USA > New York > Long Island historic homes, ancient and modern : including a history of their founders and builders > Part 5
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ter of Samuel Blake, of Boston, Jan. 31, 1762. His first wife died Oct. 19, 1759. His children by her were:
I. Rufus King, born 1755, died April 29, 1829.
II. Mary King, born 1757, married Dr. Robert Southgate.
III. Paulina King, married Dr. Aaron Porter.
By his second wife he had:
I. Richard King.
II. Dorcas King.
III. William King, the first Governor of the State of Maine. IV. Elizabeth King.
V. Cyrus King.
R_ F_S
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hon. Rufus King, eldest child of Richard and Isabella ( Bragdon) King, was born in Scarborough, Maine, March 24, 1755. After completing a preparatory course of studies at Byfield Academy, he entered Harvard College and graduated with much distinction in 1777. He then pursued the study of law in Newburyport, Mass., under the direction of Theophilus Parsons, afterwards Chief Justice of Massachusetts. In 1778 he was attached to the expedition of Governor Sullivan to take Rhode Island, and from this time forward he was actively engaged in the service of his country. The follow- ing is the official record of his military service:
" GENERAL ORDERS.
5 Sept., 1778.
Majors King and Newall having served as volunteers to Gen. Glover in the Expedition against R. Island, and having merited the approbation of Gen. Glover, the Commander-in-Chief (Gen. Sulli- van) dismisses them with his thanks for their faithful service."
Mr. King was a member of the General Court of Massachusetts in 1783. Here he was active in the discussion of public measures and especially in carrying, against powerful opposition, the assent of the Legislature to grant the five per cent. impost to the Congress of the Confederation. In 1784, by an almost unanimous vote of the Legislature, Mr. King was sent as a delegate to the old ·Congress sit- ting at Trenton, and again in 1785 and 1786. In this body, in 1785, he moved that "there should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the States described in the resolution of Congress in April, 1784, otherwise than in punishment of crime whereof the party shall have been personally guilty, and this regulation shall be an article of compact, and remain a fundamental principle of the Constitution between the original States and each of the States
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named in the said resolve." Though this was not at the time acted upon, the principle was finally adopted, almost word for word, in the famous ordinance of 1787 for the government of the Northwest- ern Territory, a provision which had been prepared by Mr. King, and which was introduced into Congress by Nathan Dane, his col- league, while Mr. King was engaged in Philadelphia, a member from Massachusetts of the Convention to form a Constitution for the United States. He was also appointed by his State one of the Com- missioners to settle the boundaries between Massachusetts and New York, and to convey to the United States lands lving west of the Alleghanies.
In 1787 he was appointed one of the delegates from his own State to the Convention at Philadelphia to establish a more stable government for the United States. He was one of the members to whom was assigned the duty of making a final draft of the Constitu- tion of the United States. When the question of its adoption was submitted to the States, Mr. King was sent to the Massachusetts Convention and worked diligently in behalf of the measure. His familiarity with its provisions, his clear explanation of them, and his eloquent and carnest statement of its advantages contributed greatly to bring about its final adoption.
His marriage to Mary Alsop, in 1786, made an entire change in his life and he soon after removed to New York city. She was a lady of remarkable beauty, of gracious manners and well cultivated mind, and adorned the highest stations, both in England and at home, that her husband's official position and their own social rela - tions entitled them to occupy. After their marriage they resided with her father, Mr. John Alsop, at the corner of Maiden Lane and William Street, and mingled in the best society of the metropolis.
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The diary of President Washington at this time makes frequent mention of the young couple, who were constant visitors at the Presidential mansion.
Mr. King was described at this time as the most eloquent man in the United States, "but so modest that he appeared ignorant of his own worth."
