USA > New York > New York City > Old New York : a journal relating to the history and antiquities of New York City, Vol. I > Part 17
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10th. Morning-went to Darell and got him to consent to take back the Book of Martyrs. in place of which I pick'd out the following
Cullen's practice 2 vols. Brown's Elements, Beattie's Ele- ment, of Moral Science. 2 vols. Belknap's American Biogra- phy, Paley's Philosophy The Mirror 2 vols-& American Re- pository or Pocket Almanae .- amounting to £5. 2. I lost a Lecture by this business. Mr. Banks drank tea with us. Even- ing-stopp'd in a few minutes at a Book Quetion. Got a plate of type-metal from G. Yonle & began another cut for Cressin.
* Judah and Sampson Myers were workers in copper at 106 Pearl street.
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Mr. Banks staid 'till past 10 & gave a lengthy detail of his court- ships and the exploits of his younger days.
11th. After-noon-finish'd Birdsall's plate-got a proof at Burger's." Dr. Young went out and prescribed. I call'd upon Birdsall and got No. 1 of the Life of Christ for which I am a subscriber. Found Grand-mama at my Father's when I came home.
12th. Morning-wronght at Cressin's cut. Deliver'd Birdsall's plate. After-noon-Bought a case & 2 lancets for 26/. Made use of one of them in bleeding Irish Poll, (the girl who formerly serv'd at the Dr's.) She fainted under the operation, so as to give ine some trouble in binding up her arm. Mrs. Pryer's indecent talk.
13th. It snow'd & rain'd during most of the day. I wronght at Cressin's plate. Was determin'd to try whether Raisins would prove laxative. of which I much stand in need. I eat about 1b1, which cost me 9d.
14th. Finishi'd Cres-in's cut. Went to the Library and got a vol. of the British Classics. Paid 10d fine on Lewis's Commerce of' Arts and other books. Finishi'd B ents of houses for Bunce's paper. Copied from the Amanitat. Academ. Bought Ih1 of hair powder for 15d. Got 6d for collecting an aect. of my Father's. Sketch'd the design for the College Library-plate.
15th. Sunday-At 10 I cross'd over to Brooklyn with some more Chalyheute wine. About 12 embark'd again and after an hour's uncomfortable passage+ reach'd home. where I din'd. Was at St. Paul's church. Heard a stranger-Rom, viii, 34. " It is Christ that died." Read Moral Philosophy in Beattie's Elements of Moral Seine . and part of Pope's Essay on Man. Mr. & Mrs. Hlerttell were at my Father's in the evening.
16th. Began to etch the college-plate. Copied much of my Journal, and pasted copies of my type-engravings in my work.
17th. This morning I fiddled up the rest of the family. Went
" John Burger. jr., a copper-plate printer.
{ The ferries were then very slow and uncomfortable, particularly in winter. Horse boats began to be used abont this time, or boats in which horses, by step- ping on a treadmill, gave motion to machinery which drove the vessel for- ward. Brooklyn at this time had only a few hundred inhabitants.
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over to Brooklyn and found my Aunt in a drooping condition. Receiv'd 4 from Mama for medicines & ferriage expenses. Read Bell's Surgery during the chief part of the After-noon & evening.
1Stlı. This day began with warm, reviving weather. I bled Mrs. Thorne. Call'd in at Tanner's on my way to Chem. Lecture. Purchas'd aq. fort. for 4/ and applied some to my plate. Call'd at Jones's and saw Cressin, who wishes me to alter the last plate. Mr. Rivington # sent for me, to agree on engraving some plates. I Drank tea at my Father's with T. Herttell & Mrs. P. Youle. Drew a design of another plate for Cressin, & learnt part of a tune from Mr. MeIntosh. Evening, rainy. About S I left the design at Jones's.
19th. Engrav'd a Quadrant for Ad. Hicks & receiv'd 1 ;. Undertook to engrave 9 copper-plates for Mr. Rivington at 40/ each. for a book of Fairy Tales. Stopp'd in at a book anction for a few minutes. Got home about 9 & read Beattie's Ele- ments.
