USA > New York > New York City > The Memorial History of the City of New York: From Its First Settlement to the Year 1892, Volume III > Part 34
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1 Mr. Beekman and Mr. Astor were joint proprietors of the Park Theater. The former, from his love of theatricals, was familiarly known as " Theater Jack." EDITOR. VOL. III .- 20.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
it was with great difficulty we could procure a seat, and amidst so large an audience we could not discover even a whisper of disappro- bation. Mr. Mathews played 'Goldfinch' in the 'Road to Ruin.' The popular farce of ' Monsieur Tonson' was performed for the first time, Stephen Allen and Mr. Mathews supported the 1 principal character with great éclat. His comic songs and imitations were the best we ever heard; and in consequence of his variations, on being encored, the audience seemed disposed to sit all night and enjoy this species of entertainment."? See picture on the opposite page.
The winter of 1820-21, like that of 1817-18, was one of excep- tional severity. Indeed, for many years previous such intense and steady cold weather had not been known-even within the memory of that mythical individual, "the oldest inhabitant." A New-York newspaper of that day,-the "American" for January 22, 1821,- speaking of this, says : "The weather, after twenty-one days of steady cold, began to moderate on Saturday afternoon (the 20th). On Satur- day morning, Long Island Sound was crossed upon the ice from Sands' Point to the opposite shore, a distance of eight miles. The price of oak wood was up to five dollars a load, Saturday."' Three days afterward the same paper states: "The cold still continues in- tense: both the North and East Rivers were crossed on the ice; and the bay is nearly filled with floating ice, which will probably be closed by another cold night, and our harbor shut up for the first time in forty years."" On the next day: "The North River continues to be crossed with safety on the ice; the distance between the two shores has been measured and found to be a mile from [the foot of] Cort- landt street to Powle's Hook [Paulus Hook, Jersey City]." The Ho-
1 The mayor at this time was Stephen Allen, who held the place in 1821 and 1822. He began life as a sailmaker, engaged later in mercantile pursuits, and having acquired considerable wealth, was thenceforth identified with financial enter- prises. After he ceased to be mayor he was elected State senator, serving many years, and making himself especially useful as a member of the Court of Errors, although without profes- sional legal training. "The natural talent of Mr. Allen was such as at once to give him clear and distinct views of the most subtle questions brought before the court." At the age of eighty years he died, in 1852, having enjoyed for some years retirement from both business and political life, years chiefly spent at his beautiful country- seat at Hyde Park on the Hudson. EDITOR. 2 There is at the present time (1892) a water- color painting in the possession of the New-York Historical Society which is of local historical value. The reproduction on the opposite page is accompanied by a key. All of the audience are in- tended for likenesses ; and among them are Dr.
and Mrs. Samuel L. Mitchill, William Bayard, Henry Brevoort, James Kirke Paulding, and other prominent New-Yorkers. Fits-Greene Halleck. a great lover of the theater, is omitted from the picture, owing to his absence in Europe at the time it was taken. EDITOR
$ Compare this with previous note (p. 300), where oak wood is quoted at $2.25 a load.
+ Referring to the last time (1781) when, as men- tioned in a previous note, the bay was frozen from the Battery to Staten Island, allowing Sir Henry Clinton to bring up on the ice from that island to the city his heavy artillery. Still, it should be re- membered that often since then our harbor and river would have been closed were it not for our ferry-boats day and night constantly passing from shore to shore, and thus breaking up the ice.
5 Since then, Jersey City has been filled in for two blocks from the original Paulus Hook to the pres- ent Hudson street. Hence the width of the river, from ferry to ferry, is, perhaps, five hundred feet less than a mile.
1 Nicholas G. Rutgers, 2 William H. Robinson, 3 Charles G. Bmedburg, 4 Robert G. L. De Peyster,
5 Alexander Hosack, 6 Dr. John Neilson,
7 Dr. John W. Francis, 8 Castle Rotto, 9 Thomas Bibby
10 John I. Boyd,
11 Joseph Fowler.
12 Francis Barretto, 13 Gouverneur S. Bibby, 14 Thomas W. C. Moore, 15 James Allport,
16 Walter Livingston,
17 Dr. John Watts,
18 James Farquhar, 19 James Mackey, 20 Henry N. Cruger, 21 John Lang,
22 William Bell,
23 Mordecai M. Noah,
24 Hugh Maxwell,
25 William H. Maxwell,
26 James Seaton,
27 Thomas F. Livingston, 28 Andrew Drew,
29 William Wilkes,
30 Charles Farquhar, 81 Pierre C. Van Wyck, 82 John Bearle, 38 John Berry, 34 Robert Gillespie, 85 Edmund Wilkes,
86 Hamilton Wilkes,
37 Captain Hill,
88 Robert Watts,
39 George Gillingham, 40 Charles Mathews,
41 Miss Ellen A. Johnson, 12 Mm. Golston, née Jones,
9% 23 BP 79
8
37
INTERIOR OF THE PARK THEATER, NEW-YORK, NOVEMBER 7, 1822. FROM THE ORIGINAL PICTURE PAINTED BY JOHN SEARLE FOR WILLIAM BAYARD, ESQ.