In 1789 Mr. King was chosen to the State Legislature, where "he received the unexampled welcome of an immediate election, with Gen. Schuyler, to the Senate of the United States." One of the grave questions that arose in the Senate at this time was that of the ratification of the Jay treaty with Great Britain in 1794. Of this he was an earnest advocate, and when he and his friend, Gen. Hamilton, were prevented from explaining its provisions to the peo- ple in public meeting in New York, they united in publishing, under the signature of "Camillus," a series of explanatory papers, of which those relating to mercantile affairs and maritime law were written by Mr. King. This careful study laid the foundation of much of the readiness and ability that he manifested during his residence in Eng- land as Minister Plenipotentiary, to which post, while serving his second term in the Senate, he was appointed by President Washing- ton in 1796, and which he continued during the administration of John Adams and two years of that of Thomas Jefferson, until 1804. During his term of office he secured many important modifica- tions of the commercial relations between the two countries, and having won the confidence of the British Government by his intelli- gent, courteous and firm presentation of the matters under discussion, claimed and obtained for his country the respect accorded to it as one of the important powers of the world.
In 1804 he returned to New York, and firm in the conviction
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at this time that his public life was completed, he purchased a farm at Jamaica, L. I., where he expected to obtain that needed rest which he hoped now to enjoy. He spent a few years in the cultivation of , in hunting, fishing and other means of recreation.
In 1813 he was again elected to the Senate by a Legislature that was opposed to him in politics, as before. He was nominated for the office of Governor of New York, an also for the Presidency of the United States in opposition to James Monroc. In the Senate he continued his efforts to put an end to slavery and prevent its exten- sion into newly admitted States. His fourth term in the Senate ex- pired in 1825, when he took leave of that body and, as he hoped, of public life, in which for forty years he had been engaged, but he was prevailed upon by President John Quincy Adams to accept the post of Minister to Great Britain, but after a year's service his health failed him and he returned home. He died April 29, 1827. His wife, Mary Alsop, to whom he was married March 31, 1786, was the only child of John Alsop (2), son of John Alsop (1), son of Richard Alsop, of Newtown, L. I.
This old, distinguished family, which in the carly part of the last century was known almost throughout the world, has entirely disap- peared from Long Island, except through the intermarriage of the female line with some of the old Long Island families. The old homestead was destroyed many years ago and the only reminder of their past history is the little burial plot which adjoins the Catholic cemetery in Newtown.
The Alsopp family is one of the oldest in England and was set- tled in County Derby about the time of the Conquest, and contin- ued in an uninterrupted descent for nineteen or twenty generations.
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One Hugh de Alsopp went with King Richard 1. to the Holy Land, and the King, for his good services in the conquest of Acre, bestowed upon him the order of Knighthood, and for the further augmentation of his honor gave him an escutcheon described as:
Arms-Argent a fesse gules between six falcons' heads erased sable armed.
This Hugh went as captain of a company under the conduct of Sir Ralph de Lydeburn, who was a colonel of four companies which Sir Ralph (in recompense for his services to him done) upon his return gave unto him his only niece (by his sister, the daughter of Roger de Farrington ) together with certain lands in the county of Derby. The coat armor used by this family for many generations is described as :
Arms-Sable three plovers sable rising argent legged and beaked gules.
Crest-A plover with wings expanded or, beaked and legged gules holding in the beak a gold ear of wheat of the first.
Motto-Festina lente [Hasten slowly].
Some distinguished persons of the name of Alsop lived in the seventeenth century, and among them several Episcopal divines who were cjected from their cures under the act of uniformity. Of a period somewhat earlier was Richard Alsop, Lord Mayor of London, 1592. A namesake of the latter, and perhaps a descend- ant, Richard Alsop, was the originator of the Newtown, L. I., family, who was induced by his uncle, Thomas Wandell, to locate at New- town. Mr. Wandell, according to a tradition in the Alsop family, had been a Major in Cromwell's army, but having some dispute with the Protector was obliged to flee for safety, first to Holland, thence to America.
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Mr. Wandell married the widow of William Herrick, whose plantation on Newtown Creek (originally patented to Richard Brut- nell) he bought in 1659, afterwards adding to it fifty acres for which Richard Colfax had obtained a patent in 1652. On this property, since comprising the Alsop farm, Mr. Wandell resided. He was se- lected, in 1665, as one of the jury for the trial of Ralph Hall and his wife for witchcraft (the only trial for witching in the colony), and shared the honor of acquitting the accused. Some years later he made a voyage to England, returning by way of Barbadoes, and, it is supposed, brought with him from England his sister's son, Rich- ard Alsop, who about this time came to America and was adopted by Mr. Wandell as his heir, he having no issue. He died in 1691 and was interred on the hill occupied by the Alsop cemetery. Many years after his death the silver plate of his coffin was discovered in digging a new grave.
