near Ashley's " Farmers' Inn " and Ashley's Ferry. An idea of the way he prospered, and a sufficient reason for the sudden influx of shrewd traders, may be gained from one single sentence contained in a letter which Covell wrote from his home on Ferry Hook, as that part of Rensselaerwyck was called, to his brother: " Done more business in one day than in one week in Provi- denee." It was evident from this that the number of settlers in this locality had become large enough that the occupation of the middle
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farm was a question of but a short time. One thing alone assured the development of the settlement, and that was the fact that it was located directly opposite the head of navigation in the river.
There seems to be no doubt that nothing but the obstinacy of the sturdy Dutch farmer, who occupied the best position in all this section, and was aware of the fact, prevented the earlier settlement of Troy and allowed Lansingburgh to gain an advantage to overcome which took many years. His determination finally gave way to reason, however, and early in the spring of 1787 he decided to have a portion of his farm surveyed into building lots. The work was intrusted to Flores Bancker of Lansingburgh, who completed the survey May 1, 1787 Ilis map showed 289 lots, most of which were 50 feet wide and 130 feet deep, with alleys 20 feet wide in the rear of the lots. The width of the streets was 60 feet. Benjamin Covell, who with Captain Ashley had been instrumental in inducing Vanderheyden to lay out a village, was the first man to purchase a lot. Hle selected one at once and made prepa- rations to move his store on it. It was on the west side of River street, the fourth lot south of Ferry.
A weekly newspaper-the Northern Centinel and Lansingburgh Ad- vertiser-having been established at New City, as Lansingburgh was commonly known, May 15, 1787, business at both Lansingburgh and Van- derheyden was given sudden additional impetus. Vessels sailed up to and even above the two ferries of Ashley and Vanderheyden and anchored within a few feet of the shore, the deep channel running close to the east shore at this point. In the fall of the year Dr. Samuel Gale of Killingworth, Conn., who had expected to locate at Lansingburgh but who had been unable to secure a house there, took up a temporary residence with Jacob D. Vanderheyden at the solicitation of the lat- ter. There he practiced his profession during the fall and winter and in the spring of the next year he leased of his host two lots on the west side of River street, north of Benjamin Covell's store, on which he erected a two-story double frame house. Part of this he occupied as a residence and in the other half he established a general store.
In September, 1787, Casper Frats and Yalles Mandeville established a schooner line for the transportation of freight and passengers be- tween New York and Vanderheyden's ferry. The agent of the line at the north end of the route was Abraham Van Arnam. Captain Stephen Ashley, Jonathan Hunt, Ephraim Morgan, Daniel Carpenter, Robert MeClellan, Asa Crossen and William Coit were among those who at
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this time leased lots of Vanderheyden and cither constructed resi- dences or stores or warehouses. The proprietor had no lack of appli- cations for land and Vanderheyden grew rapidly.
Many of the newcomers, indeed the large majority of them, were shrewd Yankees, and they did not like to write or pronounce what they considered an awkward Dutch name. The newcomers therefore de- cided to choose a new and more convenient name. January 5, 1789, a number of them met at Ashley's Inn, near the northeast corner of River and Ferry streets, and decided to change the name of the pros- perous hamlet to Troy. That everybody should know of their decision they decided to advertise the result of their meeting. The advertise- ment thus prepared, which was printed in the Lansingburgh and Al- bany papers, read as follows:
To the Public. - This evening the Freeholders of the place lately known by Van- der-lleyden's or Ashley's-Ferry, situate on the cast bank of Hudson's-river, abont seven miles above Albany, met for the purpose of establishing a name for the said place; when, by a majority of voices, it was confirmed, that in future, it should be called and known by the name of TROY. From its present state, and the more pleasing prospect of its popularity, arising from the natural advantages on the Mer- cantile line, it may not be too sanguine to expect, at no very distant period, to see Troy, as famous for her Trade and Navigation as many of our first towns.
Troy, 5th January, 1789. 3 w.