48 Maltby Gelston,
44 Mrs. De Witt Clinton, nee Jones
45 Mrs. Newbold, née LeRoy. 46 William Bayard, Jr., 47 Miss Ogden,
48 Duncan P. Campbell,
49 Jacob H. LeRoy,
50 Mrs. Daniel Webster, 51 William Bayard, 52 Dr Samuel L. Mitchill, 53 Mrs. S. L. Mitchili, 54 Mrs. James Fairlie,
.
55 Dr. David Hosack,
56 James Watson,
57 Dr. Hugh MeLean,
58 John Charuaud, 59 Miss Wilken,
60 Mrs. C. D. Colden, née Wilkes,
61 Mrs. Robert Lenox,
62 David 8. Kennedy,
63 John K. Beekman,
64 Robert Lenox,
65 Cadwallader D. Colden,
66 Swift Livingston,
67 Henry Brevoort,
68 James W. Gerard,
69 James K. Paulding, 70 Henry Carey,
71 Edward Price, 72 Stephen Price,
73 Capt. John B. Nicholson,
74 Thomas Parsons,
75 Herman LeRoy, Jr.,
76 William LeRoy,
77 Herman LeRoy, 78 Mrs. Eliza Talbot,
79 Alexander C. Hosack,
80 Robert Dyson,
81 Mrs. Samuel Jones,
82 Judge Samuel Jones,
88 Dr. James Pendleton,
84 Mra. Pendleton, née Jones.
RETURN OF PEACE, AND COMPLETION OF ERIE CANAL 307
boken ferry-boat, with fifty-seven persons and twenty-three horses on board, drifted, on Wednesday evening, below Governor's Island, and was enclosed in the ice, where she now remains. The people suffered much from the cold during the night, although none were frozen." The same paper, also, on January 27 says: "More than a thousand persons crossed the North River on the ice; produce of every kind was taken over in sleds; and hun- dreds were seen skating in the middle of the river. There came up, also, yesterday, from Staten Island, on the ice, a boat and seven men, viz. : John Vanderbilt,1 A. Laurence, William Drake, Lewis Farnham, Robert Davis, and Mr. Wainwright. The mail for Staten Island was yesterday taken down over the ice by Daniel Simonson and Joseph Seguine. Many per- sons at the same time walked from Long Island to Staten Island,- such a circumstance has not been witnessed before since the winter of 1780-81, when heavy ordnance Mac Bronzo were conveyed on the ice from Staten Island to New-York." This protracted cold weather caused much suffering among the poor, and led to the establishment of soup- houses, through the generosity of many of the butchers. Collections were also taken up in the churches for the benefit of the suffering, one of which is noticed in a newspaper as amounting to the very handsome sum of $2106.46.2
In the successive years of its existence, the city of New-York had been visited by war, and fire, and famine; and now the scourge of pestilence was to be added. In 1819 the city was visited by yellow fever, which shortly disappeared, only to return with increased vio- lence in the fall of 1822. J. Hardie, in his account of the fever at this time, writes: "Saturday, the 24th of August, our city presented the appearance of a town besieged. From daybreak till night one line of carts, containing boxes, merchandise, and effects, were seen moving towards 'Greenwich Village' and the upper parts of the city. Carriages and hacks, wagons and horsemen, were scouring the streets and filling the roads: persons, with anxiety marked on their coun- tenances, and with hurried gait, were hustling through the 'streets. Temporary stores and offices were erecting, and even on the ensuing
1 The father of the late Cornelius Vanderbilt. 2 "The Market Book," by Thomas F. Devoe.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
day (Sunday) carts were in motion, and the saw and hammer busily at work. Within a few days thereafter, the custom-house, the post- office, the banks, the insurance offices, and the printers of news- papers located themselves in the village, or in the upper part of Broadway, where they were free from the impending danger; and these places almost instantaneously became the seat of the immense business usually carried on in the great metropolis."1 "You cannot conceive," writes Colonel William L. Stone, at that time editor of the New-York "Commercial Advertiser," under date of September 26, 1822, to his wife, then at Saratoga Springs, "the distressing situation we are in, and also the whole town. The fever is worse every hour. I saw the hearse pass the office an hour ago with seven sick in it. Thus the dead are carried to the grave, and the sick out of town-to die-on the same melancholy carriages." And again, about a month after, he writes, under date of October 10, to his wife as follows: "As to the fever, my dear Susan, I cannot say that it is any better. On the contrary, it rages