Richard Alsop, while vet under age, received a commission in the Newtown troop of horse. Inheriting the estate of his uncle, Wandell, he continued to reside upon it during life. He died Octo- ber, 1718, aged about 58, but his widow Hannah, who, tradition says, was a Dutch lady whom he courted through an interpreter, at- tained her 91st year, and died Aug. 23, 1757. Their children were Thomas, Richard, fobn, Hanna, married Joseph Sackett, Deborah, married Capt. John S. Sepkins and, second, Nathaniel Hazard, Amy, married Jonathan Wright, Elizabeth, Thomas McIntosh, and Susanna, married N. Lawrence.
John Alsop (1), son of Richard, was born about 1693. He adopted the profession of law and located at New Windsor, in Or- ange County, N. Y., but afterwards returned to New York city and was admitted freeman there in 1749, and there continued his legal
LONG ISLAND HISTORIC HOMES.
practice during life. Of their two daughters, Euphemia and Frances, the first married Thomas Sherman and the latter died single. Their two sons, John and Richard, were bred as merchants and were suc- cessfully engaged in the cloth and dry goods business. John ( 1) was for several years a member of Trinity Church and died Nov. 22, 1794. He married, December, 1718, Abigail, daughter of Joseph Sackett, one of the founders of Newtown, son of Simcon Sackett, the ancestor.
John Alsop (2), son of John (1) and Abigail (Sackett) Alsop, was born about 1731. He was brought up as a merchant and was for a time in business for himself, as shown by an agreement entered into by the principal merchants of New York in December, 1755, "not to receive Copper Halfpennies otherwise than fourteen for a shilling. About this time the two brothers, Richard and John, en- gaged in business together, under the firm of John and Richard Alsop, and were for some time engaged in the importation of dry goods. Their partnership was dissolved on the 30th of September, 1757. Richard removed to Middletown, Conn., and John con- tinued the business in his own name. He soon reached the first rank among the merchants of New York. During the period which preceded and followed the passage of the Stamp Act-1765, 1766- he was active with his fellow merchants in measures of resistance to the oppressive laws of the British Parliament, and in May, 1768, was chosen to read the acknowledgement of the merchants of the resolu- tion adopted by the Assembly thanking them for their faithful ob- servance of the Non-Importation Agreement. He was then a mem- ber of the Chamber of Commerce, which he had aided in founding the year before. In 1770 he was one of the Committee of Inspec- tion to enforce the agreements which were still continued. When
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the news of the passage of the Boston Port Bill reached New York, May, 1774, and a Committee of Correspondence was raised to con- cert measures of resistance, John Alsop was the first named of the fifty-one members, and on the organization of the committee was chosen chairman. In the summer of the same year he was elected one of the New York delegates to the first Continental Congress. In May, 1775, he was one of the Committee of One Hundred, chosen by the citizens to take charge of the Government till a con- vention could be assembled; the following year he was re-elected to Congress. On the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, and its immediate ratification by the Provincial Convention of New York, Mr. Alsop resigned his seat. In a letter to the Convention he expressed surprise and indignation at the slight put upon the New York delegation in leaving it without instructions on this point, al- though such instructions had been repeatedly sought for, and disappro- bation as to the course of Congress in closing the door against recon- ciliation with Great Britain. Withdrawing to Middletown, Conn., where his brother's family was settled, he resided there until the close of the war. On his return to the city, in 1784, he renewed his con- nection with the Chamber of Commerce, and was one of the peti- tioners for a confirmation of the Charter from the State in April of that year. On the reorganization of the Chamber he was the unan- imous choice of his fellow merchants for the Presidency of the Chamber, a high tribute, from men who had not always agreed with him in opinions, to the integrity of his character and the fidelity of his attachment to his native land. In 1785 he declined a re-election owing to his failing health and advanced years, and he gradually withdrew from business, in which he had been largely engaged, as well as in underwriting, from which he reaped large profits.
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Mr. Alsop was for many years a vestryman of Trinity Church, President of the Society of the New York Hospital from 1770 to 1784, and also served as Governor from 1784 to 1788. He was one of the incorporators of the Hospital.