The Vanderheyden family fought against changing the name in the arbitrary manner employed by the progressive new settlers, and Jacob D. Vanderheyden went so far for a number of years afterward as to write it " Vanderheyden alias Troy." Nevertheless the changing of the name and the publicity which was given to the place thereby was followed at once by additions to the population which were nanticipated by the most sangnine promoters of the embryo city. Settlers, hearing of the opportunities which presented themselves at the head waters of the Hudson, came flocking in from all directions-from New England, from other parts of New York and even from Lansingburgh and Albany. New buildings were constructed on all sides and the saw mills on the Poesten kill and the Wynants kill were taxed to their utmost capacity to turn out the lumber required for the building which had been undertaken. Business of all kinds prospered. Some of the new- comers were not satisfied with wood as building material, so early in 1790 Samuel and Ebenezer Willson, two young men who had come from New Hampshire, began the manufacture of briek. They found a ready market for their product and furnished the brick used in the
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construction of the first court house and jail, besides a number of pri- vate residences. Among the others who came to Troy about this time were Colonel Abraham Ten Eyck and Colonel Albert Pawling, who had been running a general store in Lansingburgh for several years. Both were officers in the war of the Revolution. They associated with them Conrad J. Elmendorf and did business at the northwest corner of River and Congress streets .under the name of Abraham Ten Eyek & Co. Annanias Platt, a tavern keeper of Lansingburgh, began rin- ning a stage from that village to Albany early in 1989, passing through Troy and giving its inhabitants additional advantages. Abont this time Christopher Hutton, Timothy Hutton, Josiah Kellogg, Israel Knapp, Isaac Rogers, James Caldwell and Henry Oothout settled here . and began business.
March 18, 1791, the Legislature passed an act dividing several towns in various parts of the State. At this time Troy was in the town of Rensselaerwyck. The population of the little village had increased so rapidly and its business relations were developing at so great a rate that the inhabitants felt that they should enjoy self-government as far as possible. This was accomplished in a measure by the erection of the town of Troy, by the following clause in the general law referred to:
That from and after the first Monday in April next, all that part of the town of Rensselaerwyck in the county of Rensselaer, which lies north of a line to be drawn from a point on the east bank of Hudsons river, sixteen miles distant from the south- west corner of the town of Rensselaerwyck, and running from thence east, to the west bounds of the town of Petersburgh, shall be, and is hereby ereeted into a dis- tinct and separate town, by the name of Troy ; and that the first town meeting of the sauf town of Froy shall be held at the dwelling house now occupied by Stephen Ash- ley in the said town; and that the next town meeting of the town of Rensselaer- wyck, shall be helt at the dwelling house of James Me Kown in the said town.
Thus was the town of Troy founded. The political organization was indefinite. But a little over a month before Rensselaer county had been set off from Albany county. The new county government was hardly in motion when the new town of Troy sprang into existence. About this time the need for a religious organization was felt. Meet- ings had been held every Sunday for some time, for a while, in the hall over Ashley's tavern, then in the village school house. Interest in them increased and it was proposed to organize a church according to law. While many denominations participated in the services, the Presbyte- rians, mostly from New England, were in the majority and they carried
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the day in favor of a Presbyterian church. This decision was reached on the last day of the year 1791 at Ashley's tavern, when six trustees were chosen: Jacob D. Vanderheyden, himself an ardent disciple of the Dutch Reformed faith; Dr. Samuel Gale, Ephraim Morgan, John McChesney, sr., Benjamin Covell and Benjamin Gorton. August 30, 1792, the Presbyterian churches in Lansingburgh and Troy extended a call to Jonas Coe, a licentiate of the Presbytery of New York, and he became their pastor. In the same summer the erection of a wooden meeting house, forty by sixty feet, was begun on the lot on First street on the south side of Congress street, which had been given to the con- gregation by Jacob D. Vanderheyden. The contractors were Abel House, Roger Powers, Henry De Camp, John De Camp and Benjamin Smith. The work was not completed that summer on account of the scareity of funds and November 26 Jacob D. Vanderheyden was ap- pointed to receive contributions for the furtherance of the work. The structure proceeded slowly. The floor was laid in the spring of 1793, but at the ordination of Rev. Jonas Coe, June 25, boards resting on boxes and blocks formed the pews and a rough platform served as a pulpit. It was not until the next spring, March 8, 1794, that the sac- rament of the Lord's Supper was first administered in the church. The work of completing the church dragged along for years on account of the lack of funds to pay therefor. June 1, 1795, Jacob D. Vander- heyden deeded to the trustees of the church sixteen lots, including the three on which the meeting house stood. These lots embraced sub- stantially the same territory as that now known as "Seminary Park," south of Congress street between First and Second streets. Rev. Jonas Coe remained as pastor of the united congregations of Lansingburgh and Troy until January, 1804, when he resigned to become pastor of the Troy church.