sadly, and grows worse every hour. There are many sick and dying, especially in the lower part of the city, who would not move, and the physicians will not visit them. I know several who have died without a physician. Old Mr. Taylor, for in- stance (soap and candles, Maiden Lane), would not move, and is now in his grave." On the nineteenth of the same month, he writes again to his wife : "I believe I told you in my last letter that I did not think the fever was any better. The result has proved the cor- rectness of what I wrote. The disease rages with fresh violence, as you will perceive by the reports in the 'Commercial' which I send to you by this same mail. When it will please heaven to cause it to abate, is more than mortal can tell. A severe, nipping frost, I have no doubt, will check it, and yet I hope that we shall be able to re- move back [i. e., from Greenwich Village] by the first of next month." The cold weather of 1822 and 1823, however, did not, as the writer hoped, check the disease; and during the succeeding summer its rav- ages became so frightful that all who could fled the city. Colonel Stone, however, remained at his post, and fortunately escaped the disease. During this dread time, however, business was entirely sus- pended; and, like the time of the plague in London (so graphically described by De Foe), the city presented the appearance literally of a deserted city-with no sounds save the rumbling of the hearses, as,
1 The visits of the yellow fever in 1798, 1799, and 1805 tended much to increase the formation of a village near the Spring street market, and one, also, near the State prison; but the fever of 1822 built up many streets with numerous wooden buildings, for the use of the merchants, banks (from which Bank street took its name), offices, etc. ; and the celerity of putting up those
buildings is better told by the Rev. Mr. Marcellus, who informed me that "he saw corn growing on the present corner of Hammond and Fourth streets, on a Saturday morning, and on the follow- ing Monday 'Sykes & Niblo' had a house erected capable of accommodating three hundred board- ers." Even the Brooklyn ferry-boats ran up here daily. "The Market Book," by Thomas F. Devoe.
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RETURN OF PEACE, AND COMPLETION OF ERIE CANAL
at the dead of night, they passed through the empty streets to collect the tribute of the grave. By November 2, 1823, however, the fever had disappeared ; the inhabitants again returned to their homes; the banks and the custom-house, which had been removed during the fever to Greenwich Village,' on the outskirts of the city, moved back to their customary places; and business and social intercourse once more flowed in their accustomed channels.
The two following years (1824, 1825) were to witness two august celebrations in New-York city. The first was in the summer of 1824, .
ZOE DETERICANVAS FRENCH LIDERT
THE LAFAYETTE MEDAL.
on the occasion of the second visit of General Lafayette to the United States, in his sixty-eighth year; and the second was in honor of the completion of the Erie Canal in 1825, by which the waters of Lake Erie were connected with those of the Atlantic.
On Sunday, August 15, General Lafayette, accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette, and his secretary, Auguste Le Vas- seur, arrived in New-York bay in the ship Cadmus. As the ship passed through the Narrows a salute was fired from Fort Lafayette, and the national flag was immediately hoisted and displayed during the day on all the public buildings in the city. On landing at Staten Island, the august guest was conducted to the country residence of Daniel D. Tompkins, Vice-President of the United States, where he spent the day receiving calls.
Lafayette had no idea, not even a suspicion, of the welcome which awaited him on this side of the Atlantic. At least, such is the infer- ence, not only from the statement of Lafayette to my father, the late William L. Stone, but from an incident told by one of the actors in it to Mayne Reid, by whom, in turn, it was narrated to the writer. Lafayette had left France after nearly half a century's absence from the United States, and without any intimation that he was to have a
1 Now known as Charles and Bank streets. This accounts for the irregularity of the streets in that portion of the city, these streets being the same as when it was a village.