Mr. Alsop married, June 8, 1766, Mary Frogatt, who died on the 14th of April, 1772, at the early age of 28 years, leaving to his care an only child, Mary, who was married March 30th, 1786, to Hon. Rufus King.
The children of Hon. Rufus and Mary (Alsop) King were:
I. JOHN ALSOP KING (see record ).
Il. Charles King, LL. D., President of Columbia College, born March 16, 1789, married March 17, 1810, Eliza Gracie, daughter of Archibald Gracie and Esther Rogers; married 2nd, Henrietta Low.
IH. Caroline King, born May 3, 1790; died early.
IV. James Gore King, born May 8, 1791.
V. Henry King, born July 1, 1792; died early.
VI. Edward King, born March 13, 1795; died Feb. 6, 1836; married Sarah Worthington.
VII. Frederick Gore King, M. D., born February 6, 1802; married May 12, 1825, Emily Post, daughter of Wright Post, M. D.
GOVERNOR JOHN ALSOP KING, eldest child of Hon. Rufus and Mary (Alsop) King, was born January 3, 1788; died in Jamaica, 1. 1., July 7, 1867. He was, with his brother Charles, placed at school at Harrow during his father's residence in England. Thence he went to Paris to complete his general course of study. Returning to New York, he studied law and was admitted to the bar. In 1812, when the war with Great Britain was declared, he gave his services to the country, and was later a lieutenant of cavalry, sta-
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tioned in New York. Soon after the war he removed to Jamaica, L. I., and purchasing a farm near that of his father, engaged for some years in agricultural pursuits. He engaged prominently in public affairs, and in 1819 was elected to the New York Legislature and for several subsequent years, and, with his brother Charles, opposed many of the schemes of DeWitt Clinton. He was, however, friendly to the canal, and was chosen to the State Senate after the adoption of the new Constitution. From this he resigned in order that he might, as Secretary of Legation, accompany his father on his mission to Great Britain. The failure of his father's health obliged him to return, and the son remained as Charge d' Affairs until the arrival of a new Minister. Returning home to his residence in Jamaica, he was again in 1838 sent to the Legislature, and in 1849 took his seat as a representative in Congress, having been elected as a Whig. Hc strenuously resisted the compromise measures, especially the fugitive slave law, and advocated the admission of California as a free State. He was an active member of several Whig nominating conventions; presided over that at Syracuse, N. Y., in 1855, when the Republican party was formed, and in 1856, in the convention at Philadelphia, warmly advocated the nomination of Gen. Fremont. He was elected Governor of the State of New York in 1856, entered on the duties of the office January 1, 1857, and especially interested himself in internal improvements and popular education. On the expiration of his term he declined a renomination, on account of increasing age, and returned to private life, from which he only emerged at the call of Governor Morgan to become a member of the Peace Convention of 1861.
After his father's death in 1827 he purchased of his brother the old Manor House at Jamaica, where he continued to reside until his
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death. He gave much of his time to agriculture, both as a practical and scientific pursuit, laboring earnestly in the Queens County Agri- cultural Society, of which he was one of the founders and often President. He was one of the founders and afterwards President of the New York State Agricultural Society, from whose meetings he was rarely absent; he was one of the founders and Vice-President of the United States Agricultural Society at Ovid, which was afterwards transferred to Cornell University. He was deeply interested in the prosperity of Jamaica, and especially in the educational and religious institutions, in advancing which he spent much time and thought as well as money. He greatly improved the old homestead, and some of the most beautiful and thriving trees on the place were set out by him. He entertained largely, and men of national reputation were frequently at his home. He was a prominent member of the Protestant Episcopal Church and a frequent attendant at its diocesan conventions.
He was much interested in the welfare of the young and rising generation, and while addressing the young men of Jamaica, on the Fourth of July, 1867, and commending the flag to their care, tell- ing them in warm and heartfelt words that their aim should ever be the service of their country and their God, he was seized with a sud- den faintness, and sinking paralyzed into the arms of his friends he was carried to his home, and three days after this he died peacefully, surrounded by his family and friends.