" The Recorder," the first newspaper published in Troy, made its first appearance in 1791. It was a small folio, four columns to the page, and was printed by George Gardner. It was in Troy that the first paper mill in Northern New York was constructed in 1792. This mill was built by Mahlon Taylor on the west side of the Poesten kill, near which he also erected a grist mill and a saw mill. Power for all the mills was supplied from a dam which he built some three hundred feet up the stream from the grist mill. The proprietor soon found a pur. chaser for the paper mill, which he sold, December 29, 1792, to Charles R. Webster and George Webster of Albany and Ashbel Seymour and Perely Ensign of Hartford, Conn., for 400 pounds.
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A visitor to Troy in 1792, describing the appearance of the thrifty village, wrote: " There were from fifteen to twenty stores of all de- scriptions; several from two to four stories high." Among these the following proprietors were named: Ten Eyek & Pawling, on the north- west corner of River and Congress streets; Benjamin Gorton's, on the south west corner of the same streets; William Bayeau, south of Gorton ; Jonathan and Alsop Hunt, south of Bayeau; the Messrs. Knight, south of the Hunts; John Pease; Dr. Samuel Gale, on the southwest corner of River and Ferry streets; Benjamin Covell, adjoining Dr. Gale's; Asa Anthony & Son, northwest corner of River and State streets; the Merritts, north of Anthony's; Philip Heartt, on the west side of River street, between State and Albany streets; Joshua Owen's tavern, north of Heartt's; Jeremiah Pierce's tavern, northwest corner of River and Congress streets; besides several small shops. The population of Troy at that time must have been several hundred and the surrounding country must have been thickly populated to support such a number of stores and taverns. The writer continued :
Troy prospered greatly, which I always attributed to the way in which the people rightly started. They remembered the Sabbath day to keep it holy. They com- meneed public worship when there was but one man in the village who could make a prayer. The worship commenced with a prayer by Mr. Frazer, the sexton. After the prayer Mr. Van der Heyden would line out a psalm, and the New Englanders, both men and women, would all sing. After the singing, a sermon was read by Doctor Gale or Colonel Pawhng; both good readers and selectors of good sermons. The service closed as it began. Afterward we had preaching every other Sabbath statedly in the little red school house.
Speaking of Ashley's tavern the writer continued :
The most noted lavern was Stephen Ashley's, at the Babcock stand, -a place where just such a tavern was needed for the accommodation of the rivermen and the people from the country, who would naturally resort to it, being near the ferry. Mr. Ashley had two signs which were quite characteristic. On the road running from the country, on the east side of the house, he had a small gate, hanging to a strip of board, on which was printed in large letters: " This gate hangs high, it hinders none, refresh, then pay, and travel on." In front of his house was a tall sign-post on the top of which was an open three-sided box, turning on a pivot and revolving whenever the wind blew. On each side of it was lettered: " Come, here is Ashley's, let us call."
The village of Waterford and the village of Troy were incorporated by act of the Legislature on the same day, March 25, 1794. The charter adopted on that day was concise. After declaring the first trustees and the boundaries of the village of Waterford, defining the powers and duties of the village officers, etc., the act continues:
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And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That Jacob D. Vanderhey- den, Benjamin Covil, Anthony Goodspeed, John Pease, Ephraim Morgan, Christo- pher Hurton and Samuel Gale, shall be and they are hereby declared to be the first trustees for the freeholders and inhabitants of that part of the town of Troy m the county of Rensselaer residing within the limits following vizt. beginning on the north side of a certain creek called Poesten creek where there were formerly a saw mill fifty eight chains from Hudsons river, and runs from thence down along the said creek to the said river, thenee np along the sand river to a small ereek called the Meadow creek, thence along the said creek into the woods, south seventy degrees easterly forty chains, thence south twenty-three degrees and thirty minutes westerly, along the west side of the land of the late Albert Bratt one hundred and six chains to the place of beginning. The above courses to be run as the magnetic needle pointed in the year one thousand seven hundred and twenty. And shall continue to be trustees as aforesaid, until the first Tuesday in May next, and until others shall be chosen in their place, and it shall and may be lawful to and for the freeholders and inhabitants for the time being, residing within the village of Troy, within the boundaries aforesaid, and qualified by law to vote at town meetings, to assemble on the second Tuesday of May next and annually on the second Tuesday of May there- after at such place, and at such time of the day, as the trustees for the time being, or the major part of them, shall by public advertisement appoint and under the direction of the said trustees or such of them as shall be present, who are hereby made inspectors of such election, then and there by a majority of voices to elect seven inhabitants being freeholders to be trustees as aforesaid, who shall continue in office until the second Tuesday in May in the next ensuing year and until others shall be chosen in their place.