#James Rivington, who previous to the Revolutionary War published Rivington's New York Gazetteer, or the Connecticut, New Jersey, Hudson's River, and Quebec Weekly Advertiser, but was now simply a bookseller and stationer. at 156 Pearl street. He was the grandson of Charles Rivington. the eminent publisher, and the son of Charles Rivington, a printer and publisher. The second Charles left two sons. John and James, John continued the business in England. while James, after making a fortune by publishing Smollett's History of England, and running through it shortly after, came to America. HIe first set up as a bookseller in Philadelphia, the next year opening a place at the lower end of Wall street. In 1762 he began his paper. As was natural. he advocated British interests when the taxation by England was talked about. His pen was vigorous, and in 1775 seventy-five of the Connecticut Whigs came down to this city and destroyed his office, using his type afterwards for bullets. lle returned to England, bought new type, and on his return published the Royal Gazette. which was incontestably the principal paper on the British side during the war. It is also said that at the same time he was a spy for General Washington. Certain it is that the Americans were very soon informed of what the British intended to do. When the war ended, he endeavored to continue his newspaper. with a changed title, but the attempt was unsuccessful, and he soon abandoned it. His business as a bookseller and stationer was however continued, and for a time he was also a tobaeconist. He failed some few years after peace was declared, but still continued in business. He died in 1802, leaving children. One of the best known journalists in the city is descended from him.
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20th. Went to Myer's and bespoke the plates for Rivington's work, to do two on each plate. Saw Cressin at Jones's and receiv'd 4 Dollars. Mr. Mabie invited my brother to be a spec- tator at the Dancing School this evening. I read in Bell and Beattie. Got a piece solder'd in Cressin's last cut, and in the evening gave Coco a new face. his master being highly displeas'd with the other. Theo. Nixon drank tea at the Dr's. I made 4 pots of Dietet. Decoction.
21st. At 9, attended Dr. Mitchell's Concluding Lecture. Finish'd the college-plate; took it to Towt and got a proof. Spent 15d for Pumice-stone. The room at the Dr's, being under the operation of cleaning I retreated to the kitchen and read. T. Herttell is beginning with a common-place book. We drank tea after 7 o'clock.
224. Sunday -- Fore-noon, at Church-Joel ii. 12, 13. Din'd at my Father's, with Mrs. Setterfield. Afterwards went to the Dr's, but perceiving dinner on the table continu'd my walk round Corler's hook. Return'd by the ship-yards. Receiv'd much pleasure from this solitary walk. Read in Beattie during the remainder of the after-noon.
23d. Got a copperplate from Myer's. Left the College-plate with Burger for an impression. After dinner, got the stamp from Smith, who has made a new surface to it. Paid him 1 ;. Began to eut it for the Negro. Jones sent for me. Cressin wants an addition to his cut. Went to Gilfert's Musical Magazine and engaged to engrave letters for the title of a piece of music. for 12/. Left some type-metal at G. Youle's for a plate. I dunn'd Birdsall. Bought a pair of shoes for 13/. Came home at S & finish'd the stamp. Mr. & Mrs. Bates spent part of the evening with us.
24th. Scour'd a copper-plate. Began Gilfert's plate. The Negro paid 7/ for the stamp. Call'd at my Father's in the fore- noon. Grand-mama was there, from Brooklyn. Call'd at old Mr. Pierce's in Chatham St. to look at his old violin. No sooner had I struck a note than his wife denoune'd the Music as leading to the Devil. I went again in the evening and brought it away with me. promising to return it in the morning or pay 5 Dollars for it. I was so much pleased with the tone of it that I put it in
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Mr. Claus's " hands to varnish and repair. Montgomery Hunt & John Ferguson spent part of the evening at my Father's. My brother & I gave them some tunes on the violin.
25th. Finish'd Gilfert's plate & delivered to him after getting a proof at Burger's. Received 12/. Got 4 impressions of the College-plate and left it with Dr. Johnson. Paid Pierce 5 Dollars for the violin, and G. Youle 17/5 for typemetal plates. Receiv'd 13/ of my Father for old cloaths. Finishi'd reading Bell's Surgery. Received £3. 4 of Birdsall & Menut. Saw 3 beautiful Horses exhibited to public view before the coffee-house. Evening -- finish'd copying Flor. Econ. at home.
26th. Spent about 2 hours at the Library. Took out Zimmer- man's Survey of Europe. Call'd at Scoles's. He found much fanlt with my engraving Gilfert's plate so cheap. I took the brass stamps which I did for him some thne ago to alter them. They were return'd on his hands. Went to the Wharf opposite the Navy Yard and saw J. Grozart, on board the Brig Neptune. Hle has been absent near 2 years, and was at Baltimore, Hamburg. some part of France. London, Boston, Philadelphia, then to the southward, from whence they return'd with timber for the frigate. His station was 2d mate. I mentioned to Dr. Young my inten- tion of leaving him next month, and applying for a license. Refus'd his offer of Partnership. After 8 in the evening I varnish'd a copper-plate.