He married, January 3, 1810, Mary, daughter of Cornelius and Elizabeth Elmendorf Ray, by whom he had three sons and four daughters, viz. :
I. Mary King, married November 16, 1836, Phineas Miller Nightingale.
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II. Charles Ray King, married Dec. 12, 1839, Hannah Fisher: she died 1871; married 2nd, Nancy Fisher.
III. Elizabeth Ray King, married Aug. 22, 1833, Brig. Gen. Henry Van Rensselaer.
IV. John Alsop King ( 2), married Feb. 21, 1839, Mary Colden Rhinelander.
V. Caroline King, married Sept. 7, 1843, James Gore King ( 2).
VI. Richard King (2), married Dec. 12, 1839, Elizabeth Lewis, daughter of Mordica Lewis.
VII. Cornelius King, died Nov. 27, 1896.
VIII. Ellen King, died 1827.
THE KING HOMESTEAD AT GREAT NECK, L. 1.
Extract from a paper read by the Very Rev. Eugene A. Hoffman before the New York Historical Society, February 5, 1901.]
"John Alsop King, Jr., second son of Governor John Alsop King and Mary Rav, his wife, was born at Jamaica, L. I., July 14, 1817. His early years were passed at Jamaica, where he was educated at the Union Hall Academy, the classical school of Dr. Louis E. A. Eigen- brodt. At the early age of fifteen he entered Harvard College in the sophomore class, and was graduated with much credit. For a short time afterward he was a clerk in the house of Ebenezer Stevens, but, disliking the business, he took up the study of law, and was admitted
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to the Bar of New York and practiced his profession for several years.
" After his marriage, in 1839, he went to Europe and spent some years in travel there, and subsequently made frequent visits there. His last journey extended to Egypt, where he and his family re- mained for a winter.
"In 1854 he bought a beautiful point of land on Long Island Sound, part of the Hewlet Point property, where he built his fine mansion and made his home there for the remainder of his life. His tastes led him to become a member of the agricultural societies of Queens County, and he took an active part in their proceedings, as well as a deep interest in all the affairs of the neighborhood, both political and religious. Here, as elsewhere, his genial disposition and courteous manners won for him the esteem of those with whom he was brought in contact.
"The Republican pary of that day was guided by the principles which he had inherited, and he became interested in promoting them. His first public appointment was as Presidential Elector in 1872; this was followed by an election to the State Senate, in which he served during the years 1874-1875. He was a zealous supporter and defender of the Erie canal, and of the Constitutional Amend- ments which brought about many reforms in the State government. With the aid of the members of the First District, he succeeded in securing the repeal of the infamous act of 1868, by which, unknown to the owners, the salt meadow water fronts of Staten and Long Islands had been sold for a trifling sum to a land company. For his services in securing the passage of the act establishing the Court of Arbitration he received a vote of thanks from the New York Cham- ber of Commerce. In the year 1876 he was nominated in his dis- trict for the office of Representative in the National Congress, but
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was defeated, as he was also in 1880, the district being strongly Democratic.
"In 1881 Mr. King was appointed, by Governor Cornell, the Commissioner for the State of New York, to receive and extend the courtesies and hospitalities of the State to the delegation from France and the other foreign guests invited by the United States to take part at Yorktown in the centennial celebration. Both duties were faithfully performed.
" From that time, though still interested in the welfare of his party, he was no longer prominent in politics, but devoted himself to other pursuits for which he had long felt a deep concern. These were chiefly in connection with the church in which he was brought up, and which was that of his affections, the Protestant Episcopal Church. His desire to promote its interests and to do good in his generation was shown by his connecting himself with Zion Church at Little Neck, L. I., of which he was for many years a warden, and afterwards by his materially aiding in building the Church of All Saints at Great Neck, of which he was every year elected a warden up to the close of his life. He was a delegate to the Diocesan Con- vention of New York, from Grace Church, Jamaica, from 1850 to 1866, and, after the division of the Diocese of New York, a delegate to the Long Island Diocesan Convention, from Zion Church, Little Neck, from 1863 to 1887, and from All Saints' Church, Great Neck, from 1888 to the date of his death. During all these years he was a member of important committees of the Diocesan Conventions and was always present at their meetings, except when absent from the country. He was a Trustee of the Fund for Aged and Infirm Cler- gymen from the year 1869, and a Trustee of the General Theological Seminary from the year 1872. Both these offices, as well as those of
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