And be it further enacted, by the anthority aforesaid, That the inhabitants resid- ing withing the said last mentioned boundaries, and the sand trustees last above- mentioned and their successors, shall and they are hereby fully vested with all and singular the powers and authorities, to all intents constructions and purposes with respect to the village of Troy as is or are intended to be given by this act to the in- habitants and trustees of Waterford.
Waterford was therefore apparently the more important village of the two in the eyes of the Legislature of 1794.
Among the distinguished men who made Troy their temporary home about this time was Frederic Seraphin, Marquis de la Tour du Pin Gouvernet, a French refugee, who was accompanied by his wife, the marchioness. He was a loyalist and a distinguished soldier in the French army, but was compelled to flee from his native land soon after the breaking out of the historical Reign of Terror. He sailed for America under the name of Charles Lee, his wife making the journey in another vessel in order to throw the French spies off their track. Soon after reaching New York they came to Troy bearing letters of introduction to Mrs. John Bird, who afterward became the wife of Colonel Albert Pawling. They lived very quietly, at their own re-
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quest. The marquis rented the tavern on River street which later on was known as Mechanics' Hall. Their only visitors were Mr and Mrs. Bird. Soon after the arrival of the marquis the nephew of the Comte de Rochambeau, likewise a refugee, arrived in America for the same reasons which induced the marquis to leave France, and came to Troy. The couple were frequently seen together walking into the country, and once entertained Prince Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Perigord, the famous French statesman and diplomat, who, while French envoy to England in 1994, was compelled to leave that country for political reasons. Other proscribed French loyalists visited Troy at intervals during the following two or three years. The straitened financial cir- cumstances of the Marquis compelled him to economize so much that he finally left Troy to take up a small farm three miles southwest of the village in Albany county, which he cultivated, selling the produce in Troy and Albany. Upon the close of the French Revolution he re- turned to his native country where he again became a political power.
In his " Reminiscences of Troy " Hon. John Woodworth writes:
There was at that early day, and what has distinguished Troy in all its progress, and was so conducive to its prosperity, a concert of action ; -- a concentration of sen- timent, and united efforts on all questions relating to the interest of the village. To all these, political questions held a secondary place; there was also a large propor- tion of practical business men of good sense and industrious habits, well-fitted for the positions in which they were placed; capital in a short time became abundant, although but little at the commencement; the rapid acquisition of wealth by regular business soon furnished an ample supply.
Speaking on some of the early inhabitants he said :
Colonel Albert Pawling . claims particular notice. He was one of the earliest inhabitants; he had been well educated at an academy in Kingston ; when quite a young man, he joined as an officer the army under General Montgomery, was engaged in the disastrous battle before Quebee's beleaguered walls, on the memora- ble night of December 31. 1225. I never knew a man having higher notions of honor and integrity. Colonel Pawling was always among the foremost in promoting the interests of the village; untiring in his exertions to procure funds to build the court-house; liberal in contributions to creet the First Presbyterian church for the settlement of a pastor, and always the advocate of a high standard of morals.
Moses Vail, who removed to Troy from Nassau about 1793 of 1794, erected a flouring mill on the Poesten kill in 1791, between Mount Ida falls and the mills of Mahlon Taylor. Previous to moving to Troy he had been State Senator four years. In 1800 he was appointed sheriff. One of his sons, George Vail, was president of the Merchants' and
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Mechanics' bank ; and another son, Henry Vail, was a representative in Congress.
The second church founded in Troy was of the Baptist denomina- tion. In response to a request from a number of residents of the Bap- tist persuasion Elder Elias Lee, who had been preaching in Albany, began preaching Sunday afternoons to small congregations in Troy. As the interest in these meetings increased regular services were held in the court house. October 15, 1795, the Baptist residents organized " The First Particular Baptist Church in the Village of Troy." Jan- uary 30, 1796, Jacob D. Vanderheyden sold to the society, for five shillings, a lot on the east side of Third street, between Congress and State streets, for a meeting house and burial ground. The first regul- lar pastor was Rev. Isaac Webb, who was chosen in 1803. In the fol- lowing year, on January 10, Adam Keeling, Edward Tylee, Silas Covell, Ebenezer Jones and Noble S. Johnson were elected trustees. In the same year the church was added to the Shaftsbury Baptist asso- ciation. In 1805 the first church edifice, a small frame building, was erected.
Up to the year 1796 letters addressed to the inhabitants of Troy were delivered at the Lansingburgh post-office, which had been established four years before. In 1796 Troy became a government post village by order of the postmaster-general and Nathan Williams was appointed the first postmaster. Mr. Williams, at the time of his appointment a student in the law office of Hon. John Woodworth, subsequently re- moved to Utica where he became a Supreme Court Circuit Judge.
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