27th. A snowstorm throughout the day. This morning finish'd Cressin's plate. At + in the after-noon I call'd upon Dr. Mitchell, who wishes me to sketch a representation of the male & female canker-worm from some of the insects which he delivered to me. Began to etch one of Rivington's plates. I was coming home about 9 in the evening when I was stopp'd by a fellow with a small musquet. who plac'd himself in my way without saying a word. I sprang from him and ran to the other side of the street. Ile made off on the appearance of another man, who told me he had manauvred in the same manner with him.
28th. A snow & hail storm. I staid in the house 'till between 3 & 4 in the after-noon, by which time I had finish'd the 1st of
* Christian Clause, musical instrument maker, 4 Dover street.
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Rivington's engravings. Came home about 8 in the evening, not without a good companion, my club.
29th. Sunday. The sun rose very pleasant this morning, melt- ing the snow. Bad walking was the consequence. At Church. Mr. Bisset preach'd, Job v., 6, 7. He looked as if he had experi- ene'd the truth of his text. After dinner went to the Doctors. Met Tho. Rose (quite buckish). Dr. Mitchell was there in the evening. Ile detail'd the Indian tradition of a Deluge & the formation of Lake Superior. Propos'd that I should make one of a party to explore the Cutskill mountain next summer.
30th. Began the 2d engraving for Rivington on the same plate with the first. Paid Myers + Dollars for the + plates of copper. Found 6d in the street. Got a copy of the Looking-glass from Durell. When I came home J. Ferguson was there, Mama was relating some incidents of the war.
31st. I pumie'd a copper-plate. The weather being rainy. I staid 'till 10 and finish'd etebing Rivington's 2d plate. Paid Myers 3/6 for another small copper plate. Paid the Taylor 2 6 for repairs to my coat. Receiv'd 12 Dollars from Cressin. After- noon. left Rivington's plate at Burger's. Drew a sketch of the canker-worm. Made some shoe-blacking. Capt. Stuart staid 'till near 11 O'clock at my Father's. I varnish'd a plate.
RAPELJE'S BOYHOOD.
I was born on the 9th of Angust. 1771, in a three story brick house, on the north side of Liberty street. at that time called Crown street : the house was a few doors from the corner of William street. My father's name was Rem Rapelje, and at that time. before business was so distinctly divided as it now is, Was a ship owner, dealt in general merchandise, and kept a store in Maiden lane, directly in rear of his dwelling house. le was a native of Brooklyn, Long Island. He lost his father when a child. and his mother having contracted a second marriage. he felt all the chilling influence of a stepfather, and sought for
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friendly aid elsewhere. Hle fortunately had an uncle in the corn. grain and flour business, a thrifty, intelligent man, who took him into his store, which was at the fork of Maiden lane and Crown street. Here. after a few years of industrious labor, during which he supported the character of an intelligent, honest young man, he was sent in a schooner, as supercargo, to the island of Curacoa, in the West Indies, and although but twenty- one years of age had other vessels consigned to him. His per- sonal appearance, his honesty, his amenity of manners, as well as his intelligence, made him a popular young man.
The family of Rapelje was originally from France. Being Protestant, they fled to Holland after the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, and were among the early emigrants to New Amsterdam. One of the family was a land surveyor, and the other a farmer. The name is mentioned in the first accounts of the city as one of the burgomasters in the good old days of admiral. Governor Stuyvesant. The first child born of Christian parents in the city of New Amsterdam was named Sarah De Rapelje. This account is now preserved as a curiosity. As they came from the River Wall. in Holland, and held lands on Long Island. they called the small stream near their dwelling ~ the Wallabout." The descendants of these first settlers are now to be found in various parts of the United States. My mother, whose maiden name was Nelly Hardenbrook, was born in the City of New York, at the corner of Beekman and Pearl streets, which my great grandfather built and lived in for many years. From the great number of his children, my maternal uneles and aunts. I have named the old mansion house " the Bee Hive."
At the close of the American war, my father purchased the Glass House farm.# three miles and a half from the city. as it then was. but now in it, on the North River. It received its name from an unsuccessful attempt to make glass bottles there. It was little north of a country seat called Content. a delightful
* The Glass House farm proper once belonged to Sir Peter Warren, at the north side being bounded by the Great Kill. It extended from Eighth avenue to Eleventh avenue, then the shore line, and from about Thirty-fifth street northward. Rem Rapelje owned a place, once the property of Thomas Tibbet Warner, immediately south of the other.