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
public reception in America. The gentleman who gave the narration to Captain Reid-a well-known Boston merchant-chanced to be a fellow-passenger on the voyage, which was made in a packet-ship sailing from the port of Havre.1
While crossing the Atlantic, this gentleman had many opportuni- ties of conversing with the French marquis and his son Washington. All on board knew that our old ally, though a nobleman, was not rich; and, in his conversations with his fellow-passengers, he showed him- self very solicitous as to his pecuniary means, making many inquiries about the prices of living and traveling in America, and seemed very anxious on this account, as if fearing that his purse might not be sufficient for a very extended tour of travel through the United States. Indeed, the Ameri- cans who were on board the packet, having been long absent from their country, had themselves no idea of the grand honors in store for their 1. Achone distinguished fellow-passenger. The gentleman, in his subsequent conversa- tion with Captain Reid, admitted that he himself had no conception of what was to happen, and did occur, on this side. Feeling an interest in Lafayette, he had invited him and his son, in the event of their visiting Boston, to make his house their home. In due time the French packet came in sight of the American coast, and lay to at Sandy Hook, waiting for a favorable wind to enter the bay of New-York. Near the Narrows she was ap- proached by a rowboat, in which were two gentlemen in plain civil- ian dress, who, after holding a private conference with the captain, reentered their small boat and put off. No one on board the packet, except the skipper himself, knew to what the conference related.
After passing through the Narrows and coming alongside of Staten Island, the French ship cast anchor. This was a surprise to the pas- sengers, who supposed they were going directly to the city. They were consequently chagrined at being thus delayed after their long sea voyage, and many were heard to murmur at it. While in this mood they observed a long line of vessels coming down the bay.
1 The Congress of the United States, some months before, upon learning that it was the in- tention of Lafayette to visit this country, had unanimously passed a resolution inviting him to our shores, and directing that a national ship
should be held in readiness for his conveyance whenever it should suit his convenience to em- bark. This honor however, the marquis de- clined, and took passage from Havre to New- York on July 13, 1824.
RETURN OF PEACE, AND COMPLETION OF ERIE CANAL 311
There were steamboats and sailing craft of all kinds, forming a considerable fleet. They were following one another, with manned yards, and flags flying, and bands of music (entirely impromptu), as if upon some gala procession. The passengers on board the French packet were surprised - Lafayette not the least. "What does it mean?" asked the mar- quis. No one could make answer. "Some grand anniversary of your Republic, mes- sieurs," was the conjecture of Lafayette. Fi- nally, about noon, the gaily decked vessels ap- BAYARD PUNCH-BOWL. 1 proached; and it was seen that they were all making for the French ship, around which they soon gathered. Presently one of the steam- boats came alongside, and a number of gentlemen dressed in official costume stepped on board the Cadmus. Among them were General Jacob Morton, William Paulding, the mayor of the city,2 and several members of the common council. Not until they had been some time on the deck of the packet and her captain had introduced them to Lafayette, did the modest old soldier know that a grand ceremo- nial was preparing for himself. The tears fell fast from his eyes as he received their congratulations; and, on shaking hands with his fellow-passenger - the Boston merchant and the narrator of this to Mayne Reid -at parting, he said: "Monsieur: I shall love New- York so well that I may never be able to get away from it to pay you a visit in Boston. Pardieu! This grand Republique-this great people!»3
. The object of this early call upon the marquis-before he had landed-was to exchange greetings, and to communicate to him in- formally the plan that had been made for his reception on the next day. The following arrangements were published in the New-York morning papers of Monday: "Arrangements of the Corporation for the Reception of the Marquis de Lafayette: The Committee of Ar- rangements of the Corporation have the pleasure to announce to their fellow-citizens the arrival of the distinguished guest of their country,
I This beautiful punch-bowl, belonging to Col. John Bayard, and now in the possession of his descendant, Mrs. Jas. Grant Wilson, was fre- quently used in entertaining Washington, Lafay- ette, and other Revolutionary worthies. It is in perfect preservation. EDITOR.
2 William Paulding received his first appoint- ment as mayor in the year 1823. He served also during 1824, and again in the years 1826 and 1827. He was a nephew of that John Paulding of Tarry- town who made himself famous by the capture of Major Andre, and the refusal of the great bribe which the latter offered for his release. Mayor Paulding was born at Tarrytown, came to New- York about 1795, engaging in the profession of the law, and soor established a lucrative practice.
Early in the present century he married a daugh- ter of Philip Rhinelander. During the war of 1812, Mr. Paulding was earnest in his efforts to awaken a military spirit among the citizens, and he rose to the rank of brigadier-general of militia. He was elected to Congress in 1811, but bis mili- tary duties prevented him from attending the last session. He resided in one of the finest blocks in the city, known as Paulding's row, in Jay street, on the corner of Greenwich. In his old age he re- tired to his country-seat on the Hudson, near Tar- rytown, where he died in 1854. EDITOR.