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place, the Summer residenee of a Mrs. MeAdam, sister to a Mrs. Shaw, whose daughter had married Sir Richard Wheat, and after his death, Admiral Lord Cochran, who, if living, now resides in Seotland. My father resided at the Glass House farm thirteen years, when he removed to a much larger farm at Pelham, West- chester county, where he resided until his death, which happened at the age of seventy-six years and ten months ; my mother sur- vived him several years.
At four years of age I was put to a woman's school, next door to my father's, in Crown street. I afterwards went to a master's school in Maiden lane, near Nassau street. When my father resided at the Glass House farm. being then about twelve years of age, I was sent to Ilackensack school, in New Jersey ; for during the Revolution all things in the city were in a state of disorder, and there were no good schools established. At the institution at Hackensack there were a hundred scholars, of the best families, from the States of New York and -New Jersey. The school was under the superintendence of Mr. Peter Wilson, a most capable and indefatigable teacher, who some years after- wards was elected a professor of the Latin and Greek languages in Columbia College. I left Mr. Wilson to enter Columbia College, where in due course I graduated Bachelor of Arts. On leaving my alma mater. I was put in the office with John Watkins. coun- sellor at law. to study the profession. His wife-for I lived in the family. and cannot forget her kindness to me-was adorned with every social and domestic virtue. She belonged to a family of talent. being a daughter to William Livingston, Governor of New Jersey, and sister to Judge Brockholst Livingston.
My father, when parties ran high, inclined to the old order of things : he for one, among many, was contented and happy under the British Government. His property was secure and he no doubt thought that many of our grievances were imaginary. My father was not of a disposition to remain still. and expressing his sentiments perhaps a little too freely. excited the indignation of some of the Sons of Liberty, from whom he met with rude treatment. The mob assailed my father's house in search of my brothers, who had resented the insults offered their father, but they were saved by the cool intrepidity of my mother, who in-
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vited a committee of three to come in and search the house, declaring that hier sons were not there, nor did she know when they might be. They had been taken from the house disguised in female apparel and secreted for a while. They were high- spirited young men ; one of them was a student in medieine and the other was preparing to be a merchant under commissary Henry White, a man of distinction in that day.
Another circumstance happened which was a sad grievance to our family. My maternal uncle, Theophilus Hardenbrook, chief engineer to the king, in New York, was treated with every insult and was mangled and ill used by the mob; but to their honor be it said that the upper classes of the Whigs did every- thing in their power to restrain the mob. He got away from his persecutors, concealed himself on the banks of the Hudson, and at length gaining a little strength he took a small boat to go on board a man-of-war lying in the stream, but after he had reached the ship. exhausted from the loss of blood, in attempting to get on board, was drowned. These stories, often repeated by my dear mother, have sunk deep into my heart, and their influences can never be done away. My father, for his honesty was never for a moment doubted. was allowed by the committee of safety in New York to reside in New Jersey, where he lived in great retirement until the war was over. Ile had pledged the word of a man of principle and honor, and he took no part in the Revo- Intionary conflict.
While my father was in banishment, one of my mother's rela- tions. a Whig. eame to her and told her that she had better re- move with her children into the country, as in the event of the city being taken by the British. it would be burnt. My mother replied. " My dear cousin, yon have valuable property here and would not like to have it destroyed. What I should wish to see will not be a matter of consequence. I assure you it is the in- tention of General Washington to fire the city if it falls into the hands of the British army." and it so happened that soon after they got possession of the city, a fire commenced somewhere to the east of Broad street, and near the spot where Pearl street and the East River are continued round the point, on the east and north side of Broad street, crossing over to the west side of
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Broadway, before it eame to Wall street, and sweeping up on the west side of Broadway, between it and the North River. Trinity Church was burnt. St. Paul's was with difficulty saved, and the desolation reached to the North River. Many persons were sns- pected and examined, but no satisfactory aecount of the confla- gration could be given ; but the general opinion was that the fire originated from design.
While we lived at the Glass House farm, about the close of the war, when many of the Hessians were still in the country, a sin- gular eireumstance happened at our place which I will relate. not that I was a believer in witchcraft, but to show how general the belief is in every part of the world. In Syria and Egypt, long since that period, my mind has been perplexed to account for many things that seemed to be out of the common course of nature. I will tell the story as it was: My father had on his place three cows. One of them drooped very much and appeared very poor and sulky. We had two colored men. one of whom had been taken by the English army and made to drive a wagon for the Ilessians, and he became acquainted with their tricks and contrivances. Ile said to my father, " I now know, master, what is the matter with our cow : master, if you go on the top of the hill you will see her coming this way." Sure enough, as Sha- drach-for this was the name of the colored man-had suggested, she made her appearance. when the fellow ent off a piece of the cow's tail. and away she bounded, as far as she could, for fences. As we stood there. a Ilessian soldier came from our kitchen, then another from a neighbor's house, to the very spot where the eow was. My father called them by name; they had their heads bound np as they came near the cow. The moment they saw my father they said they were sick, and were looking for herbs to eure them of a bad headache, cold and fever. These men were not sick before Shadrach performed his counter charm by letting blood. but after this they were really ill, and kept their beds for several days. The colored man said he had known many in- stances like this, and that the two men had done the art. The cow soon got well. Ile who laughs at superstition more than half believes in supernatural agency, and he who defends his be- lief in enchantments must often be ashamed at his own credulity.