3 It is pleasant to know, as a sequel to this, that when Lafayette visited Boston, he was a guest at dinner with his old friend the "Bos- ton merchant."
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HISTORY OF NEW-YORK
the Marquis de Lafayette. The following are the arrangements made for his reception in the City. The Committee of Arrangements of the Corporation, the Generals, and other officers of the United States Army, the officers of the Navy, the Major-Generals and the Briga- dier-Generals of the Militia, the President of the Chamber of Com- merce, and the committee from the Society of the Cincinnati, will proceed, at nine o'clock this morning, the 16th, to Staten Island, where the Marquis is lodged, and escort him to the City. They will be accompanied to the Battery by the steam- boats, all with decorations ; ex- cept that in which the Marquis is embarked, which will only have the flag of the United States and the State flag of New-York, bands of music being on each. The embarkation of the Mar- quis will be announced by a salute from Fort Lafayette and the steam-ship Robert Fulton. The forts in the harbor will also salute as the boats pass. James Tallmadge The masters of vessels are re- quested to hoist their flags at mast-head, and, when conve- nient, to dress their vessels. The bells of the city will be rung from twelve to one o'clock. The committee request that no carriages or horses, excepting those attached to the military and the procession, appear south of Chambers on Broadway, Marketfield Street or White- hall Street, between the hours of eleven and two. The portrait-room in the City Hall is appointed to the use of the Marquis, where, dur- ing his stay, he will, after this day, between the hours of twelve and two, receive the visits of such of the citizens as are desirous of pay- ing their respects to him."
In accordance with this programme, about half-past twelve o'clock, the entire naval procession got under way, and proceeded to the city. The embarkation at Staten Island was announced by a salute from the shore, which was responded to by Fort Lafayette, and by the steamship Robert Fulton. The beauty and interest of the scene which the vessels afforded to the thousands of spectators, who were viewing it from the Battery, can be better imagined than described. The steamboat Chancellor Livingston, with her venerable and
:
RETURN OF PEACE, AND COMPLETION OF ERIE CANAL 313
honored passenger, was escorted up the bay by the splendid steam- ship Robert Fulton, manned by two hundred United States sailors from the Navy-yard, and the steamboats Oliver Ellsworth, Connecti- cut, Olive Branch, and Nautilus, each having on board a large party of ladies and gentlemen and a band of music-the whole forming, as they approached the city, one of the most imposing and splendid of aquatic spectacles. The lofty appearance of the steamship Robert Fulton, as she proudly "walked the waters," leading the van of the procession,-her yards manned by sailors, and elegantly dressed from the water to the tops of her masts with the flags and signals of all nations,-presented a sight which not only was never forgotten by those who witnessed it, but which has never been excelled nor even approached (with the single exception of that of the Erie Canal) by any aquatic procession since.1 The ship Cadmus, towed by the steamboats, brought up the rear, her towering spars decorated in the most elegant and fanciful manner with flags and signals. She moved majestically, as if conscious of the veneration which was being testi- fied for the noble patriot she had conveyed to our shores. As the pro- cession passed Governor's Island an appropriate salute was fired from the guns of Castle Williams.
On arriving in the city, the marquis landed at Castle Garden on carpeted stairs prepared for the occasion, and under an arch richly decorated with flags and wreaths of laurel. On stepping ashore, a major-general's salute was fired from a battery of field artillery, a national salute from the revenue-cutter and from the United States brig Shark, at anchor off the Battery, and one from Fort Columbus. Upon entering Castle Garden, the marquis was greeted with loud and prolonged cheers from the assembled thousands, and salutations from a large number of the friends of his youth; thence he proceeded with the committee and the military and naval officers to review the troops drawn up in line under the command of Major-General James Benedict. The muster was, on this occasion, unusually full and splen- did, the corps vying with one another in paying a tribute of respect to the soldier of the Revolution-the friend and companion of Washing- ton. After the review the marquis entered a barouche, drawn by four horses, and was driven up Broadway to the City Hall. The houses to the roofs all along the line, on both sides of that street, were filled with spectators, and the sidewalks were also occupied by a dense crowd; and to the incessant huzzas of the multitude, graceful females signified their welcome by the silent, but not less grateful and affect- ing testimony of the waving of handkerchiefs. Never on any pre- vious occasion had there been witnessed such a spontaneous outburst
1 This statement is entirely within bounds-the spectacle on the occasion of the centennial of Washington's inauguration, and the Columbus celebration of 1892, not excepted.
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