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What Shakspeare and Johnson believed and reasoned upon is, however, not a subject to be treated with contempt.
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When I entered Columbia College the second Dr. Johnson was President of the institution. His father had been President before the revolution, and was exalted in his day and generation. . Professor Cochran, an elegant classical scholar, filled the chair of Latin and Greek ; Dr. Johannes Gros, a German, that of Moral Philosophy and Geography, and Professor Kemp, of Mathematics, Natural Philosophy and Astronomy ; he was indefatigable in his duties, and considered by all who knew him a ripe scholar. These were the lights of mind that led us onward in the paths of knowledge of that day. Then the alumni were happy, but soon there sprung up a sectarian feeling, and great art was used to get a Presbyterian head to the college. This was after the death of that excellent and learned man, the Right Reverend Bishop Moore. the President who came after Dr. Johnson. This suc- ceeded for a while. The charter of the institution made it in- perative that the President must be an Episcopalian. The great mover of the machine would not have it so exactly ; they made a nominal President, and put over his head a Provost. The Presi- dent was an old man with a small salary ; the Provost had a large one and a house provided for him. This, however, did not suc- ceed : the evil remedied itself : the college did not prosper under the new anspices; many students took their degrees in other col- leges ; the Provost was translated to another institution, and all thing, were reinstated in their former regular course, and the President became an officer de facto as well as de jure.
The first voyage I took at sea must have been about the fall of 1791. A Captain John Keaquick, knowing well my father, I being then about twenty years of age, and a great favorite with the captain. it being vacation at college, persuaded my father to let me go with him to Boston in a brig he commanded.
On my return from Boston I was in the office of Samuel Jones, Esq .. counsellor at law. for about six months. This was the gentleman whom the Indians liked so well in making their treaties with our State that they would not conclude any arrange- ment till Mr. Jones, or Old Pine Knot, as they used to call him. was present. There are two of his sons eminent lawyers, at this
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day. The eldest has been Chancellor of the State. and is now Chief Justice of the Superior Court in the city of New York.
Being one day met by a sea-faring acquaintance, I took it into my head to go with him to the West Indies. Ile told me he was bound to one of the Windward Islands (I think Barbadoes). In October, 1793, we set sail in a brig belonging to Ten Eyck, Cock- roft & Vandyke. commanded by Capt. Solomon Saltus, a Ber- indean. a very skillful, worthy and respectable man. Her name I have forgotten, but she was deeply loaded. My father and mother reluctantly parted with me, I being now an only son, but having been away from home at school in my early days so great a part of my time that I was hardly contented to sit quietly down in the family circle, although always treated with the greatest paternal kindness. The articles I was fond of when a boy were always placed where I could get them, such as boiled milk, tarts, fruits, custards. and the like, in a pantry, where I found them when I came home after meals on Saturday from school or col- lege ; and the students from college. or those with whom I was studying law. often shared with me. I would ask them to walk or ride ont in the afternoons. Among these were Mr. James Woods. counsellor at law ; Mr. Parson, Cave Jones (both now de- ceased). the Judge of our new Court of Sessions. Mr. Riker, and many other- who came out to see me on that pleasant spot on the North River, the Glass House farm, where there was abundance of · frit- in their season. and of the very best kind. and this we used to enjoy ourselves comfortably with my parents. My father for- merly. among other articles of trade, dealt in wines of various kiuds, and had his cellar in Crown street often filled with pipes and cake of Madeira and other wines and always, during his residence in the country, had a pipe on tap. I therefore wa> allowed to draw a decanter whenever any of my company came out to see me: and my mother was always pleased to see my friends and acquaintances, and would, from a spring we had on the place. make a fine dich of the best green tea, with smoked beef. excellent home baked bread and butter, and Bogert's crack- ers, prepared in the way hereafter described, with common com- fiture. or some kind of sweetmeats, and in the season, currants. raspberries, strawberries, cherries, or peaches sliced and sugared.
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